#eubora

referenced from "abelard and his pupil heloise" by edmund blair leighton. the big difference being that these two are not illicit lovers. eubora isnt the stepdad, hes the dad that stepped down

i havent drawn eubora in a miiiiinute, which is crazy because HE is crazy. the concept of him is crazy. the fact that he was able to survive the stampede and peel out of there before having any concept of where the stampede would stop (if it stopped at all) and making it back to lafossa by the skin of his teeth, with no attendants and no possessions. becoming a local legend and important living witness to the tragedy because of this. realizing that orchidee never made it home, and having to break it to her mother what happened. edelweiss, who begged on hands and knees for eubora to take on her late husbands daughter as a pupil, even though he knew she wasnt good enough and didnt want to stain his perfect record of perfect students. he settles back into a life of renewed austerity, somehow even more sullen than he was to begin with. and when a dying edelweiss begs him to retrieve her daughter, he does it. even though entering the deerwood is so much harder than escaping it. even though he knew he would probably only be searching for bones. even though he knew he could tell this delirious woman that he would do it and just. not do it. because he had a perfect record of perfect students, and orchidee was his only failure. maybe he wasnt doing it for edelweiss, or the memory of his student ottone, but for closure, and to get that perfect record back. if he found her, he would make her a proper pupil again

none of this does anything to dissuade the rumor that eubora was actually orchidees father. he isnt. but the rumor persists