Chapter 15: Macarons

Ingredients (makes 30 macarons)

Macarons: 1 3/4 cups powdered sugar, 1 cup almound flour, 1 tsp salt, 3 egg whites (at room temp), 1/4 cup granulated sugar, 1/2 tsp vanilla extract, 2 drops food coloring (color by own choice).

Buttercream: 1 cup unsalted butter (at room temp), 3 cups powdered sugar, 1 tsp vanilla extract, 3 tbsp heavy cream

Recipe

Macarons: Combine powdered sugar, almond flour, 1/2 tsp salt and process in food processor until extra fine. Sift through a fine-mesh sieve into a large bowl. In a separate bowl, beat the egg whites and remaining salt until soft peaks form. Gradually add granulated sugar and continue to mix until well incorporated. Continue to beat until you can turn the bowl upside down without any batter falling out. Add vanilla and mix well. Add food coloring and beat until just mixed. Add 1/3 of almond flour mixture at a time and gently FOLD with a spatula until combined. After last addition of almond flour, continue folding until the batter falls into ribbons (you should be able to make a figure 8 while holding the spatula up). Transfer batter into a piping bag. Place 4 dots in each corner of a baking sheet, then place a piece of parchment paper over it. Pipe macarons onto the parchment paper in 3-cm circles and make sure to keep at least 2 cm of space between each. Tap the baking sheet on a flat surface to release any air bubbles (NOTE: THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT!). Let the macarons "rest" at room temperature for an hour (NOTE: THIS IS ALSO VERY IMPORTANT). Preheat the oven to 300F . Bake for 17 minutes; the macarons should be well-risen and also should not stick to the parchment paper.

Buttercream: Beat butter in a large bowl until light and fluffy. Add powdered sugar and beat until mixed. Add vanilla extract and beat. Add heavy cream 1 tbsp at a time and beat until mixed. Transfer mixture to a separate piping bag and add a dollop of buttercream to each macaron shell, then top with another shell to create a full sandwich.

Place in airtight container for 24 hours to bloom (NOTE: VERY IMPORTANT).

The Eagles scrambled out of bed, still in their pajamas underneath hastily strapped on armor, weapons at the ready. The invaders hadn't infiltrated the house, but a quick glance outside the windows told Lysithea they were surrounded.

We need somewhere to hide my parents and Curtis while we take care of this…

The basement.

"Mom, Dad. Do you guys still have the key to the ballroom?"

Her father nodded

"Good. Hide in the basement; we'll handle this." Lysithea turned to Edelgard. "What now?"

Edelgard pointed with her axe.

"We need to keep the battle outside. I doubt they're after your parents; it's more likely they're after us, so wherever we are is where the fight will be. Lysithea, does anyone else know about the basement?" She shook her head. "Good. Then even if they do get in, your parents should be safe. Now let's go; everyone, in formation!"

Though the house had been surrounded; Edelgard was right; the attackers seemed to be after the Eagles and not House Ordelia, and a full-scale battle had ensued on the steps and front courtyard. Lysithea blasted an enemy soldier with Seraphim, knocking him unconscious. She kicked aside his sword as he fell to the ground in front of her.

Hang on. That's…

Emblazoned on his scabbard was a glyph of a circle within another. Linear protrusions on mirroring sides of the outer circle and of varying length made up the extent of the flourish.

The Crest of Goneril. That makes sense...they are our neighbors, after all.

She filed away the information before turning her attention back to the battle. In front of her, Caspar was fighting off two enemies at once, keeping them off of Petra, who had been knocked off her feet. Dorothea kneeled in front of her, trying to close the gushing wound on her side as quickly as possible. Lysithea scanned for any nearby enemies.

Good, I can spare a couple moments.

"Dorothea! Petra! Let me help out." She focused her mind on the still oozing wound and lay her hands over Dorothea's, augmenting her magic. The wound glowed green and the sides slowly began to anneal, closing the gaping hole and stemming the bleeding. Petra leaned back as it finished, groaning in pain.

"Thank you," she whispered. Lysithea nodded at Dorothea and they switched their attention back to firing spells at their enemies. Edelgard and Caspar had retreated to the top of the stairs, holding the front line while Lysithea, Dorothea, Bernadetta, Linhardt, and Hubert rained down attacks on any who braved the ascent. Deterred, the attackers gathered their wounded and retreated.

