#varshahn

[keycrash]

eye of the satrap... 🐉

[flourish-of-steel]

[autumnslance]

Replaying the Endwalker patches, and in 6.1 there are all the plans to set up the artificial atomos, protect the warding scales, and otherwise prepare to enter the voidgate and try to find Azdaja. And yet Vrtra hesitates.

He mourns her loss every day. As a dragon, his emotions and memories do not fade as mortals do, and her loss is stings now as it did millennia ago. But he is the Satrap of Radz-at-Han, guiding that nation and its people for centuries from the shadows, now finally in the open. He loves them dearly. He is pretty much defined by his love of Thavnair.

And in "A Satrap's Duty" Thavnair responds.

Estinien is the one who arranges this blatant emotional manipulation. He informs Nahbdeen and the rest of the Radiant Host of the mission, and Vrta's hesitation. Then he brings the orphaned Mehrahd and his sister along, specifically to thank Vrtra for the new orphanage where he and his sister can live in safety and happiness together.

"Convincing others to follow their hearts is not my forte" our dragoon says. But if anyone understand dragons, especially the First Brood, it's Estinien. And if he has to push Vrtra through that voidgate, he will.

Though he's found new friends and family, Estinien can never get his own little brother back. He remembers feeling all of Nidhogg's grief for Ratatoskr. There's a chance to save this lost sister of the First Brood. That chance must be taken.

So he gathers Vrtra's people to remind him: "We know how much you've cared for us, and for so long. And we love you too. So you need to go find your sister. We'll be OK. And we're here to help you, as you've always helped us."

And with a final push from the WoL (I always choose to repeat Vrtra's own words back to him), the Satrap relents, dedicating himself to joining the team and finally searching in earnest for Azdaja.

-

(With a little further teasing from Estinien:

Y'shtola: You surprise me, Estinien. For a lone wolf, you've shown an unusual degree of, shall we say, “involvement” in helping Vrtra reach this conclusion. Estinien: 'Twas for the greater good. The wyrm's thundering sighs were keeping his citizens awake at night, and had travelers believing the palace wracked by some unnatural storm.

Said in front of Varshahn, who is taken aback)

[havocpioneer]

[arcteris]

deja vu

[pydiyudie]

[rimefrosted]

little guys! these'll be stickers for a small AA I'm going to but I wanted to share them 🥺

[marinewaltz]

some more post-endwalker drawings