okay see i’m still thinking about that “both auguste AND hennike live” art bc what i Really want is for, like op said in their tags, for hennike to have fucking slit her brother-in-laws throat while he slept, she knows what you fucking did at marlas my man and she warned her eldest child, she taught him not to go throwing himself on potential pyres when he caught his uncle with that look in his eye, but yeah anyways she kills the would-be regent in his bed and auguste knows but never tells except for when like two years later laurent finally figures it out and him and auguste have a very short, very private talk.
and then and then maybe hennike was never a particularly beloved queen among the council, maybe they never thought she was the best match for aleron, and maybe there are some factions that a) don’t like seeing her as queen mother and especially b) don’t like seeing her line continue on the throne (ooo maybe she’s half-vaskian or something) (also we’re pretending laurent has more extended family than was eveeeeer alluded to in canon here lmao) so she gets to politically throw down with these fuckers and simultaenously school laurent in her throwing-down ways while auguste frolicks off to rule the kingdom and gently kiss horses’ noses or something (ceremonially, ofc) and anyways she and laurent can be SECRET SPARRING PARTNERS. DAMEN DOESN’T KNOW WHAT THE FUCK TO DO THE FIRST TIME HE FIGHTS LAURENT BC THIS IS NOT SOMETHING HE RECOGNIZES, LAURENT’S GRANNY FOUGHT ON PONIES IN THE MOUNTAINS AND HER DAUGHTER HAS TAUGHT THE CROWN PRINCE WELL. you ever think laurent could have punched damen in the throat a bit more during their fights? good news. good news about damen getting punched in the throat.
anyways, on the subject of damen, hennike defintiely does not approve. like auguste obviously comes around (maybe because he fucked damen first lmao) and hennike knows he’s a perfectly nice young man with no ulterior political motives, just literally No One Could Ever Be Good Enough. like she loves both her children dearly, but one time when laurent was but a young teen he was broody and miserable about being a little blond twig who would literally never as long as he lived be as built as his brother and hennike looked upon this and Lo she decided this would be the day she taught laurent how to properly blend in with prostitutes and also the really startling number of knives you can hide under a good set of skirts. so like, auguste knows his ma loves him, but also he knows where he ranks. he is very much at peace with it. laurent is her favorite and is also very good at helping his ma do her makeup now. and hide the knives.
ANYWAYS. DAMEN. god that poor boy. hennike adds an extra like, eighteen months to their courtship with her mere presence and damen loses ten years off his life. goes grey about five years too early. gets really twitchy around older, neutral-faced, blonde women with impeccable makeup. lives in fear.
“still worth it, tho” - damen of akielos, when he thinks his mother-in-law won’t hear him
