"Looks like the coast is clear…"

Bernadetta moved out of the tent as quietly as she could, head darting around to observe her surroundings like a scared rabbit. The chill of the air brushed harshly against her exposed hands and face, the darkened sky weighing heavily on her conscience. After all, who knows what could happen out here? More bandits, or a wayward assassin coming to claim her life? Her body shook as she regarded the thought, but some things were just worth the risk! Mainly the fact that she was incredibly hungry, and she didn't exactly have a lot to eat at dinner.

Why was she in such an odd circumstance, you question? Professor Byleth had apparently talked to the archbishop about training the Black Eagles to be able to camp in the wilderness as a survival lesson, and as far as she knew, Lady Rhea had agreed wholeheartedly. And that was how the Black Eagles had found themselves in a relatively good-looking forest glade, although it hadn't been without strife. Some bandits had been looking for an easy catch but were dispatched thoroughly by the professor before any harm could be caused.

Bernadetta found herself shivering again as she skulked towards the dying embers of the campfire (she could have sworn it had gone out before she finally forced herself to sleep), raising a hand to summon forth a mote of light so she could at least make her way around. It never really sunk in just how ruthless her teacher could be – despite being relatively kind to everyone at the monastery (the number of flowers that sat in her room was evidence of that), it was like a switch was flipped as soon as combat began. His face always remained blank regardless, but there was a certain absence of emotion behind it that chilled her to her core.

"Is that why they call him the Ashen Demon…?" She murmured to herself as she located the cast iron pot that still had a healthy amount of stew in it, fetching a bowl and slowly beginning to spoon some into the bowl. She had heard that title in passing whilst walking by the knight's hall during one of her rare excursions from her sanctuary, and ever since she hadn't really been able to stop thinking about it.

Well, whatever – she just wanted to get back to her tent before any of her classmates happened to hear her. Whilst she could say she was slowly beginning to feel more comfortable around them, it really wasn't enough to say that she was enjoying this overall experience. It was better than being forced out into the monastery every day, but…

"I have heard the title in regard to myself before, yes." A sudden voice broke the silence like a hammer, and Bernadetta felt her entire body seize in panic as the wooden bowl fell from her hands. A scream started to bubble up in her throat, and she only just managed to stifle it before it surged out and woke up the entire camp.

C-Calm down, Bernie! You recognize this voice…i-it's not like you were thinking about how scary he is, or anything!

"P-Professor?" Her voice came out wheezy as she fought down the beginnings of hyperventilation, rapidly swinging her hand around to try and illuminate the area. He was nowhere to be found, and that made more panic pulse through her body – was that really him? Was it a ghost? A bandit who's really good at voice impersonations!?

"Up here." Byleth's voice was heard again, and this time she could tell that it was coming from above her rather than around her. She placed her free hand over her heart to try and calm it's rapid and harsh beating, raising the light in her hand above her head and looking up.

Surely enough, she recognized the familiar face of her professor nestled up in one of the thick tree branches, back braced against the trunk and arms folded as he observed her. He didn't look like he was tired whatsoever, even though he had excused himself far before any of the others had gone to sleep. She had even seen him go back inside his tent! Although he could have came out when everyone else had gone to sleep…

"U-Um…why? You scared me…" Berndetta asked, reigning in her panic so she could make even the slightest semblance of an attempt to figure out exactly what was going on. A memory surfaced in her mind – a few of the students talking about Lady Edelgard talking with a soaking wet, shirtless professor by the dock. Could he potentially just…like going in strange places, like ponds and trees?

"I'm keeping watch." His reply was simple and short as always, although his voice was a bit more hushed than usual. It was surprisingly easy to hear him, although it was silent enough that she could probably have heard a pin drop over in the bushes. She shook her head as she crouched down to pick up the bowl, it's delicious contents now spread over the damp grass. She sighed, knowing her luck it would probably lead wild animals to the campsite, ruining everything and making them need to pack up and go somewhere else.

Good job, Bernie…

"For, um…what, exactly?" Bernadetta could think of several things to watch for – bandits, carnivores, demonic beasts, the whole lot of them! The forests of Fodlan weren't exactly safe, and it really was a testament to her professor's ability that the archbishop would even allow such a field trip to take place. He was strangely well-versed in so many fields that it was…well, a bit crazy. Great with bladed weapons, bows, magic…Bernadetta didn't think she'd be on her way to an Archer certification without his help, to be entirely truthful. Heck, he even helped her learn a miniscule amount of magic!

