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Ryoma takes pride in being an observant man. His training as the High Prince and eldest heir of the Hoshido throne combined with being at war with Nohr had taught him to not take things at face value.
But this fighting with an invisible enemy that isn’t easily seen that Catherine had asked for his help to deal with, is testing the strength of his observational skills. Ryoma wants to believe that his younger sister is doing what she believes to be right in uniting both sides to fight an unknown enemy.
However he can’t help, but wonder if this joint venture is a waste of time and resources for either side. There is a part of him that wonder if Xander thinks the same thing. Should they instead be fighting each other instead of working to fight off an enemy that is mostly invisible to them?
Another part of him also wishes that Catherine would stop tensing when someone surprised her by reaching towards her or something near her suddenly, along with flinching whenever he or one of her other siblings so much as drifted near her.
As the little dragon Lilith –Ryoma really wonders about his sister’s choice in allies– finishes teleporting their group into the Astral Plane and Catherine’s little fort, he notes that the evening hour has arrived and a soft gasp from Camilla draws Ryoma's attention to the elder Nohr Princess standing beside him, noting the dismayed expression.
“Oh.. Oh my dear sweet, Catherine.”
“What? What is it?” Ryoma asks softly as he turns his gaze on her.
Her gaze flicks towards him as Xander comes up on her other side with a small frown on his face. Camilla frowns at him and flicks her hair over her shoulder before she answers him.
“Look at her. Really look at her.”
He follows the direction of her finger to where nearby, Catherine is standing near one of the gardens, looking down at it as Azura walks between the rows of growing crops. At first Ryoma doesn’t see what Camilla wants him to notice, before he really looks at the young woman.
Then he sees what Camilla has noticed; where last Catherine had had longer hair when she had left them on that battlefield after refusing to pick a side and when they had met in Cheve, her hair was now much shorter making the sharp lines of her face stand out. He also notes the visibly healing scar the side of her neck and a healed one on her cheek. All of those speak loudly of a story with events that was wholly unknown to Ryoma and the others.
What have you gotten yourself and the rest of us into, little sister? He wonders silently to himself.
TBC.