Please note, if you're very attached to the idea of certain parts of canon (avatar's age, a particular route's ending) then I will say you probably won't be able to get into this fic. I want to restate this has heavy canon divergence. The fact that there are two Byleths should tip that off, but in case it didn't—this isn't a direct novelization of the game.
The shrill, echoing voice registered even before Bylara had processed the ubiquitous inkiness in the unknown space. Byleth stood beside her, unfazed by the turn of events. "What were you thinking?"
The voice was young, belonging to a girl she was sure she had never set eyes on before, and yet knew instantly from her brother's past recounting. Hands on her hips, she floated several inches off the ground, an impressive scowl marring her round face. Bushy emerald-colored hair hung down past her hips with two thick braids entwined with pink and white ribbon tucked behind sharply pointed ears.
Her head was adorned with an elaborate golden headpiece befitting royalty. Though the heart-shaped design across her forehead had an endearing, sweet quality. "What did you hope to accomplish with that little stunt!" she continued.
As she came closer, hovering around them in an agitated circle, Bylara thought she felt the billowing navy dress brush her leg. "It's like you're trying to get yourselves killed! Get me killed!" After the heavy rush of air falling past her lips evened, she seemed to take a break, composing herself just as quickly as she had flown into a rage.
Bylara quirked a brow, glancing at Byleth, who was tilting his head and calmly watching the girl. Seeing her chance, she spoke up, "Excuse me…but where…no, who are you exactly?"
Byleth had described her, but even he never indicated her identity. And now that she knew beyond a doubt that the girl in his head wasn't a lucid figment of his imagination—and it was very unlike him to be so imaginative in the first place—she needed some answers.
She'd thought it was a reasonable enough question. But when the floating girl's previously relaxed shoulders squared again and she cast her a long, sharp look of those big, green eyes, Bylara felt surprisingly small.
She was comparatively shorter than the men of her family, than the men of the camp and, well, smaller than a lot of people. However, she had definite height over this girl, although at the moment it didn't really feel like it.
"Who am I?!" she scoffed, round eyes growing rounder. "Who I am has no bearing in this matter!" She said it with such finality that Bylara didn't dare push.
Her brother leaned over to whisper. "She doesn't seem to know. It's a bit of a touchy subject."
Noted.
"Don't whisper about me as if I'm not standing, er, floating right here!" The girl admonished. Squinting, she floated right into Bylara's face. "I see. You are undoubtedly the sister Byleth has mentioned. To look at the two of you side by side is to view two sides of the same coin."
Because she appeared to have calmed, and because she seemed so pleased with the rather (obvious) observation, Bylara said nothing, and attention was turned back toward her brother. "You were reckless. Needlessly so. But, it's fine."
Bylara blinked. Then why had it caused such anger initially?
"After all, if you don't know the value of your lives, how are you going to be motivated to protect it? It looks as though it's up to me to guide you both from now on. Right?"
When she opened her mouth, ready with more questions, Byleth discreetly placed a hand to her wrist, and she quieted herself. He knew this girl better than her, and she trusted his judgement. "You can call me Sothis."
The name rang with a brief jolt of distant familiarity that died away like a smothered ember. "But I am also known as The Beginning." Sothis grinned, smug and childish. Shortly afterward her brows puckered. "Hmm…"
"You've remembered." Byleth stated.
"Sothis…" the young girl murmured. "Yes, that's it. I'm sure of it now. My name is Sothis. And I am also called The Beginning." As her eyes slipped close and she continued to speak lowly, the twins remained silent. "But who once called me that?"
"So it's only your name you've remembered," her brother ventured.
Sothis gave an absent nod, floating back over to the throne Bylara had only just noticed. It sat raised on a dias, white stone cut far above Sothis' head and wide enough for her to curl up on. "Yes, how odd."
What a strange person. If person was even an accurate description. She was no monster from the camp stories that she was long past being frightened of, but there was a swell of power surrounding her that made it clear they were not in the presence of a mortal child.
Sothis caught her looking. "That look upon your face…" she pointed directly at Bylara, so there could be no mistake who she was talking to. "Did you think me a child?" she demanded, young voice rising. "A mere child who had forgotten her own name?!" She slammed her small fist down on the throne. "That child just saved your life!" Eyes glittering, voice dripping scorn, she asked. "And what does that make you?"
"She meant no harm," Byleth interjected.
Ignoring him, Bylara stepped forward slightly. "Are you saying you find me less than a child?"
