Sorry this one took so long, but even after my vacation ended, I got really into Fallout: New Vegas. Good thing for the students that they ended up in Hyrule, not the Mojave, huh?

Claude spent his time planning. Part of it was spent planning the perfect trap for the pirates. "Why can't we just fight them head-on?" Raphael asked.

"Because if we do that, there's a good chance they could decide to just sail away," Claude explained. "We don't just need to drive the pirates off. We need their ship." He paused. "If we could get Link onto the ship without them noticing, he could slaughter the pirates."

"But it might not be that easy," Hubert said. "I can Warp myself, but I can't take anyone else with me."

"And I can cast Rescue, but it can only bring people to me," Flayn said. "I can't warp anyone away from me."

Claude sighed. He looked at Hubert. "Do you think you could kill the pirates?"

"It would be a risk," Hubert admitted. "If the pirates aren't very good fighters, I could do it. But if they're actual skilled fighters, no."

Claude's brow furrowed. "If they're having success raiding Hyrule, we have to assume they're decent fighters."

"True," Hubert said.

"What about the paraglider?" Link asked. "I could jump from the nearby cliff and glide to the pirate ship."

"That could work," Claude said. "But they might shoot at you. You would have to be able to avoid their arrows."

Kronya walked in on the meeting. "Whatcha talking about?"

"We're trying to figure out a way to get Link onto the pirate ship without attracting attention," Claude told her.

"Lady Impa showed me a neat trick before we came here," Kronya said. "Who knows, it might come in handy for this."

Seeing the cold stare Hubert was directing toward Kronya, Claude decided on something. "You and Link, try it out. I need to talk to Edelgard and Hubert for a moment."

"Of course," Hubert nodded. "I shall fetch Lady Edelgard."

Edelgard and Hubert met Claude in private. "I want to talk to you about something, Edelgard."

"Yes?" Edelgard asked.

"The Almyrans," Claude said. "Do you think they are evil?"

Edelgard shook her head. "I do not."

"But they do evil things," Claude said. "They send out children to fight their wars, and they attack poorly-defended villages with little provocation."

"That would speak more to the evil of specific people making decisions, not the Almyrans as a whole," Edelgard said.

"I agree," Claude told her. "Would you say that categorizing all people who fall under a single identity as evil is wrong?"

"No," Edelgard said. "Some groups are inherently evil. Saying all bandits are evil, for instance, is accurate."

"Okay, sure," Claude agreed. "Would you say that categorizing all people who fall under a single racial identity is wrong?"

"Yes," Edelgard said.

Claude leaned forward. "Does that standard apply to the people living beneath the ground in Fódlan?"

Edelgard shook her head. "That's different."

"How is it different?" Claude asked.

Edelgard stumbled over how to answer that. She realized she couldn't say 'because they're not human.' After all, the Zora, the Gorons, the Rito, and the Manaketes weren't human, but they were people. She could say the Blins or the Lizalfos were evil, but they weren't people. They were not sapient. Those Who Slither In The Dark were.

But she didn't want to accept what Claude was implying. "Do you have any idea what they did?" she demanded.

"I know some of them did horrible things," Claude said. "I know Epimenides was indirectly responsible for the genocide of the Nabateans. I know Thales arranged the deaths of your siblings and King Lambert. But that's just it. Epimenides and Thales did those things, not the Agarthans as a whole. That doesn't make the Agarthans universally evil, it makes Epimenides and Thales evil. For all we know, Thales rules the Agarthans with an iron fist, forcibly crushing public dissent, and the Agarthans are only trying to fight humanity because he's forcing them to."

Edelgard frowned. That was possible, but... "What are you suggesting?"

"I'm not suggesting we leave them alone," Claude assured her. "Once we get back home, we have to get rid of Thales and his inner circle. But after that, I think the word 'subjugation' makes more sense than the word 'eradication'."

Edelgard frowned. "It would be safer for Fódlan to eradicate them."

Claude bit his lip. "Yeah, well, they say no good deed goes unpunished, but sometimes we have to risk consequences in order to be able to live with ourselves afterward."

Edelgard felt Claude wasn't just talking about her plans. "You're speaking for yourself."

Claude sighed. "I would love to rid Fódlan of a toxic influence. But genocide? That's going too far, no matter the potential benefits."

"...I'll think about it," Edelgard said.

"One more thing," Claude asked. "The Rising Sun Company needs to stand as united as possible, so could you try being a little nicer to Kronya?"

It took a moment for Edelgard to figure out who he was talking about. "That's going to be a problem. The real Monica von Ochs was a good friend of mine."

"From what she's told me, the real Monica von Ochs is still alive," Claude said. "Or at least, she was when we were taken. And maybe the Church found her while they were looking for us."

"You have no way of knowing if she's telling the truth," Edelgard insisted. "And even if she is, seeing her wear my friend's face as if it was her own sickens me."

"Well, you'll have to put up with it for a little bit longer," Claude admitted. "But she's not the monster you're assuming she is."

"I'll be the judge of that," Edelgard said. "If she wants to justify herself to me, she can do it herself."

Claude nodded. "I'll talk to her about that."

Claude went to meet up with Kronya. He found her and Link at the top of a nearby bluff. "Hey, Claude!" Kronya said.

"Hey, Monica! How is the plan going?" Claude asked.

"Pretty well, I think," Kronya said. "We managed to work out an illusion to make Link and the paraglider appear to be part of the sky. It's not a perfect illusion, but it should fool anyone who isn't paying too much attention, and I doubt the pirates will expect someone to be coming from the sky."

"That's great," Claude said. "Monica, can I talk to you for a bit?"

"Sure! What's up?" Kronya asked.

Link, recognizing that he wasn't wanted in this conversation, opened the paraglider and began gliding down towards the village.

When Link was gone, Claude made eye contact with Kronya. "I think you have to reveal your real identity to the rest of the Company."

"Uh-uh. No way," Kronya said.

"It's going to come out sooner or later," Claude said. "Eventually, even if you don't tell everyone, Edelgard and Hubert will. Would you rather we lead the discussion regarding your true origins, or would you rather they lead it?"

Kronya grimaced. "I'm not ready, Claude. And I don't know how everyone's going to take it. My people are nowhere as pitiable as Flayn's."

"I'll tell you what," Claude suggested. "Ashe is your friend, right?"

"Sort of, I guess," Kronya admitted.

"Okay. Then we'll tell him, and he can help us make your case to Dimitri and Dedue. And Dedue has been spending his free time with Flayn. He can help us make your case to her. You'll have to make your case to Edelgard yourself; she told me that much. But if we can convince them, then the hard part will be over. That's everyone your people hurt directly, right?"

"I think that's...wait. Lysithea. Her too. The Ordelias were the test subjects for Solon's Crest experiments," Kronya remembered.

"Okay, then we'll make your case to Lysithea in private as well," Claude said. "Then, we'll tell everyone else. If they see that everyone your people hurt directly don't hold you responsible, then they won't hold you responsible either."

"That's assuming we can convince them," Kronya said.

"I know, but this way, we can at least stop everyone from getting caught up in mob mentality," Claude assured her.

Kronya took a deep breath. "I don't want to do this."

"We have to," Claude said. "If you want to get them to have any compassion for your people, you have to give them a reason."

"Okay, but...not right now," Kronya asked. "I need time to think of how I'm going to tell them. This has to go right, Claude."

"I understand," Claude assured her.