"After a while, and a few escapades not worth mentioning, we managed to free a number of political prisoners—people who were unfavorable to the new regime." Hubert shrugged his shoulders. "They looked to Ferdinand as a leader, and before long, we were running a small rebellion."

Edelgard raised her eyebrow. "Really? Just like that?"

"Arundel's cruelty makes it easy enough to find people to fight for our cause. In fact, Marie—have you met her yet?" She nodded. "She used to work for the man." Ferdinand said. "After a while, we got in contact with the kingdom and a few scattered groups in the alliance, and grew more organized. We work to sabotage the army, free prisoners, and generally cause trouble for Arundel's war effort."

"I see…" Edelgard pursed her lips. "And what of the other Black Eagles in our class? Have they joined you?"

Dorothea shifted uncomfortably. "Caspar is fighting alongside his father, Bernadetta joined the army to escape her parents, and Petra…" She swallowed. "Brigid is still under the empire's thumb. If she doesn't fight, people die."

"Linhardt has remained cozy in his father's bureaucracy. But he finds ways to send us information every now and then." Ferdinand added.

Edelgard took a breath. "Well, at least they've all survived…" She looked back at Hubert. "What of the kingdom? And you keep mentioning the alliance in the past tense. What happened?"

Everyone shared a look, uncertain where to begin. "I guess…" Dorothea broke the silence. "...Let's start with the easy one. Faerghus raced through a year-long civil war the minute we left Garreg Mach, before just barely ending that in time to face the empire for the last four years. The battle lines are usually pushing back and forth, but the western front has never taken Arianrhod, despite a siege or four."

"King Dimitri has managed to gain ground recently. About halfway into Gaspard." Seteth added.

"Oh really? That's good." Dorothea continued. "The eastern front is uglier. The empire is constantly pushing into the heartland after they took over Galatea and Charon lands years ago." She paused and her finger found a stray piece of hair to curl around. "And from what I've heard, all of the Blue Lions are still alive. Though Dimitri…" She grimaced.

"Yes?" Edelgard leaned forward. "What about him?"

"Uh, well…" Dorothea looked around. Seteth's face had grown even more solemn, and Yuri was busying himself by sharpening a knife. "I heard…from…"

"He has gone mad." Hubert said bluntly. "The man sees visions of the long dead, and has long, drawn out conversations with—" He stopped himself for a moment. "No, that is inaccurate. He has long, drawn out shouting matches with them. When I went to see him a few months ago, he was barely holding himself together, even with Dedue, Felix, and Lord Fraldarius to restrain him."

"Dimitri? Insane?" Edelgard stared back with wide eyes. "That's awful. Did the stress of war break him, or…?"

Hubert grunted. "Suffice to say, King Dimitri has had a number of personal demons since the Tragedy of Duscur."

There was a moment of silence, save for Yuri's knife sharpening, before Edelgard continued. "How is he still king? Surely a man with his delusions is not fit to lead…"

"He allows his advisers to run the day to day operations, so there is little worry of his mental state impacting logistics. Furthermore, the king is a terror on the battlefield. Utterly fearless, and stronger than any other man. I have seen him slay almost half a score of Demonic Beasts single-handedly, with my very own eyes." Hubert bit his lip. "And finally, Dimitri has become something of a preacher in his addled state. Constantly going on about the Goddess, and that he hears her speak to him. His soldiers and people are inspired by his apparent piety."

Edelgard was taken aback. Dimitri was hearing a self-proclaimed goddess? Just as she had, trapped in that accursed tomb for five years? What did that mean? A coincidence? No, that couldn't be. It was too perfect, too convenient. There had to be some connection, some loose thread that tied these two things together. Surely.

Speaking of the girl, Edelgard hadn't seen her since the road—she hadn't been around when the fight with Rhea broke out. Perhaps that meant that she had been cured of her own delusion now that she had someone else to talk to?

No, that was right. The girl had been her own delusion. She said nothing Edelgard hadn't already known. Then that must mean that Dimitri's madness really was just a coincidence? She supposed that religious delusions would hardly be uncommon.

Perhaps it was Byleth, and their connection to her? Did that mean Dimitri and—

"—Edelgard? Edelgard?" Ferdinand's voice stirred her out of her musings. "Are you alright?"

