A/N: Finals are over! Time for summer break!

Blue Sea Moon 1180:

Eighth of the Blue Sea Moon:

Everyone had been quiet and distant and that was okay. Byleth wasn't expecting for anyone to be in the mood for class, she knew she wasn't. Seeing Ashe's empty seat was hard, especially when she knew that he was crying all alone in his room.

Dimitri had become another point of contention for her. He was battling his own issues and it was clear to everyone. But she didn't understand why he fled from her room the other night. Everything she had done was nearly the exact same way she had been comforting him on the march back, he was having positive results then, so she was utterly clueless as to what she did wrong. Sothis told her that it might be best to leave him alone for the time being, but it was hard. Her desire to help him was so strong.

She looked at all her students. They were staring down at their work, not a spark of motivation to be found in any of their eyes; even Felix had lost his bark. It was obvious that a simple, tea party wasn't going to be enough this time and she was at a lost. Sharing stories had helped but it only had provided a temporary relief; she needed something grander, but she had no idea what to do. Her lack of sleep wasn't helping either.

She dismissed everyone and they were all slow to shuffle out, except for Dimitri, who nearly ran for the exit. She was not going to lie that had hurt her greatly. When he was angry at her, he had been cordial about his avoidance but now he was so adamant about avoiding her, it was almost as if he saw her as a plague or something. If he wasn't the Blue Lions' class leader, she was sure he would have transferred out of her class. She tried to prevent her pain from showing but her exhaustion made it difficult.

"Professor?" a soft voice called out to her. She snapped her attention to Mercedes, who was looking terrible. With a small, weary smile Byleth prompted for her student to speak. "I…ah…," Mercedes started with her gaze settling on her hands, "I was hoping you could help me develop some offensive techniques?" This was what Byleth should have wanted. It could be a sign that Mercedes was moving on and yet…Byleth really hoped that would be the case.

"Yes, I can teach you," Byleth said a bit reluctantly. Mercedes gave her a small smile, but it quickly fell. "I am free after dinner, if you are." The healer only nodded in agreement and Byleth really hoped that the quiet woman was ready.

After saying a small goodbye Mercedes had excused herself, the professor stood in the classroom for a long moment rooted in place. She stared at the door with nothing really going through her head. Only after Sothis remaindering Byleth of her duties did she finally leave the classroom and head over to Ashe's room.

Her hand hovered in front of Ashe's door. She needed to knock and yet she couldn't bring herself to do so. She glanced down at her other hand to inspect her notes as if it they were her excuse for her hesitancy. Even though it had been over a week since Lord Lonato's death, she still had no idea what to say to Ashe; or if there were even any words that should be said to him.

With how Dimitri had been avoiding her and how Dedue was so closed off, she couldn't help but wonder if it was a result from her messing up in comforting them after the tragedy. If she messed up with her two of her closest friends, how was she supposed to help Ashe? Should she help him? How was she supposed to help anyone? What good was she?

"Hey!" Sothis snapped and Byleth jumped a little. "Cease your foolish thoughts at once, do you hear me?" Byleth said nothing and she could feel Sothis' disappointing stare. "You are doing your best, and everyone can see that! Everyone just needs time, okay?" The professor nodded and Sothis gave her a small smile. "Now go on. Knock on the door already."

Taking a deep breath, she knocked on the door, but no sound could be heard from the other side. She pressed her ear to the door and she still couldn't hear a thing. At Sothis' persistent insistence the professor opened the door and discovered that the room was empty. Upon her discovery she closed the door without uttering a sound. Not moving from her spot, she looked at the direction that the cathedral was in. She furrowed her brows as she stared at the top of the great church, the only clear part that she could see from where she was at. She didn't want to go there but she would.

Just as she suspected she found Ashe at the Cathedral, sitting in one of the pews at the front. To an uninformed person he looked like he was hunched over in prayer. She stood in the back of the pews watching him. She knew she should be happy that he was leaving his room of his own convictions, but she wished he went somewhere else. Praying to the goddess for answers, she was sure he would never receive, wasn't a problem, but she was afraid of what church officials were thinking about him and how they would react to him muttering the name of a "traitor" in a holy place. She hoped that it was just her fear of the archbishop that was clouding her opinion of the other members of the church.

