Chapter Text
Despite appearances, the hilt in her palm felt warm, a steady beat in her fingers while she wielded it with ease. The blade, white and yellow, vibrated with its own rhythm, a faint red glow as if it were alive.
And Byleth knew it very much was.
She parried the blow knocking the sword from her foe in a swift movement, her eyes already fixed in the next opponent. It was an easy task, at least for her, parry, thrust, disable her opponent to render them useless before moving onto the next one. It mattered not that she was up against the most elite warriors in the Empire, it mattered not that her every single move was being watched and judged upon. Breath, parry, thrust, a step forward, just a slight movement to the right.
The knight, a young woman with a heavy axe in her hands, landed face first in the sand of the training arena, her weapon still clutched in her right hand. Byleth noticed that and kept it as knowledge in the back of her mind. The remaining warriors surrounded her, now wary of her sword and skill. They had underestimated her, an error their emperor wouldn’t look kindly upon. If all it took for them to let down their guard was just to be before a seemingly inferior opponent, then they still had much more work to do. The blue-haired woman stated her ground, her legs slightly apart, her sword hidden behind her back, her reach impossible to predict now.
She waited, patiently. A single drop of sweat crossing her brow, ragged breaths disturbing the air from the knights, a twitch in the forearm muscles of the opponent right in front of her.
She waited.
Just a second longer.
Maybe two.
She had time, she had focus. Overall, she was quiet, her silent heart never betraying her next move.
Patience yielded results.
Behind her, the knight, who hadn’t been disarmed, got to her feet and attacked her blind spot. Fast, precise, lethal if her axe were to strike her.
“Focus, keep your cool, stand your ground, feel your blade.” Jeralt’s words resonated in her mind once more. He was a great knight, an excellent warrior, a trying father, and she was her daughter in almost every sense.
Her sword stopped the edge of the axe by guiding it down in a sliding motion that led her to be right next to the warrior, caught up now in her swing, her legs kicked off the ground and the war axe wrenched from her hand in the same movement. She landed on her back, her breath taken away by the hit.
Byleth kept the axe, while she spurred around without missing a second, the girl wouldn’t be a problem anymore, she was out, her weapon taken away from her and ruled out of the spar.
There were two knights out, three remained in the arena. Their initial attack had transformed into a calculated stance, eyes looking at her guard, looking for an opening, for a mistake. She waited for them, her steel an extension of herself, the axe comfortable in her left hand as a new resource for her to use.
The arena was abnormally silent, warriors and bystanders trying to predict the next move. Finally, a young man gave in to the pressure, a brawler with golden hair and sharp muscles, he lashed out with a war cry, his companions following him, trying to overpower her using their combined force.
Byleth let her knees soft, crunching just a little, a spring screwing herself into the ground, ready to take the three of them in a single, swift move. She waited a bit longer, less than a second, the man stepped into her circle of movement, her sword would cut him down if she commanded from that distance. Without thinking, following only her instincts highly trained over and over and over, she lunged forward, moving like the wind through her opponents, using her sword to disarm and the stolen axe to parry attacks.
It took her less than a second, squishing through the three knights like a shadow, emerging on the other end, her breath short, the axe on the ground, her sword strong in her hand.
Her opponents disarmed.
And the heavy, indecipherable look of the Adrestian Emperor and her retainer on her.
“That’s quite enough. Thank you, Byleth.” Seteth walked the arena, his pristine black boots kicking up sand stained by the sweat that dropped from all combatants, his body a barrier to separate her fellow knight from the adrestian’s fighters. “Emperor Edelgard, we will assign you knights to escort you while your personal escort gets their bearings back. If we should continue, Archbishop Rhea must be waiting on us” With a practiced gesture of his hand, he led the way away for the trio, Byleth followed the two prominent figures, the tall dark man with a gloomy aura and a rather upsetting glare and his emperor, the short woman with the horned crown, wearing red. She had been there to welcome the leader and her entourage, she had seen her dismount from her saddle.
