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When Byleth tells the class that next week would be a more relaxing kind of day, Edelgard didn’t think too much of it. The summer days, warm and bright, even up in the mountains, made their long sessions in the stone walls of Garreg Mach stifling. With beads of sweat slipping down and drenching the collars of their uniforms, the class lets out a collective sigh of relief, Caspar most noticeably tossing down his quill and parchment with glee.
So the next week Edelgard expects Byleth to let them all go free for the day, and she plans out her day of checking on foreign matters, noble duties, things she despised doing -- but when she enters the classroom, she sees Dorothea, Petra, and Byleth at the front of the class all beaming...and wearing…
The sun can’t make Edelgard sweat as much as she began sweating right then, her heart jumping to her throat.
“Professor? You two?” Edelgard asks. “Why are you all wearing...undergarments?”
“We’re going to go swim today,” Byleth says simply.
“Swim?” Edelgard’s voice cracks and hits two octaves higher.
Petra claps her hands, full of cheer. “Yes! We are swimming! Being a fine day, the Professor is allowing us to go swim!”
“Now c’mon Edie,” Dorothea says with a wink, twining a strand of her luscious hair around her finger. “Go get dressed too!”
“I don’t--”
Just then, Caspar drags in a moaning Lindhardt, the two of them dressed in shorts, while Ferdinand struts in, proudly baring his noble physique as he too had donned a pair of shorts.
Edelgard stands there, thoughts racing through her head, frantically trying to come up with a reason to decline -- but then Dorothea and Petra stroll forward, each of them grabbing hold of Edelgard’s arms.
“Here, we’ll help you!” Dorothea says with a smile.
“W-wait, I--”
Unable to protest, all Edelgard can do is let her two friends drag her away as Byleth says aloud, “Meet us at the pond.”
---
And so Edelgard finds herself standing next to Hubert by the edge of the pond, staring at the waters and wondering if this would be the day that she dies -- either from humiliation or from drowning.
“Hubert.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“Did you know this was going to happen?”
“Yes.” Hubert, in some kind of ridiculous black and white striped romper, gives a curt nod.
“And you didn’t tell me?”
“I did not.”
“Why?”
In a lower tone, Hubert says, “I believe it imperative that Your Highness learns how to swim. Remedying your weaknesses and ensuring that the future of Fodlan will not die from a simple body of water is, in my opinion, one of my many duties.”
He’s right, as he always is, and Edelgard hates that.
Already, Caspar had cannonball jumped into the pond with Ferdinand elegantly and proudly diving in, as graceful as a swan, with Petra and Dorothea doing much the same. Lindhardt, on the other hand, had sat down by the edge, slowly dipping himself in, his green hair tied into a ponytail as he sighed at the effort to wade in. And Bernadetta of all people as well -- she’d hesitantly stuck a toe in to test the waters, before carefully lowering herself from the edge as well and swimming over to Dorothea and Petra, who beamed at her presence. Seemingly, their whole class knew how to swim...all except...
“If it may so please you,” Hubert adds as the two of them watch Caspar attempt to convince a Lindhardt to have a breathing contest with him. “Our Professor is aware of your...ah, hesitations, and is willing to teach you as always.”
At that moment, Edelgard wants nothing more than to pick Hubert up and throw him headfirst into the pond. “You told Byleth that I can’t--”
“Are you ready?” says a voice behind them.
Edelgard turns, heart pounding a mile a minute, and sees Byleth standing behind them. Swallowing, Edelgard has to focus on Byleth’s face in an attempt to ignore that toned physique--
“I, Professor, I have to say, I don’t think I can--”
“She is prepared to learn how to swim today, Professor,” Hubert interrupts. “I will watch and critique from afar.”
“Of course.” Byleth nods, and Hubert takes his leave before Edelgard can erupt into a volcano. “Edelgard, how much do you know about swimming?” She gestures for Edelgard to follow her to the end of the little dock, and the two stand there, looking out at their friends basking in the cool waters on the fine summer day.
“Professor, I...do not know anything, of how to swim.”
And with the briefest glimpse of that small, tender smile that makes Edelgard’s heart beat a certain way, Byleth says gently, “That’s alright. We can start with the basics.”
Byleth slips into the water from the end of the dock, and then grips the edge, holding an expectant hand out for Edelgard to join her.
Instead, feeling small and childlike, Edelgard crouches by the end of the dock, wrapping her arms around her knees as she stares at the water. Even with an emperor’s education, she’d never learned how to swim, and now it was coming around to bite her in the ass. She should’ve listened to Hubert all those years ago when he’d offered to provide instruction.
Now all she can do is reach out to Byleth with her ridiculously sweaty palm, and hope that whatever gods did exist out there would smite her out of existence, for the thought of Byleth being the one to see her flail and drown about is absolutely downright humiliating.
“Edelgard, you have to come into the water, not just hold my hand.”
“I know! I’m, I’m just taking my time.”
“That’s fine.” Byleth smiles at her again, just the barest hints of the corners of her lips turning up. “I’ll be here for you. Just come into the water.”
Making the mistake of glancing up, Edelgard sees Ferdinand smugly flipping his hair back as he shoots a satisfied grin at her before Hubert, next to him, slams his hand onto the top of Ferdinand’s head and dunks him into the water. Dorothea and Petra too watch from afar, both of them watching with anticipation and support, with Bernadetta staring wide-eyed as well.
All of this is so...so... embarrassing. Edelgard von Hresvelg, future emperor of the Adrestian Empire, scared of water.