Slowly she walked over to stand at the other end of the pew, he was sitting in. His head hung low as he asked the same questions, he had asked her during the night of the battle. It hurt seeing him like that and knowing that there was little that she could do. If the goddess did exist, why didn't she help the poor boy? His life had already been hard enough. Why did she also have to take his adoptative father as well?

"I…I do not like seeing him like this," a quiet voice spoke up from behind Byleth, and the professor turned to see the person who joined her. It was Marianne and she was looking at Ashe. It was the highest that Byleth had ever seen the girl rase her head. "He looks so much better smiling."

Byleth briefly looked at Ashe and nodded in agreement. While his smile did not make her feel as strange as Dimitri's did, Ashe's smile was still warm. The world was dimmer without it.

"Marianne," the professor called quietly, and the girl flinched a little. Though it was slow the girl turned to look at the older woman but kept her head down, and Byleth was a bit disappointed to see that. "Would you mind sitting with Ashe? He could really use some support right now."

"I…I do not think that I would be good at it. You should do it, Professor."

"I am trying but I think he will need more support than I can give. Please Marianne."

The quiet girl fiddled with her thumbs for a moment. Eventually, she gave a small, hesitant nod before heading over to Ashe. At first, she had kept a distance but when Ashe looked at her with such tear stained cheeks, she closed the distance and she even put a hand on his back.

Byleth watched the teens for a moment. Ashe began to cry, and Marianne comforted him. For all of her awkwardness Marianne had shown in all of her interactions with others, there was none of that to be found as she helped Ashe calm down some. The professor left with a small smile on her face, knowing that Ashe was in good hands.

Byleth ate her dinner quickly as she knew she was going to be late to meet up with Mercedes, thanks to an over long faculty meeting. She hid her hurt well when she noticed Dimitri quickly excusing himself when she walked in. Though her dinner was to be a quick one she still chatted with Raphael and Caspar, the later decided to turn Byleth's quick meal into a competition (he won but she wasn't really competing).

She raced over to the training hall before her stomach could settled. She found Mercedes standing in the back staring into nothingness. Hesitant to approach, the professor stood at the door watching her student. She was sure Mercedes wasn't ready for this, but she didn't know how to go about telling the quiet woman that.

She tore her eyes away from Mercedes to look around the training ground. It was unusually busy for that time of day and she feared that this was going to make things worse. Petra and Felix were sparing but Felix was clearly wasn't into it and would occasionally glance at Mercedes. Petra was either failing to capitalize on the boy's distractions or was being to polite to do so; Byleth suspected that it was the later.

When Felix spotted her, he stopped the match and Petra agreed. Without saying anything he walked past her to give her a pointed stare for a moment and left, with Petra not far behind him. Byleth didn't need it to be said out loud, she got the message loud and clear. She snorted because what did he think she had been trying to do since the battle ended?

"Mercedes?" Byleth called softly. The student's eyes focused when she looked at her professor. "I am sorry for being late."

Mercedes dropped her gaze and slightly shook her head. Byleth pressed her lips together. She was really getting the feeling that this was going to be a terrible idea, but she still didn't know how to tell Mercedes that. She wished Sothis would share some advice, but the mysterious girl had nothing to offer.

She really didn't want to say it, but she had nothing to stop her. "Did…Did you decide on what weapon you would like to practice with it." She was really hoping that Mercedes would say something.

Mercedes looked back up at her professor for a moment before dropping her gaze again. After a few more seconds of nothing, she finally shook her head. Before Byleth could say anything, the healer started to shuffle over to the weapons rack. Many of the people in the room, stopped what they were doing to watch Mercedes.

The student stood in front of the weapons rack for the longest time. She just stared at it, or whatever she was imagining. The eyes from the spectators turned towards Byleth for answers, none of which she knew how to give.

