Chapter 94: Librarians new groove.

He wasn't sure what he was supposed to feel, especially as he stared at his reflection once more. The clothes fitted him, Dorothea had said they looked rather splendid, he agreed that his appearance was certainly an improvement upon what it had been before.

Yet there was something else that was missing as he stared into his reflection once more, his eyes lingered on his right side. Each time he tried to think of what exactly was bothering him, that little itch that stopped him from completing the thought, his eyes would drift towards the right side of his body and he would find himself staring blankly towards it.

His arm came up and moved across, pressing flat against the cloak and pushing it against his body, there wasn't anything between it, the mantle cape only remained parted from his body on account of the shoulder brace, it was that and that alone that kept the entire thing symmetrical. When he pulled his arm back, the cloak fluttered back into place as though nothing was the matter, his arm disappeared under the cape once more.

"...Trying doing a spin."

A glance to the reflection of Dorothea behind him, she met his eyes in the reflection and offered a simple smile towards him. She looked as though she was amused by his appearance, or rather than amusement it was…approval. She was pleased with his actions, or perhaps she was pleased with the end result. He had never given much thought to it but now it was playing upon his mind, the burden of the symmetry. The lack of cohesion.

It felt like his arm was itching, and not the one that still remained on his body.

"A spin." He repeated her words back to her, whether it was an attempt at humour or not, she cemented the idea as a serious one by humming affirmingly and nodding her head up and down, hands interlocked against one another as she stepped around, cupping her chin with a more critical look in her eyes. "Why a spin?"

"Just so it becomes easier to see what it looks like all the way around." She replied after a moment, then paused for a second before shrugging. "But I suppose if you really wanted me to get in the exercise, I could just walk around you and tell you what it is but…" trailing off, she gave him another smile. "But…these are the clothes you bought, so really my opinion doesn't matter too much compared to how you feel."

How he felt?

How did he feel?

His gaze shifted from her and towards the reflection once more, he stared into it. Arm emerging from beneath the cape and turning back and forth, his eyes lingered for a moment upon the scars decorating his skin, the useless patterns carved into him. It quickly retreated back from view, hiding beneath the cape and out of sight. Being unable to see them was…reliving, in a small way.

They were still there, he knew that, but being unable to see them all the time was a welcome boon for the cape. Even before when he had his old brown cloak he would have been able to see them in his reflection, upon the back of his hands as he passed by any surface. More than that, anyone else would have been able to see them. It was something that he would prefer to keep them commenting upon, it was only inevitable that someone would ask.

They could see neither his scars nor his missing limb.

It…

A short breath escaped him as he turned from the reflection, looking down at Dorothea and then giving a single nod of the head. "I had assumed I would have disliked it more than I do…despite the physical similarities it has for the attire of Solomon, I do not see him when I gaze into the reflection."

The girl blinked twice, then a frown came upon her face for a short moment. "While I am rather happy to hear that you like the clothes you're wearing, I'm a little troubled by the idea you were selecting them because it was what your father wore…I know you said it was rather nostalgic, but I would never think of wearing the rags of my childhood again because they fit me…"

Her hand came up and moved towards him, gesturing towards his attire. "Not that you're wearing rags, clearly, I would say that it is a rather…surprisingly well fitting outfit." she pointed out, then brought her hand back down and raised a brow. "I was rather surprised when you asked to wear a skirt though, suddenly your appreciation for an old robe makes much more sense…" a faint smile crossed her lips, her hand covered her mouth. "Though I will say that you wear that skirt like you own it."

"...Given that I have paid for it, I would prefer that is the case."

For whatever reason, she chuckled at him and shook her head from side to side. Stepping up and then moving her hands to his shoulders, applying just enough pressure to turn him back towards the mirror, leaning over the side and staring towards it. "But I want you to tell me, right now…what do you feel when you look at this Goetia? When you stare into that reflection and it looks back at you…how do you feel? No drab robe, no messy look, nothing…You're wearing exactly what you wanted to wear."

Her eyes bore into his own through the reflection. "How do you feel?"

She asked him that again, and again he did not have an immediate answer for her. Deep within his being he could feel something as he stared at himself, something that had to elicit a positive response, he did not dislike it. He did not even consider the cost a loss in any way, he might have spent quite a small fortune of his personal wealth on the clothes, but he could not look upon it and regret it.

"...I'm not sure." He replied slowly, in a low voice that he knew she could hear. "However…regardless of whatever this feeling is, I am certain that I do not regret assembling this appearance." Silence stretched between them, Dorothea's smile was smaller than usual but there was something about this one, something that was different to the others.

"Then that is a good thing indeed." She announced, releasing him and stepping away, clapping her hands once and looking exceedingly pleased with herself. Something flickered through her eyes, the smile got a touch wider and slightly more sly as she stepped around to his left side once again. "And I would say that you are still due for a tour around Enbarr, especially with your newfound appearance being rather splendid…no more haggard brown robes."

"You sound personally offended by their existence."

"I just think that everyone should have the chance to look their very best." Her dismissal was rather quick, but he noticed that she did not deny his statement. Even if he did not regret the purchase, that did not mean he understood it. But all the same, he was rather relieved with its existence now. He, at least, no longer held the appearance of a vagrant. Perhaps that would mean he would stop being viewed as a simpleton.

