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There was nothing better than having a birthday in winter, Bernadetta had decided long ago. She never had to worry about her parents hosting a party outside in her honor, they never made her travel anywhere— and even if guests were invited to the estate to “celebrate”, everyone chatted among themselves and quickly forgot about Bernadetta, allowing her to slip back to her room.
Even this year at Garreg Mach, where Bernadetta constantly had to interact with people, her birthday blissfully fell on a free day. No classes to drag her from her dorm. No reason for people to bug her. She just clicked the lock on her door, dragged her desk chair over to the window, and sat to read as snow piled outside. A worn blanket over her shoulders made the room very cozy indeed. It may have been the best birthday in years.
If there hadn’t been a knock at the door.
“W-W-Who is it?!” Bernadetta pulled the blanket tighter around herself.
“Happy birthday, Bernadetta,” came Professor Byleth’s flat voice.
Bernadetta relaxed instantly. They had that effect on her. She stood. “T-thank you.”
Another knock. “Can you open the door?”
After a moment of thought, Bernadetta edged closer to open the door a crack. The Professor stood in their usual attire even as snow dotted their hair. “Did you need something?”
“Let’s go to tea.”
It wasn’t quite a request. But Bernadetta still deliberated. She weighed the Professor’s safe and kind company over the safe and warm confines of her dorm.
“I have some cookies prepared to go with our Albinean berry tea.”
Well, when put that way. “Let me grab my coat.”
Soon Bernadetta opened the door properly and shuffled out to stand before the Professor. “C-Couldn’t we have tea in here? It doesn’t seem like good weather for the tea garden.”
“We can have tea in my room. You need to be out of yours.”
“W-Why?”
The Professor stared down at her. “... Because.”
Bernadetta waited, but that seemed to be the end of the Professor’s reasoning. “Okay, then…”
Buttoning up her coat, Bernadetta turned to lock her door behind her. But the Professor shifted so they blocked the door. “Leave it open.”
Now alarm bells went off in Bernadetta’s head. “ W-Why ?!”
“What if someone wanted to go in? If the door isn’t unlocked, they could ruin your door breaking it down. Then you wouldn’t have a door at all.”
“But why would—”
“Maybe even more than one someone.”
“But why would anyone want to go in?!”
The Professor’s eyes flickered to something over Bernadetta’s shoulder before meeting hers again. “Just a thought.”
Bernadetta debated. It was sound logic, in a way. And the Professor had never led her astray before. If they were really so certain about this…
“O-Okay.” Bernadetta stepped back from the door. “I guess I’ll leave it unlocked?”
The Professor nodded. Turning sharply towards the stairs, they lead Bernadetta away from her dorm. She could have sworn she heard hurried footsteps behind them but the Professor put a hand on her shoulder which stopped her looking back. “Something about plants,” they stated.
“Plants?”
“I should ask you something about plants.”
The phrasing was suspect but it just so happened that Bernadetta had read an interesting book on foreign plants the other day. With such a broad invitation, she was free to just open her mouth and let facts fly. It was too good to pass up. “Uh, so there’s this plant that grows in Dagda, right? On hills, usually. It’s so fluffy and white that it looks like a sheep from far away! Imagine walking along and thinking there’s a sheep resting under a bush— only to find another bush? I bet you’d be surprised!”
Nodding thoughtfully, the Professor made their way to the stairs, hand still on Bernadetta, and she quite forgot about what she had heard.
Tea time lasted quite awhile. Whenever Bernadetta felt a lull in conversation and she was sure the Professor was about to dismiss her, they would prompt her to speak. From plants and books, to cooking mishaps and cute monks. There was even a point where Bernadetta saw the Professor’s eyes unfocus before they lay a hand over Bernadetta’s on the table and said, “You’re doing great work.”
Bernadetta hadn’t quite known what to say to that.
Eventually, the Professor leaned to look out the window at the meager rays of sunlight through the snowy afternoon sky. “Let me walk you back to your room,” they said abruptly.
Stuffing one last cookie in her mouth, Bernadette shot to her feet. Nice as the Professor was, and as nice as tea and cookies could be, she looked forward to room sweet room. Snow crunched underfoot as she and the Professor stepped outside.
Other students were milling about, chatting with one another or shivering in the cold. She spotted Sylvain sneaking up on Felix and Ingrid with a snowball in hand. Alois and Leonie walked by, and she watched Alois point at the sky and say something with a grin that caused Leonie to groan in despair. It almost made Bernadetta want to go over and loudly announce it was her birthday. These were all people she was learning to trust. People that seemed to like having her around.