With a deep breath the professor walked over to the rack. She waited for Mercedes to acknowledge her but after a few seconds of nothing, she lightly placed her hand on the student's shoulder. Mercedes violently jumped back and looked at her professor with wide eyes. Byleth recognized that stare, it was the same stare Dimitri had often given her after he had awoken from a horrible nightmare. Pressing her lips together, Byleth prayed that Mercedes wouldn't suffer the same as Dimitri.

"Maybe we shouldn't do this," the professor whispered, so only that the other woman could hear it.

"No!" Mercedes screamed out, and in her surprise Byleth took a step back. If everyone wasn't already watching them, they were certainly were now. Byleth barely spared them a glance before Mercedes spoke again in the soft whisper that Byleth had tried to talk in. "It's because that I didn't take your advice earlier that… that he…he had to-to…" Her voice began to trail off as sobs began to shake her body and tears spilled from her eyes.

Byleth pulled Mercedes in for a hug. In the professor's strong embrace Mercedes began to really cry. She clung to Byleth with all her strength as she really let everything out. Byleth said nothing and just petted her student's head and listened to the sounds that broke, her already fragile heart.

Mercedes clung to her professor as her body shook. Carefully, Byleth guiding them both to the ground. Mercedes continued to cry, and a few people began to leave. Eventually, it was just them in the training ground.

It took awhile but Mercedes finally stopped crying. She continued to kneel on the ground and stared at the little space between her and her professor. Once again Byleth had to struggle with what to say next.

The silence stretched on and Byleth finally sighed. She was sure her words were not going to help but she hoped that they, at least, didn't make things worse. With some reluctance she called out to her student.

Mercedes stared at Byleth with red, puffy eyes. Taking a deep breath, Byleth finally spoke, "Mercedes, you did nothing wrong." The said girl opened her mouth to say something but when no sound came out, she closed her mouth. "Battle is chaotic and cruel. And something like that was about to happen eventually. You can't blame yourself."

"But…but if I could have fought my way to him…"

"There still wouldn't have been any guarantee that you would have been able to save him." Mercedes eyes became misty and her gaze drifted downwards. "Even if you had all the power in the world, you still will not be able to save everyone. It's a horrible fact but it's a truth that we all must accept. I am sorry."

Mercedes was silent as tears fell. She didn't look at the former mercenary once. Byleth was also quiet as she waited for Mercedes to be ready to leave. Though, Byleth spoke the truth, she wondered if it that was the right thing to say.

Tenth of the Blue Sea Moon:

Byleth stood in the training ground, it was late into the evening and everyone had finished their training for the day, but her. She struck her training bow's string. The twang of the string sounded loud to her, but she didn't really know. She just focused on the vibrating string, distracting herself from actually using it.

A sigh slipped through her lips as she turned to face the targets. It was a massive target with red circles painted on it to help a newbie archer, something far below her skill level. She knew there was an open field outside of Garreg March with targets set up that would be better for her, but it was too far, and she just didn't feel like walking to it. Actually, she didn't feel like doing anything, but Sothis was nagging her to move around.

The arrow felt so heavy in her hand, but she ignored it as she brought it up to secure it on her bow's string. She focused on the target but never brought her arms up, only because she could never find the motivation to do so. At Sothis insistence she finally brought up the bow to fire it.

As she stared down the target, she remembered the last time, she practiced her archery, when it wasn't for hunting. It was when she was staying at the Fraldarious Castle. A small smile formed on her face for a moment before quickly dropping off. It was such a wonderful memory of when things were much easier, and she was simply being taught archery for the sake of it; instead of practicing it to better defend her students.

Finally, she released the arrow and it flew straight and true to the center of the target. She didn't believe she had focused enough to earn that bullseye, but she figured that she was close enough to the target to be unable to mess up. She stared at the arrow, still not finding the motivation to continue.

"You don't normally use a bow in battle, do you?" a foreign voice asked from behind Byleth, who jumped. Spinning on her heels she came face to face with a woman with short black hair and piercing purple eyes.