"Yes! Yes." Edelgard straightened herself. "It's just very concerning, that's all." She glanced towards Seteth. "You don't believe him, do you?"

The man blinked, almost surprised he was being asked. Everyone else turned to him, all morbidly curious. "About hearing the voice of the goddess, you mean?"

"Yes."

Seteth studied Edelgard for a moment. "No." He said after a pause. "No, from what I have heard from King Dimitri, I very much doubt he is listening to the divine."

"Hmm." Hubert muttered. "Well, we'd best go over the state of the Alliance now."

"It keeps getting mentioned." Edelgard shifted in her seat.

"I guess I'll go over this part." Yuri said as he sheathed his knife. "The long and short of it is that the empire attacked the alliance first, just a few months after everything." His brow knit. "Well, not really attacked so much as moved in."

Edelgard stared at Yuri. "What do you mean? Did the alliance surrender, or fall to infighting?" That had been their plan to deal with the alliance.

"Sort of." Yuri shrugged. "It's a bit difficult to get an accurate story, but on the day of a big Alliance meeting, Derdriu simply…well, it was destroyed."

"Destroyed?" Edelgard asked. "By who? The Almyrans?"

"No. The Agarthans." Seteth said. "They have access to technology that allows them to destroy cities."

Edelgard stared dumbly ahead. "...What?"

"It's true." Yuri grimaced. "Where Derdriu once was, only dusty ruins remain."

"They can destroy cities?" Edelgard repeated. "Then...how does Arianrhod still stand? Or Faerghus' capital? How is there any resistence left?"

"They tried to destroy Fhirdiad once." Seteth said. "I was able to stop it, and secure a safeguard against future attacks."

"I—that—" Edelgard opened and closed her mouth like a fish on land. "—So what became of the Golden Deer?"

"After Derdriu's destruction, most of the nobles surrendered, and the Alliance became a vassal state of the empire." Yuri continued. "Claude von Riegan had a price placed on his head that would make whoever cashed it richer than most noble houses, and he fled underground. But not before the empire revealed something that turned his name into mud."

"What?"

"That he was responsible for Derdriu's annihilation, somehow. Oh, and he was Almyran, apparently."

Edelgard found herself staring dumbly again. "...So my uncle made that up? And people believe him?"

"Claude says he's just half Almyran." Yuri shrugged.

"...I…" Edelgard felt her lips press together. "Claude was—is—Almyran? I never suspected…"

"I was quite shocked when I learned of it as well." Ferdinand added.

Yuri just snorted. "Do you empire folk meet many Almyrans out west?"

Dorothea, Edelgard, Ferdinand, and Hubert all shared a look.

"Anyway. That caused more problems for Claude, and set quite a bit of the alliance against him." Yuri rolled his neck. "Except for most of his former classmates. They joined up with him, and are playing soldiers and bandits with the occupying imperials."

"How?" Edelgard asked. "You said that the alliance hated Claude."

"They do. Well, some of them. Most of them." Yuri shrugged. "But everything's relative. Arundel's men in black have spent the better part of four years making themselves despised by anyone and everyone."

"Claude, as polarizing as he has become, is the only lord who has effectively struck back against them." Dorothea continued. "And Hilda being as personable as ever helps him quite a bit."

Edelgard frowned. "Hilda? I always thought Claude was the more conniving of the two."

"Well, he…" Dorothea bit her lip. "Let's just say the last few years have soured his personality."

"Considerably." Hubert grunted.

"Still, he is the man who can make things happen in the alliance territories." Ferdinand added. "As for the rest of the Golden Deer…" His lips pressed together. "They are alive, last we heard." His eyes suddenly brightened. "Oh, and Constance—do you remember her?"

"Of the Nuvelle house?"

"Yes, her! She is working alongside Yuri now. Along with Hapi—the girl with the sandworm, do you remember?"

"I do." Fighting off the Western church seemed so distant now. "Well. This is all…"

"A bit overwhelming, I'm sure." Hubert stood up and moved to the cupboards, removing a few cups and a kettle. "Still, now that you are here Lady Edelgard, things are bound to improve."

"Speaking of," Seteth pushed his chair into place. "We should go over what happened to you in more detail."

