#pillarofopenness

She had faith in him, of course; he’s an adult, he can dress himself. But would he dress himself fun the way a ball deserves? That was the real question. That was what she was worried about.

She was not disappointed. 

“Awww, you’re so fluffy! Jealous! Where did you even find a fabric like this??” The princess reaches out to grab the cape the second her eyes take notice of it, reveling in the softness of the texture beneath her palms before he could have a chance to dodge. Because if you can’t pet your own sibling, who can you pet, really?

The violent and traumatic assault on the innocent fabric only ends when a flash of light catches her eye instead, attention redirected away as quickly as it came in favor of the tiny little turtles in her brother’s possession. A new target. “AND you got the TURTLE?! Hmph, lucky. I just got this one.” Sharena pouts, lifting a wrist to poke at the shell shaped charms dangling from her own bracelet, a soft clink of metal sounding quietly as they bump together.

“I mean, the seashells pretty and all… but look at him! He’s just a little guy..! …Can I have one? Pleeeaassseeee??? I’ll give you one of my seashells!”

It wasn't until after Alfonse had arrived at the ball that he realized Sharena had never seen him wear this outfit before. Their mother had made it for him in happier times (without the cape, of course), a memory of a celebration they never had a chance to hold. Fingers toyed with the fluffy cloak as he thought of it, a deep frown crossing his features. He never had the chance to see Alfonse wear this attire, either. He never would have the chance.

Alfonse's eyes lifted from the cloak as he heard Sharena's voice call out to him. The frown briefly left his face as he greeted her with a warm smile, but that happiness didn't remain long. He was happy to see her there, he truly was. He couldn't help but think that this was a perfect place for Sharena, the exact sort of environment she would thrive in. Unfortunately, she had asked the one question that he had already been ruminating on, one that quickly brought a deep, remorseful look back to his face.

"You don't recognize it?" Alfonse inquired, brows knitted together. He stood chewing the inside of his cheek a moment, debating whether or not he ought to tell Sharena where that cape had come from. He didn't want to destroy the happiness this ball was clearly bringing her. He didn't want to dredge up painful memories. There was no easy way to avoid answering, though. It would be wrong to lie. It would be wrong to keep the truth from her.

"...It was father's," Alfonse explained with a heavy sigh. His eyes grew distant, fingers playing once again with the furred cloak as heavy thoughts stormed through his mind.

[ TXT ]  :  So? How’re you doing? Good?

[ TXT ]  :  Perhaps good enough to wanna hang out with a certain someone whose name starts with “Sha” and ends with “Tena”? :)))

[ TXT ]  :  *rena

[ TXT ]  :  idk who Tena is

𝐀 𝐆𝐀𝐌𝐄 𝐎𝐅 𝐓𝐄𝐋𝐄𝐏𝐇𝐎𝐍𝐄 — accepting

└ 𝟮:𝟮𝟲𝗣𝗠 𝗥𝗔𝗙𝗔𝗟 -> 𝗦𝗛𝗔𝗥𝗘𝗡𝗔: As amusing a girl as ever.

└ 𝟮:𝟮𝟳𝗣𝗠 𝗥𝗔𝗙𝗔𝗟 -> 𝗦𝗛𝗔𝗥𝗘𝗡𝗔: Allow me to ask you, Sharena. Shall I be so merciful as to keep the company of one who cannot even spell her own name?

└ 𝟮:𝟮𝟳𝗣𝗠 𝗥𝗔𝗙𝗔𝗟 -> 𝗦𝗛𝗔𝗥𝗘𝗡𝗔: ...Heh, I jest.

└ 𝟮:𝟮𝟴𝗣𝗠 𝗥𝗔𝗙𝗔𝗟 -> 𝗦𝗛𝗔𝗥𝗘𝗡𝗔: I am faring well. You have managed to find me in a good mood at that. How fortunate.

└ 𝟮:𝟮𝟴𝗣𝗠 𝗥𝗔𝗙𝗔𝗟 -> 𝗦𝗛𝗔𝗧𝗘𝗡𝗔: Well, she whose name starts with "Sha" and ends with "Tena", what do you propose for our agenda? You have something in mind I trust.

└ 𝟮:𝟮𝟵𝗣𝗠 𝗥𝗔𝗙𝗔𝗟 -> 𝗦𝗛𝗔𝗧𝗘𝗡𝗔: I shall indulge your desire for my company and offer you the chance to prove worthy of it. Prove successful in that endeavor and we may even 'hang out' again.

Her eyes do not at all glimmer with excitement as she leans over to pat his shoulder. Just as there is no note of conspiracy in her voice as she speaks. She is offended you thought such a thing, honestly. “Toootally unrelated, but could you follow me real quick? I have absolutely nothing to show you!”

Sorry whatever else he had to do today, because regardless of his answer, the hand on his shoulder shifts to grab his arm, and with that — the prince is yoinked.