Sothis smirked. "Hmph, he did say you were smart."
Just who was this girl? Her delicate appearance certainly belied her cheek and bossy personality.
"I'm not sure you're in a place to make that judgement," she mumbled, ducking her head.
She heard Sothis gasp, felt indignation waft from her. "You risked your lives to save just one girl. It was impetuous and childish." she sneered. "I stalled the flow of time, otherwise you would have died."
Stopping time should have been impossible, but then so should this meeting. And before opening her eyes to find herself standing in an abyss of nothingness, there had been a shift in the space around them, an inward pull above her navel that made her feel displaced even though she'd been standing still. "So time is paused now. And no one knows but us."
"Yes, that's correct,"
"Thank you," Byleth bowed.
They watched the girl's cheeks flush with glee. "There's the appropriate response of gratitude. I did deem you worth saving."
It was hard to keep track of her fluctuating mood, but it was true they would have both been grievously injured or according to Sothis, dead, in that moment.
Axe wounds bled fast, cut deep, and if survived, had a long recovery period. In spite of being mercenaries and always vaguely thinking they would die how they lived, Bylara couldn't say taking an axe to the stomach was her favored way to go.
"Come to think of it, how did I manage this? Have I always had this power?" their savior wondered aloud.
"Sothis, if you don't mind me asking, what becomes of us when time resumes?"
"The axe cuts you both down and you meet gruesome ends, naturally."
Hearing that had Bylara cringing away as if Sothis were wielding the axe herself, Byleth cutting the small girl a sharp look.
"How rude of you to drag me into this." she sighed, pressing a hand to her cheek and cocking her head. "What am I supposed to do?"
"We can't stay here," Byleth noted. "Wherever here happens to be." Yes, time was meant to march on. Living trapped in a bubble of stagnation was liable to drive them mad before long.
Figuring they were being consulted on a possible solution, Bylara racked her brain. Time only ever moved in one direction: forward. Sothis had stopped it effortlessly, instinctually. Surely if that were possible…
"Could you not…reverse it?" she offered up, unsure of herself even as she said it. The idea wasn't immediately shot down.
If anything Sothis' eyes were alight with possibilities. "Turning back the hands of time? Hm…" With a wave of her arms, a soft yellow glow of magic in the shape of a rune circle lit up between them and their new acquaintance. "I do believe it can be done!" Still smiling, but more subdued, she said, "You really are quite troublesome."
Bylara only huffed, having her fill of being scolded by a "child". "I cannot turn time back too far, but all is well. You know what is to come so you can protect yourselves this time."
"We'll make the most of your generosity," Byleth promised. Whether because he had met her first and was immune to her snark, or because nothing fazed him anyhow, her brother knew exactly how to handle the moody and mysterious Sothis.
She nodded minutely in agreeance.
"Then bearers of the flames within, drift throw the flow of time for the answers you seek!"
"How crypt—" There was no time to finish the comment, the inward pull above her navel registering again, signaling Sothis' powers in effect.
A flutter of her eyes and they were back, faced with the decision of how to protect themselves and the girl once more.
In the span of a second, a plan formed between them with Byleth snatching the white-haired girl from the path of danger and leaving her to face the raging brigand.
"You'll die!" he bellowed, the clash of his weapon meeting hers grating to the ear.
"Hah!" Bylara shoved upwards with ferocity, and the axe went flying along with the man behind it. Chunking through earth, the sharp metal stuck, and the leader flopped pathetically on his back, wincing as his previous injuries caught up with him.
They had let him live the first time, the reasoning being that they could interrogate him and see who had paid him to hunt down three people who were clearly important. Something nearly primal sang for blood, and Bylara considered finishing him off and being done with it. In another time, he would have done the same to them.
"Hey!" The cheerful shout broke through the shroud of gray on her thoughts. From her peripheral view, Bylara could see the other two approaching, unharmed.
Standing together, the five teenagers silently basked in their victory, slow smiles worming their way onto everyone's face. Even Byleth was indulging in one of his rarer unguarded moments of contentment.
"Whew! That got kind of intense, huh?" Claude laughed. "But you two probably could have taken them all on by yourselves."
"That's…a definite exaggeration." Bylara quietly disagreed, sheathing her blade, her brother doing the same.
The gallop of hoofbeats drew near, Jeralt reappearing with an unreadable look in his eyes. "Hey. Did you just…"
"The Knights of Seiros are here! We'll cut you down for terrorizing our students!"