"Oh." Edelgard cleared her throat. "Well, after that creature distracted Nemesis and broke apart the battle, Professor Hanneman teleported Professor Byleth and myself to Garreg Mach, but Thales pursued. After running, I…" Should she overburden them with the strange object beneath the gazebo? Perhaps not. "...I am still not quite certain what happened. Just that I somehow teleported to that tomb. Before I knew it, five years had passed."

"Yeah, about that. How the hell did you survive?" Yuri piped up. "I didn't see much in the way of food down there."

"I…" To be honest, Edelgard didn't really know herself. "Foodstuffs—vegetables mostly—appeared at random in the room. Water kept falling from the ceiling. I thought I was going mad."

The kettle whistled, and Ferdinand joined Hubert in passing out tea cups. They placed separate tea leaves in each, and Edelgard could smell the fragrance of Bergamot rising out of hers. "Food and water, just falling out of the ceiling?" Dorothea asked in shock.

Edelgard nodded, and Hubert fell back into his chair. "Enough for five years? Seteth, what is that tomb? How is that possible?"

"The goddess provides…" Seteth muttered half-audibly, before speaking up. "Truely, I don't know. That tomb has always had…" He paused, considering his words. "...A strange power. It was sealed away for more reasons than the threat of graverobbers."

"That was something I wanted to ask about." Edelgard said. "The bones interred there were glowing a bright orange. Like relics do."

All eyes once again turned back to Seteth. Yuri was fiddling with a ring on his finger.

Seteth let out a sigh. "It is the final resting place for many children of the goddess. What remains of my long-slain kin."

"Children of the goddess…" Edelgard regarded Seteth with wary eyes. It was true then? All their kind had some shade of green hair. As for Seteth, while five years wasn't much for men in their late twenties as he appeared to be, the man noticeably had still not aged a day. That confirmed that Seteth was like Rhea: not human, and capable of terrible destruction, just like what Rhea had done on that night in the forest when Nemesis had—

"Wait. Does that mean—" Edelgard sputtered out as the connection popped into her head. "Were you that monster that fought Nemesis?"

Seteth blinked, before nodding. "Yes, that was I." Hubert and the others seemed to already knew, judging their lack of reaction. "But I think we've held off on asking questions of you for long enough."

The air in the room shifted. Dorothea, Ferdinand, and Yuri all looked Edelgard's way, pensive expressions settling across their faces. Out of the corner of her eye, Edelgard saw Hubert's knuckles clench. Seteth continued.

"We have all heard quite a bit from Hubert about what exactly you were doing in the forest that night. I would like to hear it from your own lips now."

Edelgard schooled her features and met Seteth's gaze. His expression was neutral, but clearly hiding a rage. There would be little point in hiding anything, as if Rhea already knew, Seteth and the others surely did as well. "I was there to meet my uncle, or Thales as he goes by."

"And Professor Byleth?" Seteth pushed.

Edelgard did not allow herself to exhale. "She was a bargaining chip."

There was an uncomfortable shift in the air. "So it is true, then." Seteth's voice remained level, even as anger began to seep through the cracks. "You were planning on betraying us from the beginning? This war was of your making?"

"That's not correct." Hubert interjected. "Lady Edelgard is trying to cover for me. I was the one who pushed her into this, and I was the—"

"Hubert, please!" Edelgard cut him off. "I made my own choices. Don't fall on blades of my making."

"So it was all true..." Dorothea whispered out.

Edelgard turned back to Seteth, who was still staring at her. "Throughout my term at Garreg Mach and before, I was consolidating power within the empire with the goal of declaring war on the Church of Seiros along with the kingdom and alliance."

"...The attack on Claude, Dimitri, and yourself by bandits near the start of the year," Seteth said evenly. "That was your doing? You were the so-called 'Flame Emperor'?"

After all that had happened, Edelgard could barely remember that. "Yes."

"Why? Why do any of this?"

"Because my uncle would have started this war with or without me." Edelgard said. "If I were to take the reins, I would at least have some control over the war's direction, and hopefully accomplish some good, instead of becoming a figurehead to be trotted out by the seven every now and then." She let out a short, sharp breath. "And one way or another, I would see my uncle dead at the end of it all."

