Month of Wyvern Moon - The Red Canyon

Chapter 32

The following morning dawned clear and bright. I lay awake for a while ruminating on my dreams and visions of the night as high up in the sky striking crimson reds and golds of the morning sun streaked across the fading dark blues of night to collide in a kaleidoscope of violets. The rising sun quickly overtook the blues causing the deep indigos to retreat into the tree canopy to await its next opportunity to overtake the heavens.

The whole scene took on a surreal quality that was completed by an eerily silence, and it reminded me uncomfortably of the dead that haunted my past. Sitting up I noticed even the canyon was abnormally quiet as the constant winds from the day prior paused their seemingly endless howling in some sort of silent tribute to the waring heavens above.

My tired eyes stared up at the changing sky restlessly, choosing to observe the last twinkling's of the rapidly fading stars in the sky before setting off to take advantage of the new dawn's light. Silently I dug out a travel kettle and put it next to the fire to boil while I returned to the lakeshore to bathe in a vain attempt to scrub the dust and remnants of my visions from my consciousness.

The frigid waters shocked my skin and drove all thoughts from my head as I hurried to scrub before I froze to death. Completing my bath, I toweled off and shivering uncontrollably, I returned to our fire to find the water boiling. Adding the tea leaves to the cage I held my hands out to soak in the warmth while waiting for the mixture to finish brewing.

It took me a little while to realize Byleth had woken up and packed her things away without saying anything. My eyes rapidly began searching for clues, the professor's freshly packed bags indicated she probably had not gone far and would return soon. Biting my lip, my eyes turned to scan the rugged shoreline for any signs of trouble.

Zu was curled up and snoring as only a bull wyvern could a little ways off from camp. He had taken up residency on an expanse of sand that was apparently more preferable to the dirt and rock we had camped on. A little past my slumbering wyvern I spotted Byleth.

My stoic eyed professor had ventured a little further down the rocky beach shore to work on her morning routine. She was taking advantage of the change in terrain to train in the middle of the rocky shoreline. I watched her skip from rock flat to rock flat, her blade snapping and dancing in the fresh morning air as I attempted to bury my rational concern that I might soon meet the business end of my professor's weapon.

As I watched Byleth move confidently through her sword patterns, the fresh morning sunlight gracefully caught the edges of her hair. It raced down her black cloak until it lit her in the fresh glow of dawn. I felt my breathing hitched as I watched, mesmerized by my professor's lethal movements as the radiant cloak of light expanded out towards the dawning sun, sending sparkles of light on the calm waters of the lakeshore.

Byleth moved on to jump onto a flat rock overlooking the water, scanning into the light as her sword came to a standstill.

I struggled to remember to breathe as the professor's reflections flickered in the water. She turned towards me and gave me a small nod of acknowledgement. I attempted to return the gesture as I swore I saw Sothis's reflection rippling in the dark water's edge. I nodded my head towards her half-heartedly, and in shock, as a deep rumbling interrupted the serenity of the scene.

We both looked for the source of the ominous rumbling to see my wyvern stretching out and growling in irritation. The huge male let out a rumble from deep in his chest as he got up to fan his wings and turnabout in a circle. With another half rumble of protest, Zu curled back up and ducked his head under one of his wings to protest the rising sun.

I chuckled as Byleth jumped down from the rocky ledge and made for camp. As my professor approached I realized I still had the tea leaves brewing in the kettle in front of me. With a groan of my own I realized I had brewed the tea for entirely too long and scrambled to fish out the cage.

One sip of the tea was about all I needed to realize about the only decent things I could say about it was that it was strong and hot. My stomach protested and knotted as Byleth called out a morning greeting, and I turned to busy myself by rooting around in my travel pack for our morning rations.

I impaled an apple on the edge of a stick to toast as my eyes watched the fiery hues of the morning sun grasping further across the horizon while I forced myself to eat the rest of my breakfast. Byleth's stoic stare followed me as she finished her tea and then bolted her food down without a word of complaint.


Shortly after we finished breakfast, finishing it off on a slightly more positive note of sweet roasted apple, I turned to wake Zu up. The fresh morning wakeup calls was not a positive experience neither my wyvern nor me, as my first few attempts were met with snapping teeth and irritated tail swipes. Byleth worked up cleaning our supplies in the lake while I dodged and attempted to bribe my wyvern into standing up to be saddled.

Eventually I succeeded in getting Zu moving and ready for flight and then we were off. Byleth instructed me to ignore the top of the cliff as we had explored most of it yesterday, and to land in the bottom of the canyon. I obliged her as Zu's heavy wing beats carried us both slowly over the edge of the ravine.

As we dived down deeper into the canyon I focused on securing a place to land. Finding an ideal landing spot was difficult among the expansive undergrowth, tall rocks and other debris. Locating a suitable landing strip for my large mount took a little longer than I anticipated.

My companion was abnormally quiet as I took my time soaring through the expansive chasm. By the time I finally spotted a place to land it felt like my ribs would never be the same again. Byleth slowly squeezed the life out of me as my ribs popped and cracked in response to her impressive hold on me.

I shifted my weight as Zu angled down to land on a mostly flat expanse of stone close to the river. My wyvern's claws crunched and landed with a flurry of dust and small pebbles as I began to look around.

The pit in my stomach only grew as the expansive brown stone reached high above our heads. In the middle of the canyon, not that far from the area we touched down at, the expansive river bubbled and sparkled like a crystal blue ribbon enhanced only by the shimmer morning sunlight. The heavy reds and browns of the canyon stone contrasted with the moving waters to create a rather admirable picture that I am sure would have spurred my more artistic classmates to action.

As we dismounted the sunlight glittered on the water, illuminating and casting refracting rays into the dense undergrowth that overtook the bottom of the canyon. The light of the rising sun began to pour into the canyon evaporating the last remains of the silver wisps of fog that still hovered in the deep rocky recesses.

Byleth proceeded to walk behind me, her hands trialing over rocks with an almost puzzled look in her eyes. I left her to her own thoughts while I rubbed my ribs looking around with an uneasy curiosity.

My curiosity eventually got the better of me and I began searching through the expanse of green and brown heather in earnest. The professor never strayed far from me, always watching through distant eyes as I tried in vain to match up my visions to the scarred and weathered landscape in front of me.

