[Victory Road IC Inbox]

[freckledarcher]

"Hello? I think I got it now. Hello! This is Ashe please leave a message and I'll get back with you as soon as I can!"

[video/text/call]

Comments

[vrdantwind]

Well, as for the war...I don't really know what happened after that, because once I stepped down as duke, I left Fodlan. A little of that was practicality - it helped encourage everyone, Kingdom and Alliance alike, to look to Dimitri and only Dimitri as their leader, instead of me hanging around confusing things as a guy who had been a leader up until just recently. But I'll admit, that was more a convenient side effect than the point.

The simple fact of the matter is that I needed to go home. I am the grandson of the former Duke Riegan, despite all the suspicions around me cropping up out of nowhere...what, was it almost seven years ago now? Man, time flies. [He shakes his head.] But that's not all I am. On my father's side...I'm Almyran. In fact, on my father's side...I was a prince of Almyra. One of many, admittedly, but despite being the youngest, my father chose me as his successor.

I had to go home to Almyra because...well, I'd been tied up in Fodlan's affairs for long enough. My grandfather begged me to be his heir, and I was able to play that role for awhile to keep the council wolves at bay, but I always had a prior commitment. So once I could set down my grandfather's mantle without having brought shame on that side of my family, once I didn't have to worry about the Alliance imploding with noble squabbling and selfishness...I could finally go home and start leading my country. I went home, and I became king.

[He studies Ashe.] So that's the other big secret. I was an Almyran prince when you knew me back at Garreg Mach, and I'm the king of Almyra as I sit here now. I'd barely been two weeks on the throne before I wound up here. It really seems like life doesn't want to let me put my plans for my country into effect, huh?

[freckledarcher]

[Ashe sat back while he processed all the information. He certainly knew more noble people than he imagined. He didn't imagine Claude would tell him something this important even if it filled in the blanks for the rumors back at school then again during the war. Dimitri told them that Claude helped so he didn't think much of it. Well, it helped him understand how it was possible for Claude to help them when they needed it. He didn't know much about Almyra, only things that he's read in books back in the library or heard from word of mouth, this information wasn't in any book that's for sure.

Ashe turned back to Claude while he messed with the end of his hoodie.]

It does seem like a lot of forces stopping you at the moment. I'm sure in time life will let you put your plans into action.

[Ashe didn't mean to come off as awkward, but he still froze around nobility.]

Um, should I call you a different name now?

[vrdantwind]

[Claude chuckles.] I mean, technically, you could. My real name's Khalid. Claude's just a name I adopted based on a Riegan ancestor of mine. [He rests his elbow on the table, and his chin on his hand.] And it's not like I'm not proud of my Almyran identity, or my Almyran name, no matter what people might think of them. But at the same time...all the best memories I've made in my life have been made while I was Claude. I don't mind staying Claude with the people who've only known me as that.

I don't need you to do anything differently, Ashe. I just wanted you to know the same things I've shared with the others, because you deserve to know as much as any of them. Taking the throne back home...it meant I was past the point of needing to keep these secrets anymore. I wasn't that thrilled when I wound up here and got dumped back into them. I want to be able to be who I really am with you guys, finally. And to do it with all of you, not just some of you.