"Well, that was easier than expected. They definitely weren't expecting us to be ready." Edelgard winked at Lysithea. "Good thing you're such a pig and needed that snack!"

Lysithea glared at Edelgard, her eyes dripping with malice.

"Fine. Next time I'll just be all cushy in bed like the rest of you while we get snuck up on."

"Kidding, kidding." Everyone laughed, before the mood quickly turned somber. Pale moonlight illuminated furrowed brows and faces deep in thought, before Lysithea remembered what she had seen.

"Those attackers were from House Goneril; I saw the Crest on one of the scabbards."

"I figured." Edelgard sighed wearily. "It looks like we have no choice; the war will come to us regardless of where we are. I'm sorry that we brought this to your home, Lysithea. I had thought we had some time...but it's clear now that our enemies will allow us no reprieve." She turned to address the rest of the Eagles. "Everyone! The time for rest is over. We will not be jumped like this again. From now on, we will take the war to our enemies. We will fight for what we believe in: a unified Fodlan, with equal opportunities for all!"

A roar of assent greeted her. The war had truly begun.

Lysithea wiped her face, grime and rocks sticking to the back of her sleeve, before refocusing herself. A mounted knight was dashing towards her, and she smirked.

"Dark Spikes!" Fluorescing purple and black spikes crystallized from her fingertips and floated momentarily before redirecting towards the knight. It held its shield up, protecting himself from the spikes, but they changed course, diving downwards and stabbing at his mount's feet. The horse howled and bucked in agony, throwing the rider in its torment. He flew and hit a nearby tree trunk with a sickening crack. Lysithea closed her eyes.

I'll never get used to killing...even though it's been almost a year now.

She brushed a stray strand of hair out of her eyes. So much had happened in a year, and yet so little. Countless battles and skirmishes, and yet they had made almost no progress. The Kingdom and Alliance had held strong; the borders had remained steady, with no faction advancing on another.

And here we are. Another skirmish that will end in a stalemate, with lives lost for nothing. How much longer will this go on?

A battlecry shifted her attention towards a warrior dashing towards her. She sighed as she flipped her tome open once again.

Though, I guess practical application is the best way to learn magic...

"Argh!"

Lysithea rolled aside, dodging the wicked axe blade by a hair. Her opponent quickly pulled the axe from the dirt, readying another strike.

"You earned this, Lysithea. All of you, when you betrayed the Church!" He reared back, swinging his axe in a crushing arc once again.

"Miasma!" The familiar spell struck his axe, knocking it back towards the warrior with its force. Lysithea took the opportunity to step back and release another spell. "Luna!" A crescent of energy crashed into him, knocking him onto his back. Blood seeped into his pure white armor. Lysithea carefully stepped towards him.

"Alois...this isn't what we wanted. But Lady Rhea-"

"Don't speak her name," he hissed, propping himself back up. "You have no right to speak her name! After everything she did for Byleth, for each of you students, you betrayed her!" He discarded his axe and dashed forwards, catching Lysithea by surprise with his agility. She winced as he tackled her, his armor cracking her bones as they impacted the floor. She felt blood rising in her throat.

Great, that's probably a broken rib and a punctured lung.

Alois got up and shook his head sadly at her.

"All of you...had such great potential. If you all decided to work together with the Church, we could have unified Fodlan under it. Instead, your decisions have wrought this terrible war...how many lives have been lost because of your choices?" He turned and walked away, leaving Lysithea gasping for air. Hot pains stabbed her chest with each breath. She felt close to passing out, but each time her vision swam to black, a breath would force its way to her throat, and the knives would stab her chest once again.

She wondered how long she had been laying there before footsteps finally approached.

"Lysithea! Thank the gods you're alive," someone said. She wasn't sure who; her senses had been dulled, and she was in a state somewhere between lucidity and delirium. Her body writhed uncontrollably as someone placed their hands on her chest, before a warm, soothing energy began flowing through her. The pain began to subside enough, and she gratefully gave in to unconsciousness.

