Guardian Moon, Day 4, Imperial Year 1180

Grey clouds hung low over Garreg Mach, as if even the heavens themselves wept for the loss that had taken the monastery by storm. Jeralt Eisner had been killed by Monica von Ochs, and his daughter, Professor Byleth, had held him in her arms as he passed into the goddess' hands.

That was the official story, anyway. Edelgard knew more surrounding the truth of the matter than probably anyone else in the monastery. She was secretly allied with the woman posing as Monica, as well as her cohorts, after all. Of course, each time they enacted one of their despicable plots, from driving the people of Remire Village into a murderous frenzy to transforming innocent students from the Officers Academy into demonic beasts, Edelgard's faith that they could assist her towards her own goals diminished. At times, she wanted to expose them or strike them down, discarding any hope of her goals being fulfilled for what she knew was morally right.

But that was not the sort of person Edelgard von Hresvelg was. She was the sort to set her sights on a faraway goal, one worth any sacrifice. The real Monica was one such sacrifice, murdered and replaced by Kronya, her and her family's good names tarnished beyond repair unless Edelgard could achieve her goals, eliminate every enemy that stood in her path and only then reveal the truth of Monica's fate to the world. She must hold any feelings of regret or remorse so tightly in the palm of her hand that they would not escape until her dream was realised and she relaxed that hand. She must remain stoic - keep such feelings suppressed so that she would not jeopardise everything in the name of her feelings.

And yet... even having resolved to do all of this long ago, and reiterated these values over and over to herself in private, there was one thing that could break down her ice queen façade and make her own emotions the greatest threat to her plans: Byleth Eisner.

Byleth, since the day they first met, had fascinated Edelgard. First, as a highly skilled warrior, ready to jump in front of a blade to save a total stranger. Then, as a surprisingly effective and enthusiastic educator. Then, as a truly strange person with quirks and eccentricities that only occasionally made sense for one of her upbringing, yet consistently fascinated Edelgard. It seemed like, every day, Edelgard learned something new about this woman and found herself wanting, more and more, to bring her into her plans. She knew she mustn't, of course, unless she knew with absolute certainty that her teacher would turn against the Church and join her side when the time came. She could only gauge the woman's reactions to vague hints and random questions Edelgard sent her way, opening herself up to better read the other woman. And even that was risky.

But when Edelgard and the other Black Eagles found Byleth in the aftermath of the assassination, on her knees, cradling her father's lifeless body, rain pelting her feeble, pitiable form, Edelgard's heart threatened to extract itself from her chest. Even with the rainwater pouring down from her hair, when Byleth's eyes met Edelgard's, her tears were as clear to see as the lightning in the clouds above them.

Around a week had passed since that haunting sight burned itself into Edelgard's mind, plaguing her sleeping mind more than once in the nights that followed. The only progress in getting Byleth to cheer up had been when Alois had taken the seemingly just-as-heartbroken Leonie to the professor's room to reminisce about Jeralt together. That had given her the strength to leave her room since, but she remained in a sort of daze. Professors Hanneman and Manuela had taken up Byleth's teaching duties to offer her time to mourn, with numerous other members of the monastery faculty offering guest lectures when the two could take on no more of her work.

Right now, she was sat on the edge of the pier at the fishing pond by herself, staring out over the water. Edelgard had spotted her on her way from the dorms, after stopping by her room to see if she could cheer her up at all. Hubert had told her it was best to leave their professor alone. After all, if she was as strong an individual as Edelgard believed she was, she would recover in short order, especially with so many others at the academy who wanted to see her cheered up just as much as she did. But this simply was not an option for Edelgard. If she had the power to make Byleth feel even the tiniest bit better, she felt that she must.

Given her usual demeanour of blank emotionlessness, save for the glimpses of pride in the classroom or anger on the battlefield, seeing this emotional devastation that was hardly uncommon for such a loss, broke Edelgard's heart to observe. She tired not to get involved, urged by Hubert to remain detached, lest she allow emotion to cloud her judgment when the time came to enact her plot, which would very likely require her to leave her professor behind and become her enemy. But what was she even fighting for, if not to make a better Fódlan for everyone?

