Hi all, I just want to be a bit more clear on exactly how this fic is going to be structured. From here, the story will largely follow BL because I think that's the best choice considering Link's relationship with Dimitri. Some extra news, though! I finished writing!

… White Clouds.

We haven't even touched the post-timeskip.

Chapter VII

"Yaaaaaawn… The Great Tree Moon is the best time of year for naps," one of the new students announced. What a strange thing to say. It was the middle of the day, for Din's sake! Admittedly, there may have been context for the outburst, but I was focused entirely on his green hair. Katáktisi, do we have another Nabatean on our hands?

There was a moment of silence. It bears Cethleann's Crest, the mask informed, but this one is human. Fortunately.

Excellent. I could completely disregard him, along with most of the other students that weren't named Dimitri or Dedue. Mercedes was nice, sure, but I didn't want to distract anyone from their studies. I was happy to support from the background. I steeled myself for the task at hand. After all, I did have a job to do.

The line flew out over the water and landed with a satisfying plonk. I was a little tense because Flayn was watching me with her Nabatean eyes, but I tried to ignore that for now. I had a fish to catch.

I heard the creaking of the pier as someone walked up beside me. Since I hadn't gotten a bite, I spared a glance. The newcomer was a woman, for sure, but that's where my ability to identify her stopped. Her hair was a blue bordering on green, so she wasn't a first-generation Nabatean at the very least. Her expression was completely stoic and unreadable. She wasn't a student, judging by her armor, which certainly violated at least one dress code with how much skin it showed. And in very easy-to-hit places too, like the sternum and the lower abdominal. Whoever designed that outfit was not very good at it.

They had a fishing rod in their hands. They cast the line, and as though fate was playing a cruel joke on me specifically, she immediately got a bite. After a bit of struggle, she pulled a full bass out of the water, set the fishing rod back in place, and walked away. She never said a word.

Curious, Katáktisi said. That should be impossible.

Yeah, that fish bit immediately, I agreed. What kind of bait did she use?

No, no. Her Crest.

First she had had my interest, but now she had my attention. What about it?

It is the Crest belonging to that thief, the King of Liberation.

The King of Liberation? That was–

Nemesis, aye.

Nemesis had kids? None of the legends or scriptures ever mentioned that.

He did not. Unless he survived the Tailteann Plains. But if he were alive, the War of 'Heroes' would not be over.

So that person… has the Crest of Nemesis. Which by all accounts, nobody should be able to have.

Yes.

I thought for a moment. Could we use Hanneman to gain more information about it? We could probably suggest that he use that device thingy to test her Crest, and glean the results at a later date.

A devious scheme. You have gotten better at this.

Thank you.

Fish momentarily forgotten, I turned on my heel and trotted back to the monastery. On the way, I decided to pass through the Officer's Academy instead of my usual route, which bypassed it completely. I didn't spy anyone immediately, but I heard a fair amount of commotion coming from each of the main lecture halls. Maybe Prince Dimitri and Dedue were in there, and I could say hello? It probably couldn't hurt too much.

I strolled up to the Blue Lions lecture hall and peeked my head in as discreetly as possible. Fortunately, everyone's attention seemed to be directed towards that blue-haired Nemesis-crest-having fisherwoman from before. I quickly took stock of who was there. The class split appeared to be three girls to five guys. Dimitri and Dedue were present, of course. Felix, the edgelord from the winter march, was also there. What surprised me was Mercedes– I thought she was Imperial, what with the whole 'von' thing. Maybe she moved. That left four people who I didn't recognize. Sandwiched between Dedue and Mercedes was a smaller girl with orange hair and what I thought were pigtails. On Dimitri's left were two boys– one with gray hair and freckles who must have been Silver, the other a tousled mess of red hair who was dressed more casually. He definitely gave off Ingrate vibes. Rounding out the class was a girl with long, blonde hair. I was fairly far away, so I couldn't get a super good look at them without drawing attention to myself.

