Ok, so here’s what’s killing me, what’s been bubbling in the back of my head for weeks —
Aranessa is a woman who is acutely aware of her responsibilities as the scion of a noble house. Aranessa would have expected- and, probably hoped - for her life to look a certain way, when she married, and that would have included children.
Aranessa was probably picturing a bunch of little half-orc kids with her eyes and Thjazi’s smile, running around the Golden Orchard and growing up under her loving eye and the protection of Faerie. Probably with Thimble as a kind of fairy godmother- Thimble, who was expected to remain forever appearing about 8 years old, but who is a warrior - who would have made the most wonderful playmate and protector.
And then Thjazi goes off to right wrongs and be the hero the common people deserve, and she knows she’s never going to get that with him. But she loves him too much to divorce him, so even though they are estranged indefinitely, she’s never going to have that with anyone else, either.
And her brother-in-law has children and even though he and Thaisha never married, Thaisha still calls Aranessa “sister,” so she was clearly a part of their life, right? She got to be an aunt, at least, to Alogar and Shadia? And then Hal has a daughter with a human woman, and you know Hero must look very much like what Aranessa would have dreamed a daughter of her own might be. And Aranessa has to hold her niece and know this is the closest she will ever get to seeing that, now.
And then there’s Occtis, who is such a good kid, such a sweet boy, who bonds with Thimble and right away becomes a dear friend to her. Whose family doesn’t pay him any attention, but who Thjazi has, for some reason, sort of taken under his wing. Who Aranessa has to look at and know that if things had gone the way she dreamed, would have been right around the age of her own children. If only, if only.
And now Thjazi is gone, and she hears that Occtis, who she must know was hoping to help him, is being sought by his family. And she knows if they found any hint that he was trying to help Thjazi, he will be in danger. So she invites him into her dearest friend’s home to try to offer him safety and protection, because she is confident that this place, here in the middle of the city and filled with the loyal bannermen of her house, will be a safe place for him.
And then not only is the Palazzo Davinos attacked, not only are all of her people slaughtered, and all of Julien’s people slaughtered, but this kid is brutally murdered by his own family, in the same room as her. She is right there, helpless to stop it, forced to watch him die- just as she watched Thjazi die just one day before.
It must have felt like watching her dreams die all over again.