Chapter 36: Month of Wyvern Moon - Fawns

I was flying again. The weightless ability had me soaring through an ominous dark gray sky with the threat of storms on the horizon. A strong sense of urgency engulfed me, forcing me to ride into the incoming tempest. Up ahead of me a white wyvern trailing in gold dipped into a cloud only to be lost from sight.

A bone deep ache competed with a fierce growling in my stomach as the smell of nearby food compelled me out of a dead sleep to open my eyes. I struggled to withhold a pained groan as I forced my sleep laden eyes to open.

The first thing I saw upon opening my eyes was a fluttering white cloth that moved and rippled in a light summer breeze. Strong sunlight flickered and filtered in through the waterproof canvas, illuminating the entire tent with a muted light. The sight was exactly what I hoped I wouldn't see following the battle.

Unable to hold back my despair, I finally allowed the groggy, pain filled, groan to escape my lips. I shifted to roll over to bury my head into my pillow, not ready to wake up as a small noise next to me caught my attention. I slowly shifted my foggy gaze towards the side of the tent.

"Oh...I am sorry to bother you…" A soft voice muttered in the flickering sunlight.

I picked my head off the pillow a fraction to get a better look at the source of the noise. "Ugh, Marianne? Is that you?"

I started to wake up with more gusto as the smell of food and the knowledge someone was standing next to my bed compelled me to return to the world of reality. A heavy yawn escaped as I began attempting to take inventory. My initial assessment along with the sheer amount of pain consciousness was bringing pointedly informed me I wasn't taking inventory so much as compiling a damage report.

On a positive note, I still had all my limbs and appendages. I attempted to move each digit and limb a little, and while some were vastly more painful than others I could indeed move them. On the other hand, my one arm felt heavy enough to be made of lead.

I lifted the appendage into my line of sight and noted several bindings surrounding it. The arm was also splinted in place and tied up to prevent excessive movement. Ignoring my obviously broken arm, I then assessed the rest of my limbs. The leg on the same side also seemed to be in a splint. Exasperated by my confinement, I continued on to the next leg. This one seemed to be in much better condition, as all my toes, ankle and leg responded with a fluid motion and not a lot of pain. The last check I had was my other arm, and while it had felt better than its counterpart, as I held it up to my face I observed it held a few bandages of its own. However, a little bit of damage was to be expected, at least I still had a full range of motion on it and a distinct lack of pain. To complete my damage report, I noted that I had collected a number of ugly looking bruises and smaller cuts, but nothing was life threatening and it looked like I survived the battle.

I sighed as the corner of my eye noted the puffy bandage on the side of my cheek. Grumbling, I tried to force myself to sit up.

My first attempt was met with a cacophony of protest from my abs and a sharp intake of pain as I moved my injured limbs out of habit. Unleashing a sharp hiss of pain and a half hidden curse as I lay back down on the bed trying to figure out what happened to my body to feel like a wyvern had stomped on me.

"Umm, I'll help. Try not to struggle too much…"

Marianne lent me a hand, assisting me with sitting upright while I considered that I might have actually been stomped on by a wyvern. I narrowed my eyes and tried to remember what had happened after the first failed attack on the professor while the Golden Deer's primary healer padded the pillows behind me.

Try as I might, I could not recall what happened after Claude had called for us to make our last stand. At the same time I noticed Marianne would look anywhere but at me. I wasn't sure if it was because I was scaring her with the scowl on my face or if it was my brooding demeanor.

"I…" The healer started and then stopped as she brought her hands together in prayer.

I politely looked away from her, trying to not pressure the gentle healer into talking. She went silent for a few minutes and I thought I heard a muttered prayer next to me. I almost looked back at her but was surprised when Marianne tried to start talking again.

"I am...sorry I wasn't any help yesterday."

She stopped speaking as I attempted to process her apology. It was absurd that the healer thought anything was her fault and that she wasn't of any help to me or the class yesterday.

Trying to buy time, I looked around the tent. The tent around me was filled with the rest of the Golden Deer house, mostly in various states of distress. It appeared, just from the sheer number of my classmates I counted in the medical tent, that we had lost.

Somehow this realization did not surprise me, but it did make me feel more awful. I licked my lips and closed my eyes, taking the time to think about my next step. Softly I began to reassure the healer.

