Chapter 3: Stepping Down
Felix drummed his fingers on the wooden table, watching the sun rise steadily higher outside the window until it was almost gone. He threw yet another sour look at Byleth and Dedue, both of whom returned their own silent warnings not to complain. But he sensed that even they were becoming a little agitated. The archbishop had requested this meeting and so far, they had waited for well over an hour.
The small library Rhea had selected was out of the way from the center of the city, perfect for privacy, as everyone expected to find her or the king at the capitol building. The interior wasn't badly damaged aside from some fallen shelves and scattered piles of books.
However, it also didn't leave much room for defense. Dedue stood behind Dimitri, his back to the wall, with the building's single door and as many windows as possible in view. He insisted on stationing Byleth, Felix, Sylvain, and Ingrid at certain seats to cover any other points of access in case of a sudden attack.
Felix craved to at least make use of his time and practice his swordsmanship, but that was impossible with the mess of books. He kicked one in frustration and gripped his sword's handle, squeezing it as if it would ease the tension.
Dimitri and the professor had each found a book to interest them, reading absent-mindedly and checking the room every now and then. Ingrid sharpened her spear, which Felix wouldn't mind doing if he hadn't honed his own weapon to a fine point. Across the table, Sylvain tipped his chair, rocking back and forth on the legs.
Unable to find anything to occupy his time, Felix's thoughts started to drift and all too soon returned to Annette's catalog of songs.
Creepity creep. Living in a land that's dark and blinded by the frigid cold.
He softly hummed to himself, his lips curling into a small smile as he imagined Annette's dulcet voice singing for him.
Sylvain had stopped rocking and stared perplexedly at him. Felix cursed to himself. Had he been humming too loudly again?
He buried his head in his arms on the table, pretending to be tired and hiding himself from everyone. He didn't understand it or her. He could size an enemy up in a moment, analyze their form, and know when and where they would strike. But when it came to Annette? He didn't know the first thing of how to begin a conversation without coming off as intense or strange.
And if she thought him strange or overbearing, then she would reject him. He knew it. He could practically hear the whispers from the fool across from him telling him such. It was true though. Many others had distanced themselves from Felix because he came across too strong for their liking, whether it be sparring partners, classmates, or those in noble courts.
In fact, the only ones that stayed anywhere close to him were those through special circumstances, like Ingrid, or those he actively tried to push away yet stubbornly clung to him like horse droppings on his boot, such as Sylvain.
The latter leaned back in his chair again, sighing defeatedly. "How much longer do we have to wait?" he asked, speaking Felix's complaints aloud.
"I'm sure she'll arrive soon," Dimitri said, turning a page. "Just be patient."
"I hate to agree with him, but Sylvain might be right," Ingrid said. "What is taking Lady Rhea so long?"
"Maybe she's been captured again," Felix suggested.
"But the letter-" Dimitri started.
Felix shooed his words away. "I mean after she wrote the letter."
"We would've known by now," Byleth said, not even glancing up from her book. "Something likely came up to delay her. Or maybe she has to move slower because of her injuries. She was near death when we found her."
As if on cue, the doors swung open. Dedue's hand went for his ax, but relaxed as the archbishop herself entered, adorned in a flowing white gown and her shimmering miny=t hair done up in an elaborate braided design. Save for the bruises and cuts along her face, one would almost never know she had been imprisoned.
Dimitri stood for her, as did the rest. Flanked on either side of Rhea, Seteth and Flayn accompanied her, easing her gently into a seat on the opposite end of the table from the Blue Lions. Once she had settled into her chair, Dimitri and the others sat back down. Flayn waved to her former classmates while Seteth tugged at his tight collar and rolled his neck.
"Apologies for our tardiness," he said. "The time in Enbarr has taken its toll on the archbishop and she needed some extra time."
Felix eyed Byleth, who nodded slightly at him. He grunted, conceding she was right.
"Thank you for meeting with me on such short notice," Rhea said. She sounded tired, as she struggled to get every word out. Despite the cool day outside, sweat dripped down her brow and she took a moment to gather herself.
"Not at all, Lady Rhea," Dimitri said. "We're happy to assist. What was it you needed to talk to us about?"
"I'll make this brief," she said and motioned to Seteth with a trembling hand. "If you would please?"
