While the rescuees recovered, the Company were burying the bodies and discussing the implications of the day, mainly that Riegan was actively involved in the War of Heroes, but not as a member of Nemesis's army nor Lycaon's.

Claude would normally be right there with them, but instead, he was keeping watch at the town gate, in case someone showed up. If nothing else, it gave him time to think.

After a while, Kronya decided to check on him. "Are you sure you're alert? You look like you're not paying that much attention to the road."

"Hey, I'm not that deep in my own head," Claude said, annoyed. "I'm perfectly capable of seeing an army coming."

"Okay, okay, I'm sorry," Kronya said. "But it seems like you're upset by meeting your ancestor in person."

"Yeah, Flayn wasn't exaggerating when she said how much of a nasty piece of work he was," Claude agreed.

"You know it's not that important that you're descended from him, right?" Kronya asked.

"Oh, I know," Claude said. "Usually, I would dismiss him as just being some scumbag I just happen to share blood with. But seeing him in person...he's manipulative, untrustworthy, cowardly, only picks fights he's sure he can win, has no compassion for anyone else, doesn't see the value of anyone's lives who doesn't advance his plans...he's everything I hate about myself taken to its logical conclusion. He's everything I don't want to be."

"Yeah..." Kronya said awkwardly. "If it helps, I understand the feeling of looking in a mirror and hating what you see."

Claude shrugged. "You're not that bad."

"Not anymore," Kronya said. "There's one thing to be said about hating the person you are. At least you know what you have to do to get better."

Claude nodded at that. "Well, at least that's something. I imagine he's perfectly happy with being the absolute fucking worst. At least I'm not that far gone."

"So, just look at what he does and do the opposite," Kronya suggested.

Claude smiled. "Yeah." Something caught his eye. "Someone's coming." He drew Lucky off of his back and nocked an arrow, though he didn't draw it back.

Kronya drew her daggers and held them menacingly. "Identify yourself!"

"Claude? Kronya?" came a familiar voice, as a familiar woman approached.

"Now I know that's a lie," Claude said. "You can't be Claude and Kronya, because we're Claude and Kronya. Now, if you had identified yourself as Mercedes, that might be believable. Maybe."

Mercedes gave him flattest look she possibly could. "I see your sense of humor hasn't changed."

"Nope!" Claude agreed.

"You really shouldn't have had Kronya on watch," Mercedes noted. "If someone other than me, Hubert, or possibly one of the Nabateans who were at Zanado had been the one to see you, they'd have assumed you were working for Nemesis."

"Yeah...we were busy thinking about other things," Claude admitted. "It turns out my good-for-nothing ancestor killed most of the people in this town. We managed to save some of them, but they'll need to get treated by a real doctor."

Mercedes winced. "I see."

And within a few hours, the Rising Sun Company were on their way to the Adrestian war camp.

"And we're going to have to stop here for now," Claude said. "A few minor nobles just arrived to meet with me. They're not the most influential, but they could cause a nuisance if they decide not to do what we want, so I've got to grease a few palms, just to make sure everything goes smoothly. If you want to continue without me..."

"No need. This is as good a place to stop for the night as any," Rhea said.

"Just so you know, I doubt we'll be able to do this tomorrow night," Edelgard said. "I have to start screening possible replacements for Count Varley. After that, I'll need to begin considering possible candidates to replace Duke Gerth as Minister of Foreign Affairs."

"We'll find an apt time to continue this eventually," Dimitri concurred. With that, everyone began disconnecting from the shared session.

Once Rhea was alone with her thoughts, her mind wandered back to the worst day of her life, the day of the Red Canyon Massacre. As it had happened, she had desperately prayed for someone to show up, to put a stop to the madness, to save her and her family. But as hard as she had prayed, no one had come.

Maybe it ought to be comforting that in another life, her prayers had been answered. But it had only been possible because in this life, they hadn't. The dredging up of painful memories had only made her realize once again how little her scars had healed since that day.

No, actually, it wasn't just that the scars on her psyche hadn't healed, she realized. She hadn't let them heal. For as long as she had thought Mother's return was on the horizon, she had put it off. Healing, in her mind, had been something to be done once Mother was back. Once Mother could shoulder Fódlan's burdens, then Rhea could focus on her own. But she had spent centuries waiting, to no avail. It was only recently that any progress had been made on that front. And in the meantime, the festering of the wounds on her soul had only made things worse for both Rhea and Fódlan.

And it was clear now that as of recently, Flayn had healed, and it had only been good for both Flayn and those around her. And not just Flayn. Few of the other students had been without scars of their own, but it seemed that most of them had healed, and not only were they better off for it, but they were making better decisions for it as well.

With that, Rhea came to a decision, perhaps the best one she had made in a long time. She wouldn't leave herself scarred any longer. She would find someone who could help her set herself on the road to recovery.

The only thing left was to decide who that person should be.