Dorothea led him towards the exit of the shop, having procured his arm from beneath the mantle cloak once more and looping her own around it. Though he was certain that she was still holding the objective to make alterations to his hair, he was only allowing his physical appearance to be changed so much in a single morning. He was not going to waste hours choosing a hairstyle and then just as much time assembling one.

"Am I to assume this 'tour of Enbarr' will include locations where one would eat or otherwise become entertained?"

The smile she offered was utterly without shame, an answer without words. Her eyes flickered to him, a light giggle from the back of her throat as she teetered her head from side to side and then continued without breaking her pace. It was hardly as though he could stop her at this point in time and she was not incorrect. He owed her a debt for the advice she provided and if this was how she wished to claim her debt then that was her own choice.

"I will require a return to Anna to discuss further transactions with her."

Dorothea made a small face "Ah, yes. Your merchant friend that you've been working with." a hum and a tilt of the head. "How did you manage to enter business with her?"

He opened his mouth to reply, just as quickly he suddenly found the finger of Dorothea cemented firmly on his lips in a shushing motion. The brunette in question making a complimentary noise and shaking her head from side to side. "On second thought, don't tell me right now. We can discuss it over tea, I'm certain that would be a rather interesting little conversation…as well as why you were making what looked like a wooden toy."

Drawing her finger back, she placed the other hand atop his forearm and tapped it twice. "I'm sure it will be rather interesting."

He stared at her in total silence, debating whether or not she was trying to patronise him or not. The longer he considered the subject, the more he was curious as to whether or not this was truly something she was actually attempting, he would have accused her of attempting to court him, were it not for the fact that he was certain neither of them had an interest in that manner of engagement.

Her jokes on the matter notwithstanding.

She was an eccentric young woman who thrived with social interactions, this was merely her fulfilling her basic desire for such a thing. He was hardly a suitable candidate and the topics of discussion were nowhere near as interesting as she was making them out to be, but if that was truly what she wished to speak of, then he had little reason to deny her.

…Perhaps he could garner further information from her, she was one of those who was perhaps one of the most mundane people he had met thus far, or rather one of those who he did not find the presence offensive for an extended period of time, in a similar way to Harold. There was no base and they did not have an abundance of personal traits that he found undesirable.

He did not dislike Dorothea, that was the simplest way of putting it.

"...If you wish, we can put the topic on hold." He allowed, though if she was to make such a stipulation, then it was only fair that he be offered something in return. "What of your time in the Mittelfrank Opera company?"

Clearly she had not been expecting the sudden question as she made a rather odd face, it lasted for only a second before she turned straight on and thinned her lips. "Well, it would have been a long time I was with them, quite a long time. I suppose you'd need to ask for something specific…Unless you'd like to hear some of my long stories about it, in which case I could speak for hours about it and how much I really quite enjoyed it…It is part of the reason why I'm actually in the officers academy in the first place."

"Furthering your career as a songstress?" He raised a brow. "Would it not have been wiser to remain in the Opera company for that?"

Dorothea offered a faint smile. "I can see why you would think so, but in truth it was also because of Professor Manuela, you already know she was my senior when I was a performer in the company and I suppose you could say she is something of an idol of mine."

…Maybe her judgement wasn't quite as skilled as he initially believed.

"You probably have your own opinion on that and I suppose you have met her…But she is a bit more than first impressions would have you believe." Clearly she was aware of his current opinion on her, given the elaboration he was now subject to. "I've told you before that she was the one who recruited me into the Opera Company, I suppose you could say I owe her all the chances I've received thus far in life."

"...You are entitled to feel indebted to her, but I do not believe you put yourself into a school for that reason alone." It was much too hasty, he would have assumed she would have had a greater thought for her own being, especially because it seemed she had been on both ends of the spectrum, for the most part at least. "Hmmm. I shall assume you attended a school for the purpose of building further connections within the Academy among the other nobles, creating bonds and links which could be exploited."

Dorothea kept silent, but her lack of a response was proof enough that he was on the right path.

"I am not criticising you, it is a sound plan." He continued, "You have demonstrated yourself to have something of a talent for social interactions as well as forming friendships with your fellow students, though I would argue that your personal bias is preventing you from moving higher up the chain…but given that you are on friendly terms with the heiress to the Adrestian Empire, I would assume that your efforts have paid off in a measure beyond your wildest expectations."

A light sigh, Dorothea slowly nodded her head up and down. "Look at you, seeing right through me just like that…but I'm not making friends just for the sake of power grabbing, I do genuinely like those I have formed these friendships with, and I have learned not to try and force a relationship." she remarked, looking up at him from the corner of her eye. "You can either be on friendly terms with them or you cannot, pretending to like them is a cruelty done on both sides of the equation…much better to just be honest with everyone."

She turned her head from him, sweeping it across the streets. "Perhaps they won't be honest with you but at the end of the day, so long as you speak your mind without shame…at least you won't feel guilty about anything." a shrug. "Though there are times where it is smarter to say nothing at all."

"I do not subscribe to the belief that silence is a tactic."

"Well…It's not like someone is really in a position to stop you either way." A mirthful chuckle from the young woman. "I suppose I'm a little envious of you for that, you just say whatever you want to say, whenever you want to say it and don't care what anyone else thinks…Though I should point out that not all of us are powerful mages who can just set people on fire if they try to start an argument, or kings who can boast of long reigns."