"I just don't know about all of this!" Orange Hair was saying concernedly.

"I'll admit, it doesn't sit well with me either," Dimitri agreed. "After all, we wish to show you proper respect."

"Sure, but if the professor says it's okay, shouldn't that be enough?" Ingrate said with an easy smile. "That is… if Your Highness can consent to such a thing. After all, we're already speaking this way to our future king, so we may as well relax our speech with our professor too, right?"

"Well, we're not in the Kingdom, so it only goes to follow that we should all speak companionably… I concede. If the professor says it's fine, we ought to accept that kindness gratefully."

"As for me, I'm not sure I can manage," the blonde one said morosely.

"You don't have to force yourself if it's too difficult," Mercedes chimed in. "You're fine with that too, right, Professor?"

So the new arrival was the new professor, and most likely also the daughter of Jeralt. Noted. Said daughter was currently nodding in affirmation.

"Such benevolence is a sight to behold! I don't suppose you would care to join me for tea? We can discuss education… and marriage." I blinked. That came out of left field.

When one's blood holds power, it is only reasonable that procreation yields further power, Katáktisi said. Disgusting. I didn't deign to give that a response.

"Control yourself, Sylvain," Felix drawled. Wait, wait, wait– Ingrate wasn't named Ingrate? Come to think of it, that meant that Silver wasn't named Silver! "I have more important matters to discuss with our new professor. Come to the training ground later. There, you will show me what you're capable of." Yup, that sure was the Felix I remembered.

"You aren't wasting any time, are you, Felix?" Dimitri observed. "As it were, count me in for any such battle."

"Hmph."

"Pardon me," not-Sylvain said, "but I would also love to observe you in battle, for future reference. If that's okay with you…"

"Ashe, I won't have you speak of merely watching. You should join us as well," Dimitri said. I noted that his name was Ashe.

"If you get injured, simply say the word and I'll patch you up straight away!"

"Your Highness. Do take care not to go overboard," Dedue cautioned.

"You worry too much, Dedue. I'll be fine. I promise."

"My companions!" Sylvain interjected. "Is there not something inherently wrong with crossing blades as a way to get to know each other?"

"Huh, I never thought of it that way. Well, if that's how you feel, I suppose you'll just stay behind while the rest of us are at the training grounds?"

"Ingrid, my dearest friend!" So the blonde one was named Ingrid. That only left the ginger girl whose name I still didn't know. "You really are too harsh on me."

I decided that it was time to go. I had a crest scholar to manipulate, after all. But I tidbitted the fact that they were going to the training ground later. Whether that meant 'go to the training grounds too' or 'avoid the training grounds like the plague for a little while' remained to be seen.

I knocked on Hanneman's door. The crestologer was a bit slow to open it.

"Ah. Link, yes?"

"Yeah," I affirmed. "I was just wondering if you had met the new professor."

"I have indeed. While I don't know her competence as a teacher, she was a mercenary– meaning she has better combat experience than I. Although to be honest, that's not saying much at all."

"Mhm. Say, you think she has a Crest?"

"I was actually wondering the same thing myself. In fact, I asked her to come here to test exactly that. Speaking of testing for Crests, you managed to slip away from me last time we spoke on this subject."

I cringed. I was hoping that he had forgotten about that. "Well, I don't want to take up too much of your time, and I also don't want to overshadow the new professor. Could I schedule you in for a later date?"

"Don't worry– this won't take much time at all. If you would like, I can merely take a bit of blood and do analysis on that on my own time."

Will that pick up on your presence?

Of course not. I am the mask, not your blood.

"Alright," I consented. I quickly dug around in my pouch for a moment, before drawing the Gilded Sword. The blade pressed into the skin of my palm, and soon enough, a burning pain was making itself abundantly known in my palm. The red liquid steadily streamed from the cut. I proffered it to Hanneman. "You think this is enough?"