"Anything dangerous. I had forgotten about everything that the forests can hold." Maybe it was a trick of the dim light, but she thought she saw his face slacken a bit, his blank façade breaking into a slight frown. "I will not allow them to harm any of you."

"But…y-you can't stay up there every night, can you?" Berndetta wasn't quite sure why she hadn't turned around and gone straight back to her tent, the soup be damned! It was probably because of the knot of concern slowly growing in her stomach, or maybe the fact that her teacher had a certain way about him that made her feel comfortable talking. She was reminded of Caspar joking with Dorothea that the professor had gotten her to warm up to him in a day, whilst it took them a month.

"I can and will. Your safety is paramount, and I will not allow a lapse of judgement on my part to encroach upon that." The lapse of his expression was gone, and yet his voice had a resolution that Bernadetta couldn't recall hearing from him before. Come to think of it, she was certain she hadn't even heard him talk this much before!

"Your health is i-important too, you know…" She chose to ignore that she wasn't exactly the healthiest person in the group, and instead looked up at him with a worried expression. "What if you just…I don't know, got too tired and fell out of the tree?"

"I have experience in staying up for long periods of time without rest." His reply was quick, too quick, and she couldn't help but suspect that he might have had this exact conversation before with someone. Was the life of a mercenary really that harsh, or did her professor push himself that much? She couldn't help but feel that worry in her stomach expand. That basically confirmed that he hadn't gone to sleep when everyone thought he had, darn it!

"Professor, please c-come down from there?" She clasped her hands together and looked up at him, hoping that she was accurately conveying just how much his health was just as important as the group's safety. Curse her professor, making her actually worry about him! Things were a lot better in her room. "I don't think anything e-else will come tonight."

"There's no way to be cert-"

"There's no way to tell if anything won't come, either!" She raised her voice suddenly, and immediately felt her heart speed up and her mouth go dry. She just raised her voice at her teacher, and he might be mad at her and he might dock her grades or yell at he-

"I don't believe I've seen you this worried before, Bernadetta." She froze as he responded, and she fought with every bit of her being to not scamper off back to her tent. He didn't sound mad, but he always sounded like that – it's like his tone of voice was incapable of going above or below monotone! It was maddening! "Fine."

"H-Huh?"

Byleth didn't respond to her – instead, he moved away from the tree trunk and rolled his shoulders, shimmying across the tree branch as he did so. When he was satisfied with the distance, he grasped the branch tightly and swung a leg over, scaring Bernadetta because he was now hanging from the tree branch! It was kind of high up! And as if it were the most normal thing in the world, he let go and dropped to the ground, expelling a rough grunt as he hit the ground. He then stood up and turned around to look at her, the light in her hand reflecting off of his armor.

"I'm down."

"I-I can see that…"

"You should get to bed, Bernadetta. Tomorrow will require your full attention." He continued, stooping over to pick up the stew pot and pouring some of it into a bowl. Before she even got a chance to respond, he pressed the bowl into her free hand. "Eat up, and then sleep."

She gauged his expression as best she could with the dim light and the bout of nerves affecting her vision, but she eventually sighed and nodded, allowing the light to flicker out and grasping the bowl with both hands. To her surprise, the stew within was now warm. She looked back towards Byleth, and she could have sworn she saw a light flicker away from where she thought his hand was.

She couldn't help but smile at that.

"O-Okay, professor…good night." She turned around and admittedly had to use her magic once more to navigate through the campsite without tripping, but sooner or later she found her tent and disappeared within it.

Byleth spent a few seconds staring at her tent, allowing a rare chuckle to come forth as he moved back towards the tree, instead choosing to slump against the base rather than climb back up.

"You aren't going to sleep?" The voice of a certain green-haired girl asked him when he was settled in.

"She asked me to get out of the tree, and so I did."

He gave a final chuckle before focusing his senses on the area around him.

No harm would fall to his students this night.

Bernadetta's the best Black Eagles girl, and them's just the facts.

Thank you everyone for all of the nice reviews and the favorites and follows! This is extremely fun to write, so I guess I'm just gonna keep doing that, huh? Also, in regards to the review by Lord Destroyer, I actually hadn't read any of Waywatcher's stories until you made that review! We definitely have a similar concept going, and I'll try to differentiate between our versions of Byleth as best I can. I definitely like the idea of him going through windows, though...

Anywho, thank you very much for reading - I hope it was somewhat good, and I hope it was at least somewhat in character! Please leave a review if you liked it, and feel free to drop suggestions for scenarios in there as well!

Have a great day.