Thank you! This prompt kind of wrote itself for me, after having but recently played through the Eruyt Village and the Draklor Labs--- they are both such, well, "grownup orphans" together, having renounced their homes for the sake of their own beliefs--- and both feeling the loss.

(Which is not to say that I didn't see the more suggestive interpretation of Fran's, um, forest, which I hope someone with a better ear for Fran/Balthier than mine writes--- I love them best as something that has him, against all his reputation as a "philanderer", being able to connect with her at a level that does not involve what a Viera's physical appearance probably tends to evoke in lots of hume men, if that makes sense--- as in, he knows her appearance does not necessarily have anything to do with hume sexuality and mating rituals and has read her that way from jump, and that is part of the growth of their partnership.)

(Oh, hi, sorry for the stampede of teal deer! This prompt was magnificently thinky for me, as you can likely tell!)