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Sully had never been a very particularly girly girl, and that was fine by her. She'd always been better suited to getting her hands dirty.
She'd never been one of the smarter girls either, but that, too, was fine by her.
When Stahl and Miriel got married, she hadn't thought much of it. Miriel was pretty weird, but Sully knew her heart was in the right place, and she made her friend happy, so that was enough. Besides, Stahl was a big boy. It wouldn't be fair to meddle in his relationship.
When Laurent showed up, Sully had given the kid a good look over before wryly telling Stahl that he was lucky he ended up with such a good-looking son. The way both Stahl and Laurent's faces had turned red was more than worth it.
Not long after, Sully found herself charmed by the white-haired Plegian mage who seemed to have come right out of nowhere. Stahl had given her a surprised look when she told him the news, but Sully just shrugged and said that this was hardly the strangest combination to have come out of the Shepherds.
A few weeks later, they learned of a girl trying to avenge her master. Her mentor's wife pleaded with them to rescue her, so off they'd set. Sully felt something twitch in her heart when she laid eyes on the girl's white hair, but ignored it until the battle was over. When the girl, Kjelle, showed her the ring that looked like an older, more scratched version of the one Sully wore, she knew that she was speaking to her own daughter.
She and Henry did their best to bond with Kjelle, but Sully didn't pay much attention to how Kjelle interacted with her friends. She didn't even notice that her daughter began to grow closer to Laurent until they sat her and Henry down to tell them the news.
Sully had given her blessing since they seemed pretty serious (and Kjelle was a grown woman), but on the inside she was baffled. While it was true that Kjelle taking after her in terms of personality didn't mean they had to have the same taste in men, that didn't answer her questions about Laurent, who also took after his mother.
Deciding to get to the bottom of it, Sully asked Laurent to train with her one afternoon. Laurent had given her a puzzled look, but agreed. Throughout the whole sparring session, Sully could see his eyes wandering all over, never focused on one place for very long. Suspicious, Sully halted the fight and demanded to know what he was doing.
"I... I was watching to make sure you weren't injured somewhere." Laurent quickly explained. "It's important to make sure that we're always in top condition."
"Are you implying that I don't know my own body?" Sully narrowed her eyes at him. "You think I don't know how to take care of myself?"
"No!" Laurent shook his head. "I make observations of everyone in the Shepherds! I take note of their habits so that I know when something isn't right with their movements. Kjelle did mention that "some people" might not be alright with me observing them... Are you one of those people?"
It was a sincere question with nothing resembling sarcasm anywhere in Laurent's voice. Sully let out a sigh. It figured Stahl and Miriel's kid would get his father's dorkiness and his mother's inability to see people as people rather than test subjects.
"It's not that I'm pissed about you "making observations", or whatever it is you call it." She groaned. "But when you look all over the place in a fight, it looks almost like you're eying me up."
"You!? I-I would never!" Laurent's face turned red. "You're Kjelle's mother and a very important friend of my parents!"
The courtyard fell silent for a moment before Sully spoke up.
"So... Is there any particular reason for why you watch people? Is it some sort of experiment?"
"Experiment? No." Laurent shook his head firmly. "While there is a certain benefit to collecting data about everyone's strengths and weaknesses, that isn't why I take notes regarding everyone's condition."
"...Go on."
Laurent looked Sully for a moment before he slowly pulled a small pouch. It looked like one of those herbal remedies that Stahl made a bunch of.
"Mother and I perfected the formula that Father gave us." He said quietly. "It's just a small thing, but it's good enough to close minor wounds. Father always went into battle with one. Well, almost always. One day, he was in a hurry, so he forgot to take it with him. He returned later that evening with just a small wound. He seemed fine, but within a few days, he'd developed a fever and died. If he'd had the medicine with him on the battle field, maybe he'd have remembered to take it. Maybe he wouldn't have died. This medicine might have saved you and mother and I a lot of tears."
"Hey now!" Sully protested. "What's this about me crying!?"
Laurent gave a small chuckle.
"You were like that in the future, too." He explained. "You denied you were shedding tears even as they rolled down your cheeks. You said that my father lived and died as a true Shepherd and that I should be proud to have had him as my father. Not that I needed to hear that! I'd heard plenty of stories of my father's heroism, and of yours, too."
"Heh. Is that so?" Sully smirked slightly.
"Indeed. You were well-known for taking charge and never letting anything hinder your fighting spirit. Everyone loved you. Your husband didn't smile much after your died."
"Henry? Not smile?"
"It may seem hard to believe, but that's the truth."
Laurent paused for a moment to let Sully take that in before he continued.
"Part of the reason my father was wounded was because his armor hadn't been maintained properly. Just another small detail that didn't hold much meaning on its own, but in the face of monsters with spears..." He explained before he trailed off for a second. "To tell the truth, I think my father's death might have been part of what motivated Kjelle's fascination with armor."
"Oh?"
"Kjelle took my father's death very hard as well. He doted on her like she was his own child. In fact, I overheard you and Henry asking my parents to take care of her if anything happened to the two of you. Of course, my parents made the same request of you."
"I'm guessing that never happened."
"First my father died, then you died, and my mother disappeared. Henry... He tried to look after me. He and the other adults tried to look after all of the kids. But because my mother's body was never found, I kept clinging to the hope that she was out there, that she'd return one day. I felt like I didn't need him to look after me.
"But... He was just as important to me as you were, and when he died, I felt like I'd lost my only remaining family."
Laurent's voice was cracking, and Sully began to regret bringing the subject up.
"Look, Laurent... I'm sorry about this." She said awkwardly. "I didn't mean to bring up any bad memories."
"No... I'm glad you did." Laurent removed his glasses to wipe his eyes on his sleeve. "I've spent the past several years distancing myself from my past. I've avoided thinking about my parents, my friends, my mission... I've avoided who I am and simply focused on living until I could find my parents without running the risk of interfering with my own existence."
There was something about his words that sounded off to Sully, but she brushed her concerns off and simply listened.
"Now, though... Now I can make peace with the past. I can enjoy the present. I can look forward to the future we're going to make." Laurent took a deep breath and looked at Sully with a smile. "I'm glad that we had this talk. I think... I suspect that if my father tries to ask me about my travel back to the past, I will be emotionally prepared for it. You have my thanks, Aunt Sully."
"Aunt?"
"I mean, Sully." Laurent's face turned red again.
"Easy now, Son-In-Law." Sully grinned at him as she readied her spear to resume sparring. "We're family here. I hope you don't take that fancy scholar tone when you're alone with my daughter. I can't imagine that's very good for foreplay."
The look on Laurent's face was more than worth it.