More people? A man in the shiny armor of a knight with a boisterous voice that boomed over the area and a thin mustache came charging toward them, and with his appearance the thieves picked up their unconscious leader and began to flee. "Hey! The thieves are getting away!" he cried, "After them!"
While his men pursued the runaway bandits, he stomped over to them, all smiles, as if he had done some great deed in assisting them. "Ah, you're unharmed." A single piece of his short brown hair fell into his face, his gray eyes sweeping over them all to land on Byleth and herself. "And you are?"
Her brother's response was swift and flat. "The ones who helped your students."
Behind them, their father dismounted his horse and groaned. Groaned. Sounding worse than Byleth being woken from a particularly deep sleep. "Ugh, not him…"
'Not him?' The day wasn't over, but it had become a tumble of strange turns one after another.
The knight began to gush over Jeralt, making it hard to believe they didn't know each other. She couldn't help but lean forward in interest. They hardly knew about their father's past. It wasn't a topic he volunteered much about, and they had learned to stopped asking in childhood. The man, introducing himself as Alois, was doing a wonderful job filling them in.
"Old right-hand man?" Byleth repeated.
"He called Father captain…" Bylara remarked.
And, eighteen years had passed? Always knew he was alive? Just what…was their relationship.
"You haven't changed a bit Alois. You're still too loud," Jeralt rubbed a hand down his face. "And drop the captain bit. I'm not your captain anymore."
The curiosity was too much, and like a stray given a piece of fat to gnaw on, Bylara couldn't let it go. "But you used to be?"
Jeralt rewarded her with a flat glare. "These days I'm just a wandering mercenary. One who has work to do." he slowly emphasized every word. "Good-bye, old friend."
Alois frowned. "Good-bye, captain." Though she didn't know the man, Bylara felt a thimble-sized amount of pity. Jeralt was so disinterested in even talking and the man did appear genuine about being excited to see him again.
"Wait, no, this isn't a time for good-byes!" he declared. "I insist that you all come back to the monastery with us. You saved students, after all!"
Their destination had been the Kingdom, and their band wasn't known for unnecessary detours if it could be avoided. She looked to her father, expecting he would know what Alois meant. "The monastery?"
Byleth stroked his chin. "That sounds…religious."
"Yes," Jeralt paled, "I suppose this was inevitable. Garreg Mach Monastery."
Alois beamed, hands on his hips as he nodded toward she and her twin. "And you kids? Are you the captain's children?"
They shrugged in unison, Bylara effecting an innocent mien. "He is but a stranger to us, traveling in the same direction."
Jeralt rolled his eyes, the beginning of a smirk forming.
Alois clenched his stomach in a belly laugh. "Great sense of humor, kid! Clearly cut from the same cloth as the captain." There were many reasons Bylara had always admired her father, but she had never considered him a humorous man. Alois's bright grin would beg to disagree though. Well, she thought, to each their own.
In a blink Jeralt was reluctantly following behind the talkative man, both of them taking their men along with them.
"Now your skill makes sense. Your father is Jeralt, former Captain of the Knights of Seiros? They say he is the strongest knight to have ever lived. The legendary Blade Breaker?" The girl asked, impressed.
Behind the façade of mild surprise, Bylara could feel her jaw mentally dropping. Her father was the who? True, he wasn't one to wrap himself in fancy titles, but it would seem like he would've wanted to at least tell them the bare minimum. Apparently not.
"About the only thing you said I can confirm is that he's our father," Bylara snorted. There was an immense amount of explaining he needed to do. "Blade Breaker? Captain? He never said anything about…"
"He doesn't make it a habit to discuss his past with us," Byleth shrugged. "So this is the first we're learning of all that."
Although that got them some odd looks from the colorful trio, the female of the group nodded slowly. "I see. Well, I believe proper introductions are in order. I am Edelgard von Hresvelg. We are not ordinary students, you might say. I am the Adrestian Empire's princess." She curtseyed.
That was…well, less surprising that it probably should have been. Everything had suggested Edelgard, as they now knew her name to be, wasn't just some girl. Her appearance, the way she carried herself, and now her position. Bylara spared her brother a brief glance. He was intently watching the others, his mind no doubt latching onto each new piece of information like a steel trap.
"And the two of you are nobles as well, no doubt," Bylara stated, daring them to claim otherwise.
Claude grinned wide, folding his hands behind his head. "You could say that. I'm Claude von Riegan. I'm a student at the Officers Academy at Garreg Mach Monastery along with Edelgard and Dimitri."
