"It's not everyday you're up so early, Rhajat."

Rhajat yawned after Azura's comment. "There's a reason why it's not an everyday thing." She stretched as she continued her walk to the training grounds.

She doubted that she could get away with leaving Garreg Mach before the sun was even up. Knowing her luck she'd get in big trouble for it. She figured doing what she wanted on a day there was class wasn't the best idea, but she didn't want to hold off. She wanted to get stronger as soon as possible, and she needed Azura's help for that. She looked around to make sure she was alone and walked into her destination.

"So, Azura."

"Mm?"

"You said I'd get power from accepting your deal, and I have. But I figure there's more to this than just the song?"

"Yes." Azura confirmed. "My voice is the most powerful, but also the most dangerous. I have other abilities that may be of use to you. Such as my control of water."

Rhajat leaned back against the wall. "What do you mean by that?"

"I can manifest water for attacks, which you could probably use as an element for your magic." She explained.

Rhajat nodded. "Interesting. How do I do that?"

"All you have to do is imagine it."

Rhajat pointed her fingers at the dummy. She did as she was told, and a ball of water quickly shot out of her fingers. She started giggling. "Excellent..."

"That's probably the most basic one too." Azura noted.

"Really…?" Rhajat said with interest.

"You can form waves for example, but I wouldn't recommend doing that now... considering where we are. You can make the water blast hotter, create water bombs, things like that."

Rhajat started giggling even more. "Oh... oh I'm going to enjoy this..." She started rubbing her hands together. "Oh the chaos I could cause with this!"

Azura started giggling a bit herself.

Rhajat stopped giggling, her face turning into confusion. "What are you laughing about?" She didn't think Azura was the kind of person who particularly was interested in this sort of thing.

"Oh, sorry, I'm not laughing at you. It's just... for someone who has such a mischievous dark persona, you're not a bad person at all. You're talking about what you can do, but you also want to do this to get stronger and protect everyone. Especially Corrin."

Rhajat folded her arms and started blushing. "Dial it back. I love doing things like this. Testing hexes and magic..."

"I believe you." Azura said. "I just don't think that's the entire story. It's honestly cute. I bet Corrin would think so too."

Rhajat started blushing even harder. "Why Corrin in particular...? Ugh whatever. Keep your opinions to yourself Azura."

Azura began to giggle again. "Sorry, you're surprisingly easy to tease." Rhajat was giving Azura more and more justification for choosing her. She was a bit apprehensive at first when she realized she had to bond to Rhajat, but those fears had melted away the more she got to know her. "You should head to bed though. It would be a shame if you were to fall asleep in class."

Rhajat rolled her eyes, but knew Azura had a point. "I'm gonna mess around and experiment a bit more. Then we can head to sleep."

"Right. I'm here if you have any questions."

"Mm. Thank you, Azura."

Rhajat struggled to stay conscious as the class continued. She was usually diligent, at least if the topic was interesting to her, but she was still exhausted from being up so early. She did manage to get back to sleep eventually, but she was so invested in practicing that she only got a few hours of sleep. And even then, she only really managed to stop because of Azura.

"I warned you..." Azura mumbled.

"Shut up." She internally rebutted.

Thankfully for her, the lesson was about swordplay, which she couldn't care less about. Despite her exhaustion, there was still a bit of pep in her. She was excited for the next outing, so she could test out her new abilities. It wasn't too far away, she had never felt so ecstatic to start a mission. While she did learn a bit by practicing, she knew that there was no real better way to test out these powers than on the battlefield. She started giggling to herself again, making the classmate closest to where she was sitting, Forrest, tilt his head. He shrugged it off and continued to pay attention.

A bit later, the class came to an end. Rhajat blinked a few times before standing up. She stretched and yawned. She began to walk out of the classroom to get some sleep.

"Rhajat?" Forrest called.

Rhajat sighed. "Yes?"

"We've got a sky watch. Would you like to get it out of the way?"