"Yes," Seteth cleared his throat. "First, congratulations are in order. You have not only put an end to this terrible war and saved Fodlan, you also rescued Lady Rhea. For that, we are deeply indebted to you. Should you wish anything of the church, you need only ask."
Felix's drumming increased. He had better things to do than listen to nobles pat one another on the back.
Dimitri nodded and offered a pleasant smile. "Thank you. We only ask that you help us rebuild this land for the people."
"Yes, and in order to help you do that, Lady Rhea will be stepping down from her position as archbishop."
The room fell completely silent. Felix looked from Seteth, to Rhea, to Dimitri, and back. Fed up with the meeting already, he refused to listen to any nonsense too. "Is this a joke?" he asked.
"I'm afraid not," Seteth said. "Although Lady Rhea survived while prisoner of the Empire, as you can see, the whole ordeal has left her severely weakened and in no state to head the church."
"Then who will lead it?" Ingrid asked slowly.
Seteth directed his attention to Byleth, much to hers and everyone's shock. "At the lady's request, she would ask that you take her place."
Byleth's eyes ballooned to the size of dinner plates and she seemed fit to fall out of her chair. "Me?"
Rhea smiled. "It is the only logical choice," she said. "You have been blessed by the Goddess herself and have managed to help lead the kingdom to victory." As if emphasizing it, Byleth brushed her bangs aside, which matched Rhea's hair perfectly.
"But what about Seteth?" she asked.
"Her choice surprised me too," Seteth said. "But I support her decision. I'll freely admit that I have neither the charisma or leadership that the position requires. After these many months, I now believe you possess those in spades."
"I do not need an answer now," Rhea said. Byleth didn't seem like she could give one anyway, as she appeared to be processing the request to herself. "I won't be announcing this until we return to Garreg Mach." She fell forward a little and rested her forehead in her hand.
"With the war ending, everyone will need some stability for a while," Seteth said, checking her. She nodded and silently urged him to continue. "We'll keep up appearances, then announce the change with Rhea's blessing. Say that she'll offer guidance for this new era of the church still."
"How will you keep up appearances in the meantime?" Dimitri asked.
"I mostly oversee the day-to-day activities and administration as is," Seteth pointed out. "It's not unusual for the archbishop to be out of the public eye from time to time. As long as things operate as normal, there shouldn't be much concern if we tell people Rhea is resting from her ordeal."
"Please consider this carefully," Rhea said softly to Byleth.
She nodded dumbly. "I will."
"Thank you." She struggled to stand and Seteth and Flayn supported her by her arms. "I will see you back at the monastery." She smiled at Dimitri. "Your Majesty."
He stood for her and bowed. "Lady Rhea."
Once the archbishop and her entourage had left, Dimitri sat back down and looked around at his group. "Well, that was," he tapped the table, lost for words.
"Unexpected," Dedue offered.
"Yes, thank you."
Yet Felix sensed nobody else was really paying attention to his words. All the focus in the room was on Byleth herself, who stared down as if the right answer lay on her lap. No one knew what to say and she didn't seem to be in the right headspace to start a conversation.
"Well," Dimitri stood up once more and looked around at everyone, "we should head back to camp. We still need to meet with the government officials from Enbarr so that we can start rebuilding the city. Shall we?"
Felix was more than happy to leave. He quickly strode to the door, threw it open, and walked straight into Annette, holding up a cloak between them.
Now his mind misfired as bad as Byleth's seemed to and he stopped immediately. Annette, here, before him, locking her eyes with his. Those gorgeous blue eyes that always shined with joy. It had been a while since he had been this close to her and he almost felt his body tipping forward, like he was about to fall into those eyes like deep pools of clear water on a sunny day.
From behind him, the rest of the group paused, looking over his shoulder to see what was wrong. "Annette?" Dimitri asked, squeezing past Felix.
She tore her gaze from Felix and held up the cloak to Dimitri. "You forgot this," she said.
"Ah, I didn't even realize it," he said, checking himself. He accepted it from Annette and threw it around his shoulders. "Shall we be off?"
As they traveled back to camp, Felix rode in the rear and Annette fell in pace beside him on her own horse. He was tempted to move ahead, but Sylvain's advice echoed in his ear. Act normal. Leaving her so suddenly wouldn't do. This was his opportunity to set things straight. Especially after he choked just now from merely running into her.