Strangely, the professor appeared to be quite horrified. What an unusual reaction to blood. I guess I had gotten desensitized to it over the course of my adventures through Hyrule and Termina. The patches of aged, dried viscera that had populated the Bottom of the Well and the Shadow Temple swam in front of my vision for just a moment, just long enough for me to lose track of exactly where I was until the Adrestian scientist shook me out of it. "No, no, no! A couple of drops would have been plenty!" Hanneman grabbed a test tube and ran its glass edge along the cut, picking up a small amount of my blood. "Now, go see Professor Manuela before you bleed out entirely!"

I made a mental note to place an order for a new carpet to replace Hanneman's currently soiled one. "Alright, sir."

Now bearing a freshly-bandaged hand, it was high time I gathered intelligence on this new professor. And who better to ask about the new member of the Officer's Academy than the man in charge of the Officer's Academy? I had to deliver a missive to Seteth anyway regarding a 'Petra Macneary'. Something about the archipelago of Brigid? Whatever it was, it wasn't my business reading. Granted, I had a tendency to stick my nose as deep into wherever it didn't belong as possible, which was saying something as I had a pretty long nose. However, some things weren't all that important compared to the sheer girth of the fish I was frying on a regular basis. But it would be convenient if I could bang out two objectives at once.

I quickly marched up to Seteth's office, but on the way, I passed by what was normally Alois' room– technically, it was the study reserved for the captain of the Knights of Seiros, but since Alois filled that position, it may as well have been his. Strangely, someone else seemed to be poking around in there, a man who I had never seen before. He was wearing dark armor covered with straps and belts– truly a man sharing my own fashion tastes. A big orange shirt obscured most of the metal of his breastplate and upper legs. From what little I could see of his face, it was littered with scars. Well, if it was some assassin like the couple I had dealt with in Fhirdiad, I could probably take him.

"I don't think you're supposed to be here, sir," I said. The man paused for a moment, then turned to face me, revealing a well-kept light-brown beard that covered his chin and jawline.

"Is that so," he asked, in a gravelly but not necessarily unfriendly voice.

"This room is reserved for the Captain of the Knights of Seiros. If you're here to meet someone, I would suggest the marketplace outside the Officer's Academy."

"As it happens, I'm the new Captain of the Knights of Seiros," he said.

"I guess that checks out. After all, you must be Alois' protegé if your sense of humor is that bad," I countered.

The mystery man laughed. "Well, I'm glad Fódlan is large enough for someone to not recognize me."

I furrowed my brow. "Should I have heard of you? Wait, let me guess– everyone's been talking about the 'Ashen Demon' and his daughter the 'Blade Breaker' nonstop since this morning, and if you really are taking over the captain's role… it follows that you're the Ashen Demon."

"The Ashen Demon is actually my daughter, so–"

Well, there was a curveball. There was now only one logical conclusion to make. Considering everyone was gaga over that Jeralt character as well, and that Jeralt had a daughter, it made sense to assume that this man before me was none other than Jeralt himself. I had thought Jeralt and the Ashen Demon were synonymous. How on Fodra had I gotten the two reportedly famous mercenaries that I had never heard of before this week mixed up? "So that would make you Mr Jeralt Eisner. Got it. Say– your daughter wouldn't happen to have bluish hair, a cape with sleeves, and a stony disposition?"

"That sounds like her, yeah. Have you met?" Oh no.

Crest?

Seiros. Major.

That's weird, especially since Seiros is here too. Unless this random mercenary is descended from the Imperial throne.

But that would not explain why his spawn has Nemesis' Crest. There is something more here.

Hm…

"Not formally, but I saw her talking with the members of the Blue Lions house," I mentioned. "I apologize for not knowing who you were. Er, I'm terribly sorry to cut this conversation short, but I need to deliver these papers to Seteth. You'll have to excuse me."

"It's no problem, kid," he said as I left, and it took all my willpower to not bristle in hate at the usage of that last word.

Back to business. I knocked on the Nabatean's door, and thankfully it opened swiftly enough.

