The Falling Snows

In your hour of need, you turn to Coerthas Central Highlands. When you reach Camp Dragonhead, Haurchefant as always, welcomes you warmly and it warms his heart your trust to lean on him before all other.

Haurchefant informs you that your request for asylum in Ishgard is on halt until the dragon attacks lessen. In the mean time, with his hand to his chest, he reminds you to not despair.

He smiles and continues to offer Camp Dragonhead to be your refuge. The namesake of this shrine, "The Fallings Snows".

He vows that any searches of you or inquiries from Ul'dah will be dismissed. Haurchefant remembers you fighting to preserve the honor of his dear friend, Francel, and it is a blessing he can now repay that debt in kind.

You are also reunited with Tataru and Yugiri who were able to escape and into the safety of Camp Dragonhead as well.

As I was playing through this part of the game for the first time, completely blind, this act of kindness from Haurchefant touched me so so much. And it stayed with me. I am revisiting notes, cutscenes, and dialogues to write this part, and I am tearing up at the amount of goodwill shown by Haurchefant.

You have been accused of murder, you have lost your closest comrades, you have no where else to go, and you see Alphinaud defeated and punishing himself. The weight of the events leading right to this moment, the despair, the loss... and here is Haurchefant offering you protection and refuge.

This act speaks so much of his character. Haurchefant, the illegitimate son of a High House, never fitting in and growing up in a household that would never see him as an equal. He was treated as an outsider and in that hurt, he chose to be kind and to love. It is not surprising to me that he commands Camp Dragonhead, a stop for travelers and merchants...outsiders.

And it is shown now. You, beaten and bruised, and he is offering you sanctuary. I love and admire how deeply he cares.