i have to say, something i love is how f'lhaminn is a deeply morally grey character who kinda very much sucks and is shown having an ambivalent relationship to the wol. she wasnt really developed as a character beyond "mother figure" and "caretaker" (especially if you haven't done the stormblood alchemist quests. still an insane move to have an entire, load-bearing lore revelation be hidden in the goddamn crafter quests. RESPECT!!), which was almost definitely not done on purpose, but makes an interesting point about motherhood and care: i.e that people take her and her labor for granted and do not care to see behind the facade. and that she kinda sucks. like i love that she used to be eorzea's biggest pop star and literally attempted a coup/terrorist attack and is sort of directly responsible for the calamity to begin with AND very much directly had minfilia's father killed (the spy who was about to confirm the meteor project and leak the intel to the alliance, no less!). and now she's playing the bereaved widow and valiant, self-sacrificing mother figure to the child she directly caused to be orphaned and a prime target for the empire, no less! it's soooooo juicy. i love it. no wonder thancred spent such a long time in a kind of weirdly guilt-based codependency/seduction dynamic with her. as far as we know, she never told him that *she* and her little group of co-conspirators were behind the *plan* to let the goobbue loose in the streets during that parade! like... girl! you let him stew in this guilt for years, to the point it had extra-dimensional ripples & fucked up a completely different girl one dimension away, and YOU DID NOT SAY SHIT! it's insane. i love her for that
it also explains why she's kinda bad at being a warm, caretaker figure. girl is an expop star in her 30's who's on the run from the state, technically. she's not a cottagecore mom, she's fuckign. pre-calamity taylor swift. there are conspiracy theories about her to this day. she FAKED HER DEATH! and now she has to play this borderline grandma cosplay role (not to say she doesnt sincerely love minfilia, that's absolutely not a question, but holy shit. holy shit). like the GUILT here is sooooo.
like... of course she dislikes the warrior of light. she's getting literal war flashbacks every time they enter the room. and they're doing what she wanted to do back in the day, but they're better at it, too! she is cold and prickly to them in the alchemist quests, and never truly opens up to them either. the forgotten bowl of stew post-Shiva trial is very representative of her feelings for the wol i think. and tbh i love it a lot. it's a lot more nuanced!!!! she's there for MINFILIA and MINFILIA only. she gets mad at you for not protecting her. she never truly forgives you because she cannot forgive herself. yessss girl!!!!!
The kitchen in the Rising Stones, unlike the one in Seventh Heaven, rarely saw much use. Between access to the bar and the scholars rarely thinking of making their own meals, they spend more time than not paying the chefs at the bar for a quick meal or two. Or asking F’lhaminn for a quick meal, if she was behind the counter in the Rising Stones.
Which made today a little different and very surprising when the Scions gathered in the main space to find the smells of spiced pork coming from their own kitchens.
“What’s this, now?” Y’shtola sniffed the air, frowning curiously. “Is F’lhaminn experimenting with new recipes?”
“Whatever it is, it smells good!” Yda bounced on her heels.
“Oh, this is hardly my doing.”
The Scions turned at the voice, and caught sight of the white-haired miqo’te woman sitting at one of the tables, drinking tea.
Yda turned her head back and forth between the kitchen and F’lhaminn. “If…not you, then who—”
“Cross asked for time to make a few things,” F’lhaminn explained. A small smile settled on her face. “It seems she missed a taste of home and wished to put her culinary skills to the test.”
“I wasn’t aware that she was capable of the culinary arts,” Thancred remarked. “What brought this on?”
“You can thank my mother!” A red-haired miqo’te head poked out from the kitchens, blue eyes bright. “She wanted me to have some skills to care for myself.”
Cross vanished back into the kitchen, leaving the Scions to exchange looks.
“It does make sense that an adventurer should be self-sufficient,” Papalymo remarked. “It should not be that surprising.” He turned and walked towards one of the tables and sat down. “Whether or not she intends to share is another matter entirely.”
“She does,” F’lhaminn replied. “She is currently making a feast of a meal.”
“A feast?” Yda licked her lips. “That sounds delicious!”
“What did we do to deserve this kind of attention?” Thancred asked. He walked up to the bar counter that F’lhaminn often worked behind — and the door behind it that led into the kitchens. “I have to wonder what drove you to do this.”
“Nothing drove me.” Cross poked her head out of the kitchen again. “Nothing except a desire for something delicious from home, I suppose. It’s been some time since I’ve eaten this in particular.”
“I can understand that,” Yda said, nodding. “I like eating foods that remind me of home, too. But…” She frowned, tilting her head. “You’re not that far from home, are you?”
“No, but…well, I’m not inclined to make frequent trips home right now.” Cross ducked back into the kitchen.
“Oh?” Yda tilted her head, frowning.
Papalymo sighed and shook his head. “Best not continue that conversation, I assume.”
“Why not?” Yda turned to look at the lalafell.
“I would assume her relationship with those she grew up around is not entirely friendly,” Y’shtola remarked. “Or, at the very least, that she did not leave with all of their blessings.”
“If Cross wants to speak on it, she will speak on it,” Thancred said firmly. “Speculation will not get us anywhere otherwise.”
The other Scions looked at Thancred with surprised, confused, and curious expressions.