Why did she think she could bring about such grand, positive change if she was willing to allow the woman she most respected to isolate herself in her grief? How could she believe her cause was just when she had allowed this tragedy to occur through her inaction, and not at least tried to mitigate the damage?

There were many others around the academy that were likely better suited to comforting Byleth right now. Dimitri and Raphael, for instance, had both lost their own fathers, Ashe had lost both his birth parents and recently his adoptive father, Ingrid had lost her fiancé, Felix's brother, and the effect the death of Rhea's mother had on her was clear from how often she brought it up.

Edelgard had lost her mother, and the betrayal she felt at her father's inability to protect her and her siblings was its own form of 'losing a father', but she doubted it could really compare to the gut-wrenching heartbreak her professor was now going through. But even so, be it truth or her ego talking, Edelgard was fairly confident that no one at the monastery knew her teacher quite like she did - not anymore.

She could sense an air of mild relief in her surroundings as she approached, as if the consensus was that Edelgard, the leader of Byleth's house and a generally no-nonsense kind of person, was their best hope for comforting Byleth. The pressure of this expectation was immense, but she was sure the pressure Byleth herself was feeling on her own chest was far more substantial, and so she pushed onward.

"Professor?" she spoke in a soft tone as she reached her teacher. "What are you doing out here?"

Byleth looked up at Edelgard as she came to a stop by her side, careful not to accidentally knock Byleth's boots into the water. Despite her clearly depressed demeanour, Byleth didn't seem to have been crying recently. Maybe this was a sign that her heart was already on the mend, or perhaps that only the event itself could evoke such a raw outwardly emotional response from her while the memory of it only tore her apart on the inside.

"Cooling off," Byleth replied in her typical, simple manner of speaking.

Edelgard's gaze travelled the length of Byleth's legs into the water where her feet were lightly kicking just beneath the surface. "In your stockings?"

Byleth's gaze, likewise, shifted to her partially-submerged ankles. "I admit, this was an error in judgment. Feels nice though."

"I... see? I'm not entirely sure the phrase 'cooling off' is supposed to be taken quite so literally."

"I think it's helping anyway."

"That is good then." After this response, Edelgard suddenly came up blank. What else could she say? She shuffled her feet slightly, bumping lightly into one of Byleth's boots with her own. With no other ideas, Edelgard slipped her own boots off, placed them beside her teacher's, and took a seat by Byleth's side at the edge of the pier. She slowly lowered her heels into the cold water, shivering as she made contact.

"Pft!"

"P-Professor! Are you laughing at me?"

"N-No..."

"You are! Was this all some elaborate plan to trick me?"

"No, but it's still funny."

"I cannot believe this... I came down here to make you feel better, only to end up-"

"Getting cold feet?"

Edelgard's jaw hung slack at the pun. Byleth made a pun. This expression only made Byleth's face brighten up further. "You... You have been spending far too much time with Alois. I do not approve."

"He's fun."

"...That is good to hear. Just try not to go overboard with these jokes. You are to set a good example for your students. We hardly need more than one Alois..."

"I like Alois. He doesn't take himself too seriously. I wish more people were like that."

"Are you... talking about me?"

"Hm? You think you take yourself too seriously?"

"What? No, I think you think I take myself too seriously. I think."

Byleth smirked slightly. "You certainly think too much sometimes." She poked Edelgard on the tip of her nose and the future Emperor had no idea how to respond. Byleth seemed almost giddy all of a sudden. "I don't think you take yourself too seriously, not naturally. You take yourself seriously, of course - you're very driven. But you're more... the type to force herself to be that serious. Like you'd rather take time to relax for a while, but think you doesn't have the time for that."

"You... think so?"

"I don't think a person who really takes herself so seriously would come over here to try to help cheer me up. She'd be too focused on her ambitions to spare a thought for someone else." Byleth smiled with pride. "I'm glad you're not like that, Edelgard."

Edelgard had no words to respond with. She could only nod nervously and turn to face the water. She shifted her position slightly, her hand knocking one of Byleth's boots over, teetering close to the edge. As she quickly picked it up to move it back into place, Byleth spoke again.

