#ishtar support

[avemaera]

"It seems we will not be be journeying together this time."

The comment has a touch of melancholy to it; Ishtar will not deny the security she had felt with Arvis by her side in the forest. They did not know each other in life before Fódlan, but his presence is oddly ... comforting.

"Please, take care. Safe travels, Emperor Arvis. I ... hope to see you again, safe and sound, once the moon's missions have completed."

The dismay is apparent in her tone, and he can not hide how the feeling drifts to him in kind. "Ishtar..."

The Sealed Forest was something not easily forgotten, but amongst all the traumas experienced there, his time with Ishtar lies distinct. Never before in his life, and perhaps never again after, he had risked his life for something. While the walls all around them caved in, he ran back towards death to pull her from the wreckage.

Some animal instinct deep within him, rising above even the need to survive. But he would not be there this time. Not be there to rip her from death's maw; and, if he were honest with himself, he is not sure he would be courageous enough to do again.

He smiles sadly at who he calls daughter. He can only offer her his blessing. "You have my strength. I will see you by this moon's end."

[avemaera]

“Lord Arvis — ?!”

The exclamation comes as one of surprise, lilac eyes widening as they settle upon the blazing hair that unmistakably belongs to her ( almost ) father-in-law. Ishtar had thought it to be Julius upon first glance, but the man is older and his forehead is clear, unmarked of any brand.

Ishtar clears her throat. She had not meant to shout, but the shock of seeing Arvis, alive and well, had involuntarily drawn the words from her throat. He is supposed to be dead — but so is she, and Ishtar supposes it is high time she stops considering just how tightly death gripped the faces of her past.

( She swears she even saw Sigurd, a man whose death who had been ensured — and yet, he still walks, breath still rattles in his chest… )

“My apologies. I did not mean to sound so undignified. It is good to see you in … good health.” Ishtar clears her throat, skirting around the fact that he should be dead. “The air in Fódlan agrees with you — I have never seen you so lively. You look at least ten years younger!”

With a smile, Ishtar gives a slight bow. “You can rely on me, Lord Arvis. I trust Julius has told you of my talent? I promise the tales are no over-exaggeration. May this journey be a safe one.”

Arvis had come to Garreg Mach expecting to be mostly faceless in this country. But he is finding more and more faces he knows, and even more he does not, but who know him.

He does not recognize her, but as she speaks, he begins to see why. He sighs in a dramatic fashion and crosses his arms. The wonders of his country were exhausting; bringing back the dead and bringing forth his future.

"I fear I must be at least ten years younger if you are acquainted with Julius." He shakes his head at the thought, but in turn smiles at her courtesy.

"My son has kept a measured distance from me. Not that I can blame him, given the circumstances as I understand them. So I am unacquainted, milady." He takes her hand to exchange favor. "But I trust we will win the day together."