"It's not your fault Marianne. You were there to help us when we needed it, but there is only one of you and there are a lot of us." I gestured vaguely around the room with my good hand. "I am sure you did everything you could given the circumstances. Healing magic comes with limitations. In battle sometimes medics have to make hard decisions and stretch their resources out over everyone. Nobody died right?"

"I well…" Marianne stammered as I reached out and touched her arm.

The healer flinched but did not run away from me as I continued, cutting off what I was certain was just going to be more apologies. "From what I can see, you did what you could and everyone is more or less in one piece. That in itself is a big success for us and that is all thanks to you Marianne. So, thank you for helping us, for helping me and Zu back there. We couldn't have gotten that far without you."

The healer was silent as the tent flap opened as one of the generic healers left the tent. As the flap closed a fresh draft of air swept into the tent smelling strongly of stew and freshly baked bread.

I sniffed the air hungrily, my mouth watering as I smelled the tantalizing aroma. Marianne noticed as I let her go in order to turn towards the source of the smell. Her dead, deep set eyes followed my gaze and she got up from the stool. "Oh. Dinner is about ready. Let me go see if I can get you something."

I sighed as I shifted to get out of the cot. I wanted to get up and follow my nose. Immediately, my body began protesting the slight movements and I was forced to sit back down. Already growing disgruntled that my injuries were limiting my movements I growled.

The healer's dead eyes turned back to me as I folded my arms together in discontent. "I would appreciate that."

With a mute nod of understanding Marianne left the tent and I was left to my own devices for a bit. Irate at my movement being hindered, I sat back and picked at a loose binding on my arm. My head hit the lumpy pillow behind me as I surveyed the tent in order to see who was around me. Ignatz looked up from a picture he had been drawing.

"Oh, good afternoon Lilianna. We were beginning to really be worried around you. How are you feeling, if you don't mind me asking?"

I snorted as I looked down at the bandage I was picking at. I still had all ten of my fingers and all my limbs so it wasn't a total loss. "I feel like I have been soundly beaten." I answered him shortly as I admired the splint on my arm.

"You certainly look like it. It was amazing what you did back there."

I couldn't think of anything but sarcastic remarks to make and bit my tongue. The fact I had risked life and limb to just lose was making me sour and Ignatz did not deserve that.

The silence creeped in as I moved my swollen fingers around in their splint. The artist sheepishly tried to make more conversation, perhaps mistaking my silence for a place of encouragement.

"The way you took on Professor Byleth was amazing, I could never do something that brave."

"It was stupid." My temper finally snapped as Ignatz's complement grated on my subconscious. "Don't make it up into some fantasizing heroics, what I did was stupid."

"It might have been just a little bit stupid but you saved the rest of us from facing Byleth by ourselves." Hilda rolled over in the bed next to me and cooed. "Yes! Without you coming in and saving us we would have had to take on the professor all by ourselves! That would have been soo scary."

"You can stop that right now." I narrowed my eyes at her, already onto her ploy. "As a heavy knight you would have been in a great position to shield the archers as well."

She smiled sweetly at me and winked. "Well, you know someone had to be back defending the hilltop from intruders. Might as well have been little ol me."

Ignatz seemed put off by my sharp remark, but he quickly rushed to reassure Hilda. "You were great to Hilda, defending the top of the hill while Annette and Merci shot spells at you. It was a really brave thing for you to do."

"Awww, thank you Ignatz! That is such a sweet thing to say! It certainly wasn't any fun trying to dodge those pesky spells, I still hurt…" She rubbed her shoulder and made a pained expression that I was not sure if it was genuine or not.

Well at least that explained why Hilda was here, she had been blasted with spells in heavy armor. Ignatz also looked worse for wear as well. The gentle green haired artist currently supported a bandage around his head and from what I could make out he also had bandages on both his hands that lead up into his long sleeved shirt. However, he did not look to be in nearly as bad of a state that I was currently in. Lysithea was on the other side of Hilda with her nose in a book, a light bandage over her arm and on her head.

Looking around at the other I pursed my lips and then let out a resigned, but relieved sigh. "Huh, so I really did take the brunt of it."

"Yes, you did." The artist admitted as he put his drawing down. "But without you we would have never stood a chance. Professor Byleth personally carried you off the field and brought you in here. She was really proud of how well you did."