Byleth stared at the woman before. Sure, she wasn't at her most attentive but to still have someone sneak up on her was incredible. She pressed her lips together as she continued to watch the woman carefully.

"Not used to someone sneaking up on you?" the woman asked and Byleth remained on guard.

"No, not really," Byleth decided to answer truthfully. She didn't think the woman was with those mask assailants as the mysterious woman had just wasted her chance to kill Byleth, but the professor still wasn't about to drop her guard. "It usually takes a great amount of skills for someone to normally sneak up on me." Her grip on her training bow tightened and she wished she had been training with something else.

The woman snorted a little. "Good to know that my skills are good enough to throw off the Ashen Demon." Byleth's eyes widen. It had been a long while since someone called her that.

"Who are you?"

"Shamir." Byleth felt like she had heard that name somewhere before. "I am a Knight of Seiros."

The professor's eyes light up when she remembered where she heard the name. "You're Catherine's friend."

"I guess you could say that." Byleth cocked her head but Shamir didn't elaborate. "Anyway, about your bow skills. You've only ever hunted with a bow, huh? Never actually used one in battle, have you?" Byleth stared at Shamir for a moment before nodding. "It's pretty obvious." The younger woman arched an eyebrow. "While your stances are perfect for hunting, it will leave you open on the battlefield."

Shamir stood next to Byleth and held out her hand. It took the professor a moment to understand what was being requested of her but when she got it, she handed over her training bow and quiver. With great speed and accuracy Shamir fired off three arrows and pierced each target in the dead center.

With a bit of a smirk Shamir handed back the bow and quiver. No words were needed to be exchanged for Byleth to get the message, loud and clear. Her stance was too rigid for battle. If she had to compete against an archer like Shamir, she would have been dead twice over before she could have even let loose a single arrow.

"A bow doesn't really fit the Ashen Demon's battle style does it?" Shamir asked and Byleth looked at her. "The Ashen Demon likes to get up close and personal to her opponents so that she can see the life leave her opponent's eyes, right?"

Byleth's eyes drifted towards her training bow and she snorted. It had been a long while since anyone called her cruel and vicious, just because she fought with a blank expression. She wondered if any of the students knew of her epithet and what they must think of her.

Plucking her bow's string she looked up at the older woman. "My preferred weapon of choice is a sword. Am I not supposed to get up close to my enemies with it?"

Shamir chucked a little. "I did always think that was an over exaggerated rumor." Shamir shifted her weight to one side and sized up Byleth, not that the other woman minded. "So, why are you wasting your time with a bow?"

"Because no matter how fast I may be, I can't run across a battlefield to protect my students." It might be better for her to get a mount but if they were to fight a battle indoors than the mount would only get in the way. She was also terrible at fighting on horseback, no matter how hard her father tried to teach her.

"Never thought I would hear about the Ashen Demon becoming a protector."

Byleth scowled down at her bow. She didn't understand how she had errand such a ruthless persona rumor. Whenever the Jeralt Mercenaries had to escort or protect someone, she was always the one closest to that person. She didn't even know how many Duscurians she had saved. Why couldn't she have an accurate rumor about herself for once? With a heavy sigh, she shook her head before looking back at Shamir. She knew she couldn't change her past image and she decided to not dwell on it; she had more important things to dwell on anyway.

"If you want, I can help train you on how to better use a bow."

"You don't mind?"

"No, besides knights usually have to train the professors on subjects they are unfamiliar with." Byleth stared at the archer with wide eyes. "Did no one tell you?" The professor shook her head and Shamir sighed. "Seriously? I guess its because you are already so skilled that they didn't feel the need to share it but still." Shamir paused to shake her head. "Unless, I am busy or deployed, I am usually free around this time, so I'll train you if you want." Byleth vigorously nodded her head. She never had a proper instructor from an archer before. "Cyril will be joining us from time to time. That better not be a problem." Byleth shook her head. "Good."

