[ Hilda keeps that stupid, rueful smile on her face as Claude's answer comes in an attempt to, what? Convince him that she was resigned to the fate of other youngest daughters before her? Convince herself? Hope that he would try and convince her or fight for her otherwise because that's what happened in the storybooks that she loved? Then again that last thought isn't fair. This isn't a fairytale or grand love story - what they had had barely been resuscitated, had been seconds from drawing its dying breath in fact. And maybe he was bound by his own golden shackles too. She didn't know what Almyran court life consisted of despite now knowing that his mother had spurned Fodlan customs for something she deserved, for someone she loved.
She envied Tiana, she realized, this woman she had never met and probably would never meet. Not for her status as Queen, but rather her willingness to take what she wanted in spite of everything telling her she couldn't. For her fearlessness even in the moments she might not have been. Maybe another version of Hilda would have. But maybe that version of her had died on that bridge. In the seconds of silence that stretch after Claude's response fades, Hilda's smile tightens just a hair. In spite of Hilda's best efforts to move forward from what they had gone through, shaking her age-old habit of trying still clung to her skin like a bad perfume. Granted, perfume faded, but she worried that this was something that had already permeated into her skin and her bones, was too much a part of her to remove it.
But once again this isn't about her, she reminds herself. Everything Claude had told her had only kicked up a maelstrom of more questions. Before she can ask one of many however, he speaks up again. Her nose wrinkles and her brow furrows, allowing herself to be pulled along by what's clearly meant to teasingly provoke her. ]
What are you talking about? I never got in a fight with an instructor ever. Not even at Garreg Mach. Rumours like that could really hurt a girl's reputation, you know.
[ Lightly she shoves him in protest but never lets go of his hand before lapsing into silence again, her question from before still on the tip of her tongue. Would it bruise her already tender ego for knowing? Or is this something she simply has to be practical about because of how closely guarded he had kept this secret all this time? She chews on the inside of her cheek. But if she doesn't ask it now, will she ever have enough guts to ask it again? ]
Who else knows about all of this?
[ In other words: Did their roommate/Claude's lover know? Anyone else in Fodlan? And in less words: Who did she have to keep this from? Not that she would ever betray his trust, but her practical side was ignoring her wounded self in a rare display of selflessness. ]
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She envied Tiana, she realized, this woman she had never met and probably would never meet. Not for her status as Queen, but rather her willingness to take what she wanted in spite of everything telling her she couldn't. For her fearlessness even in the moments she might not have been. Maybe another version of Hilda would have. But maybe that version of her had died on that bridge. In the seconds of silence that stretch after Claude's response fades, Hilda's smile tightens just a hair. In spite of Hilda's best efforts to move forward from what they had gone through, shaking her age-old habit of trying still clung to her skin like a bad perfume. Granted, perfume faded, but she worried that this was something that had already permeated into her skin and her bones, was too much a part of her to remove it.
But once again this isn't about her, she reminds herself. Everything Claude had told her had only kicked up a maelstrom of more questions. Before she can ask one of many however, he speaks up again. Her nose wrinkles and her brow furrows, allowing herself to be pulled along by what's clearly meant to teasingly provoke her. ]
What are you talking about? I never got in a fight with an instructor ever. Not even at Garreg Mach. Rumours like that could really hurt a girl's reputation, you know.
[ Lightly she shoves him in protest but never lets go of his hand before lapsing into silence again, her question from before still on the tip of her tongue. Would it bruise her already tender ego for knowing? Or is this something she simply has to be practical about because of how closely guarded he had kept this secret all this time? She chews on the inside of her cheek. But if she doesn't ask it now, will she ever have enough guts to ask it again? ]
Who else knows about all of this?
[ In other words: Did their roommate/Claude's lover know? Anyone else in Fodlan? And in less words: Who did she have to keep this from? Not that she would ever betray his trust, but her practical side was ignoring her wounded self in a rare display of selflessness. ]