Chapter Ten: The Campfire
Author's notes: I hope you enjoy this side event!
Review replies:
Dracus6: Those are great pairings, though I now feel sorry for Claude!
eremika0000: Glad you ship it! xD More to come for sure!
sylle: Wait no longer for the chapter is here! I hope it is worth the wait :3
Sparks101: I am happy to hear that you enjoyed the father and daughter bonding time!
The Apocryphal One: Of course I don't mind; I am honored to have inspired you! Once I get a longer breather from school I want to read your stories!
Steelrain66: Thank you for your thoughts; it's good to know as I am replaying the game right now. I'll check those characters out and see if they fit with my plans. I definitely agree that the BL feel more like a family than an assortment of students and I want to develop that more. Though you have me intrigued about the hard-hitting church talk.
Fantasy Fan 223: I am so happy to hear that I'm not the only one who gets anxiety over tea time! Who knew such a thing could be so stressful! xD I am also glad you enjoyed the connection between Byleth and her mother over tea parties. It also felt so random to me. Though I didn't even think about Alice in Wonderland. I love that parallel now! Oh Claude, that sweet little troublemaker...
By mid-morning there was a flurry of owls zooming across the monastery grounds. The owls swooped about as they dropped letters upon each of the Blue Lions students...and another thing upon not-so-lucky passerbys. Annette quickly unrolled the delivered parchment and read it aloud to Mercedes, "Surprise activity. Pack your satchel with overnight essentials, eat a hearty lunch, and meet me at the entrance gate of Garreg Mach at noon's bell toll. Signed, Professor Byleth. Ohhh," Annette gasped, "I wonder what it's going to be?" She exclaimed as she passed the letter over to her dear friend.
"Here, she recommends that we each pack a satchel with our sleepwear, bring a toothbrush and toothpaste...it appears will be spending the night somewhere else," Mercedes deduced. "Well our professor is full of surprises."
As the Blue Lions busied themselves with preparations, Byleth finished packing her own satchel. Just as she quickly exited her room, the young woman ran into Edelgard and Hubert. The princess's violet eyes were bright with energy as she appraised the professor. "I can sense you're eager to face the Black Eagles in battle, teacher," Edelgard began. "Well, enjoy the thrill of anticipation while it lasts. Soon you'll wish you had chosen to lead our house instead." And without waiting for Byleth to even respond, the princess walked off.
"Well," Hubert sighed, causing Byleth to look away from Edelgard and towards the raven haired student. "Look at what you've done, you've riled Lady Edelgard up. I hope you are happy with yourself." Hubert sneered as he sulked off after the Black Eagles leader. It would take some time to calm her back down so that they could resume their tactics discussion.
Meanwhile, Byleth stood rooted to the spot for she was quite baffled at what had just transpired as she had not even said a word! But the ringing sound of monastery's bell reminded Byleth of the task at hand. The young woman made her way to the enormous portcullis that was the front gate of Garret Mach monastery. The Blue Lions had already amassed at the spot and were eagerly awaiting her. Sylvain was the first to speak up as she drew near, "So professor, what this surprise activity?!"
"Camping," Byleth stated simply as she adjusted the straps of her well worn satchel.
Chatter broke out amongst the students. "Cam-ping?" Dimitri repeated for he was unfamiliar with the word.
"Oh I have heard of this!" Ingrid stated. "It's when you spend time in the wild, sleeping under the stars, hunting and gathering your own food."
"Like during the adventures of Loog and his band of knights as they traveled through Faerghus?" Ashe spoke up to meet Ingrid's nods of confirmation as he continued. "Instead of being a burden on the local inns, they would set up tents along the stream and regal stories over a campfire."
"Yes," Byleth responded, though she made a mental note to look up Loog as she had never heard about him before.