"That was close. Carrying a bootful of water after you one time was bad enough."

"P-Please, stop bringing that up," Edelgard protested, ears turning pink. But her tone became more playful as she said, "O-Or else I'll show you how a bootful of water is supposed to be thrown. It certainly isn't supposed to be dropped onto the floor to make your victim fall over."

"Ouch. Fair. But ouch."

Both ladies laughed quietly, Edelgard intentionally so to avoid letting anyone else notice.

"Are you feeling any better, Professor?" Edelgard asked cautiously.

Byleth's smile dimmed only slightly at the question. "I do. I'm not all the way there, but... Thank you, Edelgard. You're very kind."

"Oh, no. It's really nothing special. Anyone else would and could have done this."

"Maybe. But I'm glad to know I'm not just a teacher to you, but a friend."

"O-Of course you are. Did I... give you the impression I thought otherwise."

"Not really. But you keep to yourself a lot, so you can be tricky to read a lot of the time."

"I see..."

That made sense. That was exactly how Edelgard wanted to be. But hearing Byleth describe her this way made her feel like this was a flaw. She began to worry that any further analysis of her character from Byleth might lead her down a path of negative self-reflection; one that could derail her entire plot. Such was the influence Byleth had over her student, and realising this did little to help stifle its effects.

"Well, I'm afraid I have other tasks to see to today, so I must be going." She rose to her feet, flinching at the realisation of how wet they were, and collecting her boots.

"Okay. Thank you for coming to see me, despite your schedule. I really needed that." That bright, sincere, genuine smile compelled Edelgard to do one last thing for her teacher before she scurried away.

"Do you have any plans for the rest of the day?" she asked.

"Not really," Byleth shrugged. "I'll probably just stay here for a while."

That wouldn't do. If Edelgard left her like this, she was likely to fall right back into her depression. Her eyes wandered as she tried to come up with a new idea. Off to her left, on the other edge of the pond, Edelgard spied Ingrid, who seemed to be looking on with concern at their professor. Either that, or this expression was for Leonie, who stood on the opposite bank. An idea popped into Edelgard's head as she observed the trio.

"Professor, did you know that today is Ingrid's birthday?"

Upon hearing this, Byleth's gaze shifted to her left, causing Ingrid to jump. "Is that so?"

"It is. I'm sure you don't want her worrying about you on her special day, do you?"

Byleth's gaze shifted between the two students multiple time before settling back on Edelgard. "You really are very kind, Edelgard. I'll see you in class tomorrow."

Edelgard smiled.

With a small wave, Byleth was off, but Edelgard grabbed her teacher by the sleeve to stop her. She then pointed to where her confused teacher had left her boots. Had she been the one caught out like this, Edelgard was sure she would have turned as red as her stockings. but Byleth often seemed to lack any sense of shame at all. She simply picked up her forgotten footwear, nodded with a smile, and went back on her way.

Ingrid had been watching Byleth with concern for quite some time before the professor noticed her presence. Despite Mercedes and Annette encouraging her to try and enjoy her special day and leave cheering the teacher up to them, once she spotted Byleth by the water, kicking her feet solemnly like a lost child, she wasn't able to get the other woman's expression out of her head.

Byleth was only a few years older than her (she was fairly certain) and she could see a lot of herself in the educator. Sure, Ingrid's father yet lived, but she had suffered her own intense loss when Glenn died in the Tragedy of Duscur. She had experienced this crushing loneliness and she wanted to help pull the teacher out of it, as had been done for her. But Ingrid wasn't the kind of person who could simply pluck a deep, inspiring speech, or words of wisdom out of thin air. This left her standing immobile across the pond from Byleth as she sought the right words to be of any help at all.

And then, Edelgard approached Byleth and seemed to have some success in cracking that self-isolating shell around her professor. She stood in awe of how effortlessly the imperial princess could just walk right up and talk to her like this. Ingrid wondered if it was simply Edelgard being in Byleth's class that made it easy, or if the gap between the two was naturally that large.

