9/1 Horsebow moon
Byleth was heading to the audience room when he came across with his father.
"Son, it´s been a while" he said rubbing his hair.
"How was your last mission with the Church, father?"
"Not too bad, but we haven´t caught all the rotten apples" he sighted. "There has always been a kind of rivalry between the different branches of the Church, but a rebellion… I guess that the nobles and the Church are similar on that area. And you son?"
"We were sent to take care of a group of bandits which was causing havoc in the north. Its leader, a former member of house Gautier, had stolen a relic from his family. We defeated them all, but he turned into a monster"
"A monster you say?" said his father, with a serious expression on his face. "Did you explain that to Rhea?"
"Yes, she said that we should keep the truth to ourselves to avoid spreading chaos to Fódlan."
"And you are here telling me" he laughed. "But thank you, this is a serious matter. The north is as unstable as ever, there are still rebels in the west and humans are turning into beasts. I don´t know if these events are related, but we have to remain cautious"
"You are right father"
"Let´s go to meet Rhea, I have to report what´s going on in the west too"
"Good morning Professor Byleth, Jeralt. I am glad to see both father and son together once again" she smiled to both of them as if the events of the day before hadn´t happened.
"The rebellion of the Western Church is under control Lady Rhea" his father said bowing to her. "However, we will need more time until every responsible person is punished."
"I thank you for taking the command of the Church´s troops. I will pray to the Goddess for a quick solution of this conflict. For this month I have a new task for you Professor Byleth, but I think that is better if you hear it from the source itself. Please come in"
Lorenz entered the room and made a flamboyant greeting to all of them.
"Good morning Lady Rhea, Professor, Sir Jeralt. I´ve just received a letter from my father, the duke of Gloucester. A minor noble of the alliance, Acheron, is causing some trouble to my father and he wants to settle such dispute the most private as possible."
"You mean a skirmish right?" said Jeralt
"Yes, you are right. I planned to go alone, but with the Professor´s help things may go smoother"
"Your task for this month will be helping Lorenz in this quarrel. It is the duty of the Church to provide help to resolve conflicts when asked for. If you don´t mind Jeralt, I would like you to accompany your son, I´m sorry for taking you too much of your time and I think that this would be a good opportunity to share some time together"
"Really? Thank you Rhea, I really appreciate it" he then smiled to him. "Like the old times, battling and walking"
"Thank you for your support" said Lorenz "I would like to leave as soon as possible, if everything goes right we will return here in a week"
"I hope for the best" Rhea smiled to them.
They left the room. Lorenz excused himself saying that he needed to prepare his armor and left them alone.
"I feared that I had to do another mountain of paperwork, but I guess that once in awhile luck smiles to me" he laughed. "I wonder how much the students had progressed under your command"
"You will be proud of them" he said with a light smile on his face.
"If you are smiling that means that there are going to be some promising results" he smiled. "I will prepare my equipment too. You should go talk with the students"
"I will right now"
He headed to the Black Eagle´s classroom. Edelgard was already sitting at the front of the class.
"Good morning Professor, I guess that you already know what´s going to be this month´s task"
"I do. We will be heading to Alliance Territory; we have to resolve a dispute between nobles."
"I must admit that the endless quarrels between nobles are troublesome, but you seen unaffected by then, may I ask why?"
"My father will accompany us"
"Oh!" Edelgard was surprised by his revelation. "Seeing the blade breaker in action will be a priceless experience to me. I feel honored"
"He is looking forward to see the progress of all of you under my command"
"I promise I won´t disappoint you my Teacher and I will make sure that everyone fulfills their role correctly"
"I wouldn´t expect less" he said, patting her head.
The rest of the students started to arrive; the energetic Caspar was the first of them.
"Morning Professor!" shouted Caspar.
"I had to spend hours to clean all the mud of our expedition" complained Dorothea. "I hope that this time we will get something easier"
"Knowing him I have no hope, I don´t like that smile on your face at all Professor" sighed Linhardt
"I want to fight, but I don´t like the cold" said Petra
"You don´t have to worry this time Petra, we are going to the east"
"The east? That means that we will be going to the Alliance" pointed out Ferdinand.
"It seems that you know how to use a map. As expected of your background" laughed Hubert.
