Chapter Text

Imperial Year 1191

Day 17 of the Horsebow Moon

Garegg Mach Academy

Archbishop's Byleth's Room

Byleth sat cross-legged atop his bed facing the entrance to his room grasping a letter in his right hand with the largest smile Fodlan has ever seen stretched across his face. His eyes gleamed and his arms shaking with pure joy at the contents held within the letter. The Archbishop drew shaky breaths, and for once in his just over five years of being harried by his lengthy, strenuous tasks as head of the church, his brain felt truly at ease. If Varella, his favourite attendant saw him now, she'd probably think he had snapped under the pressure of his sacred duties. What could have made Byleth shake with glee? Every monk within the monastery serving under him knew that Byleth only ever expressed his giddiness over his one love, Lysithea. The letter Byleth had just read was written by Lysithea with many details concerning the last conference she had attended about the Ordelia territory and that she would be visiting Byleth at Garegg Mach in no less than eight hours after the letter was delivered to his hand. But there was one thing in that letter that really piqued his curiosity. The last line of the letter told him to not open the second letter she sent him until they met again. Byleth, who had been shaking ecstatically on his bed for the last three minutes, finally leapt up, pocketed Lysithea's letter, and without any care in the world, began tearing through the halls and down the stairs shouting various phrases such as "Lysithea's coming!" "My love is on her way!" "I'm the happiest man alive!" and "Thank the goddess Sothis!" to the monks, maids and travellers as he ran past. Not once did he slow down until he finally made it to the dining hall.

"Archbishop Byleth, whatever could have you sprinting down both flights of stairs? ...You didn't tease Flayn again, did you?" the head chef called out from behind a cupboard full of cooking supplies.

"Oh nothing really..." Byleth responded sounding slightly short of breath. He did a large pirouette before rushing over to the head chef, who was busy moving different sized rolling pins around. "Just that my darling Lysithea is coming to visit me today!"

"That's wonderful news Archbishop!" the head chef responded, now climbing up off of the ground and dusting off his knees. "Will she be staying long?"

"I'm not sure how long she'll be staying yet Luìs, but seeing as it isn't for a wedding or funeral, and we haven't had any special events planned out, I am expecting her to be leaving soon afterwards. Still, I wish to have a couple of cakes, as well as a few dozen chocolate chip cookies made for her return. Oh, and since you'll be cooking later with Mayella, could you let her know then to prepare an extra eight ham and turkey sandwiches with no onions? You know how Lysithea is with her vegetables."

"Of course Archbishop, I'll get my finest chefs on the job right this instant!" Luìs, now finished patting some flowers off of his worn down pant legs exclaimed. He had almost jogged out of sight before glancing back towards Byleth. "Oh, and, regarding the beverages?"

Byleth waved his hand in the air, signaling that he had the drinks under control."You needn't worry about them Luìs, you're a very busy man, I can at least take care of the apple juice and lemonade. I can't thank you enough for what you do."

"You're a good man Archbishop, Lysithea is a lucky woman to be with you." Luìs bowed, humbled by Byleth's words. "Just be careful that all those sweets don't catch up to you, take care of your teeth!"

"Of course friend. Thank you." Byleth called out to Luìs before he disappeared into the back of the kitchen shouting orders to the other chefs who were all listening in on the gossip.

Byleth decided to go down to the marketplace and pick up the supplies he needed for drinks. It was convenient how close they were to the dining hall, but it was also a cover-up for his favourite spot in Garegg Mach. Just outside of the gates past the marketplace, if you turned left and walked along the castle walls about forty paces, you would come across a set of four bushes, which were used to hide away Byleth's secret spot. A crack in the wall that led twenty feet back into Garegg Mach and had the best hillside view if you walked down a short narrow path that Byleth had created over the last five years. At the end of this path was a gorgeous view of the sun, and if you could catch it at the right time of night, you would see the most beautiful sunset in your life.

