I recently finished my first playthrough for this game, and Hilda quite unexpectedly captured my heart. Be warned, this fic will follow my Golden Deer playthrough, and contain spoilers for that route.

I hope you enjoy this fic.

Day 13, Great Tree Moon, Imperial Year 1180

Dear Brother,

I must say that the Officer's Academy is much more eventful than you led me to believe. In the first two weeks, not only have I been forced to camp - outside! And on the ground! - but the joint drills held for the combined houses at the start of the year did not go smoothly in the least.

The first combined drill, where we learned how to pitch tents and pack bags… it was beyond tedious, and so were my new housemates. I must admit that I fear for the future of the Alliance at this rate.

In my house we have most notably Lorenz of House Gloucester, Claude of House Riegan, Marianne of House Edmund, and Lysithea of House Ordelia. We also have three commoners of decent skill, Leonie, Ignatz, and Raphael. All of whom performed better at most of these tasks than us nobles, I must admit. As a result, we performed a bit better than the other classes, so at least there's that.

As for what I think of each of them…

Lorenz Hellman Gloucester seems to believe very strongly in the right of nobility to rule and is incredibly pious as well. I don't really take offense to any of that, but I do find him difficult to be around when he's always talking about it. Before I came here, I had heard tell of people who only join the Officer's Academy in order to find a suitable spouse, but prior to meeting Lorenz, I had falsely assumed all such people were women. I need to apologize to the women of the world for my erroneous belief.

Marianne von Edmund… she is the opposite of Lorenz in every way. I don't think she's spoken more than a few words to anyone so far. Either she's chronically shy… or she's hiding something. Out of them all, she's the easiest to deal with, though.

First impression of Lysithea von Ordelia is that she and I are complete opposites. I have yet to see her remove her nose from a book since we arrived here, and I've heard that she's already checked out most of the magic tomes the library has to offer. A very diligent person all around. We are definitely not going to get along, I can feel it.

Leonie Pinelli, one of the commoners in my house, scored the highest on all of the drills so far. She's another super capable person. But as long as it gets us ahead of the other houses, I don't have any complaints about her.

Ignatz Victor. Second son of a merchant family. He seems pretty shy, but not to the same degree as Marianne. I'm not sure he fully wants to be here, if I'm being honest.

Then there's Raphael Kirsten. He's huge! When I first met him, I thought he was a bear. He's … very loud. But also very strong and earnest.

Which leads me to the man we've chosen to be our House Leader… Claude von Riegan. He seems to be very astute, if a bit flippant. Something about him simultaneously makes you want to trust him and also makes you certain that that's a bad idea. Either way… he worked just as hard as the commoners during these exercises, and I've glimpsed stacks of books in his room. There's at least some substance behind his snark, but only time will tell how deeply it's buried. Regardless, this is the man we've chosen to represent us, and he does seem to be taking that seriously.

As for the other houses, I can't say that I know any of their members particularly well yet. The Black Eagles chose Edelgard von Hresvelg as their Head of House, and the Blue Lions chose Dimitri Alexandre Blaiddyd. So with the addition of Claude, all three houses this year have the future rulers of their countries leading them. If nothing else, it's going to be an interesting year.

We have one more joint drill before each house is assigned a professor. Once that happens, I will let you know who is assigned to the Golden Deer. I'm hoping it's someone who can recognize my value… off the battlefield entirely. If nothing else, these early drills have convinced me that this is not the life for me at all! If the professors can't recognize me for the delicate flower I am, then there's no hope for this place.

When you had described your time here to me, I had honestly thought that it wouldn't be this work intensive.

Speaking of work, how are you doing? Are the Almyrans keeping you busy? I haven't heard much news all the way out here in Garreg Mach Monastery, so for all I know we could have been invaded and I'd be none the wiser.

It's been a while since I've seen you face to face. You didn't even come to see me off before I left for the monastery! Don't forget to take a break every once in a while, or else you'll make yourself sick again. And do not lie to me about the amount of work you're taking on. I know how much you don't like to disappoint anyone. However, you'll do no one any good if you collapse, especially on the battlefield. So please take care of yourself, and don't allow Father to pressure you into things that will hurt you. I will be devastated if that happens, and you don't want to disappoint your dear sister, do you? Who would I write letters to, then? Keep that in mind before you tell me a half-truth.

Here's hoping that the rest of the year is easier than this.

Love you always, even if you are a big fat liar.

Love,

Hilda