Time had not been kind to the ruins. Evidence of timeworn erosion touched every stone and plant in sight, taking away nearly a thousand years of history in its wake. That history now only lived in a select few survivors' memories. In history's place stunted and scraggly trees reached up towards the sun as their roots entangled the once beautiful buildings, leaving little more than poor outlines that my memory had a hard time matching up.

Struggling to make sense of everything, I scoured among the rocks and roots with a dark and heavy feeling growing in my chest. That apprehension gave way to a healthy concern as I looked behind me to see the professor perched on a nearby rock looking pensively out at the canyon.

Her blue eyes flickered to me for just a moment and then turned back to the canyon in front of her. Her voice carried a question on it a second later that I was not totally certain was aimed at me. "Why do you think they call this the red canyon?"

I cocked my head to the side and straightened up, not taking my eyes off my professor as I studied Byleth with an unfathomable amount of scrutiny. My stoic professor didn't seem to be talking to me, but I stood up and walked over to where she was sitting anyway.

"I have this feeling it's not because of the scenery." I joked lightly as my professor's solemn eyes blinked and looked back over at me.

Byleth's eyes seemed to stare directly thru me and I shifted restlessly as she directed her question to me. "What do you think happened here then for it to earn that name?"

I felt the remains of my breakfast twist in my gut as I sowed a little white lie. "Based on what I am finding, I would say people used to live here. A long time ago of course." I flashed a slight smile as I continued. "It's obvious no one has set foot in this canyon in years, so I would guess something happened to cause them to leave. Maybe a drought caused the river and lake to dry up and everyone was forced to abandon the town?"

I folded my arms and leaned comfortably up against the professor's boulder while Byleth returned to contemplating my answer. "It would be something big to wipe out an entire civilization."

I froze, as an icy chill of dread sent shivers down my spine and it felt like I was submerged in water during the dead of winter. I sputtered for air for a second and managed to draw Byleth's keen glaze.

She turned to look down at me as I gasped in surprise. "P-Professor, what did you just say?"

Her eyebrow arched ever so slightly at my question and gestured vaguely out at the sprawling canyon around us. "Something wiped out the civilization here. Could it have been a plague? A drought like you suggest? I think it was probably bandits or war based on the name."

I felt an intense case of nausea overtake me as my stomach cramped over just how accurate my professor's insight was. I swallowed hard as the vivid memories of last night attempted to overpower the present. The current landscape took on nightmarish red hues and I shuttered.

I forced my hand to cover my mouth, in an attempt to control my body as a spiking pain ran through my eye forcing me to slide down the boulder and sit at its base. The raw emotion and pain caused me to pull my knees in and bury my head in them in a futile attempt to stop my magic from activating.

"Lilianna are you ok?" Byleth's voice held a fragment of an abnormally higher tone as I heard her jump off the edge of the boulder and land next to me.

I choose to remain silent, choosing instead to concentrate on steadying my breathing.

Byleth's footsteps were heavy as she crouched down next to me. The sound of gravel grinding into the dirt caused me to grit my teeth as the barest hint of a strangely familiar scent teased my nose.

"Lilianna?"

"Give me a second." I muttered thickly as I pulled my knees in closer, not sure if I was going to win the fight to stay in control.

I felt a soft touch on my head for a second and then the professor reassured me. "Sure. Take whatever time you need."

I heard Byleth rustling around next to me and then felt a firm presence situated itself against my side. I hazarded a glance up and caught the professor taking a drink from a battered flask.

As I looked at Byleth I watched the world tilt in shades of red, while the professor herself remained a cool blue that boarded on a vivid green. I inhaled deeply as the sight caused my heart to flutter and I found myself struggling to not mix the past with the present. Instead I focused on the solid blue presence next to me as I rested my head against the side of the boulder. "I didn't realize you were so fond of alcohol, professor."

My hand came up to cover my injured eye as Byleth shrugged, her face expressionless once again. "It's an old mercenary habit I picked up from my dad. Sometimes tea just doesn't cut it."

I felt a smirk forming on the edge of my lips despite myself, my professor's comment providing a special sort of irony that I found morbidly amusing. "Was that sarcasm I detected?"

Byleth took another drink from her flask and stared me dead in the eyes as she answered me. "No, it was a fact."

"Sure, sure professor." My smirk continued to grow and slowly the red haze that enveloped everything faded back to its proper tones.

"You want some?" Byleth offered briskly as she held the flask out to me.

I chuckled darkly as I held out my hand to accept her offering. "I know what you mercs drink." I took an experimental sniff of the contents and was not surprised by the strong alcohol's scent. I swirled the contents around as Byleth watched me. "Is this going to burn on the way down?"

My professor's voice was matter-of-factly flat as she answered my question without any hint of hesitation. "Yes."

My eyes were beginning to water at the mere smell of the contents of the flask under my nose and I knew I had a choice to make. "Then yes, don't mind if I do."

I tipped the flask back and didn't stop to think about the consequences of my actions. All I wanted was to balm the pain racing through my head. I chugged an entire mouthful. My regret was imminent as my mouth and throat caught on fire. My nose began to run and tears leaked out of the corner of my eye as I swallowed.

Whatever was knotting in my stomach was just made worse as the potent moonshine slammed down into my breakfast. Coughing and sputtering I handed the flask back to Byleth who shook her head. "I warned you."

Gasping for air I struggled to catch my breath. It took a few unsteady lungful's of air to get myself back under control, but I managed to nod and gasp out a lighthearted observation. "That...That you certainly did. Professor, you could use that to disinfect wounds."

"That's another one of its purposes." The experienced mercenary next to me informed me with a straight face as I heard something.

It was faint, but getting stronger as I listened for it. The faint sound alternated between a light scratching and eerie silence. The alternating sounds, almost too faint to make out, made it all the more alarming.

Immediately I thought the noises might be coming from our ride home. Sliding back up the boulder I looked around for Zu. The wyvern in question was in the river some ways up stream, his head perked up and his neck was craning around as he seemed to be searching for something. I took one last look the unsuspecting flask in my professor's hand and wiped the tears from my eyes with the corner of my glove.

Byleth tucked her flask away and listened as I put my hand to my ear to signal that I heard something. "...?"

The swordswoman's expression went completely blank, but something in her prior experience caused her to crouch down into a defensive position. Her hand strayed to the Sword of the Creator while mine went behind my back to grab my axe shaft. I motioned for us to back up against the rock face as the sounds grew louder and more predominant.

