middaeg | Your voice,

Why would you say that?

[Edelgard can't actually fathom anyone standing up for a friend like that...of doing that and not feeling brave.]

Because I should have been there to begin with. Not shown up after.

After running away. Twice, at that. Sure, things worked out for the better, but what if they hadn't? It's something she still thinks about, sometimes.]

It takes bravery to overcome trepidation. You were there when it counted.

[That...undoes...some of the sour taste Lapis had left in her mouth.]

I'd say you saved your friends. Am I missing some context that provides evidence to the contrary?

Edited 2020-04-17 07:43 (UTC)

The thousands of years where I did nothing? And I don't mean the ones I was stuck in a mirror for.

[That can be crossed off right away.]

Look, I don't really get why this whole memory thing is happening, and I don't really enjoy having someone look through mine, but I'm going to tell you right now that just because you saw me do one thing doesn't mean much when you haven't seen anything else I've done.

[She's done too much bad to make up for the good she's only starting to do. Or trying to do, anyway.

That, and it'd been for Steven. He'd saved her, and she owed him any and everything she could give him. Even if she'd like to think she'd do the same for anyone else, she just can't be sure.]

[Wasn't she sealed up or something? Edelgard frowned a bit, her puzzled by that statement.

But, she does lack context. And really, she's the intruder.]

I'm sorry. I don't understand it all either, but I didn't intend to pry. My mirror has been prodded at as well, and it's unnerving. Honestly, I hope we find out who or what did this so we can give them a drubbing for breaching our privacy.

[She's serious too.]

Was the boy the Steven you told me about?

I have no idea what that means. [Drubbing.... What a weird word.]

But yeah. That was Steven.

It means we'll beat them up.

[Duh.]

Well... I agree with that.

[... But Steven wouldn't, so Lapis, who has been freshly reminded of Steven's Morals, shrugs slightly.]

But maybe a stern talking to would also work?

It's been months of this kind of nonsense...but perhaps.

[She shrugs. She doubts it's even a real person, anyway.]

Your friend seems like quite the hero. Who was that being you were fighting?

The Diamond I was made for, Blue Diamond. Back before the mirror, I was part of her court.

[A rare and valuable member at that, though perhaps lower than a Sapphire. ]

We gems don't have families. But for context, I think the closest relationship I can think of would be that she'd... Be like Steven's aunt, I think?

She didn't know at the time that he was Pink Diamond. I didn't either.

And those are your...rulers? Or nobility, for lack of a better word?

[Feeling this out.]

That's right. [Lapis nods helpfully.] They rule over all Gems. Or did, until recently.

Until Steven broke up the hierarchy, right?

Were all of them as cruel-seeming as this one was?

I... guess. Depends on who you asked. Depends on when you asked. Blue Diamond was known as merciful by us court Gems. It probably wasn't that way to those who weren't a part of her court. [But she shakes her head.]

Its... you won't get it, since you're not a gem. [And it's frustrating to know that, because it makes it harder to explain things.]

We're all created specifically for our Diamonds. It wouldn't make sense for us to go against them. Or it didn't, back then.

I think I can follow. Some noble houses have smaller houses that work for them, and have for a thousand years or more. In a sense, those houses exist to serve the main house.

[House Vestra, comes to mind.]

[She doesn't really understand it at first, mostly because she only knows the word "house" as pertaining to a place where humans live, but she does recognize that it's not being used that way.]

I think that's... almost it. But Gems can be traded between Diamonds if need be. I was made for Blue Diamond, but Pink Diamond had need of my abilities, so I was to be given to her for a time to help complete her colony. Is it like that for your "houses"?

House can also refer to a bloodline. So, House Hresvelg, for instance, would refer to my bloodline. So yes, actually.

But... you all serve someone else, right?

[She's trying to wrap her head around it.]

Ah. I suppose technically that would be me. I rule Fodlan, so I'd be the equivalent of Blue Diamond, in this instance.

.... You're not very intimidating.

[The Diamonds had height, stature. Prowess and powers behind them. Edelgard has... none of that.

She's very small.]

But I guess that doesn't matter much to humans, does it? You aren't like us.

Perhaps not to you.

[Edelgard shrugs.

She's not a Gem. But a lot of people find her extremely intimidating.]

We don't place intimidation high on the list of traits we look for in rulers.

Well... No, ability to lead comes first, but the Diamonds are... pretty intimidating? There's other Gems who're made to be intimidating in particular, but the Diamonds are intimidating for an entirely different reason. [Like being rulers. Like being the reason that Gems exist to begin with, like the fact that she was made for Blue Diamond, was expected to serve her loyally- did serve her loyally.]

Well. Know that Fodlan society is structured in such a way that the ruler has similar social standing to one of your Diamonds. But, that's changing. I intend to do what Steven did, more or less, and abolish the hierarchy.

[That's the gospel truth!]

Well, I guess that's easy if you're basically a Diamond yourself. There's no way anyone would listen to someone who isn't in charge to begin with, honestly.

[... She wouldn't have.]

Maybe where you're from. It took a war to make it happen in Fodlan. But honestly, let's...not. We're going to go round and round in circles again.

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