Rhajat's shoulders fell. Despite her lack of energy, the last time she got something out of the way early it did feel nice to her. At the same time, she truly did not feel like doing anything. "...Fine..." She said against her better judgment. "I don't think I've ever done that before."

Forrest nodded in understanding. "Me neither. Guess it'll be a learning experience. Shall we get going?"

Rhajat shrugged. "I guess."

"Is this the best idea?" Azura asked. "I'd hate for something to go wrong..."

"It's fine, it's fine." Rhajat insisted mentally. "It's not the first time I've had to run on little sleep."

"You're going to be handling a wyvern though..." Azura reminded her in concern. "That's something you need focus for. Especially if you're not used to it..."

"Trust me, I'll be okay Mom." Rhajat replied sarcastically. She did appreciate Azura's concern at the very least. However, she felt she didn't need it. Throughout her life she dealt with much worse than flying a wyvern. She watched others do it too, so there was little doubt in her mind that she could pull it off. Regardless, she already gave Forrest the okay, so she couldn't back out of it. She took a deep breath and steeled herself.

Forrest stepped in front of his wyvern. He took a good look at the beast, seemingly lost in thought.

"Something wrong?" Rhajat asked.

"Oh, nothing." Forrest replied. "I just was admiring how cute the wyvern was, in its own way."

"Hm." Rhajat grunted. "I wouldn't call it cute, but it's definitely ferocious. I like it." She wasn't sure if she'd ever need to own one, but if there was any animal she'd be okay with, it'd most likely be a wyvern.

Forrest giggled. "I can get that. I guess my Aunt Camilla rubbed off on me. You'd look so cool on one. Then again, your dragon form is even more ferocious than the wyvern."

Rhajat flinched a bit, but then started processing Forrest's words. "You think so?" She wasn't sure how he'd know, considering all she'd done was block an attack with it.

"Yeah. You're already plenty capable without it. So with it, wouldn't you be even stronger? I'd hate to be your enemy."

Rhajat started giggling. "Thank you. Maybe one day I'll use it with reckless abandon...!"

Forrest giggled again in response. "Don't get too crazy with it Rhajat." Forrest had a thoughtful look on his face. He turned to Rhajat as if he wanted to say something, but wasn't sure how to.

Rhajat seemed to pick up on this. "Is something wrong?" She asked.

"Hm... well... we've gotta fly around anyway..." Forrest began. He paused again, not wanting to offend her. "What if we rode around the monastery together? On your dragon form?"

"...What?" Rhajat wasn't sure how to react to the suggestion.

"Sorry if that was too forward, I just think if we worked together, we might find ourselves having more fun with this." Forrest explained. "We don't have to though."

"I..." Rhajat rubbed her dragonstone. While it was true that it wasn't a secret anymore, something about transforming still rubbed her the wrong way. Multiple people outside of her class had come forward asking about it.

"It was a dumb question, sorry Rhajat." Forrest apologized. "We should get going."

"No, I'm just thinking." Rhajat figured that if she was right that her mother was bullied or judged for her ability, then there shouldn't be any issues. On the other hand, if there was another reason she was unaware of, she could make things worse. "...Fine, why not?" Despite sounding a bit irritated, she was smiling.

Rhajat pulled out her dragonstone. She looked down at it for a second, hesitating. She then nodded and raised it into the air. She was encased in her usual egg and burst out, revealing her black dragon form. Forrest looked on in awe. While it had been the second time he saw her, it was still amazing to him. Rhajat bent down and Forrest shook his head, coming to. He walked to her side and climbed on top of her.

"Are you ready?" She asked. Forrest was a bit surprised by the echo from her voice. He jumped slightly, not expecting it to be so loud. She looked back at him in confusion. "What's wrong?"

Forrest smiled. "Nothing, don't worry. Why don't we get going?" He scooted forward and wrapped his arms around her neck tightly enough to have a good grip, but not tight enough to bring her any harm.

Rhajat nodded and slowly rose up. She didn't want to go too fast, at risk of hurting Forrest. Not to mention she had never flown around with anyone on her back before. Forrest wasn't too heavy to her, so she was relieved that wouldn't be an issue at least. She flew higher and higher and once she was above the monastery, she started flying around.

