This one's gonna shorter than usual. Having a bit of writer's block.

Chapter 85 – Various Disagreements (Great Tree Moon)

Shez gave the bars to her cell another fierce kick, only for the strong steel bars to barely budge. It was now all too clear that she wasn't going to break them open.

The purple-haired mercenary was furious. She had only regained consciousness recently, but the memory of her second defeat at the hands of the Ashen Demon filled her with rage. She could not stand it. She had trained and fought hard to be strong enough to beat her, but the woman had bested her almost as easily as she had the first time.

Shez was about to give the prison bars another kick when she heard footsteps approaching. She watched the shadows to see who the new arrival might be.

A familiar voice said, "I need to speak with her."

Shez immediately recognized the Ashen Demon's voice. It wasn't emotionally flat as she remembered, but she could recognize it anywhere.

"Are you sure of that, Lady Eisner?" asked one of the prison guards. "She's been making a racket for the past ten minutes."

"I am."

"As you wish. Call us if you require any assistance."

The guards moved aside as Byleth walked down to Shez's cell, seeing the mercenary glaring daggers at her. The greenette wasn't surprised; the purple-haired girl must not have taken her second defeat well.

As Byleth stopped in front of Shez's cell, the mercenary said, "Come to rub it in, Ashen Demon?"

Byleth said nothing. She wanted Shez to say her piece first.

"I spent six years of training and fighting so I could beat you, and you still swat me aside like a fly. I can see it – you still think I'm nothing, don't you?"

Again, Byleth chose silence.

Byleth's stoicism further riled Shez's temper. The mercenary rushed at the bars to her cell, rattling them while wishing she could strangle the green-haired woman, but the Archbishop remained firmly out of Shez's reach.

"Answer me, dammit!" shouted Shez.

Unintimidated, Byleth said calmly, "You're far more skilled than when we first fought."

"What?" Shez said in surprise.

"You're fast, and you have true talent with your blades. But you lost because you let your anger blind you. I could see it in your eyes."

"What the hell are you getting at?"

"You relied solely on impulse when you attacked me. Did you have any plan for what you'd do if you somehow beat me?"

"What does it matter to you?" Backing away from the bars, Shez said, "You're gonna have my head chopped off tomorrow anyway, aren't you?"

"No, I'm not."

Shez, not expecting such a response, couldn't find anything to say.

Byleth then said, "It would be a waste of your talents if I had you executed, Shez. And I need to thank you for bringing Simon safely here."

Shez paused for a moment before replying venomously, "I don't need your damn praise. I never should've taken that contract from his father. I lost my whole company getting him out of there. You think praise will bring them back? I've failed to beat you twice now. You should just take my head and be done with it."

"There's no need for me to do such a thing, Shez. In fact, I wanted to give you a chance to help us."

Confused, Shez said, "Help you?"

"Our army is small, and we could use every abled fighter we can muster. I'm offering you the chance to help us in our fight against the Empire. Will you accept it?"

Shez couldn't quite believe what she was hearing. Just hours ago, she had tried to kill the Archbishop, and now she wanted her to fight under her banner? Shez couldn't decide which she felt more: indignation or confusion.

After a moment to think about it, Shez said, "You want my answer?"

Byleth frowned as Shez raised the middle finger on her left hand in an obscene gesture.

Shez then said, "Fuck off."

"Have it your way," Byleth said in disappointment.

Byleth knew she should've expected this. Shez was clearly letting her pride override her sense of reason. But even then, she still wanted to give the mercenary a chance.

The Archbishop turned and left Shez's cell. Shez sat herself down on the floor as she heard Byleth giving orders to the prison guards that she was to be fed and treated fairly.

Deep down, Shez knew she should've accepted the offer. Even if she got out of her cell, there was very little chance she'd get out of the prison. But she could not stand the idea of bending the knee to the Ashen Demon, the woman whose defeat was the sole purpose for her pursuit of strength.

Knowing she'd be in her cell for a long while, Shez lay down on the cold floor and tried to get some rest, listening to the Archbishop's footsteps as she left the dungeons.

…

Linhardt watched as Lana continued her work in the stables, showing clear signs of fatigue. He knew the blue-haired twin was physically weak, but even when she looked on the verge of collapsing, she continued to maintain a perpetual smile.

The green-haired scholar let out a sigh. He thought he'd have found something by now that could get Lana to change her expression, but this effort had once again ended in failure.

It really was just like everyone else had told him: negative emotions seemed to be a foreign concept to her.

Panting from exhaustion, Lana said, "And that's the last of it. Phew… I guess we're done for today, Linhardt?"

"I suppose so," answered Linhardt. "I have to say, you are a very peculiar person, Lana."

"Peculiar? What do you mean?"

"I'd have thought that physical exhaustion would've changed your mood by now, but you keep giving off that uncanny smile of yours."

"Umm, thanks?"

"You clearly lack the stamina for physical work, so I have to wonder why you chose to accept the task."

"I couldn't just say no, could I?"

"Actually, you could have. There are at least a dozen other people who could have done the job for you."

