Edelgard was usually a morning person, but this morning was different. The sun had not broken the horizon just yet, but there was a faint orange glow that peered through the leaves of the trees. She marched beside Ingrid and Dorothea through the woods led by Shamir who carried a small sack over her shoulder. Various training weapons poked out from the top.

The knight had come to her room an hour or two ago, with her two very tired classmates. She had told her to put her clothes on and to follow her. Those were the last words Edelgard heard from her.

"Do you know what this is about?" Dorothea yawned as she trudged alongside Edelgard.

She only shook her head. Her mind was far too busy to vocalize a response. It was true that Shamir had often helped the Black Eagles in terms of training and battles, but no other classmates were to be found, nor was her teacher.

"I'm not usually one to sleep in," Ingrid began, "but since we didn't have class or running today, I was going to get a little extra rest."

"Battles don't take weekends, neither should training," Shamir called back to them though she was quite a distance ahead.

"Is that what this is, then?" Edelgard inquired, she believed she was learning to pick out hidden meaning in their mercenary language. "Are we to train this morning?"

Shamir didn't answer. She came to a stop once she entered a small clearing, it didn't take long for the three to catch up. The clearing was barely wide enough for them to walk around in. There was a broken tree trunk next to a fallen tree, only a few meters away sat a small boulder.

Shamir stayed silent for several moments as she assessed her surroundings. Dorothea immediately made her way to the boulder and sat upon it, "not sure it's big enough to make a camp in. Ingrid, honey, do you know how to hunt?"

Ingrid gave her an uncertain nod before turning her attention back to the knight, "where are our classmates?"

"And teacher," Edelgard added, the question had been burning in the back of her throat for some time.

"He's getting the other teams settled," Shamir replied as she tossed the sack to the ground.

"Teams?" For some reason, the word excited Edelgard. She knew while she may not hold a candle to Ferdinand, she had to admit that she held somewhat of a competitive streak herself.

Shamir pointed to the sack, "those are for you. No spells or arrows allowed."

Dorothea frowned. Ingrid had already claimed the quarterstaff from the sack, she twirled it a few times in her hands to feel its weight.

Edelgard had taken a few steps closer to see what other training weapons there would be, but Ingrid had already retrieved a wooden axe and held it out to her.

"And what am I meant to use?" Dorothea grumbled. Ingrid retrieved the last item from the sack and offered her the wooden sword. "Not the best, but if I can't fry the other teams then I suppose it'll have to do."

Shamir retrieved something from her coat pocket and held out her arm. The three girls gathered around her and in each of their hands, she plopped down a small red stone. "Don't lose 'em."

"What are we supposed to do with these?" Ingrid queried as she studied her rock between her fingers.

"I just told you," Shamir replied. "Don't lose 'em."

The knight pivoted and began to make her way out of the woods.

"Wait!" Dorothea called after her, "are we supposed to camp here? When will you be back?"

Shamir gave her a mischievous grin, "when I feel like it." And with that, the knight disappeared between the trees.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Dorothea's voice grew more panicked, "how long do they mean for us to stay here?"

"Our teacher would never let anything happen to us," Edelgard knew this for a fact. And while she didn't say the words, she knew that Shamir would also not let any harm come to them.

She was much more interested in the stone she had been given. There was nothing remarkable about it, and the red paint was sloppy.

"Then what are we supposed to do?" Dorothea queried, "should we start a campfire? I don't know, maybe Ingrid can catch us some breakfast."

Edelgard let a smile emerge on her face as she gazed at her rock. "I think our teacher means for us to hear as he does and to see as he can."

"Great," Dorothea threw her hands in the air. "More riddles."

"I think what she's saying is…" Ingrid took a thoughtful pause, "Shamir said there were other teams. I imagine they're in the woods somewhere just as we are.

"Where there's plenty of cover," Edelgard nodded. "Where our enemies could easily hide. We'd have to use our senses more than if we were in an open battlefield."

"And by enemies, you mean the other teams?" Dorothea crossed her arms.

"Yes," Edelgard could feel her body perk up at the elation of a mock battle. "This must be meant to mimic the coming Battle of the Eagle and the Lion. Shamir told us not to lose these stones."

"And how would we lose them," Ingrid's grinned matched her own, "unless someone would be trying to take them from us?"

"Exactly," Edelgard opened a pocket on her jacket and let the small rock fall inside. She secured the button and gave it a pat for good measure. "If the other teams are trying to take our stones, it's very possible they were also given stones to protect from us."