Byleth discovered it the fourth day of taking over Rhea's duties by accident after being fed up with trying to learn proper etiquette, manners, and being told how to respond to the many different letters and requests sent by the Leicester nobles. Byleth was grateful to Varella, who had become his favourite and most trusted assistant, but back then, he had actual nightmares about mountains of letters. Not all of them were requests for supplies, aid, or relations between Dagda and Brigid, there was a ton of appreciation letters and love letters, however, the stress of having to change his very attitude only a few days after conflict against Those Who Slither had come to an end proved to be a bit too taxing for him, and on the fourth night he stumbled into the bushes and found this small patch of land. Ever since then, even though it was a minor breach in the castle walls, Byleth had walked this path twice a week, over and over, until the path he and Lysithea were about to walk became worn down by his foot prints.

"This is the perfect spot for our candlelit picnic tonight!" Now all that's left to do is set it all up." Byleth closed his eyes, envisioning how Lysithea would react to this spot and the sunset. Knowing what she'd say brought a series of small chuckles and a warm smile to his face. "I can't wait to see her again. It's been seven months." Byleth began setting up the picnic blanket, basket which currently contained no sandwiches or cookies, unlit candles and pillow cushions, all while fantasizing about seeing his love before him again, in a romantic setting, but he couldn't stop his curiosity from nagging at him about the second letter he had in his pocket that Lysithea told him not to open yet. Nonetheless, Byleth promised himself not to look at the contents of the second letter so all he could do was count the extremely long seconds as they ticked by until he could talk to her again. He had so much to say, so many questions to ask, and most important of all, so much precious time to make up for, together.

Ten minutes until Lysithea arrives.

Byleth had switched out of his enlightened outfit and into his professor's outfit. He thought it would be fitting to greet her in the same attire he wore when he met her. Byleth, Luìs, and Varella, stood atop the stairs just before the entrance hall and had the maids and monks lined on either side of the marketplace stalls to greet Lysithea the moment she walked past the front gate. Byleth knew Lysthea wasn't ever one to want her relationship with Byleth out on display for everyone to see, but he figured he could greet her on this scale once since he had a feeling she came bearing some great news. Byleth had already lit the candles and had the cookies and sandwiches set up in the picnic basket so he made small talk with Luìs and Varella while waiting for Lysithea to come through the gates. His giddiness becoming too strong to contain, Byleth started to tap his left foot frantically against the chiseled stone pavement and was just about to cry out "How much longer?! I can't take it!" when Lysithea walked through the gate, feeling somewhat exhausted with her horse beside her. Lysithea, who had not expected such a royal welcome jumped a little when all in attendance excluding Byleth, whose face was lit up more than the sun itself shouted "Welcome back Lysithea!"

Shocked, but happy to see Byleth, Lysithea ran up the aisle and was met halfway there by Byleth, who had also ran down the stairs. He grasped her tightly and embraced her gently, letting his warm body heat envelop her. He then very proudly whispered in her ear "Welcome home, my love."

Twenty minutes after their tight embrace in front of the other attendants, and after Lysithea greeted some of the curious merchants and nearby townsfolk, the crowd dispersed, giving Byleth and Lysithea time to talk alone. Byleth asked if he could take Lysithea to a secret spot to stargaze under the slowly sinking sun for a while and catch up, and she agreed to follow him,even though his spot was slightly outside the castle walls, and when she and Byleth walked through the four bushes and she noticed there was a crack in the castle's defenses, the tactician part of her pointed out that it needed to be patched up. Byleth grinned from ear to ear when she said that, and muttered just loud enough for her to hear "Perfect." It was exactly what he thought she would say when he envisioned how she would respond when he was setting up the picnic earlier, and while they were walking along the short pathway to the spot on the hill, he explained what he meant to her.

Little more than ten seconds later, the overjoyed couple came up to the hill spot Byleth picked out that overlooked the glorious sun that had already begun to cast a mixture of a tuscan and golden hue across the horizon from where they stood.

"I have to admit though, this spot is absolutely breathtaking." Lysithea said slowly, unaware that she was gawking at the sight of the sun with her eyes wide open. "I can see why you didn't have this patched up. Byleth, how long have you hogged this beautiful scenery to yourself?"

"Far too long I'm afraid." Byleth responded. "At least now I can finally share this with you. I've waited over five years for this day to come, and I'm certain I never want it to end. Which I can do thanks to a certain progenitor god, right?" That last part was mumbled quietly enough that Lysithea couldn't hear."