"Good afternoon, Link. How fares this moon for you?"

"Well enough," I said. "Shamir wanted me to drop off all of this." I set the missive on his desk.

"Thank you."

"It seems that the whole monastery is abuzz with talk about Jeralt and his daughter," I commented. "The way I understand it, he was the old captain of the Knights of Seiros, but left the Church twenty-one years ago. Now he and his daughter are mercenaries of great renown? Which is odd, since I had never heard of either of them before now. And now Jeralt is back in the Knights, and his daughter is… teaching?"

"Yes, that is the situation. Although I have my reservations on both fronts, it was Rhea's idea to instate both of them." Oh yeah, I had overheard their conversation on the topic. Now that I had faces to put on those names… well, this was shaping up to be an interesting year. And not necessarily in a good way. What on earth was the archbishop thinking?

"I don't mean to question Lady Rhea, but I can't help but feel that this is an exceptionally bad idea. Handing the education of Fodra's–" I realized my mistake and feigned a cough. "Fódlan's future, excuse me, to someone who just showed up one day seems like a monumental oversight."

"The goddess works in strange ways," Seteth mused, not sounding particularly enthused.

"That sounds like Church speak for 'I don't know what's going on but I don't want to sound like I don't know what's going on'," I blurted. Once I realized exactly what I had said– and the implications– I clammed up, not wanting to incriminate myself further.

"Perhaps," Seteth agreed, throwing me for a loop. "But it is often difficult– and sometimes even impossible– to admit that we do not have many of the answers. Many people find comfort in being part of a greater plan."

"Are you one of those people?"

"The Church of Seiros teaches that the goddess has a plan for all of us. But to know the full blueprint would be to know every interaction, to know every person as intimately than they know themselves. That is, of course, impossible. So I live my life as I choose to, and find my comfort in myself, my family both found and by blood, and my actions– and I do not begrudge those who would live their lives differently. To answer your question more directly, no. I may not be aware of the greater whole, but I draw my strength from the bonds I have forged with those around me, such as Flayn and Rhea. That is my choice. That is my comfort."

Curious. For years, I had been told that I was a 'child of destiny' chosen by the goddesses to save Hyrule. I was chosen by the Master Sword, chosen to use the Ocarina of Time to save Termina, chosen as champion of Katáktisi. To hear a high-ranking member of the Church– an organization that promoted fear towards people from outside of Fodra– claim to believe in the exact opposite was surprising, and honestly refreshing.

"I think that's a very good way of seeing it. I might just adopt it myself."

Don't you see it? The Fierce Deity snarled. He is corrupting you. His ideas mesh with yours. Soon you will be nothing more than a little Cichol. And I will be forced to cut you down.

Isn't this an ideology you yourself would back?

Be silent.

You're all for throwing out the concept of destiny! I shouted internally. Seteth is saying I should seize my own meaning, seize my own concept of victory.

Katáktisi said nothing for a moment. It seemed genuinely contemplative, or at least as close to contemplative as it ever had been before– especially considering this was a Nabatean we were talking about. I will allow it, it seethed. Just this once.

I smiled, surprised that I had actually managed to undeniably win an argument with the magical murder mask. Usually it just grumbled and stopped talking, and no real progress was made. "I should probably get back to business, sir. I enjoyed our conversation."

"Actually, Link, I have something to ask of you." I was all ears. "If you have the time, I would like you to keep an eye on Professor Eisner. Since you already have a rapport with the prince of Faerghus, I imagine it would not be difficult to be discreet."

Eisner must have been the last name of the Ashen Demon. "I can do that. Would you like me to report back to you with a particular cadence?"

Seteth grinned. "Whenever you believe it is best is perfectly acceptable to me. That is all."

I turned to leave, but another thought struck me. "Did we ever figure out what happened to Monica?"

"I believe the consensus is that she ran away. Although it is strange that she would do so just before graduating… We have little else in the way of explanation, unsatisfying though it may be."