"So the team with the most rocks wins?" Dorothea didn't seem to share in their excitement. "I thought we already had teams, you know, our buddy system?"

Edelgard's eyes widened at the thought, she looked to Ingrid and then back to Dorothea. "None of our usual partners are with us. Our teacher must want us to learn to adapt to new teammates."

"Another thought," Ingrid held her finger to her lips. "There are three of us. Would he give us an advantage over several teams of two?"

"Or a disadvantage against two other teams of four," Edelgard nodded, her grin only grew wider.

"Don't get me wrong, I love watching the two great loves of my life getting along so well," Dorothea swatted several swarming bugs from her face. "But who knows how long we're going to be here. Should we start coming up with a plan?"

"Well," Edelgard began, "a real battle wouldn't be over until the opposing side had fallen, or in this case, until we collect all of their stones."

"Now that's doable," Dorothea winked. "You should have said so sooner, Edie, honey." She stood from the boulder and swung her sword across her body a few times. "In that case, let's go beat our classmates with our wooden sticks."

"AAAAHHHHHH!"

The three girls turned to face the trees that the scream had come from. Dorothea backed up to get closer to her and Ingrid.

Before she could reach them, Caspar appeared from the tree line. He held his wooden axe high above his head as he ran.

Dorothea made a small squeak as she quickly sidestepped to remove herself from his path. She awkwardly swung her blade to her side, it struck Caspar in his back and threw him off balance. He fell face first into a collection of dirt, twigs and leaves.

"You aren't supposed to yell before you strike!" Edelgard heard Ferdinand call from beyond the trees. "You were only supposed to draw them closer!"

The game had begun.

Edelgard took several steps forward and stood over Caspar as he tried to spit several small pieces of debris from his mouth. "We have your man! You'd do well to show yourselves now or face the consequences!"

At first, only silence. Edelgard's eyes scanned between the trees as she looked for any movement, any sound.

"Did you-" Ferdinand cut himself short. "Did you already hit him?"

"Dorothea did!" Ingrid yelled out.

Edelgard turned and shot her a look, "don't tell them that, we needed to draw them out!"

Ingrid shrugged her shoulders and mouthed the word 'sorry.'

"If he's already been struck, then he's down!" Ferdinand replied, his voice echoed in the woods. It was hard to gauge the exact direction it came from.

Edelgard bent down and placed the broad side of her wooden axe on Caspar's back. "You were given a colored stone, were you not?"

Caspar tried to push himself off of the ground, but Edelgard held him down with her training weapon. "Answer the question first."

"Yeah," Caspar replied. "We figured you had some, too."

"Give yours to Dorothea," Edelgard instructed. "She struck you down, she takes your stone."

"Ugh!" Caspar groaned. "Fine!"

Edelgard lifted her axe from his back and allowed him to stand. He dug into his trouser pocket and retrieved a blue rock.

Dorothea extended her hand as he placed it into her palm, "thank you!"

"Now what?" He shrugged his shoulders.

"Well, if this were a mock battle," Ingrid began. "You'd have to sit on the sidelines for the remainder of the battle. But since we have no way of knowing which way is out with all the twists and turns Shamir took leading us here."

"He can have a seat on the fallen tree," Edelgard pointed her axe toward the broken tree trunk.

He trudged over and sat on the ground, leaning his back against the tree's bark.

"How many were in your team?" Edelgard prodded.

"Hey!" Caspar shrugged. "I'm supposed to be 'dead,' remember? Dead men don't talk!"

Edelgard scowled.

"Should we go after the rest of them?" Dorothea seemed as if her interest had finally been piqued.

She shook her head. "These woods are not well known to us, I'd prefer to control the battlefield. It seems Ferdinand has his sights already set on us. If there are only two teams, I imagine the other will find us soon."

Ingrid knelt beside Caspar, who was still picking twigs from the tip of his tongue. "Can you at least tell us if you were with your assigned partner on your team?"

He looked up at her and lowered his brow, "my buddy's the professor. He just left us in the woods, gave us training weapons and blue rocks and told us not to lose them."

It was as Edelgard suspected. Red stones, blue stones… she imagined the last team's stones would be yellow. Each signifying a house at Garreg Mach.

Ingrid stood and approached her teammates, "does your house often do such… interactive classes?"

"You could say that," Dorothea threw another wink her way. "My favorite is the sensual dancing, of course but you've already done that a few times while the professor was in the infirmary."

"It's The Dance of Water, Dorothea," Edelgard corrected her.