"...Perhaps." He mulled it over in his mind, that was the crux of the issue. He was superior to humans even now, perhaps not as before but even still. Dorothea had not the same measure of ability as he did, thus her options were more confining. How unfortunate. "Though I shall assume you would not exercise such restraint when around me."

Dorothea turned back to him with a raised eyebrow and a knowing smile. "With you, Gotie? I promise to be as honest as I possibly can be…Especially because you probably have some secret little magic spell that you could use, or something like that." she added on, though did not sound at all troubled by the notion of it. Perhaps she was merely joking and truly didn't know that he did have a spell like that.

No reason to alarm her then.

"No where was I…Ah, right." Dorothea made a small noise as she went back to the topic at hand. "The Mittelfrank Opera company, it was certainly the best years of my life so far…but when I look at the rest of my life, that isn't quite grand achievement you would think it to be, but it was the times where I did enjoy myself." she removed the hand from his forearm and waved it from side to side. "Not that I don't enjoy the academy, but I've always been rather at home in the spotlight, standing in front of those crowds and singing to my heart's content…I haven't had a chance to do that as often."

"...Hmmm, you've said before. Music has a way of reaching the hearts of people, I believe were your words." Something clicked within his mind, the last time they had this conversation. She said she wasn't a songstress anymore, and yet she was speaking of furthering her career through attending an academy with other nobles. There was something that did not quite compute within his-

Ah, so that was her purpose.

She was furthering herself along the social ladder, likely trying to find a spouse.

…He was surprised by how little he was offended by that, perhaps it was merely expected that there was something about Dorothea that he could have considered a flaw. At its base, there was fear there. He could deduce the reasons why she searched for such a thing, her status as a Songstress was the only thing that kept her above the ordinary commonfolk, age would soon claim her and with it, her voice.

Without that, she would be no different.

Maybe that was not the reason, but it was certainly one he had seen time and time again, it was clear to him. The fear of loss, that she would become subject to the throes of age and lose what she had attained. How tragic that was, even if it was not the case, even if it was not her motivation, it was still an inevitability.

"G-Goetia?"

He blinked at her voice, then looked towards her and realised that he had moved his hand without even realising, his fingers brushing some of her hair behind her ear, she stared up at him with wide and rather surprised eyes. His expression flattened as he withdrew his arm from her, retreating back towards the underside of his cloak and out of sight.

"...I lost myself for a moment." His voice was toneless, the first to recover of the two of them. He'd been surprised to see such a slip in his control, perhaps motivated once more by the pity he felt towards her now. Such a fragile thing, to look at her and see the same fears repeated again and again. It was tiresome. "You…reminded me of someone for a brief instant, nothing more."

She reminded him of many people, a million names and a million faces, a million-million times he had seen this scenario play out and it all ended the same way. It would end the same way for Dorothea as well, the thought of that was troubling to him.

Sickening, even.

"An old flame it seems." She exhaled, thinning her lips and glancing away to the side, then moving her eyes back towards him and softening them, something in her gaze as she stared at him. "...You looked so sad."

"...Consider it an old story, and they were of no true relation to me…none of them were. We never even met, but I saw them all the same." He replied, turning his head from her and towards the crowd, looking across them. The interaction hadn't even been noticed, the swarm of people in the streets, mostly of the higher society as well.

Perhaps the only reason he would have stood out would have been for his skin and hair, nothing else. Nodding towards them as a whole, he continued. "Just like all of them, names and faces in the crowd but all with their own stories…And you can pick and choose which of them you interact with, even then there is some element of secrecy. Aspects of their life remain hidden to you."

Dorothea slowly nodded her head up and down, though she clearly understood what he was saying, he could tell that did not truly grasp what he was saying. That was what he was speaking of, she knew nothing more of him than he had shown. What she saw before her with her own two eyes was precisely what she got when it came to him.

"For the first time in my life, I can pick and choose who I might interact with, the pasts of these people, your past, it is all unknown to me. I have to speculate who they were before meeting me, what they do, I need to ask questions to understand someone." He raised a brow at her, seeing the confusion in her face. "It is such a novel concept, to speak with a person and need them to introduce themselves to know what their name is."

"That's…how interactions work, Gotie." When she did reply, it was slow and puzzling. "Was…that what you used to do? Just read people's minds before you meet them and know all about them?" she teetered her head from side to side, he could see the disapproval in her eyes as she did so. Clearly not liking the implications of his words. "That sounds as though it would be rather…unwelcome for people who enjoy their privacy."

"Yes, but that was my job." He blandly responded to her. "That was my role, that was my purpose for existence within the Kingdom of Solomon. I was supposed to know everything, every little detail of every single person inside the Kingdom. That was my sole reason for existing…That was why Solomon made me."

Now she was frowning rather openly, not at him. "You were born just to spy on people?"

He opened his mouth to correct her, then he stopped himself short as he realised something rather puzzling. She was not incorrect, it was a crude and almost childishly simple way of describing his reason for existence but that was what it amounted to. He was born just so that he could spy on all of humanity for all time, never tiring and never blinking. Everything that would ever happen would be known to him. He was born just to breach the privacy of others without their consent and without their knowledge.