"Do you see anything?" Rhajat asked.

"No, none that I can see. Not that I was really expecting anything." Forrest figured that the knights would notice before they would, but it was still good practice to him.

A few people looked up at them in shock.

"Whoa, what kinda wyvern is that!?"

"I think I see Forrest riding it, so it should be fine?"

"Is that just a wyvern though? I heard weird things about that dragon house leader. Think that's her?"

"Could be?"

Rhajat was sure that there were some more critical voices, but she didn't hear them. She continued to fly around for a bit, keeping an eye on the monastery. Rhajat's eyes slowly began to droop.

"Rhajat?" Azura said in her mind. "Maybe we should land."

"No... no I'll be fine..."

Forrest didn't seem to notice the issue. "This is such a gorgeous view, Rhajat... I thought I'd be more scared, but this really is amazing..."

"It... it is. I never get to fly around, this is... it's nice..." Rhajat not having to hide such a big part of her identity did feel freeing to her, even if she felt a bit guilty about it. Rhajat's eyes then began to droop even more.

"Oh no..." Azura said with a groan.

Rhajat slowly began to descend, leaving Forrest confused. She then started picking up speed, alarming him.

"Rhajat?!" He exclaimed. He leaned as far forward as he could and smacked her face a few times, but to no avail.

With no other option seemingly open to him, he raised his hand and summoned a fireball. He blasted it into her face, shocking her awake. She panicked for a second before realizing what was going on. She started quickly flapping her wings to regain some sort of stability. The ground came closer and closer, and Rhajat had no choice but to brace for impact. She hit the ground relatively hard with a loud bang, but not as hard as it could've been.

She looked behind her at her passenger. "Are you okay!?"

"Yeah, I'm fine." Forrest jumped off of his dragon friend, and she reverted to her human form. "Why didn't you tell me you were tired?"

Rhajat looked at him sheepishly. "Sorry... I... didn't mean to hurt you."

Forrest put his hands on his hips. "I'm fine, I'm worried about you. You're the one who had to take the impact of the fall."

Rhajat looked up at him. "Oh... I'm fine too." She was a bit taken aback.

Forrest's expression softened. "Good. But listen, don't work yourself too hard. I'm sorry if I pushed you into doing something you didn't want to do."

"No... you didn't. I just... I didn't want to look weak." Rhajat explained. "I have to be strong for everyone..."

Forrest sighed, then smiled. "You really don't. The dragons are a team. You're allowed to rely on us. You being tired isn't a weakness. Take care of yourself too."

Rhajat blushed a bit. She hated being vulnerable. "I... guess..."

"We're here for you, okay?" Forrest reminded her. "Changing the subject... Do you think that counts as our sky watch?"

Rhajat smiled a bit, then yawned. "I hope so. I don't want to deal with that again."

"You get some rest then." Forrest suggested. "I'll talk to the professor and see what I can do."

Rhajat nodded. "Thank you..." She looked behind her and noticed a bunch of people staring. She blushed again and looked downward. She hadn't realized that such a display would probably get people's attention, and now people saw her being open with her feelings. She quickly rushed away flustered as the others watched.

Forrest had to stifle a bit of a laugh. "She's so cute." He then walked up to one of his classmates. "Thanks for your cooperation."

The girl grinned. "No problem. Your house leader is really self conscious. If you hadn't talked to us, we may have been a bit more rude about that dragon, without thinking."

"Yeah. I hope that'll help her be more confident with it. Say, do you know how everyone seems to know?"

The girl shrugged. "I dunno, maybe someone overheard it somehow?"

Completely missing the shenanigans that just ensued, Selkie continued to rest on the ground and sunbathe. She was now in a different spot, by the garden.

"Ugh... there's always something going on..."

Selkie heard a vaguely familiar voice and looked upward. She saw one of the blue lions, Felix, staring at something. She looked over and saw Forrest talking with a group of students. "I wonder what happened..."