The group was then joined by ten of Jeralt's mercenaries. Rhea had given permission to this unusual activity once she was assured that Jeralt's battalion would act as escorts to keep the students safe outside Garreg Mach. The portcullis lifted to release the group into the world beyond the monastery. Eagerly, they walked down the large well worn dirt road until they came to a split. The left path led to the bustling town, while the dirt path on the right seemed to lead to a large clearing down below with a nearby forest. The trees in the forest were tall and created a canopy so thick that you couldn't see further into the forest due to the growing darkness. This forest was certainly ancient from the look large gnarled tree trunks.
"Wait, isn't that the Sealed forest?" Ashe remarked, then added with a note of anxiety. "We are aren't going in there are we?" Byleth shook her head, though was intrigued by the sudden concern. She would have to learn more about the forest upon their return.
The group followed the path as it veered away from the dense forest and passed under a large arch formed from the same dark rocks that built the mountain upon which Garreg Mach Monastery perched on. There were more scattered boulders of various sizes about a grassy plain and a winding river with a variety of large bushes, in addition to colorful blooming flowers growing along it. Five more of Jeralt's men awaited them here with two wagons and a few horses who busied themselves with grazing lazily as they swished their tails.
Upon their arrival, the waiting mercenary team uncovered this first wagon, revealing large rolls of cloth, several poles, and rope. There were empty woven baskets and several fishing poles. "Time to set up camp," Byleth announced as she dropped her satchel down. "We will need to get shelter set up, food collected, and cooked. Here are the new teams," Byleth announced. This time the young woman decided to experiment. She changed up yesterday's pairing and formed the following instead: "Ashe and Ingrid are on berry picking duty, while Felix and Sylvain are on fishing duty. Mercedes and Dimitri are in charge of cooking the food collected. Annette and Dedue will work with me and Jeralt's mercenary team to set up tents for shelter."
While most of the students eagerly spitted up, a couple of the students either eyed their new respective partners with apprehension or sighed with slight annoyance. Either way they all dispersed after acquiring their equipment, intent on completing the goal. Both Annette and Dedue stepped forward to receive a hammer from Byleth. "You two will help hammer in the stakes that will anchor the tents," the professor informed the two students.
Annette wasn't sure which part of this task she had the most misgivings about. The fact that she had the weakest pair of arms in the entire class, or that she was partnered up with the most sternest person she had ever met. Okay, well the second most sternest person since her father took first place.
Upon seeing the waves of various emotions play out on Annette's face, Byleth gently added, "If you want to handle an axe, you must become stronger."
The professor's words were enough to ignite the flame of dedication within Annette, "Of course, you're 100% correct professor!" She agreed with a determined look upon her innocent face as rolled up her sleeves. Annette leapt at the closet planted stake and began attacking with a feverish conviction.
Both Dedue and Byleth could not help but feel awed by Annette's continued positive energy and perseverance. However Dedue did add under his breath, "I would recommend that you maintain a safe distance away, Professor. In case she loses her grip." Byleth nodded at this, and carefully retreated as to not look as if she was clearly running away from the danger zone.
"Ugh!" Annette grumbled at the poorly driven stake, despite her multiple attempts.
"You need to push it deeper into the ground," Dedue instructed. "Smash it down, like so, HURGH!" Dedue grunted loudly as he drove the stake into the dirt with one clean hit of his own hammer.
"But…" Annette sighed with despair as she held the hammer up to heart.
"Smash it!" Dedue instructed firmly as he pointed at another readied stake.
"But, I…I'm too weak" Annette stuttered as she shook her head.
"Smash!" Dedue commanded.
"Ahhh!" Annette yelled as she brought down her hammer and plunged the stake into the ground with a THUNK!
This continued on for a while as Dedue diligently coached Annette, while the young woman eagerly pounced upon each stake with a battle cry. Afterwards they paused, wiping their foreheads, as they appraised their progress.
"Ugh, the tent is so floppy!" Annette lamented at the large tilted tent. "It's going to cave in on us when we sleep!"
"It is not perfect," Dedue commented honestly as he tested the poles, ropes, and tent fabric. "But I deem it is structurally sound…good job," Dedue added with a nod towards his partner.
"Oh, wow, thanks," Annette smiled, feeling suddenly shy at his compliment.
