Three Houses - Blunt and Direct

26th of the Great Tree Moon, 1180

'You're not panicking,' Reidun thought, her mental image of herself shaking. 'Should I be panicking?'

The ghost shrugged.

"I was… but having thought about it, I don't think Marianne of all people is going to out me," Joseph answered. "She may be faithful, but if people start pointing fingers for the church, that could cause her just as much trouble as us."

Reidun nodded, calming herself, unaware that she'd done so physically until Isabella, walking beside her, spoke up.

"Oh? Did you figure out what happened?" she asked, startling Reidun. "You seem to be really thinking hard about it…"

Reidun was quiet a moment as she recovered.

"You didn't forget that she was there, did you?" Joseph asked incredulously.

'No, of course not!' Reidun lied, turning her attention away from the disbelieving ghost. "Nothing new. I just decided to not give up yet."

"Are you sure?" Isabella asked, concerned. "That went… very badly."

Reidun shook her head in confirmation.

"Of course," she declared proudly, turning to face Isabella head on. Reidun didn't notice the slight shift in her posture or the way her smile brightened as she went into 'hero mode'. "How could I enter the service of house Galatea with their renowned Pegasus knights without being a Pegasus Knight? It would be laughable!"

Reidun swept her arm in a wide gesture matching her just as broad smile.

"A little danger shan't stop me!" she announced, before deflating back to her normal self and, almost sheepishly, adding, "...if Ingrid will have me, that is."

"R-right…" Isabella stuttered out with a tone and expression Reidun couldn't quite decipher… and Joseph was keeping whatever it was to himself!

'H-hey! You're supposed to tell me these things! What are you seeing?' she complained.

"I am," Joseph agreed. "...but I think it's better if you figure this one out yourself. As an old man, I really don't think I'm the right person to comment on or make assumptions about…"

The ghost made a vague gesture in Isabella's direction to finish the sentence.

'Hmph!' Reidun disagreed with a mental huff.

The little outburst had also momentarily drawn a few looks from the other students who'd been passing through the hallway, before they shrugged it off and kept walking. Finally, Isabella seemed to regain some of her bearing, asking , "So, uh… you're going to be Ingrid's knight?"

"Now she's being awkward," Joseph commented.

Reidun nodded, letting the response reply to both comments and burying her mild irritation with the ghost.

"That's the plan. Her father is actually the one who made the offer and sponsored my entrance here," she explained, as she started walking again, Isabella falling in step again. "It was my suggestion that Ingrid would get to make the final decision herself. If this goes through, I am going to be serving her for most of our lives after all."

"Oh, oh…" Isabella uttered, her expression suddenly shifting as she came to a realisation. "So, when I…?"

Isabella couldn't quite bring herself to say the words.

"When you?" Reidun asked before Joseph could explain.

The other girl averted her gaze and answered in a quiet voice.

"...when I made you two think you hated each other," she muttered. "That was really bad for you…"

Reidun shrugged.

"Hardly. It was always going to be a rocky road. If anyone is to blame, then it was the girl who confronted me in the cafeteria and revealed my history to everyone," she remarked casually. Dismissing the weight that fell on her not-friend as simply as the wave of her hand that accompanied the statement. "It was admittedly not a secret, but I'm surprised that girl knew."

"Good job on the reassurance," Joseph complimented.

'Reassurance?' she thought back.

"The guilt? Over the thing she just explained to you?" Joseph pointed out.

Reidun bllinked.

'Oh.. that makes sense," she realised.

"By the way for future reference-"

"I've actually been thinking about that myself…" Isabella commented, unintentionally interrupting the ghost in her attempt to latch onto the change in subject. "While I don't know that girl personally, I am familiar with her. Her family has territory out in the west, almost bordering the Empire. They're as far removed from the actions of the Blind Scale trading company as any kingdom noble could be."

"That does make it stranger," Reidun noted. "What about her friends? Would any of them be in a position to learn about me?"

"I don't think so," Isabella answered. "My family is far closer, and all we've only heard is that the leader is a bit of an intimidating man. We'd heard nothing about you, or the work you did."

"Count Galatea is hardly that intimidating," Reidun pointed out, causing Isabella to stumble slightly.

"No- that's not- where did that come from?" Isabella stumbled through her words, confused.

