For much of his life, he's survived based on his ability to read others and to shift accordingly, to be what they want him to be, or need him to be, or to make the concerted effort to be everything but. It's always a little unsettling to him when he has no view into what the other person is thinking. It would do him little good here anyway; he's already made up his mind to be honest for this conversation, and trying to say only what would placate Marianne most certainly wouldn't be that. (What would that even be? I'm not like the rest of them, maybe. I'm still from Fodlan. I'm still more like you than I am like them.) ]
In Almyra, they think about as highly of people from Fodlan as Fodlan thinks of Almyrans. But unlike in the Leicester Alliance, in Almyra, the circumstance of my birth is public knowledge. The situation wasn't ideal.
[ He had come to Fodlan for a reason, head full of ideals, heart full of hope, but that wasn't the only reason. If it was, he wouldn't have crept away in the dead of night like he had, ill-prepared and with nary a word. He had left, in part, because staying there even one more day had felt intolerable. ]
So I wanted to see Fodlan for myself. To meet its people, to understand its culture, so that maybe by experiencing both sides, I would be better equipped to find a way to end this conflict between us. [ He shrugs, a little uncomfortable. He feels foolish now, for having expected Fodlan to be any different in its treatment of outsiders, for having thought he could have just spent a quiet couple years at school and slip back home. ] I wasn't expecting to stay for long, but once war was declared and Grandfather died... they're my people too. I couldn't just leave.
[ He will. Once the war is either over, or proves itself to be an unwinnable battle. But not a moment sooner.]
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For much of his life, he's survived based on his ability to read others and to shift accordingly, to be what they want him to be, or need him to be, or to make the concerted effort to be everything but. It's always a little unsettling to him when he has no view into what the other person is thinking. It would do him little good here anyway; he's already made up his mind to be honest for this conversation, and trying to say only what would placate Marianne most certainly wouldn't be that. (What would that even be? I'm not like the rest of them, maybe. I'm still from Fodlan. I'm still more like you than I am like them.) ]
In Almyra, they think about as highly of people from Fodlan as Fodlan thinks of Almyrans. But unlike in the Leicester Alliance, in Almyra, the circumstance of my birth is public knowledge. The situation wasn't ideal.
[ He had come to Fodlan for a reason, head full of ideals, heart full of hope, but that wasn't the only reason. If it was, he wouldn't have crept away in the dead of night like he had, ill-prepared and with nary a word. He had left, in part, because staying there even one more day had felt intolerable. ]
So I wanted to see Fodlan for myself. To meet its people, to understand its culture, so that maybe by experiencing both sides, I would be better equipped to find a way to end this conflict between us. [ He shrugs, a little uncomfortable. He feels foolish now, for having expected Fodlan to be any different in its treatment of outsiders, for having thought he could have just spent a quiet couple years at school and slip back home. ] I wasn't expecting to stay for long, but once war was declared and Grandfather died... they're my people too. I couldn't just leave.
[ He will. Once the war is either over, or proves itself to be an unwinnable battle. But not a moment sooner.]