“No longer could I hold myself back, I accused them of fallacy. For if loving another person is such a crime then there would be no point in this world.” - Aymeric (he tells Hilda about his scuffle with the Court the next day, he’s fed up of pretending he’s not in love with her)

Ironically this is both a boon and a curse for Aymeric, because he has to see people clearly eye up Hilda every time she returns to Ishgard. At the same time, he is glad that someone appreciates how “glorious” (Aymeric’s words) she is other than him.

Personally I think Hilda is super attractive, but that is OC bias.

The main state that she’s actually considered attractive is in Ishgard. Where her scars and strong build mark her as someone can fight, something sought after by Ishgard regardless of gender (headcanon for Ishgard).

Oh I should have added this pic that summarises the scene I am describing.

I will never be over the travesty of us never getting to see Aym with his hood up.

Aw, thank you. I do try and make Hilda’s slow burn with Aymeric feel as real as possible, but also believable that they have grown to know they will misunderstand each other at times without lashing out.

Hilda carries this with her for years, until they talk it out post-5.3. It’s a large part of why Hilda ends up going from bitter and angry, and getting stronger out of pure spite in SB.

Hilda isn’t good with words, so she has many misunderstandings, but this is her biggest.

This led Aymeric to assume that Hilda was planning to retire from being the WoL, and he called her a coward and told her she was shirking her duties.

This in turn led Hilda to believe that Aymeric had no affection for her, and only cared for her as the WoL.