Byleth and Catherine both awoke at the crack of dawn and went about their normal morning routines. Byleth dressed himself in his room, even if he was now the king of Fodlan he still chose to wear his old trustworthy outfit from his mercenary days. He decided to bring the Sword of the creator with him, normally he didn't feel the need when walking around the monastery but with the attempt on his life the day before didn't want to find himself unarmed in another possibly dangerous situation.
After yesterday's attack Garreg Mach had been thoroughly swept for any other potential dangers. Even the denizens of the underground had put in an effort to watch for any would be assassins but in the end nothing was found. Still additional knights had been brought in to patrol the monastery at Catherine's request. Catherine had even insisted that a pair of guards stay stationed outside of his room at all times.
As Byleth exited his room he dismissed the two guards and began his walk to the dining hall. Even with the increased patrols the walk to the dining hall was quiet, the rooms of his former students had been cleared out with their return to their homes and this early the monastery staff was almost entirely asleep. As he approached the dining hall he saw a pair of alliance knights at the side of the door, when they saw him approaching they both snapped to attention. Byleth walked past them and into the dining hall.
The inside of the dining hall was nearly empty with the exception of Catherine and a handful of kitchen staff in the back preparing food for the rest of the monastery. Byleth saw that she was eating breakfast and had also grabbed a second plate for him. He made his way to his fiance and took his seat.
"Good morning," Byleth said as he grabbed his plate "sleep well?"
"Well enough," Catherine answered "but the incident yesterday certainly didn't help me sleep."
"Nothing bad happened" the king answered "you made sure of that."
"Still, the assassin got away and if he was eavesdropping on us our enemies know about us before…" she said before trailing off.
Byleth placed his hand on hers, "Well today's trip should help rectify that, and a bit after that we can tell the rest of Fodlan."
Catherine cleared her throat "Speaking of our trip everything is packed and ready to go, the only thing missing is us."
"I just need to remember to grab an extra case of Leicester Cortania from my room before we go." Byleth said as he poured himself a cup of tea. "I got some a few days ago and wanted it to be a treat."
"Wow" she replied between bites "you got the premium stuff."
"Well this is a special occasion and Anna got me a pretty good deal" he explained.
The two ate the rest of their breakfast relatively quickly before leaving for the training ground. Before the end of the war the pair would train together around once a week but since their engagement Byleth had begun joining his fiance during her early morning training sessions. After years of fighting the pair had sharpened their sword skills to near perfection, had anyone been watching them it would have been a sight to behold. Today, however, they had shortened their session to save energy and time for the trip ahead.
It was still morning when the pair left and most of the monastery was now waking up. Catherine once more reminded the knights of her orders should they not return before they left before they saddled up their horses, collected their supplies, and left for the short journey to Zanado.
The trip to the Red Canyon was entirely uneventful with the couple keeping each other company during the trip. The mood was only slightly dampened when they arrived at Zanado, with the knowledge Rhea had given them about the Nabateans it was impossible to look at the canyon the same way. Byleth knew that when he told the rest of Fodlan the true history of Nemesis and the 10 elites he would memorialize and limit access to the Red Canyon.
They had to travel quite a distance into the canyon until they reached their destination, a small cabin by the side of the river. As they approached they saw a familiar figure sitting alone in the shade, she waved to them when she saw them approach. Catherine and Byleth hitched and dismounted their horses a short distance from the cabin and walked to its steps.
"Lady Rhea" Catherine said as she instinctively bowed.
"Catherine, it's so good to see you." Rhea said as she rose to greet them "Professor, or I suppose I should call you 'your majesty' now?"
"For you? Professor or Byleth works just fine." Byleth replied "It's good to see you too."
After the battle with Nemesis Rhea had decided to retire to Zanado. For her safety it was decided that Fodlan would be told that she died from her wounds, especially with the reveal of the truth of the Heroes' Relics. Only a handful knew she was still alive and only those who helped her settle down knew where she was.
"Please, come inside, I'll start up the kettle" Rhea said, slowly rising from her seat.
Catherine moved to help her stand but Rhea shooed her away as she approached.
"I'll be fine," Rhea groaned as she pushed the door of her cabin open "it's just a few scars acting up."
The couple followed her in, and saw a table with a handful of chairs surrounding it. Rhea had already grabbed a kettle and was filling it with water from a bucket in the corner. As she placed the kettle on a rack over her fireplace she spoke again.
"How do you feel being the new king of a united Fodlan?"
"I haven't felt much of change" Byleth answered, as he pulled a chair back for the former archbishop to sit in. "The coronation was fairly boring and I can't say I enjoyed dressing up that much."
