"Has anyone noticed we do more work on the so-called free days than we do on pretty much any other day we're here?"

"Do you think so?" A confused Kurt answered Fie's question with one of his own.

"She has a point. Instructor Rean seems adamant that we take extra soldat training tomorrow even though the soldat exams are the day after..."

"Maybe if you didn't get your Drakkhen smashed to shit last month."

Tita – who had chosen to walk back to the dorms alongside Class VII – let out a nervous giggle as the Crossbellian glared at Ash, "Don't forget you have an Einhel Keep trial too. Professor Schmidt really boosted the difficulty this time."

Altina didn't immediately speak, but the pained expression on her face spoke volumes, "...I suppose it makes sense given we have two new members."

"I say we let the newbies do all the work during the trial."

"Agreed."

"Yep."

All pairs of eyes turned towards Kurt, "...I don't see the point of that. Shouldn't we all try to work together and-" Whatever lame reasoning he was about to spout died in his throat as the three senior girls of the class all glared at him in unison. With an awkward cough the Vander continued, "...I suppose it might be prudent to let Ash and Musse take the vanguard this month."

"Aw hell no!"

While Ash fumed at the idea Musse let out her cursory giggle, "I don't mind. Even if the enemies prove too dangerous for me I'm sure Instructor Rean will swoop in and rescue me from danger before protecting me like a valiant knight-"

Crap. Musse was going off again. This time the others were just as capable at tuning her out as Fie had become. It seemed they were adapting. Good.

"Don't forget we also have our briefing in the afternoon."

June gulped nervously, "Right. Crazy to think our next field exercise is coming right up."

"Don't see why you're worried. Didn't you already have your traumatic experience last month? It's probably going to be one of their turns next."

The 'their' of which Fie was referring to was the trio of Altina, Ash, and Musse. While the former merely tilted her head in consideration, Ash shook his head, "Hell no! I dunno where we're going, but you're definitely not gonna see me have a breakdown like you idiots!"

"Y-You're from Ordis, right Musse?" A nervous Tita asked her roommate.

"I am." The mint-haired girl replied with a smile, "And it just so happens the Imperial Provincial Council will be occurring there at the same time as our field exercises."

The rest of Class VII plus friend shared blank looks. It was now pretty obvious where they were going to be headed in a week.

"We don't need to worry about that!" Musse continued with a soft smile that left them all on edge, "Tonight we should focus on entertaining our guest!"

Once again everyone glanced around in confusion, "What do you mean our guest?"

In response to Kurt's question the girl merely giggled knowingly.

The only thing worse than someone who knew everything, in Fie's recently gained opinion, was someone who knew everything and loved to rub it in in your face.

"Shall we return to the dorm?" Altina asked, wisely choosing to move past the moment, "I am quite famished."

"Grub sounds good. Anyone making something tonight or we gotta find our own food?" Although Ash's question was directed towards everyone his eyes were focused entirely on the two members of the Cooking Club in the group.

It was Tita who answered first, "Sandy and Freddy volunteered to cook tonight. I'm sure they'll be just about finished by now."

"Uh..." Juna looked a little queasy, "Sandy's in charge, right? I'm not sure my stomach is up for something weird..."

She wasn't the only one who suddenly looked nervous. Even the usually unflappable Musse's smile was looking a little forced. That was enough for Fie to let out a small laugh, "Don't worry about it. Sandy's great. Nobody can stop Freddy from being Freddy, but she'll at least make sure he doesn't add anything too unique."

As one her friends let out exhales of relief. Maybe she should mess with them a little, "...Or at least I hope she can. There was that one time last week with that snake and-"

She blinked. The others followed her gaze as soon as they noticed her lapse in concentration. As they saw what she did they also froze up.

It seems they now knew what Musse meant when she said a guest was here.

In front of the dorm was Rean and Towa. But those two weren't who caught her attention. Neither was it the third unknown man in an engineer's jacket.

It was the last person that Fie recognized. And why wouldn't she, when it'd only been a few weeks since she last saw her?

Elise Schwarzer. Rean's darling little sister.

In all honesty the jaeger-turned-student was a little surprised she hadn't visited sooner, considering she was a student at some school just a few minutes away in the capital, but at the same time she could also imagine how much of a pain it would be to have someone like Rean as a big brother. The guy was always hovering over them like an overprotective mosquito, so just how bad did someone like Elise have it?

