IC Inbox - Isle of Avalon

[asaviorshand]

[For now, you just get the default automated message. Dimitri will need some time to figure this out.]

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[asaviorshand]

[Dimitri visibly cringes when Byleth refers to Rhea as a monster. It may be a version of Byleth he never imagined could exist, but to see Byleth, of all people, talk that way about Rhea was incredibly jarring. While Dimitri has a more neutral opinion toward Rhea, he also doesn't want to hear that language used about her.]

I would not go that far. The Church in the version of history I hail from still exists, with its knights, but Rhea is no longer the archbishop. The professor Byleth that I knew has now assumed that role.

[hegemonwings]

Rhea is a fiction.

[ she can't stop herself from interjecting that, icier than she'd like. she's gotten better about not letting a kneejerk reaction slip to people using that false name for the former master of fódlan, but she feels like she's talking to a stone wall. of course he didn't listen. byleth lets out a breath, processing what he'd said regardless. ]

That person your Professor became is someone I would not recognize. I used the power Seiros forced on me to tear everything she built to the ground. It sounds like your Seiros has exactly what she wanted. [ she pauses, jaw setting, trying to collect her thoughts and keep herself diplomatic. ] I've seen where Faerghus in lockstep with the Church ends up... and I hope you don't repeat those mistakes, for your people's sake.

[ she presses her fingertips to her right temple, taking a steadying breath. best to try to change the subject. ]

In any case... you should know that Edelgard and I consider ourselves to be wed. [ it's somewhat abrupt. best to just get it established. ] I've wondered why you use her nickname, when she told me I was the only one left who called her El.

[asaviorshand]

[Dimitri is taken aback by the interjection. He merely used the name "Rhea" because that is what he's used to. That, and he hopes to find out for himself, independently, of what Byleth has spoken here today.

As for the rest...there are a lot of things Dimitri could say. A lot of them he wanted to say. But he knows he has to pick his battles. Gone are the days when he would blindly run into a fight, great or small. He settles on one thing to say before moving on:]

The people are why I still live and breathe. Not just of Faerghus, but of Fódlan in its entirety. My life is devoted to them.

[When the change of subject comes, he's glad to take it. The news that Byleth and Edelgard are an item surprises him, for sure, as he had no idea she felt that way about women. His face shows he wasn't expecting that news.]

You are? I have to admit, I never would have seen that one coming. But as long as you can make each other happy, well...then I hope you live a blessed life together.

[Though he's quite surprised, he does seem to be sincere in his desire for them to be happy together. There's no signs of ill will or prejudice in his voice or his body language. He does, however, follow it up with more tea.]

During the Insurrection of the Seven, Lord Arundel took Edelgard and fled to Faerghus with her. They spent a year living in Fhirdiad, and the two of us spent much time together.

[This time, as Dimitri speaks, there's a wistfulness in his voice. It was an idyllic time, and one he has occasionally wished he could go back to.]

It was El who taught me how to dance, in fact. It was only ballroom dancing, but it was a skill I...well, that I did my best to keep. And at the end of that year, before she left Fhirdiad, I gave her a parting gift. It was a dagger. I told her to use it to cut a path to the future she wished for. It was an odd gift, I know that now, and Sylvain has never let me live it down. But my sentiment was genuine.

...I admit that I don't know what happened to her between her return to Enbarr and when we met again at the Officer's Academy. She has yet to tell me. I only know that she had forgotten who gave her the dagger, but that she had kept it with her all the same. And that she had remembered my parting words to her.

[hegemonwings]

[ she nods acknowledgement at the initial—platitude, frankly, but she'll keep her mouth shut. when he goes on to express that hope, again, she nods in thanks.

but then he keeps talking, and that's... all a great deal to take in. she's quiet for a long moment, eyes wide in obvious surprise. ]

She... I can tell you now that she doesn't remember that time with any clarity. It would... make sense, with some things I know, but... [ she pauses, hesitant. ] What happened after she left Faerghus isn't my story to tell, but it badly affected her memories of her life beforehand.

[asaviorshand]

[Dimitri nods after taking another sip of tea.]

I wouldn't ask anyone else to tell it for me. That is her story and her choice to share it. I can only surmise that it was terrible...so much so it changed who she was. It even changed the color of her hair.

[hegemonwings]

[ byleth frowns, very slightly. ]

... She is the girl she always was. Despite everything. [ she may not have known edelgard before the experiments, may have only known the broken and angry girl she'd been left as, the girl who wore her heart on her sleeve and tried to bury it all at once, but—

she knows what it looks like, when the self shines through. ]

She's just... had to pick up the pieces. I would think you could understand that better than most.

[asaviorshand]

Actually, that was something she said to me. It was when we met for parley prior to the war's final battle.

However...that was a version of her that never received your counsel or care. Perhaps under your guidance, some semblance of who she originally was managed to awaken. After all, it was another version of you that saved me. And a third that helped Claude realize his dreams.

[Dimitri's gaze falls to his teacup.]

I had once told the professor I knew that I would have died were it not for him. Hearing about other ways history had played out only confirms that. It stands to reason that you would be able to save El and help Claude grow.

It's only a shame that they couldn't all have happened at once.

[hegemonwings]

[ byleth wants to protest further. that of course edelgard at her lowest would say that, whether or not it was true. she still claimed similar things even up to the final day of the war, from time to time. it was something edelgard told herself, byleth knew, to try to harden herself enough to take on the cruelties of the world. it was not the truth.

but then again, none of that is dimitri's business. so she lets all of that pass without any reaction at all, face blank. she hums, finally, at what he says at the end, nodding once. ]

In a perfect world, maybe. But then none of you might have needed me in the first place. I'm glad for the chance for us to be friends here... but I have no regrets.

[ she tilts her head slightly, like she hopes she's making sense. ]

I'm very happy with my life, Dimitri.

[asaviorshand]

[Dimitri nods. She had a point; if it weren't for their problems they might never have met. And that would have been a shame.]

I'm glad for you. You deserve it. I hope that one day I can say the same.