"...Hmph." His lip twitched upwards, a faint huff of amusement escaped him as he realised quite what that made Solomon appear to be. What a truly amusing concept, and not without merit either. Indeed, Solomon created him just to be a telescope into the lives of every single living human on the planet. "Yes. I was born just so that I could spy on people, my interactions with them were limited to their interactions with one another. Those who knew of my existence were limited to so few, barely a handful."

"...And you don't spy on people now?"

He didn't, did he?

"No. I do not. I could." He admitted a moment later without shame, glancing around before his eyes landed on someone in the distance, a man and a woman. It would barely even take a second for him. "That man over there, I could enter his mind without his knowledge, examine his entire life, and tell you everything you could ever need to know about him in the time it would take for you to blink…But I don't do that because I don't want to. It does not interest me…"

"...I'm rather pleased you understand the importance of privacy, Gotie." Her voice was flat, but he could see something in her eyes, something rather pitying. He felt a brief pang of annoyance at the look in her orbs, it frustrated him. He had told her this because she asked, not because he sought some feeble attempt at empathy. "...And this was the only reason your father had you?"

"Yes."

"...I'm sorry."

He scoffed. "Don't apologise for it, you were neither present at the time of my creation, nor were you involved in it. Besides…" he trailed off, glancing away and towards the distance once more. "...It is in the past now. It cannot be changed and it cannot be undone. I exist, I was used and I am now here. Solomon is dead and I still live…albeit at a cost."

Dorothea made a noise. "I thought you said you could fix your arm?"

"...That is not the cost I was meaning."

She kept silent after that, perhaps she could not think of a question or perhaps there was something else. Rather suddenly, he felt her arm loop around his once more and tighter than the last time, a faint tugging sensation and he realised she was aiming him elsewhere, pulling him along as they turned their course.

"I'm going to take you to one of my favourite spots in the whole capital."

"I did not tell you because I expected-"

"Whether that was what you wanted or not, I now feel like doing this and it was always on the agenda." She replied swiftly, or rather she interrupted him swiftly with a stern tone of voice. A moment later, she shot him a brief glance over her right shoulder and a smile flickered across her lips. "Just think of it as laying the groundwork in case you ever think about taking someone special around here for a blessed time."

…Unlikely.

It was certainly quieter than he had been expecting it to be.

A chuckle from in front of him, his eyes moved away from the clearing and towards his conversation partner, Dorothea sat there with a knowing look upon her face. "That is the expression of someone who was expecting it to be much louder…Before you ask, I was told much the same thing by Manuela when she took me here a few years ago."

It was a cafe positioned just on the outer layer of a clearing, right in the centre was a large fountain, a man stood tall with a shield firmly held in his grasp, chiselled on the front of it was the insignia of the Adrestian Empire. Beneath his feet, four spouts of water dropped down into the main pooling area.

All around he could see humans moving to and fro between the different locations, this was likely one of the main areas of commerce and yet it was oddly silent. He did not need to make a great effort to tune out the noise, it was still loud to be sure, but it was an acceptable level of volume. Curious, he supposed.

"...I suppose Manuela has her moments of success." He mutely replied to Dorothea, prompting a roll of the eyes from her as she leaned forwards. "You have brought me here with the intention of discussing my newfound employment with a merchant, yes? As well as other topics which may or may not hold some interest to you."

"...I brought you here so we could enjoy some tea and cakes, yes." She replied rather succulently, then paused for a moment before glancing left and right, then leaned across the table and dropped her voice into a low whisper. "Also I brought you here in case you wanted to talk about love…I've noticed that a lot of the people you hold in high esteem or speak with frequently are women. Someone might accuse you of being a little…open. You don't want comparisons with Sylvain."

That was utterly ridi-

…Wait.

"No, I would say that those I consider to be in friendly relations are few and far between. It merely happens that some of those are of the female persuasion and little else." He dismissed just as quickly, he did not so much care about comparisons with Sylvain as much as he did with those of Solomon. That was a thought that would make him shudder, if only for reasons he couldn't quite understand. "The gatekeeper of the Monastery considers me a friend."

"I…Hmm. I'll give you that one." Dorothea admitted, leaning back and offering a raised eyebrow. "But that's still one. I suppose unless Claude counts, I've noticed that of all of the House Leaders, you speak with him the most. He's a friend, isn't he?"

"Of all the House Leaders, he is the one who is most persistent with approaching me, is what I believe you intended to describe as opposed to what you incorrectly assumed was myself and von Riegan being anything even remotely close to friends." It was imperative that he correct such a foolish notion swiftly. "Further on from this…I doubt any would assume that the women who approach me do so with romantic intentions. None would assume the same of those approaching Dedue or Cyril."

A rather strained look flashed across the face of the brunette for a short moment, then her eyes turned downcast to the table. "...I suppose they wouldn't."

He kept his gaze on her, then exhaled as he reached across and picked the fork up with his arm, slicing it down through the edge of the vanilla cake and bringing it up to his lips, taking a bite of it and swallowing. A rather pleasant flavour which was not overly complicated. "I had knowledge of merchants and Anna was the most logical choice as opposed to making my own attempts. I have since been branching out in the wares I distribute to her and keep the more overly complicated magical spells to myself."