He cast around various ways to broach the topic, but the clip-clop of hooves distracted him, aggravating him so he clenched his teeth and couldn't think of any method. Whenever he started to try to speak to her, her lustrous eyes silenced him immediately. Between those infuriating eyes, her red locks curling around her shoulder and hiding part of her face, and the pale boa wrapped around her, it all combined into a coquettish aura that left him tongue-tied on the subject.
"So, what did Lady Rhea want?" Annette asked, beating him to it.
"Oh," he checked the soldiers ahead of them, and jerked his head to the side. They dropped further behind and out of earshot of the soldiers. "Lady Rhea is stepping down from her role as archbishop," he whispered.
"What?" she yelped and he immediately shushed her. Thankfully, none of the soldiers took notice of her outburst.
He briefly explained all that had happened, how Lady Rhea no longer felt capable of leading, how the professor had been asked to step up to the position, and their plans for the announcement. He actually found it easier to talk to her when the topic wasn't the large ever-present one that loomed overhead like a constant shadow. "Keep it quiet for now," he said, finishing up the meeting's recap. "No one is supposed to know about it so we don't cause a panic until she can break it to the people gently."
"Wow," Annette said, staring ahead at the professor. "I wonder if she'll accept."
Felix couldn't see why she wouldn't. It made sense to him, after all. Byleth had proved capable during the war and if their abilities were divine, leading the church shouldn't be too daunting.
"The war's hardly over and things are already changing," she said.
He raised an eyebrow. "It's not that bad. She'll still be at Garreg Mach."
"Oh, I didn't mean that," she shook her head. "I just mean, I knew things would be different, but I guess I didn't expect them so soon."
Felix pulled the reins of his drifting horse, bringing it back to the center of the road. Up ahead, he could see the top of the camp's tents, arranged on hills above them. "When there's no war going on, it leaves time to focus on other things," he said.
"That's true." She paused for a moment before turning to him. "Speaking of which, I've been meaning to ask you something."
This was it. His breath hitched, already waiting for the inevitable. He hadn't had a chance to fully act normal and convince her that he wasn't some oddity to avoid. Already, he chastised himself, cursing how foolish he had acted in that greenhouse. He wanted nothing more than to burn that entire building to the ground and stamp on the ashes until the very memory of his ridiculous antics was gone.
"Where," she stopped and started again, "where are we?"
He blinked and looked at her, completely bewildered. "Um, I'd say we're near the camp."
"No, I mean where are we?" she pointed back and forth between the two of them. "Like where do we stand after, well, everything?"
"Oh." He was completely unprepared for that. It was a good question after all. Where did they stand?
She seemed to misunderstand his silence and immediately held up her hands, rambling off in one breath. "Um, that is, we haven't had any chance to talk about it since that day and I didn't know what you wanted or expected. It's just, this has never happened before and I haven't been able to figure it out. And Mercie pushed me to ask you today."
"So you did tell her," he said.
She clammed up, her cheeks reddening and Felix's heart skipped a beat. There was no other word to describe her besides adorable and he almost missed what she said next.
"Well, I wanted some advice. But t-that's not the point. What about us?"
The camp was growing larger and larger by the moment and within a minute, they would enter it properly. Felix had been so concerned with negating his embarrassing display, that he hadn't dared to even consider what they were at this point. He had figured there was a gulf as wide as the Red Canyon between them, but between Annette riding so close beside him and her worried face that seemed to mirror his own fear of rejection, he wondered if his perceived mistake was only in his own mind.
"I," his mouth felt slow and lethargic. Dimitri rode into camp first. "I believe we're still allies," he said, stating the obvious. "And comrades at arms."
"Anything else?"
Anything else? Of course he would love to say he considered them more and spill his desires to her. But as he studied her, his hope receded. Could that worry instead be that she didn't feel the same and wanted to easily let him down, prevent any heartache for him? Did he misinterpret the situation yet again? How did someone as thick as Sylvain manage this when he couldn't?
"I…I…"
Before he could decipher what lay underneath her expression, the camp's outer guards greeted them and Dimitri called for he and Annette to join him in his tent. The conversation on hold for the moment, Felix hopped off his horse and followed the king.