Seteth was studying her. "You were in Arundel's care for…five years, correct?"

"Care is a strong word."

Ever so imperceivably, Seteth's posture shifted. "And in that time, you gained a second Crest, correct?"

Edelgard chewed her lip, before opening her hand and letting her power spring to life. First the Crest of Seiros sprung into the air, before the Crest of Flames joined it. Everyone at the table starred in a mixture of awe and concern.

She quickly closed her hand, and the Crests faded from the air. "I see." the crack of Seteth's lips seemed to tremble with pity for a moment. "Finally, what had Byleth told you?"

Edelgard stole a glance at Hubert, who just nodded his head. "That she was planning on killing my uncle. That she was from the future."

"Did you believe her?"

Edelgard kept quiet for a moment. "Yes." She finally answered.

"But you chose to continue."

"I…" Edelgard forced herself to remain stock-still. How could she explain this all to them? "I've been promised things that are too good to be true before." Seteth's expression wasn't wavering. It wasn't good enough. "I learned that Rhea…she was a thousand years old. That she had held onto the title of Archbishop for all that time. That she had seen through all the war and death in that time and done nothing. That she wasn't human. And Byleth asked me to trust her? Because she knew what was best? Like everyone—" Edelgard stopped herself. Had she been about to shout? "Nemesis…Nemesis said he was just planning to incapacitate Byleth. Remove her from a fight between himself and Rhea. He said she had altered history to her whim. That her kind—" Seteth blinked at that. "—Once ruled the world with an iron fist. That she was just doing what they did so many years ago with a gentler hand."

The air in the room was almost oppressive. "I chose to believe him, and paid the price." Edelgard said finally. "It is only by some grace that Byleth managed to survive my actions."

Silence hung. Seteth's expression had refused to shift, as though it were carved out of stone. Yuri was looking about the room, and his posture had quietly shifted, both hands on his armrests ready to bolt up and run at a moment's notice. Ferdinand was downcast, studying his teacup. Dorothea was the most open of all, glancing between Seteth, Edelgard, up above, around the room, and back again. And Hubert…he was glancing behind Edelgard.

A slow clap reverberated from behind Edelgard. She dared to look back. Rhea was standing, her eerie green eyes glowing in the faint shade of the morning sun. "I didn't know you had a background in theater." Rhea snorted out.

Edelgard rose from her chair. "I—"

In an instant Rhea was looming in front of her. "Listen closely, wicked child." She spat. "I do not care if you saved Byleth in the end. You are only allowed to live because my granddaughter begged for your life."

Her arm snapped out and grabbed Edelgard by the collar. Seteth shot up. "Rhea…" He warned in a low voice.

The woman paid Seteth no mind. "You started this war. You are responsible for letting Nemesis live again. For my grandchild being rendered comatose. For those sins, you will be nothing more than a blunt instrument, wielded against Nemesis and the Agarthans!" Her words came out like a storm. "You are not a princess. Not a scion of the house of Hresvelg. Just a dagger to be pointed at those foul creatures."

"Kuh…" Edelgard grunted. Rhea was making no effort to keep her comfortable, but this was far from her mood the previous night.

Rhea's green eyes narrowed. "Do you understand, welp?"

Edelgard gripped her shirt, and tore it free of Rhea's hand. "I'm not going to let myself die until I see Arundel dead."

A loud, contemptuous sound came out of Rhea's throat, but she did not pursue further. Faintly, Edelgard felt a hand fall on her shoulder: Hubert's.

"...If we are quite done." Seteth ground out. "I believe now would be a good time for you to show me Byleth, Rhea—"

"Visitors!" Yuri called out suddenly. He was still in his chair, looking out the window. "Two men on horseback."

Through the door, two sets of heavy footprints could be heard as they marched up. Four loud, harsh knocks sounded on the door, before a gruff voice called out after a sigh: "West of east, I find myself lost in the north and south."

Another baritone joined afterwards. "Let me in before I break the door down."

"Well, that was one correct password?" Ferdinand said as he stood up and undid the lock. He glanced at Hubert who nodded back, and then opened the door.