"Weren't you the one who said I should do it?"

"I confess I did, and I apologize for foisting such exhausting labor on you. It's just that your unending cheer is… fascinating, shall we say?"

"You think I'm fascinating? Well, I do have a Minor Crest of Macuil just like my sister."

"Yes, that's of great interest as well. The fact that you and your twin sibling both share the same Crest is a rare find. But despite my interest in Crestology, I find myself more intrigued by your… limited range of emotions." Linhardt then sighed and said, "However, I still cannot determine the reason for your endlessly happy mindset."

"Are you saying I shouldn't be happy?"

Realizing his mistake, Linhardt said, "No, that is not what I meant."

"You're not the only person who's told me that, you know?"

Linhardt could hear Lana's voice wavering slightly, showing she was clearly hurt by his poor choice of words. But still she kept on showing a happy expression and using a cheerful tone.

"Some of the others here have been talking about me lately. They think I'm crazy, or that I'm being insensitive when they're in pain or in mourning. But for as long as I can remember, I've never been able to shake this smile off. Maybe those people are right. Maybe I am crazy."

"That is not the word I'd use for you Lana," said Linhardt. "I'd prefer 'eccentric'. Having a limited range of emotions does not make you insane. Take Lady Eisner, for instance. She could barely express herself when she first became our Professor. But after a few months, she started smiling, laughing, and so forth."

"She did?" Linhardt nodded, so Lana paused for a moment before asking, "Did… did she learn how to be angry? Or how to cry?"

Linhardt hesitantly answered, "Yes, she did. The first time we saw her cry was when Sir Jeralt was murdered."

"Jeralt?"

"Lady Eisner's father. He was killed by someone posing as Monica von Ochs. The Professor spent nearly a week in her room after his death until Dorothea was able to coax her out again. Dorothea became quite ill doing that."

"I see. Dorothea never mentioned that."

Lana took another long pause, with Linhardt unable to tell what she was thinking.

After another moment of silence, Lana asked, "Linhardt? Do you think Lady Eisner could teach me how to… how to stop smiling all the time?"

"Objectively speaking, I think she could. Yet I must ask why you'd want to learn such a thing from her."

"Maybe… so I'd stop freaking people out?"

"I'm not sure if that'd work. If anything, I think I'd be even more concerned if you suddenly stopped smiling."

Confused by Linhardt's choice of words, Lana said, "Huh?"

…

Felix scoffed as the soldier he had been sparring with fell on his backside after the swordsman had hit him in the gut with his wooden blade. The heir of House Fraldarius could tell the soldier hadn't improved much despite his training.

"What did I tell you about leaving yourself open?" Felix said to the soldier. "Any moment you let your guard down could be the death of you."

"Apologies, Lord Felix," said the soldier as he got back on his feet.

"Apologizing isn't going to make you any better in a fight. I expect to see you correcting your mistake, soldier." He then turned to the others who had been watching and said, "That goes for the rest of you as well. Understood?"

"Yes, sir!" said several of the other soldiers in unison.

"Knock it off, Felix," said Brigitte as she and Caspar walked up to the swordsman. "They're doing the best they can. You don't need to heckle them for it."

"Their 'best' needs to be better, Stark," Felix replied. "There's no room for them to be careless against a powerful enemy."

"I agree with Brigitte, Felix," said Caspar. "You're pushing them too hard."

He then gestured to the soldiers, many who were exhausted or sported several new bruises. Many of them had been training for hours.

Caspar then said to the soldiers, "Everyone, take a breather. We'll continue later."

The soldiers, thankful for Caspar's consideration, dispersed so they could get some rest and tend to their aches and sores.

Felix, however, was clearly displeased with Caspar's order.

"You're being soft on them, Caspar," said Felix.

"Or maybe you're being too hard on them, Felix," Brigitte interrupted. "You're practically driving them into the ground."

"We can't afford to have more slip-ups like we did at Myrddin. Our fight with the Black Eagles was proof that our army needs to be stronger."

"You aren't gonna make them any stronger if you're leaving them too tired to fight, Felix," said Caspar.

Felix was about to argue further when Brigitte said, "Caspar's right, Felix. Not everyone here can fight like you can."

After a moment's silence, Felix realized he wasn't going to convince the other two. Scoffing, he turned on his heel and strode away from them.

Sorry if you were expecting more, but that's all I could think up for now.

Shez's refusal to join Byleth's army makes sense if you think about how much she hates losing. Being forced to take orders from the woman who beat her twice would be pouring salt on an open wound for Shez. It honestly would've made less sense if I'd had Byleth convince her to join right away, given she hadn't met any of the cadets during my pre-timeskip. That said, perhaps something may happen in the future to convince her to join…

Writing supports for Lana is tough due to how limited her range of emotions is. Linhardt seemed like the best person for it, and I couldn't come up with anything on the goofy side (i.e. like the Bernadetta/Felix support). I could definitely use suggestions for some more comedic support stories.

We'll be having our heroes return to the front lines by the next chapter if I can't think of any more support stories. Maybe playing some more Octopath Traveler 2 will give me some ideas.