My face scrunched up. Something felt… wrong about it, but I couldn't place it. Neither could Katáktisi. "Alright, Seteth. Does that mean we should stop looking?"

"I believe at this juncture, we have no choice but to focus on this new class over the departed one, and pray that no other such occurrences happen this year."

The library was mostly empty save for a couple of new students and the object of my interest. I casually strolled up to the aging librarian and gently rapped on one of the wooden arches that supported the ceiling to get his attention.

"Ah, Link!" He greeted me warmly, like he did with everyone. "How are you today?"

"I'm doing quite alright," I responded. "I just swung by to return this…" I dug Introduction to Magic out of my pouch. I had finished it in Seteth's office a while back, but I figured I would simply return it to the library directly.

Tomas took the book and ambled over to the other side of the room, reaching with shaking hands to put the tome on a high bookshelf. I would have helped, but I was regrettably far too short to aid in such a thing.

"If you would like, I can get something a bit more advanced for you, since you have the basics in your repertoire," Tomas offered.

"Maybe later," I said. "Did you hear about the new professor debacle?"

"I did indeed! Very curious, but if the archbishop sees something in her, who am I to judge? I also heard that there is going to be a mock battle between the houses sometime this moon, to prepare for the Battle of Eagle and Lion later in the year."

I blinked. That was news to me. "Really? They're really giving her no time to prepare, huh?"

"So it would seem. Say– if you were to attend, would you tell me who ends up being victorious? I would go myself, but these old bones aren't what they used to be."

As someone who had worn the skin of a child and an adult, a Kokiri and a Hylian, a Deku, a Goron, a Zora, and a god, I was all too aware of the negative effects of the passage of time. I shot him an award-winning smile. "Sure thing, Tomas. I promise."

The day had come in the middle of the month. The three houses had gathered in a small glen close to Garreg Mach. Each house was eight strong, not including their teachers. The winds were fairly strong today, so I double-checked that my pointed ears were properly hidden behind my hat. It wouldn't do to announce my abnormalcy any more than I already had.

"I'm sure you're all already aware, but the house that defeats the others is declared the winner," Jeralt ordered. "Incidentally, I'll be overseeing this mock battle. So listen well if you want to win."

So that explained why Rhea and Seteth weren't here. They pawned off the role of overseer to Jeralt. There were only a handful of Knights present to observe, and I was standing in for Tomas. Everyone was equipped with merely training weapons that couldn't kill. I guess that was reasonable, especially given Dimitri's super strength and goddesses knew what other superpowers everyone else who had Crests possessed.

"None of your shallow tactics are required, Claude," said someone with the most egregious bowl cut I had ever seen. "Ignatz and I will dismantle the opposition."

"M-me?" blurted someone with an only marginally better head of hair, presumably Ignatz. "But I'm not ready!"

"Are you making light of our new Professor?" the Golden Deer house leader– Claude, I reasoned– asked. "If you drop your guard, you're going to get hurt…"

While that tete-a-tete was going on, the Black Eagles had sent one of their own– a girl with long hair and a hat– to fire off some spells in the Blue Lion's direction and act as bait. Most likely, they hoped to draw out the Lions and cut them down. Hanneman and Manuela were hanging back in some sort of makeshift fortifications, but the new professor was on the front lines herself.

Meanwhile, some of the Black Eagles and Golden Deer were trading blows with each other. The Blue Lions, on the other hand, appeared to be waiting on the outskirts for the most part, sending pairs to tag-team those on the outskirts. I watched as Dedue and… was it Sylvain? No, it was Ashe. Regardless, they were both engaging with the Black Eagle mage, Dedue staying up-close-and-personal to give Ashe enough time to score a finishing blow with his bow. Meanwhile, Felix and the guy who was actually Sylvain had engaged Ignatz, the former striking his weapon so powerfully that his bow shattered in two. "I've lost," he commented. "The new professor is quite the commander."

