Manuela Casagranda had volunteered to accompany the Knights of Seiros and the Faerghan forces loyal to Dimitri on their campaign to put down Rufus's rebellion. After all, conflict meant injured, and field medics could only do so much. They would need professional doctors.

She hadn't been too surprised to have a patient before the fighting even started. This one hadn't even been her first one; she had already treated a cook who had gotten a severe burn, a soldier who had received a snake bite, and two soldiers who had gotten into a fistfight over a card game, which probably wouldn't have landed them in the medical tent if not for Thunderstrike Catherine seeing them, being disgusted at their sloppy form, and beating them both senseless before assigning them to remedial training in brawling.

(Manuela was pretty sure Catherine's real source of irritation was that she kept getting humiliated in the sparring ring. She could take on Professor Jeritza on relatively equal terms, but the Ashen Demon beat her soundly, and several of the students had done the same. Manuela suspected she had been frustrated and taken it out on the first idiots who had given her an excuse.)

In short, she was expecting to have patients. But nothing could prepare her for Lady Rhea asking her for mind-healing sessions.

And now she was in Rhea's tent, along with Rhea and Seteth. Jeralt, Byleth, and Cyril were making sure no one could eavesdrop on them. "I have to warn you," Rhea said. "If you decide to accept this job, it will involve you learning the most sensitive secret in Fódlan. No matter what, you cannot reveal anything I tell you in these sessions to anyone. If these secrets become public knowledge, there is no chance that Seteth, Flayn, and I will not be killed. If you decide you would rather not be involved, I will not hold it against you. Feel free to leave now, if you so choose."

Manuela stayed silent as she contemplated her options. This seemed as if it was significantly outside the scope of her normal mind-healing sessions. The easy thing to do was to take the opportunity to avoid getting involved.

But Manuela could see how hard it had been for Rhea to ask for help. And while Manuela did respect Rhea, the two were not close. If Rhea was asking her for help, it was clear that she had no trusted friends who were capable of helping her. If Manuela refused her, it was entirely possible that Rhea wouldn't be able to get help at all.

"I'll help you," Manuela said. "And I promise no one will learn your secrets from me."

Rhea stayed silent for several seconds. Eventually, she nodded. "I believe you." She took a deep breath. "I'll tell you the true history of the Church of Seiros."


Well, Manuela had certainly been right. This was far outside the scope of any mind-healing she had done before.

Just…fuuuuuuck. Manuela was surprised Rhea was still functional after all of the anguish the world had subjected her to. Clearly Manuela had made the right decision; Rhea really needed her help. But on the other hand..."I'm going to need a moment to figure out where to even start with this."

"Understandable," Rhea said.

"I'm going to need some time to think about how to address the past," Manuela said. "But we can start by figuring out what we're aiming for. What do you want to accomplish with our mind-healing sessions?"

Rhea thought about that. "What I want...I think what I want is to have a path forward. I understand that things are never going to go back to the way they used to be. But maybe things could be better if I could see a path leading to a future where, somehow, I could be happy again. I have made countless justifications to myself for why I kept trying to find a way to bring Mother back to life. Because it would benefit Fódlan, because maybe she could restore my people, and many more. But the true reason is...for the longest time, without that hope, I would have nothing."

"And what do you think that future looks like?" Manuela asked.

Rhea hesitated again. "I don't know. Ideally, a future where I don't have to live in fear. But I'd settle for one where I'm not alone."

Manuela nodded. "Then that's what we'll work on. I'm going to start working on a recovery plan."

"By all means," Rhea said.

Manuela returned to her own tent, where she began working on the plan, using shorthand and code words to obscure any details that could come back to bite Rhea if her notebook fell into the wrong hands. Eventually, she went to put it away in her pack.

When she opened the pack, she noticed a flask of whiskey. As she placed the notebook in the pack, she removed the flask and contemplated it. For years now, she had attempted to drown her sorrows in alcohol and attempts at relationships that had all gone nowhere.

She took one last sip, and then took the flask out of her tent and left it near where one of the campfires had been set, knowing that within an hour, someone would steal it. Her days of alcoholism were over. Right now, her patient needed her to be sober and clear-minded. It wouldn't be easy, but if Rhea could keep the Church running with all of the weight she was carrying, Manuela could cope with her own sorrows without alcohol.