"I think it's about time we get out of here." Byleth whispered as I reached down into my shirt for my wyvern's whistle.

"Good idea." I whispered as I gave three short tweets on the fine silver whistle.

Zu's head bolted around towards the sound of the call and he recognized me instantly. The huge male gave a resounding roar that rang out across the canyon causing small rocks to clatter and shake with its power.

As the roar echoed around us Zu began to run towards us as I rubbed the palm of my hand against my forehead in exasperation.

"So much for being stealthy about this." I muttered as whatever was mixing in my stomach decided to rebel.

I choked back the bile as Zu came to a roaring halt in front of me, chips of stone and debris flying in every direction as he poked his head down next to me to investigate.

I rubbed his nose tip for reassurance that I was ok, and quickly moved down to his saddle, mounting up with a single fluid movement while holding my axe in one hand, the saddle horn in the other. On top of my huge wyvern I was able to see more, but nothing in the canyon undergrowth moved. The scratching continued as I swung down an arm to help the professor up as the skies overhead suddenly grew dark.

I hauled the professor up behind me as Byleth swore violently.

I hazarded a look skyward to see what had made the shadows overhead and spotted a massive flock. I paled at the sight of the huge beasts as my professor flicked out her whip sword.

"Vultures!"

No sooner had Byleth got the words out of her mouth then the massive birds attacked, swooping down into the canyon after their prey.

The first one to attack us missed the dive mark, landing within inches of Zu's muzzle and causing my combat mount to respond by lashing out with his teeth. My wyvern's maw just barely grazed the attacker's tail feathers as I grabbed the reins and tried to push Zu to launch.

I felt rather, than saw, the talon slice through my shoulder a second later. In response to the attack I felt all the weight in the saddle shifted as Byleth flicked her sword after the offending vulture behind me.

The scream from the creature above me informed me that my professor had landed a good hit on the bird and I brought my axe up to attack as the chain sword behind me whipped out again. Byleth's sword lashed out as a third bird came in for a dive.

As I focused on guiding Zu out of the line of attack, I realized that my wyvern was grounded due to the incoming dive bombs of the birds above us. The flock of attacking vultures overhead meant Zu was grounded, but as Byleth swung her sword again and the saddle shifted wildly to the side I realized that the additional shifting weight from my passengers' attacks were also preventing us from even moving into a decent position to try to defend ourselves.

In fact it was downright dangerous for both of us to attempt to wield our weapons while mounted. The professor's chain sword attack was coming within a hair's breadth of Zu's wings and flank and I was hard pressed to even swing my axe without hitting Byleth's weapon. I was trying to figure out where our best defensive position was when Byleth realized she couldn't continue fighting like she was on ground level.

As I analyzed the field, my eyes spotted a cave system running along the edges of the wall. I started to direct Zu to run for the protective enclosure as out of the darkness set after set of huge red eyes emerged from the darkness.

I pulled on Zu's reins, my axe hanging limply in my hand as several alpha wolves of the hunter's moon showed up. One after another the wolves poured out from the caves above us in vast numbers. I looked around the canyon in vain, searching for any sort of ledge or structure that would buy us any sort of defense.

Nothing came to light as I directed Zu out of range of yet another dive bomb. I began to look at alternative solutions as a hand from behind startled me. Byleth's hand pointed to a smooth ramp heading up the canyon as she barked out an order. "Get us to the magical platform. You can drop me off there."

"Then what?" I hissed as I studied the ramp and tried to gauge how we could scale it without being a sitting target for all the vultures to convene on at once.

I urged Zu towards the platform without waiting for an answer. Byleth had shown me she was a skilled combat strategist in her own right, so I chose to put my faith in her.

The professor barked out a quick explanation as I turned Zu around and sprinted for the ramp. "We just need to clear the skies. I can hold my own on the ground here while you work on clearing out the vultures. When you have an opening, grab me and we can fly out of here."

The professor's plan was even more of a hair-brained scheme than mine. I didn't let up on Zu's rein's as I called over my shoulder in raw astonishment. "Do you really think that's going to work?!"

"It should, unless you have a better plan?" Byleth called back while flicking her sword to ward off an attacking vulture.

I immediately scrapped my idea of jumping into the middle of the river and allowing it to carry us out into the lake and focused on the ramp ahead of us.

"We…" My eyes raced up the paths and the top of the ridge we explored yesterday and saw some of the wisdom in Byleth's plan. Running up the ramps exposed us to the flock but the wolves would be hard pressed to catch us if we focused on fleeing.

It conveniently did not include anyone accidentally drowning.

I picked up where my train of thought left off. "We could try for the paths, use them to get up above the canyon walls and then just take off over the lake. The wolves can't follow us once we are in the air and the vultures shouldn't bother us once we are outside their territory."

"That could pin us against the cliff face if we can't take off." Byleth's mouth was set in a grim line. "We can't fight together, and our combined weight will just make it impossible to launch and fight at the same time. There's not enough room for both of us to be swinging a weapon, and you can't use magic. Stick to my plan, it'll work out."

I bit my lip as Zu barely managed to outrace our attackers. The huge vultures were nearly 3 times the size of my oversized bull wyvern and the alpha wolves were even larger.

"These are just like the cursed beasts." I growled as Zu's claws dug into the ramp's worn pathway.

"And just as much of a hassle." The professor behind me agreed as she focused on repelling any attacking birds.

"Remember to break their armor and then focus on their weak spots." Byleth reminded me as we neared the top of the ledge. I urged my wyvern forward as he rumbled under me.

By the time we reached the top of the canyon I could tell my heavy wyvern was having a rough time. I could feel him laboring to push himself forward even under my encouragement. An errant bird talon ignored the professor's pointed warning and ripped a shallow scratch into the wyvern's skin as a wolf howl sounded out from the bottom of the ramp.

Byleth jumped off Zu's back and landed on the magical platform.

I pulled up on Zu's reins as my wyvern managed to land a solid tail slap to an attacking vulture's wing. I did not wait for an invitation as I brought my axe into play. My arcing crescent slammed into the creature's body with acute accuracy. Under the force of the blow the bird crumpled to the ground on the ramp beside us. Zu growled deeply as the creature squealed and flapped around on the weathered stonework. Determined to end the noise once and for all, the huge wyvern brought his maw down on its neck.

