Also bringing over a bunch of city state leader characters to meet Sphene would be a great way to check up on old friends, make it happen devs...! 👀

Anyway, wild red-string theorizing aside, I very much enjoyed all the Krile focus, even if it didn't move the plot forward a whole lot! She's one of my favorite Scions, I'm so glad she chose to stay with us. 💛

One thing I was a little disappointed in was that in a patch almost wholly focused on Krile, her unique Echo never comes up. It's still a bit weird to me how much DT has downplayed that. Maybe there's more on that in the new short story for her? (I'm looking forward to reading it soon!)

(I don't have a screenshot of the 7.0 bit, but it's side dialog at the end of the quest "Pick up the Pieces")
ffxiv.gamerescape.com/wiki/Pick_up...

Actually, come to think of it, she may *literally* be the Speaker who used the Key reincarnated again. Kind of a long shot theory, but at the very least she's probably a Milalla > Milalla reincarnation, since in 7.0 she says Y'shtola hasn't noticed her soul being thinner than those of the Source.

It's interesting that the game keeps placing Krile in a role similar to the WoL. She's the only other major character with the Echo left, she's always had a connection to Hydaelyn, and now she's also heir to those entrusted with implied-Azem's Key. Is the last one meant to explain the first two?

It was also neat to see that my read on Krile that she has a lot of "what if my life had been different? would I have been happier if I'd been able to live with my parents?" angst that she keeps hidden under that smile was very correct. 🥺

I still think she ought to be a DPS/Healer in trusts though. We need more flex characters! What will we do once we inevitably leave Sphene behind?

I don't usually like dragging on base 7.0, but one thing this patch (and especially the roleplay duty!) really did do better was finally selling me on the arc of Krile feeling insecure about her combat abilities but now having come into her own as an equal to the other Scions.

The impact Gaius had on Fordola is something I wish both the fandom and the game itself explored more! Like Sorrows is all about how Gaius > Valens screwed up the kids in Werlyt, but the Gaius > Zenos transition fascinates me too and I feel like you can't fully understand Fordola without it.

The rizz argument is fascinating. I get what they mean by it, he's entertaining because there's no hope of fixing or reconciling with him, while Fordola is frustrating because you can /see/ where being raised by Gaius cooked her as bad if not worse than it cooked the Werlyt kids.

anyway this has been 2am fordola thoughts with Alice, thank you for your time

But perhaps it could also be a comforting/healing thing too...? If she accepted the gesture and the other person actually stayed with her rather than leaving to get themselves killed afterwards. 🤔

"Live, Fordola," she said, laying a soothing hand on her hair. "Find some hope to hold on to." <-Yda's last words/gesture to her.

Yeah that's going to be a hell of a trauma association for her, probably even to the present day. Do not attempt headpats without extreme caution, haha.

Yeah, it's unclear what exactly Yda's facial tattoo looked like. The short story specifies it's a traditional Ala Mhigan design, so it's not just her Archon tattoos.

It being similar or even identical to Fordola's seems quite plausible! (I should probably decide if it was in my own canon...)