"Ugh, gross." Lysithea made a face before gulping down her medicine. She had been right in her self-diagnosis: four broken ribs, once of which had punctured her left lung. As a result, she had spent the last week in the infirmary tent. She brushed her hair aside before resting her head wearily on the cot, turning to look at the girl next to her.

Not a girl anymore, she reminded herself. It's been almost five years now...everyone's grown up around me. I have, too.

"How are you feeling today, Lysithea?"

"Better. Still hurts. Oh, and the medicine is still gross."

Edelgard chuckled.

"Better that than dying, though, right?"

Lysithea nodded.

"So what's the plan now?"

"Well…" Edelgard ran a hand through her hair. "You said you fought Alois in that last battle. We saw the other Knights of Seiros as well; but that battle was in Kingdom territory. So what were they doing all the way out there? I was curious why they would leave Garreg Mach, so I sent a scout. Turns out, Garreg Mach's been abandoned; apparently the Church is bunkering in with the Kingdom now. So...next, we're going to recapture Garreg Mach. According to the scout, it's completely empty. We'll clean it up and use it as a base of operations. Plus...it's 1185; and it's almost time for our anniversary of the ball…"

Lysithea laughed, and quickly regretted it as waves of pain wracked her again.

"I like your thinking. Though we should probably scout out the area more, just to be safe; it almost seems too good to be true."

"Of course. I'm sending additional scouts; I ordered them to actually walk through the gates to see if it is truly abandoned. With discretion, of course."

"Good. I really would like a real bed...not that I haven't enjoyed camping out with you all for five years. But a room...a bed. Sometimes I forget what those are like." Lyisthea sighed. "I'm just...so tired."

Edelgard smiled wearily back at her.

"I'm tired too, Lysithea. But we must keep fighting. Until we can't anymore, or until we win. How are you holding up? No...weird pains or anything?"

"No. The potion that they made to slow down my...condition...seems to be working."

"Good. I know it's not much, but it could be a potential first step to a cure."

Lysithea turned away, staring intently at the orange candle flame flickering beside the cot.

"Perhaps. All that matters is that I can fight with my all. For our goal…what was it again? It's been so long, I can hardly remember. Tell me again, Edelgard. Please."

Edelgard got up and stood next to Lysithea's, resting a hand gently on her back. Rough hands kneaded weary muscles as Edelgard talked slowly.

"We're going to create a unified Fodlan. A Fodlan under one leader, without the concept of nobility oppressing the common folk. A society where everyone will be given the opportunity to thrive based on their skills, not on the status of their birth. A country governed by the people, for the people. A Fodlan that I don't have to rule over as Emperor," she finished sadly. Lysithea placed her palm over Edelgard's and squeezed it tightly.

"Thank you, Edelgard. Sometimes...I just need to hear our dream out loud. So I can remind myself that there is a light at the end of the tunnel that is all this fighting...and what it might look like." She blinked and felt her eyes beginning to close. "Forgive me; I seem to be getting drowsy again…"

Edelgard patted her gently.

"Rest as much as you need."

Lysithea couldn't believe her eyes as her cot was wheeled past the entrance. Garreg Mach certainly looked abandoned. The once glorious front arch was crawling with weeds, stones missing or carved out from the great arch. The stones themselves looked as if they had lost their luster; layers of dirt and grime had accumulated, dulling them even under the blazing sun. Inside the monastery, the fields grew onto the paths, blades of grass reaching over the pavement and concrete. Doors were left open and belongings were scattered all throughout the grounds.

I wonder how long it's been since this place was abandoned...if only we knew about it sooner.

Lysithea's face twisted in pain as she was hauled off the cot and into one of the larger beds in the infirmary.

"Sorry, milady," the nurse said. "But this should be much more comfortable than the cot you've been on."

"Of course; don't worry about it." Lysithea leaned back onto her new bed.

Wow. This feels like sleeping on a cloud after five years spent camping…

She exhaled deeply, and, once again, bemoaned herself as her chest protested vigorously.

That's going to take some getting used to.

The Monastery was silent save for the chirping of crickets and the sound of her boots against the pavement.

