#featuring: Frog's ARR > SB bright red hair!

[elizabethrobertajones]

"Ha ha ha, I'm a Knight of House Fortemps!"

"By the Fury, not if you hold a sword like that! Besides... I find you far more interesting as an adventurer... Free from all the duties you'd be burdened with if you had to fight for Ishgard."

"Aw, come on, it can't be that bad, can it?"

"Trust me, I don't want you to find out."

Day 4: Outfit Swaps | Role Changes

It took Frog until post-EW to learn the biggest secret she'd uncover in Ishgard: the brief but passionate and intense throuple between Aymeric, Estinien and Haurchefant in the time between Calamity and the final weeks of the Dragonsong War. (Aymeric and Estinien having been together much longer previously.)

For once she was hardly responsible for any of the drama whatsoever: Haurchefant stationed out in Dragonhead was free to hook up with whosoever he pleased (mostly passing adventurers who could talk their way to his bed with stories of fantastical deeds such as being a giant lightly-dressed Bard who claimed to have defeated Ifrit); Estinien was off doing extremely angsty brooding and blowing through their lives in a cloud every few months before he stole the Eye and disappeared; and Aymeric was perched up in the city Doing His Best and pining for any of the brief moments of escape he was allowed and feeling extremely guilty for wanting a night off once in a blue moon.

In Frog Canon the whole arrangement fell apart when Haurchefant died and Estinien and Aymeric didn't get back together until long after Aymeric had fallen in love with Frog, had his heart shattered by her, pined for a couple of years, been yelled at by a catboy to ask her out, and started dating her at long last - the healing process for everyone involved really centred around how they all felt about Haurchefant and him being the glue that had held them together, and Aymeric and Frog both had to take on the duty of keeping something this fragile stable, and that was a very long learning process.

In any case, all that said I think this moment when Frog walks out dressed as a House Fortemps Knight carrying Haurche's sword and shield was a critical moment for her and Aymeric before they'd said a thing to each other about their feelings, but I think in this particular case it communicated a lot, especially the deep shared love they'd had for Haurchefant really shaping how they both felt about Frog doing this. All other grief and love related things aside, I think it changed how Aymeric saw her commitment to, if not Ishgard, then the people she loved there, and that she would tolerate this sort of PR nonsense in style and with grace, which, if Aymeric was to pick up where Haurchefant left off and court her, she'd be subjected to even more.

(Estinien's healing journey is a whole other thing largely unrelated and he's not Frog's lover remotely in any universe so I'm just like. Ignoring him and feeling guilty for doing so because his whole character arc is one of my favourite things in the whole story and Estimeric is one of my favourite things but this isn't about him today :P)