"Sure anytime! I...seem to have inherited both my mother love for
the tales...and I remember my mother telling me that she was good
friends with your father...and how he scoffed at those tales..." He
chuckled. "But putting that aside, I'd love to talk about it. I
hope to become a proper knight someday, whether that needs me to
keep working on my spearmanship or to learn magic!"
Leaf then turned to Clarisse. "Yeah! I think I'll be Blue Lions!
Though...apparently I look somewhat like the Hero of Daphnel...so I
may accidentally end up in the Golden Deers...if they knew my
mother though, they should know which house I'll be in!"
"Yeah, I think I remember her saying the same things about him..."
Clarisse answered Iola, then continued. "I guess you two're going
to be Housemates, huh?"
Her face distorted slightly as she tried to mimic her mother usual
expression. "Please, go easy on me when we'll fight House versus
House!" Clarisse exclaimed in a tone of mock preoccupation.
"But I need to try my best too!" Iola suddenly looked very
determined, lifting both fists up to shoulder level. "So no
promises. Blue Lions might just be the house you'll have to watch
out for!" Shooting a coy wink towards Leaf, Iola giggled happily to
himself. This place was already starting to be much more fun and
Iola was looking forward to being friends with Clarisse and Leaf.
"Of course, however....there's no quarter from me. But you'll get a
fair fight that's for certain." Leaf smiled. "Can't let down my
mother who was a paragon knight after all. So watch out when we
reach the Wyvern Moon! We'll pull out all the stops!"
"You'll most certainly be the first I'll look for on the
battlefield when the time comes..." Her quasi-angelic smile became
almost a sneer as the words left her lips. To complete the picture,
Clarisse flexed her bicep, pumping it so as to make it look as big
as possible.
She surveyed her two new friends' reaction, before erupting into
laughter. "Nah, just kidding. But I'd love to test my strength
against your skill"
Laughing along with Clarisse, Iola couldn't help but realized that
Clarisse had bigger biceps than him. Although that wasn't alarming,
he really was a skinny person, it scared him slightly. But he did
have the advantage on a mount so he hoped that would give him the
edge he needed if they ever did cross weapons.
He also started laughing. Leaf, knew he didn't really stand a
chance at the moment, as he heard tales of Hilda from his mother
and he knew that Clarisse had her strength. He was hoping to
eventually be a flier or get a mount, so that he'd have a little of
an edge.
Clarisse noticed everybody else was gathering infront of the gates,
and someone passing through. "Huh? Looks like someone's coming out
of the Monastery. Let's go see!"
Having said that, she gently tugged at her friends' arms while
moving to join the rest of the people awaiting the beginning of the
study year at Garreg Mach.
Standing on tippy toes to try and see, Iola nearly fell over but
caught himself in time. Getting dragged along by Clarisse hurt more
than he expected but he followed along like a lost puppy. Clarisse
seemed to know the layout of the place better than he did
Leaf stumbled a little bit but he followed Clarisse and Iola. He
looked around eagerly at the scenery around him while he was being
guided by his friends.
The soldier started speaking:"Greetings, everyone, and welcome!
I've got something to report! Preparations to house this year's
students at the Officer's Academy are complete! Tomorrow Prof...
ehr, Archbishop Byleth will address all of you with a speech, and
the study year will officially begin. But tonight the wait is over,
and you'll be able to sleep in our dorms!" He then gestured for the
gate to be opened fully, and led students and visitors inside.
In the back of the group, Clarisse almost dragged her friends
along, excited once again, as she was when she left her home.
Leaf tried to keep his balance as he was pulled in by Clarisse. He
was excited to hear of what Archbishop Byleth had to say, hearing
of their exploits with other figures such their parents
"Byleth... Byleth.... Where have I heard that name before?" Iola
muttered to himself thinking. The name sounded awfully familiar and
he thought he had heard his father speak that name before. However
the significance completely escaped his mind.
As visitors and knights moved away from the students, due to the
dorms being far from the knights' barracks and the guest rooms, the
students started to sort themselves, especially the nobles,
sticking to those of the same House.
Clarisse herself was drawn to the slowly forming group of Golden
Deer, recognizing a couple people she knew from the social events
her mother dragged her to when she was little.
Jerked out of his thoughts by leaf, Iola stumbled after him
confused. "Eh?! Leaf? W-what's going on?" He stammered a little
slow to the uptake that they were separating into their houses.
Having not grown up as a noble gave Iola very little exposure to
other people his age and status.
Flushing in embarrassment that he got worked up over something so
trivial, Iola simply nodded his head avoiding meeting Leaf's gaze.
"Yeah, I think so." He confirmed, thinking back on the conversation
he had with his father before he left and if he ever mentioned what
house Iola was supposed to be in.
Clarisse was speaking to a couple people she knew, but sometimes
she'd look over the shoulder to check what her two Lion friends
were doing. A couple girls noticed this and started teasing her
loudly, assuming she had a crush on at least one of the two.
Clarisse didn't say anything, but glared at the two and balled up
her fists...
Leaf laughed as he light put an arm around Iola. "No need to be so
embarrassed, right?" In a way, to those who knew his mother, he was
different in his own way