#doesn't she?

"I think i got lost again! it felt like years!"

and this gal is back!

So, I return from the wedding (it was nice, though it went all the way from 6 to midnight, that's how you know you're growing old when staying up sounds more like a chore then a benefit), sitting at my laptop back home, and I find my thoughts turning towards Fire Emblem: Three Houses- or rather, towards a previous subject about the game I had seen discussed before: Jeralt's disappearance and Rhea not finding him until almost decades later by chance.

Jeralt and Rhea were close friends since the time Rhea had helped heal Jeralt during a conflict in the Kingdom of Farghus. Rhea even made him the captain of the Knights of Seiros and Jeralt had "thought the world of Rhea", according to his personal diary. "I had thought the world of her...but now I'm scared of her".

This newfound fear seemed to have been based in the conditions of the child that Jeralt's wife had given birth to with the help of Rhea, though at the cost of the mother's life. Jeralt wasn't there when Byleth was born but after the birth, Jeralt noticed that the child "didn't laugh, didn't cry". (And in fiction, that's usually a bad omen for the child.) Rhea tried to assure him that nothing was wrong with the child but Jeralt didn't take her at her word and secretly had a doctor look at the child. The child...had no heartbeat.

According to Jeralt's diary, there was a fire soon, one that I had previously assumed to be a product of Jeralt to cover his escape, based on the timing and his own wary behavior, but it seems that was too hasty a conclusion. The fire was pure serendipity that Jeralt took advantage of to escape with the baby, who he raised in a rather unorthodox way: telling them that they were born a time after Jeralt left the Monastery, hiding their identity as "the Blade-Breaker" and former Captain of the Knights of Seiros, and even keeping both of their ages a secret and barely schooling Byleth in the main religion of Foddy-land.

There's also another piece of information that was shared by Rhea's right-hand man, Seteth: "I read Jeralt's diary. The baby we thought to have died in the fire...came back".

With all this recent information in mind, the wheel this line of thought had been spinning on came to a conclusion, if not a likely hypothesis: I think Rhea didn't find Jeralt...because Rhea didn't want to find Jeralt. Or, rather, she didn't want to drag him back to the Monastery in chains, hunting him like a fox running from hounds. Not pushing the issue was Rhea's way of a sort of apology, an admittance of wrong on her part or that she didn't handle things the best way she could have. A silent "Yeah, that's my B. I'm not going to make you come back if you want to leave. I...I owe you that much."

Jeralt's feelings towards Rhea seemed to be genuine. And...as much as it's hard to get a concrete read on Rhea or wholeheartedly believe her...it would make more sense if the feeling was mutual for Rhea and it's not like it's unthinkable for her character.

Even taking Rhea's words at face value about how the birth went, how Byleth's mother wanted her child to be saved even at the cost of her own life, Rhea still tried to hide the truth of what had happened to Byleth to Jeralt. Rhea had betrayed the long-standing trust and friendship between the two about Jeralt's own wife and child and if Jeralt took that badly enough to leave, a decision possibly compounded by the loss of both his wife and child (presumably)...

I don't think Rhea would try to bring him back by force or let him be hunted like a dog chasing down a cat.

They were close friends before. Even if he doesn't trust him anymore, she wants him to believe that she didn’t mean any harm and still cares deeply about him. And in respect of that friendship, she'll let him be if he wants to leave.

I like to Think That,When Timm and The Other Cruise passengers come Back from Munchmore and get Back to The Cruise to go to Land again- The relatives and Friends of The passengers greet them With gladness Couse they've Been worried About them (They were probably lost for Days)

And Quinn, who's dating him and thought he was Dead just- Straight up jumps at Him and Kisses him (+Crying)

And even after That,After reassuring Her That he was fine she Just,Insisted That he stayed on Her Place and acted super clingy and Concerned Since she thought she lost Him again.