In walked a man with well worn armor and an orange tunic, with dirty blonde hair and a scraggly beard. "I swear, if I have to decode another one of these stupid passwords in another infernal cypher, I'm going to scream." Jeralt said tiredly as he tossed a scrap of paper at Hubert. "Really, you brats can't make…it…"

His words came to a screeching halt when he saw Edelgard, his tired eyes widening in full.

"What is it, Jeralt?" The other man, most definitely Jeritza, said as he stepped through the door. He was clad in pale robes covering thick black armor, but his sharp features and long hair had not changed in the slightest in the five years since Edelgard had seen him.

Jeriza's eyes narrowed when they landed on her. Wondering what sort of trickery this all was.

"The princess is alive?" Jeralt finally managed.

"Jeralt." Rhea said in a commanding tone. "Your report can wait. Byleth is in my chamber."

"...What?" The man's eyes went wild at that, snapping from Edelgard to Rhea and everywhere in between.

The scraps of Edelgard's collar fluttered out of Rhea's hands and down onto the floor as she reached out and gripped Jeralt by the shoulder. "Come." She said, and he followed her down the hallway, leaving the room silent.

It was much later in the day when Edelgard found the time to speak with Hubert again. He was resting by the front windowsill, watching Jeralt and Jeritza's horses graze in the forest shade. Jeritza was standing next to him, still in his armor.

"So you are alive." Jeritza murmured.

"Yes." Edelgard said. "It's a rather long story, but—"

"I care not for the trivial details." Jeritza retorted. "My only concern is that the professor still lives. I still have an opportunity to witness her blade. To face her once more…"

Edelgard stared at Jeritza in bewilderment. "How is it that you have not changed in five whole years?"

Jeritza idly flicked a few stray hairs out of his eyes, but didn't respond further.

"In any case," Hubert spoke up. "Everyone seems to accept you, for now. Even Rhea. That is good news."

"They all knew quite a bit about our dealings." Edelgard responded. "Did you tell them, Hubert?"

He took in a breath before responding. "I thought you were dead, Lady Edelgard." Hubert looked her in the eye. "People saw you in the forest, and put the pieces together. At the time they asked, I had nothing to hope for and even less to lose. If nothing else, I hoped to let your memory live on in some small way." His eyes shifted, pointing down the hallway to the bedrooms. "Some took your plans as well as one could. Others…less so."

Hubert sniffed and turned his full attention back to Edelgard. "Of course, this oaf blurted out everything whenever anyone asked." He said with a gesture to his left.

Jeritza didn't react. "You were dead."

"Well, what's done is done." Edelgard sighed. "What is next? I doubt Sir Jeralt and Jeritza visiting is a purely social visit. Plus, Ferdinand and Yuri retrieving a sword and shield for Rhea…"

"You are correct." Hubert curtly nodded. "We've been planning to take everyone in this house on an excursion for some time. As you've heard, the war has ground to something of a halt, and we were hoping to change tactics and catch Arundel off guard."

Edelgard's ears perked. "How so?"

"Loathe as I am to admit it, our insurgency has become somewhat predictable. We plan to enter alliance territory, and convince Claude and his band to come to the Empire. While he is effective in his own territory, every time he dispatches a contingent of soldiers, the empire just sends another. We hoped that were he to enter the empire proper, especially some of the less guarded provinces close to the heartland, that would create a panic that would force a response."

Edelgard's brow rose. "Couldn't that be accomplished with a letter?"

A snort escaped Hubert. "Claude is temperamental these days. It will take more than a few honeyed words to convince him of anything." He frowned. "But to be honest, this is actually a secondary aim. Our primary concern is something much more powerful."

"This has something to do with Rhea, I assume?" Edelgard pressed her lips together. "If she is traveling with you in her state, it must be something very important."

"Very." Hubert nodded grimly. "There is apparently another 'child of the goddess' lurking in northern Sreng. It is imperative we recruit him to our cause, and Seteth and Rhea are the only ones who might convince him."

Edelgard felt her eyes widen, but not as much as she thought they would. "That's…" She shook her head. "Seteth, Rhea, Flayn, and now this one. How many children of the goddess are there?"

Hubert's mouth twitched, and after a moment opened his mouth—

"Five in total. Indech is defending Fhirdiad." Jeritza cut in bluntly. "He is a giant turtle."