Eleventh of the Blue Sea Moon:

Byleth stood in front of the blacksmith looking at the bows. Shamir had suggested a lighter bow as it would suit Byleth's battle style better, but since the bow was more than likely going to be a weapon used in a very specific situation she wondered if she should go with a more powerful one to be safe. She continued to stare at the bows with no idea what to buy as she never had to use a bow for battle before.

As she continued to stare at the bows, hoping one of them would stand out, the blacksmith finally walked over to her. The blacksmith patiently explained each bow to the professor, but none of the information seem to fit with Byleth's needs; though she did see several that would fit Ashe. At the thought of Ashe, she felt a pang in her chest. He still wasn't ready for class and she didn't blame him. Thinking about buying a bow for him, just made her angry at herself; a bow was the last thing he needed.

In the end she decided to not buy anything. Shamir wasn't going to train her with using a proper bow so there was no need to buy something so quickly. With a sigh she decided to leave the marketplace and struggle to figure out what to do next as Sothis wasn't going to allow her to just sit around and do nothing.

"By!" someone shouted at her and she looked up to see that it was Wil. Smiling, he rushed over to here while he continued to wave.

"Are you done for the day?" she asked as soon as he caught up to her. It had been some time since she had seen him outside of his guard uniform. His short brown hair was in the shape of a mushroom thanks to his helmet and she struggled to keep a grin off her face because of it.

"Yeah." His smile quickly dropped to a frown. "You are still having trouble sleeping?"

Saying nothing she just looked away from him. She hadn't had a decent night sleep since before the battle with Lord Lonato. Then again, she hadn't a full night sleep since before she was attacked in 1174. But she would gladly have those five hours night sleeps again than the two to three hours ones she was getting now. If only she didn't have dreams.

"That's it!" Wil's sudden, loud voice snapped her out of her thoughts. Before she knew what was happening, he had wrapped an arm around her shoulders and began to drag her away. "We need to get your mind off of things."

"By doing what?" She pushed him off her so that they could walk next to each other comfortably.

"We are going drinking!" She stopped to give him a pointed stare. He knew exactly why she couldn't drink, especially when her father wasn't around. "Don't worry! I'll watch your back! No assassin will get to you with me around!" She continued to give him a look.

"And are you going to have a drink as well?"

"Of course, there's no fun if only one of us is drinking right?" Her look intensified and she couldn't tell if he was ignoring it or was just clueless about it. While Wil was a great guy, who she had no doubts would try and protect her, he was a light weight and would become unreliable after just one drink.

"One drink should be okay!" Sothis chimed in. "You really need a break."

Byleth was still hesitant but after a few more encouraging words from Sothis she decided to give in. While she never drank until she was inebriated, she at least knew one drink wouldn't hinder her too much. And the town at the base of Garreg Mach had been safe enough as well as close enough for knights to appear if there was a problem. She gave Wil a nod, who cheered, and they started to walk again. One drink shouldn't be a problem.

Wil had taken Byleth to the "best tavern in town" that all the Knights of Seiros visited. It was the town's only tavern, but she decided to not say anything about it. When they entered and saw several off-duty knights, she felt better about her choice to go drinking.

She took her time drinking her ale as she knew that would help her body process it better and leave her feeling less of its affects. Wil, on the other hand, downed his large drink in one go and it wasn't long after that that he became a bit inebriated. He idolized her father so much and she often caught him trying to mimic her father's actions, unfortunately for Wil, her father's drinking habits were beyond the young man's abilities.

She barely finished her first drink before Wil chugged his second one. She found it cute how he started to slur his words of declaring that he would protect her and some other nonsense she couldn't understand. He wasn't going to be much of a guard anymore but that was okay, she wasn't expecting that anyway.

He looked so happy and at peace, not a single care in the world, she wanted that, but she couldn't. She very much wanted that. To forget all her troubles. To stop having to suppress her feelings so that she could take care of others. Why did she always have to be the one to suppress her feelings? She shook her head violently to dislodge those thoughts. This wasn't the same as when she was locked up in Dimitri's room. She wasn't suppressing her feelings. Ashe's and Mercedes's were just more of a priority. They were suffering more. She just wasn't getting much sleep because of some nightmares that was nothing compared to their suffering.