But when Edelgard looks at Byleth’s face, she sees an unwavering gentleness in those sky blue eyes, patience and humility in that gaze. Not a single trace of judgement, not a single hint that Byleth thought any less of her. It’s just... Byleth, in all her strange simplicity and plainness, that makes Edelgard find a foothold to hold onto, a ledge to grasp onto, a friend to rely on.
Finding courage in that, Edelgard inhales a shaky breath, and with her hand gripping the edge of the dock so hard she felt splinters in her fingertips, Edelgard lowers herself into the cool water.
“Alright, that’s good,” Byleth says as Edelgard manages to lower herself in up to midchest. “Now, just let go of the dock.”
“L-let go?” Edelgard hates the edge of nervousness in her voice.
“Yes, let go. The water’s shallow here, you can stand.”
To compensate, Edelgard almost crushes Byleth’s hand in her own, but again, Byleth’s face expresses no discomfort and she stands in the water, holding out her other arm as an offer for Edelgard to grab hold onto. Despite Edelgard’s misgivings...she trusts Byleth, wholly and completely, and she slowly eases herself lower into the water, and just as the water reaches her shoulders, Edelgard feels the soft dirt floor of the pond at the soles of her feet.
“Better?” Byleth asks.
“Y-yes, th-thank you.” With extreme reluctance, Edelgard shakily loosens her grip on the dock, and Byleth helpfully takes Edelgard’s other hand in her own.
With an extreme flushed heat on her face and the rapidfire pounding of her own heart, Edelgard becomes hyperaware of the fact that she’s holding onto both of Byleth’s hands.
“Good. Now, let’s go further into the water. Hold onto me.”
The first thought that pops into Edelgard’s head is why would she do anything but hold onto Byleth but then Byleth takes small, small steps further away from the dock and Edelgard immediately clenches her grip around Byleth’s hands so hard she’s sure her nails will break Byleth’s calloused palms, but again, Byleth says nothing. How in the world Byleth keeps her composure, Edelgard will never know, but she’s thankful in this second that Byleth’s the solid rock she can hold onto.
With the first few small steps, Edelgard manages to make her breathing even, fighting back the rising terror in her chest.
It’s when she can no longer touch the floor of the pond with the tips of her toes does she let out a squeak of panic. If she’d wanted to die before, now she wants nothing more than for the pond to swallow her whole and wipe her out of existence. It has to be Byleth of all people that hears her squeak.
“It’s alright. I’m here,” Byleth says gently. As if to make matters worse, Byleth steps closer to Edelgard, taking both of Edelgard’s hands and placing them on her bare shoulders. Now they’re close -- oh, so close -- and Edelgard swears she feels steam coming off her own face with just how hot her cheeks are burning.
“Take deep breaths. Then we’ll get started,” Byleth says, unperturbed.
“G-get started? We haven’t already?” Edelgard says, voice an octave higher.
“That was just getting you into the water. Then I’ll teach you how to float.”
“You’re doing great, Edie!” Dorothea calls from across the pond, to where she and Petra were floating on their backs in the water. “Keep it up!”
“You are doing very wonderfully, yes!” Petra adds.
“Don’t worry,” Byleth says in a low voice as Edelgard turns her attention back to that beautiful face just inches away from her own. “I told Ferdinand that if he makes fun of you, I’ll assign him a ten thousand word essay.”
“Th-thank you.”
“Now, let’s get started on teaching you how to float…”
---
The rest of the afternoon passes by, with Edelgard sure that she’ll die a hundred times, but Byleth remains solidly at her side, unfaltering and kind as she taught Edelgard the basics of swimming. Even their classmates cheer her on, Caspar with his loud whoops and hollers and Dorothea and Petra with their hopeful cheers of support, accompanied by Bernadetta’s small voice too. Despite her initial embarrassment, Edelgard does do her best to learn. If she had to die trying, then so be it; she was Edelgard von Hresvelg, and she never slacked at her studies, no matter how hard they might be.
When all is said and done, and their classmates were pulling themselves out of the water, Byleth gently guides a weary and tired Edelgard back to the dock, who gratefully grasps onto it and pulls herself up. Instinctively, she reaches a hand out to pull Byleth up with her -- and Byleth accepts her hand, and Edelgard pulls Byleth up next to her.
For a moment, the two sit there, Edelgard breathing a little too hard -- swimming was very tiring -- and they wring out their hair, all wet from their long day of lessons.
“You did wonderfully today, Edelgard,” Byleth says in that soft voice of hers. “You’re a fast learner.”
“And I have a good teacher,” Edelgard responds in kind. “Thank you, for teaching me.”
“I am always glad to spend time with you. Thank you for taking the time to learn with me.” Byleth smiles, and despite the moment of reprieve, Edelgard feels her heart speed up in her chest again.
“Will...will there be another class, like this?” Edelgard asks.
“Would you like there to be?”
“I…” Hesitating, Edelgard thinks over their day. Overall, it’d been an enjoyable one, and it’d been fun to see Caspar cannonball into the pond, splashing them all, to see Hubert and Ferdinand attempt a breathing contest to see who could hold their breath the longest, to see Petra basking in the bright waters, reminiscing of her home.
And then, the matter of being so, so close to Byleth…
“I would not mind another swimming lesson,” Edelgard finds herself saying. “Difficult and challenging as swimming was, I believe it to be a worthwhile experience and a necessary skill.”
“I’m glad to hear that.” Byleth makes to stand, and this time she offers her own hand to Edelgard; and as always, Edelgard takes it, noticing for the umpteenth time that day just how gentle, though calloused and rough, Byleth’s hand is.
Little does Edelgard know she’d take Byleth’s hand a thousand times more after that, but for now, she’s content in knowing that Byleth will be there at her side to help her through even her smallest of struggles.