"I´ve only been one night at my room and we are already preparing to leave again Professor? That´s too much!" complained Bernadetta.
"But you like taking care of the horses, right Bernie?" said Dorothea
"We will be heading to the Alliance, where we will aid Lorenz to solve a regional dispute between his father and a noble called Acheron" continued Byleth
"This is going to be fun" smiled Ferdinand.
"On this occasion my father will be accompanying us, so I expect that you will do your best"
"We won´t let you down Professor" smiled Dorothea.
"The blade breaker? I´m already excited" shouted Caspar.
"Look what you have done Professor. Now Caspar won´t shut up for a week" said Linhardt
"An interesting turn of events" smiled Hubert
"We will leave the monastery tomorrow morning, don´t neglect preparing your equipment. We will meet at the entrance."
The class continued as usual. When the bells started to ring everyone left the class to prepare for the upcoming expedition. He was packing his books when he sensed a presence behind him.
"Ey Teach, I´ve heard that you will be going to the Leicester Alliance. Can I come with you? Sounds like fun."
"I don´t see a problem with that"
"In that case I want to join too" said Lysithea, walking to them. "I want to thank you for training with me and I think that helping you in your task is the best way to achieve so"
"I´m counting on you"
"You won´t be disappointed" Lysithea said with a smile on her face.
"You are too popular for your own good Teach" said Claude. "I´m glad that we will be enjoying some real life combat at your side"
"We will be leaving tomorrow at dawn. Be prepared. We will be at the entrance of the monastery"
"There is no need to ask for it Professor, I will be prepared"
"Me too, I´m looking forward our school trip Teach" said Claude with a teasing smile.
…
9/2
Byleth was already wearing his travel clothes when he left his room. He headed to the gates of the monastery, where his father was already waiting.
"Good morning son" he said, rubbing his hair. "The rainy season is already leaving, I´m confident that we won´t have much problems regarding the weather when we march to the east"
"I think the same. My students wouldn´t be too amused if we had rain again"
"Are you getting use to this kind of life, Byleth?"
Byleth looked at him. A few months had already passed since he started teaching at the monastery. At first he was confused with the turn of the events, but he had eventually grown fond of his students. He didn´t feel uncomfortable anymore.
"I´m enjoying it"
"I see" he smiled. "Let´s see what kind of students you have trained"
The first of the students to arrive was Edelgard, accompanied by Lysithea.
"It is a pleasure to travel alongside you Sir Jeralt"
"You can just call me Jeralt. No need to be so formal. Is that little girl your sister?"
"No and I´m not a kid" answered a bit irritated Lysithea
"My bad"
Claude and Lorenz were the next to arrive. Claude was wearing practical clothes to travel, but Lorenz was wearing a pompous coat with a complete design of roses.
"Morning everyone. Let´s get this done"
When the rest of the black eagles arrived they crossed the gates and mounted the horses that were prepared for them.
"Do you want a race against this old man?" said Jeralt, grinning to him
"Of course father" he said, a light smile on his face.
"Ey Teach! Don´t run away from us!"
"Everyone faster, we can´t lose sight of our Professor"
Like that they started their journey, recalling their past.
…..
The sun was starting to set when they stopped.
"We will prepare our camp here" Jeralt said
"Understood father. We will need a fire. Edelgard and Petra, use your axes to chop some wood. The rest help us preparing the tents"
They dismounted the horses and started to do their respective tasks.
"It feels like it was yesterday" observed his father.
"I have the same feeling". For a brief time they were returning to their former routine. It had only been a few months since their lives changed, yet it felt like a completely different world.
"Your students are doing well" he said, looking at their focused faces. "You have a gift to command if you have achieved some like this with nobles and commoners at the same time"
"I´ve learnt from the best I guess"
Jeralt laughed to that. "You are getting more talkative, don´t you? I wish she were here to see you grow"
Hearing that, Byleth felt a pinch of pain inside him. "I´m sorry"
"You have nothing to feel sorry about. Even if I had known the outcome I would have never regretted having you" he said, rubbing his hair. "How about we do some fishing? We could give your dear students a good dinner"
"Sounds great to me father"
When they finished the camp they headed to the river that was a mere meters away from their camp and they started fishing, talking from time to time about the past and the present.
….
"Is it me or the Professor is smiling?" commented Dorothea next to her.
