@ahollowgrave [re: this post] it is a short time yeah 😭
part of it is their mutual responsibilities: koana is tied to tural with his dawnservant duties, and d’alia was only ever going to be around temporarily because of her wol duties and wanderlust, which they both knew on some level deep down. he could ask her to stay together with him, something she’s been wanting from someone for a long time, but there’s some mutual hesitance as well.
d’alia has never gotten over sid, and until she returns to ishgard and talks things through with him, since their issue was one of not communicating with each other (d’alia assuming what’s best for him, sid not speaking up that he wants her to stay with him regardless of everything else in her life and how far she goes), she thinks she’s ruined that for good by pushing him away and leaving. and I don’t think she’s talked about any of it to koana while he’s aware there’s history she’s emotionally clinging to still, even if he doesn’t doubt how she feels about him, so there’s a sid-shaped ghost in the relationship that prevents them from really going anywhere as a couple, too.
it’s ultimately tragic to me because they’ve had so much meaningful growth as people with each other and could have a lasting relationship if they tried, but. koana is the one to take a step back with both the political weight on his shoulders and barrier between them. (…..conversely I’m trying not to think about the AU idea that’s been haunting me where there’s an oops we’re parents situation that leads to d’alia actually opening up to koana and moving past her residual sid feelings, and koana actually asking her to stay, so she remains in tural, and two adopted people with complicated parental feelings get to build a family. :faceinhands:).
ANYWAY! as for the timing of the relationships (leaving out the ONS hook-ups), I’ve been operating under the rough (and often-shifting lol) timeline that including patches ARR is 2 years, HW is half of a year, STB is 1.5 years, SHB is a few months, ENW is a really intense year, and DT is less than a year, so we’d have:
k’lyhia: a bit less than 2 years
sid: a little more than 2 years but in love with each other for much longer
koana: several months but less than a year
and then once d’alia and sid are able to sort out their communication issues, it’s basically it for them. they’re each other’s person who understands them best, who’s seen the darkest and lowest parts of each other without flinching away from them, and they’ll always be there for each other. they make like a private decision to be committed for the rest of their lives, but they don’t need the ishgardian clergy or anyone to approve - they have rings to symbolize their promise to each other, refer to each other as wife and husband, and that’s that. but it wouldn’t be them if they announced it either so it’s an elopement in essence, too.