The thought of the professor carrying me while I was unconscious was somehow extremely embarrassing. I felt my cheeks start to burn and quickly redirected the attention off me. "How is everyone else doing?"

Hilda clicked her tongue thinking for a second before jumping into the conversation. "Leonie broke cover after you went down and it kind of all went downhill from there. Raphael followed her but Caspar and Linhardt managed to distract him before they fell into a pitfall. Oh and if you're wondering where Lorenz is, he is in his own tent. Something about not wanting to dazzle us with his magnificent beauty."

I raised an eyebrow, but didn't question it. It sounded exactly like something Lorenz would say.

"Will he be alright?" I asked cautiously, kind of glad that the pompous noble had decided his own tent was preferable over the community tent.

Hilda smiled cheerfully and giggled as she continued to gossip about the battle. "Oh of course, he will be fine. He just got hit over the head with a staff and was knocked out cold for most of the battle. Oddly, he wouldn't say who did it though."

I managed to hold back a snicker, guessing at who was responsible for the fancy staff work. "I wonder how he is going to explain that one in our post battle reviews."

Ignatz shook his head as Hilda tried to hold back her laughter. "I don't know but I look forward to seeing him try!"

I picked at the bindings on my arm realizing I was waiting on pins and needles to hear the news of what happened to everyone. The thought made me restless and I picked at the white bindings waiting for Hilda to continue. "That will be interesting won't it? To return to the monastery and begin classes again?"

At the mention of mere classwork the pink headed second's tune changed and she groaned. "Uhh, that's just more work! I could just lay here forever and be content."

"What happened to Claude?" I grew impatient enough to ask over Hilda's complaining.

Ignatz answered me, tapping his pencil to his chin in thought. "I haven't seen Claude since this morning. He kind of woke up and just left the tent without saying anything."

"I am sure he's fine." Hilda rolled onto her stomach as a cascade of her pink hair fluttered everywhere.

My eyes stared at the elegant, perfectly in place hair with a sigh of envy. Even in a medical tent Hilda managed to look graceful and well put together. In retrospect, I probably looked like a puffy, soundly beaten nightmare.

"Something the matter? Do I have something in my hair?" Hilda frantically started patting the top of her head making sure all her hairs were in place.

I quickly held up my good hand and tried to brush off my growing concern for my house leader. "Huh? What? Oh it's nothing, I was just thinking that you hair looks perfect and I was envying it little"

The noble looked pleased by my compliment and flashed me an even brighter grin.

"Aw, you are so sweet. I am sure I look an absolute fright." Hilda paused and studied my face for a second before continuing. "Anddd if are you thinking about Claude, don't worry. He was a little beat up but that wouldn't stop him. He probably is just re-running the scenarios or bothering Byleth for details of her strategy. Nothing to worry your pretty little head over, promise!"

Ignatz scowled at Hilda's nonchalant attitude and spoke up. "I wouldn't call his injuries 'a little beat up' Hilda. He looked like he could barely walk."

The pink haired beauty pouted at being called out and gestured at me. "I'm telling you he said he was fine so I wouldn't worry about him. Lilianna on the other hand, well you are probably going to need to see the healer's again tomorrow before we head out. I can't imagine trying to walk on that leg, what happened to it by the way?"

I answered absently as my stomach growled. I wanted to know how the rest of the houses were doing, but the conversation seemed to be drifting away from post battle review. "First Ashe shot me then Ingrid made it worse. Sylvain may or may not have had anything to do with the matter."

"Wait, so you took on three people before you tried to take on the professor? That sounds like soo much work! You're lucky you only ended up as beaten up as you are." The tank looked absolutely shocked by my confession. She pushed herself up off her stomach and leaned over her cot to get closer to me.

I eyed her enthusiasm and energy with skepticism. "You're not making me feel any better."

Seeing I wasn't going to give out any more details she sunk back onto the bed. "Well if it's any consolation, you did a great job! Taking on four people is such a tremendous job. You should get an award or something."

I winced at the idea of being rewarded for my foolish behavior and sighed heavily. "I would be happy with dinner right now."

A flamboyantly optimistic voice filled the air in response to my downtrodden grumbling. "Well then I am more than happy to be at your service my lady!"