"He is his father after all" but Edelgard had also noticed that her Teacher was smiling more often since the start of the journey. Even if they could only be considered shy smiles at best she was happy to see him like that. "Put the wood over there Petra"
"Understood!"
"He has changed a bit, for the better. It may be thanks to us"
"You may be right Dorothea"
"No need to thank me Edelgard, Dorothea" said Claude joining their conversation with a smile on his face.
"I see that you are really modest Claude"
"I must admit that I feared for the wellbeing of Teach when he chose to teach you, but I was wrong."
"If you say it like that it doesn´t sound like a compliment. Thank you though"
"Why did you want to come with the Professor, Claude?" Dorothea asked
"I wanted to see him in action again. It´s been a while since the last time I saw him fighting. Besides, if we are going to the Leicester Alliance it would be rude if I didn´t show him our wonderful country"
"Anyway Claude, don´t skip your duty and help us mounting the tents"
"Touché"
They finished preparing the tents. It was already dark when her Teacher and Jeralt returned from the river, both holding buckets full of fish.
"This is our dinner, nothing better than eating a fish that you have fished yourself, right Byleth?"
"You are right about that father" said Byleth with a faint smile on his face. Seeing his smile, she couldn´t avoid smiling too.
…..
"Byleth, do you want to take a walk with me?"
The students were already in their tents, only him standing next to the campfire.
"Of course father"
They started to walk aimlessly next to the river; only the sound of the flowing water could be heard.
"Being outside it's really a refreshing experience from time to time. Sometimes I think that we should have headed to the Holy Kingdom to avoid all these problems, especially Alois"
"It would have been more boring"
"You really are enjoying this" he laughed. "I wasn´t sure at first, but you are really honest about it. What has made you change so much?"
"My students. They are so different to each other, yet I can´t avoid worrying about their wellbeing and happiness"
"They really treat you as one more of the group. I always thought that most of the students there would be snobs, but I have to change my opinion about that. If you ever change your opinion we can leave, don´t worry about Rhea, she will eventually understand"
"Thank you father, but I think that I´m fine as it is right now"
"Like father, like son I guess. That place holds a special place in my heart since the day I met your mother. I´m growing too nostalgic, I guess that I´m getting old"
"How did you fall in love with her?" He had already talked about it in front of her tomb, but he felt the need to hear again from her.
"I was serving in the knights of Seiros when I first met her. She and another young boy called Aelfric were always waiting for the stories of my adventures around the world. When she told me she had never been to the outside world I decided to bring her a part of it every time I left the monastery. I guess that seeing her smile was what made me fall in love with her. That and her eyes full of honesty. You really look like her." He said, with a nostalgic expression. "I promise you that no matter what I will protect you son"
"I will always do the same for you father. No matter the challenge we will get through it together"
Jeralt rubbed his hair with a smile on his face. They remained silent for a few moments until they started their return to the camp. There was no need of words when they had each other.
…
9/5
"We are finally in the lands of my father" announced Lorenz "Be careful from now on. I am sure that Acheron is already preparing his troops"
"These kinds of skirmishes are the norm in the territories of the Alliance" sighed Claude "I guess that the greed of some people has no limits"
"We have a couple of rivers a few miles ahead. We can use it as a defensive wall against our enemy. Let´s try to arrive before the enemy arrives" said Jeralt
"Preparing battle formations!" shouted Byleth.
They marched as fast as possible to the rivers. They had just arrived when the first soldiers of Acheron started to arrive.
"Get out of our way kids"
"Do I look like a kid to you?" grinned Jeralt. "Do yourself a favor and retreat"
"Are you blind?" said a medium aged man with blonde hair. He then looked at Lorenz. "It seems that the count has planned the same to resolve this territorial dispute. Capture the son, the rest I don´t care if they are killed"
"Let´s make a demonstration to your students"
"Like the old times" smiled Byleth to him.
The enemy troops were approaching, but the terrain advantage was on their side. Spells and arrows started to cause havoc between the enemy lines. Byleth was particularly impressed by the strength of Lysithea´s spells.
Some of their enemies were trying to outflank them so Byleth and Jeralt went to meet them. A mage tried to cast a fire spell on him, after he avoided the attack he reciprocating setting him on fire. His father was sending his foes flying, not even the heavy armored units capable of enduring his blows. Edelgard and Petra were leading their advance as Ferdinand and Caspar checked their surroundings.