Edelgard blinked. Once, twice, thrice. "What." Jeritza remained impassive. "I…" Edelgard shook her head. If Seteth had turned into that giant snake-creature…. "Indech? Like the saint? But that…" Her voice trailed off. If Rhea was Seiros, and could also turn into the Immaculate One, an inhuman creature…

"Apparently, the four saints are all like Seiros." Hubert finished.

Edelgard took a moment to process it all before continuing.

"...So why did everyone wait until now to try and recruit this…fourth saint?"

Hubert grunted. "Rhea was in a coma for nearly four and a half years after the battle, and only woke up a few months ago. Seteth was also out of commission for some time after the forest—apparently transforming takes a great toll on him. After that he was very busy running the church and coordinating with the kingdom, securing Indech's aid, amongst other things. I do not exaggerate when I say the adventure was first proposed three weeks ago."

"I see..." Edelgard rubbed her neck. "Well, I suppose that's that. I shall be joining you for this, then."

"As you wish, Lady Edelgard." Hubert's expression was neutral. "But I must ask. Is this really it?"

"What do you mean?"

"It's just…" Hubert began.

"Following others around like a stray pup doesn't suit you." Jeritza finished. "To go from plotting the destruction of the old order to this is pathetic."

"Ah." Edelgard quirked her lips as Hubert glared at Jeritza. "Yes, I suppose it is."

There was a beat where Hubert just stared at her before he spoke. "...Then…is this it? Are you content with-"

"Of course not!" Edelgard snapped. "But my actions have consequences. I was prepared to wade through a river of my own making before all of this, and I will not back down now that the banks have flooded. Even if I am not emperor, and my name is spat as a curse, I will continue on."

"To what? And to where?"

"I deal with what I can first." Edelgard bit her lip. "As I said, Arundel's head will roll. Afterwards…" She breathed out. "We will see where the pieces lie then."

The next day, their party set out to the Alliance. It took little coaxing for everyone to more or less agree to bring Edelgard along, even if Rhea made her displeasure widely known. Seteth had quickly secured a set of oxen and a closed-topped wagon to move Byleth in. Despite her earlier fit of wakefulness, Byleth had fallen back into her deep coma, despite Rhea's best efforts.

The journey would of course be delayed by their passenger. What had originally been estimated to be two weeks ballooned into three. Furthermore, Jeritza had apparently lost interest, and decided to return to the western war-front, with barely a few minutes warning. And so the party set off, dressed in traveler's robes, with Yuri acting as their guide through the wilderness. They mostly stuck to forest paths, avoiding the more heavily trafficked main roads and the potential of attack from above.

Hubert was his usual self, and Yuri didn't seem to pay her much mind, but Dorothea and Ferdinand were polite enough to Edelgard, though she could sense their hesitation around her. Seteth was curt and to the point, but never spoke to her unless he had to. Jeralt and Rhea spent most of their time driving the ox wagon, tending to Byleth as best they could with Marie's aid. Neither of them so much as looked Edelgard's way, and when they were forced to…

Edelgard learned to spend her time alone. Sharpening her axe, or learning to adjust to the bristling fabric commoners wore were her main diversions, though she did get to spend quite a bit of time tending to her hair now. The knots and tangles had become almost terminal in the long five years below ground, but Edelgard liked to think she was making good progress. Dorothea sent her pitying looks when she brushed to her own head or helped Ferdinand with his long locks, and Edelgard frequently saw Marie, who also seemed to avoid her, glancing at the back of her head. The older woman always had an uncertain look—no doubt trying to imagine why Edelgard didn't just cut it all off, something Edelgard often wondered herself. It was all for the best, as Edelgard would often struggle for hours against particularly infuriating knots, feeling a sense of accomplishment after finally getting a few strands of hair free.

The air shifted when they crossed the river into the Alliance—or former Alliance—proper. Yuri bribed a ferryman a hefty toll to take them and their horses across in the night, but even then, Edelgard could smell the smoke and ash in the air. What few people they saw were fearful and evasive, running past their party quickly. And as their path changed from forests to open roads, Edelgard was struck by the large wheat fields, left unattended and overrun by weeds and other invasive plants, choking the life out of the crops. Small, broken down fences sat in disrepair, scattered along the road, and places where villages should have been now sat open and free, with perhaps a few broken beams of wood scattered across broken gravel that the grasses were slowly swallowing up. Each time they passed one of the sights, something tugged at Edelgard, trying to force her to look away, up into the distant skies.

