then in ishgard there's this scene which is all sorts of hilarious to me because haurchefant spots WoL and estinien, and is all like :) before he spots iceheart and then it's just a "WITCH DETECTED" moment for him
but estinien /shrugs and WoL /nods at him so he's okay
then there's this bit of important lore about the dragon eyes (... as the group knows it).
estinien pulls nidhogg's eye out of his pocket like it's nothing. i mean i know it's his job to literally carry it around but ew ew ew just get rid of it fam it's ICKY
case in point. at least estinien is there to vouch for him.
also ... WoL went from a "lanky young lad with a thousand yard stare" to "hard-eyed" ... ... ... IT'S HAPPENING!! CHARACTER PROGRESSION IS HAPPENING!! 👀💦
WoL can TALK NOW!!!!!!!! A LITTLE!!!!!!!!!! SOMETIMES!!!!!!!!
tl;dr turns out the queen wasn't out to slay, but that's what you get when you play with primal powers i guess. i wonder what would happen if WoL summoned an azem primal. . . . ... hm
alphinaud beats himself /stupid/ over this. every scene he's in, for a good while, has him hanging his head, this small child who barely comes up to WoL's chest.
how much could he control, really? what did he think he was?? what did WoL think he was??