Rhea chuckled, "Do not worry, you will learn to get used to it. When I first transitioned from Seiros to Rhea I had to greatly adjust my life. Although it is good to hear that your first day ruling Fodlan went without incident."
Catherine cleared her throat, "Well the day wasn't entirely smooth. After the ceremony I was forced to stop an agarthan assassin from making an attempt on his life."
"Agarthans." Rhea's hand balled into a tight fist, when she spoke she could barely hide her rage. "Even after we destroyed Shambhala I should have expected a few rats to slither into the dark. Must they try to take all that I have left?"
"Lady Rhea, I…" Catherine said quietly.
"No Catherine," Rhea interrupted, "I should thank you for protecting the professor. I would expect nothing less from my most loyal knight and I can rest a bit easier knowing that as long as you are by his side he will be safe."
Byleth looked to his fiance for a moment before she gave a short nod. "Actually that brings us to one of the main reasons we came to visit you."
"Not that we need many reasons to drop by." Catherine said, almost nervously "We just felt it right to tell you that we're, um, engaged."
Rhea sat completely still for a second until a deluge of tears began pouring from her eyes. The former archbishop quickly brought her hands to her face as if in an effort to hide her emotions. Catherine and Byleth both rose from their seats in shock and quickly rushed to her side.
"Lady Rhea!?" Catherine gasped before putting a hand on her shoulder "I'm so sorry if we-"
Catherine was interrupted by Lady Rhea suddenly wrapping her arms around the couple.
"Oh Catherine don't apologize, these are tears of joy" Rhea said, as she embraced the lovers. "This is truly a wondrous turn of events."
Byleth shot Catherine a confused glance, Catherine seemed as confused as he was but was quickly coming to accept the situation. Rhea spent a few seconds hugging the pair before she pulled back to wipe tears from her face.
"I'm sorry if I confused either of you." Rhea said "I suppose this means I have a few things to explain."
"Lady Rhea," Catherine replied, stepping back from the former archbishop "you don't have to explain anything if you don't want to."
Rhea cleared her throat "No, you, both of you deserve to know this. You should both take a seat, this may be a bit of a long story."
The pair sat back down and prepared to listen to what they didn't know would be the story of Byleth's birth.
"Before we start I must ask, how much do you know about your mother?" Rhea asked.
"Just that she was a nun who lived at the monastery when my father fell in love with." Byleth answered "And that she died after giving birth to me."
"That is mostly accurate but you are missing many details." said Rhea "In an effort to restore my mother I created artificial bodies and buried her crest stone with them. Over the centuries I created a dozen bodies but not one of them ever held the Sothis' consciousness, your mother was the last one I created. All of the bodies I created had struggled with emotion but even still your father was able to make Sitri happy."
Rhea reached over the table and placed her hand on Byleth's before continuing with the story. "Oh child, when Sitri became pregnant with you I knew you would do great things, many years ago I had given Jeralt some of my blood after he saved my life and so I knew you would harbor both my blood and the power of the progenitor god. The process of your birth had been hard on both you and your mother, you would not breath and she was greatly weakened. With her last breaths she asked me to remove the crest stone from her and put it in you to save your life. That is why your heart has never beat, for the progenitor god's crest stone lies within you."
Byleth sat lost in thoughts for several seconds, suddenly so much about his past became clear. So many questions of his past were answered that he needed a moment to simply connect all of the dots. His thoughts were only interrupted by the voice of his beloved breaking the silence.
"Lady Rhea," Catherine started "you said that you created his mother, what exactly did you mean by that?"
Rhea smiled and answered, "I created Sitri with my own flesh but she was not an exact copy of me. It would not be inaccurate to say that she was something akin to my daughter."
Now it was Catherine's turn to sit in silent thought.
"Would that mean that you're my…" Byleth suddenly trailed off.
"While once I had hoped that my mother would come to inhabit your body, I have come to accept that it will not happen."Rhea interrupted, "If you would have me, I would take up the role of your grandmother."
The king stood up from the table and slowly approached the former archbishop. He quickly embraced her, joyfully he said "Of course we would, grandmother."
Suddenly, as if appearing out of thin air Catherine joined the embrace sandwiching Rhea between the pair. Byleth began to feel his fiance's tears as the embrace continued for several seconds.
"This is the happiest day of my life," Catherine said, her voice muffled by the embrace.
Rhea pulled away from the couple and sat back down. "I couldn't be happier that you two chose each other. My most loyal knight and my grandchild."
