#poor seteth

Manuela complains about how she behaved for the last five years, let it be for the White Heron Cup and the festival or even Garreg Mach's foundation day, but the festivities were "dull".

So the Monastery better prepare for the next Saint Seiros day, because she will make it way more festive than it has ever been!

Obviously, Seteth lectures Manuela about proper conduct, Saint Seiros' day is supposed to be a day of quiet and peaceful devotion, and remembrance of the peace the goddess and the saints fought for.

Manuela argues he's not the highest authority in the Monastery, so she can, and will, ask the Archbishop herself.

Seteth frowns, he knows exactly what is going to happen : Rhea will obviously allow Manuela to do as she pleases because she finds ridiculous costumes and glitters and feathers "fun" or "stylish", and the Monastery's reputation will plummet down.

And yet, it's also her birthday so... maybe he could be a bit more lenient. And maybe tolerate feathers, only for one day. Or half a day.

As expected, Rhea enthusiastically agrees with Manuela - even when she asks to dip a little in the Church's "celebration" funds to order sequin - but inside is completely lost : what are sequins ?

Halloween alt anon!

Let the man hang out - or tear his hair out - with his relatives!

His story should includ have Kitty!Flayn and Festive!Rhea, somehow!

And Seteth could even talk to Dheginsea or to other dragons, since the Y!Gotoh FB showed IS was willing to allow him to interact with them as a lizard, something the Fodlan games never even considered.

But IDK what kind of costume he could have, something classy or goofy?

Vampire themed costumes would have to be banned, given how "blood sucking" is basically what happened in Zanado and, uh, the backstory behind crusts (for the Elite's descendants, idk what kind of "blood sucking" Ferdie's ancestor did).

Ditto with all kinds of zombie/reanimated corpse theme, I mean, that's kind of what billy is Relics are and I would find if to be tone deaf, considering the nabateans' backstory!

He could maybe end up with an animal theme - like Flayn - or try to be a sorcerer/with, or even better : he's dressed as usual, but with some headband accessory because he didn't understood the theme, or we have Winter!Seteth popping up for the Harvest Festival because someone (Manu, Rhea or Flayn?) mixed his costumes.

"Mother, I want to engage with this man."

"Why not ?"

"What's this ? Am I hearing something wrong ? You are an enemy phase armor unit, there's no benefit for you to be engaged to this gentleman, and before you start telling me nonsense about his white spear, I will remind you he is already married."

"Why can she be with Mother when she will not talk to me ? :'("

"Cheer up, sad Auntie Rhea ! I am sure something ridiculous will happen."

"Mother outranks you and she said I can !"

"Grandmother, did you know this would happen ?"

"Of course I did, Benevolent One !"

"I do not care ! You are not going to fuse with that man ! I will ask the summoner to engage him to anyone else but you !"

Everyone's watching them, save for Seiros the Warrior who is a contrarian.

To see the Liberation Army hold its ground until every last soldier fell... That is true dedication.

It is clear that Nemesis is not some cruel King who holds his people in a vice-like grip. There is something more driving our foes.

From here on out, our journey will not be an easy one...

Fodlan AU :

Back when they were still kids living in Zanado, kid!Rhea gifted Cichol a stick figure drawing for his 1200th birthday, of them holding hands with a book for a bedtime story with some blurr that was supposed to represent Macuil in the background.

Cichol kept that drawing when he left Zanado to "explore" Enbarr, and forgot to remove it from his travel bag.

(let's say it was preserved with magic so the ink and the paper wouldn't fade over time)

After Nemesis' party, the drawing was what he thought to be the only memento he had left of his kid sister.

Returning to Garreg Mach, he put the drawing in his drawer, and once a mortified Rhea asked him what the crap he was doing with that "old stuff".

"It is just an old present."

Rhea believes he's teasing her and she doesn't like it at all, she learnt how to draw since that time! Maybe she can give him a new drawing for his next birthday?

(but then she feels like dirt : she cannot draw them together anymore, between his 1200th birthday and now, she ruined his life, made him a widow, made him lost his powers and is the reason why his daughter is convalescent! Maybe, deep inside, Cichol really hates her?)