We all turned toward the entrance of the tent as the flap lifted and Marianne entered looking at the ground embarrassed. Her hands trembled with a tray full of food as Sylvain entered behind her holding another tray.

The healer refused to meet anyone one of our stares as she stuttered for words. "I, umm, brought dinner for you Hilda."

The noble in the cot next to me began to twirl her hair around her fingers and began gushing words of praise in a honey sweet voice. "Awww thanks Marianne. You're such a sweetheart. Whatever would I do without you?"

At the same time, Sylvain excused himself around Marianne and approached me with a wink. "Hello there beautiful, nice to see you finally awake. A little birdy told me you were hungry."

As I realized what the gods had in store for me, I narrowed my eyes at the redhead. I carefully assessed the cheerful knight, unsure of how to proceed after having swatted him off his horse the day prior.

"Sylvain?" I stared in amazement that the knight had actually come to see how I was doing and bought me food under the circumstances.

"The one and only!" He beamed as he stood there holding the tray of food, but his face quickly fell as he looked me over. "Wow Lilianna, Byleth wasn't joking when she said you were in bad shape. Do you think you can eat? Do you need me to feed you?"

Relief coursed through my body as he began to flirt with me. It was the same old Sylvain, and apparently he wasn't harboring any ill will towards me despite besting him yesterday. His playful banter brought a grudging smile to my lips and I might have been more tempted to flirt back with the knight just to keep things light. However, considering that I was both hungry and in quite a bit of pain, I really didn't have it in me. "Just put it down, I am starving!"

Sylvain set the plate of food down in front of me and watched in amazement as I inhaled it. As I finished up eating he looked at me in a new light. "Wow, did you even taste anything I put on that plate?"

I casually picked my teeth with a toothpick as I stacked my utensils onto my clean plate. "I was hungry, what did you expect?"

"You to take a little more time chewing?" The knight continued to stare at me in disbelief at what he had just witnessed.

"Oh, were you expecting something dignified? My apologies, I'll try harder next time." My sarcasm slipped out as he moved the tray out of my way.

"Na, it's fine. I was just surprised. Normally you're a bit more, how should I put it, conservative when we eat lunch together." I glared at him as he rubbed the back of his head. "Hey don't give me that look. I've got no problem with you inhaling your food. I am kind of used to it, all things considered. Felix, Ingrid and Dimitri eat the same way."

I snorted knowing he was right, and it kind of bothered me. Still, I only had the use of one arm and I was ravenous, so I wasn't sure what he expected. "Tsk, I'm not going to stand on ceremony right now."

Sylvain buried his face in his hands and groaned in exasperation. Obviously this conversation was not going the way he envisioned it. "I'm not saying you have to…you know what, let me start over. Good Morning Beautiful, how are you feeling?"

I glared at him for a second and looked at the current state of my body before relenting a little. "Like I have just been beaten within an inch of my life, how about you?"

The knight rubbed his chest gingerly. "I feel about the same. I have got to say, you're a regular warrior princess. You even managed to crack three of my ribs when you knocked me off my horse. Through my armor, might I add."

I winced at his confession. I had expected something to happen, but was sorry I had harmed him. "So…you're going to be alright then?"

The redhead nodded, cheerfully guessing at my follow up questions. Perhaps it was something on my face that gave me away. "Yup, I'll survive. Ashe is doing alright too. He's going to need to rest that arm for a few days, but he should be back to being able to practice archery within the week or so."

"I am glad...I didn't really want to…" I started picking at my bindings again.

My obvious distress about the whole situation must have been evident. A second later, Sylvain reached out his hand and covered mine reassuringly.

"Hey beautiful, everything's fine. I'm not mad at you. I know you were just trying to keep us busy. I've fought next to you before and knew what to expect. So no harm done."

"Awww that's so sweet of you Sylvain! Forgiving her when she brutally smacked you off your horse like that! Gosh I can only imagine what it is like to have that happen." Hilda chimed in, breaking the moment with her noisy observations.

In light of the pink haired princess turned and forced an ominous smile at her. "If you like Hilda I would be more than happy to train with you sometime. I normally train with the Blue Lions group at first light. I know that's kind of hard to imagine, but if you really want to know what it feels like I would be more than happy to oblige you."

She quickly pulled a face at my offer. " Oh no, that's quite alright! I really do not need that kind of experience. I'll just leave you two alone, you're more than welcome to train with her in my stead Sylvain!"