"Acheron you will regret rebelling against my father!"
"That´s yet to be seen, little boy" He then released a potent spell against the bridge that Byleth and the others were crossing. The impact and subsequent explosion of the spell partially destroyed it.
"We have to cross it quickly!" shouted his father riding his horse to the other end of the bridge.
"Cross the bridge now!"
They were almost there when a second spell impacted the bridge, making it starting to collapse. Byleth looked around him, but he didn´t see Edelgard.
"She has fallen to the water!"
Without a second of doubt he jumped into the river.
Cold hit his body with violence. Opening his eyes he found her, sinking into the bottom of the river, her hair moving in an ethereal way. He reached for her hand and using the power of his crest he returned with her to the surface. When they broke the surface of the water, Edelgard was breathing heavily next to him, her arms clinging to him with incredible strength. He pulled her to the river bank and gently placed her on the ground. The skirmish around them was already arriving to an end.
"Thank you…my Teacher" said Edelgard still heavily breathing. "You have saved my live once again"
"I´m sorry I couldn´t grab you earlier." He said, applying magic to dry her clothes. "There is nothing to fear now. The battle is over. Edelgard…"
"Yes my Teacher?"
"You must learn to swim. I wouldn´t forgive myself if I were to lose you by something like that. I will teach you"
"I´m not sure if I will be able to overcome this fear"
"You will, I promise you. I won´t let you drown ever again"
She looked directly into his eyes.
"It´s a promise then, I thank you sincerely for reaching for me" she said a genuine smile on her face.
Byleth shivered to the look of it, but he was sure that that wasn´t related to his soaking wet clothes.
…
"I surrender, I surrender! No need to be so harsh!"
"You were trying to kill us. Do you think we are a bunch of idiots?!" shouted Jeralt, his eyes full of fury.
"You have committed a treasonous act Acheron." Said Lorenz, a serious expression on his face. "Such behavior cannot be lightly forgiven. You will have to pay a price"
"I will give everything I can if you don´t kill me. I promise to never rebel again"
"Your words are worth nothing" said Claude "The fact that you are a member of this very Alliance is disgusting. The rebellion was committed against your family, Lorenz. The final decision is up to you"
"Here are my conditions. Your forces will be disbanded. A tenth part of your income will be assumed by House Gloucester. The lands surrounding these rivers will be recognized to perpetuity as the propriety of my House and your relic will be confiscated and returned to its rightful owner"
"How did you know I have it?"
"You aren´t the only one with good contacts. We were only silent about it because it would have been quite a scandal, but there is no need to hide it anymore. Hand over the relic"
"That´s asking too much. I can give you six mills in exchange for retaining the relic"
"I am afraid that you have misunderstood. What I am saying is not up to negotiation. Accept it or your corpse will rot in this river"
"That´s outrageous. The execution of a member of the Alliance cannot be allowed without a voting between the different houses!"
"You are right about that" said Claude "But House Riegan can allow this kind of decision when there is unjustified assault to the lands of other members of the council"
"House Riegan is not here!"
"You must be an ignorant. I am the heir of house Riegan, my name is Claude. I am afraid that the fishes will suffer a poor digestion, but I agree with your proposition Lorenz"
"I will make sure that the river stays clean afterward"
"Stop! Understood! I will agree with your conditions!"
"Your word has no value until you have written it. Bring him to my father" ordered Lorenz
Byleth was used to that kind of interactions between nobles, but he couldn´t avoid feeling surprise by Claude´s change.
"I guess that everyone has a public face and a private one" observed Sothis. "Those are the rules of this world. A ruthless world"
"Professor, thank you for assisting me in this task" said Lorenz "It would be an honor if you and the rest could accompany me to my father´s castle"
"I have no reason to oppose"
"Then follow me, all of you"
As they were following Lorenz´s guiding, Byleth checked the wellbeing of his students. They had no visible injuries. The student he was worried the most was Edelgard, but seeing her accompanied by Hubert made him restrain from approaching her. He didn´t want to cause any trouble.
He was riding next to his father, who was completely silent.
"You really have the keys to be a good leader" he said finally breaking the silence between them.