Behind me, Byleth was fighting off an enormous alpha wolf. The brisling ash grey hair on its muzzle stood on end, blood dripping from its fangs as my professor moved around the platform. Byleth made good use of the space and was light on her feet as she darted around the magical platform, dodging the beast's claws and biting teeth with a level head. The Sword of the Creator blazed with a strong red light as it ripped through the wolf's thick fur like it was an everyday chore.

Images from my visions flashed in front of my eyes in a whirlwind of colors causing me to tilt dizzily to the side as a wet crunch in front of me brought me back to the battlefield. Zu violently whipped his head from side to side and the distinctive snap I just heard shuttered thru me as the wyvern released the lifeless vulture's neck and roared his challenge to the sky.

The circling vultures above us upon seeing one of their comrades' imminent demise at the hands of a single wyvern, attacked in unison. The flock's onslaught continued to pin Zu to the ground.

My axe cleaved into another flurry of feathers as my wyvern snapped and curled his wings in defensively. I was busy yanking my blood splattered axe out of a screaming bird in front of me as I felt something rip through the back of my uniform. I ducked my head as a talon snagged its way across the tunic's fabric but by some miracle of the goddess the attack was not quite deep enough to draw blood.

Growling, with a growing sense of dread and desperation, I whipped my axe around to face off against my newest attacker. Zu's muzzle snapped over a bunch of feathers and ripped the black and grey plumage out as I went to plunge my axe into the distracted animal when a well-placed arrow embedded itself in the bird's torso causing it to drop to the ground hissing.

"Please allow me to assist!"

I looked up but was still lost under a flurry of dark wings, unable to tell where the alarmingly familiar voice was coming from.

Another one of the vultures from above dropped to the ground and I was able to make short work of it. A few more birds fell from the sky a few moments later causing the skies overhead to open up. From within a gap in the fighting, I could make out the clear blue sky being overrun with panicking birds. Whatever, whoever, was attacking the condemned flock was slowly driving them away.

I shaded my eyes from the noon sun and spotted three white Pegasi wheeling above the air currents using spears and bows to subdue the flock of vultures above us. A little ways off house Riegan's golden yellows stood out against Claude's sable brown wyvern. I observed for a heartbeat as my house leader proceeded to fire his bow into the flock, using just his knees to guide his flying mount.

From up in front of me I heard a frantic beating of hooves and caught sight of a white stallion clad in the deep royal blues of house Blaiddyd. A moment later Dimitri ripped through the line of injured birds in front of me, slaughtering them all by trampling them with his charger and using his lance on whatever did not fall silent under his mount's hooves.

The prince pulled up next to me with his stallion snorting and dancing with battle fever. My wyvern scratched at the rock growling menacingly, but made no move to attack the new threat.

"Are you injured?" The prince looked me over as I shook my head to indicate I was alright for the time being.

"I am fine for the moment, just a few scratches - but the Professor needs all the help we can give her at the moment." I nodded my head back towards the platform that was under attack by the several alpha wolves.

The prince threw me a quick salute of his lance as he signaled to his charger to move forward.

As I caught my breath, more vultures rained down from the sky and I began to pick up on the strategy at hand. The flying units prevented the birds from escaping, while archers from the edge of the cliff picked off their armor one by one.

A set of mage units were located on the other edge and were pinning the wolves down along the pathway. There was a certain brilliance in the tactics, and a beauty in the seamless organization as all three houses worked together to tackle the battle at hand.

Across the wayside, a flicker of crimson attracted my attention. I finished off another vulture that Ashe dropped in front of me, and looked over to see in full plate armor, juggernauting down the opposite ramp with the black and red banner of the Hresvelg house.

The Black Eagle's house leader wielded her axe and magic simultaneously as she led the charge down the opposite ramp, crashing into wolves without a moment's hesitation. Her roaring fire magic took out one of the wolves in her way, blood splattered her uniform. The princess barely batted an eye at the carnage and simply climbed over the corpse.

The sky started to clear up substantially and I signaled to the archers that I was going to try to launch. The archers on the ridge held their fire while I waited for Claude's signal to take off. There were a few heartbeats of delay between my house leader's signal and my wyvern response to my launch command. My wyvern scanned the skies, and, on his own judgement, spread his wings and launched into the canyon.

The wind rushed past me creating a thrill as we plummeted towards the bottom of the canyon and I struggled to withhold a scream of exhilaration as Zu's wings snapped out and beat the air once to slow our fall. I gripped the saddle horn as I looked under us and spotted a mass of feathers. Realizing what my independent, and enraged, wyvern was planning, I gripped onto my axe as he slammed us into the exposed back of a retreating bird that had been wheeling around to attack Byleth.

As Zu sank his fangs into his prey's neck I heard a yell from the magical platform under us. "What are you all doing here?"

"Isn't it obvious professor, we came here for you." Edelgard shouted back as she continued her siege on the wolf pack, aiming to clear a path toward Byleth with steel determination in her violet eyes.

"Lady Edelgard, please be careful."

I heard the warning from the cliff tops and spotted a figure in ominous robes marking out a dark mage. I held onto the saddle for dear life as Hubert hovered protectively over the cliff walk ways controlling the Black Eagle's mage units. Glittering black magic hovered at his fingertips as he cut off any creature coming out of the caves who dared to go after his princess.

The bird under us gave a defeated squawk of pain as Zu raked his talons over his back and kicked while giving its neck a heavy shake. There was a sickening snap as the form under us went limp and we started to fall again.

"Ugh, you're making me WORK!"

I heard Hilda's tale tell complaint as Zu's wings caught an upwards air currant and jerked us up towards the open sky. My wyvern let out an ear splitting roar as I got a bird's eye view at the battlefield while Zu flew in a wide circle.

The birds were looking extremely haggard now. I was in the middle of checking for any further orders from Claude when, with a mild look of amazement, I watched a tomahawk plant itself dead center into a bird that was sneaking up on my flank.

Ingrid darted by on her Pegasus in pursuit of the weakened vulture, as a shrill whistle sounded below me. I leaned over out into the open air to see a full cavalry unit barreling down the ramp I had just launched off.