Another large mug of ale was placed before her. She stared at it for a moment before looking at Wil. He was making all kinds of weird gestures that she was sure were supposed to be encouraging her to drink. Her stare settled on the mug again. It wasn't fair. It wasn't fair that she could escape her problems with alcohol and yet she so very much wanted to do that. To be free of one night where she wasn't haunted by the images of death. Where she could just have one night where she could sleep through the entire night. She just wanted one night to be numb to everything. That wasn't too much to ask for, was it?

During her first drink Sothis had managed to drift of so Byleth lost her only voice of reason. When she looked back at Wil, he was so carefree. It was okay for her to have one night like that, right? She deserved one night be free of worry, right? She was working so hard to take care of everyone else, so shouldn't she deserve this?

Swallowing her guilt along with the ale she chugged in one go. The alcohol burned her throat on its way down, but it burned in a good way. Nothing like when she botched a spell or had poison coursing through her veins. She deserved this, she decided as she downed another mug; her guilt be damned. She wouldn't have to worry about feeling such things when she was drunk.

Several mugs of ale later and Byleth could feel her control slipping. She certainly had her father's tolerance. That fact made her giddy because finally she had proof that she was her father's daughter.

She wanted to keep drinking until she was like Wil, a blubbering mess, but she still had enough sense to not too. After paying, she stumbled out of the tavern with Wil draped over her shoulders. He was being overly difficult and making it even harder for her to walk in a straight line, but she didn't care as she giggled at every little thing he said.

He suddenly jerked around, and she stumbled off to the side, narrowly avoiding a blade that had been thrusted at where her head was once was. It took her too long to register what was happening before the blade slashed across her face. Pain helped to clear her mind enough to realize she was being attacked. She tried to shuffle back, only for Wil to shift around and she fell, smacking her head against the ground.

The haze she found herself in was too great that she couldn't make out, who her attacker was. She tired to get onto her feet only for a swift kick to her stomach sending her back down. One the ground, what was left of her vision began to fade. She could barely make out a voice before everything went dark.

Byleth stared up at a roof in a daze. Her head throbbed and when she finally started to dry heave she sat up. A groan escaped her when she finished, followed by a small whine. She felt absolutely terrible. A stab to the gut didn't feel anywhere near as terrible as she felt then.

When her stomach settled enough, she looked around. She wasn't in her room and she frowned, when she couldn't remember why or how she got there. Based on all the kid stuff that was lying around she was at least sure she wasn't kidnapped by her masked attackers.

When she tried to recall the night's events, she drew a blank and it just made her head hurt more. She gave up on trying to remember when she started to feel even sicker to her stomach. If this were what awaited people after a night of heavy drinking than she couldn't understand why people liked doing it so much. She did it once and she had her fill.

Her eyes finally settled on the little table, next to the bed, and there was a glass of water on it. Never had she been so grateful for water in her life. She slowly drank it so that she wouldn't give her stomach another thing to be angry about.

With the water gone there was nothing else to distract her so she got onto her feet and hated everything she felt from doing that. At the door she could smell a delicious breakfast being made and it only made her stomach churn. Reluctantly, she opened the door and the brightness, from the new room, assaulted her. Her head hurt worse than the time she had her head bashed with a heavy shield. She seriously couldn't understand why her father liked putting himself through this so often.

"Good morning!" two, very loud voices greeted her, and she groaned. Against her better judgement she opened her eyes and they instantly began to water but she could at least make out Alois sitting at the table with a little girl sitting next to him.

Once again, she tried to recall the night's events, but the throbbing prevented her from really remembering anything. The little girl loudly told Byleth that she could sit down next to her and the older woman struggled to keep herself from groaning. The little girl clearly meant well as she happily talked about everything, but her volume was torturous, but it was nothing compared to Alois' booming voice and laughter.