The trio proceeded to spend much of the rest of the day talking about their future plans, not just for their marriage but also for Fodlan as a whole. Rhea gave advice where she could, some of which Byleth decided to heed other times he chose to politely decline. Enjoying the couple's tea and company Rhea hardly noticed when several hours had passed and their available time together was coming to a close.
Byleth glanced out a nearby window and saw that the sun was getting lower in the sky. He cleared his throat and said "I'm sorry Lady Rhea but we need to start going if we are to make it back in time."
Catherine looked out the window as well and let out a disappointed sigh. "My apologies Lady Rhea he's right we need to unpack the rest of the provisions we brought and then we must be going."
"Catherine before you both leave I wish to speak to you, alone." Rhea said taking the knight by the hand "I am sorry professor, if you would step outside I need this talk to be just between us ladies."
Byleth nodded and left out the front door of the cabin to begin unloading by himself. Catherine looked over her shoulder as he left, only turning back to Rhea when the door closed.
"Lady Rhea," Catherine started "I don't see what we could talk about that…"
"Cassandra." Rhea interrupted, her voice had lost all of the levity it had during the previous conversations.
Catherine instinctively tensed up ever so slightly upon hearing her old name in such a tone.
"Before you go I need you to promise me something." Rhea said, her stare never leaving Catherine. "Swear to me that you will keep my grandchild safe above all else."
"Of course Lady Rhea. I mean, I was planning on doing that anyway" Catherine said with a slight smile.
Rhea continued speaking, "Cassandra, the upcoming years will be filled with dangers and hardships. I need you to promise to me to keep him safe above all else, even at the cost of your own life if necessary. Even if the choice is between saving him or I, you must choose him."
"Lady Rhea…" Catherine said before trailing off, unsure of how to respond.
"Cassandra please" Lady Rhea took her face in her hands "across the years you have served me well, all I require now is that you protect what is most important to me. Your reign together will be fraught with danger and I need you to reassure me that he will be safe."
"Lady Rhea" Catherine said again, more confidently "I promise to you that I shall defend my king, future husband, and your grandson above all."
Rhea let out a breath of relief. "Thank you Catherine, you know how much this means to me."
"Of course Lady Rhea" Catherine replied with a slight bow "is there anything else I can do for you?"
"Just one more thing and this time it's just a small request." Rhea said with a smile "I don't mean to pressure you but eventually I would love to have some great-grandchildren to dote on. It doesn't have to be soon and if you don't want to I fully understand."
Catherine smiled and she had started blushing. "Lady Rhea, once more you ask me to do what I had already planned on doing"
After they were done unpacking her supplies the pair were forced to say farewell to Rhea. They promised to visit again when they next got the chance. Once they had gotten a fair distance Byleth decided to speak.
"So," he started "is there anything that you two spoke about that I should know about".
His fiance thought for a moment on what to say before replying "Oh it was nothing important, but I can tell you that Rhea wants great-grandchildren eventually."
"Oh" exclaimed Byleth, slightly surprised.
Catherine looked to her fiance and saw that he was trying to hide a blush. She couldn't help but begin laughing and in a short time so was he.
The pair eventually returned to Garreg Mach, to rest up before saying farewell to the monastery for a while. They would both miss the monastery, afterall both had many formative events occur on the grounds of the officer's academy. After that they planned to permanently move to the new capital of Fodlan, Derdriu.
"Are you sure?" asked a shadowy figure, her voice never losing its seductive tone.
"Yes, I'm sure." said the Assassin
"If we are to act on this information then we need you to be absolutely positive, at this stage a single wrong move could-" asked a second shadowy figure.
"Yes, I am completely sure that the Fell Star is romantically involved with that damned knight!" the Assassin loudly interrupted "Had that not been the case then I would have succeeded in my mission and slain the Fell Star!"
"Stjerna, calm yourself" the first figure said sternly "while it is unfortunate that you failed, this information has granted us new opportunities."
"I don't know why we are even speaking on this." Another figure, this one wearing the armor of an imperial general, said slamming his fist on the table. "We should be planning an attack on Derdriu, not speaking on the personal life of our enemy!"
The second figure emerged from the shadows revealing the hourglass figure of Cornelia, the head of the former Faerghus Dukedom. "General, now is not the time for brute force but instead for a … gentler touch. Someone fetch me my quill and an example of the former archbishop's handwriting, I know how we can destroy this new kingdom without having to lift a finger ourselves."
"What is your plan, woman?" The General asked, standing from his seat.
"Oh, it's really nothing, just a few lies and some information that a certain Faerghus Count would be interested in knowing about his daughter and his king." Cornelia replied with a wicked grin across her face. "Until then General, continue your preparations for our final assault."