Sylvain's red hair stood out in the lineup as the Lance of Ruin glowed an ominous red. The lethal lance was pointed down over the shoulder of the cavalier's dark charger, while his face was set in a grim, yet determined, line. Not to be outdone by the Blue Lion wielding a relic, Ferdinand raced alongside him on a white mare in an attempt to beat the redhead to the struggling professor. Following in his friend's footsteps, Lorenz rode up on his dapple grey mare. The noble was proceeding with just a marginal amount of caution compared to the other two cavaliers. I caught snippets of Lorenz attempting to yell at the other two to slow down lest their mounts fall off the edge and into the canyon below.

Another order from Hubert told me there was also fighting on the top of the canyon. I began checking the Black Eagle's side of the cliffs and spotted Caspar, Raphael, and Felix all alternating as bait for a haggard looking alpha wolf on the top of the canyon.

Alarmed at how complex the attack was I clung to my saddle horn amazed. My analysis, and amazement, was interrupted as Claude zipped by with his bow out, firing at another bird that was attempting to fly out of the canyon.

"Hey there Lilianna! Looks like you could use a hand!" Claude shot me a quick two finger salute as he flew on by.

"Just what were you thinking?!" Leonie snapped as I watched my house leader draw two arrows out of his rapidly depleting quiver.

"What? Worried about me?" I smirked as she used her lance to fight off an oncoming buzzard.

"Damn straight I was! Are you stupid?!" The huntress yelled her rage as I nudged Zu up into position on the opposite wing, flanking the vulture Leonie was working on.

"Aw ladies come on, no fighting!" Claude swooped in overhead in a neat loop and launched an arrow into the vulture right between us.

We both turned in unison and yelled back. "What do you want us to do? Fly in circles?"

My house leaders' erratic chuckling was evident as Leonie finished off the bird we had been working on while I flew over to team up with Ingrid who was chasing after the rest of the flock with a blood thirsty roar I wasn't aware she was capable of.


I stood on the edge of a familiar rocky shore as the entire officer's academy moved slowly around the makeshift camp. Several campfires glowed in the evening light, the one in front of my eyes flickered as across the way Byleth was providing a sound lecture to all the house leaders.

I half paid attention to the lecture, opting instead to sit next to the fire for warmth while Mercedes occupied the space next to me. The Blue Lion's healer looked up with a soft smile and gestured to my current attire. "Oh my, are you sure you're not chilly? Sitting around in just a tank top must be rather cold."

I shrugged and then regretted the extra motion as my wounds tingled, pointedly informing me I was still recovering from battle. I rubbed the thin bandages as Annette hummed a small tune next to us. "Flicker! Flash! Warming lights of heat embers of coal. Burning, consuming, burning bright! Fire warms the soul!"

"That's a very nice song Annie." Mercedes picked at another thread as I moved the lamp closer to the healer.

"Oh, thank you." The healer acknowledged my gesture with a nod of thanks as I turned to Annette.

"It was a very nice little tune, do you know any others?"

Annette's face flushed as she shook her head in a slight panic. "Oh! No - no I don't!"

Mercedes was on my side however, and she knew her best friend very well. The gentle healer pondered the thought a moment as she pulled the needle through the giant tear in my uniform. "Aw come on Annie, could you please sing for us? I know! What about the song about the bug bear or the one about seeds that you sing in the green house all the time?"

"I wouldn't mind hearing those." A sharp voice as cool as steel cut through our conversation as Felix emerged from the shadows of the tents to sit down at the Blue Lion's bonfire.

All three of us turned to look at him as he snapped. "What?!"

I rolled my eyes as any sense of civility left the swordsman's tone of voice. In the same instant Annette squeaked and rapidly began making excuses to be elsewhere. "I-I I have someplace else to be! I- I need to go wash the dishes! Yes! I have dishes to wash!"

Mercedes giggled as the redhead skittered off towards the lake shore to help Dedue and Ash with dinner. "Oh dear, are you still teasing her Felix?"

"No. I like hearing her sing." The touchy swordsman's reply was flat and sincere as he pulled out a small whetstone and a worn looking dagger. Felix licked the edge of his thumb and tested the edge of the dagger before making an irritated noise.

The swordsman began to sharpen his blade as I tilted my head to the side. I got a funny feeling seeing most of the Blue Lion's around the fires. I realized what the feeling was as I did a quick headcount of the Blue Lion's within eyeshot. Someone was missing. I did a quick double check to make sure the philandering redhead wasn't sitting among the other house's bonfires and realized there were more than a few people missing from the roster.

I leaned over to Mercedes and lightly tapped her on the shoulder. "Hey Mercedes, what happened to Sylvain?"

The Blue Lion's healer pulled the thread calmly through the giant hole, slowly closing the substantial tear with each turn of her needle. "Sylvain? Oh, he is where he normally is after battle. I left him in his tent to finish recovering."

I licked my lips, my mouth suddenly feeling a bit dry.

"Stupid fool." Felix procured a bit of oil and continued to sharpen his blade. "Should have learned how to dodge."

"Oh you know Sylvain wouldn't give up his position and leave the professor under attack. Poor thing, he's going to feel each and every bruise in the morning."

I felt my body tense at the healer's worlds and hesitantly asked the question as Felix rolled his eyes. "So...he's going to be alright...?"

"Tsk."

Mercedes looked up from her sewing to smile at me "Are you worried about him?"

"Maybe?" I flashed the healer a fake smile that I certainly wasn't feeling and gave a passive excuse to attempt to mask my unease. "It's rare to see Felix without him or Ingrid. I just flew in from last watch so I know Ingrid's out with her Pegasus on patrol. So I know he's not with her."

"Very observant!" The healer next to me giggled and covered her mouth with the back of her hand to hide her growing glee. "Tee hee, well if you're looking for an excuse to check in on him, why not take his dinner to him? Sylvain is in the red and black tent with the Gautier symbol on it."

"I thought Felix or you would do that?" I fended off the offer as Mercedes held my jacket up to the lamp light.

The large tear was slowly receding, but it almost was not worth saving. I cringed as the healer sighed and resumed her sewing with a look at the pile of clothes next to her. "Well certainly I would, but several people have asked me to mend their clothing so I think I'll be here for some time yet."

Mercedes sewed another few stitches and then shot a look at the silent swordsman sharpening his dagger on the other side of the fire. "Say Felix, did you by any chance take Sylvain his dinner?"

