#(reminds me how I realized I really could've made my faye from a time where she didn't join Alm OR Celica after adding her to TOA)

[fiberflxwer]

"Oh, Celica! You're back! Gosh, how long has it been? I've missed you so much! Alm left Ram. Did you know that? Just up and LEFT! I'm so desperately lonely... Anyway, I thought about going after him just to teach him a lesson, but I didn't. I'd probably get killed by some foul beast out there on my own, you know? Hey, wait... Are you on a journey or quest or whatever? Then maybe I could go with you!" - Celica recruitment quote

[ setting the scene | Still accepting! ]

[ Oooo this is a crazy good one >:)

Now it's hard to get an exact solid grasp on this moment - being optional, reading nothing like an actual conversation with Celica, circumstances being heavily dependent on player action (ignoring Faye outright, ignoring Faye & Kliff, speaking to and denying Faye, etc.), but it says a lot about her general goals and mindset at the time.

Moreover, there is no goal or mindset. She just wants to get to Alm, and currently Celica is the one answer that she has.

Look at it this way: her recruitment dialogue contains next to no context to why Alm left or what his purpose in leaving is. Likewise, Faye does not push for more details on Celica's reason for travel. While it can just be a result of the one-sidedness of an optional recruit, I'd say it shows where Faye's true intentions lie in traveling. She was never in it for saving her country, the money, or seeing the land; she only has Alm on the mind.

Her hesitance to go outside of Ram is even shown here, in the line, "I'd probably get killed by some foul beast out there on my own, you know?" I like the choice of "foul beast" over something more realistic, when she should be aware that a civil war is active right outside of her doorstep. It really paints that she's in her own world when it comes to wanting to leave Ram Village.

To go back on that Celica train of thought real quick: Celica as a whole is a connection I want to spend more time working out, but this hypothetical scenario still presents an interesting base for it. This might again be a by-product of a one-sided interaction, but the way Faye delivers "missing you so much" sounds just...a little spiteful to me. Peeking into the future in Act 3 for a moment, look at (what is probably) the only other time Celica is mentioned by Faye post-Prologue:

Faye: You can’t expect Celica to understand what’s going through your head. Only someone who’s been with you the whole time could ever truly understand. Someone who knows you so well she thinks exactly as you do. [SoV Faye Base Conversation 2]

Sure the circumstances are a bit different, being after Alm and Celica's fight, but Faye's resolve is clear. She doesn't see Celica being worthy of Alm's love, as she does not understand him as much as Faye does. To her, Celica is a girl who just went up and left when they were a lot younger and nothing more. She doesn't want to even consider the priestess as worth Alm's time, seen as the focus of Alm in both the base conversation and here is Faye's relation to him.

At this moment, Celica is seen as a means to an end for Faye, one that is picked more for safety rather than comradery. Not to say that she does not see Celica as a friend whatsoever, but I doubt they have much to really talk about. Especially after Celica continues her pilgrimage. ]