She leaped upward and walked over to Felix. She had never really talked to him before, so she wasn't sure what to expect from him. "Hi!" She yelled at him.

Felix looked towards her. "Uh... hi?"

"Any idea what's going on over there?" She asked with a curious tilt of the head.

Felix shrugged. "Don't ask me. Your house leader ran off all red in the face. That's all I can tell you."

"Hm." Selkie grunted. She then gasped. "Think she had her first kiss?!"

Felix rolled his eyes. "Don't know, don't care."

Selkie grabbed Felix's shoulder, making him glare at her. Undeterred, she started shaking him back and forth playfully. "Come on! You're telling me you wouldn't be like 'whoa' if you found that out?"

Felix pushed Selkie's hand away, his frustration growing. "No, I wouldn't care." He then sighed and facepalmed. "Why am I humoring you?"

Selkie smiled. "I dunno. Why are you asking me?" It was rather hard to tell if she was joking or not.

"It's a rhetori- never mind." Felix shook his head and placed his hand on his sword. "Look, I need to go train, and all these people are in the way."

Selkie's eyes lit up. She jumped up and down with excitement. "Training!? You like to play too Felix?!"

"Play...?" Felix repeated. "I... guess? If that's what you want to call it."

"Let's play together Felix!" Selkie yelled. She grabbed her beaststone and transformed, blinding him for a few seconds. She started running through the crowd, pushing them out of the way. Some of them fell into the pond.

"Selkie!" Forrest exclaimed. He then sighed and shook his head.

Felix couldn't help but smirk a bit. "That's one way to solve the issue..." He was less so amused by his classmates' misfortune, and more so at Selkie. He decided to walk through the newly made path. He was then stopped by Forrest.

"Sorry about Selkie Felix... I know she can be a bit much." He apologized.

"I can see that." He snarked. "It doesn't matter." He waved his hand in a dismissive manner, then followed Selkie's path of destruction. He wasn't sure what to make of the kitsune. He thought she had too much energy, but she didn't seem to be a bad person. He figured she was young and perhaps foolish, but it doesn't change that she helped him out.

He eventually found her untransformed waiting in the training ground. She was tapping her foot. "Oh, there you are Felix! Are you ready to play?"

Felix placed his hand on his sword again. "Let me make sure I'm understanding. You want to train, right?"

Selkie nodded. "Of course! Call it whatever you want!" She got on all fours, ready to pounce onto Felix.

Felix had never fought an enemy like Selkie, he figured it could be good practice. He pulled his sword out of the sheathe. "Bring it."

Selkie jumped into the air and spun around while transforming. She landed on the ground and charged at Felix. Felix swiped his sword at her, but she dodged with ease. She jumped into the air and tried to slam down onto Felix. He blocked the attack with his sword, and pushed her away. She began rolling around the room, catching Felix off guard. He wasn't sure what she was about to do next. She showed up on his side and faced him with her hind legs, but Felix swiped at her, cutting her slightly. Felix then jump slashed at her, and she flew back. She jumped up into the air again and landed in front of him. He narrowed his eyes ready for her next move. She lunged at him, and before he knew it, he was laying on his back with Selkie standing over him, pinning him down.

"I win!" Selkie yelled.

Felix wanted to deny it, but he couldn't move. He supposed she did win. "Were you actually trying to fight?"

"Fight? Uh, not really?" She said.

Felix groaned again. "I don't get you kid."

"Kid!?" Selkie exclaimed. She reverted to her humanoid form and stood up. "I'm 23, thank you very much!"

Felix jerked upward in surprise. "You're older than me? You don't act like it."

Selkie started giggling. "I guess not. Or maybe..." Selkie pointed at his nose. "You don't act your age!"

"I'm not going back and forth with you." Felix said. He stood up and dusted himself off. "I hate to admit it, but that was good practice. It at least helped me learn how to tackle unfamiliar foes. I guess I can't work with the logic that every enemy will come at me... well logically."

Selkie smiled. "Thank you! I'm glad I could help!"

