The rain outside was subduing. Mark watched it from the balcony of his room as the rain lightened up from pounding to drizzling. His mind was swirling with a thousand thoughts at once, all of them focused on Cordelia. The incident that occurred during training a week ago (highlighted in the previous chapter) was still swimming vividly in his mind. He had been close to her, closer than he had ever been. Inches from her face, he got to see the stars that hid in her eyes and smelled the sweetness and flowers that hung about her. Even in the midst of combat, that scent took dominance over blood and sweat. Now, with the scent of rain finding him and overpowering the smell in his mind, he shook the thoughts from his head. What was he doing? A guy like him and Cordelia. Everyone knew that she liked Chrom, what chance did he have? He came back inside from his perch and pulled a book from his shelf. He sat down and began to flip through the pages, searching for the spot he left off on. Before he began to read, he looked out the open door once more to see the sun peeking out of the clouds. A rainbow began to shimmer in the sky, cutting across the doorway and heralding the sun's brighter entrance.

They hadn't spoken in a week, and Cordelia had felt like it was subconsciously intentional on the part of both parties. Once the rain had stopped, she made her way to the stables and found Catria. Bringing her pegasi out the stable doors and mounting her, she flew off away from the castle and towards the forming rainbow. He loved to ride right after a rainfall; the air had a great feeling against her face, and the skies were typically clear of any birds at this time. She was hoping that the ride would clear her of whatever this unexplainable feeling she was dealing with.

After training last week, she had gone to the medical station to get her arm and leg healed. While she was there, the cleric had pointed out her flush face and heartbeat. Cordelia had felt them, but she assumed it was from the exhausting training. Now, days later, she continued to feel them occasionally. Whenever she was eating and caught Mark out of the corner of her eye, talking to Ricken or Stahl or whoever it was, her heart began to skip beats again. What had he done to her? Was there a poison he put on his weapon during their fight? Was it a spell? She flew through the air, banking through the clouds and sweeping low around mountains. What was wrong with her? It was Mark's doing, though, and it was clear she had to get to the bottom of it. She pushed Catria on as she came back to the capital, the rainbow still strong in the sky. She found the balcony of Mark's room on one of the palace spires, and dismounted her steed, goading him to return to the stables. The door was open and the tactician was sitting inside, eyes on the open book. She strode inside and pulled the book away from the sitting man. "What did you do?!"

"Wh-what?" Mark sputtered back, Cordelia's sudden presence startling him, considering he had just gotten thoughts of the woman out of her mind. "Where did you come from?"

"I know you did something to me back when we were training!" The red haired woman shouted, brandishing the book like a weapon. "Admit it!"

"I…I didn't…what?" Mark was still confused about what she was talking about. What, did she mean when he hit her? This was way too confusing.

"Fine, don't admit it. But I'll figure it out." She huffed, before slamming the book into his lap and walked off. She shut the door hard behind him, making the trinkets the tactician kept on his wall. He sat there, still a bit in shock at what had just happened. He was staring forward, the rainbow outside shimmering as he stood up. His mind was swimming now, with the shouting and the loud bang from Cordelia slamming the door. But one thought still sat in his mind; her eyes were still shining like waves of the ocean.