Literally Es if you say that to her face 😭

Oh no, I hope you'll feel better soon :(

--she doesn't respect and doesn't believe is good for Baldur's Gate while most of the Gondian prisoners didn't make it out alive. If they hadn't spent so much time getting Ravengard, maybe those people would still be here. The possibility of that haunts her for a long time. (7/7)

Adding yet another layer to her complicated feelings about rescuing Ravengard, everything that went down in the Iron Throne left a really bad taste in her mouth. Because of the time crunch, they were only able to save a few prisoners, him included, & Es feels a lot of guilt for saving a man-- (6/7)

--to her dislike of him, outside of her politics. Es saw what being disowned as a teenager did to her own mother, who was scarred by the experience for life. Wyll isn't her mom, of course, but she still can't respect his dad for turning his back on him so easily, even after they've made amends (5/7)

To her, it just proves what a hard-headed, rigid, sanctimonious ass he is, someone who immediately believed the worst of their own child & banished him from his home; someone so inflexible does not deserve the power they hold and isn't worth her time to rescue. There's also a personal element (4/7)

Obviously this view is heavily influenced by who her mentor is & her mom's involvement with the Guild, but it doesn't make her inclined to go running after him when they run into Florrick at Waukeen's Rest. And after finding out why he exiled Wyll, Es is even less enthusiastic about saving him (3/7)

Ravengard openly despises the Guild & has tried to eradicate them numerous times; while on a rational level Es gets that he's just doing what he thinks is best for Baldur's Gate, she also firmly believes the Guild plays just as important a role in maintaining order as the Fist or the Watch (2/7)

Ooooh when I catch you Lorroakan...

I LOVE THEM 😭 this is a beautiful fic, I'm always happy to see more of Anna and Rolan

I will throw Lorroakan into the sewer on Tanis' behalf 😤 I've been curious about their relationship w/Lorroakan before, so I appreciate the glimpse into it (also as someone whose worst nightmare is being forced into any kind of unwanted marriage, I think you captured the horror of that very well)

Thank you! I love writing for Nine-Fingers so I was very excited for this opportunity lol

And if the place she's spent months dreaming of doesn't live up to her ideal, is it still worth fighting for anyway?

(The answer is yes, and Es does recover her motivation in time to kick Gortash's ass and defeat the Netherbrain, but she has to go through a crisis of faith first). (4/4)

--that's when she finally breaks down. She doesn't know how to make it go back to how it was, and worse, she doesn't know if it was ever like that to begin with. Maybe it's always been a place where refugees are killed in the streets and despots can do as they please with no repercussions (3/4)

Getting back to the city is what keeps her from losing it entirely through the hardships of the tadpole journey; she can put up with anything knowing that, at the end of the road, she'll be home where she belongs. Of course, when she does get back and realizes it's nothing like she remembers-- (2/4)