Well, whatever. What mattered was that she was here now and with this visit came opportunity. Already she could see the gears turning in Juna and Musse's minds, "I take it you guys are thinking what I'm thinking?"

"That we kidnap Elise and get her to spill all of Instructor Rean's most embarrassing secrets?" Fie could've high-fived Juna for being on the same wavelength that she was. The only reason she didn't was because Rean was so engrossed in his conversation that he hadn't noticed them yet, a surprise given how alert he usually was. Or maybe he knew and was just ignoring them. That was also a real possibility.

"I think that's a brilliant idea!" It left the silver-hair girl feeling a little dirty that Musse was in agreement with them, but if a broken clock was allowed to be right twice a day then an insane girl could be right once in a full moon.

"I don't believe Instructor Rean would take too kindly to you joking about kidnapping his sister." Altina commented blandly.

Fie couldn't help but pat the girl on the head, "As the only one in this group who's actually kidnapped her I guess you're the experienced one, huh?"

For her part Altina could do nothing but pout and look away with an adorable blush on her face.

"Are you guys just going to stand there cracking jokes or what?" Oh, it seemed she had been right in that Rean had noticed them. At least Towa and the two newcomers seemed surprised.

With permission granted Fie found herself in the odd position of taking the lead, "Sup? Didn't want to interrupt your conversation." She lied quickly and easily, although the unimpressed look she got from her teacher made it obvious he didn't believe her.

"Mil- Musse! And the rest of Class VII!" Elise greeted warmly in comparison to her brother, "It's wonderful to see you again!"

Once again she was reminded that Musse was hiding something interesting from the rest of them, but the stink-eye she sent the mint-haired girl accomplished nothing but causing the girl to let out one of her signature giggles. Fie barely resisted the temptation to growl at that.

Silently she made a vow that during the field exercise she would discover whatever wild secrets the unflappable girl was keeping from them!

But even while thinking that she listened with one ear to the outside conversation. The only unknown person was named George Nome, one of Towa's friends from Thor and the previous disciple of that crusty old bastard Schmidt. That last bit meant little to her, but she could at least be happy for Tita as she seemed delighted to meet someone who suffered a similar fate to the young engineer.

Kurt and Ash separated after Rean led the now large group into the dorms, leaving just the girls of Class VII plus Tita to watch as the teacher led his sister upstairs. Fie was content to leave things at that and grab some grub after the others decided to invite Elise into their room for a sleepover once she was finished with Rean-

"Let's follow them and eavesdrop on their conversation! I bet they're gonna be talking about something juicy!"

The laid-back girl wanted to groan. Of course Musse would have an insane idea like that. Sure the idea of listening in on the Schwarzer sibling's conversation did sound pretty fun, but she knew it would never work. Musse probably did too, but she was an agent of chaos.

At least the others were smart enough to realize- "Let's do it!"

Never mind. Despite everything Juna was still an idiot. At least she was the only one who would fall for something like-

"I-I'm kinda interested as well."

Fie was floored. Tita too!? Her friend was supposed to be smart and sensible! If even half the stories she'd heard about Liberl were true then she would know how alert veteran fighters were and should've known how futile Musse's suggestion was. So how come the young engineer was looking like some gossip-starved teen!?

"Instructor Rean will sense your presence long before-"

Aidios bless Altina. The only sensible person in the entire group.

"Don't worry about it, Allie!" Damn you, Juna! "We've gotten a lot better at being sneaky, haven't we?"

Not really, no. Fie refrained from voicing that comment aloud as she could tell just how futile it would be. Already the three idiots were approaching the stairs in a comical attempt at being stealthy.

A soft sigh drew her gaze to the lone girl who remained behind. It was hard to tell what was going through Altina's mind at the moment, but the girl seemed rather perplexed by the entire ordeal.

"You think we should follow them?" Not that she herself was much different, "I doubt Rean'll say anything interesting knowing they're listening in, but if we hang back far enough..."

"Then we can disassociate ourselves from them when Instructor Rean catches them in the act." Altina finished. "That does seem to be the most prudent course of action."

The two actual stealthy girls followed their companions up the stairs. Arriving at the third floor they were treated to the comically painful sight of their three friends crowding around Rean's door in a poor attempt at listening in. Not only was she confident that Rean must've already known about their presence, but a part of her wouldn't have been surprised if Elise knew as well.

