But Hestia began to wonder what lay beyond the walls that had sheltered her all her life. Perhaps somewhere beyond the horizon, she might find something that could help Helios live a better life. So she took up the path of an adventurer, carrying little more than her greatsword and a hope she was not yet ready to abandon.
Then she met Oswald Hartstride, one of Tonala's most renowned heroes. He was everything Hestia was not: experienced, celebrated, and seemingly forged for a world far greater than hers. Yet beneath the legend, she found a man she could love. And, for the first time, Hestia thought she had found someone she could call home.
Until her inexperience cost her life.
Oswald brought her back from death, only to place her before the harshest trial he reserved for adventurers he believed possessed potential. Hestia, still carrying the terror of her first death, was made to face him with nothing but her greatsword while Oswald stood before her in full armor, armed with all the strength and experience that made him a hero.
Then he killed her.
To Oswald, it may have been a test.
To Hestia, it was betrayal.
Her second death took something from her that resurrection could not restore: her trust. As a paladin of the Oath of Vengeance, she could not accept what she saw as an unforgivable injustice. From then on, she trusted only the greatsword that had remained beside her when everything else had failed.
She hated Oswald.
Or at least, she tried to.
Then came the news that he was gone. Dead.
And Hestia fell apart.
The woman who had once devoted herself to the cathedral became a shadow of herself, drowning in grief and misery. Her life became disordered, her appearance neglected, her faith shaken beneath the weight of an absence she could not bear.
She wanted to hate him for what he had done.
But she couldn't.
Not completely.
She missed him. She mourned him. She loved him.
The anger remained. So did the resentment, the injustice, and the memory of the second death. Yet somehow, none of them were enough to erase what she had once felt for him.
Oswald Hartstride remains the deepest contradiction in Hestia's heart: the man who saved her, the man who killed her, the man she resents, the man she mourns, and the man she still loves.
Perhaps some wounds do not heal by choosing between love and hatred.
Perhaps some people simply remain, forever, in the place where both feelings meet.