A glance back, Dorothea had perked up rather suddenly. "I noticed a few wooden toys…snakes with multiple heads?"

"Hydra." He supplied. "They are high level phantasmal beasts of my own…lands. Infamous for their potent venom, size and power. A much more pressing threat than any Demonic Beast that I have seen within Fodlan, even of the larger variety of reptilian."

Dorothea thinned her lips. "Really? What made them so dangerous aside from…well…the venom part."

"The venom is why they were dangerous. But there were others who were just as pressing a threat if not more so. Hydra were limited to the Greek isles on account of the domain of their mother, the Echidna. The monster that was considered the origin of all those within that side of the world." He paused for a moment, rather surprised that Dorothea seemed to be paying attention to it; he would not have thought this was her sort of interest, but that was neither here nor there. "The Hydra is certainly the most famous of her offspring, though that is only due to the trials of Heracles, one of the more prolific figures from the history of Greece."

"Oh?" A raised eyebrow, she brought up a single finger. "Let me guess…he was a big strong hero who killed the monster to save a princess?"

"No, he was set on a series of labours - one of which included killing the Hydra - as a method of absolving himself for the murder of his wife and children." He took another bite of the cake, ignoring the silence before he elaborated further. "All of which had been set in motion by Hera, the Goddess of the land who took issue with Heracles' existence on account of the fact he was the bastard son of her husband, Zeus, who was born through adultery. Thus leading to her many attempts on his life and then forgoing the act of killing him in favour of attacking him in other places, in this instance a shroud of madness which ended poorly for those who happened to be around him at the time."

He glanced up as he took another bite of the cake.

Dorothea was staring blankly at him, opening and closing her mouth several times before she furrowed her brows. "That sounds…Goddess…that sounds awful."

"Hmmm."

"Did he-"

"He did complete all the labours, yes, and his reward at the end of his life was to be welcomed among the ranks of the Gods." He paused for a moment, then added on. "The story itself is rooted in that which I am certain the Church would denounce as baseless heretical superstition."

A slow nod of the head, the expression shifted. "More than likely…probably best not to say that sort of thing out loud unless you soon after announced yourself as an author for a fictitious story entirely." she added, perhaps as a jest. Though it did bring a minor note of peculiarity to him.

An author…what a peculiar notion.

The idea was shelved at the back of his mind for another time, though he doubted he would ever grace upon it again.

"I had hoped this would have been a lighthearted topic but it sort of fell from the sky and perished rather swiftly." Dorothea mumbled under her breath, a light grimace playing on her lips before bringing her shoulders up and down. "I suppose there is nothing else for it. We'll have to talk about our first crushes."

Crushes?

Did she mean in a literal or metaphorical sense?

Because in the former of the two, it would have been in London during the fourth Singularity. He utilised a spell which turned the gravity of the direct vicinity of Tamamo-no-Mae into one equal enough to a star and turned her into paste within a single second, before she could so much as react. Though he doubted she was talking about that.

His eyes crinkled ever so slightly. "...You're talking about romantic interactions."

"I'm talking about someone you harboured strong feelings towards." She clarified, but did not dismiss the notion at all. Rather made it more specific. Leaning forwards and resting her arms on the table. "The type of person that, for that one second, you look at and cannot imagine life without them…even looking at them takes your breath away and when you meet their eyes it's like your heart is going to explode…the person that you just wish would look at you the same way you look at them."

Drumming her fingers on the table, she leaned back. "I suppose I can go first, the first one ever would have been…on my second performance in the company. There was a young boy in the crowd there who caught my eye as I came to the end of my song, there was something about his gaze which was just…he looked at me as though I was the first bit of light he had ever seen." she shuddered for a moment. "I found him after the performance, we introduced ourselves…"

Her face turned flat. "Then it turned out he was part of an arranged marriage which took the wind out of my sails…but I'll never forget it or the look in his eyes." she waved a hand. "You might consider it a little silly of me, but being looked at like that was rather…magical, for lack of a better word. I'm always looking for the next person who stares at me like that."

…He did know someone like that.

"It was just the two of us." He spoke quietly, Dorothea blinked and then fixed him with a rather serious gaze. "Just the two of us beneath that star-filled sky…I looked into his eyes and he looked into mine and for that one moment, that one shining moment, I wanted to make sure that whatever happened…he would never forget me."

He exhaled, moving his hand to his cup of tea and gently gripping it, pulling it closer and then staring down into the reflection of his face, barely even there save for a faint outline, but his mind was a world away.

"Everything I was in that moment, everything I would ever be and everything I had ever been…I laid it all bare before him and he did the same to me. Time faded away and all that mattered was that one moment. The moment where I truly felt as though I was alive for the first time…even now, it all pales in comparison to that moment, that single fleeting moment where we both felt so alive…"

His lips pulled up, he met Dorothea's eyes. "I saw it in his own gaze, the passion that burnt to meet my own…we both flung our entire being into that single encounter. Everything had been building towards it and I never realised, I never once noticed right until that final moment that he was the one…that it had to have been him. I could imagine no one else…"

"O-oh my." Dorothea let out a short breath, holding her hand in front of her mouth and giving him a rather surprised look. "Gotie, I never thought that…Goodness me, that sounds a touch more than a crush…you make it sound as though they were the one…" she paused, then leaned forwards. "What was their name?"