"Doesn't make it any less sensual," she shrugged. "Petra's a fine dance partner. Perhaps I'll take her to the ball this year."

Edelgard's cheeks grew red. She had forgotten there was to be a ball at the end of the imperial year. She already knew whom she wished to go with, but… but at least it was several ethereal moons away. She wouldn't have to worry-

A twig snapped.

Edelgard turned her head and lifted her axe. She tried to gain the attention of her teammates and suddenly wished she had asked her teacher to teach her the silent mercenary language. Until then, she settled for pointing frantically and repeatedly in the direction that she had heard the noise until both girls lifted their training weapons and eyed the trees.

She took several steps away from the forest. Edelgard did not want to be blindsided by a blade behind a tree. She wanted to force them to expose themselves in the small clearing if they wished to engage in combat.

"Now!" She heard a loud whisper. Edelgard readied her axe. She saw a blur of orange behind the tree nearest to the clearing.

Annette galloped toward them. Next to her was Ferdinand.

Edelgard swung her axe downward as Ferdinand attempted to lift his quarterstaff.

"Ow!" She heard, but she did not dare avert her eyes.

"S-sorry, Dorothea! I'm so sorry!" That stutter was unmistakable. Bernadetta must have trailed behind them.

Ferdinand swiftly jumped back as he attempted to cock his arm. Edelgard knew this move, she'd seen it several times. Ferdinand thrusted his lance forward as he leaned on his right leg to gain more distance with his staff.

Edelgard planted her heel and spun her body as his lance pierced nothing but air, she swung her axe toward his class uniform.

"Guess I'm out too!"

Her axe did not make contact, at least not with his back where she had intended. His long quarterstaff must have caught her axe just below the blade as he pushed her weapon to the side.

He gave her weapon one last push before he swung his upward. Edelgard had narily a moment to spare as she jumped backwards and leaned on her heels. She saw the tip of his quarterstaff line her stomach and she lifted her head. Edelgard could feel the wind of his wooden spearhead blow against her throat.

Internally, she was grateful she had decided to protect her chin and nose as she now saw his lance coming back down.

"Sorry, Bernadetta!"

Her first instinct was to raise the haft of her axe to block, but her body moved faster than her mind as she darted to her side as Ferdinand's staff hit the ground, his body leaned forward, his sides unprotected.

An opening. She quickly pivoted her body and swung her axe sideways and was met with a gratifying "oof!"

It was only when she saw Ferdinand holding his side, trying to catch his breath that she peered at her surroundings.

Bernadetta and Annette had joined Caspar at the fallen tree. But so had Dorothea, she rubbed her arm and grimaced.

She found Ingrid still standing. She held her quarterstaff in one hand and placed several more blue stones into her pocket, and then a single red stone. "I figured since Bernadetta downed Dorothea, when I downed her, I'd get any stones she would've had."

"Speaking of which," Edelgard turned to face Ferdinand, who had the side of his shirt lifted, trying to assess the damage. "Your stone, please."

He let out a deep sigh before retrieving a stone he held in his pocket and forcibly pushed it into her hand.

"You may now take your seat at the Log of the Fallen," She lifted her axe and pointed toward the other downed classmates.

"Hi, Lady Edelgard!" Annette excitedly waved her hand.

Edelgard gave her a nod, "I'm sorry for your misfortune, Annette."

"I'm just having fun! I gave it my best though!" Edelgard had to give the girl some credit. She always had a way of finding the brightside to every dark cloud.

"And you, Dorothea," Edelgard lowered her brows. "I'm sorry we were unable to save you."

"Do you guys get the feeling our team leaders are taking this training exercise way too seriously?" Caspar looked down the line of his fallen comrades. He was met with several nods.

"It would seem we were right, Lady Edelgard," Ingrid's tone grew more serious. "There's at least four of them on a team."

Edelgard did a silent headcount at the Log of the Fallen. "That leaves Leonie, Hubert, Petra and Lindhardt."

"I don't imagine Hubert or Lindhardt will be much of a struggle, especially if they're not allowed to use magic," Ingrid nodded.

"Leonie and Petra on the other hand…" Edelgard added. Leonie was a formidable fighter, but honestly, she felt her stomach slightly churn at the thought of fighting Petra. If any one student was even close to Shamir and her teacher's level, it would be her.

Edelgard carried an axe, Ingrid a lance. Both were vastly inferior to the speed of Petra's blade. Her eyes scanned the ground and found a wooden sword. She picked it up in her right hand and moved her axe to her left. She assessed the weight of having weapons in both her hands. Yes, this would do nicely.

