Maybe I had this one too all-over-the-place.

Chapter 18 – The Veterans (Verdant Rain Moon)

Dorothea waved goodbye to another one-time date as the student left her presence. Yet again, she found him wanting; this one had been far too concerned with improving his minor family's status. It was just the kind of thing Dorothea disliked.

Deciding to try again another time, the diva made her way down the stairwell to the entrance hall and, to her curiosity, saw Byleth conversing with an elderly orange-haired knight.

"I may have slowed a step in recent years, but I pledge to you the full extent of my abilities," said the elderly knight.

Shaking the knight's hand, Byleth said, "It's a pleasure to meet you, Sir Gilbert."

"No, Professor. The pleasure is all mine, I assure you."

The name rang a bell in Dorothea's head. Gilbert was easily one of the oldest knights in the Church of Seiros, and one of the few Crusaders of Seiros. Each Crusader was handpicked by Rhea for their bravery, skill, and devotion, so Gilbert had to be quite the warrior.

At that moment, Gilbert took notice of Dorothea and asked, "Is she one of your students, Professor Eisner?"

Byleth turned to see Dorothea and said, "Yes, Dorothea's a first-year in my class. She's one of our mages."

"I see." Turning to Dorothea, Gilbert said, "I was simply explaining to your Professor that I am to be accompanying your class on its assignment this month. With the thieves having the Lance of Ruin in their possession, we cannot be too careful."

"Well, that's reassuring," said Dorothea.

"Catherine's also going to be joining us on this," said Byleth. "Rhea insisted that she be on the mission."

"Then I guess we don't have anything to worry about."

As Gilbert smiled warmly at Dorothea, the conversation was interrupted by an energetic shout.

"FATHER!"

Startled, the three turned to see Annette standing some distance from them with a look of utter joy on her face.

"F-Father?" Dorothea said in surprise.

She looked back at Gilbert, then at Annette, and then at Gilbert again, with Byleth mimicking her stare. She began to see the resemblance.

Annette broke into a run and shouted, "Father, it's really you! I've been looking everywhere for– GAHCK!"

Dorothea winced loudly as Annette's leg struck a box and sent her tumbling to the floor. It was quite a nasty fall for the orange-haired girl.

"Ahh… Who put that box there?" Annette whined as she tried to push herself up. She looked up at Gilbert as she did.

There was a moment of silence. Gilbert did nothing as Annette stared at her.

"F-Father?"

"Annie, are you okay?" Dorothea asked as she rushed over to the girl.

"Y-Yeah, I'll be – OW!"

Annette yelped as she lifted her left leg and fell back to the floor on her side. Dorothea immediately knelt down to look at her leg; she had probably sprained her ankle.

As Dorothea did this, Gilbert briskly turned to Byleth and said, "If you will excuse me."

Gilbert then turned to leave, but only took a few steps before Annette said, "Father, wait! Don't you recognize me? Father!"

Gilbert did not stop. As soon as he was out of sight, Annette's eyes began to water.

"Father…"

Byleth knelt next to Dorothea as she asked, "Annette, is Sir Gilbert–"

"Yes, yes, he is! I know it's him! But why… why didn't he say anything?"

"Annie…" Dorothea said in concern.

"I have to see him. I have to – AGH!"

Annette had tried to get up again, but again her leg gave out under her. Byleth caught her before she could hit the floor a third time.

"You need to go to the infirmary," Byleth said calmly.

"No, it's not that serious! I'll be – WHAA?!"

To both Annette's and Dorothea's surprise, Byleth swiftly scooped the orange-haired girl into her arms.

"There will be plenty of time for you to speak to him after we get your leg checked."

"B-But I…"

"Professor Byleth's right, Annie," said Dorothea. "You can talk to him later, but right now you need to see Manuela."

Realizing she wasn't going to win the argument, Annette sniffled and said, "O-Okay…"

Byleth then carried Annette off to find the physician, leaving Dorothea in the entrance hall alone. As soon as Byleth was out of eyesight, the diva frowned, spun on her heel, and strode off after the elderly knight.