"Irene, not so loud," a soft-spoken woman with long blonde hair said as she appeared out of another room. The woman turned to Byleth and had on a gentle smile as she placed a bowl of porridge in front of Byleth. "Here you go dear. This should be easy on your stomach."

"Thank you," Byleth said and was surprised at how hoarse her voice was. The woman's smile grew as she promised to come back with some water.

Byleth stared down at her porridge. It was incredibly simple meal and she was sure it had no real flavor, not that she cared at the moment. She wasn't in the mood to eat but she didn't want to be rude. As soon as she started to eat, she felt a bit better.

Irene continued to happily chat, but her volume was a lot lower and was more tolerable now that Byleth had something in her stomach. She was Alois' daughter, and with her brown hair and green eyes she certainly looked like her father. The woman was named Glenda and was Alois' wife. Alois had explained to Byleth and her father that he was married and when Byleth tired to picture the woman that married the former knights' captain she certainly never expected it be such a soft-spoken woman.

Glenda served her family the breakfast that Byleth had smelled earlier and it looked to be quiet a meal, but her stomach was not pleased with the smell. The former mercenary continued to eat her porridge and focus on that instead of the smell. Despite her throbbing headache and upset stomach it had been a long while since Byleth had such a nice, homely breakfast like this.

After breakfast, Alois loudly explained what happened the night before. On his way home from after work, he stumbled on a masked man attacking her. That information made her feel even sicker; no place was safe for her. Not comfortable with leaving Byleth anywhere without her father being around, he decided to bring her and Wil to his home. Wil was still passed out in the guest room, while Byleth had taken Irene's room.

While the news about her attacker was upsetting it wasn't the news that bothered her the most, it was the fact that she allowed herself to get drunk and abandoned her duties and students. What if Dimitri had needed her comfort that night and she had betrayed his trust by being out? She left Ashe to suffer all alone. She was horrible. How could she be so selfish?

"Hey!" Sothis shouted and they both winced. The mysterious girl groaned before speaking again, "stop being hard on yourself!" Byelth said nothing and just stared at the remains of her porridge. "You are being far to hard on yourself. You need to take care of yourself as well. The others will understand. They are probably hoping you would think more of yourself."

Even if that was true. It wasn't making Byleth feel any better. "You will not be able to take care of others if you do not take care of yourself." The former mercenary pressed her lips together. "Will you please think of yourself more. It will do no one no good if you neglect yourself to the point where you start to destroy yourself."

"One night, is not going to destroy everything. I am positive the others will understand." Byleth still remained quiet. "You stubborn child." Sothis sighed and shook her head. "No one will blame you; I promise. In fact, you are probably are only worrying everyone with how you neglect yourself. Take that gatekeeper boy for example, he dragged you out to go drinking because you wouldn't take care of yourself, so he took it upon himself to help you."

Byleth continued to stare at her empty bowl. "Maybe you are right."

"Of course, I am right!" Byleth smiled a little at the expected comment. "But just for future references lets hold back on the drinking, okay? I did not even drink and yet I get to feel the horrible, throbbing headache, this is just so unfair!"

"Deal," Byleth mumbled quietly under her breath.

"Now By," Alois started, and she looked up at him. "I know you are a young woman, but you are not allowed to just go out drinking with any young man like that, especially when your father is not around!" She just stared at him, unsure of what to say to that.

"Now honey," his wife lightly criticized.

"As the older brother it is my duty to watch over her when Captain Jeralt is away." Byleth never really understood why he was her older brother, when he was nearly old enough to be her father, and she was too hung over to try and make sense of it. "Now By, you must know that all men are wolves, do you understand? They will not hesitate to eat up such a young, attractive woman like yourself." She just stared at Alois unsure of what to make of that comment. She would like to see a man try to eat her up …when she wasn't drunk. Not wanting to argue, she simple nodded along.

A/N: Sorry for the short chapter it was kind of hard to work up the nerve to write this chapter with everything going on. I'm not satisfied with how the Shamir section turned out but oh well.