#esp since i relate to catti a whole lot due to ya know. being raised in such a oddly specific way

[banished-away]

i keep thinking about how much more poignant delly's storyline would have been if she and catti-brie had been allowed to interact in a significant way before it all went to hell

delly basically wanted an idealized version of catti's life. a life of adventures and travel and to have a strong man take and save her. she has always lived in poverty half-drunk on the city streets and in stranger's beds and wanted the freedom of the outside and an idyllic little family. and then she got hit with the reality of raising a kid that isnt even her own, having to fight for your life and living closed into a fortress under siege that may as well be a prison, and basically the existence of being a stay at home wife. she feels locked in catti is someone who has lived for adventure her entire life. she has known how to use a sword since she was a kid, was raised the princess of a clan of always battle-ready dwarves, and was sorrounded by over-protective men with hardly a chance to interact with other women (we know that both among the dwarves and the reghed, once a woman marries she's basically home-bound, and when she meets alustriel for the first time she doesnt even know what perfume or cosmetics are, and feels incredibly jelous and inferior). and after a near-death experience she is now torn between this adventurous side and the side that wants to marry and have kids, which she knows is incompatible with her current life and is also running out of time for. shes a tomboy who she admits wasnt really raised as a girl but she does yearn to interact with feminity to some degree (after that first meeting with alustriel she relents and enjoys that bubble bath and later admits she was wrong in her assestment of alustriel, and a few books later when meralda offers her also a fancy bath and some gowns to borrow we see her having fun trying them on)

ultimately, even if they come from opposite ends, they want the same thing. they want to not have to compromise between adventure and motherhood, they want to be indipendant and make their own choices while also having the security of people around them caring for them when they need it. which is a very fair thing want, and yet they feel like its outside their possibilities

i think that couldve been used to properly set up the subplot. they both want the same thing but come from such different lives that its hard for them to relate and that could cause attrition. i think that centering the subplot around them and not wulfgar would have improved it quite a bit