"You don´t only give orders, but take risks for the wellbeing of the members of your group. Sometimes you have to make sacrifices to avoid further bloodshed, but the fact that you consider the life of your students equal to yours speaks volumes"
"I just want to protect them"
"And I´m sure that they are grateful for that. If all of them are safe is thanks to you"
They arrived to the castle of the Duke of Gloucester. They were received by the Duke himself, who looked extremely similar to his son.
"Lorenz I am pleased to see your return" he then saw Acheron "You are a fool Acheron, you might be dead by now if it weren´t by my son´s mercy"
"He has accepted my generous conditions to surrender father. We can discuss about it in a more private setting"
"You have done a good job, son" he then looked at the rest of the group. "House Gloucester appreciates the help of those who assist it in times of need. As friends of this House I beg you to stay a few days with us. It is only proper to reciprocate the help that all of you had given to us"
"We will gladly take your hospitality" said Jeralt
"The honor is mine, Sir Jeralt. Your legend precedes you" he looked to Byleth "You must be the Professor that my son has been talking about. I cannot thank you enough for your help. I hope that you will be able to recover your force here." "Rooms for our guests! All of you must be exhausted after the battle, feel yourselves at home"
Byleth went to the room reserved for him and placed his equipment. He was still worried about Edelgard. In fact he was worried about all of his students. He wanted them to live and fulfill their dreams, yet he feared that one day he might run out of luck.
"I´m sure you will fight to avoid such outcome, Byleth. I will gladly give you my power to save them, but you must realize that one day you might not be able to safe all of them."
"I will fight to avoid such future"
"I really appreciate your loyalty to your students. Seeing people like you make me consider that there are some wonderful people out there, even though there are also some rotten apples."
With nothing more to do he left his room.
…..
"Please, eat to your heart's content"
They were having dinner at the main hall of the castle. Lorenz was sitting next to his father, at the bottom of the table. Byleth, his father and his students were sitting in the middle. To his left he had his father and to his right was sitting Edelgard, who looked more relaxed than before. Hubert was sitting to her right and from time to time he could feel that he was looking at him, but he didn´t sense animosity in his eyes.
His dinner was full of dishes he hadn´t eaten in his life. Looking at him his father couldn´t avoid to laugh.
"Nobles can be at a times troublesome, but their food is good, no need to keep staring at it"
His father was right; the quality of the dishes was extraordinary. The opulence of the room was something to take into account too.
"Teach, you should stop looking around like that. It looks like you are seeing ghosts"
"Ghosts don´t exist Claude, there is no need to mention them" said Lysithea.
"My bad, let´s just enjoy the meal"
…
The dinner had already ended and he was preparing to return to his room when Hubert appeared in front of him.
"Professor, May I take some of your time?"
"I don´t mind Hubert"
"Then follow me"
He followed him to his room and waited to hear what he wanted to say to him.
"To be fair, I don´t trust you, Professor, but words cannot express my gratitude for saving Lady Edelgard" he bowed to him.
"I told you I will protect all of you"
"You are a really interesting person Professor" he chuckled. "It doesn´t matter how much I analyze you there is something that doesn´t make sense. If Lady Edelgard´s words must be trusted you are an honest being, yet I think that something is hiding below the surface"
"What do you mean?"
"You are surrounded by mysteries Professor. To be fair your mere existence is a mystery to me."
"I have told you that I don´t wish her any harm"
"Sometimes the worst dangers are hidden behind promises like that. She has already suffered enough. Anyway, even though you don´t have my trust you do have my gratitude for what you have done for her"
"If you ever need help, I will be here for you too" Byleth said patting his shoulder.
"Such proximity is a novelty to me" grinned Hubert. "That´s what I wanted to say. Now if you forgive me I have a letter to write"
"Of course, good night Hubert"
"He is starting to trust you" said Sothis
"It sounded the other way around"
"I suspect that his pride and personality makes him act like that, but the fact that he had expressed his gratitude forward you… I would have considered that impossible a few months ago"
"I don´t hate him. I hope we can get along"
"You may be able to, with enough time"
With these thoughts he went to his bed, the events of the day returning to his head. He didn´t know why, but every time that Edelgard´s face came to him he felt a slight ache inside his heart.
A month has already passed since I started writing this and the journey continues. Thanks to everyone that is taking his/her time to read this. I really appreciate it. :)