"Hey!" A voice from inside Byleth's head shouted back at him. "You better not be thinking of using up my divine pulses for such a trivial occasion!"

Byleth then led Lysithea to her spot across from his and began unpacking the cookies and sandwiches.

"Aw, those are my favourite cookies!" Lysithea pointed out.

"I'll never forget your favourite cookies Lysithea," Byleth said endearingly as he gently touched her right hand and placed a cookie in it. "You're by far the most important person in my life after all."

The two of them began to talk to each other about some of the events that had happened while they were away from each other while digging into the food, and despite Byleth's attempt to have them both eat the sandwiches first by placing them closer to Lysithea, the cookies were the first to vanish.

Just after the two of them had finished all of the food, however, Lysithea brought up the one thing that Byleth had forgotten about after they reunited.

"Do you have that second letter I told you to bring?" She asked.

Byleth pulled out the letter, his curiosity coming back in full force, and showed her that the seal was still intact.

"Please open it now." Lysithea requested with a wavering smile on her, while she tried to press back some happy tears.

Byleth gingerly broke the seal and opened up the letter, which contained a single sentence. When his eyes happened upon the sentence however, Byleth covered his mouth and found it impossible to choke back the streaming tears protruding from the outer corner of both eyes. This sentence, as simple as it was, brought forth the most emotion Byleth had ever displayed in his life, and through the shock of it all, Byleth was speechless; his eyes still fixated on the sentence in the letter. A couple seconds of stunned silence passed by before Byleth leapt to his feet, ran around the picnic blanket and knelt at Lysithea's side. His head collapsed into her chest and his arms were thrown around her body. In grasping hold of her, the letter which was now soaked with tears had see-sawed down, letter side up. The words on the paper read

"I've finally relinquished the Ordelia territory."

Byleth's tears were proud ones, and Lysithea in return wrapped her arms around Byleth, her cheeks flushed red and the two of them stayed in that position, motionless for another few moments of silence. Lysithea eventually wiped the tears off of Byleth's face and then her own. Byleth then sat down next to her, finally calm and able to draw steady breaths,and said "Now we can finally become married for real. We've waited and played pretend for five long years, but now that your wish has finally come to pass, I think it's time for me to give you this second ring that I have kept in this pocket the whole time to signify our union as one couple through marriage." Byleth reached into the left side lower pocket and pulled out a box and opened it in front of Lysithea. What she saw was a silver ring, and nothing more.

"The lack of stones embedded in it is to symbolize that there are now no burdens upon you and no crests embedded in you, just like this ring here. I wish for you to wear this, Lysithea. Will you marry me?"

Lysithea shed a few more happy tears. She hugged Byleth tightly and their lips briefly touched each others. She then held out her right hand for Byleth to slip the ring onto her pinky finger next to the first ring he had given her.

After he had slipped it on, they kissed once more and Lysithea, for the second time leaned her head on Byleth's shoulder. The two of them talked for a while, and long after the sun had set and the stars twinkled in the sky, Byleth stood up and started to pack away all the supplies he pulled out for the picnic into the basket he used to stow the food in. Lysithea joined him in packing it up and Byleth held the wicker basket in his right hand.

The two exchanged a few words, and decided they should head back to Byleth's room, which, from now on, would have one more resident. Hand in hand, Byleth and Lysithea began to walk back down the short, worn in path, but before they ducked back through the crack in the wall, Byleth turned his head to look back at the spot they just recently sat in and thought to himself. "Now I have two very special reasons to come back here. The memories we made here are invaluable, and be willing to die to protect them. This really, truly is a night to remember."

Fin.

Link to a Bysithea discord I run with many other AO3 Bysithea writers, artists and fans: https://discord.gg/8ZjK5zk

We're dedicated to our ship and we want to share our home and creativity with everyone here as well. With writers like myself, SuperbOwl, Kenji1104 and Hazeel and artists like dannex009, we offer a lot of conversation about the ship, the behind the scenes prompts, funny dialogue and even teasers to what is to come in our stories. Drop by and chat with us some time, just tell the others you discovered the server through me. (I'm kidding about that last part). <3