there are not enough hours in the day to get all the work done she needs to. every day, she feels as though she's running herself into the ground. too deep and the ceiling will come down on her. meetings like this are a thankful respite; it reminds her why she's doing all of this. it reminds her that there are people who look up to her, despite her failings. 

the past can't be undone, so it's better off left behind them.

she observes her from the fringes of the garden; no longer than a few moments, but enough for her to take in the woman's demeanor, the care with which she tends the hare in her arms. 

"mm, did he say all that?" she says with a quirk of her brow, but a hint of a smile nonetheless. "i was curious, when you reached out, wondering what a galarian princess of her station might learn from someone like me." 

her namesake, morningstar, is important to the foundation of sootopolis', but they were by no means royalty. they were eccentrics, at worst, and staunch league supporters at best, with influence in local politics only because of their involvement with the latter. 

Elise Calcifet

☉

at some point in time, when she was younger, she had taken foreign politics classes, but other regions have been so far from her mind that she has no idea what the princess is referring to. she nods politely, but raises a brow all the same. 

"my reputation was soiled," she says and pinches a tulip between her thumbs, plucking the herbaceous pink flower from its stem. it rolls into her palm. "i abandoned my people when they needed me most. i made mistakes.

"and yet here i stand, wishing anything i might do could right those wrongs. you want advice, miss calcifet? don't turn your back when things get hard."

Elise Calcifet

☉

"but i assume you were fighting here," freya says, turning another plucked flower around in her fingers. this one joins the tulip in a sad, little bouquet. 

"if you feel you need to be with them, then go, but you haven't already, and why is that?" she drops the flowers. they fall unceremoniously to the ground. "because you know the fight is here. it doesn't matter what happens in galar if ground zero isn't controlled.

"you are there for them, the way i see it."

Elise Calcifet

☉

"and even if they don't see it that way, even if they never see it that way, will you continue on?" even if you have to make impossible choices, make yourself a monster, could you do it? her thumb presses too hard into one of the stems; green chlorophyll spreads over her skin. 

she eases her tension, but her lips flatten. 

"i don't know that being queen is all it's cut out to be." an iron crown the people placed upon her head, but what did she ever do for them in galar? they were dust, always, and though eva and tempest and cillian treated them as subjects, she could never stomach the thought. 

"focus on the here and now, ambassador calcifet. and trust that we need you here."

Elise Calcifet

☉

at the end of the day, as long as she did some good here, she'll count that as a win. the princess lives for her people and freya can't fault her for that; in many ways, she lives for her own too. her smile twitches at the mention of remiel. 

"i've found he's a well-meaning man."

when elise says the league has her support, and more importantly, her trust, freya's shoulders relax a little. she hadn't been expecting much out of their meeting, save for a few snippets of information, but to hear from an ambassador that they still stand by them is good. 

"this has been a pleasure, ambassador calcifet," she says, holding out her hand. "let me know if there's anything i can do to thank you for your support."

Elise Calcifet

☉