#fremillette

When we first enter Fontaine, we are met with the rain, and with the rain came the explanation - and exclamation - of, "Hydro dragon, Hydro dragon, please don't cry!"

These words were first ever heard coming from between the hands of none other than Freminet.

Throughout the story of Fontaine, we learn that its waters house and transport the memories and emotions of its citizens straight into the heart and mind of their Dragon Sovereign to be. Neuvillette could feel the aching souls of his city's people, yet could never quite understand, for he - himself - is not human. He feels sorrow and grief just the same as anyone else, but he aches to be more familiar with his people and their struggles. Thus, he soaks into these feelings and pours them out in tears that bathe the land in torrents of rain.

He's a bleeding heart behind the facade of someone much, much colder.

Meanwhile, if you take the time to go through Freminet's story, you learn that he is almost the exact opposite. He's a boy from a broken background in which his mother was his everything. But when she is cruelly taken from him, and he is put under the "care" of the House of the Hearth, he is trained - and reinforces himself - to shut down all emotions. To become an automaton: expressionless and unfeeling. He is obedient and quiet and does as he is told while bowing his head and minding his business. Someone cries? He does not hear it. Someone screams? It's not his problem. He shuts down.

And yet, Freminet hides a key secret, which is how he will escape from time-to-time to sink into the depths of the sea... and cry.

He screams and laughs and weeps under the waves, the one place in which he finds comfort and solace and allows himself to break apart his unfeeling mold. The Fontaine ocean is the one place he feels life and excitement again! He joyfully explores under the water, becoming the city's most talked about diver - his fame carried on the whispers of his peers - and his fingers have felt every crevice, eyes seen every treasure, and mind filled with the wonder of the sea.

He is the ocean's master, fallen in love with the sea.

So, with both of these points in mind, whose emotions do you think Neuvillette has felt most clearly? Who do you think he knows most intimately at this point, if not the diver who has cried in his ocean's loving arms? If not the one who has been to the depths of his soul and touched against the sandy shores most have not even dared to brush against? Whose seen the darkest caverns of his aching soul and never once flinched away? ...Freminet.

I genuinely think that Neuvillette could have (has) fallen in love with this young diver from afar. I think - at this point - he can practically sense when Freminet sinks into his depths, and it's almost calming. Distracting. His work taking a sideline as he turns his eyes towards the stained glass windows and wonders, "For what purpose do you delve, today, darling?" Then becoming so flustered by his own addition of "darling".

I also think that Freminet - who is usually so shy and anxious around other people when first meeting them - would be almost instinctually comfortable if he ever met the Iudex face-to-face, which is... odd, considering most people would be rattled with fear or simply find his sheer presence and importance imposing! Shying away and apologizing for taking up his time. But not Freminet. Not the boy who's already fallen in love with his oceans, and the feeling of his caress in the waves.

In all honesty, I think Neuvillette would lose his composure around Freminet. I think he'd flush and fidget like a youngin' with a crush. That cane would be held under folded hands, and his thumb would run over the head over and over again until he realizes Freminet is staring at his fingers - and stop. Clear his throat. Introduce himself. But Fremi would already know him. The feeling of their hands would be the same as running his fingertips over the bones and sand and stone... He'd know him. He'd own him.

That is HIS sea. That is HIS glittering shore.

And both of them would understand, intrinsically, that they are meant to be. And when Freminet calls him, "My ocean," Neuvillette melts and whispers,