I felt the hand holding mine tighten a little and then let go. "I'm going to go get my own meal now, can I get you anything while I am out?"

I motioned for him to lean down as he went to leave. Sylvian obliged my request and leaned down towards me. I gathered up my courage, and proceeded to give him a quick peck on the cheek before whispered. "Thank you for coming to check on me, handsome."

The knight's hand flew to his cheek in surprise as he stood back up right. It took him a second before he grinned and shot me a thumbs up of approval. "Hey that's more like it!"

Lysithea finally had enough of everything and put her book down just long enough to turn beet red and shout. "Get a room you two!"


Authors Note -
Hello again! Long time no see! My gosh a lot of things have happened in the last few years since this story was updated, and while I never intended to go on such a hiatus from this story - let's say things happened and I started to pursue other works(a lot of other works, truth be told.). And I am not going to make excuses - I am not going to lie or hide - I primarily create things for myself and hope people enjoy what things I come up with but at the same time it's sad to look at my work and see no one else enjoying it.

So please - this isn't just for my works - this is for any creative in your life. Leave the like, drop a nice work, tell them you enjoy their work!

All that moody introduction aside: I also need to do some (kinda unpleasant) housekeeping here on some things that are story related. (Get the bad stuff outa the way first I suppose) So Lilianna is my OC and this is my story. (or retelling and my daydream fever fantasies to expand the fandom) that I choose to publish and relate you all with.

Cereza is not my oc - nor did I ever intend her to be. I had a good friend when I started writing this that we would bounce little scenarios off each other, and I would write things in as I enjoyed them. I liked my friend's idea for her character and her fruity little gremlin energy and the different perspective, and it added some balance to the adding personal to the classes to balance out the rosters(also just because I liked the little extra Cereza's backstory expanded on, I thought they were good ideas.)

However, I don't speak with that old friend much anymore and it makes me kind of sad. I don't know what happened, perhaps it was life and life getting busy, but we stopped chatting. With all that said - I don't know how much Cereza will be in the story from now on. I will try to remain true to the ideas and concepts that make the little priest her spitfire self, and the writing was always done by me, so it's still my work and my words. However, I will say Cereza is not mine nor is her backstory.

However, I suppose since it is fanfiction this is simply my disclaimer and open confession for things moving forward and I am not going to edit my old work to remove what I see as kind of critical interactions. (If this was paid work, it would be a different matter but since this is just a labor of love, just take it as an odd position and an open confession.)

If you made it this far in the author's long winded note section I want to also include some positive notes! While even on the everlasting 2 year hiatus - we did accumulate some support and a little following! (Thank you so much!) Lili even got some recognition as being one of the longest running (word count) fanfictions on AO3 in the FE3H fandom…and I am nowhere near completed. However - due to one person, one fan, reaching out, I have decided to pursue releasing chapters again. I hope to release at least 1 a month? Idk - I have 12ish chapters wrote it's the editing that makes me want to rip my eyes out….anyway if you ever doubt your ability to make a difference, know sometimes a little kindness can go a long way.

I will probably see you soon - technically this chapter is supposed to have at least 4 more pages of content - but it's kinda worth giving it its own segment. (Telling myself it isn't a crime to release small chapters.) Anyway look forward to Lili sneaking out of the healers tent before she was cleared for active duty and her attempt to saddle her temperamental mountain of a wyvern. Things don't go quite as she plans, but we will see who shows up to her rescue.

Oh oh - and how did you like that little aftermath retelling of the battle? Getting to see all the golden deer house in the aftermath of losing? Of course Lorenz cannot be found in the tent with the commoners, and the golden deer skittered off as soon as he could to lick his wounds in private, leaving the rest of the house stuck in recovery. (If you wonder where Raphael is, he is over in the kitchens helping out. Realizing a lot of people are injured, he is helping out since he wasn't injured as badly as some of the others.)

Lili is just in bad spirits thinking her efforts and risk weren't enough and she's injured and hungry. (just having a bad time all around truthfully) and in walks the troublesome redhead to rub salt in her wounds. Still, I think the pair patch things up nicely and Sylvain doesn't seem to be holding anything against her, so we will see how that progresses.

See you soon! (Follow to know when I make my next random update?)