Oh well. When in Erebonia do as the Erebonians do. That saying didn't really work as well considering Juna was from Crossbell, Tita was from Liberl, and Musse was from the darkest depths of Gehenna, but it still sounded good in her mind.

Following the script the two actually intelligent girls hung back away from their friends. But at the same Fie was at least a little interested in what was going on behind that closed door so she subconsciously began moving closer to the door, rege by minuscule rege. A part of her was worried that Altina would call her out for her double standards, but one look at her friend proved she had nothing to worry about.

The younger girl was doing the same damn thing. In fact she seemed to be beating Fie in the race they were inadvertently having.

Straining her ears she was able to make out the smallest bits and pieces of conversation from her teacher and his sibling. Seemed that Elise was there to deliver two letters to Rean. One from his sword master and the other from his father. The first didn't really interest her despite having heard a few tales of the legendary Yun Ka-fai from Boss in the past.

It was the second that piqued her curiosity. Elise seemed to think that Rean had had a falling out with his old man, something which she believed happened near the end of the Civil War. But Rean always seemed so proud of his family and it was impossible to miss the photo he had sitting in his room, so why would he be holding a grudge? Nothing in the stories he had mentioned about those final days in the war hinted at something like that.

Altina had been there at the end, right? So maybe she'd know something about what the Schwarzer's were discussing .She glanced over towards her – noting with amusement that despite her worries the other girl was now just to the door as close as Musse and Tita were. Her classmate was as inscrutable as always, but after three months together Fie was confident that-

There! It was just for a brief moment but there had been a flash of pained understanding on the Black Rabbit's face. She knew about whatever it was the two in the room were discussing.

While normally the quiet girl was a fan of keeping her own secrets she couldn't help but feel an urge to interrogate her friend about what she knew at some point. It was easy to justify in her mind as it was only fair after Rean kept digging into her past, right?

"All done getting ready for your sleepover?" The voice from inside seemed a lot louder than the previous conversation. Something made apparent as an unamused Rean opened the door to stare them down.

Juna let out a nervous laugh, "We just finished getting the bed all set up..."

"I went and brought back some extra pajamas, too!" Fie was so disappointed in Tita.

"Oh? Because I've sensed your presence there for some time now."

As the two girls wilted under Rean's gaze Fie decided to step up in defense, "For the record I only came up here to laugh at them once you busted them."

Her defense, not theirs.

"Fie!"

"You traitor!"

"...Thanks, Rean. It was about as funny as I could have hoped for."

Fie had assumed the sleepover the other girls had planned would be a simple thing. They'd chat with Elise for a while, acquire some juicy gossip, and have some fun. Eventually she'd get bored of the discussion and drift off to sleep while the others continued on with Rean's sister.

Simple enough.

What she hadn't assumed was that their room would end up housing not only Elise, Musse, and Tita, but Celine and every girl in Class VIII and IX as well! Their room was barely capable of holding the three girls that live in it,so hosting the massive army of over a dozen gossip-starved females like they now were was completely insane! There were so many conversations going on that she couldn't keep track of them all!

The little jaeger gave her bed a sad look. Trying to sleep in all this noise would be an impossible task, even for her. It was especially true considering Musse, Sandy, and Maya were all sitting on her mattress alongside her, with a grumpy cat being held in the merciless grip of the former.

"What's St. Astraia like?!"

"How's it like being best friends with Her Highness the princess?!"

"What was Instructor Rean like as a kid!?"

"Are the stories about him true!?"

"I'm sure you've seen him naked, correct? Tell us how big he-"

"Mil-Musse!"

Poor Elise. As bad as Fie had it the younger Schwarzer sibling had it far far worse. The girls were like a ravenous tornado and the black-haired girl was stuck in the middle of it with no escape. A part of Fie wanted to help her, but the larger part knew it was impossible and that she should stay far away for her own safety.

Was it wrong that there was a small part of her that took delight in the plight of Rean's sister? It was like by watching Elise get bullied she was getting some strange twisted revenge against that guy for all he'd done to her, even if that revenge was coming at the expense of an innocent bystander.

"Please everyone, one at a time!" To her credit the St. Astraia student seemed to be weathering the storm remarkably well. Fie could only assume it was thanks to her experience as the student council president of her school, or maybe she'd simply gotten used to the attention thanks to her friendship with the princess alongside her brother being a national hero, both of which would make her a prime target for gossip nationwide.

