O Speaker, Slumber

by surskitty

Summary:

Minfilia has a conversation with Hydaelyn in the Aetherial Sea about one of her dearest friends.

Minfilia has had faith in the Mother from the first time she heard Her voice, but that her call would come while the Scions are in grave peril is... confusing. All she sees is crystal and twisting aether; all she feels is a yearning to return to somewhere she never knew.

"Hello, child," Hydaelyn says, the greeting echoing through her heart and mind, and it takes some time for Minfilia to distinguish Her from the crystals around her, so thoroughly is She intertwined. A giant, regal beyond compare, ribbons and cloth gracefully emanating from Her as she holds the hyur carefully, as if Minfilia is fragile and so very precious. "Loathe as I am to request it, I need your aid."

What could Minfilia possibly do for the Mothercrystal Herself? "If it will aid Eorzea, I give it gladly," she asserts. That the Crystal Braves were a failure stings mightily, but she has not forgotten Moenbryda's sacrifice. Nor has she forgotten that it was for Minfilia's safety.

Hydaelyn tilts Her hands, granting Minfilia better grounds to stand, and Her fingers steady her as she rises. "Eorzea is not my only concern," She demures. "To banish the Darkness, I sundered the very star itself, that I may bind Him in the heavens. You, child, are a native of the Source from which the worlds were broken. A survivor of a forcible Rejoining as the Ascians tried to undo what cannot be undone: the Seventh Calamity."

She absorbs this. "There are other worlds?" she asks.

"Ten and three there were, before My failures. Six remain." Thirteen, minus six -- seven. Each Calamity is a world destroyed. Their work is far more dire than she knew, but the weight of it -- the Mothercrystal knows every onze. Her explanation continues, slow that each word can reverberate within Her audience: "He grows unruly under His shackles, and I have not the strength to seal him again. I ask that you aid a young hero of another star, one who you have met before."

... Minfilia has met someone from another world?! She wracks her memory, but many of the warriors of light remain clouded to her, lost under the red moon. "May I have their name?" she requests. If it will save another world, and thereby protect Eorzea, she will do what must be done, but she would not sacrifice herself for a stranger.

"Krile Baldesion," She says, and while Minfilia considers the ramifications of this, the Mother continues: "of the Students of Baldesion, recently cast unto the Aetherial Sea that the Ascians may never have what lies upon Val. The hopes that lay upon her have burned bright for centuries, that she may one day return to her home."

She's known Krile for years; how could Krile be from another world?! But if she ... Krile was a foundling.

Galuf adopted her when she was an infant.

Like as not, Krile believes she was born in Eorzea herself.

But if Krile is in the Sea, if the Students are in the Sea, she is in grave danger. If Hydaelyn can save only one of them, that is ... that is something she can accept. "Krile will be safe?"

"I will do all within My power," Hydaelyn swears.

"Then ... yes. Anything."

Notes:

It's interesting to me that we've known since Eureka that Krile survived 2.4 via divine intervention and it took until 7.0 for there to be real follow up on it.

Minfilia's death out of universe was some real bullshit but I think narratively there's a lot to chew on.

One thing I like about my headcanon depicted above is that it would mean Hydaelyn sometimes values the potential of Shard heroes over Source heroes, which is dearly necessary because the Shards kind of get a bum lot in canon. It's not her fault; there's only one-ish of her (well, she's self-sundered, but you know what I mean) and there's as many ascians as there are random mortal assholes Emet-selch, Lahabrea, and Elidibus feel like giving immortality. The whole nature of the setup is that the ascians only need to win once per shard while she needs to win every single time. And then both the Flood of Light and the Storm Surge block the sky which would presumably prevent her from giving people visions of starshowers, which as Elidibus established is the most reliable way to rouse the Echo, so she's really low on options on the First and Ninth.

But everything we see is really rough on warriors of light from the Shards.

Then we get to Krile, who makes a point of hating being perceived as a main character. Being thought of as someone with the Echo stresses her out! I think a lot of her bonding with Minfilia and with Unukalhai is just based on ... not being the only one special. And then Ryne also hates being the one perceived as special in the room.

And to bring it back to Minfilia, there's some things sticky with the fact she's one of the few Gifted we see who does actually want a leading role, who does try to take control over her destiny to some degree, and then she's killed off because ololol imagine having a female character as your questgiver archetype, can't relate. But she comes back and she really wants to help Ryne and presumably the other teenage ninja martyr girls be able to have a life and save the world. Ryne and Krile get to be both normal and extremely magic. They frequently aren't preoccupied with saving the world from existential threats, either.

Series this work belongs to:

• Part 4 of Raise Your Weary Head, Heed the Call to Arms!