Ceilanyra's Links
Esredes has always been an interesting case. Back when she initially approached the new recruit to make friends, she didn't really mind how far it would go, but boy did it go far. Ceila's used to becoming friendly with everyone, but in part due to the way they clicked and the fact that he felt the most comforted by her, they ended up sticking together a lot. She's always admired Esrey's drive and grit, and wasn't surprised when it ended up propelling him past her all the way to the near top. He definitely deserves his position.
While many other people find Esrey to be menacing and possessing an uncomfortable aura, she's always found him and his behavior to be sort of cute in a way. For as reserved and confident as he is, there's a streak of dorkiness in him that's rather endearing. Sometimes she can't help but tease him for the way he is, but she still respects him in a lot of other ways, even if she's always thought he could loosen up more than he does. She supposes it's just not in his nature.
As both of them have matured, it's also become more apparent to her over the years that he's never been as composed on an emotional level as she is, even though he usually acts like it. At times, she can't help but worry about him in a mom friend sort of way, but it's never concerned her enough to truly try to step in herself.
Either way, she's happy to talk to him whenever their lives allow them to meet and catch up, to learn about what's going on with him and all the things he gets to do up at the top. And while she knows she's nothing more than a dear friend to him, she's glad to let it be this way. She knows that, at least in this point in his life, he doesn't have a good enough understanding of relationships to handle one. She wouldn't try one because she loves him.
Still though, he has a lot going on both emotionally and in his everyday life, and she doesn't know all of it. She can't help but have an underlying feeling like something's going to happen with him someday. But hopefully it's just her worry getting to her. After all, if something did happen, she'd be the first person to rush in to try to stop it and help him.
Of the people Esredes knows in his life, Ceila has perhaps become the one who knows the most about him. It's a deserved title to have, too, after the things she's done for him. Though he won't tell her everything, there are a lot of things he will trust her with, and that's pretty much as good as things get with him.
A lot of time has passed since they originally stuck together closely, when both of them were vulnerable and impressionable new recruits. Since then, their lives have become more busy and complicated, and the world has revealed itself to be a cruel place that each has adapted to in their own way. Esrey ended up separating from her side when he was promoted past her level, but has never forgotten to check up with her occasionally and talk. It's a shame they don't get put together on missions more often. He'd love to be able to relive the times when they stuck together a little more.
Regardless, he's always appreciated her energy and all the ways she's different from him. She can do a lot of things he can't, and in a way, that's a comfort. And especially nowadays, Alise competes with her for the person able to read and understand him best. She definitely makes him relax, and can comfort his emotions better than a lot of others.
Though he trusts her more than he trusts a lot of nochmal soldiers, he'd still rather keep some of the things he ends up doing in his position out of conversation with her. Torturing captured knochen to figure out where a group of humans are, having made business acquaintance with a couple humans in order to kill other humans... Perhaps she'd understand, but he'd rather not risk it. It's better not to tell anyone about those things.
In short, Ceila will always have a fond place in his heart, though he'd never consider her anything more than a dear friend. Perhaps if the two ever did get to fight more together, they'd only be all the more unstoppable.
Alise to Ceila is, simply put, quite the surprise. Ceila's made human exceptions before, but for Esredes to make friends with a human? She would've never imagined such a thing to be possible.
Since he came to her confessing this and asked her to help save her from an evil scientist and make sure she was okay, she's been fascinated in finding out just how and what it is that makes her different to him. In the meantime, though, she finds her quite adorable. Incredibly adorable. Everything from her appearance to the way she acts is endearing, even though she's not trying. Sort of like Esrey, in a way. She's beginning to understand why this one is special to him.
Regardless, she'll be happy to come in on their party again some other time and get to know the situation better. It's nice that the atmosphere of her house makes Esrey so relaxed. The gods know both of them probably need it. Maybe she'll have to tell her some embarrassing stories when they're alone again.