"...Ritsuka Fujimaru."

Her face blanked. "Wait…what? But I thought he-"

"I'm describing our final encounter against one another where we both tried to kill each other." He shrugged his shoulders, Dorothea brought her hands up to cover her eyes. "The foundation doesn't matter when compared to the thoughts and feelings at the time. I wished to burn my very existence into his memory for the rest of his life, for however long he had left, and I was very truthful on all else…when I fought him, when we battled one another for that final time…I felt alive for the first time. I was alive when I was with him."

He took a short sip of his tea, then lowered it down. "He was my enemy, to be certain, we were on different sides of the board…but right there, it didn't matter to me. All I wanted was for him to be there with me in my final moments and he obliged. He was my enemy…" closing his eyes, he could practically see it in his mind's eye. "But…he was my destiny. The one who opened my eyes to the world, who inspired me to seek the answer to what it is to be more…and here we are."

Dorothea was oddly silent, giving him a look that he could not quite place. He supposed it was nothing romantic, there was nothing at all about that encounter that he could interpret as romantic, but it was the closest he came to the topic in the first place. That single person who changed his life so greatly.

"...I suppose it is true what they say about hate and love being so interlinked with one another." She remarked with only that, a twitch of her lips as she reached down and took the cup into her hand, holding it up to her lips and pausing. "After all, you only truly get annoyed about things you're passionate about. Else you don't give them all that much thought in the first place…whether those are character traits or people in general."

He raised a brow. "Such as your dislike of Ferdinand."

Dorothea paused, lowering the cup down just an inch. "That is something else entirely…but simply put, dear old Ferdie is just the sort of noble I dislike the most, the type who only really cares for you when you're at their level…otherwise they don't even bother to learn your name. Influenced by appearance and prestige, uncaring as to who those are attached to." The sip was rather shorter, her eyes closed.

…If that was how she saw it, then he would offer nothing. Ferdinand was committed and he would not spoil the efforts of the young man by offering assistance. It went against what he had asked.

"Though on the topic of classmates." Dorothea lowered her tea and raised a brow at him. "Whatever happened to those little optional classes you did for us? I know that Lysithea was positively drawn to them like a bee is drawn to a flower."

He paused, glancing down towards the table for a moment.

"You even managed to keep Linhardt awake through them." She continued on, offering a wide smile. "And that is an achievement worthy of boasting of. As for myself…I found them rather interesting, certainly different but that can be considered some of the seasoning of life, isn't that right? Besides, you seemed to be very passionate about it-"

"Its origin was nothing more than being curious if you could even use a specific branch of magecraft." He admitted with a shake of the head. "It was a thought experiment intended to end at only a single individual…I am not sure at which point it expanded but it merely did. The investment in the learning was not something I expected or was prepared for, even as I brought more into the fold."

"Did you dislike it?"

"...No. I do not believe I liked it or disliked it." A shrug of the shoulders and a hum, he leaned back into his chair and frowned. "I consider it to be something that occurred. My points of interest lay within the progress that you all made when it was ongoing…I've been told that Lysithea still continues her practice with the Runes even now."

Dorothea hummed. "She isn't the only one. I've been keeping up with that little self-hypnosis trick of yours…certainly made casting spells a lot faster than it would have otherwise been. Linhardt won't say it, but I think he might have preferred your lessons to the ones we currently have, if only because they were actually new and different from the norm…" she shrugged her shoulders. "You know how Linny can be with his attention span."

His eyes lingered on her own. "I'm curious how much of that is an exaggeration."

"Are you suggesting that I would try and trick you into starting your classes again just to spend time with you?"

"Ignoring the latter part of your sentence, the former part is a possibility."

"Hmmm." A low hum before a nod of the head. "I will give you that little bit there that perhaps one or two elements are slightly more impressed upon, but the point remains the same…why did you never continue your classes? Is it because you weren't an actual professor?"

He almost laughed at her there and then, the certifications of Fodlan would be a downgrade compared to his expanse of knowledge. He was far and above the likes of being remarked as a Professor of this land, he'd learned their entirely thaumaturgical world in the span of a single afternoon because he was left with little to do. Though their information on Black Magic was rather limited, that was neither here nor there.

"That was not the reason." He remarked. "It was during the period in which myself and Rhea were at odds with one another, but it has been some time since she restored my allowance of teaching, simply that…other matters emerged that required my full attention and then after that point it…" he trailed off, internally frowning as he found he no longer had an answer for Dorothea beyond the fact it didn't interest him any further.

Though that felt as though it would have been unsatisfactory, for both of them.

True, he had already achieved his answer, but it was…different.

"...I have no reason to keep the classes in suspense." He spoke once the thought was completed, he had no reason to keep the classes over. They still had more to learn and it was strange to teach. Neither good nor bad, but he was taking an active role in their development, if only a little. Indeed, Solomon did much the same with his disciples, but it was nothing more than providing them with the blueprints for magecraft.

He went one step further.

They were students and he had wisdom, there was nothing that restricted him, having already taken upon himself the role of bettering Abyss, there was no reason that he could not move further. There was no reason for him to deny the tutoring of students in more general affairs, whether they accepted his reasoning or not was their own choice, but if he provided them with everything then there was the chance for something better.