She was so busy lamenting her own ineffectual nature that she didn't notice Byleth looking her way at Edelgard's direction at first. When she did, she jumped. Had they noticed her staring? Was Edelgard making fun of her for her ineptitude? No, she was being ridiculous now. She sounded more like Bernadetta than the confident heir of House Galatea she was supposed to be. She bolstered herself as Byleth got up to leave, deciding she would go and intercept the other woman, ask her to join her for some tea. Both enjoyed their little tea parties, so it seemed a good way to cheer her up.

And then Byleth pivoted in her direction, marching right up to her, leaving Ingrid frozen until Byleth stepped right in front of her. Ingrid could sense all eyes on the two of them, even though her own eyes could see only Byleth's.

"Hello, Ingrid," she greeted casually, as if she were not currently mourning the death of the most important person in her life.

"H-Hello, Professor. H-How are you today?"

"I've been better. But Happy Birthday. Would you like to go for some tea?"

Ingrid was dumbfounded. Even had she herself not been about to make the same offer, she was sure she would still feel the same at this bizarre mood. "Um... Yes, I'd love to. I was actually about to come and ask you the same thing."

"Good thing I asked first then. I can't let you pay for tea and snacks on your birthday."

"I don't think that's the issue here."

"What is the issue then?"

"I'm... not actually sure myself."

"Tea then?"

"Y-Yes. Please." As Byleth turned to lead Ingrid to her preferred spot, Ingrid's gaze passed over the lonely-looking Leonie on the opposite bank and an idea occurred to her. "Actually, Professor, I was hoping we could make it a three-way today."

Byleth turned back to face her and seemed to notice her gaze, following it and then looking back at her. "I didn't realise you and Leonie were close."

"We spar often. When it comes to someone skilled with a lance, but capable of not going overboard, there's none better. Plus, she's always eager to go a few rounds, so schedules are rarely an issue. I'd like to spend some time with both of you, if that's alright. We can talk tactics and weapon maintenance and future goals... I think it will be a lovely time, don't you?"

Byleth's lips curved slightly upward as she nodded.

"Great. Shall we go invite her then?"

Edelgard felt a sense of relief as she watched Byleth depart with Ingrid and Leonie. She had faith that those two could take the baton and keep Byleth's mood up from here. As for her, she would keep her part in cheering Byleth up to herself, lest Hubert chastise her for what he would, no doubt, view as a lapse in judgment. That was the biggest point of contention between herself and Hubert - his view of anything not directly connected to their goals as a distraction or an unnecessary risk. but if she wasn't willing to help those in need, especially those people with talent that she held so highly, then what exactly were they preparing to start a war over?

She returned to her own room, feeling strangely tired out from all the concern she had experienced today. As she sat on her bed, satisfied that Byleth was going to be okay now that her own role was completed, Edelgard was afforded an opportunity to think about matters more pressing in the grand scheme. Such as the fact that she had allowed Solon and Kronya's plot to go ahead and caused all of this to begin with. As if struck by some life-draining spell, Edelgard's body quickly drained of all energy and she lay back on her bed, a grim haze overtaking her.

"It's my fault..."

She promised herself that she would tell Byleth the truth one day. She would take her aside and tell her everything about her connection to those who slither in the dark and her foreknowledge of their schemes. But it would not be any time soon. And for once, Edelgard's secrecy was not purely in service of her goals, to avoid jeopardising her plans. Her actions in the years to come would come at great cost to every man, woman and child in Fódlan. Destroying her friendship with Byleth and taking away one of this incredible woman's closest friends was just about the one sin she would never allow herself to commit.

For now, she could only push forward and ensure that all the death, including Jeralt's, and all the suffering, including Byleth's, would all be worth the victory in the end. But no matter how determined she forced herself to be, as she pictured Byleth's sorrowful face for the umpteenth time this last week, she started to doubt it would be.

There was no way she could predict that it would take six long years for her to come clean and finally be freed of this horrible burden. Nor the effect it would have on her and Byleth's relationship...

Can you guess where about I'm up to in my Blue Lions run? Yeah, why did they choose to have the first free day of the mourning period be Ingrid's birthday? Happy, jovial music as you have a tea party like nothing's happened, then smash cut to the depression theme as you find Ingrid in the monastery and she's only now offering condolences. They could have at least moved her birthday to the following day.