Now for more Bernie-Bear and Secret Seller. And a very unusual cameo for an FE game/fic.

Chapter 20 – Commoner Friends (Verdant Rain Moon)

Bernadetta whimpered as she slipped out of the dining hall with a bowl full of Vegetable Stir-Fry, trying her best to avoid being noticed. The dining hall was full of people looking for lunch, so she knew some people had to be looking at her, but she hoped they wouldn't care.

As soon as she cleared the hedgerow and made it to the stairwell north of the dining hall, Bernadetta sighed in relief.

And then she squeaked loudly as a friendly voice said, "Hello, Bern."

Bernadetta knew it was Dorothea who said it, but in her panic, she whipped around and said, "Oh no! What did I do this time? Did I offend you? Is this your revenge?"

Knowing Bernadetta was simply being antsy, Dorothea said calmly, "No, not at all. I just want to talk."

"If you promise not to resort to violence, I'll do whatever you want. I'll let you have my food! A-And I'll let you copy my notes! I–"

Placing a hand on Bernadetta's head before the panicky girl could react, Dorothea said, "Bern, I've just been worried about you. That's all." She gave the girl a soft pat on the head, which seemed to calm her down. Dorothea then added, "When I said I was your friend, you ran away, saying something about your father. Remember?"

"Um… Vaguely…"

"I know you've lived through some bad times. Believe me, I've lived through a lot. If you could tell me about it, maybe I could help?"

Bernadetta looked down at her feet. She was clearly uncertain about revealing her past.

"Oh, I don't know…" Bernadetta said nervously as she looked back up to see Dorothea giving her a warm smile.

"Please. Your father's not here now. Whatever it is, you're safe to tell me."

"All right… but not here, okay? I wanna get back to my room."

Dorothea gave a comforting nod and followed Bernadetta back to her room. As soon as they were in, Dorothea slowly shut the door behind them, knowing Bernadetta would want some privacy. Bernadetta seated herself on her bed as she wolfed down a forkful of her stir-fry. Deciding to give the girl a moment, Dorothea took the opportunity to look around Bernadetta's room. It was filled with stuffed animals, sewing needles and thread, a pitcher plant, and a painting of a vast landscape. The diva's curiosity was piqued by all this, but she decided to leave it for another time.

Gulping down her meal, Bernadetta set aside her bowl and said, "D-Don't get mad at me for what I'm gonna say, okay? You gotta promise me, Dorothea!"

"I promise I won't get mad at you, Bern."

"Okay…" Bernadetta took a deep breath, and then said, "You see… My parents told me never to befriend a commoner. They said commoners are scum and that they'd crush any that tried to come near me."

Dorothea was taken aback by this and said, "H-Hang on. Scum?! They called me—I mean commoners—they called us scum?!"

"Ahh! You promised you wouldn't get mad!"

"I… Sorry, I guess I sounded like I was. But seriously, your parents think commoners are scum?"

"Yeah. But once, a long time ago, I did secretly make friends with one… a boy. He was the assistant to the gardener at our estate. He was gentle, trustworthy… and, well, the only person who had ever been nice to me when I was little. B-But…"

Dorothea watched as Bernadetta's eyes began to water. Almost dreading to ask, Dorothea said, "What happened? Bern?"

"When my father found out about him, he disappeared the next day…" Bernadetta's tears began to flow as she stammered, "I-I heard he was found beaten half to death. I never saw him again."

Dorothea's eyes went wide in horror at hearing such an appalling story. She had heard stories about Count Varley being an unpleasant man and was thankful she had never met him, but to hear of him doing something as despicable as this from his own daughter almost felt unreal.

"B-Bern… I… I'm so sorry…"

"E-Ever since then, I've been terrified of making friends with anyone. C-Commoners, especially. So please, Dorothea, don't–"

Bernadetta stopped as Dorothea wrapped her arms around the purple-haired girl in a deep hug.

Then, in as comforting a tone as possible, Dorothea said, "I'm proud to be your commoner friend, Bernie!"

Bernadetta couldn't take this. She was nearly screaming in sorrow at such a declaration as she buried her face in Dorothea's large bosom.

"WAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH! DOROTHEAAAAA!"

"Hey, hey now, relax. There's nothing to bawl about."

"B-But my father… If h-he finds out a-about you, he'll…"

"If your dad tried to hurt me, I'd return the favor and then some."

Bernadetta made a choking sob as she looked up and asked, "R-Return… the f-favor?"

Nodding, Dorothea said, "When I was in the opera, you better believe I had run-ins with the most wicked, terrible men. I survived kidnappings, attempted murders, men who wanted to use my body as their toy."

"T-Their toy…?" It took a moment for Bernadetta to realize what this meant, at which she said, "O-Oh…"

Then, with a big smile, Dorothea said, "But you know what? I broke those guys' arms. Snap! It was a thank-you for all the trouble they went through trying to hurt me."