"I will not raise my weapon to Her Highness," Edelgard's eyes sprang up to look for Hubert.

His voice came from behind the Log of the Fallen.

"Ssshh, Hubert! It's just a wooden sword," Leonie's loud shushing was probably more audible than she meant it to be.

"Be ready, Ingrid," Edelgard kept her eyes focused in the direction of the noise.

Several footsteps nonchalantly approached them. It only took a few moments for Hubert to emerge from the tree line. "Leonie has informed me that if I do not intend to participate, then I should surrender."

"Hubert, it's training," Edelgard pouted. "You're supposed to do as the professor says."

Ingrid cautiously approached him as she extended her quarterstaff and poked him gently in his shoulder.

Hubert lowered his head as he watched her pull her lance back.

"Give her your stone, Hubert," Edelgard sighed.

"Yes, Lady Edelgard," he extended his hand to Ingrid and let a yellow stone fall into her palm.

"You may now join the fallen," she nodded toward the tree. He promptly did as he was instructed and sat at the end of the line.

"I would say that evens the teams a little. Now it's only three against two," Ingrid beamed as she pocketed Hubert's pebble.

Edelgard took several steps toward the fallen, "letting one of your own men fall in battle? You are better than that Leonie!"

"Am I?" Leonie called, her voice bounced in between the trees that surrounded them. "All that matters is the win, right?"

Edelgard smirked, the more she said, the easier it was to pinpoint her position.

"But, all this has me thinking," Leonie continued. "What if we were to team up and split whatever rocks we have between us?"

"A valiant try," Edelgard replied. "But something tells me that you haven't managed to secure any stones yet!"

She had done the math, she knew that Leonie's team was the only team that remained, and victory would be hers. Her and Ingrid held all of the blue stones, a yellow stone and their only fallen teammate was…

Wait… Why would Leonie make such a half-hearted proposal? Why would she keep talking? She didn't hear Petra or Lindhardt's voices.

"Does that mean you don't wanna team up?" Leonie called out.

"Ingrid!" Edelgard spun on her heel. "She's trying to distract us!"

Ingrid turned just in time to deflect Lindhard's sword. But Petra was rapidly approaching her side. Edelgard rushed forward to try and even the odds.

Petra lifted her wooden blade above her head as she leapt into the air. Edelgard threw her right arm out as fast as she could, just in time to deflect the blow that would have landed on Ingrid's shoulder.

Petra seemed unphased. She hopped back several steps.

"Your stone, please," It was Ingrid's voice. Edelgard let out a breath of relief.

Petra darted forward and side to side, almost faster than Edelgard could track. Her blade swung across her in a swift, horizontal motion. Edelgard let her body fall and squatted on the ground, Petra's sword passed above her.

Edelgard stood as she swung her own blade upward. Petra spun with ease. But Edelgard heaved her weight to her right, bringing the axe in her left hand across her body.

Petra darted backward.

"A little help?" Edelgard called as she readied both her weapons. Petra's eyes were focused as she tossed her wooden training sword into her left hand.

"Sorry… Lady Edelgard," Ingrid groaned. "I'm a little busy."

"Ah ha!" It was Leonie's overzealous voice as Edelgard heard the clanking of wood-on-wood contact.

Petra darted forward, Edelgard struggled to keep her eyes on her weapon as she tossed it back into her right hand just before she swung it downward.

Edelgard barely had time to spin her body. She held her breath, awaiting for any slap or poke from Petra's blade but felt none. She thrusted her sword forward but found Petra had already sidestepped quite a distance.

"And your stone?" It was not Ingrid's voice. "Wow, that's a lot of stones!"

Petra slowed her movements as Leonie pocketed several of their pebbles, "she had like a dozen stones!"

"But there isn't having been that many downed," Petra casually stepped toward her teammate. Clearly trying to intimidate Edelgard with their nonchalant conversation.

"I'm just saying she had a lot!" Leonie gripped her lance with both her hands.

Edelgard's heart sank. Leonie was once an apprentice of Captain Jeralt, and Petra was… well, Petra, princess of Brigid and one fierce warrior.

But she would not let her concern show on her face. Edelgard scowled as she clenched her jaw. She lifted the sword in her right hand, and then the axe in her left.

"Let's go," Edelgard stated.

"Should we have told them that they weren't supposed to fight each other?" Shamir stood beside Byleth.