Sharena sprints down the hall with brother in tow as fast as she reasonably can without being a tripping hazard to either of them, only stopping to kick the door to her room open once they reach it. Only to reveal less of a room, and more a blanket full of various scribbles and signatures covering most of where her room once was.

“Tadaaa! I went back to Askr!” Sharena throws her arms out wide as she steps out towards the massive paper (if it can even still be classified as that at this scale) lifting the edge up to place it in Alfonse’s hands as much as it will fit. “I got all the heroes in the order to sign a card for your birthday! See, look, I got Commander Anna to sign, too! She says ‘hi’ by the way.”

There is a bit of a struggle as she tries to pull the other edge towards them both for him to be able to see the distinctive signing, though perhaps not actually that distinctive when surrounded by signatures of other ‘Annas’, too… she thinks that’s the right one, at least?

“I know it’s a little… okay a lot big, but I wanted to make sure it’d fit every single one of our friends, so you can always look at it and remember we love you. There’s even still space in the corner over there for your new friends from here, if you wanna have them sign it too! So… Happy birthday, Alfonse!”

Sharena was not subtle. Alfonse enjoyed that about her, since it meant he didn't have to worry about anything being left unsaid when interacting with his sister. Social situations were already difficult enough to navigate, but at least with Sharena, he was usually able to identify if she were hiding something. Granted, Sharena wasn't making a particularly intense effort this time to actually hide her intentions from Alfonse. The suspicious act was probably meant to create a bit of intrigue, to ensure that Alfonse would be curious while still being whimsical enough to convince him to actually play along for the time being. Sharena knew her brother well.

She did not need to drag Alfonse. He would have followed Sharena regardless of whether she forced him to or not. It wasn't exactly difficult for Sharena to convince Alfonse to do anything, and she had already given him sufficient reason to go along with whatever was happening regardless. He was still being decidedly dragged behind Sharena, but that came down more to her enthusiasm and the speed at which she was moving than intent to follow her. He wasn't certain if she heard him when he asked if running was at all necessary to what she was trying to show him.

Alfonse's initial reaction was likely not what Sharena would have wanted from him-- a part of him worried that visiting Askr too frivolously during their stay in Fódlan might be inadvisable. If anyone were to notice them disappear from the world entirely for a time, it could arouse suspicions, to say nothing of the possibility that the doorway between realms be discovered. Alfonse was prepared for the possibility of people from this Fódlan accidentally stumbling upon Askr, but he knew Sharena would not be pleased with his plans to have Veronica shut the door between worlds entirely at a moment's notice. She did so seem to be enjoying her time here, and cutting her off from it, especially when she was just trying to do something nice for Alfonse, would be tragic.

...Come to think of it, had he ever told Sharena that they were supposed to be secretive about Askr? He hoped she had not been going around telling people about the magical land they hailed from that had multiple copies of almost everyone currently present and many more and that they had detailed histories of each and every one of their worlds.

Thankfully, Alfonse managed to hide that misgiving, in no small part because of the overwhelming warmth of the gesture Sharena had presented him with. A smile had already forced its way onto his face before he even noticed it was there. His eyes crawled across the parchment, trying to view each signature in turn before being forced to give up entirely. They were innumerable and distinct, each bearing personality from the signers. He could see where Múspell's hand had singed the paper, where Feh's claws had pierced it, and where Dagr had partially overlapped her name with someone else's. So much charm contained on a single, oversized sheet of paper... Sharena had truly outdone herself. Alfonse couldn't even fathom how she had gotten some of the more obstinate heroes to agree to something so whimsical.

Not the point! Sharena takes a big inhale before straightening up again, refocusing her attention on the real important topic — the friend she found, and why she came to find her. “Are you okay? I don’t know what happened, but when I woke up I wasn’t one the battlefield anymore, and none of you were there, and—“

The Askran cuts herself off with a quick shake of the head. If she keeps rambling her every little worry, they’ll be here forever. “We won, right? You’re not hurt? I was about to take a look at some of the stuff for sale, do you need me to get you anything?”

"Sharena!" Laylea pulls her into a hug as soon as she sees her. "Thank goodness, I was so worried about you. How are you feeling? Are you cold?" Silly question perhaps. "The healers took you away as soon as we arrived, did they treat you well?"

As for how they got here... Laylea takes a deep breath, looking Sharena in the eye. She's such a sweet girl, the truth would breakher heart... but Laylea can't lie to her. "I'm sorry. We weren't able to win. Barely got out of there before we succumbed to the cold as well. The villagers, they... we don't know what happened."

And what new friends they are, if just the first one she manages to track down is already someone as strong and cool as a mage like Sonya! This missions gonna be a breeze!