"No." The swordsman's reply was curt and full of spite as I pushed my bangs back out of my line of sight.

Mercedes tipped her head to me with a playful wink that I found a tad bit too insightful. "See? There you have it, no one has taken Sylvain dinner yet. He would probably be delighted to see a pretty face checking in on him too!"

I sighed and looked up at the stars, resigning myself to my fate muttering. "Looks like he will get that dinner date after all."

"That's the spirit!" Mercedes's laughter haunted me as I went to find something suitable for Sylvain to consume that didn't require me cooking. Luckily, Ashe and Dedue were more than happy to assist me in my quest.


I approached Sylvain's tent with an improvised serving tray held securely in both hands. On it sat two steaming mugs of tea and a pair of bowls filled with some sort of stew Ashe had created upon hearing about my quest. To the side of each bowl were the spoons and a small loaf of crispy golden bread Dedue had managed to bake in an improvised stone oven.

My heels crunched on the gravel as a growing darkness ate away at the camp, devouring it whole and sending shadow dancing around every corner. Clouds rolled overhead, blocking most of the light of the moon and stars, leaving just the light from the house bonfires and the occasional candlelight that peeped out from under a moving tent flap to illuminate the walkway.

I made for the almost pitch black tent towards the center of the Blue Lion's tent cluster. The deep red of the Gautier crest flickered in the wind, backlit by the glow of a tall candle. The candles' soft glow made the otherwise sinister looking tent appear a smidgen more welcoming, and informed me that someone was, at least, in occupancy.

I cleared my throat as I came to a halt just outside the tent. For some reason my nerves began to fail me and I called out in a rough voice. "Uh Sylvain? Are you up?"

I waited for a reply, but none were forthcoming. I shifted uneasily from side to side and decided to try calling out again. "Sylvain? Are you ok? I, er, thought we might still have that dinner date? If you're still interested?"

There was dead silence from the tent in front of me. I licked my lips nervously, trying to figure out if Sylvain was trying to bait me to enter the tent or not. Curiosity and concern got the better of me as I decided to duck into the tent anyway.

The flap of the tent parted as Sylvain's name died on my lips. Once inside the brooding tent, my eyes immediately fell upon the prone redhead. The injured cavalier faced away from the tent entrance with heavy fur blankets covered a majority of his tall form. Just a hint of his scarlet locks were visible from over the top of the blankets.

I held my breath and listened for a moment, as Sylvain's steady breathing calmly informed me that he was dead asleep on his cot. My eyes wandered over to spot several large rolls of bandages sitting next to his bedside table, confirming what Felix had said earlier around the campfire.

Sylvain was an idiot.

I sighed heavily as I brought the food over, setting the tray on a small stool next to him with a small chime of dinnerware. Shaking my head, I reached out a hand and lightly touched what I assumed was the redhead's shoulder. "Hey there handsome, think you can open your eyes for me?"

Sylvain's sleep ridden voice greeted me thickly. "Go away, Ingrid. I'm not in the mood for another lecture."

I pursed my lips, suddenly a bit annoyed that he had mistaken me for Ingrid. It shouldn't have surprised me that in his given state that he was thinking of another woman, but the fact I was trying to be nice made it sting a bit more.

"If Ingrid ever greets you with a 'good morning handsome' I'll go on a date with Lorenz." I growled darkly as I shook his shoulder a bit harder. "Sylvain? Could you roll over?"

I contemplated saying please, but the redhead's response had me scowling.

"No thanks professor, I'm not open for tea today. I have prior engagement with a pretty face I found in…"

I rolled my eyes at the Casanova's torpid ramblings and leaned down to whisper husky into his ear. "Oh really? I thought I was the only one?"

Panicked eyes shot open as Sylvain let out a yelp and tried to roll forward away from me.

I almost let him.

Instead I put my arm out on the other side of his cot as wide chestnut brown eyes flicked up to meet me.

I smiled down at him as sweetly as possible. "Good morning sleepyhead, did you sleep well?"

Sylvain tensed and began to look around his tent. I wasn't sure what he was searching for but sensing he was no longer in danger of falling off the bed I stood back upright.

The redhead closed his eyes and inhaled sharply. He took a second to compose himself, admiring me with his typical appreciative gaze and a slightly flustered voice. "Uh, hey there Lilianna. What brings you into my tent at this hour?"

I stepped back, feeling a small furrow of vexation form in my brow at Sylvain's antics but decided to cut him a little more slack than usual. I nodded towards the tray next to me. "I thought I would take you up on the offer to eat dinner together. Think you can manage?"

I raised an eyebrow suggestively as Sylvain slowly pushed himself up into sitting position chuckling. "For you? I think I can do just about anything."

"Tsk, that's rather cheesy. Especially coming from you." I leaned down to grab his bowl as the heavy fur blanket fell off the knight's torso.

He caught me staring and ran his hand through his hair with a heavy sigh. "It's not as bad as it looks."

"Can you even hold a bowl?" I ignored the bait and offered Sylvain his bowl.

"Hmm, I don't know if I can? You might have to feed me." The cavalier teased with a tired grin as he reached out to grab the soup from me, wincing slightly as he did so.

Unable to contain myself, I snorted. "You're feeling just fine. You can feed yourself."

The redhead gave a weak chuckle as I nodded to the mug on the desk next to him. "And make sure you drink that before it gets cold. It tastes terrible cold."

Sylvain raised an eyebrow at the mug I pointed to as I lied. "It's nothing fancy, just tea."

A flicker of understanding flashed over the redhead's face as he brought the soup up to his nose and gave it a tentative sniff. "Great, I'm starving."

The hearty aroma of vegetables and beef broth wavered between us as the cavalier broke open the bread loaf and dipped it into his soup. My own hand halted in bringing the spoon to my mouth as I realized I had forgotten the butter for the bread rolls.

My scowl deepened as Sylvain looked over at me. We both waited on baited breath as he looked back down at the bowl and then up at me. "This is Ashe's cooking, right?"

I raised an eyebrow as if to dare the noble to say anything else. The spoon in front of me hovered in the air as Sylvain's crust of bread grew soggy with soup. Wearily chocolate eyes meet mine with a sort of questioning and I sighed.

"It's not mine, that's for certain." I ended the redhead's apprehension as I took a sip on my soup. My amusement grew as I watched Sylvain fish his soggy bread out of his broth with his spoon.