"The company is his now," Reidun pointed out. "So he's the leader."

"Well, I didn't know that either, but I was talking about before him," Isabella defended, to which Reidun gave the girl a dry look.

"I know the pegasus reacted quite violently, but I'm not a man, Isabella," Reidun pointed out. Joseph didn't interrupt to stop her from continuing with a sincere, "I would have hoped that was obvious."

"I'm talking about the leader Reidun, not-" Isabella defended again, before realising what her friend had been implying. "Wait… you… were..?"

Reidun raised an eyebrow at the girl, before she asked, "Did the rumour not cover that part?"

"No…" Isabella said, still somewhat reeling. "...I just heard you worked for the company."

Not wanting to bother repeating a conversation she'd already had a couple of times already, Reidun decided to head off what she considered the obvious questions.

"The company started with just me trading alone, until I got help. I built it over the course of the last 5 years," she explained.

Just like when Reidun had told Sylvain, Isabella seemed to be capable of basic math.

"You would have been 12-" she began, before Reidun interrupted her.

"1 bullion of startup money, time, and a decent amount of motivation," she interrupted. Incorrectly guessing the source of Isabella's disbelief. Joseph's own guilt on the subject stopped him from correcting her himself.

Then Reidun was walking again.

"Anywho, while I haven't given up on flying yet, I'm probably not going to make any more progress today, so I was thinking about heading to the library again-"

"Nope!" Isabella interrupted with a jolly skip, whatever earlier feeling was showing earlier having been covered up and buried out of sight in the wake of the sudden motivation.

"Excuse me?" Reidun asked calmly while the other girl grabbed her wrist.

"I said nope," Isabella repeated, as she began to pull Reidun in a different direction. "We are going to go find Ingrid; she's going to tell me off for how I acted; you're going to tell her exactly why you switched cohorts; and then, you two are going to make up and become friends."

Reidun remained silent.

'Huh?!' she thought. 'Um… Joseph?!'

"Just go along with it," he reassured with a chuckle. "You can't really say you've been doing a good job trying to befriend your future employer."

Reidun internalised the cringe at the accusation before her focus returned to the world around her.

"You don't need to drag me. I can walk by myself," she pointed out.

"Nope," Isabella rejected again. "You're slippery. If I let go you'll find some way to avoid the subject again."

'I'm not that bad!'

"You really are," Joseph teased.

'Shush.'

It took them a while to find Ingrid.

Isabella dragged Reidun around the campus for half an hour asking around, getting clues, and investigating.

Literally. She'd held Reidun's wrist the whole time.

Isabella hid it well, but Joseph could recognise that she seemed nervous. Her grip tightened on occasion, which Joseph could feel through the empathic connection with his charge.

She probably wasn't looking forward to the verbal thrashing she expected, no matter her enthusiasm, but Joseph couldn't say for sure if that was the main cause, so he kept it to himself.

Ingrid had never really attempted magic, but in the week since Hanneman had suggested she try it, she'd managed to surprise herself.

She couldn't fire off a spell just yet, but with the professor's tutelage, she'd manage to manifest ice in her hands. All that was left now was for the ice to leave her hands and hit a target. Which, at her current rate, she was sure she'd manage by the time of the mock battle -not that she was taking part in it.

When she compared that to what she'd heard of the Sorcerer's Academy, it truly highlighted Garreg Mach's excellence.

The professor himself had been quick to disagree, to an extent.

"While the staff and facilities here are quite excellent, the student body is equally so crest bearing and crestless fact, there are many amongst the regular student body this year who would normally have qualified, but were simply far too outclassed…" he had said.

Ingrid wasn't quite sure she agreed. She had been impressed by her own progress, that was true, but she didn't have the same kind of talent for the subject that Annette did, for example.

As a cohort leader, it was her responsibility to pass her lessons on to her subordinates. If any of them had a talent for this like Annete did, Ingrid would not be the one to stifle them. To ensure that, she would need to stay ahead.

That was why she was studying in the library when Isabella and Reidun found her.

It was quite full. Enough so that Ingrid didn't have the table she sat at to herself. Despite that, the room remained quiet, with everyone focused on their own reading.

In that sort of silence, the steps approaching her did not go unheard. Nor was it a surprise when they were accompanied by a voice.