They peered between the trees and saw that Edelgard was doing well. She was holding her own against both Petra and Leonie as she dual-wielded her weapons.

Byleth shrugged, "give a group of people weapons, little instruction and something that they think is valuable, and they'll either defend it with their life or try to steal more from others. Besides, it was entertaining."

"That it was," Shamir chuckled. "They certainly took this exercise seriously."

"Awww!"

Byleth searched the trees and saw Leonie dragging her quarterstaff on the ground before she plopped down next to the bulk of her classmates.

"Very seriously," Byleth began to walk forward. "At least their tactics are improving. Leonie came up with a sound plan to divert the red team's attention. It almost worked, too."

Shamir kept pace beside him. Together they walked through the woods, toward the banging of his last two students' weapons. "But we're not even whispering and no one's heard us, should we be concerned with that?"

Byleth gave her a smirk, "we didn't learn in a day. At least we saw new tactics, thinking on the fly and even recognition of diversion attempts."

"Your princess certainly surprised me," Shamir laughed. "I was sure she bought into it."

"Why do you keep calling her 'my princess?'" Byleth lowered his brow.

Shamir shrugged, "well, she isn't mine."

"Fair enough," he replied. "At least they'll learn a lesson from this."

He heard a loud, defeated sigh. They were getting closer now. Byleth lowered his body and kept his line of sight obscured by the trees. If he couldn't see them, then they couldn't see him. Shamir instinctively followed suit.

"I am filled with regret, Lady Edelgard. But may I please be having your stones now?"

"Okay, we have a winner," Dorothea sighed. "Can we have breakfast now?"

Byleth let his instincts take over as he quietly moved from tree to tree as they were nearly to the clearing. Shamir peered from behind one of the trees and then met his gaze. She held her palm to him and immediately flipped her hand.

Byleth nodded, he knew what she was saying. She let him know that Petra's back was toward them.

"I will be gladly feeding you all from the Log of the Fallen," Petra replied. "I am sure that I can craft a hunting weapon."

"Yeah, since we're all supposed to be 'dead,' you're going to have to do all the work!" Caspar moaned. "I wonder how long they plan to leave us out here."

Byleth's back was against the only tree that separated him from the clearing, he pulled a wooden sword from his waistband. By the sound of Petra's voice, she was almost within arm's reach.

In one solid motion, he swiveled from the tree and leaned forward with his training sword. The tip gently poked Petra between her shoulder blades. She jumped to face him.

Shamir emerged from her position as well as she placed a hand on her hip.

His students each looked at him expectantly.

Byleth held out his hand, "I believe all your stones are mine now."

Shamir couldn't help but to chuckle, which he appreciated as he had made a concerted attempt to mimic his students' seriousness.

"Professor! We didn't know you were playing," Ferdinand held his hands up but stayed firmly planted on the ground.

"Actually," Byleth put his sword back in its holster. "Shamir and I were the only ones playing. We were going to try to make contact with our training swords before you sensed our presences, starting with the ones that strayed from their teammates too far."

"I… I thought we were supposed to take the stones you gave us from each other?" Caspar blinked several times.

Byleth shook his head and turned his face to his partner, "I never said that. Did you say that, Shamir?"

Shamir shook her head. "I didn't say that. I just told them not to lose them."

"We had a whole day planned," Byleth couldn't help but smile. "But you guys ended up doing all the work for us." He retrieved a couple of small green stones from his breast pocket and showed them. Shamir also held a couple in her hand. "If you guys would've been able to detect us before we made contact with our weapons, we would've given you one of these green pebbles and we would've moved onto the next student. By the end of the day, we were going to see who had the most green rocks."

"But…" Leonie dropped her eyes, "What about our stones, then?"

"They're just rocks," Shamir shrugged. "You guys are the ones that decided to start stealing them from each other."

Byleth let his gaze fall across each of his students. "At the end of the day, the battlefield may not be what you expect. You only assumed you were supposed to be taking them from each other and became so consumed with that one idea that you left Petra standing alone since you imprisoned each other in… what did they call it?"

"The Log of the Fallen," Shamir replied with a nod and a serious tone.

"That's it," Byleth held back a laugh. "The Log of the Fallen."

"You were too busy fighting each other to notice us, we were watching everything," Shamir added.

"Well played, my teacher," Edelgard let a coy smile form from her lips.

Byleth shot her a smile back. "Considering that whole fiasco took only about an hour, we still have time to make it back to Garreg Mach for breakfast."