All of fall passed before Edelgard received any kind of news about the continuation of the war. Their goal was to negotiate with the Kingdom nobles, come to an agreement and proceed undeterred. Aside from those closest to the Western Church, however, many others held faith in Rhea. Any attempts to reach nobles likely to agree came back vague or went unanswered.

Two months passed since they took Arianrhod. At this point, Edelgard cared more about why the messages weren't getting accepted. It was possible someone knew what she would try to do and attempted to counteract the effort; confirming loyalties was a predictable step. If nothing else, there were no reports of Kingdom soldiers even approaching Arianrhod—they weren't trying to retake lost ground.

Just based on what she knew, she couldn't tell if they were planning anything. Edelgard preferred to hold Arianrhod than march to Fhirdiad over the winter, however, but the others found it worrying. The Black Eagles mostly just recalled Remire.

Edelgard did look into it, but decided it was unlikely. Thales didn't seem like a person that would attack on a reasonable date—he would wait until they didn't expect it, or until they thought they were free of any setbacks. Other than a lack of mages in Enbarr and the Kingdom nobles lacking responses, there was no sense of foreboding; nothing aside from a connection to the date.

When the exact day came, the Black Eagles still unaware of the mages' connection to Remire moved about cautiously—not quite afraid, she noticed, but ready to expect the worst or a sudden order to head out and fight. Those who did know about the connection moved on with more assurance such a thing wouldn't occur twice—not in the same way, at least.

Even if they did do anything, Edelgard didn't expect it to be as…severe as Remire was. The circumstances were similar, but it took time to repeat something like that—she didn't believe a year would be long enough.

On her part, she could recall the event easily enough that she wasn't fond of the idea of staying put and letting the memories return. Edelgard worked as she would have otherwise, content to see it as she would any other day.

She stayed mostly in the office as per usual. A few papers concerned the Alliance; for the most part, the eastern nation was waiting for the results of the conflict in Faerghus before discussing their loyalties any further. She assumed that if the Empire managed to make progress in Faerghus, Leicester might join her cause—at the very least, people in the Alliance were putting more faith in their Eastern Church than Rhea.

People talked outside her door; Edelgard sat aside some of the work, expecting another report to come in. She knew Hubert managed to get one or two people into Fhirdiad—they didn't receive any detailed news, but from what they did learn it seemed the Kingdom was preparing defenses, rather than attempting to retake lost ground.

The discussion outside ended, and Hubert was the one to open the door.

"Something interesting happened, I take it?" Edelgard asked. He only 'interrupted' her if it was important.

"'Interesting' does put it a bit lightly," Hubert replied simply. "Essentially, we know where Cornelia is now."

"And I assume it's nowhere useful?"

"When the report was sent, Cornelia staged a coup within Fhirdiad. Certain nobles we've been unable to contact seem to have assisted her, as well as mages. One of her earliest claims was doing so in your stead."

Edelgard sighed. "I should be surprised, but it makes sense," she admitted. "If nothing else, Thales and his people want to bring chaos; Remire proved that."

"It is wholly possible that she only wants to negate any efforts in negotiating with certain lords," Hubert agreed. "That being said, she is still fighting in your name. How would you like to proceed?"

"Honestly, there aren't a lot of options," she reasoned. "We can't join her, either genuinely or as an excuse to get close; the results will be clear by the time the army gets to Arianrhod, much less Fhirdiad, assuming the fighting hasn't already ended. I don't want the soldiers to march in the cold, only to be greeted by Cornelia's success or enemy troops waiting for our arrival."

"We'll wait, then?"

"It's unlikely she started an attack with the idea that we would provide her aid—it's too long a march just to have nothing come of it. We're not going to have any more support from Thales or his people whether we do or do not help." She sighed, looking back towards her papers. "Only let the officials know. If anyone else hears and asks, just tell them it's impractical."

She didn't exactly like the idea of a place like Fhirdiad falling to one of Thales's people, but there wasn't any way she could change that. Even if they left now, they still wouldn't reach Fhirdiad until after the battle ended; the troops would be too tired to fight, even if the opposing army was weakened.

Edelgard couldn't tell if she was caught off guard, or if they just managed to be a step ahead—but at least it fell closer to her expectations, rather than the others' fears.

Hubert understand what she wanted, offering a bow before leaving and closing the door again. Everything fell back into relative silence, and Edelgard continued working.

When she finished the few, most important papers, she retrieved the investigation reports from the Tragedy of Duscur. She had time before anyone needed her—and enough time left in the day to make up for the distraction—so out of curiosity she compared the list of noblemen and families that were implicated in the event, comparing them to the families they had trouble contacting. Unsurprisingly, there was an overlap; Cornelia likely stayed in contact with anyone who played a role in the Tragedy and went unpunished for it.

She would believe it if someone said they coordinated it so they received news on the anniversary of Remire's destruction. She had a faint hope that Fhirdiad would still remain mostly as it was by the end of the day, however, unlike the village that continued to stand in ruin.

(A/N: Cornelia's coup in Fhirdiad overlapping with the month Remire was destroyed was completely coincidental on my part, but I'm actually quite proud of myself.)