Byleth quietly peered around the nearby wagon. She felt quite proud at how the event unfolded. With a nod, more to herself, she resumed checking up on the other groups.
"This is sooooo boring!" Sylvain sighed as he bobbed his fishing pole up and down in the crystal clear river. There were nearly a dozen large juicy fish swimming about, seemingly going out of their way to ignore Sylvain's wiggling bait.
"You just need to be patient Sylvain," Felix frowned as he carefully maintained proper tension upon his fishing pole.
"Can't I just charm the fish into this net!" Sylvain stated as he waved the fishing net in his other hand. The sudden waving shadow alarmed the fish, causing them to scatter under rocks or nearby wetland vegetation.
"Ughhh," Felix groaned loudly, "We are going to starve thanks to you!" The young man snapped at his partner.
"Hang on, I have an idea," Sylvain suddenly remarked as he pulled out his fishing pole and disappeared somewhere behind Felix. The tiger eyed young man sighed in frustration, historically Sylvain's ideas never turned out well. Suddenly a javelin whizzed past Felix's left ear.
"What the!" Felix yelped as Sylvain dashed into the river with his trousers rolled up. The red haired youth picked up the javelin to reveal an impaled fish at the other end. Sylvain smiled happily over at his childhood friend.
"Where did you get that?" Felix asked with eyes wide in surprise at the javelin in Sylvain's hands.
"The wagon," Slyvain shrugged as he placed the fish in a nearby container for cooking.
"There are weapons in the other wagon?" Feliz remarked quizzically. 'What was the professor planning?'
But Byleth wasn't going to reveal her plans just yet as she watched the pair from behind the nearby thicket of cattails. Team number two, success, now onto the berry picking team.
Ingrid and Ashe had each grabbed a woven basket and walked over to the bushes that bloomed along the riverbank. "Oh!" Ingrid exclaimed as she spotted a fruiting bush. "Look at those berries." the young woman had plucked one of the ripe bright fire-red berries off the branch and was about to taste it when Ashe lept into action.
"No Ingrid, those ones are poisonous!" He hurriedly rushed to Ingrid and slapped the berry right out of her hand causing the young woman to recoil in surprise. "Please forgive my rash action, but I feared my words would not have been enough." Ashe apologized. "Those berries are known as fireberries, and they make your insides feel like, well, like they are on fire." The young man explained before pointing towards the bush's special leaf pattern. "You can tell a fireberry bush apart from nutritional JuJu berries bush based on how fireberry leaves curl in upon themselves."
"Wow Ashe, thank you," Ingrid realized her heart had been pounding. "You're very knowledgeable about botany," the young woman said before adding, "I'm impressed."
"Oh, thank you," Ashe remarked as his pale cheeks slightly blushed at the compliment. "My adoptive father taught me how to recognize certain plants, as well as which ones are edible, best for medicines, or poisonous. Here, let's pick these dark purple berries, they are called Ester and if you try one you'll note their lemony zest."
Following his cue, Ingrid plucked a few small purple berries from the nearby bush and scooped them into her mouth. Her bright emerald green eyes widened in surprise for she was amazed at how such a small berry could be so juicy and packed with vibrant flavor. "These are so tasty!" Ingrid relished and she quickly helped Ashe scoop handfuls of berries into the basket.
From a nearby bush, a pair of dark blue eyes watched the two with great satisfaction at their progress. Giving a thumbs up to no one in particular, Byleth withdrew and returned back to the site of the great campfire. By now the mercenaries had helped chopped wood into nicely sized logs for the bonfire. Both Dimitri and Mercedes helped stoke the fire as they waited for ingredients to arrive. "Looks like we have some treats incoming," Mercedes remarked pleasantly as a mercenary delivered a basket of freshly caught fish, a second basket of various berries and herbs, and a third basket was from the wagon and contained freshly baked bread that was still warm to the touch. "This will be wonderful," Mercedes cheered as she clasped her hands together in merriment.
