Jeritza portalled into Byleth's room at the Monastery, with the sleeping girl held tight in his arms. He crossed to the bed and laid her down gently, pulling a blanket over her and pressing a lingering kiss to her brow. She looked so oddly peaceful in her slumber, totally unaware of the problems that were going to be served up to her when she awoke. The mere thought of it couldn't help but bring a scowl to Jeritza's face.

Once he was finally confident that Byleth was well settled, he wrote a brief note: DO NOT LEAVE THIS ROOM, which he pinned to the door in case she happened to awaken in his absence. He poured out a glass of fresh water and placed it on her bedside table and then ported to his own room.

After taking a moment to freshen himself up and change his clothes, Jeritza made his way along to Seteth's office and knocked very quietly on the door, letting himself in when a weary voice responded.

Seteth appearance and demeanour was frazzled, but when he looked up, and the realisation that his visitor was Jeritza washed over him, his face became almost pitiably hopeful.

"You're back!" Seteth managed a weak smile. "Is Byleth…"

"Byleth is in her room," Jeritza informed him softly. "There were some… complications on the mission."

"Tell me," Seteth demanded, a frown immediately overtaking his features.

Jeritza waved away the request impatiently. "Byleth is sleeping. One of those unwakable sleeps. She took some damage from a beast that the Gautier lad's brother turned into…"

"What?" Seteth ran his hand through his hair nervously. His eyes narrowed. "Is she alright?" He asked. "Do we need to get Manuela to see to her?"

Jeritza shrugged, his expression worried. "Linhardt seemed to think that she just requires rest like the last time. The beast was apparently powered in some way by the relic that the man had stolen, so the wounds are unusual and are not healing quite as fast as expected."

"A demonic beast?" Seteth half rose from behind his desk.

"A good way to describe it from all accounts." Jeritza scowled. "It was apparently slain twice before the third time actually put it down, and the man returned. Dead obviously."

"Could you take me to Byleth?" Seteth requested softly.

"She isn't likely to be conscious," Jeritza warned. "I know that you are eager to gain word about Flayn but…"

"I am." Seteth agreed unhappily. "But I would also like the chance to ascertain for myself whether Byleth requires further medical assistance. While it would be wise for no-one to learn that she is returned – I will not compromise her safety. I will bring Manuela into our confidence if necessary."

Jeritza nodded his agreement. "I am sure that Linhardt has called the situation correctly, but it would ease my mind if Byleth remained under the eye of a healer," Jeritza admitted. "Although if you preferred not to involve Manuela, my sister would be a relevant substitute."

Seteth looked up sharply. "Sister?" He inquired.

"Oh!" Jeritza looked annoyed at himself for his slip. He sighed. "Mercedes." He admitted quietly. "She is my half-sibling."

"I see." Thankfully Seteth appeared to take on the information at face value, his mind on other things. "Shall we get going then?" He asked.

Once Jeritza had transported them both of them back to Byleth's room, Seteth hurried to the bed and put a hesitant hand to her cheek.

"Byleth?" He murmured, seeking out any feeling of Sothis he could garner from the slumbering girl. "Jeritza, could you hand me the Sword of the Creator please." He added after a moment. "I wish to pray to Sothis, and the Sword in her hand will be a useful conduit to aid me."

"I… Okay." Jeritza sounded confused, but he hefted the blade as requested and brought it over to the bed. "Do you… ahh… need some privacy?" He asked. Church stuff really wasn't his area of expertise.

"Would you mind?" Seteth asked softly, biting back his relief at the offer.

"I will return in thirty minutes," Jeritza suggested. "Will that give you sufficient time to… pray?"

"Thank you." Seteth nodded.

Between then they arranged the sword onto the bed and Jeritza gently manipulated Byleth's hand around the hilt. At her touch, the blade flared into life.

"I will be back in a while then." Jeritza intoned gravely, portalling out to give Seteth some space.

As soon as he was alone, Seteth perched himself on Byleth's bed and reached for her free hand.

"Sothis?" He called urgently. "Can you hear me, Mother? I need your help." There was silence. Seteth, despite his own long neglect of his own magical abilities, was able to feel the build-up of power from the sword, a tingling of the essence of the Goddess but it wasn't particularly strong as yet.

Seteth's shoulders drooped. He knew that if Byleth's energy was depleted, it would take time for her to awaken, but that being back at the Monastery would speed the recovery. He had hoped that he might be able to raise Sothis though. Maybe reaching the Goddess would take less time.

"What the merry hell, Seteth?"

For a moment, Seteth honestly believed the weak voice that appeared to be coming from the sword itself was just his own wishful thinking.