Felix wasn't even sure if he was complimenting her or not, but decided to dismiss it. "Let me know if you want to... play again." He cringed a bit, but he couldn't look a gift horse in the mouth. At the very least dodging her attempts at pining him would increase his speed and reflexes.

"I'm always up for a play date!"

"...Right." Felix replied. He just hoped he wouldn't come to regret this. At the very least, it wasn't Sylvain's philandering or Dimitri and Ingrid's "chivalry." It was a different kind of insanity he had to deal with with Selkie. He at the very least was getting more out of it than a headache as far as he was concerned. He then thought about how losing an eye was preferable to hearing about how death was something to praise, or whatever nonsense his house was spitting out.

"Damn. The dragons this year sure are... something." A large man mused. He put his hand on the shoulder of another man with purple hair. "What do you think of them, Yuri?"

"Well I think you're one to talk about someone being 'something.'" He snarked. "But you do have a point. Dragons... foxes... wolves... Lethe sure does have things that feel so foreign to me."

"It sure does seem like a weird place." A red headed girl added. She put her hands behind her head.

"Hm, I'll have to make sure they don't outshine me!" A blond girl exclaimed.

"It's a competition now?" The large man, named Balthus, said surprised.

"Anyway, is there anything else we should know about what's happening on the surface?" Yuri asked.

The spy shook his head. "Nothing particularly new. Oh, actually... that professor I told you about has obtained a hero's relic."

"What's so weird about that?" the redhead, named Hapi, wondered. "The church hired her, is her having a crest really that bizarre? Not to mention they probably need all the power they can get to keep us under control." She said bitterly.

"It's less that and more so that there's no crest stone, yet the relic works perfectly." He explained. "No one seems to know why that is."

"That is rather odd..." The blond girl, named Constance, agreed. "It shouldn't work without one yet... What is going on up there...? How interesting."

"What do you mean?" Balthus asked. "It doesn't really involve us."

Constance swiped her arm through the air. "Don't be daft! This professor could be a powerful ally in protecting Abyss!"

"It is the only home we've got..." Hapi pointed out. "Who knows how long we've got..." There was a bit of an uncomfortable silence following her comment. She then looked apologetic. "Sorry, didn't mean to get so dark."

"I mean, you've got a point Hapi." Balthus added. He knew that without Abyss, he'd probably be dead by now. It wasn't an ideal location, but at the very least it was something. "We've got to do something."

"Well, I would prefer we don't get outsiders involved in our business." Yuri said a bit coldly. "We've got enough to worry about. I don't want to expose Abyss to even more danger. There's some intense power up there too. The future king of Faerghus. The heirs to Adrestia and Leister. And the dragon's leader doesn't mean much for Fodlan, but it's clear she's dangerous. And that's not even getting into their teacher."

"It'd be one hell of a gamble to get any help from the outside, aside from Aelfric." Balthus sighed.

"Oh rub it in, why don't you?" Hapi said a bit grumpily.

"Sorry, wasn't thinking." Balthus apologized. "Either way, what are we going to do?"

"Perhaps we should just watch?" Constance suggested. "Try and figure out if these people are trustworthy?" Constance in particular was insistent on getting help.

Yuri shrugged. "We don't even know what they look like. We just know that they're here. And say that these are good people, that doesn't mean everyone at the academy is. What if they have friends that don't have our best interests at heart."

"Ever the suspicious one Yuri-bird. Not that I blame you. I'd hate to be in your shoes."

"Either way, we should keep working on protecting Abyss. If we can find a more efficient way of doing so, then sure. But I'm not holding my breath." Yuri said.

The four wolves nodded. Despite their words, none of them would mind help. But there was no way Yuri was going to risk his home, or his people. If they were going to worm their way in, they'd need to fight for it. At the same time, it was only a hypothetical. Yuri hoped it wouldn't come to that. He hated being in people's debt anyway. Abyss was in danger, and that was all that mattered. That was what they needed to focus on as far as Yuri was concerned. And he'd rather drop dead than see something happen to his beloved people, who have suffered enough.