"...I shall resume classes when I return to the Monastery, I am certain that I shall be able to make time for the magecraft development easily enough as I work." Perhaps he could broaden out his horizons with the history of Fodlan put into perspective, but then again, there were others and he would do well not to overextend his own position. He was still a foreigner, it was by the grace of Seiros alone that he had been extended the olive branch of distributing his knowledge of magecraft.

"I'm sure that there are going to be a couple of happy students once again." Dorothea quietly remarked as she took a sip of her tea once more, she was being silent about it, but he could see the rather pleased look in her eye. He would not deny that her words had some influence over his decision, but only in the sense that they turned his mind in that direction, everything else was of his own choice. "Now then, I suppose we can talk a little bit further on the topic of love-"

A raised brow. "For what reason?"

"Well, I consider it a subject to be very near and dear to my heart." She replied, shrugging her shoulders as she did so. "And it is something that I would say is rather close to what you have been talking about as of late…for instance, I actually caught Prince Dimitri and Lysithea studying together in the library about a week before this mission began."

"How does this relate to love?"

Dorothea looked at him rather simply, in much the same way one would look at a child. "Oh Gotie…It always starts that way with classroom romance, a little peak across the room, a shared glance and then quickly turning away…then there's the shared studying sessions and then it all spirals down from there right into having lunches together with one another."

The frown on his face was rather genuine. "This is evidence of social interaction, not courtship. They are building up a basis of familiarity between the two of them, they are not becoming romantically involved with one another." a wave of the hand and a shake of the head followed. "For one thing, Dimitri is Prince of the Holy Kingdom, it will have been impressed upon him at an early age that marriage is a political tool for the good of the Kingdom, not for the heart."

Dorothea took that as her turn to frown, folding one leg over the other and bringing her arms up and crossing over. "For someone who talks about destiny with a person in such a poetic way, you're rather limited when it comes to the heart…marriage needs to be about more than just a tool. That's how you end up with very unhappy children…" she brought a hand out, then tapped her finger on the table. "You need to love your spouse first and foremost, otherwise it never works out in the end."

"Marrying for the sake of love can just as easily bring about ruin for the greater good, it is a freedom limited to those who have nothing at stake." He explained, leaning forwards and gesturing towards her. "Think of the social implications that would befall a couple if the noble had fallen in love with a simple farmer? They might well compatible, in terms of personalities and physical intercourse-"

Dorothea choked on the air.

"-But the implications alone for that action would be far reaching, social stigma for the two of them as well as the progression of the house. The farmer would forever be faced with the implications that they had seduced their way into the family and the noble house could face problems in that they have failed to build up alliances with another. Not to mention the arguments that could be made for-"

"I think you've made your point." Dorothea cut in with a polite cough, though there was still a rather peculiar look on her face all the same. She brought her shoulders up and down. "I suppose I can see what you're saying, and I'm not going to argue about true love because it does sound rather…idealistic, sad as I am to say, but it does happen every now and again. But perhaps you're right and I am seeing couples where none exist."

She held her silence for a moment, then added on "But Ashe and Petra are almost certainly heading towards being a couple."

"I do not pay attention to fraternisation between students to notice."

"I'd say you're missing out on quite a bit of interesting news." Dorothea remarked with a shake of the head. "There is something rather special about watching love flourish…though I suppose sometimes it makes you feel bad that you don't have your own, but there is still that element of happiness if you know them and I would say it's very sweet to watch them fumble around a little."

Fumble around? "You find their lack of competence in the art of courting amusing?"

"...It is a little bit cute, yes." He just stared at her, she exhaled and leaned forwards. "That being said, there is something rather daring about those sorts of romances, the ones that would ordinarily be forbidden by normal standards…"

"...Flayn would be more open to this topic with you." He responded to her, earning a look of surprise. "She argued the merits of a certain story based upon the romance between a noble and his maid. Even after I argued the drawbacks of such a pairing, she remained a staunch defender of the couple in the end."

"Well, well, well…perhaps I will take you up on that offer when I return to the Monastery." She amusedly remarked with a faint smile on her lips. "Though I'm not entirely sure Seteth will be pleased to hear about his daughter speaking to other girls about romance, he is of the overprotective sort…"

"Hmmm. She is his offspring, I believe that entitles him to some concern over her wellbeing."

"Flayn would disagree."

"...Almost certainly."

A silence formed between them, nothing more than remaining in the other's company. He supposed this could be a chance to set the record straight, as it were. "...I never formally thanked you for the advice you provided. Consider my company a repayment of that."

Dorothea blinked twice, then raised a brow for a moment, a touch of a frown on her face. "Is that why you accompanied me?"

"...Not entirely."

And just like that, the disapproval was gone and replaced with a smile. "Then in which case, you're welcome and you are free to ask me advice again in the future…even on matters such as love. Especially on those, actually. You can consider me something of an expert on the heart of a woman."

"...I doubt you will be called upon for that topic."

She made a face, "With how you've spoken about romance, Gotie…I would say it is a matter of when you come to me rather than if."

He let out a light scoff.

A ludicrous notion.

AN: Yeah, Goetia just chilling out here.

In the meantime!

