Doing some Endwalker stuff on C'oretta and during some Hippo Riders story I remembered that even years before we got Thavnair in game, I had "research frenzies" be a thing Aeryn does, where she goes all in on her work and forgoes decent meals or enough sleep and rambles, and...
...otherwise acts not too unlike the alchemists we run into at the Great Work.
So she wasn't too surprised, actually, by the scene that greeted the team on their first trip to the island and led to the meeting with Varshahn, but for the rest of the Scions, it sure explained a few things about their Warrior of Light.
For a few examples here on Tumblr:
FFXIV Write 2019 Voracious
Always nice for characterization to be reinforced by new plot elements!