She didn't make it far before a blonde-haired prince stood in her path.

"Ah, Dorothea," said Dimitri. "Are you in some kind of hurry?"

"Prince Dimitri," Dorothea answered curtly. "Actually, I was, so could you please…"

"You were off to give Gustave a piece of your mind, is that it?"

"Gustave? Who's–"

"Oh, my apologies. You never knew him as Gustave. I refer to Sir Gilbert."

"Well, yes. You were watching, I presume?" Dimitri nodded, so Dorothea said, "Who does he think he is leaving Annie like that when she's hurt? And after she's been looking for him all this time?"

"It's… rather complicated, I'm afraid."

"No, it isn't. He's her father. He should be helping her when she's hurt. Instead he just walks off like she doesn't even exist. Why would he do that?"

"You have to understand, Gilbert and Annette have not seen each other in almost five years now. Before he became a Knight of Seiros, Gilbert was in service to my father, and as my instructor in the art of war."

"So? That's no reason for him to–"

"Gilbert was not at my father's side when… when he died in Duscur. He's felt responsible for my father's death ever since. He renounced his title and joined the Knights of Seiros for what I can only assume is a means of atonement. But even before then, Gilbert always put his duty before his family. He was… not always there for Annette when she was a child."

Dorothea turned her gaze away from Dimitri. She let out a loud sigh of frustration, and then asked, "Prince Dimitri, can I ask you something?"

"Yes, of course."

"What was it like… having parents?"

"Pardon?"

"It must have been wonderful, having people who loved you and cared for you ever since you were born… I never got that."

"You didn't?"

"I'm an orphan, you see. My mother died when I was barely old enough to remember her, and my father…" Realizing the stare Dimitri was giving her, she looked back at him and added, "I don't want to talk about him."

"I see. My apologies, I–"

"You didn't do anything wrong. I just… I envy you. And not just you, but anyone else I see with their parents, parents who love them and care for them. I can't help but be jealous. Until I joined the Mittelfrank Opera Company, no one cared for me. No one would've wept if I had been hurt or killed or… All I had was myself."

Dorothea paused for a moment, giving Dimitri a chance to say something. The prince was at a loss for words.

Turning away from Dimitri, Dorothea said spitefully, "Annette deserves to have a loving father who cares for her. Not that pitiful old excuse of a knight."

Dorothea was about to storm off when Dimitri grabbed her by the arm. She winced as Dimitri's grip tightened enough for it to hurt just a bit.

She whipped back around to look at Dimitri as he said, rather crossly, "I'll ask that you not speak of him in such a way, Dorothea. Gilbert is one of the finest knights in Fódlan."

Not wanting to show any weakness, Dorothea jerked her arm away from Dimitri as she said, "That doesn't make him a good father."

Dorothea then stormed off as Dimitri's face softened.

…

It was after Dorothea had reached the training grounds that she stopped and sighed, relieved that Dimitri hadn't reacted as badly as she had expected.

"Talk about killing your chances with His Highness," said a joking voice.

Startled, Dorothea spun around to see Claude chuckling at her.

"Claude!" said Dorothea. Realizing he had been watching, she quickly recomposed herself and said, "You don't look too displeased by what I said to him. Were you, perhaps, worried that I might've asked him out first?"

"No offense, Dorothea, but you're not really my type."

"Really?"

Dorothea gave Claude a sly smile as she sauntered over to him, each step made with an alluring sway of her hips. Upon reaching the leader of the Golden Deer, Dorothea leaned forward in a move that had made men swoon over her countless times.

"Do you mind telling me what your 'type' is, Claude?" Dorothea asked seductively.

"Ah-ah, that'd be one of my many secrets," Claude replied, completely unphased by Dorothea's flirting. "If I were to tell you that, you'd have to tell me something about yourself. Something you're not so ready to share."

"H-Huh?" Dorothea's attempt to rope in the future sovereign duke stopped as Claude smiled at her look of confusion.