Edelgard nodded while the one in blue, Dimitri, looked at them sheepishly from beneath his fringe of blonde.
It was almost as if he suspected that hearing his name would draw some sort of negative reaction from them, there was a flash of something in those soft blue eyes Bylara couldn't place. A downturn to his long, angular face that was sullen with the weight of a secret.
Then it was replaced by a sincere-enough smile as he bowed to them more formally than anyone ever had before. "It is a pleasure. We were doing training excercises when those bandits appeared and attacked in a swarm."
"I definitely got the worst of it." Claude added, running a hand through his short brown hair.
"That would be because you ran off." Edelgard pointed out, an unsympathetic frown on her lips.
So bluntly being accused of running away from danger, Bylara would have been a bit hesitant to come out and agree were she in Claude's position, but he answered without missing a beat, the same lazy grin in place. "Too true! I was the first to make a strategic retreat. But hey, it all worked out, right?" Here he cast his eyes to her and waggled his brows. "I bumped into pretty good help."
Bylara took a minute, staring hard at his lips. He'd casually slipped in what sounded like a flirtatious comment. It happened from time to time, on the road traveling with nothing but men it was bound to. But Byleth and Jeralt were quick to make sure everyone at camp knew any man wanting more than that would be in for a rude awakening—no awakening at all.
"So that was your plan?" Dimitri's eyes widened as if it had only just dawned on him. "I thought you were acting as a decoy for the sake of us all."
"His intentions were as clear as day," Edelgard murmured. "You will prove a lacking ruler if you cannot see the truth behind a person's words."
"Lacking ruler?" Byleth noted. "What region are you from, Dimitri?"
The question made Dimitri straighten, his tall form gallant in his blue and black clothing. "The Holy Kingdom of Faerghus. My full name is Dimitri Alexandre Blaiddyd." A prince. Dimitri was a prince. Bylara had no issues believing that one either. As with Edelgard his mannerisms gave him away if not the princely air he wore as surely as his cape.
That aside, more than just their elevated statuses as future rulers of the continent gave Bylara and she was sure Byleth, a lasting impression. "You're not like many nobles I've met."
Claude visibly swelled with pride. The more he spoke, the more unsure she was about him. His face was so open and yet…something was there behind those green eyes. Secrets. Just like with Dimitri. With his easygoing candor it was easy to get distracted, and she suspected that was intentional. A diversion tactic. If they really were journeying to this monastery the trio called home, Bylara was determined to keep her eyes on Claude.
"I'll totally accept that as a compliment," Claude winked. "I prefer to think of myself as an outsider anyway. That means having you two along on the trip back should be fun," He leaned forward with a hand cupped to his mouth as if it would prevent his friends from hearing. "We could have some fun messing with Dima and Eddie."
"Would that even be legal?" Byleth wondered aloud. "They're royalty."
Claude recoiled, and then his head fell back as he laughed long and loud. When he managed to get himself under control, he clapped Byleth's shoulder. "Thanks for that, man. You're going to be interesting to have around."
"You'd do well not to get mixed in with Claude and his scheming," Edelgard informed them, shaking her head as if she assumed they were considering it and was already disappointed. "In fact, let me be blunt: I believe your skill would serve the Empire very well. Of course you'd be compensated handsomely, if that's a concern."
It wasn't often Byleth's face gave away true surprise, but by the way even her brother looked caught off guard Bylara couldn't imagine she'd heard incorrectly. "You want us to work for the Empire?"
Edelgard smiled, and it made her pastel eyes all the more beautiful. "Y—"
"Halt, Edelgard." Dimitri grumbled, shifting on his heels. "I had a proposition as well." The earnest shine in his eyes as he regarded them both was unmistakable. "My kingdom is in dire need of individuals with your talents. Would you consider returning home with me?"
Cotton. Bylara's throat felt full of cotton. No sooner had Princess Edelgard asked for them to serve the Empire than Prince Dimitri tried to persuade them to his own Kingdom? It was insanity. They didn't know either of them!
"Whoa," Claude held a hand up with a frown. "You're both being pretty tactless, just piling that on them when they've only just met us. We're practically still strangers." Bylara smiled at his words, glad someone else was seeing sense. "Personally I was going to use the trip back to the monastery to build a deep and lasting friendship and then beg for favors."
"Ultimately you want the same thing from us though." Her brother sighed.
Claude shrugged guiltlessly. "No room for niceties in this world. Which brings us back to the question of the hour. Where do your loyalties lie, capable strangers?"