"Sothis?" He asked querulously.

"We are sleeping!" The voice was not only extremely distant but also obviously irritated.

"Mother… Flayn has been abducted. I need your help!" Seteth pleaded, his voice breaking.

"What?" It was like the sword actually shuddered. "Put your hand on the hilt. Over Byleth's." The instruction was terse. Seteth did as he was bid and the shimmer increased. After a tense couple of minutes, a particularly incorporeal vision of Sothis appeared next to the bed.

"I'm drawing on you mainly now, boy." Sothis groaned. "If you start to feel faint or strange, you let me know."

"Take whatever you need." Seteth could feel a slight pull. It was a distinctly odd feeling. "This isn't doing Byleth any harm?" He asked worriedly.

"Well, she's having some mightily interesting dreams about you right now…" Sothis murmured, her brow creasing in concentration. "Shush." She commanded shortly. "I need to…" Her eyes closed and she cast herself out cautiously. Seteth inhaled a sharp breath as the pressure on his mind grew.

"Flayn is also dreaming," Sothis said softly. "Sweet dreams, she appears calm. Close too." She opened her eyes to stare piercingly at Seteth. "Are you sure she has been abducted?" She asked pointedly.

Seteth nodded firmly. "She disappeared, left a note to say she was eloping with Myles – but Myles was with Jeritza. The guard that was on Myles's shift has instead gone missing."

Sothis eyes narrowed. "I don't understand." She said gruffly.

"Mother – we believe she has been taken by our old enemy or someone of the same disciplines in magic for her blood."

"I see." Sothis shut her eyes again. "I can't tell you exactly where she is… only that she is here. If you move me to a new location…"

Seteth was beginning to feel like he was being stretched. It was very uncomfortable. "I repeat, will moving Byleth and trying to call on you again cause the girl any harm?"

"I don't know Seteth." Sothis scowled. "It's not like my memory isn't full of holes. I'm merely feeling my way here." She looked worriedly at the girl on the bed. "I wonder if you could feed her some of your energy…" She mused. "That would likely wake her sooner and be less of a strain on you too."

Seteth gogged. "Is that possible, Mother?" He asked incredulously.

Sothis shrugged. "I don't see why not. I am drawing on your love for Cethleann, and I am in no doubt that you love Byleth too. That is what you need to share with her."

"How?"

"Oh… how about you kiss her, dear," Sothis smirked innocently.

"Not this again." Seteth groaned. "She is unconscious. I am not…"

"You know the stories where the handsome prince awakens the fair maiden with a kiss?" Sothis chuckled. "You of all people should realise that there is some truth at the basis of every fable!"

"Mother…"

"Bah… just… I don't know… push some of your enormously repressed feelings her way. I suppose you are kind of holding her hand anyway." Sothis grouched, disappearing from view.

Seteth felt a release of pressure at the Goddess's departure. He took a deep breath and focused on Byleth instead.

"You will likely need to sleep too once you're done." Sothis's voice wafted from the sword after a short while. "Don't overextend yourself." She added.

Stubbornly, Seteth remained in position with Byleth right until Jeritza turned back up.

"Is everything alright?" Jeritza looked in concern at Seteth who was looking markedly more haggard than he had earlier.

"I believe I have managed to ascertain that Flayn is still somewhere within the Monastery grounds," Seteth said, attempting to sit up straight.

"Well, that is positive news."

"Yes. We will have to wait until Byleth has woken before we can garner any more information." Seteth stood up on wobbly legs. "Will you be staying with her tonight?" He asked.

"Yes," Jeritza replied.

"Well, and good." Seteth nodded. "Would you take me back to my office now?" He requested. "I believe I need some rest."

"You are looking like shit."

"Good to know." Seteth smiled. "We can remove the sword now also." He added.

"I will do that." Jeritza gently moved the man aside and staggered under the weight of the weapon, returning it to the weapons rack.

Once Seteth had been returned to his own rest, Jeritza grabbed some food for himself and some cold offerings to give to Byleth if she woke. When he got back to her room, Colin was waiting at the window to be let in. He looked obscenely proud of himself, as he liberated some of the cooked meat off the plate Jeritza had covered up for Byleth.

Not long after Colin showed up, Claude appeared at the back window, cracking the latch on the window and pulling himself into the room quickly.

"What's going on?" He demanded of Jeritza as the older man set the kettle on the hearth to make them both tea. "I looked for Seteth, but he's nowhere to be found."

