I think about how the Nohrian and Hoshidan siblings are mirror images of each other and how intrisically linked the two sets are that it drives me to madness. You and your kind made me what I am. Without you and your influence, who would I be? Would I even be me?
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The Nohr kids who have nobody but each other, a singular father linking them all by blood but who hates them at best and ignores them at worst.
Because even being hated, at least that's acknowledgement. At least that's a road to discussion, even if it's one-sided and makes you ofeel worse afterwards. Even that is better than nothing, because then their mother's sacrifices and the Concubine Wars were just a meaningless bloodblath if Father doesn't care about them.
And Father MUST care, he MUST.
But! Despite everything! Despite the constant political intrigue, despite the constant backstabs and death and murder, the Nohr siblings chose to end the cycle of violence! They love and support one another when no one else would. Despite everything, they remain kindhearted and don't realize that's probably why Father won't look at them
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And across the Divide? The Hoshidan kids?
They also have a singular parent, they also lost the other one to tragedy. But violence isn't the norm here. This wasn't expected, and the response was as different as (heh) night and day.
Their surviving parent loves them! Of course she does! That's why she's too busy for them! She must rule their land alone now! How tragic that she keeps moving forward while still in mourning! Her loss is greater than her children's loss, because they barely knew their father. It's not neglect, it's not.
Ryoma stopped being a child the day their sibling was kidnapped; he became a Figurehead and a Prince and a Father and whatever else was expected of him.
Meanwhile Hinoka threw herself into being a soldier and getting revenge. Sakura was a CHILD, she has the fewest memories of What Was and What Used to Be, and isn't chasing the impossible What Should Be that her older siblings keep striving for. She can't understand why her family has become so cold, so distant, until that becomes the new normal for her. Whatever it is Ryoma and Hinoka are chasing, it feels more and more like a pipedream she'll never understand. And she'll never understand, because she's too busy trying (and failing) to keep her family from completely falling apart.
And Takumi? Takumi is left behind in the dust. Untethered and forgotten.
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It's likely that part of Hinoka’s hate for the Nohrians stems in how close they are with each other. They openly love each other! What gives them the right, when she hadn’t seen Ryoma's genuine smile in years? How dare they toss around endearments and praise, when her mother as never uttered the phrase ‘I’m proud of you’, never noticed her eldest daughter's accomplishments.
How dare they be happy.
God I wish I fucking WISH I had the eloquence to put my feelings into words in some poetic manner.