Just like that, in the span of less than a day, Bylara could feel her world, (no, Byleth was effected too) their world, shift. They were just the kids of a damn good mercenary. The fact that three nobles had taken an interest in them this long was unexpected.
A soft thrum filled her head, and then the youthful voice from before echoed through her mind, and she had to do her best not to cry out. "Hmm. It seem's ones place of birth is quite significant to them. Yet they are so impressed by you both, they're allowing you to pick. Well?" Great. Even the invisible goddess in her mind was goading them on.
"I…I…" Bylara licked at her dry lips. "I don't know."
"What my sister means to say is that your offers are all flattering, but we can't make such an impactful decision on the spot." Byleth continued. Her heart swelled with relief. Oh, sweet calm Byleth! If ever there was a time for his practical impartiality it served them well now.
"Understandable," Edelgard slowly let her eyes drift over one sibling, then the other. "It was hasty of us."
"Alright that's enough with the small talk!" Alois came rushing back over, the sunlight bouncing off the sheen of his freshly polished armor and half-blinding them. "We're leaving now so I hope everyone's prepared."
Edelgard and Dimitri shot them quick words of parting before following after the loud knight. "We can pick this up another time, so don't think it's over." Claude vowed, sprinting to catch up.
As soon as they were out of earshot, Bylara turned fully to face her twin. "Do you hear her too?"
"Sothis?" Byleth guessed.
"Of course he does! I'm linked to both of you now. Things will be much easier that way." The self-important voice of the green-haired girl echoed. "Or do you not agree?"
"It's disconcerting." Bylara wondered if the being that had taken an interest in them both realized just how strange it was. "When I woke up this morning my thoughts were my own."
"Huh, I am here to help! Show gratitude!" Sothis sniped back. "Do you not already feel linked to Byleth? He mentioned to me before he had a sister who at times nearly shared his thoughts. This is only a step further."
"She's right," Byleth reached over and briefly squeezed her hand, as he would when they were small. "We've always done best together. This will take getting used to, but I believe Sothis can be trusted."
Bylara huffed. Sothis would take a while to get used to, but Byleth had always been around. She could trust his word. She did trust it, implicitly.
"We shouldn't tell anyone about Sothis...not for now."
The look in her brother's eyes showed he agreed with that suggestion.
"Enough about me!" Sothis exclaimed. "What about those three! They're very unique individuals, I'd say."
"Yes," Byleth mused. "Edelgard is a refined young woman."
"That's putting it mildly," Bylara thought back to her. If she weren't used to growing up around mercenaries, she might find the white-haired young lady a bit intimidating. "She says she's a princess but she holds herself more like an empress already." The way someone who knew exactly where they stood in the world and what their goals were would.
"I feel as though she were evaluating us the entire time." Byleth closed his eyes and chuckled humorlessly. "Taking the measure of everything she could ever hope to know about us from the minute we spoke."
"I'd say that assessment's fair." She had, after all, been thinking the same. "And Prince Dimitri. He seems very sincere, don't you think?"
"He's fair-haired, earnest and humble. A fairytale prince." Again, her brother had gotten the same impression of the prince that she had. "But there was something else…there's a darkness lurking deep within I'm not even sure he's aware of."
She jolted, a shiver going through her at the thought of it. No, her brother truly missed nothing. "I noticed it too…" she breathed. "For now, though…"
"For now he's our new traveling companion, and we should give him a fair chance." Byleth's lips flickered into a smile that put her worries to rest. "To learn about him before drawing lasting conclusions."
"That only leaves Claude. And I must say that it's hard to see him as a noble based on first impressions,"
"He called himself an outsider." Byleth reminded, "And he seemed pleased that we would be too."
Claude von Riegan. A charming young man with a striking smile. At a glance. "That smile doesn't reach his eyes though, does it?" she whispered. Getting taken in by the smile and the deep green eyes felt like the first step to a costly mistake. "I'm curious about all of them. As curious as they seem to be about us."
When she looked over, her brother was rubbing at his hair. It had grown long through the winter months and now fell down over his ears and across the nape of his neck. "Cut it if it bothers you so much."
"Will you cut yours to match, dear sister?" He lifted up a curling piece from off her shoulder to inspect. True that she had also gone without cutting her hair through the winter. But it had been cold and her head could use the warmth!
She hissed at him in warning, and he removed his hand with a small laugh.