But no. Tea with the Professor was already more interaction than she had planned for today. The idea of going up to any of these people, let alone alone all of them, made her preemptively exhausted. Bernadetta kept her head down as they passed and willed herself to be invisible.
As they neared her dorm, the Professor said, a little too loudly given how close Bernadetta was standing, “It was nice having tea with you, Bernadetta.” They stared at her dorm door as they said this, as if looking for something, and visibly relaxed after a moment. Bernadetta looked at her door too, but nothing about it stuck out to her.
“Thank you for the treat,” she said at a normal volume. “And for the owl feather! I’ll put it right on my bookshelf!”
The Professor’s lip quirked like they wanted to smile. When they reached the dorm, the Professor pat Bernadetta on the head. “I hope you have a happy birthday.”
Blushing under the attention, Bernadetta just managed a smile. She hustled into the dorm as soon as the Professor turned around. Locking the door firmly behind her, Bernadetta let out a sigh. She’d made it to the Professor’s room, through tea time, and back to her room without coming to harm or inviting any other interruptions. Her social energy was worn down for the day. Time to curl up and not leave this room until she inevitably had to sneak into the kitchens for food.
Bernadetta straightened and began unbuttoning her coat— only to freeze as she actually took in the room around her.
Neatly wrapped presents were scattered across her bed. On the floor, spread out on a thin blanket she didn’t remember owning, was a generous bowl of cheesy Verona stew, a cut of Derdriu-Style fried pheasant, and, beside all that, a new tea pot with a purple bow looped through the handle with steam still curling merrily from the spout. A single layer peach cake sat on her desk with “Happy Birthday” in delicate handwriting inscribed around the edge.
Mouth open, Bernadetta did a slow circle in her room. She checked under the bed, in her closet, even outside again. But no one was around. No one was waiting to jump out at her. She prod the pot dubiously. She peered carefully at the cake— which was when she noticed the note:
Dear Bernadetta,
Happy birthday. May the day treat you well.
Love,
Your Eagles
Bernadetta recognized Edelgard’s handwriting and at last all the pieces fell into place. They were giving her all the celebration of a birthday without the people! Joy swelled in Bernadetta’s chest. So this is what it was like to have people who understood her. Tears fell over her smile as she stared around at all the gifts and food.
Hugging the letter to her chest, Bernadetta did a small dance right there in the middle of her room before taking a small slice of cake and sitting on her bed to take off her boots. There was a lot to unwrap, and no prying eyes to watch her do it. Food to eat, but no one to drag her away from it into polite conversation. The best kind of day. Still smiling, Bernadetta stood briefly to finish taking off her coat. She placed the owl feather on her bookshelf and, after hugging it again, placed the note next to it.
The 13th of the Ethereal Moon came as it always did. The bell for class rang as it always did. The Deers, Lions, and Eagles made for their classrooms as they always did.
It was Bernadetta who felt a little different. She opened the classroom door slowly, willing it not to creak. Inside, the Eagles and Professor Byleth were gathered but not quite ready to begin their lesson. Hubert and Ferdinand were arguing about something in front of Edelgard’s desk, the House leader herself flipping through a book and ignoring them. Linhardt was explaining something to a rapt Petra. Caspar was frantically finishing his homework in his lap, occasionally jerking his head up to make sure the Professor wasn’t watching. Professor Byleth was looking off to one side attentively as if someone were talking to them.
Thinking on the note, the food, the gifts, and everything the class had done this year, Bernadetta drew in a fortifying breath and went inside the classroom. “G-Good morning!” She shouted
Actually it wasn’t much of a shout; in fact it was barely above Caspar’s normal talking voice. But it attracted attention just the same. Conversation stopped. Even the Professor put up a hand to whatever they were listening to and looked over at her.
Edelgard broke the stunned silence first. “Good morning, Bernadetta,” she said with a smile.
“Morning!” Caspar chirped, dropping his quill and giving a little squeak as he dove for it.
Linhardt waved as Petra beamed, “Good morning, Bernie!”
Grinning, Ferdinand called, “Good morning to you as well, Bernadetta!” Hubert nodded to her with a small smile of his own.
Blushing under all the greetings, Bernadetta found herself smiling and made her way to her seat. “Did you have a good day off?” The Professor asked, gaze soft.
Bernadetta could almost feel everyone listening. “Yeah. I really did.” Smile growing, Bernadetta took her seat and readied for another lesson.