#estalia

These defects led him one day to participate in the defense of a Tylean city against marauding greenskins. It is there that he met the member of one of the leading families, Dimuel, with whom he made friendship and carried out several journeys on the seas. When the name of his brother-in-arms fell into disgrace, he supported him rather than turn his back upon him. From Marienburg, he used all the connections he had in order to exfiltrate his comrade's family from Remas.

Little point about Carlos: I proposed to my discord server to name this character and it was the members who gave birth to Carlos Ricardo di Castelmore, a wink assumed to the famous D'Artagnan.

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Carlos Ricardo est natif de Fort-Gascogne où son père fut maître d'arme. Toutefois, il fit le choix de quitter ce pays pour vivre à la cité de Tobaro avec son épouse et son fils unique, à l'incompréhension générale. C'est donc à la Cité des Sirènes que Carlos "di Castelmore" fit ses armes, se révélant aussi redoutables à l'épée que son père. Un temps il officia au sein de la Garde des Profondeurs, mais son physique imposant n'était pas propice aux combats dans les tunnels. Or, il n'avait pas non plus le pied marin nécessaire pour guerroyer sur l'eau.

Ces défauts le conduisirent un jour à participer à la défense d'une cité Tyléenne contre des peaux-verte en maraude. C'est là qu'il rencontra le membre d'une des familles dirigeantes, Dimuel, avec lequel il se lia d'amitié et effectua plusieurs voyages sur les mers. Lorsque le nom de son frère d'arme tomba en disgrâce, il le soutint plutôt que lui aussi lui tourner le dos. Depuis Marienburg, il fait jouer toutes les relations dont il dispose afin d'exfiltrer de Remas la famille de son camarade.

Estellise did seem to be a very beautiful woman. But that was all the portraits told her. Her expression was always distinctly soft, but serious; her hair was always exactly the same length just above her shoulders; she was always adorned in white and gold, the colors of the Empire. (Luke commented that these were his colors, and therefore couldn't be the colors of the Empire; Natalia resisted the urge to remind him that the Empire had declared its flag long before Luke had been born.)

Of course, Kimlasca sent plenty of portraits in return. To Natalia's extreme annoyance, her father ordered two new portraits of her made for every one of Estellise received. No matter Natalia's protests that she had more important matters to tend to, her father remained immovable. “We must convince them of your worth,” he had said to her with a look that begged her understanding. “You are worth a thousand portraits, Natalia.”

But Natalia found that a thousand portraits were not worth her time. Each portrait was an expensive production, from the design of her dress, to the labor involved in producing it, to the famed artist her father would commission. And this was not to mention the time involved; time that Natalia could better spend drafting new regulations or laws, or amendments to previous laws, anything at all that would benefit her people.

Beyond that, there were preparations that had to be made for the wedding. Natalia would much rather her father and his advisers have their hands occupied with that matter, rather than the matter of who would paint Natalia's visage today.

When Natalia stopped posing for portraits, much to her father's chagrin, she was startled to find that the number of paintings she received dwindled. The next time she received anything from the Princess, it was not a piece of artwork, but a letter. It read:

To the Princess of Kimlasca:

I understand your hesitation in regards to our betrothal. Though we have both known, I am sure, that arranged marriages were in our future, the fact that the time has come is a thorn in our side. Both of us have agendas we'd like to accomplish before the wedding arrives, and spending our time on portraits rather than anything material can be a nuisance.

Therefore, I have a proposal: rather than sending paintings from one country to the other and waste time and resources, what do you think of exchanging letters? This way we might be able to learn more about the other and be better prepared for the day of our wedding.

I care for my people very deeply, Your Highness, and I would like this alliance to be as beneficial to them as possible. But I would also like this marriage to be beneficial to myself, as well. I refuse to spend my life unhappy and alone, despite being surrounded by people. If we are to wed, I should hope it is done with goodwill and true intent.

Utmost regards,

Princess Estellise Sidos Heurassein

Post-Script. Please accept my apologies for the formal tone in this letter; I would not assume you to be comfortable with familiar language, even with your fiancée.

Natalia almost laughed at the ending. In fact, this letter was a weight off her shoulders; this princess was everything she had hoped she would be, and more.

Estellise's passion was not what Natalia had been expecting, but it was freeing.

Estelle was passionate in ways few princesses were. She had a kingdom to run, but she refused to let that keep her from expressing her emotions and beliefs to their fullest extent. Though she understood that some things must be kept in check, she earnestly believed that to dampen her self-expression would be to damage her standing among her people, as well as her own integrity.

When her betrothal to the princess of Kimlasca was arranged, Estelle hadn't been quite sure what to expect. She had heard tales of the way she spoke for her people even against the wisdom of her own advisers, and at times even acted against the best interest of the crown, purely for the sake of the citizens. In fact, Estelle's own advisers referred to this behavior with words like “reckless” and “foolhardy,” but Estelle could only see her actions as brave.

She was admirable, more than anything else, and Estelle was rapt with fondness. She became determined to impress this warrior princess.

And so came the portraits. Estelle had not meant to order quite so many of them done, but in the moment she had been swept away by the desire to prove her worth. And receiving so many portraits in return had been validating, for a while; perhaps Estelle's interest was genuinely reciprocated.

But soon, the portraits became tiresome, trite events, and Estelle realized she was loosing out on too much by participating in them. Not just the social events that her friends attended, Yuri and Flynn among them (though the former would loathe to admit it), but the time she could put towards executive duties as well.

Yet – how could Estelle possibly begin to ask the good Princess Natalia to come to a “ceasefire,” of sorts? Would she not see Estelle's sudden drop in sending the paintings as an indication of a lack of interest? The conflict worried Estelle to the core, and Estelle became concerned that her portraits would reflect her preoccupation, but her face was portrayed the same as always.

And then, blessing of blessings, but Natalia's portraits came to an abrupt halt. At first Estelle and her advisers were worried this was a sign that the alliance was to be called off, but word from the Kimlascan throne assured them otherwise. Their princess was stubborn, they said, and so though the princess found herself unable to provide further embellishments of her visage, she was still very agreeable to the alliance and the marriage itself.

(“That's code for 'she was tired of posing,'” Ioder whispered to Estelle one night, when Estelle let her worries get the best of her. “You needn't be so troubled, dear cousin.”)

So Estelle wrote the young princess a letter, and was surprised by how prompt her reply was.

To the Empire's Princess:

I am unable to put into words the relief that your words bring me. They were the first flowers after a barren winter, and I am only sorry that I did not bring you those flowers first. You are a step ahead of me, and so I suppose I must pick up the slack, mustn't I?

I would be honored to accept your offer. They say a picture is worth a thousand words, but a thousand portraits could not paint an image of you as bright as the one you offered in your last letter. I, too, wish for this marriage to be one productive for my people, but I had not given thought for what I wanted this marriage to mean for me. Thank you for opening my eyes to this.

I must admit, I find myself looking forward to the day that I first lay my eyes on you. With all due respect, Your Highness, the words in your letter give me a strong feeling that your portraits do not do you justice.

This must mean that I hope that our relationship is as fruitful for us as it is for our people.

Best of wishes,

Princess Natalia Luzu Kimlasca-Lanvaldear

Post-Script. Feel free to reply to me in your informal speech, as I have taken the liberty to do so here.

To think that this was Natalia's informal language … it made Estelle's heart flutter. This was flirting, was it not? It wouldn't be reading between the lines to say that, would it? Oh, but this conversation would be so much better had in person!