[At hearing the voice, Byleth's shoulders briefly hitched upwards in a startled twitch - even with Diluc's best attempts at telegraphing his approach, he had taken Byleth off guard.

But he recovered swiftly. When he turned towards Diluc, his expression was meticulously blank, as if he hadn't just spent the past five minutes brooding by his lonesome. Yet, he wasn't resentful of Diluc's intrusion - on the contrary, there seemed to be a hint of relief about him, as if the distraction was more than welcome. Left alone, Byleth's thoughts grew dark indeed.]

In a way. The gathering's current topic of discussion is... difficult for me, so I withdrew.

[He looked down at the Sunbeam held in his palm, before quietly stowing it away into his satchel that hung at his hip. He shouldn't waste his time moping. Jeralt wouldn't want that.]

Are you new here? I don't believe we've met before.