It's been so long...being back here certainly brings back memories. She smiled as she passed by the boarded up dining hall, remembering their Friday lunches together. The fishing pond, where everyone gathered every couple months for a Flayn-inspired fishing contest, had seen better days; weeds and dirt covered the once-pristine water's surface, and Edelgard wondered if any aquatic life still survived in it. Their dorms, which were the one place that had signs of life; the Eagles had moved back into their old rooms, and the remaining rooms had been used to quarter as much of the army as possible. The training grounds, once so organized, now lay in disarray, weapons littering the floor and unmatched pieces of armor dispersed randomly on the racks. The once-proud cathedral, beautiful stained-glass windows now dusky and grimy with indifference. Edelgard sat down on a bench outside of the old classrooms, her mind drifting back to their times as students.

Was it only five years ago? It feels like an eternity...oh, how I long for those days. To have someone else lead, even if for a day…

Footsteps snapped her back to attention, and she leapt off the bench, drawing her axe in one fluid motion..

"Who's there," she said. "What do you want?" Her eyes roved towards the source of the sounds; they were coming from inside one of the classrooms. "I...it can't be…" She covered her mouth in shock as the figure emerged from the shadows. It was tall, clad in armor dark as night, and with a golden sword strapped to its waist. Its eyes were familiar dark-green orbs, exuding a gentle, compassionate aura. Atop its head stood a familiar, light green mop of hair, unkempt in just the way that she had always remembered.

"P-professor? Is that...is that really you?"

He nodded.

"I...I don't know how. But it is." He looked at his hands, as if he couldn't believe it himself. "Where is-"

Edelgard smiled. She knew who he was asking about.

"Follow me; I'll bring you to her."

Slower update this time; life has been hectic. First, my examination was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, then we were told to reschedule, then we were told that the earliest reschedule dates weren't until July or August, and then we were told that wasn't accurate. And now we're getting all this conflicting information about how our residency applications are going to be affected, so everything has been going crazy. On top of that, I had a big argument with my SO (we've been apart due to the pandemic), and couldn't visit each other to talk it out, so I've been pretty out of it for the past couple weeks due to that as well. AND, my parents were worried about how the U.S. is currently handling the pandemic, so last weekend I flew across the Pacific and back home to Taiwan, where I'm currently in a government mandated 14 day quarantine where I can't leave my room.

Anyways, I decided to finally do the timeskip; I hated doing it this way, but if I really wanted to cover five years of war, this story would never end. I also debated for a while who I wanted the surprise attackers to be; I was stuck between choosing between simply having them be a different faction and using it to segue into the timeskip, or having them be a small force of Slitherers. Obviously, I ended up choosing to have them simply be from the Alliance. I had a couple drafts where they were Slitherers, but I couldn't write a plausible explanation from Edelgard where she would be able to give Lysithea a satisfactory answer without spilling the beans (Lysithea is too smart XD). The short excerpts from during the war were also important in my mind to establish that everyone was running in place, as well as the toll that the constant fighting without anything to show for it was taking on the mental state of the Eagles. When you fight for so long, with so little progress, it's easy to forget what your goal is, like Lysithea here. And, of course, we have Byleth's return; the game never really explains a mechanism for why he was able to return (or maybe I missed it? if I did, I'd love if someone could explain that to me), so I'm probably going to leave that alone (I haven't written much, if any of this story from his point of view, anyways).

I chose macarons for this title because they're annoyingly difficult and time consuming to make. I've tried them multiple times and only really succeeded once; my frustration made me think of them when I thought about a dessert to represent this long, drawn-out war. If anyone does try to make macarons, make sure you follow the recipe exactly. No cutting corners, or your macarons may end up lumpy, soft, or just plain bad.

BrandedKing: I really wanted to emphasize with that game of tag that these are still a bunch of teenagers, and with the looming timeskip, it was really the last chance to do so. I'm glad you enjoyed it!

MathAtMidnight: As I mentioned before, I thought it's important to establish just how young these students are. So often in JRPGs we have 17-18 year olds running around with the burden to save the world, and I just wanted to have a chapter where they could be kids. Goodness knows what I was doing when I was 17-18; it definitely didn't involve saving the world. Thanks for the well-wishes!

As always, please R&R, enjoy, and stay safe out there! I know the U.S. is starting to reopen, so if you do go outside, remember to follow all the suggestions and wear a mask!

-elementaryprincess