Dorothea knew she was embellishing it a bit. She had only ever broken one man's arms, and it had been with the help of an iron bar. She had dealt with all the others using her magic.

"R-Really?" Dorothea nodded to this, so Bernadetta said, "Y-You're incredible, Dorothea."

"So, now that you know I can defend myself, can we be friends, Bern?"

Sniffling, Bernadetta smiled as she said, "A-All right. Yeah. Yeah!"

"And since we're now friends, how's about we celebrate the occasion?"

"H-Huh? C-Celebrate? How?"

"I know this great store in town that has all kinds of stuffed animals for sale. You wanna go pick one out?"

"R-Really? B-But the market's so scary! So many people in it…"

"Don't worry, Bern. No one's gonna try to hurt you. I'll be there. It'll be fine."

"W-Well, okay… I g-guess I could…"

Enthusiastically, Dorothea grabbed Bernadetta by the wrist and said, "Great! Let's go!"

Shocked, Bernadetta said in protest, "H-Huh? You mean right now?! Wait, I'm not ready! AHH! DOROTHEAAA!"

Her protests were fruitless, however, as Dorothea dragged her by the hand to the market.

…

Bernadetta gasped for breath as though her life depended on it once the two reached Anna's shop. Thankfully, no one else but the redheaded owner was in.

"Oh… Why me…?" Bernadetta groaned.

In a tone of comfort, Dorothea said, "Bern, it's okay. You're fine. Just calm down."

Coming out from her storage room, Anna said, "Hey, Dorothea! How'd By like that watch I sold you?"

"She loved it, Anna. Oh, this is Bernadetta. She's in my class. I was hoping to let her pick one of your stuffed animals."

"Nice to meet you, Bern."

Anna stuck her hand out toward Bernadetta, something which the purple-haired girl perceived as a threat.

"AH! Stay back! Please don't hurt me!"

"Huh?" Anna said, flabbergasted by Bernadetta's panic.

"Bernie, it's okay." Turning back to Anna, Dorothea said in a whisper, "She's usually like this."

"Uh huh. Is she just the neurotic type or is she dealing with some kind of deep-seated trauma?"

Caught off guard by Anna's intelligent question, Dorothea said, "Uh, um… maybe a little bit of both? More the second one. Her father's a real monster."

"Yeah, and who's her father?"

"Count Varley, in the Empire."

"Wait, THE Count Varley?! I've heard all kinds of nasty stories about him. I hear he once beat a little kid within an inch of his life just for trying to be friendly to… his…"

Anna stopped as she noticed Bernadetta's eyes beginning to well up with tears. She turned back to Dorothea, who gave her an affirmative look.

"Oh." Wincing, Anna said, "I've put my foot in my mouth, haven't I?"

"You didn't know."

"Oh, I feel just awful about bringing that up. So sorry, kiddo."

Bernadetta said nothing to this, but her sniffles were enough of a reply.

"Lemme tell you, parents like that make me sick," said Anna. "All they give a damn about is marrying off their kids and getting grandkids with Crests so they can rake in the benefits. I can relate, Bernie, I really can."

"T-Thanks for saying so, Miss Anna," Bernadetta whimpered.

"Hey, just call me Anna. Now how's about you have a look at my selection of stuffies?" Placing a finger to her cheek with her usual smile, she added, "I'll even give you one half-off!"

"Really?" Bernadetta perked up at hearing this.

"Sure! But just for the first one. Everything else is at full price."

Bernadetta happily made her way to Anna's bin full of stuffed animals. Dorothea smiled as the purple-haired recluse took particular interest in one critter that resembled a brown mushroom with large oval-shaped feet, big beady eyes, a pair of thick eyebrows, and cute little fangs sprouting up from the lower jaw.

As Bernadetta did this, Dorothea turned back to Anna upon realizing something.

"Hey, Anna? What did you mean when you said, 'I can relate'?"

"Huh? D-Did I say that?" Anna said nervously. "Nope, nope! You must've… must've heard me wrong."

"Oh no, I did not hear you wrong, Anna! You said you could relate to Bernie's upbringing. What did you mean by that?"

"I… um… ugh, me and my big fat mouth…"

"You're not secretly a noble, are you?" Dorothea asked coyly.

"No! No, I'm not!" Anna snapped, to which Dorothea recoiled in surprise and Bernadetta squeaked in fear. Then, calming down, Anna said, "I'm not a noble, and I never wanna be. Now are you gonna buy something?"

Deciding it would be best to leave the subject for another time, Dorothea nodded and went to help Bernadetta pick out her purchase. Once the redhead had a sum of gold in her hand, she smiled as she waved the two out of her shop, with Bernadetta now in possession of the strange mushroom-like stuffy.

As the door to her shop closed, Anna scowled and said to herself, "I never wanna be one again…"

I originally had this support conversation heavily edited to make Count Varley look more evil, but after the Cindered Shadows DLC came out, I had to change it back to being more like the game version.

Anyway, who here liked the cameo?