Charaktere

It was never hard to tell when Unlightly came home. Always the same with that girl, it was. A few shuffling footsteps, the door of Elaine's wooden house opening far too forcefully, and always the same words.

"Mama? I'm home!"

Elaine looked up from the tome she was reading - the latest treatise from Limsa on the uses of music in military strategy - and smiled as her daughter bent over slightly to get through the door.

"Welcome home, dear," she said. "Pray tell me, how was your adventure?"

Unlightly's proud grin caught in Elaine's heart like it usually did. Gods preserve, Elilwyda, she looks just like you, the Elezen woman thought. If only you were here to see her now.

"I've all the ingredients for supper, Mama, and in finding them, I stumbled upon a nest of bandits!"

Elaine knew what was coming next. Her daughter was as inclined to stealth and conflict avoidance as a bear was to flying. With a slight sigh, she asked, "I don't suppose you simply told the Wailers of the location of the bandits' camp?"

Unlightly's smile faltered, and with a nervous laugh, she replied, "That… would surely have been my first choice, had I thought of it at the time. Not to fear, though! The rascals were hardly any trouble at all, and I've nary a scratch on me."

"Aye, you've not an injury I can see now," Elaine said, her eyes narrowed. "And how many cure spells did it take you?"

"Three," her daughter mumbled.

"Dear, you'll have to speak up. My hearing's not what it used to be, you know."

"I said three, Mama," Unlightly said softly. "You must know that you've naught to worry about, surely? I can handle myself quite well."

Elaine got up and gave Unlightly the tightest hug she could manage, not letting up until she felt her daughter's arms wrap around her in return.

"Aye, Unlightly, so you can," Elaine said after a moment. "Quite well indeed. And twenty-two years ago, I knew another pair of Roegadyn soldiers, the finest I'd ever met. They could handle themselves quite well too, my dear. That hardly prevented their demise."

Unlightly held her more tightly upon hearing that, and when Elaine let go, she looked up into her daughter's face again and saw the fiercest look of determination she'd ever seen.

"You won't lose me like you lost Mother and Father. I swear it," Unlightly said.

And somehow, in that moment, Elaine believed her.