Lysithea's heart was pounding. The monastery halls would be pitch black if it weren't for the small amber glow from the lantern she was holding. It wasn't like there would be ghosts, but it couldn't hurt to be safe.

Of course she had to notice that she had lost one of her tomes after curfew, when the main building would be locked up. Thankfully Cyril let her in, but he wasn't much help beyond that.

Professor Byleth was expecting her graduate to a dark mage next week, and if she couldn't even get a 70 percent, then surely her classmates would think of her as no smarter than an infant - or worse, Hilda.

"Why, of course."

Lysithea jumped backwards.

The eerie voice sounded like that of a man's. The only men who were likely to be around by now were Seteth, Hanneman and possibly the gatekeeper and Alois. However, the voice was most certainly none of theirs. It sounded like someone who was terribly ill, or perhaps, dead.

Not that it could be a ghost! Those weren't real, and Lysithea wasn't some.. child who got scared about a voice.

So, Lysithea carried on. Who cared if she maybe walked a little bit slower, and her hands were a little more shaky, and her heartbeat was a little bit faster? Certainly not Lysithea!

Lysithea turned the corner to enter the library. She slowly peeked her head in, lantern only millimeters behind, when suddenly…

Oh, thank goodness. Nobody in there. Lysithea sighed in relief. A sigh that apparently was heavy enough to extinguish a small flame. Which it did. To her lantern.

Suddenly that relief was gone.

She was now stuck in the middle of the library, past curfew, in the dark with no lantern to guide her, some mysterious voice came from somewhere, and no chances of finding her tome.

The hair on the back of her neck stood up.

A hand clamped down on her shoulder. "Are you alright?"

"Is she awake yet?" the - thankfully - soft voice of a woman asked.

Lysithea tried to open her eyes, but her eyelids felt heavy and she couldn't see anything but light. "Augh.." she whined. The back of her head ached.

"Oh!" the woman's voice said. Another voice sighed.

Lysithea opened her eyes finally. She was laying in a dorm room, on one of the scratchy beds the church gave out. She turned to her left a little. Next to the bed sat a girl wearing a uniform and a red cape.

Oh, the house leader for the black eagles, Edelgard.

Lysithea's face scrunched. "What's going on here?"

"Hubert found you in the library past curfew. He tried to assist you, believing you were lost, but… he ended up scaring you so bad you fainted, then hit your head on a chair whilst falling. So, we brought you to my room so one of the students in my class could heal you. Neither Hubert or myself are suited for magic, ha." She smiled a little.

"Why wouldn't you just bring me to professor Manuela?" Lysithea frowned harshly and glared and Edelgard with the most intimidating look she could muster.

"Well, I imagine you wouldn't want to get in trouble."

Lysithea raised an eyebrow.

"Well I suppose it also was because Hubert and I aren't permitted to be out past curfew either." Edelgard gave her a friendly smile like that you would give to someone you had known for years and had few barriers with.

"Well, I'm going to be leaving now." Lysithea sat up, prepared to swing her legs over the edge of the bed before Edelgard stopped her.

"You still need to rest! Your head isn't completely healed."

"Some healer you must've got."

"In his defense, it is still very early into the night. He mustn't have had the energy to heal you any more. Besides, to my understanding, magic doesn't do much for head injuries." Edelgard stood. "I'll make you a cup of tea. Is there any sort you prefer?"

Lysithea sighed in defeat. "Any kind is good." She propped up the pillows against the wall so that she could lean back.

Edelgard turned to face the doorway and called out "Hubert, you can enter now," to which the door opened, letting a greatly tall man walk in. His black-as-night hair covered one of his eyes.

So creepy…

He took a seat on a chair placed by the foot of the bed. His eyes refused to meet Lysithea, instead focused on the ground like those of a guilty child who broke on of his mother's fancy vases.

"The tea is finished. I hope you don't mind Hraesvelg blend." She handed Lysithea a cup. She poured herself one as well, then handed Hubert a cup of something completely different. She seemed to have caught Lysithea eyeing it. "It's just coffee. The caffeine would be awful for your head, with or without the injury."

Lysithea nodded. She'd snuck a sip from a cup of coffee that Lorenz was trying once, he'd said something about it being a suggestion from a friend who had it suggested to him by another friend. The coffee ended up being awful. It was bitter, and had kept her up so late she'd ended up crashing and falling asleep in the middle of class the next day.

Lysithea took a sip of tea. She tried to keep as neutral of an expression as she could.

"Need some sugar?"

Lysithea debated on her answer for a moment, then nodded. Edelgard passed her a bowl of sugarcubes.

"So Hubert…" Edelgard looked at the man she was addressing. "Whatever did you do with that tome that you found in the library? The one about dark magic?"

Hubert shot up at the mention of his name, then regained his composure. "I still have it with me, Lady Edelgard." He nodded to reaffirm his point.

"Ah!" Lysithea exclaimed, causing the other two to turn towards her. She cleared her throat, "I mean, I believe that may be mine." She nodded much like Hubert had.

Hubert's eyes looked worried, but they quickly snapped back. He pulled the book out from beside his chair - Lysithea had no idea where it came from - then handed it to her.

"Thank you."

Edelgard eyed the cover. Dark Magic and How Crests Affect It. "How do you feel about crests, Lysithea?" she looked her in the eyes.

Something about the way Edelgard spoke to her made her feel oddly safe. "They're not my favourite,"

Hubert's head quickly snapped to her direction.

"I mean- I mean, I understand their place in social hierarchy and I respect the tradition surrounding them." Good save.

"It's okay Lysithea, you're safe here. We won't say a word to anyone, not even Rhea."

The lack of formalities in addressing Lady Rhea reminded her of how passionate Cyril could be about students having respect for Lady Rhea.

Still, Lysithea could see that even Hubert didn't look mad at her, in fact, he looked pleased.

"W-well, if I'm being honest..?" She looked up at Edelgard. She nodded. Lysithea continued. "I hate crests."

"All they've done for me is make my life harder. Not just for me, either. Marianne - I mean, please don't tell a soul I've said this - has a terribly infamous crest which has made her life awful. Sylvain's brother, Mikklan, was disowned because his brother possessed a crest and he did not, and many others have suffered because of something they didn't even ask for. I wish I didn't have any crests." Lysithea sighed.

Her eyes quickly shot wide, "Don't say a word of that to anyone!"

Edelgard smiled. "It can be our little secret."

Lysithea sipped her tea. It was cold. "I think.. I think I'm going to lie down for a few minutes."

Edelgard and Hubert nodded, then they both left. Before the door was shut, Edelgard peeked back into the room. "Sweet dreams."

Lysithea awoke after her little nap. Or perhaps not such a nap, because it was now daytime, and birds were singing morning songs. On the chair Edelgard once sat in was a note;

I hope you will join us for tea again.