Maybe a portrait of him and Cethleann would be better, but now that she thinks about it, she saw him talk to Manuela, maybe she can add her? But if she adds Manuela, she must add Hanneman, and Billy too, has a professor, but also, as a member of their family! And yet, she knows Catherine will be upset if she is left out of the portrait, adding Catherine also means adding Shamir, and she can visualise Flayn holding Cyril's hand while Alois would be in the background and...

Billy thus pops up after having waited 180 seconds behind the door of her office, to make their rapport, without hearing anything and spots her writing something? Or not?

Having never drawn anything before, because Jerry's picked lifestyle isn't suitable for children to draw, Billy is fascinated by the simple act of "drawing", and wants Rhea to teach them how to, before realising they didn't have anything planned for Seteth's birthday, isn't it Saint Cichol's day? Maybe he'd like a fishing rod? Or some flowers?

Rushing to meet Flayn, they ask her what he would like, only for Flayn to say that anything Billy will have picked would please him, especially if it's a handmade present. This is why she Mercedes graciously accepted to help her bake biscuits for his birthday (but she frowned when Flayn suggested to use fish stock to flavour them).

A bit lost, Billy wants to give a personalised letter to him with the flowers and fishing rod, and inspired by Rhea, they try to draw, but the result isn't satisfying. Maybe their students would know how to draw?

Supreme Leader brags about the famous "Hresvelg artistic skills" passed down since the dawn of the Empire, but Hubert makes her reconsider using her time displaying her talents to a mere mercenary turned professor.

Dimitri wishes to help, but since his days as a kid, he gave up on drawing anything on paper since he was afraid he would break any quill, but he remembers he played a lot with Felix back then, drawing their favourite knights in the snow (Felix calls him a moron and denies having wasted his time like that).

Claude pretends he doesn't know how to draw - fully aware that maybe his technique would betray his Almyran heritage - but tells Billy that Ignatz might help them... only for Billy to mention how Ignatz's current drawing reminds them of Rhea, and Ignatz being a bit embarassed because he was painting a portrait of Saint Seiros.

When Seteth receives his presents, he got a bottle of alcohol, several new quills, a pair of dices (if the bottle came from Manuela, who gifted him a pair of dices?), some sort of handrest to help him after hours of paperwork, a new lamp, edible biscuits shaped like lions (is Flayn subtly telling him she wants to spend more time with the Faerghan students?), an enormous flower bouquet with a happy birthday letter with what is supposed to be a cat (?), a new fishing rod and a portrait of his colleagues and family, save for Rhea herself.

Thanking everyone - even if he still told Manuela that no, they aren't going to finish her bottle in one night but he'll accept sharing a drink with coworkers - he makes sure to pat Rhea's head, when they're alone, to thank her personally. As expected, it annoys her and she calls him senile.

But isn't she the one who forgot to draw herself? She came a long way from her "stick figures" era, but she forgot the most important : them holding hands.

In her younger days, Rhea blew up Seteth's microwave by wanting to reheat a ravioli can.

(using a saucepan takes too much time, and pouring the contents of the can in a container and then put the container in the microwave? It means cleaning said container afterwards !)

Way later, when she welcomes Billy at her place/office/school/whatever, she takes time to explain them that, no, they can't put a ravioli can in the microwave, otherwise, there's going to be an accident.

Billy stares at her - has she said something odd? - but then asks her if raviolis taste better when they're hot, because while Jerry left them ravioli cans whenever he was away "for work", he never told them to "heat" the raviolis, so they have been eating their canned raviolis cold since they were 5.

Being both upset at Jerry and feeling bad for Billy, Rhea decides to organise a special reunion with all of her staff/employees/whatever, and make a PSA about eating heated canned food.

Of course the staff believe it's a joke - until she and Billy demonstrate in front of everyone how to prepare canned raviolis : you open the can, empty its contents in a container and then put the container in the microwave.

"I'm sorry Lady Rhea, I lost the purse !"

"Worry not, I always take Seteth's with me !"