The Blue Lion took one last look at me calmly eating my way through my dinner and took the chance. Sylvain began to chew as I raised my eyebrow a little higher.

"See?" I finished my first bite and began on my second.

There was a nod of acknowledgement as the cavalier leaned over and grabbed the nearest mug of tea with an infectious grin. "Ashe's cooking is great, but personally I'd love to try your cooking sometime."

I looked back down at my bowl of soup and sighed. "I'm only decent with wild game, anything requiring more than minimal effort turns into a disaster."

Sylvain sipped his tea for a second before pulling a disgusted face. He raised his eye brow at me as he made a point to blow a bit of white powder off the rim. I pretended not to notice and stubbornly ate more of my soup. The cavalier accepted his fate and flashed me another grin as he set the spiked tea back down and resumed eating his dinner. "We should try cooking together sometime. I can show you my skills."

My heart skipped a beat at the offer and my face headed up as I shook my head to decline the offer. "Pass. I have other things to be working on."

The persistent redhead pretended to pout. "Aw, come on. Ashe has been teaching me. I am getting pretty good at it."

I picked my head up from eating and gave him a scathing glare. "You and I both know you're only doing it so you can impress your current flavor of the week."

The noble's chuckle was dry as he handed me his empty bowl. "You know, you are so cold sometimes Lil."

I worked on chewing a stubborn potato as I pointed my spoon threateningly at him. "And you're insufferable! You called me Ingrid when I first tried to wake you up!"

Sylvain winced as I took his bowl and set it on the tray before following up. "That's not to say the second time I tried to rouse you was any better! You thought I was the professor!"

I glared pointedly at him as he nervously scratched the side of his face. I pulled no punches as I continued maliciously. "Tell me, is that just something you normally do after sleeping with someone? Call them by another girl's name?"

The redhead refused to make eye contact with me while I snorted. "Felix is right. You are an idiot!"

I reached out and took a sip of my tea as the embarrassed noble cleared his throat and attempted to steer the conversation out of dangerous waters. "But you're the one who brought me dinner, that has to count for something right?"

This was turning out almost exactly how I expected it to, with a sigh I rolled my eyes at the redheads' antics. "Tsk, ya it means my luck is terrible, and I owed Mercedes for fixing my jacket."

I caught the philander eyeing my top inquisitively. "I was wondering why you're running around in just your tank top. I have got to say it looks great on you, but it's a bit chilly out. How about crawling under these covers with me to keep warm?"

I groaned in exasperation as a gust of cool air came in from behind me. The sudden draft caused the candle next to us to flicker and I caught Sylvain casting a small magic spell to keep it from burning out. Mildly distracted I tucked my hair behind my ear and caught sight of Dimitri entering into the tent.

I hurried to stand up and executed a small bow.

"Your highness, what a surprise. What can I help you with this fine night?" The mostly naked redhead behind me gave a small wave to the crown prince as I greeted him a beat later.

"Good evening, your highness."

Dimitri ignored Sylvain's greeting and turned to address me first. "Good evening Lilianna, might I inquire as to what you are doing here at this hour?"

Sylvain stretched and grabbed his cold mug of tea. Steam began to pour out of the top of it as the redhead nursed the cup with both hands. "Lil to come check on me and decided to take me up on an open invitation of mine to eat dinner together."

I pursed my lips at the cheeky redhead and then rolled my eyes.

What Sylvain said was technically true.

"What he says I guess?"

The prince's eyes narrowed in suspicion but he let the subject drop. "Sylvain, I am glad to see you awake. The professor has been asking about you."

"Ah so even the professor's worried about me? Touching." Sylvain sighed and hung his head staring down into the tea bitterly.

I began creeping towards the edge of the tent as the crown prince turned back to me. "And how are you faring? I have just returned from visiting the Professor and she is wondering how you are doing after your ordeal earlier as well?"

I froze in my spot and began rambling off a quick report. "No harm done really. Zu caught some talons along his saddle, but Marianne has seen to those already. I will need to replace some straps on the saddle when we return to the monastery, but otherwise I have very little to report in the way of personal damage."

The prince's ice blue eyes looked me up and down as if to reassure himself. "I am glad to hear that."

I caught him checking over my exposed arms, the bandage on my arm was crisp and clean. Something dark flicked across the prince's face as he moved to grab his cape. The fluid motion was met by empty air and caused the prince to sigh. "Should I assume your jacket was also an unwilling casualty in the fight?"

I nodded to confirm the prince's suspicions. "Yes, but it is nothing a little needle and thread can't fix. Mercedes is down by the fire repairing it for me."

"Ah, yes. I also asked her to mend my cape. A wolf caught it in its teeth before I could slay it." The prince's eyes glassed over for a second before he turned back to me. I fidgeted, caught between wanting to leave and wanting to ask a question.

"You look like you have something to say." Dimitri raised an eyebrow expectantly as I tilted my head.

"Actually, your highness, I was wondering how you knew to find us?"

Sylvain coughed suspiciously from his cot as the prince nodded to him. "Actually it was Sylvain that alerted me that you and the professor were leaving this weekend, though I believe the location came from Claude."

"Oh?" I tilted my head further to the side in curiosity. "How did Claude know where we would be? He wasn't even at the monastery."

Dimitri tucked his hand under his chin in thought. "I suppose it was a bit premature, but he returned late last night saying he had finished his affairs at the round table. He was more concerned that you both had not returned from your errand and mentioned that you should have returned by now."

I hummed softly in contemplation as the prince continued on. "I was the one who suggested that we go out looking for you this morning since you both were due back yesterday evening."

I hummed another response, not quite believing the story, but knowing Dimitri wasn't the type to lie or give out misleading information. That smelled like something my crafty house leader might try to pull.

"So we spend an extra day out visiting, is that really a crime?" I dug for a little more information as Sylvain spoke up.

"Can't say staying out to enjoy the beautiful scenery is necessarily a crime, but the princess was concerned that you and the professor wouldn't make it back in time. His highness over here over reacted to the news and immediately began rounding up volunteers for the search parties."

I looked to Dimitri to confirm Sylvain's explanation.

The prince nodded somberly to confirm my unspoken question. "It is indeed true, though I am ashamed to admit I did not wish to collaborate. It was Claude that worked as a go-between."