“You know something.” Y’shtola didn’t word it as a question. “When did you come across this knowledge?”
“He found me writing letters home.” Cross stepped out of the kitchen, carrying a tray laden with two smoking rows of ribs. She stepped around the counter and towards the table F’lhaminn was sitting at. “My relationship with my mother is shaky at best, for the moment. As events in Eorzea settle, I hope that her fears will settle with them. But that is only if the primals will calm down, which I doubt they will in the near future.”
The remark didn’t receive sympathetic winces so much as sympathetic nods. It seemed the Scions did not have the exact same experience with parental figures that Cross did.
“In that case, let us hope her worries are eased in the coming days,” Y’shtola said lightly. “For I have not heard of any summonings in recent days.”
“Nor I,” Papalymo agreed. He leaned forward and sniffed in the direction of the tray. “Now, what is it that you have prepared?”
“Nothing special,” Cross replied. Her voice carried relief — whether it was the confirmation that the primals would not be present in the near future, or the change in subject, no one asked. “It’s a recipe I found in my mother’s stores, but it wasn’t in her handwriting. I do recall it being a favorite of mine. I think Dad used to make them — the pig ribs are meant to marinate in spices for several hours, then be grilled. I did my best, but it’s not like Revenant’s Toll has an outdoor grill for me to use.”
“Well, they smell quite delightful. How do we…?”
Cross picked up the knife on the tray, cut off a rib, and held one end in each hand. She grinned and took a bite of the meat, peeling a long strip off the bone. “Mm! Oh, that’s good. I think I got it right.”
“Oh.” Papalymo blinked, surprised.
“Oooh! Don’t mind if I do!” Yda reached forward and cut a rib free. “It’s not every day we get proper finger food around here!”
“Proper?!” Papalymo reared back. “I beg your pardon — that is going to cause such a mess!”
“All the more reason to lick your fingers!” Yda replied cheerily. She took a bite, tearing the meat off the bone in the same way Cross had. “Mm! Thish ish good!”
Thancred chuckled and shook his head while Cross put down a clean bone and reached for the knife again. “I wonder how well a meal such as this would do in the Bismarck.”
“I doubt they would let it into their kitchens,” Y’shtola replied wryly. “The Drowning Wench, perhaps.”
“Well, regardless, it certainly smells delicious.”
Cross cut the rest of the ribs free of each other and set the knife aside before picking up a second. “Thank you. I feel as though I’ve found a little more of home.”
F’lhaminn smiled, although something about the motion didn’t quite reach her eyes. “It is always important to find a piece to carry with you. I’m certain your father would love to see you making this recipe wherever you traveled.”
Cross finished pulling a bite of meet off the bone and nodded. “Mm.” She chewed and swallowed. “Y-yeah. I bet he would.”
I feel so sad for F'lhaminn; she had only just reunited with Minfilia when she was stolen away. Now she has to face that her daughter isn't even alive anymore in a different world. It's all so unfair. I am amazed she doesn't seem to carry a shred of bitterness in her heart.
Oh no. Corporeal aether is the stuff that makes up their bodies, right? If that's becoming unstable... And you say it's getting worse in the order that they were summoned? That tracks with it being caused by their souls not being in their bodies.
Not good.
Hah, I forgot that you knew G'raha when he was a member of the Students of Baldesion. Must be hard to reconcile the impetuous young man you remember with the esteemed Exarch you've heard tales about. He's had over a century in the First to mature and grow, not to mention however long he lived in his original timeline (I know it took two hundred years to bring Cid's plans for time travel to fruition, but I don't think it was ever said how much of that G'raha was awake for? Only that he awoke after Cid had passed away).
A summary? Uh, okay. So y'all are like balloons, and the string tethering you to the ground is fraying, and we really don't want to find out what happens when you float away.
Well that, at least, is reassuring.
My friend, far be it for me to contradict you, but I think there is more to being a gifted mage than simply having the raw power for the spells. I would wager that it also takes quite a bit of ingenuity and skill to execute the damn things.
I am glad to hear it.
No! Don't you dare-
HAH! Ah, I am so glad I caught part of that. Go Alisaie. Show G'raha we're not supporting him killing himself to save everyone else.
Yeah! Wait. No. That's not what I...
Ha haaa.....
(Okay, tangent, but like. Yeah, I have totally noticed how... there's a lot of people, on both the Source and the First, who revere me in the way one might a God. And we know what Gods are in this world: primals. So like, theoretically, could this belief in me be used to summon a "me" in primal form? A "Warrior of Light" primal? Or, Warrior of Darkness, as the case may be? Further, could I summon the power of my own primal incarnation into myself à la Shiva? Food for thought...)
Oh, okay, compare and contrast?
Oh, you're right.
Okay, I mean, I knew this, but I LOVE that the game is using what is a necessary gameplay feature (allowing you to have your same inventory and equipment across both stars) as a pivotal plot feature. This isn't the first time it's done that - everything to do with Feo Ul springs to mind - but the fact they're actually drawing attention to it and using it!! I just! Beautiful.
Cool cool, we'll just turn you all into rocks and I'll carry you home. Excellent plan.
That's a scary looking Nu Mou. I didn't know that was possible. Alright, off we go then...
