#but anyway keyleth didnt get demonified and that saved her moral compass BUT royal duo is the same

[crithaus]

man I am thinking about it but Zephrah is but one of the Ashari homelands, thus Keyleth is the heiress apparent of the air ashari people, the princess, and she was chosen which is cool according to the wiki even if Vilya was her mother she still had to be chosen to go on the aramente, which I wonder if she failed would her nobility pass on to the next person? Does her princesshood come from her mother or her position as tempest-incumbent? I would imagine the second one And I wonder how this stacks up legitimacy wise to the rest of Tal'dorei and Exandria proper cuz Syldor only seems super impressed by Percy even tho Syldor sucks and is a shit metric so nvm but inside her domain, her small but significant section of people, she is a la Germany during the 1700-1800s, a princess amongst the 3 other leaders of the Ashari, now it seems the Ashari governmental system is at least a little less centralized than say Tal'dorei but it still technically has Kiki as their princess now I'm making a point with this so bear with me,

And Percy, in much the same position, is, or was the second he stepped back into Whitestone, and especially showcased in TLOVM, the Big Man on Campus, the top authority, in fact he says in EP 64 to Syldor that he is of the Royal House of Whitestone, before his lil responsibility shirking ass defected to Cassandra he was the boss here, and if Whitestone is a Royal House and yet outside of Uriel's jurisdiction and his line of succession too, and Whitestone has had a Duke and a Count within it's borders as well and Percy being able to title people higher than he is, or being lower ranked than the people of those houses when they are not the main and royal House of Whitestone, is just silly and commensensically incorrect so he's higher here than duke, count, and baron, that's like principality status, one rung below Uriel's deal, a little Monaco in the Europe that is Tal'dorei. so he's a Prince, was probably the Grand Prince in the wee moments before he gave it to Cass, he's a Prince which is so cool, prince of a similarly insular people to Shepard, just like Keyleth

Keyleth is a little more involved in, to borrow from kerrick's letter, the 'gardening' of Zephrah post campaign but still she and Percy are on a very level field here which thrills the Me because it's two stressed out, very lonely and burdened babies, too young for this shit, with surprisingly good leadership skills and without either of the parents that knew how to do all this ruling stuff trying their very best to get through it all intact, Percy might took a hard left into evil demon territory for a second, but no wonder honestly that those two latched onto each other so hard, they had one other person who knew intimately the pressure the other was under, and I mean it goes even deeper truly,

They would have only began preparing Keyleth for her aramente when it became clear Vilya failed hers, years after she left, and Percy might not have been Julius or Vesper but after the massacre in the back of his mind he had to have known that when he went back he'd be in Charge for however long it took him to kill himself revenging his family, so by the time the two of them met they really were side by side with the wide gulf of Responsibility they Weren't Ready For in front of them, which makes it cuter to me that this was how Percy attempted to bond with Kiki at first prestream but like

Man, my little Royal Duo, kicking ass and taking names, Percy mighta broken the mold a little with this council but y'know I think if it were really a big deal despite Keyleth taking BH to him directly they would have had to talk to Cass and the rest of the Council first upon meeting them all so 😌 council served it's narrative purpose now my lord and lady can rule as they please, or at least Vex can which I will take to the Bank, I mean Lady De Rolo Coinmistress of Tal'dorei and her trophy husband? Absolutely (also this makes vex a princess by marriage and also it'll make Vax a PRINCE by marriage when they get him back (cuz they're gonna I choose to believe, it's what Vex deserves damnit, I refuse to be pulled from this fantasy) and he'll hate that it'll be so cute and funny)

But man this friendship, forged under the stoop of backs bowed by such responsibility set on them both far far far too young but bearing it flawlessly anyway, really is so... Percy's going to freak the fuck out when he finds out what Otohan did to her, it's gonna be so good

Their friendship man, it is so important to me. They see each other, they understand, through thick and thin and they are both broken and and a little fucked up but they still stick by each other, Keyleth rails at Percy whenever his bloodlust during the Briarwood arc gets outta control, and Percy's always there to shore Keyleth up when her charisma falls a little flat, it's a friendship built on being seen so deeply and understood in a way that only they can, even if it still isn't quite enough to mend their worse habits, even if it isn't enough to convince Percy to forgive himself then and it isn't enough for Keyleth to acknowledge that the past did happen and was horrible but the bright future is still being written. And they mirror each other sometimes, look at Percy during the Briarwood Arc vs Keyleth and Raishan, look at Keyleth seeing how poorly revenge treats Percy and yet committing to it anyway, they are so similar in so many ways. But it is enough, to be seen by each other.

also please look at this sketchingsparrow knows what I'm putting down