"Hey!" Dalton called across the field to them, sitting atop his mare. "Jeralt says we're leaving now, with or without you!"
That was their final warning, and they both knew it. Their father wasn't above starting the journey to leave them to catch up. They'd had to do it once when Byleth refused to get up and ready and she had to stay behind with her sluggish, no-good brother.
Byleth folded one arm behind his back and bowed to her. "The road awaits," he held out one of his gloved hands.
Bylara smirked as she took it. "Yes, and so does Garreg Mach Monastery."
The forest path the party traveled through was scenic, beautiful. Tall, leafy trees provided ample shade while providing a path dappled with sunlight and shadows. The sky visible through the tops of them was blue with the occasional puffy white cloud. Birdsong floated through the air around them, and even the air tasted and smelled cleaner, almost sweet.
Up ahead, despite his initial reservations, Jeralt talked among Alois and his men quite genially. Then, Byleth supposed his father was only putting up token resistance to begin with. Maybe it felt good to go back to a place he'd once called home.
He, Bylara, Dimitri, Claude and Edelgard walked a fair distance behind the adults, holding their own conversations. In their traveling they had gotten to know a little more about the trio, and their homelands.
Admittedly they had very little to offer about their own origins, only the basics. They were twins, seventeen years of age the same as the nobles, raised as mercenaries from early childhood by a firm but fair father.
Seeming to pick up on the fact that the sparse parts of the story they could tell of their history was all they could muster, their new friends were gracious enough not to pry. And that kept things cordial, if not a little awkward.
"This will be your first time at the monastery, yes?" Byleth turned his gaze from Jeralt's back to see Dimitri looking to the left and talking to Bylara. She was near hidden by the prince's tall body as he turned to speak to her. "I would be happy to show you around," he offered.
If it had been any other near-stranger, the same age as them no less, Byleth would have suspected an ulterior motive. Not every unsavory man in towns they passed through heeded the hard glares of warning to stay away from his sister as she had grown into a young woman—though she often chastised him for forgetting she could take care of herself—sometimes it required a more…physical reminder.
Dimitri was a bit too chivalrous for that sort of concern, Byleth considered. He really did intend to show her around, and nothing more.
"The monastery…you said it's the location of the Central Church, and it has the Officers Academy, so there are people from all different regions just like the three of you, right?" Bylara was ever inquisitive about their destination. As was he, but he allowed her to do most of the talking.
"It's Fodlan in a nutshell," Claude said breezily. "The good and the bad."
An interesting, curt description. Prickling under his skin, though she had been quiet for the day, Sothis' curiosity buzzed too. Byleth turned his eyes to the downward dip of the path. All three of them would just have to wait and see what was in store for them.
"Like it or not, we'll be there soon enough." Edelgard announced. Byleth didn't know if she'd been speaking to him, but her pretty eyes were only for the road they walked, gaze unblinking. Shadow dappled half her cheek where overhanging branches provided a cocoon of shade and it gave her visage a strange sort of duality.
Pulling his eyes from the aloof girl beside him, he watched the trees break away to reveal what had to be one of the grandest structures he had ever laid eyes on. Sun shone on a building built up like a grand fortress, as breathtaking as it was imposing. Pristine white stone comprised a wide castle-like building steep on a hillside. Rolling green fields lined the roads leading up the winding path to the top, and open beige stone walls disappeared into the area around them. Unmistakably Garreg Mach Monastery. For the foreseeable future, their new home.
Thank you to the people who have reviewed so far!
So, a couple of questions already came up about the harem aspect I mentioned. Firstly I'd like to say I know that's not everyone's cup of tea for a few reasons. It wasn't always mine either (and sometimes still isn't). Lots of fanfics with harem romances sometimes sacrifice quality for the sake of having characters paw all over each other. But rest assured, that's not my angle whatsoever. Romance might develop comparatively faster than it does in canon, where you really don't get any sign of it until the optional life partner scene at the end…but it won't be anything rushed, and it won't be done in a way that makes the characters feel shallower as a result. As I said, I'm leaning toward it being FM!Byleth (Bylara) who gets the harem simply because I seem to keep finding more romances for M!Byleth. But he'll someone too…I'm just not sure who yet.
Romance doesn't truly show up for a while though, just to reiterate. Hints here and there but nothing major until the story has progressed more.
Moving on from that, I've already got ideas about how two Byleths working together could change events in a big way, besides them being in control of two Houses instead of one. Looking forward to getting into their lives at the monastery.
Thank you for reading, and do try to comment.