I shifted uneasily from one foot to the other, once again concerned that the entire student body came to the rescue of the professor. It didn't seem like an extra outing warranted such a rescue. I bit my lip kind of tuning out the rest of the voices in the room as I thought of what Seteth and Rhea were going to say.

"I thought you mentioned you were visiting your father's grave?" The redhead interjected over my thoughts and I nodded absently.

"We were, Byleth wanted us to swing by here on our way thru." The lie caught the edge of my tongue, and I wondered if the darkness that flashed over Dimitri's face was just the candlelight or if he knew more than he was letting on.

Dimitri crossed his arms, apparently not certain what to do with the new information. His ice blue eyes settled on me and I did my best to not fidget under the scrutiny. "Whatever possessed the professor to stop by here? We cleared bandits out of this location during the Harpstring moon. It was dangerous for just the two of you to come out here alone."

I sensed this conversation was heading into a much deeper area then I intended so I leaned in playfully, deciding to detour the conversation and see if I could distract them. "Aww! So you were worried about us! That's so sweet!"

Dimitri flushed as Sylvain struggled to put his legs over the side of the cot. His pants were ripped in several places and I could spot more bandages through the torn clothing.

"We were very worried." The cavalier's eyes flashed as he leaned heavily on his knees. "With the professor just vanishing right before the Battle of the Eagle and Lion, on a weekend trip? Not going to lie Lil, it looks kind of suspicious."

I shrugged, not unduly concerned if they suspected me of ulterior motives. "This wasn't exactly my idea. True, I did make the suggestion, but it was the professor that signed off and arranged everything."

Dimitri immediately began brooding on the information as Sylvain stood up. His bandaged, black and blue torso sent strange shadows cascading up onto the tent wall. The prince's blue eyes flickered in alongside the shadows and I got the feeling he was preoccupied with his thoughts so I followed up. "I'd never do anything to the professor, and if I might add, she's entirely capable of looking after herself. She nearly crushed my ribs during the ride, in fact I'm not sure they're not bruised."

"Am I interrupting something?"

The person lifted up the tent flap holding a giant drumstick in one hand and an ale in the other. "I heard you were interested in why I chose to supervise this trip. In truth it was because I wanted to assess her wyvern's capabilities. He has not been in combat for a while and Seteth and I agreed to let me evaluate if he was fit to fight in the upcoming battle."

I hid my surprise and tried to get a read on the professor to see if she was lying or not. She had such a stoic face that it was impossible for me to get a read on her. She took a bite out of the drumstick as I crossed my arms. There had been no indication ever that this was a planned battle, or that she even knew the slightest thing about wyvern riders capabilities in the first place let alone the ability to assess my skills.

So either Byleth was covering for us or she was telling the truth and I had just been thrown under the strategy bus.

Something told me it was a little of both.


Author's Corner: Wow - Hello and welcome back to another chapter of Lilium! It's been a while and I apologize for that - part of that has just been a busy part of my life but editing this chapter was no small task either!

However - I think it might be worth the wait - one of the nice things I can do as an author is show all three houses interacting at the same time - working together to save their beloved professor (Lili is just along for the ride - a victim of the goddess and her fate.) So on to a bit of a chapter recap - there's is a lot to take in here and ya, I probably should have broken this up into smaller bite sized pieces, but I wanted to give you a full thought and not leave you hanging on another cliff hanger!

So to start with we have Lili waking up from her visions and starting to inadvertently remember her past - and she wakes up feeling unrested. She goes down to the lake and comes back to find Byleth has gone and there's some nice moments shared between Lili and her professor as breakfast and the exploration starts. Flying down into the canyon later that day, Byleth seems more distant than normal. Lili is also struggling with her own internal feelings, trying to match up and remember bits of her fragmented past.

As the two are sharing a moment there is an ambush and things get really tight for the two - to the point where the professor is proposing some very gutsy moves such as leaving her behind! Just as things are turning bleak, help appears on the horizon! In the form of all three houses!

All three house leaders work together - with classmates from each house working side by side to pull Byleth out of danger. We see that Lilianna comes out of the scuffle mostly intact and is sitting with the Blue Lions asking Merci for assistance rather than bother owing (hassling) Hilda for the service - she enjoys a quiet little moment with Blue Lions. Which ends with Mercedes cheerfully bullying her into checking into a certain wounded warrior.

Her dinner date with Sylvain starts off on the wrong foot, and probably isn't anything like Sylvian imagined it should be - but it has its flirty moments. We also witness that Sylvain knows Lili spiked his drink, but decides not to ask about it. (For the record it's a pain killer, because like Felix says, Sylvain needs to learn to dodge.) Lili is lying quite a bit here too, and it's a wonder on if the pair pick up on it or not. Sylvain has already established that he probably won't ask questions in public, while the prince seems to have a lot on his mind.

As it is, Byleth herself pops in with a vulture drumstick and some ale to save the day and the red canyon arc comes to a close!

So that was a lot to unpack! Woots!

And before I go - again - I am really sorry for how delayed this has been in the making - these last two chapters were a spur of the moment flash of inspiration writing and it shows with how much editing it needed to smooth the whole thing out. Does that account for the almost 2 month break? No perhaps not - but the chapter was overhauled several times to change a lot of the tones. For example Lilianna's growing fascination with the professor, or her exchange with Sylvain and Dimitri? Or would it surprise you to know that I rewrote that battle scene several times? Originally Claude was on his wyvern and had Dimitri behind him - but that would hit the same issue Lilianna has and she has a wyvern like twice the size of what Claude is currently riding. (He rides smaller wyverns in combat for their agility to pull off more hit and runs, while Lilianna and Seteth use more tank type wyverns.) At the same time it left Elly out in the cold, with her standing at the top of the hill and commanded the mages and archers to protect the group from wolves rather than running to Byleth's aid.

But in the end I wanted to give a cohesive, all the house leaders are devoted to Byleth, and are desperate to save her episode that fails to happen in the game. (This felt like a great opportunity to include that lovely experience so I hope you guys enjoyed it!)

Overall I think this chapter had a lot of special moments in it and I hope you enjoyed it! I promise to start working on releasing weekly/biweekly again! With smaller chapters but more frequent updates! So if you're interested in catching those I suggest you hit that follow button and feel free to leave a kudo's if you enjoy the story thus far! The feedback really helps encourage me to keep publishing! See you soon!