Aurifort
Surlaint

considered himself an honorable man. With a lineage that could be traced back generations, his family had considered themselves venerable, and his parents had done their best to instill a sense of pride and decorum into their children, so that they might be proper Ishgardian citizens.

Included in that honor was an obligation to help one’s family… even the parts of it that one did not necessarily agree with. And so, when his wife’s sister asked them to look after her daughter while she tried to help defend their home, he had, of course, accepted. After all, he already had his own children to look after, so what would be one more, especially for what would likely be so short a time?

He was, perhaps, not entirely prepared for when the child in question had arrived on his doorstep. Though he could certainly see a resemblance between her and his wife (the tattoos adorning their faces certainly didn’t hurt), in personality they seemed nothing alike. This Odette was prideful and opinionated, ready to speak her mind at the slightest provocation, and with a mischievous streak that seemed determined to get her into trouble.

She had made it quite clear, when she had first arrived, what exactly she had thought of Ishgard and the fact that she was now “stuck” there, and how she hoped her mother would be back soon, so that they could return to their life of adventure.

And recklessness, Aurifort had added, perhaps not quite as silently as he had intended, and perhaps explaining why that relationship had not started off as well as it might have.

Still. Even he did not watch with relish as the moons went by, and with each one that passed with no word, Odette’s cheerful (if troublesome) demeanor started to fade slightly. Nor did he feel anything but sorrow as the fateful news finally came, and he watched her withdraw into herself, her eyes becoming as cold and hard as the eternal winter that reigned outside. No matter what he did, there seemed to be no way to lessen the chill that had settled over her heart.

The Rising was here once again, bringing with it the sounds of fireworks and laughter as people celebrated yet another year gone by after the Calamity that had rocked all of Eorzea.

Yet not everyone was at the celebration.

Odette sat alone in her room, her violin held under her chin as she slid her bow smoothly over the strings, the musical notes almost drowning out both the fireworks outside and her own thoughts. Almost, but not quite.

She’s gone.

The words seemed to echo inside of her head. She remembered the exact way they had been said, the sympathetic tone and yet tired eyes of the messenger who had come to deliver the news. No doubt she wasn’t the first to have heard the speech that sun.

We couldn’t find a trace of her.

The music picked up pace, her bow moving frantically as her fingers danced across the fingerboard. The notes were starting to blur together, transforming from melody to pure noise.

I’m sorry–

Suddenly a loud crack! splits the air, and Odette lets out a yelp of pain and jerks her head away as something lashes her across the cheek, her instrument falling to the bed beside her. In the quiet that descends, she looks down at her violin, at the worn string that had finally snapped. She doesn’t move to pick it up however; instead she simply stares at it in silence, her eyes starting to well up with tears.

At that moment, she was not the brave, proud young adult that loved dark poetry and shocking people in equal measure. She was just a lonely teenager who desperately missed her mom.