knowlee- Here's chapter 2! Originally I was going to post this on the second day of the Cysithea week, but as I mentioned before life happened. Not sure when the other 5 chapters are gonna come out but hopefully within the next few weeks since I plan on getting this finished so that I can work on the next chapter of 'Like It Was Fate'.

Hope you guys enjoy this little chapter! Until the next one!

A Fire Emblem Three Houses Fanfiction

With the Time We Are Given

Chapter 2: Flowers

By: Knowlee Raven

Cyril had a problem.

It wasn't a life threatening problem, but it still was something that was going to bother him until he got it just right.

What was the problem in question?

He glared down at the flowers that lay arranged by type in the monastery's greenhouse. He had been searching for some time to try and find the perfect ones to use for a gift he was making, but he couldn't decide on which ones he needed.

What was Lysithea's favorite?

Sure, he probably could've just asked her and saved him some time from having to search, but he wanted it to be a surprise. Along with that, he wanted to make sure he got the best ones. She deserved the best in return for helping him with his new reading and writing abilities.

In the back of his mind though, he knew she deserved much more than just flowers, but it was all he could think of at the moment to give her. Plus with the war going on, things were hard to come by, so that left his choices down to a few. And he had heard that she liked flowers, so he knew she would enjoy them.

But that still left the problem of which ones to give her.

He groaned. Maybe he should just go head and ask her or maybe ask one of her old classmates if they knew. If he did that though, he had a feeling they would just tease him about his question. His face grew warm at the thought.

He wasn't sure why he felt so strangely in Lysithea's presence ever since they reunited at the monastery, but he supposed it was just due to him being glad at seeing her alive after growing close to her when they were younger. Although, there were other things he felt when she was around that he knew he couldn't simply chalk up to just been happy at just seeing her.

Some of those new feelings consisted of being nervous when she was near, feeling unbearably warm whenever she spoke or did something cute, and, among all the other ones, having his heart do weird things whenever she smiled in his direction.

He wanted to ask someone about these things, but with every thing else going on, he didn't want to bother them. There were much bigger things to be worried about other than why he was feeling funny around a girl.

Still, he was curious.

Cyril turned his attention back towards the flowers. He needed to focus and make a decision as soon as he could. He had chores that needed to be done as soon as possible and although he wanted Lysithea to have the best flowers he could find, he also knew Seteth wouldn't be pleased if he took too long to make a decision.

He grumbled in irritation as he continued to judge the plants before him. He was so focused in his choice, that he didn't even notice another person standing behind him until they spoke. After his initial shock, Cyril found himself thanking the Goddess that he didn't have his axe on him otherwise he probably would've just killed his former professor because of how spooked he got at hearing her voice.

"Don't sneak up on me like that, professor! Ya gave me a real bad scare there!" He lowered his hands out of a fighting stance as the fear slowly left his body.

Byleth frowned. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to scare you, Cyril. I was coming to check on some seeds I planted when I noticed that you seemed to be lost in though. What's on your mind?"

Cyril hesitated for a moment. He didn't know why, but he felt embarrassed to even say why he was out here in the first place and his first fear was that she'd make fun of him. Still, he knew, based on their previous interactions, that the professor was someone he could trust. She wouldn't tease or make fun of him like he was sure the others probably would.

"Well..." He looked over at the flowerbed they were standing next to and breathed out slowly. Might as well get it over with. "I'm trying to find some flowers to give to Lysithea as a thank you for helping me out with, um, something."

He hesitated for a moment on whether or not to mention to her about his reading skills, but decided last second to just leave it out. That information wasn't something she needed to know anyway. "The problem is, I'm not sure which ones to get for her."

Byleth hummed in thought and turned her attention to the flowers. "I see." Her eyes moved to look back at him. "Have you asked her?"

"I want it to be a surprise."

"Ah, I understand." She went quiet for a few moments making Cyril wonder what she was thinking about. "How about I ask her for you?"

He felt grateful for the suggestion, but at the same time, he didn't want the professor to waste their time doing that for him. Surely, she had better things to do. They were in the middle of a war after all. "You don't have to do that, professor. It's not that big of a deal anyway. I can figure it out later when I get done with my chores. Excuse me, professor."

With that said, Cyril started to move around her to begin his walk towards the monastery. However, Byleth stopped him before he got too far. "It's no problem at all, Cyril. I'm planning on having tea with her later, so I could just casually bring it up when I'm talking to her and figure it out for you. I can let you know her answer later on today."

Although Cyril knew the professor as well as he did, he still found himself surprised to hear her offer to help him. "Are ya sure? I mean, ya don't have to..."

"As I said before, Cyril, it's no problem at all." The smile on her face put his guilty feeling of asking for her help at ease.

He smiled in return, grateful for her offer. "Thanks, professor. I owe ya one."

Cyril had just finished up wiping down the windows in the second floor hallway, when he heard the tell tale sounds of boots hitting the floor behind him. As he turned to look in the direction the sound was coming from, he saw Byleth heading his way.

He dropped the rag he had been using into the bucket of water next to his feet and stood back up, bucket handle in hand, to meet her halfway. "Hello, professor!"

She smiled and stopped in front of him. "I just got finished having tea with Lysithea. When I brought up the subject of flowers, she mentioned that lilies were her favorite." She tilted her head briefly in the general direction of where they last had their conversation as she spoke, "I know there's some back at the greenhouse since I had the gardener plant some for me some time back. When you see her there, tell her I said you could have some. And I'm even sure she can help you arrange them in a way that would catch her eye."

The happiness he felt in his chest nearly overwhelmed him. He grinned widely. "Thanks, professor! I'm gonna head over there right now."

After bidding her goodbye, he started making his way towards the building. In his eagerness to get there, he tried his best to not slosh the water that was in the bucket too much, otherwise he'd have another mess to clean up.

Lysithea entered her room to start getting ready for bed. Another battle was nearing soon and she needed to rest before they headed out. She definitely didn't need to be falling asleep in the middle of it. Surely that wouldn't bode well.

As she moved to her chest of drawers and started pulling out the clothes she would need to wear to bed, a batch of white appeared in the corner of her eye. When she turned to see what it was, she was surprised to see a bouquet of white lilies, her favorite flower, beautifully arranged in a purple vase.

Discarding her previous task, she made her way over to the flowers and noticed as she got closer, there was a piece of folded up paper leaning against the vase. Her name was written on the front in a familiar scrawl of handwriting that she knew could only belong to one person.

Her face flushed at the message the letter itself could contain. The bouquet of flowers definitely didn't help with keeping her from reading too much into their potential implication.

Ignoring her beating heart, Lysithea began unfolding the parchment to read its contents. She smiled at the simple words written on the page. 'Thanks you for helping me to read and write. -Cyril'

A grin broke out on her face as her fingers traced the words he had written. The blush on her face still hadn't left. She turned her gaze back onto the flowers and pulled one out to bring it to her nose. Her smile grew at the sweet scent. He certainly was too sweet for his own good. She'd have to find a way to repay him for the lovely gift.

'You're welcome, Cyril.'