She refused each time. Still, they were fast approaching the meeting point with Claude. Apparently, it would only be a few more days, in a small village north of what was now Phlegethon territory, just east of the mountains that Garreg Mach had sat on, at the 27th of the Horsebow Moon, three days from now.

Edelgard found herself near the back of the caravan, idly staring up into clouds. The company was silent, save for the occasional neighing of a horse or the creak of the wagon's wheels. It was terribly dull, and despite Edelgard's best efforts, she began to think back on the past.

During Garreg Mach, she had also spent most of her time alone or with Hubert, trying to plot her revolution or contemplating whatever Byleth had recently revealed. Dorothea and Ferdinand had been reaching out to her then, hadn't they? Now they rode ahead of her, locked in some conversation with Hubert. Ferdinand looked like he was giggling, while Dorothea and Hubert were whispering amongst each other.

It was all fair, Edelgard supposed. She had not reached back. She had been lost for five years. And they had all moved on. It was just her, stuck in the past, barely grasping the monumental changes that had swept across Fódlan. It was all—

"Hey! Listen!"

Edelgard blinked. No, it couldn't be…

"Yes! You, Edelgard!"

It was best to keep moving. Staring up at the clouds, and—

Edelgard's horse whinnied as a small child threw herself into view. "I know you can see me, you jerk!"

The green-haired girl who had haunted her for those long five years was back, having not aged a day. She floated in front of Edelgard's face, having recently passed through the mare like a ghost. Edelgard glanced over at the rest of the party, who had not reacted to the girl's shouting. All good evidence to conclude that it was just a delusion acting up again. Edelgard continued looking away.

"So you're just as much fun to talk to as ever." The girl snorted. "Listen, Edelgard. You can treat me with some respect. Who do you think saved your skin when Seiros was barreling down on you? That wasn't easy!"

Edelgard continued to stare out into the countryside. There were some lovely clouds moving parallel to the mountains.

"Do you really need to do this? Act like a child and ignore me?"

They were moving, faintly. North? Northeast? It looked like the clouds were following their party.

"Look, I sense Agarthan magic being used nearby! Don't you want to know that?"

Edelgard's eyes dropped to the fields below. "Why don't you tell this to Rhea or Seteth? I'm sure they would be happy to hear your voice."

"Do you really think I would be talking to you if I had the choice?" The child groaned out. "Just listen to me. They are just a mile east of here. It feels like they've been at it for a while, so you might be able to surprise them."

Edelgard turned to look out east, not because the child said to, but because there was nothing better to do. Just like everywhere else, there didn't seem to be anything in that direction.

…until she strained her eyes. Faintly, she could make out a plume of black smoke rising into the air.

"Hubert!" Edelgard called out, and he snapped to attention. "Do you see that smoke over there?"

His eyes narrowed. "...Yes, I do." Hubert said. "There shouldn't be a town nearby. I doubt any hunter could be so careless, and it's too damp for a fire…"

"It means there's trouble." Jeralt said as he emerged out of the wagon. He pulled his spear along with him, and began mounting his horse. "Let's check it out. I've needed to kill something for a while now."

They rode ahead as quietly as possible, leaving Rhea, Yuri, and Marie behind with Byleth. The delusion, of course, had faded once Edelgard had spoken with other, real people. After a short while, Edelgard could make the source of the smoke out. A group of men and women, bound with rope, were standing next to a strange, cruel looking box of metal, that faintly belched out the black smoke from a small chimney. Around it and the prisoners stood a company of mages, all dressed in black robes.

"Where is he? Where is von Riegan?" One shouted at a prisoner. The man she was holding shook his head furiously. The mage scoffed, loudly, and threw him into an open door in the metal contraption. There was a scream, and out belched more smoke.

Edelgard drew her axe, and charged.

As always, thanks to Dox for beta reading!

At last, we go charging ahead into how the world has changed. I'll hope you are all sufficiently interested for now, and see you all next time!