Chapter Text
"Ah, yes, the baron of house Ochs. I know him well. He and I met at the gala held last year for Duke Gerth, another good friend of mine," Ferdinand pontificated.
Cora nodded along as she sipped her cup of Seiros Tea. Ferdinand talked like an Enbarr fountain: constantly gushing. It was no wonder that he knew nothing of substance, she thought. Any secret he might be privy to, he'd spill in the purpose of name-dropping within the hour.
She spent the rest of the morning listening to him recite his list of high connections. She nodded politely, careful not to interrupt. She kept the kettle at just the right temperature and observed every formality of tea time. Some might find it to be a pain, but she enjoyed it. Tea was perhaps her greatest pleasure in the world. It was the second best way to get to know someone and start worming her way into their secrets. The first, of course, was stalking them in the shadows and spying on them when they thought they weren't being watched. That, too, was on her list of favorite activities.
The morning bell rang. "Ah, time for class," Ferdinand declared. "This has been a most refreshing tea time, thank you again."
Cora plastered a fake smile on her face. "The pleasure is all mine, my lord. Why don't you go on ahead to class, and I will clean up here."
As he left, she held back a sigh. She would have little to report back to Edelgard from this tea time. But she had other, more promising prospects lined up for later in the day. Before that, she had another matter to attend to. There was a very specific kind of tea she needed to find, and only one person who might know where to find it. Now was as good a time as any to make an introduction.
After cleaning up the tea, she took a meandering stroll around the officer's academy, spent a moment loitering at a scenic overlook, and then stopped to smell some flowers. All this convinced her well enough that she wasn't being followed. As she turned the corner towards the dormitory she stepped aside into the shadow of the building. She glanced around. No one was looking.
This should work well enough…
And she melted into the shadows, a magic that always gave her a thrill when she used it. She danced, incorporeally, through the shadows and in through a secret passageway in the wall, down dank stone tunnels, and into the ancient ruins below the monastery.
"Abyss".
She had been here before and already knew of a good secluded spot to resume a physical form without being noticed. She went to great lengths to assure that she never bet at a table she hadn't rigged in advance, and the officer's academy was no different. She had been sneaking about in the shadows, listening in and learning the major players for the better part of a year before her official arrival. And there was one major player she needed to make introductions to.
"Ah, there you are," she said to a purple haired young man as she stepped out of the shadows.
He stood and turned. He looked her up and down skeptically. "What's a cute little bird like you doing down here? Based on your uniform… Academy students don't belong in Abyss. You must be lost."
"Nah," she said, casually tossing her long dark hair aside. "I've been looking for you."
"I don't think you understand who you're talking to," he said.
"Maybe an introduction is in order, then. Cora Leigh," she said with a curtsey.
"Never heard of you."
"Good," she said with a pleasant smile. "I wouldn't have it any other way."
"Well, 'Cora', you'd better scamper back to where you came from. Innocent little children like yourself only get chewed up and spit out here."
She laughed. Of course he thought she was some innocent little girl. She'd cultivated that image quite well. "Oh don't worry about me, Yuri."
He squinted at her, suspiciously.
"Yes, you didn't tell me your name, did you?" She said, a pleasant smile still plastered on her face. She didn't let it reach her eyes. Yuri had a reputation. He was sharp. Clever. He would pick up exactly what she was putting down.
"I see now," he said slowly. "You're some noble brat who thinks she's a clever little sneak. Well, I'll only tell you one more time," he approached her, just close enough to be too close for comfort, just close enough to be threatening. "Quit playing edgy and go back to your little tea parties and choir practices. You're playing with fire here."
She smiled, unphased. "I am the fire…" she leaned in and whispered his name in his ear. Not Yuri. The one in the letters from his sweet little mama that she had seen while she was peering over his shoulders from the shadows.
She burst into shadows, barely dodging a blade. She had expected retribution, but not so swift. As she recomposed herself on the far end of the room from him, she examined the cut on her side. If she hadn't been so fast, it would have gone straight between her ribs to her heart.
He was good. She was ruffled. She never let herself get ruffled. She didn't like it at all. And now, he knew her little secret too.
He stared in shock. "What was that?"
She wiped the blood from her side. "Maybe I should have said I'm the shadows," she tried to laugh off her adrenaline rush. "Regardless, why don't we call it even? You keep my secret, I'll keep yours. No one knows about this little trick of mine, not even the ones who did it to me, and I'd rather keep it that way."
He glared at her. "Who are you and what do you want?" he growled.
"I told you already, I'm Cora. As for what I want, I'd… Well, I'd like to prevent an all-out war in Fódlan." Cora hadn't been so straightforward and honest in ages. "I know you look out for the people here, and war wouldn't be good for them."
He glared, knife still drawn.
"To that end, I thought I should introduce myself. You might see me sneaking around down here from time to time. Or, you know, you might not see me. Regardless, I wanted you to know I don't mean any harm. Quite the opposite, really. And who knows, we might even be able to come up with a… mutually beneficial business relationship? If you ever need to find me, come look up on the surface. I might be at a little tea party or choir practice."
She paused. "Oh, and while I'm here, I'm looking for some Almyran pine."