"You want to know something about this boy, girl?" said an unfamiliar woman's voice, one that caused Claude's face to light up in alarm. "He's not nearly as smart as he thinks he is."

As Claude spun around, Dorothea looked at the woman approaching them. She was tall with blue eyes and a similar skin tone to Claude's, with a high ponytail that draped over her right shoulder. She wore a tan and green regalia that clearly showed her noble heritage yet wore it in a way that exposed her ample cleavage. A slender sword was strapped to her thigh, unlike the ones normally used by the Knights. For a moment, Dorothea thought this woman could have been Claude's mother, but then saw she bore a different coat of arms than Claude did on her right arm.

"Judith?! What are you doing here?" Claude said to the woman.

"That's Lady Judith to you, boy," said Judith. "I told you, until you're in charge, I expect you to address me with all due respect. Anyway, I'm here to retrieve you. Duke Riegan's condition has taken a turn for the worse."

"Duke Riegan?" asked Dorothea. "You mean Claude's father?"

"Grandfather," Claude corrected. Turning back to Judith, he asked, "Are you saying the old man's on his death bed?"

"No, it's not that bad," said Judith. "But in the state he's in, he won't be able to participate in the next roundtable conference. He wants you to go in his stead. I volunteered to play the messenger."

"Well, thanks for that." Turning back to Dorothea, Claude added, "Oh, and Dorothea, this is Judith. Also known as the Hero of House Daphnel."

"So, you're one of little Claude's friends, are you? How much trouble has he been giving all of you?"

"Oh, I'd say… plenty of it," Dorothea said coyly.

Ignoring this, Claude said, "If her nickname didn't give it away, you should know that Judith… er, Lady Judith is the leader of the famous House Daphnel of the Leicester Alliance. She used to be a big deal at the roundtable conferences, but it seems of late she's been reduced to a mere–"

"You had better shut that mouth before I put my boot in it, you tactless nuisance!" Judith snapped. "Now come on. Let's get going."

"All right, all right. Just let me grab a few things first from my room, would you, Judith?"

As Claude took off for his quarters, Judith said crossly, "It's Lady…" Claude was out of earshot by the time she spoke, so she sighed and said, "Ah, I suppose you are the active leader for the time being. Fair enough, boy. Fair enough." Then, turning back to Dorothea, she added, "Sorry, dear, but I'll need to borrow your boyfriend for a bit."

Caught off guard, Dorothea blushed as she said, "W-What? Boyfriend?! Oh, nononono! We're not–"

Judith laughed at this and said, "Oh, I know. Don't take it personally, he's got… different tastes in girls."

Dorothea noticed Judith motioning in Claude's direction, so she turned to see Claude had almost run straight into Petra at that moment. They couldn't hear what he was saying, but it was clear that Claude spoke in a flirtatious tone as he apologized to the Brigid princess.

Judith smirked at this and said, "Ah, young love." As Dorothea continued to blush at such a thought, Judith asked, "What's your name, girl?"

"Me? Oh, I'm Dorothea. Dorothea Arnault. Part of the Black Eagles."

"Is that so? Well, good on you for getting into the Academy."

"Oh, um, thank you, Lady Judith."

"No need for you to be that courteous, kiddo. I only make Claude do it to teach the boy some manners." Then, to Dorothea's surprise, Judith asked, "How good are you with a sword?"

"E-Excuse me?"

"What, are you hard of hearing? How are you with a weapon, girl?"

"I, well, um…"

Judith took this opportunity to walk over to a nearby weapon rack, grabbing two wooden practice swords and throwing one of them to Dorothea, who nearly dropped the weapon.

"How's about you show me how well the academy's been teaching you?"

Dorothea gulped loudly as Judith took a graceful fighting stance.

And within a few seconds, Dorothea groaned as she found herself flat on her back.

Yeah, Dorothea currently sucks with a sword, but she'll get better. And Annette is still tripping over boxes and barrels.