Sylvain and Felix rounded on Bowl Cut Guy, only to realize that the Ashen Demon had taken care of him entirely a long time ago. Meanwhile up north, the fight between Golden Deer and Black Eagles was getting fairly intense. And it was about to get even more heated as the Blue Lions organized into a spearlike formation and punched straight into the fray, surrounding Mercedes, Ashe, and the orange-haired girl whose name I still didn't know with their melee fighters, allowing them to continue firing spells and arrows without worrying about enemy fighters getting in their face. The professor was there as well, engaging with Claude personally while Dimitri covered her flank against the Black Eagles house leader. I think she might have been that Edelgard person that the crown prince mentioned?

After a couple of minutes of brutal fighting, the Black Eagles and Golden Deer were all but decimated. All that was left to do for the Blue Lions was to pick off any survivors, regroup, and round on Hanneman and Manuela. I had to admit, the new professor was smart. She allowed the other two houses to wear themselves out against each other while taking the time to cover their flanks from both other houses. Then she came up with a brilliant formation on the fly to serve as a battering ram between the lines, allowing everyone's strengths to shine while flawlessly covering their weaknesses. And they did it all with a practiced ease. At once, I understood why the Ashen Demon had such a fearsome reputation.

"My goodness," Hanneman got out after being soundly defeated by a combination of Ingrid, the professor, and Mercedes. "The leadership of someone with actual battle experience is… well! I was as good as useless!"

"Well done," Manuela admitted to the end of Dimitri's lance. "I nearly wound up a patient in my own infirmary."

"Alright, that's that!" Jeralt called, clasping his hands together. "The winner of this mock battle is… the Blue Lion House!"

Vibing

Review please!

NaoBea (FF): I know this is purely coincidence, but I literally just finished a Teatime for Link where they talked about that a bit. I'll say this, though– Katáktisi's tipping point will come sooner than you might think.

DarthFlores (FF): Totally agree with you about Tiki, I hadn't even thought of that! Maybe I should have written a crossover for FE3 instead. Ah well.

Regarding Byleth, while I did consider leaning towards Dimileth, I decided against doing so a couple of months ago. There's a scene or two of Link teasing Dimitri about his relationship with Byleth, but that's as far as I intend on going on that front. Male Byleth and Female Byleth are basically the same character for me– while I prefer Guyleth's design, I think Girlleth helps round out the gender gap in Blue Lions (including Link, it's 6-3), and I like to have my cast of characters balanced. Funny story about Byleth's gender, actually– I was on like chapter 12 when I realized I had been using they/them for her the entire time and I had to go back and fix it all. Goes to show how little of a difference it's really going to make.

At present, the only ship I feel somewhat confident about putting into CC is Ashe and Dedue in the background, because in doing research for this fic I watched their support and it's really sweet. On an off note, did you know that Petra is fifteen at the start of the game, making her the third youngest character behind Cyril and Lysithea? That really caught me off guard when I looked at her wiki page. I thought she was older than Edelgard for some reason.

Hydra1996 (FF): This story is not currently planning to go down the Crimson Flower route. To be honest I don't entirely get the Edelgard hate– she wants to upend a pretty bad system and build something better, and her main failing was turning to the Agarthans for that purpose (which was Hubert's idea, not hers). Were I to write this for Crimson Flower, I'd definitely try to address that more than the game did. (That isn't the game's fault, it just had an unfortunate lack of development time. I believe that if it got an extra 2 chapters and she was confronted for blaming the Javelins on the Church, people would like her a lot more and appreciate her more as a character.) I feel like I'm alone in liking Claude, Dimitri, Edelgard, and Rhea pretty equally.

AXCN (AO3): Boss, the water temple is great. What are you on about? Thanks for the review!

Norre (AO3): Glad to hear it! I definitely do fall into the trap of 'haha termina moment' every now and again, as it is definitely something that I feel I have to address, but I feel that I have to give Ocarina of Time some credit and I do lean into that more.

Quarantine0 (FF): Thank you!