irisviel and arturia had the kind of relationship that always felt like a “maybe”, “could have been”, or “in another world, perhaps”, but even so, it seemed so very familiar to them that it’s hard to remember how fleeting their time together was in reality.
fate in general is a series that put a lot of emphasis on relationships formed and strengthened in a short period of harsh circumstances, and irisviel and arturia’s was no exception. their bond was as conditional as most servants’ are in some ways, yet displayed indications of unconditional affection in others. it was a thing meant to be defined by limits and boundaries, yet contradicted and crossed over so many that the line between them blurred to the point where it was hard to distinguish where it lay.
maybe friends. could have been lovers. in another world, not as resigned to a grievous fate, perhaps something lasting. undeniably, and regardless of any what ifs and lost chances, there was a strong sense of companionship between them, an intimacy that was tentative and dangerously indulgent and achingly necessary to find some light in the darkness of the inescapable shadow the grail war cast over them.
there was a lot between them didn’t have to be, perhaps even shouldn’t have been. irisviel wasn’t obligated to treat arturia kindly, and arturia wasn’t obligated to go to greater lengths than necessary to see irisviel enjoy herself. certainly, they were both tied together by duty, but the mould that defined their relationship wasn’t shaped by it.
part of it may have been that they were so alike in nature, both never quite treated as human and resigned to the inevitability of it. both were willing to sacrifice themselves again and again if it meant protecting the people they care for. both are loyal to a fault. they were not identical, of course. arturia doubted, whereas irisviel never quite let herself, but there were enough parallels that echoed between them that finding comfortable common ground was easy and natural.
and then there were hints that they began to learn together with an almost childishly wide-eyed curiosity. they’d both been isolated from more lighthearted feelings and much more, but they experience them together. they learnt and grew to the extent that they could in the limited time that they had.
they treated each other as equals, because in many ways they were. they complimented each other as much as they contradicted one another. arturia was not treated as more than, and irisviel was not treated as less than. whereas arturia was physically strong and irisviel fragile, irisviel possesed strength of mind where arturia steadily showed that her uncertainty left gaping holes in her mind’s barriers.
for all of this significancy, as was to be expected from the dying, they didn’t last, fading. that doesn’t mean that the memories didn’t linger, buried deeply into the crooks and corners of the emiya household before it even became to be known as such.
arturia remembers, even if she doesn’t speak much of it, it’s apparent in the small things. the memories are too intimate and fond to be kept anywhere but held closely to her heart, her grip never loosening enough to fully share them out of fear that putting them into words would dull the lucidity of them even more than nostalgia already has.
irisviel wasn’t the last person to recognise and treat arturia as human, but she was likely the first to do so since arturia’s crowning. that can’t be forgotten. it’s rather sad that one of the only to acknowledge her humanity beneath the weighted mantle of king was never quite human herself, arturia knows, but irisviel means all the more to her for it.
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