However Dimitri was completely silent. Internally he was having great misgivings as he stared down at the assortment of ingredients. The prince was a terrible cook due to his ageusia, the condition that rendered him unable to taste food. It had developed after the... event that took his family. While Dimitri could sense textures and temperature, he was completely oblivious to any dishes' taste. Thus he never learned how to cook for what was the point; and now the prince was going to spoil everyone's hard earned food and completely ruin this camping trip!
"Dimitri?" Mercedes beckoned softly at the prince. "Is everything okay? You look like you're about to be sick."
The young man sighed and turned to look at his partner's innocent face. "I'm a terrible cook, Mercedes," Dimitri stated as he hung his head low in defeat before they even began.
"Oh that's alright. Everyone starts at the beginning, Dimitri." Mercedes remarked thoughtfully. To be honest she had never seen the prince look so vulnerable and she decided to add, "I too am not a great cook."
Dimitri looked back up at her in surprise as he stated, "But, you bake such delicious sweets."
"Well, I do enjoy baking sweets," Mercedes replied with a nod. "But cooking a meal is a bit different. How about we just go through this nice and slowly."
"Alright, I will follow your lead Chef Mercedes," Dimitri added with a smile.
Mercedes pleasantly chuckled, pleased to see that the prince had regained some of his confidence. The two grabbed a few long sticks upon which they drove the fish through, then began roasting the food over the crackling campfire. "See, the trick is to keep a nice even distribution of the heat," Mercedes gently instructed. Dimitri tried his best, a few of his fish came out too undercooked and had to be roasted longer. Unfortunately one caught fire. "Oh dear, that is far too crispy," Mercedes commented once Dimitri extinguished the flames. "But that's okay. We can skin the fish, thereby getting rid of the charred parts, see." Mercedes remarked as she began to rub of the charred fish scales.
"Mercedes, you are so patient and understanding with me, thank you," Dimitri remarked as he helped clean up the burnt fish scales. "The truth is, I can't taste food," the prince admitted.
"What?" Mercedes gasped as she paused with her own fish still hovering over the fire. "Why that's absolutely terrible Dimitri. Is there anything we can do to get it back?" The compassionate healer asked as she thought of spells and enchantments.
"Unfortunately there isn't. I even consulted Cornelia, the mage who is in the service of my family. If the mage who cured Faerghus of the plague couldn't come up with a cure, then I don't think anyone can." The prince shrugged before adding, "I do remember the taste of my favorite foods, so I try to recall those memories when I eat." Dimitri then paused and smiled gently, "But that was kind of you to ask Mercedes, thank you."
"But of course, Dimitri. Good food is made with love, patience, and a fair amount of salt that can mask any oopsies along the way," Mercedes added kindly before looking back at her fish and realizing it had caught fire. "Oh! Speaking of oopsies!" Mercedes gasped as Dimitri quickly helped put the fish out. The pair both chuckled and the prince began to scrap off the burnt scales on the second fish.
"Now let's see what else we have," Mercedes contemplated as she surveyed the other baskets. "Hmmmm, we have some Ester berries and sage, how wonderful, these will compliment the fish nicely."
"Ah, Professor, look!" Dimitri waved Byleth over to proudly show off the dishes the pair had finished. Upon a long blanket were several plates each containing a piece of bread alongside a roasted fillet of fish, with a scoop of Ester berry reduction, and a sprinkle of crushed sage. "Thanks to Mercedes, we have a wonderful dinner to look forward to, " Dimitri stated as he turned to his partner.
"Oh, I just bossed you around Dimitri, you did most of the hard work," Mercedes replied amiably with her kind smile.
With dinner ready, the team reconvened near the campfire. Dusk was now setting in and Byleth wanting to take advantage of the few moments of light for training. The professor beckoned her students towards the second wagon, which she uncovered to reveal an assortment of training weapons. "Grab your preferred weapon, and then a second weapon you wish to try out," the young woman instructed as she stepped away. This time Annette did grab the axe in addition to the magical wand. While Felix grabbed a sword...and another sword.
"Really Felix?" Dimitri sighed as he shook his head.
