Noon peered down weathered walls and cobbled paths, casting brilliant light that scattered across every surface. The air was thick and heady, breezes blocked by broad walls, and any sane person would have long sought respite with the black-clad youths that clustered inside. The main halls were empty, and the market silenced by the dull buzz of boredom and bugs.

The scholars and professors of this esteemed castle, this Garreg Mach Monastery, felt it wise to grant this day to their students. The semester had not yet begun, and the house leaders were away on a simple mission. It became a quiet day, a day of rest before their education began in earnest.

For the Gamekeeper of Garreg Mach, it was an excellent opportunity to go fishing in the pond.

It was always a good day to go fishing in the pond.

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Stomp stomp stomp thud

The Gamekeeper, who had placed a straw hat over his eyes to protect them from the Sun, grunted. "Only one person stomps like that on my docks."

That one person grunted noncommittally. "And how would you know that? I have never visited the fishing pond."

"Seteth, then," the Gamekeeper nodded, a jerky and awkward motion shaped to prevent the hat from moving too much, "Fishing isn't great today. Come back tomorrow."

"You-" Seteth let out a sigh. "No matter. If you want to keep your job, pointless as it may be, you have an appointment with Lady Rhea tomorrow at noon."

"Oh, so this is business," the Gamekeeper mumbled, sitting up and fixing his hat on his head. "Is this about the boat?"

Now that he could see Seteth, he decided this wasn't about the boat, but he'd already asked and he couldn't really do much about it. Dressed in his immaculate robes of the Church of Seiros, he looked quite out of place on the rough wooden dock. It was debatable that the man even knew how to fish.

Seteth pinched the bridge of his nose, letting out his second sigh of the conversation, before looking long and hard at the boat. "Clovis," he said flatly, "This pond is not large enough for a boat."

Clovis frowned, looking down at the boat he was in before shrugging. "So it is about the boat. I had you all wrong. It's definitely large enough for a boat, though. I can tell because I'm in the boat, you see."

"Where did you even-" the green-haired man narrowed his eyes, "We're on a mountain, Clovis."

Once again, Clovis gestured at the pond. "We also have a pond."

Seteth threw up his hands and turned to walk away. "Why did Lady Rhea even hire you? She is usually more reasonable than this."

Clovis shrugged, laying back down in his boat. "Maybe she just had a good feeling about me or something. I'll have to ask her tomorrow."

"During your appointment, hopefully?"

Nodding sagely, Clovis fiddled with his fishing rod. "Of course. Can't forget about the appointment at... breakfast, right?"

This time, Seteth stormed away, stomping on the dock as he went. "I'm going to speak to someone more reasonable now, thank you very much."

Not quite sure what he meant, Clovis waved before returning to his important work of napping.

{}{}{}{}{}

Stomp stomp stomp thud

The dock rattled slightly, sending ripples through the water. Clovis watched them for a moment before shrugging. "Only one person stomps like that on my docks."

"Clovis, I-" Seteth paused, conveniently having spoken just enough for Clovis to figure out who it was. "Do you just say that to everyone?"

"No, just the ones that stomp on my docks."

There was a pause, and Clovis swished his fishing line through the water. He swung his legs, wondering if there was something he should be doing right now.

Seteth sat down next to him with a thud, hands tight against the wood of the dock. "Lady Rhea hired a new professor today."

"Ah. Who was it?"

"Some mercenary called Byleth."

Clovis tilted his head. "Never heard of 'em. They from the Empire?"

"No. We know almost nothing about him, and he has no qualifications other than being good with a sword." He punctuated his statement by rapping his fingers quite violently against the deck.

"That seems unreasonable, if you ask me."

Giving Clovis a long, hard look, Seteth nodded. "Do you have any extra space in that boat of yours?"

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Author's Note:

Welcome to 'Go Set a Fisherman', a series(?) of oneshots set in Fódlan to keep my creativity from running away from me. These will crop up whenever I'm stumped on ATWAS for a bit, or if I just need to write something related to Three Houses so I can get back to working on other things.

Anyways, enjoy.

Cheers,

Narwhal Lord