“Hello! You’re on the ‘purple team’ too, right?“ Hehe, fitting, she is pretty purple, “My name’s Sharena, nice to meet you! I’m so excited to be working with you! I hope we’ll both be able to come out of this as good friends!”

She never expected to find herself at the mercy of a seabound ship’s pull only less than a year after finding Garreg Mach - or the Abyss specifically. But the aboveground’s call to cross oceans and step upon more foreign lands is enough for her to shed shadows for a moon’s time. The opportunity is tempting enough…if there even is anything attainable in this Jugdral. If not, then she simply risks her time being wasted.

Considering this is only her second longtime trip on sea, Sonya strangely does not feel much to get accustomed to. It feels right at home with reaching Fodlan, outside of louder mutterings all thanks to the much more crowded ship halls. Best she could do to minimize their annoyance by finding a corner and…

…nope, too late. A rather upbeat blonde has already made her way to greet whom wasn’t looking to be greeted. The beaming present on her face is downright excessive, though Sonya holds in at least that amount of honesty.

“...Purple, eh?” the lady takes a small beat to respond, patiently waiting for the other to finish. “Hope you didn’t get that from appearance alone. I’m no fan of becoming one of their little mascots.”

Amid her semi-rant, Sonya starts to lift one of her hands. It almost looks to begin extending out in greeting only to retrace back toward her space, settling to lift the mage’s chin up instead. A small smile is produced for some sense of formality, at the very least.

But, it is unlikely they all managed the magic to portal their way over, even if some of them have super impressive crusader bloodlines like Tine does, so guess it had to happen some other way. …Unless…?? “You’re from Jugdral initially, right? You must’ve come here by boat too, then. You excited to be headed home?”

She never put as much of a thought into it as the bizarreness of their commute clearly warrants.

The sea they're crossing doesn't seem any different from what little she's seen before; still, it seems endless.

Empty.

"Huh? No, although it was by water in a way, I suppose.

One moment I was crossing the desert; the next I'm taking a swim in the garrech machs pond."

She laughs. This way is much slower, but at least more appropriate for her station than a random disappearance.

Aed

She hopes it hasn't been nearly as long from her own land's perspective that she wasn't another soul lost to the endless sand.

How could she ever ask for Arthurs forgivness?

"How about you? Did you arrive by boat or maybe some botched summoning ritual."

“Well there’s a blast from the not-so-distant past, huh? Haha, it’s so good to see you again! How you holding up?” A quick glance-over from a distance was plenty enough to tell she’s intact, at least, so that’s the main important thing. But it never hurts to ask, right? And man, has she been wanting to ask for a while! It’s the invisible wounds that cut deeper than physical ones ever could...

“It’s a shame we’re not on the same team this time… But hey! Guess it’s only fair they gotta share the strength around, right? Your new team sure is lucky to have someone like you to watch their backs. Bet it’s gonna be smooth sailing for you all!”

"Sharena. I'm pleased to see you," she says in kind. Edelgard welcomes the conversation to distract from endless open waters. There is no better time to talk than the present. Tucking her hair behind her ears, the princess takes a silent breath: "Our last journey both feels recent and distant at the same time. Is that strange? Musings aside, it is regretful we aren't in a group together like before. That mirror doesn't fail to continue weighing on my mind, though I'm not the first one to think that. I ponder it often."

She's aware of how dissimilar the air tastes between here and that mirror world— How their surface goals lay a completely different air, bitter on the tongue nestled by false words of promise. Wary as she is even now, she will not show it.

“Fodlan’s pretty big, huh?” Sharena smiles, lowering the teacup from her mouth as she redirects her gaze from the hero across her to instead focus on the sky above. Clear and vast, stretching out infinitely like a reflection of the endless directions she’s all too aware this world’s path could take. 

Or, she would be aware. Eirika, herself, is part of what destroys anything she may have thought she could know about the future, though she doubts the queen could possibly be aware of that. They’ve already long since diverged from the stories of Fodlan she knew. With so many heroes from so many worlds gathered in one place, who knows how differently things could continue to change?

“It’s great all these people from so many different backgrounds can come together as equals here! It’s so peaceful… I hope it stays this way forever. Don’t you?”

Eirika's smile is a match for her companion's. Sharing tea with so many new people has put her in a good mood. In Renais, people did not approach her so openly, and to find herself among others casually is a breath of fresh air.

"I would be interested in seeing more of it, to see how it compares to my home of Magvel." Renais was but only one small part of the country. Renais, Grado, Frelia, Jehanna, Rausten, even Carcino, none could exist solely on their own. And so it must be for the Leicester Alliance, Faerghus, and the Adrestian Empire. "We are only as strong as the sum of our parts."

Sharena seems to be of like mind in that regard. "I pray dearly for this peace to last forever, though I worry often that it will not. My brother also attends this school and has told me of many worrying incidents. For peace to last, we must protect it. I can only hope to do so by becoming stronger."