"What I want to know is why I'm even here in the first place!?"

"You're here because you're so warm and fluffy and adorable!" Musse gushed as she squeezed the annoyed cat closer.

Privately Fie thought Celine was there solely because seeing her as Musse's eternal prisoner was karma for all the annoying things the cat had done days prior. Sweet sweet revenge.

The former jaeger didn't participate in any of the ongoing conversations, however, because the girl found herself feeling rather uncomfortable with the whole ordeal. She knew she'd been getting better at being human and socializing with friends, but that was usually in small groups, either with Class VII, the Cooking Club, or just random encounters with one or two individuals.

But being in such a large group like this was still a little awkward for her. The last time she had been in such a large social gathering was when she was in Zephyr, and being a little kid sitting around a fire while a bunch of drunken adults made fools of themselves was an entirely different experience compared to this. Here she was supposed to be participating as an equal, but the aloof girl wasn't sure exactly what that-

"Are you alright? You seem rather tense?"

Fie blinked owlishly in response to Sandy's surprise question. Although it had been asked quietly, it wasn't so quiet as to not attract the attention of those nearest to them. Musse, Tita, Maya, and even Celine were all giving her looks of varying levels of concern.

That was when the former jaeger had an epiphany. She wasn't sure how or when it had happened, but somehow despite only being in the school for three months she'd come to know every girl in this room, and befriended quite a few of them. Beyond the classmates who had all but become her new family and her dear friends in the Cooking Club there were still quite a few others she'd spent time with, from cooking for Maya to racing Leonora to playing tennis with Louise and starting a friendly rivalry with Celine...

Somehow this great big gaggle of people filling her room were her friends. Even the ones she hadn't spent much time with yet – something she made a mental note to fix at some point – were friends of her friends and had thus far been quite easy to get along with. The only true outsider was Elise, but given she was Rean's sister Fie couldn't help but already feel a connection to the girl.

Her shoulders lost their tension and she released a breath she didn't realize she'd been holding. There was absolutely no reason for her to feel uncomfortable here. She wasn't some former jaeger outside in the group looking in, she was a fellow student and friend.

These were her people.

"I have a question." She asked out loud with a smirk on her face, "Was Rean always so overbearing and annoying? Cause if so then you have my undying respect."

A few of the others let out giggles even as Elise gave a resigned sigh, "Is he being that bad for you guys too? I remember this one time Luke – another boy from Ymir – put a hand on my shoulder. Rean had this look on his face... For a moment I almost thought he was going to slice that arm off with his tachi. Now everyone back home keeps a safe distance from me just in case."

"Holy hell..." Juna muttered, "And here I thought it was bad for us. I feel sorry for any guy who might want to ask you out."

"I-I'm sure he'd respect my wishes... right?" Suddenly the younger Schwarzer sibling seemed very unsure of herself.

"There's only one way to find out." Fie declared, drawing all eyes to her, "We just need to 'accidentally...'" Air quotes for emphasis, "...let it slip that one of the boys was hitting on you. Maybe he touched you or something."

Some of the girls seemed to ponder her words, undoubtedly contemplating the morality of sacrificing one of their classmates to test the theory. Fie could understand the hesitation. If her suspicions about Rean were correct there would be no coming back from this-

"Sidney's a sleaze. It's gotta be him."

"How about Pablo? He's overzealous enough to do something like that, right?"

"What about Ash?"

"Definitely! It's gotta be Ash!"

"Let's get Ash murdered!"

Yup. These were her people indeed.

"Girls, please." Elise whined, "If you do that he'll never let me out of his sight again."

"Alright, alright." Leonora held up her hands placatingly, "We won't tell him." After Elise looked away with a relieved look the swimmer mouthed a few words silently.

Most jaegers were at least semi proficient at reading lips, and Fie was no exception. "We'll tell him after she leaves." Was the silent message, causing the silver-haired girl to grin and nod at the Silver Whale.

"Alright!" Juna exclaimed, "I've heard mention of it a few times now, so I'm really curious. Can you tell us about your first encounter with Allie? I wanna hear about how she kidnapped you and the princess right in front of Instructor Rean."

"Juna!" Credit where credit was due, because that question caused said girl to whine petulantly with the tiniest hint of red on her face. Seeing Altina get all flustered at the reminder meant the question was a great one.