"What, I like swords," Felix stated, but returned the second sword back into the wagon when Byleth approached him, holding out a magical tome. "What the hell am I supposed to do with this?" Felix grimaced as pinched the book by his fingertips as if it was some old smelly boot. "Chuck it at my enemy!?"
Felix tossed the tome over his shoulder into a nearby bush, and the bush cried out, "Ouch!" The entire class froze in what they were doing to turn and stare at the apparently talking bush.
"Ah-hum" Byleth cleared her throat loudly.
A pair of mischievously green eyes peered out, "Oh heyyy Teach!" Claude began, as if it was perfectly reasonable to be hiding out in a random bush. All smiles, the Golden Deer leader exited the bush as he continued, "Well look at you all here, I myself decided to take a pleasant stroll down the mountain path and…"
…No one was falling for it.
"So, camping huh," Claude tried again, his smile never faltering as he put his hands on his hips and peered about the group. Byleth sighed, it wouldn't do to practice some of the tactics now with the Golden Deer leader present. And luckily Byleth hadn't revealed any of her personal tactics just yet. But what was she going to do with him?
Dimitri looked from Byleth to Claude and then back to the young woman as he finally stated, "Well Professor it won't do to just turn him away with night setting in."
"Well now! Kind words from his kingliness!" Claude cheered as he made an over-the-top cordial bow.
Byleth looked thoughtful as she appraised the situation before turning to the rest of her class. "Everyone return your weapons to the wagon. You have all worked so well together. Let us enjoy dinner by the campfire," the professor announced. Eagerly the Blue Lions stowed away their weapons. They were hungry, tired, and eager to sit by the bonfire as bright twinkling stars began to appear in the sky above.
"Wow this is delicious!" Annette cheered after she swallowed down the bite of the tangy roasted fish.
"Mmmm," Dedue concurred as he enjoyed his meal thoughtfully.
"See, we didn't end up starving Felix," Sylvain jested to his partner. Felix merely rolled his sharp orange eyes for he was too busy eating.
Both Ingrid and Ashe, with mouths full, shared a knowing nod. The Ester berries and sage Ashe had stumbled upon, really enhanced the meal.
Dimitri and Mercedes shared a smile before resuming their meals. The prince felt his moral rise as everyone quietly ate in content, even Claude. Soon the warmth of the campsite mixed with the delicious food, hearty comradery, and weariness of the day's activities beckoned the students to sleep. One by one the students retreated into the tent where numerous fluffy warm sleeping bags awaited them. Now only Byleth and Claude remained sitting by the crackling campfire as few of the mercenaries continued to tirelessly patrol the perimeter.
"You know," the Golden Deer leader began in a different tone than he had been using all day. "While I still wish you had chosen the Golden Deer house, I now see why you selected the Blue Lions and how much they need someone like you."
Byleth paused from stoking the fire to peer over at the Golden Deer leader on her right. He didn't return her gaze, but the young woman could tell from his voice that this time his words were sincere. "Honesty suits you," the professor stated as she studied his profile.
"Yeah, but it's boring," Claude remarked as he turned towards the young woman. His green eyes were brightened by the fire light, and a sudden mischievous thought. He then leaned towards Byleth. "Besides, I do enjoy stirring up trouble," he whispered into her ear just before a loud "Ah-HUM!" came from behind them.
More rambling notes from the Author:
Oh, whoever could that be? Muahaha!
As I mentioned, I like adding in independent plot ideas. So I hope you enjoyed this little side bonding event with the Blue Lions.
To be honest, I have no idea where the Sealed forest is in relation to the monastery so for the purposes of this story, the Sealed forest is at the base of Garreg Mach, opposite of the populated town and large grassland fields.
And I wonder how this bonding event will help the Blue Lions during the mock battle...hmmm…stay tuned for the next chapter, Chapter 11: The Rivalry of the Houses!
(DISCLAIMER) I do not own nor claim to own any of the Fire Emblem Franchise, Intelligent Systems Co., and Ninetendo's exceptional work. It is from the team's own brilliance…my additions are from my own madness.