whatever makes you happy

i know your moves, dog

It looks like the situation is that these two are Lara's mother and Grace. I thought Grace was Rowan's sister but it looks like they're siblings-in-law.

It looks like Lara's still-unnamed mother went on to find love with Rowan and Grace found love with a human; presumably Grace's situation didn't work out, but it gives her some extra motivation to be invested in Lara's situation. I'm getting vague Renaissance vibes from the fashion of Grace and the human so this romance happened maybe a few hundred years before Lara's romance in the 1700s.

Since Lara's failed romance accidentally destroyed her kingdom, maybe Grace's failed romance is why Lara's mother isn't around anymore. I've talked before about how there's a meta feeling to Goodbye Lara, especially with Grace seeming very aware of The Story Of The Little Mermaid, so I'm getting the potential vibe that Grace was the original Little Mermaid.

WHA Spoilers for Ch 40 & 90+

What happens literally is that we cut from baby Qifrey reaching for Olruggio and transforming, to adult Qifrey with his hand fisted in his lap, determinedly not reaching for Olruggio. And then he gets up and goes to stand in a lake and trigger his own PTSD to get the silverwood under control.

What happens symbolically is a guy thinks really hard about another guy, gets wood experiences an uncontrollable throbbing growth which fills him with horror and shame, and then he goes and stands in cold water until he can get it under control.

Completely insane scene construction. Yes, I know how the silverwood's growth is literally triggered, but sometimes a train going into a tunnel is the public transport system working as intended, and sometimes it's self-conscious Freudian symbolism.

Richeh has that stubborn drive to prove the impossible and a stubborn steadfast acceptance of those changed by magic. She holds euini as a beast. The same one that drove olruggio to pester qifrey relentlessly as children despite rumors and unpopularity.

Agott knows the ambition and the shame that drives talent and skill. In her is his precision and respect for the craft. One that barters with a love of wonder. One that steps aside for care and growth. Forgiveness as well.

Tetia knows the desire to help and to comfort. That friendly social ability and a habit for helping at the first opportunity. All those free favors he does for towns, inventing endless ways to make people's lives easier.

Coco knows selflessness and loyalty. She stands alongside those who would be cast away for the magic in their bodies to advocate for their needs. She runs through fire to help someone who has lost faith in her.

Qifrey couldn't keep Olruggio as close as he wanted so he gathered these four pieces of him and held them tighter than anything. Those are their children.