"Excuse me, Ingrid," the person asked nervously. "Do you have a moment?"

'Isabella,' Ingrid realised with irritation. She took her eyes off the pages before her and looked up at the girl with a harsh look -not quite a glare.

Which was when she noticed that Reidun was there as well. Smiling. Despite herself, Ingrid's mind flashed back to the same girl wearing the same smile standing over a corpse.

She dismissed the thought and evened out her expression.

"I do, " she answered, "but I would prefer not to put off my studies for too long."

"Right, right. Of course," Isabella murmured. Then she took a deep breath and bowed her head. "I'm sorry. I'm really sorry for getting in the way between you two. No matter my opinions or assumptions, it wasn't right. Whether you two wanted to see each other was your decision to make, not mine."

'That…' had not been one of the things that Ingrid had expected to hear that day.

She stared at the girl for a moment longer, maintaining her even look.

Then she sighed.

"I suppose if we're going to be having that kind of conversation, it would be best we move this elsewhere," she said tiredly as she got to her feet.

…

They didn't go far, simply stepping out into the hallway.

With another sigh, Ingrid turned away from the wall, back to face the two who'd followed her outside.

Specifically, she looked at Isabella.

"What brought this on, all of a sudden?" she asked sternly."Did someone put you up to this?"

Isabella seemed to shrink under her gaze.

"No, I decided on this myself," she refuted. Following it up with a quietly mumbled, "...I only just realised how much I messed up."

How much…?' Ingrid thought, her eyes drifting over to the other girl here, prompting her shoulder's to fall under the weight of exasperation. 'Right… of course.'

On that front, Ingrid could empathise.

'...and whatever secret Reidun casually unleashed on Isabella to prompt this probably has to do with me as well,' she realised with a groan. "It's… fine, Isabella. I forgive you."

The words seemed to come as a surprise, much to Ingrid's disappointment.

'Am I that unapproachable?' she wondered for a moment, before continuing. "Now, is that all?"

"Um, no. Not at all," Isabella said, before giving a very pointed look to her companion.

Silence.

A moment more passed before Reidun blinked.

"Oh, right," she said, meeting Ingrid's eyes more directly. "I believe I was supposed to explain that I only switched cohorts because I have no interest in magic."

Isabellla made a face, and a gesture for Reidun to continue, which prompted her to turn away from Ingrid to her fellow cohort member.

"...and…?" Isabella hinted.

"...and?" Reidun repeated back questioningly, prompting the other girl to introduce her face to her palm.

Reidun blinked again.

"Ah…," she seemed to realise, turning to Ingrid again, who was caught somewhere between bemused and confused. "I am apparently supposed to explain that the change in cohort was not a result of any dislike I could theoretically have held against you and that I did not know that Felix had intended to switch houses when I made the request."

It was a relief for Ingrid to hear, honestly, but… she was far more amused.

'So this is what Sylvain meant when he called her awkward,' she mused, before she answered, "thank you for clearing that up, but I must ask, why?"

"Why what?" Reidun returned innocently.

"Why find me? Why bother clearing up the misunderstanding?" Ingrid elaborated. "Don't misunderstand me. I do appreciate this, but I'm not your cohort leader anymore, we're not even in the same house."

"Do you actually want to know?" Reidun shot back. "You may not like the answer."

Ingrid's amusement died a quick death as she allowed herself a moment of introspection.

Then she met Reidun's gaze once again.

"Reidun, do you know what the most irritating thing about finding out about your connection to Duscur was?"

Reidun shook her head.

"I couldn't be angry with how you'd acted. You were entirely honest with me, and worse than that, you were right. I don't like your history. I don't like what you've done, but…" Ingrid paused for a moment to put together her point. "...I realised that it doesn't mean I have to dislike you, even if I disagree with you."

Ingrid wasn't a fool. With what Reidun had said, there was an obvious implication: she had an ulterior motive.

'Not much of a hidden motive when she puts it on the table like that,' Ingrid noted. She crossed her arms, echoes of a tired irritation tinting her voice as she said, "This would be a lot easier on me if you'd just lied like a normal person. Then I could just be angry with you and be done with it. But since we're here, go ahead, explain it to me."

"I want to be your knight."

Ingrid blinked.