Back when she was a wee litle thing, she used to nap, like her siblings, in both human or lizard form, on Zanado's warm benches when there was some sun or anywhere, even if she prefered, as always, to sit next Sothis who would always find a way to hum her lullaby and have her sleep on her lap.

When it was cloudy and Sothis wasn't available, Cichol had to put her to "sleep" for naps, and while she always refused to, listening to his stories always did the trick (helped by Cichol tucking her to bed first), to the point where putting Cethleann to sleep was very easy for him, because he had to deal with Rhea for years previously (something he often teases her about when she pretends she's alright and doesn't need to sleep when she's Archbishop Rhea).

As Seiros the Warrior, Rhea has trouble sleeping, because even if she is Seiros the Warrior, whenever she falls asleep, she becomes the Rhea who couldn't do a thing in Zanado again, and her nightmares/memories are so frightening that she refuses to sleep.

Whenever she feels like she has too - else she will collapse - at first, when she still cannot trust humans, she escapes to the most secluded place she can find (a mountain, the top of a tree, a forest, some secluded place where no human can find her, or a cave) to rest but her nightmares mean she cannot really rest/sleep.

When she trusts them a little more (but still not that much!) she allows herself to rest for a few hours, but always alone, in a closed space, and with her weapons at hand. When she "rests" like this, she is a very light sleeper and, coupled to her nightmares, it means she cannot get effective sleep.

Willy does his thing, and while she still has some nightmares she finally manages to get some sleep, even if Willy is annoying because while he may be as warm, or even warmer, as the warm rocks from her childhood, he snores and his heartbeat is loud.

Besides, they rarely sleep when they're together because he has to polish his sword or whatnot.

When Cichol'n'co join her quest, she finally feels "safe" enough to sleep in Enbarr's palace without Willy. It's thus a common occurence during the sunny days, to see Saint Seiros sitting on a bench, or against a column, or even in the gardens, "meditating" for the most devouts. Her nightmares are still there, but knowing some of the others survived "lessens" them.

Lycaon and his friends of course pretend to "meditate with Saint Seiros" whenever they want to escape their tutors, they bring their toys and play next to her, until they fall asleep. Rhea was always puzzled to see those children sleeping next to her when she woke up, but was so amused and touched, because it reminded her of her younger days with Sothis, that she never told them to, uh, stop "missing" their lessons.

(To Cichol's great disarray, why are they always running away from his important "philosophy and life lessons" classes? To which his wife would often reply that to a bunch of 5 years old his classes are way too boring.)

Post War of Heroes, once the monastery is built, Rhea isn't "afraid" anymore to sleep because of humans, but her nightmares came back in full force, "updated" with the WoH and her "new" losses, her brothers, Cichol's wife, Lycaon, Willy, etc etc.

Jeralt once spot her asleep at her desk, he tried to wake her up gently by pushing her shoulder, but she broke his jaw as a "reflex" startled.

Sitri worries about her sleep schedule, so she arranges some time in her planning when she would be free to nap, especially when there's sun outside! However, she later discovers that Rhea's sleeping issues are caused by "nightmares" and while she never prays, she introduces her "not mom" to chamomille, maybe it can help her relax, if not sleep?

Cichol returns and while he knows she has nightmares (even since her Seiros the Warrior days) she refuses to talk about them. Ultimately Seteth, with his years of experience, pulls out the same tricks he used in his youth, giving her his reports at night, while she's tucked in bed, and making sure she drank her chamomille.

It's an old method, but it works.

Hanneman once surprised him with a book about nightmares, and asked him if he needed help, which of course attracted Manuela who gave the advice to "drink so much that you pass out and don't remember what happened when you fell asleep".

Cyril refuses to "nap" next to Rhea, or put his head on her lap despite her insistence, because that's way too embarassing and damn, he's not a kid anymore! Catherine doesn't mind at all though, and takes his turn, which annoys him even more, but for some weird reason, Lady Rhea doesn't seem to mind.

AG!Wise, Shamir catches her, Seteth and Flayn (and even that new merc who joined?) sleep in the Camulus Cathedral, when there'd be a ray of sun peering through the windows.