Jeritza tsk'ed in annoyance. "I had hoped that he'd have spoken to Manuela before he collapsed." He grumbled and indicated Byleth. "Her bandages need to be changed. Linhardt gave me a poultice for them but since Seteth suggested bringing Manuela into his confidence so that she could look after Byleth – I haven't bothered grabbing any clean water or bandages."

Claude headed over to the bed and gazed down at the sleeping woman. "What happened?" He asked softly.

"Absolutely nothing good." Jeritza grimaced. He indicated the table and waved Claude into a seat. As soon as the tea was made, he talked the lad through the events at the Tower of Conard."

"So how did you leave it then?" Claude eventually asked after Jeritza had covered the events that had been reported by the students and Gilbert."

Jeritza took a long sip of his tea. "Myles offered to fly the Gautier lad to meet with his father and hand over the lance." He said. "Gilbert was gifted a couple of the Knights that Jeralt had brought along with him to help him with the clean-up effort. That left Jeralt taking the reins of getting the students safely back to the Monastery."

"They were all clued in on the situation here then?" Claude's brow rose.

"Didn't have much of a choice. It was hardly not gonna be noticed when Byleth disappeared, especially given the state she was in." Jeritza shrugged. "We didn't really consider that when we left." He admitted. "We were just intent on getting By back as quickly as possible."

"So, everyone knows that you were able to port her back then?" Claude's expression was almost feral.

With a sigh, Jeritza pulled the portal device off his belt and handed it over to Claude's eagerly awaiting hands. "The students were told I was lent this from the Church archive specifically to pick up Byleth. I don't think Linhardt believed it. With his ability in faith magic, he likely picked up the darker resonance from the rod."

"Linny's frighteningly clever." Claude nodded. "He's also very good at keeping secrets. As am I." He paused and took a mouthful of his drink. "I am assuming that Byleth knows you are the Death Knight," Claude said quietly. "What the fuck was all the crap at the Mausoleum all about?" He added.

Jeritza's eyes flicked coldly up to regard the student, silent for a long moment.

"It is good for you that Byleth is exceptionally fond of you von Riegan." He mused meanly. "The Death Knight really isn't someone you would want to mess with, after all."

"Oh, I get that." Claude was still appraising Jeritza with something akin to fascination rather than fear. "What I don't get is…" Claude sighed suddenly and flopped back in his seat. "What I don't get is just about everything." He admitted mournfully.

"I don't think that's exclusive to you," Jeritza mumbled ironically. "Byleth and Myles both learned I was the Death Knight but not until after the Mausoleum." He admitted. "He was only brought in to act as a fall-guy on the morning of the Rite. It's likely that those who attempted the theft of the Sword of the Creator were the same people who have taken Flayn. Blood mages."

"Seteth doesn't know this?" Claude asked, his brain working furiously.

"I don't think his mind is in the kind of shape right now to think about very much other than Flayn," Jeritza said flatly.

"And despite what she knows, you and Teach are kinda…" Claude's cheeks coloured at his line of enquiry.

"Romantically attached. Yes." Jeritza agreed.

"Bloody hell. She really is a glutton for punishment." Claude moaned. "No offence." He added quickly, realising he's spoken his thought aloud.

Jeritza chuckled at that. "None taken. I completely agree with your assessment. I have pointed out her idiocy on several occasions. She is an odd woman." He noted.

"You can say that again," Claude smirked. He sent Jeritza an appraising look. "She isn't stupid, though." He mused. "If she puts her trust in you, then I guess I have no reason not to. Within reason." He added.

"It hardly matters." Jeritza shrugged. "The important thing now is to keep Byleth safe and well until she wakes up and then find Flayn. Seteth prayed here tonight." He offered. "I don't understand the ins and outs of it, but once he was done, he seemed adamant that Flayn is alive and more importantly that we were right in thinking that she is still being held at the Monastery. What persuaded him of the fact I have no idea, but he appeared to truly believe whatever divine inspiration he received."

"Curiouser and bloody curiouser." Claude scowled. "I swear the secrets here have secrets of their own."

"You may well be right." Jeritza frowned.

There was silence for a moment as both men contemplated the bizarre situation.

"I'll sort you out the water and bandages you need to see to Teach," Claude said finally. "I guess all we can do at this stage is wait until she wakes."

"I guess so."

"Any idea when that is likely to be? Things will get interesting if the Black Eagles return before Flayn's located." Claude pointed out.

"Agreed, but we have no real idea of how long Byleth will need to recover from the wounds that relic cursed beast bestowed."

"And there is yet another oddity…" Claude sighed. "I'm beginning to think it might be safer to go and study in a war zone or something."

"You probably aren't far wrong." Jeritza groaned.