"Pardon, I think I misheard you," she said.

"I want to be your knight," Reidun repeated. "I want to seduce you with my charming personality, and dazzle you with my skill until you can't refuse."

'Of all the-,' she thought, massaging the bridge of her nose. "Why?"

"Which part?" the girl asked back, still as nonchalant and calm as before. "'Why do I want to be a knight'? Or 'why do I want to serve you specifically'?"

"Does it matter?" she bit back.

"I told you, I won't lie to you," Reidun pointed out. "As long as you ask the right question, I'll answer."

'Wait, then even…?' she thought, shelving the thought and calming herself. "Fine, why do you want to serve me specifically?"

"Because you and your father are both good people," Reidun stated bluntly. "Not only that, but you're diligent, competent, and thorough. Despite thinking I hated you and being conflicted about me, you came to help when Isabella asked. Under you, I could be sure that you would never order me to act against what was right."

Ingrid… didn't really have anything to say about that.

"Anywho, you are my liege lord," Reidun added. "Your father is the one that sponsored me coming here."

Ingrid's mind focused in on something she'd said.

"Why?" she asked, critically. "What did you offer in exchange?"

"I tried to sell him the company," Reidun answered, and with that, many suspicions that Ingrid had clicked into place.

They both knew which company Reidun was referring to. In this context there was just one.

'The Blind Scale trading company…' Ingrid noted.

Ingrid may have hated Duscur, but her own relationship with that company had been a lot more… complicated.

Ingrid knew the Galatea family had never been well off. She'd grown up either hungry, or knowing that her father had skipped meals so that she could eat.

Her engagement to Glenn was supposed to be the hope to bring the galatea territory out of its dark age, but that hope died in Duscur along with the King and so many others.

For a time, she and her father had thought that her crest and her hand in marriage might be the only thing of value their house had. That she would have to give up her own ambitions of being a knight.

Then one day… they'd had a full meal.

She hadn't understood it then, but somehow, the Galatea territory had been getting wealthier, digging itself out of the poverty they'd fallen into.

Their land's hadn't gotten any less barren. In fact, most of the food on the table had been imported and purchased from their neighbours.

It was the best meal she'd ever had.

It became clear soon after that her future had become hers as well. With the influx of wealth, house Galatea didn't need to sell her hand to survive. She could do what she wanted, be who she wanted.

It was all idyllic.

Then she'd found out where that wealth had come from.

Her house, her people, had been working with Duscur.

Their newfound wealth had been harvested from seeds planted in the blood of tragedy. Glenn's blood, Dimitri's father's blood, and so many others.

She hadn't been able to eat her next meal after learning. The sight of the full plate of food had made her queasy. The thought of sticking her fork into that meal seemed no different from stabbing into a corpse to take a bite.

It had gotten better over the years, but still to this day, the sight of a full plate of food made her feel sick. So she'd gotten into the habit of taking smaller portions and snacking between meals.

Her family and people had escaped their fate, but they'd made a deal with a demon to do it.

…and the one who'd signed their name in blood was standing right in front of her.

In truth, Ingrid had figured it out a while ago, she'd just refused to accept it.

'Reidun would have been 12 when she started, no one that young could have accomplished anything,' she rationalised. Except she knew that Reidun was strange. Someone like her could pull it off if she had the guidance.

'Neither her father nor her people were evil, but whoever had arranged for this infernal deal had to be,' she thought. Ingrid had wanted- needed the one responsible to be nothing more than a conniving greedy villain. It was how she'd justified herself.

Except that wasn't the case.

Reidun was just trying to do what was right, in her own way. Much like Ingrid's father, much like her people, like Dimitri, and herself.

If someone like that asked to be a knight? Of course her father would have supported it.

The only thing that didn't make sense was why Reidun felt she needed Ingrid's approval.

'...unless she added that condition herself,' Ingrid realised. 'That would be in character for her.'

"I… see," she finally responded. For really, what else could she say? Or, there was perhaps one thing… "So why do you want to become a knight?"

For the first time, Reidun's expression shifted. She grew brighter, almost radiant, her posture growing to match.

"Bandit's attacked my home once. I was scared, confused, up until he stepped in to save me," Reidun explained enthusiastically. "I want to be a hero. I want to help people. I want to be the morning sun that dashes away fear. I want to be the voice that makes people look up when I tell them that 'I am here'!"