She had seen the sturdy-looking axe she had carried and let in the monastery’s weapon arsenal as a sign of goodwill.
The knight didn’t think the emperor needed an escort, not even a knight if that was the matter. It should bring more questions as to why the woman was there in the first place, with a request to see the archbishop, with the wish to see the best knight in action.
Something moved inside of her, deep in her chest, tensing an imaginary string she had felt just a few times before. Byleth listened to it, while catching her breath in a series of heavy sights, before setting the blade on her hip and fetching her long coat and a mug of water from one of the jars set aside the training arena. The sun shone over them with the usual strength of a spring day. She should get herself tidy up quickly before the archbishop called for her, or Seteth in her place.
Or she was assigned a new mission.
Or more paperwork arrived at her desk.
The knight drank a long sip of cold water, letting it refresh her, her mind a blank space of peace for a second, before putting her coat on to leave.
“Captain Byleth!” One of the fighters called, the girl she had wrenched the axe from, she still had sand on her face and a bruise was swelling up as they spoke in her right eye, it’d be difficult to see for a day or two. “Thank you for the opportunity, do you think we could spar more tomorrow? It’s a wonderful chance for us to get better”
Ah, right, spar.
The string in her chest vibrated. That was it, she wanted a spar with the emperor, she wanted to test first hand what her instincts had screamed on seeing the woman. An opponent so rare to come by that letting the opportunity go would be sacrilege.
Without turning completely, Byleth nodded, her face emotionless while her mind raced to put together the feeling that had flourish in her so uninvited. It was strange to feel an emotion so sudden and acute at the same time. Her emotions were rather connected to her physical needs, not a hypothetical wish to fight someone she hadn’t even had the chance to talk to properly. The woman, a young girl still, smiled at her before bowing respectfully and bidding her goodbye.
She left the training grounds without a second glance. On a normal day she’d be in the fishing pond, noon was her favorite moment to spend fishing, mostly because it was the time fish was used to be fed, thus ready to bite the lure with no hesitation.
Today wasn’t a normal day, however. And if she knew how far it was from a normal day, Byleth would’ve fished longer the days before to compensate.
She let her steps take her away, away from the training ground, away from the fishing pond, away from the greenhouse where she was growing flowers fo her parent’s grave.
Away from her ordinary life and into the uncharted realm of the emotions that, little by little, kept growing and brewing in her chest. A string sure to keep vibrating and resonating in an attempt to wake the rest of them, still deep in a dreamless sleep.
Byleth stood in the chamber with her hands behind her back, fully dressed in the knight paraphernalia, her armor a dark blue glow in the dim light of the stained glass that adorned the archbishop chamber. Rhea was, as always, a calming and stoic presence, her white gown a contrast next to Seteth’s blue and gold regalia. Their calm yet authoritarian stance was mirrored by the Adrestian emperor and her retainer.
Unlike most of the nobles, Edelgard didn’t shrink before the archbishop, despite her height she seemed secure, steady, strong. A commanding aura around her that Byleth couldn’t help but notice.
This woman was used to give orders that were followed. She was used to be listened to when speaking.
The knight didn’t move, her face was as stoic as always. She had been called and she had answered. Now in the center of the chamber, she waited for the command to follow.
“Captain Byleth, I have a new mission for you” Rhea spoke clearly, kindly, yet a strain at her voice that arose questions in her. “You are to accompany the Adrestian Emperor and keep her safe for as long as needed.”
That was unexpected, for as long as needed? That would mean that her post and her missions for the church would be put on a hold for at least a while. Her internal debate wasn’t betrayed by her demeanor, still silent.
Still emotionless.
She simply took her right hand to her chest, bowing to the archbishop once, before turning to the emperor and her retainer behind her to bow again.
“I look forward to working with you, captain Byleth”
A second string woke in her chest, now to cords resonating at different frequencies yet simultaneously.
A muffled, opaque note began to form where previously only silence dwelled.