Elise must have thought so as well given the way she tried to stifle her giggles, "I... don't think that's a good idea, but I can at least assure you that neither Her Highness nor myself hold any ill-will against Altina. In fact I'm pretty sure the princess is eager to take Altina out some time and dress her up."

"She is like a little doll..."

"That sounds kinda fun, actually."

"We should all go shopping in the capital together someday!"

"I..." Fie could sympathize with the hesitating Altina. Being dragged around and treated like a toy by a bunch of excited teenagers sounded absolutely miserable, but if the girl had any lingering regrets about her past action then she'd probably feel compelled to agree, "...I'll consider it."

"I have a question." Tita asked before they could tease Altina further, "What's Ymir like? The only thing I've heard from Instructor Rean is that it's famous for its open air baths. Is it anything like Elmo Village in Liberl?"

The Schwarzer sibling hummed thoughtfully, "I've heard a bit about Elmo. It's near the border with Calvard, correct? Ymir doesn't have that same level of eastern influence, but thanks to Rean's master it has more than most other places in Erebonia. And as for the baths... My brother could explain it better, but suffice to say it's a wholly different experience bathing in Ymir in the winter than it is anywhere else."

"Ymir is also a big destination for other winter activities like skiing and snowboarding with Rean actually holding most of the snowboarding records. Admittedly being so isolated does have its downsides, but I think it's a great place. You should ask my brother if he'd be willing to take you up there this winter."

"Oh that sounds wonderful! I am very much looking forward to meeting my future mother and father in-laws!"

Elise looked positively stricken by that announcement, causing Fie to roll her eyes, "Just ignore her. You'd think you'd be more used to Musse being Musse considering you went to the same school together, right?"

The black-haired girl let out a sigh of palpable relief, "R-Right. She's always been a little... eccentric, but I don't recall her ever being this bad at St. Astraia. Is she always like this?"

"Pretty much, yeah."

"Definitely."

"Even when she was still in Class IX she was like this."

"Teeheehee..."

The girls of Class VIII had no idea just how lucky they were to having avoided Musse at her worst. Not even being called out by all her friends seemed to faze the girl in question, causing Elise to give a nervous laugh, "...I am so sorry."

"What's St. Astraia like?" Jessica asked curiously, "I imagine it's pretty different from Thors. Do you have any combat classes or anything similar?"

"We have nothing mandatory like what I'm sure you guys have, but we do have a couple optional classes available to anyone who wants to take them. Her Highness and I both participate quite often – She's an extremely proficient arts user and I don't want to become rusty with my rapier skills."

Huh. A part of Fie was surprised to learn this girl knew how to fight. While it wasn't entirely uncommon for a young noblewomen to learn how to defend herself most young noblewomen didn't have a crazy overprotective brother hovering over them constantly. So Rean trusted her to fight monsters or other armed combatants, but didn't trust her around boys her age?

Sounded like a double standard to Fie.

...That was until she thought about Xeno and Leo. They taught her almost everything she knew about fighting and killing, but she could just imagine how terrifying they would've been if Zephyr had been around long enough for her to go through puberty.

Suddenly Elise's situation didn't seem quite so alien to the former jaeger despite their completely different backgrounds.

"Was there anything that Instructor Rean was afraid of when he was a child?" Surprisingly that question came from Altina of all people.

"Um... I probably shouldn't say anything..." Of course. Even Fie could understand how dangerous of a question it was. Even though he hadn't alluded to it directly she had a feeling he was harboring a lot of fears about his powers, his status, and other personal things like that. Elise being a good sister wouldn't want to talk about it- "...When we were younger there was an incident that left Rean terrified of Creepy Sheep for a few years."

...Wait, what!? "Your kidding, right?"

Elise shook her head in response to Fie's question, "I'm not. Eventually he grew out of it, but for a time he was afraid to go outside as he imagined a monster was hiding around each and every corner waiting to get him. He was a bit of a crybaby about it."

"What the hell...?"

"What kind of incident could do something like that?"

"C'mon! Tell us more!"

"Aww. That sounds adorable. Poor Instructor Rean."

Fie had a feeling she wouldn't be getting much sleep that night, but honestly? She was alright with that. Here she was surrounded by a dozen of her friends while learning embarrassing stories about her pain in the butt teacher. It was the kind of night she never imagined she'd get to experience in her life.

"Alright, I'll tell you, but you have to promise not to mention it to anyone, alright?"

Yup. A good night indeed. And no she definitely was not going to keep that promise.