The mood faded, and Reidun returned to normal, calmly following up her declaration, with "much like my hero did for me when I was scared."

Warmth bubbled in her chest as a smile found its way onto Ingrid's face.

This was something she could understand.

"Well then, you'd be happy to know that any house would be happy to accept the service of a graduate of Garreg Mach," Ingrid said teasingly. "Just be sure you don't slack off."

"I wouldn't dream of it," Reidun answered.

Ingrid was sure she could also ask about what had happened on the field trip, but…

"I'm glad we had this talk, but this break has unfortunately lasted longer than I can justify," Ingrid declared. "So we'll have to continue another time."

She pointed an accusing finger at the ginger girl.

"I have more questions, so you better be ready to answer, is that clear?"

"Crystal." Reidun answered, but Ingrid noticed that the girl's focus was elsewhere.

'Tomas?' Ingrid noted, tracing the girl's gaze to the librarian who was passing them by.

"I'm going to run then, bye," Reidun hastily said, jogging after the old man, leaving a confused Isabella who scuttled after.

'What was that about?'

"Reidun, don't!" Joseph shouted, but the girl just ignored him, waltzing up to the disguised Agarthean.

"Hey, sorry to bother you," Reidun greeted the man, prompting him to turn. AS usual, her physical self was calm, but -as usual- Joseph saw a very different picture. She was the cat that caught the canary, the hound on the hunt, the thief who spotted a locked chest.

All because Joseph hadn'tt managed to stop himself from tensing up when Tomas walked by.

"Yes?" the deceiving old man questioned with faked patience and care.

"Are you evil?" Reidun asked bluntly, leaving Tomas blinking in surprise.

'Oh if I could strangle you right now you fool girl!' Joseph lamented violently.

"I beg your pardon?" Tomas exclaimed softly.

"Evil, as in sinister, conniving, or malicious," Reidun added unhelpfully. Then, at Joseph's involuntary twitch, she continued.

"Hm, but what kind of evil are you?" Reidun asked. "A heretic plotting against the church? No, that's not it. A foreign spy? No, not quite. A demon in disguise-?"

Joseph flinched again, attempting and failing to control his own reactions on such short notice.

"Aha, not quite, but close, hm…" Reidun mused. "You don't look like a demon… you must be some sort of enemy in disguise then."

Solon, for his part, was doing a very good job of just appearing confused.

"Reidun, please-" Joseph pleaded futilely.

"Hm…," Reidun interrupted. "So, did Tomas ever exist?"

Joseph didn't respond.

"...or did you replace him?"

The ghost's face scrunched up in an annoyed resignation, and Reidun's eyes glimmered.

"You seem to be very confused-" the old man attempted to object as Isabella finally caught up.

"Nope, it's fine, I figured out everything I needed to," Reidun dismissed. "Thanks for your time, evil man."

Then she skipped her way out of the library, passing an even more confused Isabella.

…and Joseph could only hang his head in his hands.

'I told you, didn't I?' Reidun thought. 'If you don't tell me, I'll figure it out myself.'

What was he going to do now?!

'Why in the world did Reidun's bright idea have to be playing chicken with her life on the line!?'

An: No Flayn pov this time, but a chunk of Ingrid and showcasing some of the butterflies there. Anywho, happy new year!

To Royalrain20xx (Dec 6, 2024): If that was Flayn playing with Fire, I'm very curious to see what you consider what Reidun just did. The last chapter was a vibe yeah. The Garreg Mach splice of life stuff is a lot of fun to write, but it doesn't usually move the story forward. Glad it was well received! Rhea's relationships, are definitely going to be an interesting thing to write given the combined personal tie to Flayn, which is going to conflict with her attmept to maintain the status quo.

To Infernal Enby (Dec 6, 2024): It really warms my heart whenever anyone identifies what Reidun is. I don't think I've been subtle with it, but I haven't called it out by name in the story itself. The interaction and conflicting opinions between the two mc's are definitely one the highlights of writing this. The future stuff is also a lot of fun, yeah. Flayn and Joseph have very different motivations and both sides are working under some severe misinformation. Thanks for reviewing! I really appreciate it!