Omake: Fear the Deer (Plus one)

"It is incorrigible that we agreed to allow for this-this stranger to just follow us around without even worrying about who they are and where they are from." Claude barely paid attention to the complaints of Lorenz, they had been going on for some time now and he was starting to tune them out. Like with the occasional shout of the birds or something along those lines.

He'd already explained why they were letting the lady tag along, she'd proven to be one heck of a fighter and someone whom he'd argue was one of the better ones he'd ever seen and honestly, it was really better to have someone like that along than to not have them along. They weren't even a mercenary, just a traveller or so they claimed.

Fodlan seemed to be having a year of interesting foreigners arriving upon her shores.

"If I endure one more loud mouthed complaint from that mushroomed headed oaf…" The one upside to the continued rants of Lorenz were the fact that the insults of Lysithea had gotten more and more creative as time went on, though he accounted for this lack of patience being brought on by a distinct lack of beauty sleep.

Not that he would ever say that to her face, he liked breathing.

Still, he'd need to try and play the mediator here.

With a shrug of the shoulders, he moved his arms back and placed his hands on his nape, aiming a wry smile at the white haired younger girl. "He's just being cautious, you know how Lorenz can get."

Lysithea snapped her gaze onto him with very narrowed eyes. "I heard him the first half dozen times, his continuous repetition is becoming a nuisance…the foreigner he claims to be suspicious of has been less of an annoyance than him…" she paused for a moment, then grimaced rather deeply for all of a second. "...If only marginally."

He suppressed a chuckle. "Not every visitor from across the land is like Sparkles you know, Sprinkles."

A glower was aimed at him, then a huff as the girl whirled away from him and folded her arms. "That should be obvious, as though there would ever be another like Teacher walking around the lands, no. Merely that I was not expecting the next visitor to be some blade obsessed, loud-mouthed, immature-"

"Are you guys talking about me already?" Lysithea visibly startled at the light voice which echoed from around them, whipping around to face the figure in question before she let out a low growl towards them, they raised their hand in a mock show of surrender. "Hey! That's not very nice, I thought I heard people talking about me and came up to have a little looksie."

"I've told you to announce yourself before you arrive." Lysithea made an irritated noise, stepping back and sounding dangerously close to pouting. Claude had the mental image of it burned into his mind, chuckling lightly to himself until he clammed up when the white haired girl launched a glare his way.

The visitor looked between the two of them, a glint of mirth in her eyes as she placed her hands on her hips. "So were you talking about me or not? I can't blame you if you were though. If I were in your shoes, I'd talk about me as well."

"Why?" He glanced down at his feet and then towards the woman with a raised eyebrow. "You do a good enough job of talking about yourself in your own shoes."

The woman paused, then cracked a smile and pointed at him almost teasingly for a moment before she lowered it again. "That was a good one."

"So why are you back here? Tired of trying to challenge the others to spars?"

Because that was what the woman was insistent on doing for the duration of her meeting with them, just challenging people to fights to see how strong they were after using what she claimed was her warrior's aura. He didn't know what that was but it sounded like something Felix would have said, she'd have probably been met with more success with the Blue Lions if she did.

"Not at all!~" With a sing-song voice, she rocked back and forth on her heels, fists placed on her hips. "I'm here for the main boss!"

Her eyes landed on Lysithea with a predatory gleam inside of them, because she had somehow come to the conclusion that Lysithea was the most dangerous one, even though she was a mage who wasn't very good at hand to hand or armed combat. Something the woman took in stride and just said it was a different type of fighting.

Lysithea let out an irritated groan and lowered her head into her hands. "For the last time you sword-brained imbecile, I am not going to accept a duel of a fight with you!"

A pout from the woman. "Booo."

"Don't boo me!" She snapped back and pointed a finger at them. "I merely have better ways to spend my time rather than exhaust myself with such a childish little exercise. I prove nothing to myself in beating you-"

"Chicken~"

Lysithea froze.

Claude fought back a snicker.

"...What?" The toneless voice of Lysithea had him close his eyes and moved his hand to press itself in front of his face to stifle his laughs.

"Chicken." The woman repeated again, smiling all the while. "But I guess it makes sense, you're sort of young so it would probably be a while before you actually get to your full potential and all…" with a disappointed sigh, the woman shook her head from side to side and lowered it down. "I suppose that's just me getting ahead of myself once again, though I'm not sure how long I'll be around so I wanted to seize this chance before it fled…but if you don't think your magic is enough to win, then there's really no helping-"

The woman sidestepped without even raising her head, but Claude caught the instant her lips twitched into a triumphant smile before a more serious gleam entered her eyes.

Lysithea stood silent with her hand outstretched, the orb of darkness which had rushed past the woman slammed into the tree a short distance from them, turning the bark black and causing mould to seep in over it within a matter of seconds. "I'll show you who's got weak magic."

Claude rolled his eyes and shook his head, folding his arms over his chest and otherwise keeping quiet as he watched the woman move her hands to her swords.

Though given that it was Lysithea she was fighting, she'd probably need all four of them.

Well, as long as they stayed in their scabbards, then it was alright.

Drawing the sheathed weapons out, Miyamoto Musashi let out a rather pleased noise as she charged towards the white haired girl, who was already in the process of firing another spell.