Right then, this will be brief in comparison to my last diatribe, but here we go.
We have been offered two paths for a Best Friend Lea: 1)Nio-like and more powerful, 2)Less powerful but not like Nio.
The first option strikes me as something of a trap. Yes, Lea will be more powerful along this path, but it comes with the inherent cost of fixating upon a person who will constantly do something - maybe a turn of phrase, maybe a favored activity, what have you - to remind us of our failure and resulting dead sister. For an Odyssial already struggling with rage issues, that seems highly unadvised - the anger has to be tamed to serve Odyssial's greater ambition, not merely to inflame his passion to destroy and crush the Primordials. I've gone over some of the possible downfalls along the Fury path previously, but in essence this option just seems to aggregate all of the mentioned issues. And if it does often stoke his anger, it largely defeats the restraining abilities that make the option appealing in the first place. Plus, this relationship implies an insane level of co-dependency due to conflating Nio and Lea. When the Great Curse inevitably strikes, the joint figure representing our deepest relationship of past and present seems a very likely figure for our Limit Break, which restricts the possibility of optimizing it as Odyssial had previously been stated to do. If we are dependent upon a single anchor against the tide of madness, we are then bound to accede to the wishes of that anchor lest we lose it.
As for the second path, well, it avoids the conflated relationship issues of Nio-Lea. But it has a higher cost, I think, beyond a weakened Lunar Mate. Rihaku has stated that the Best Friend Lea simply doesn't particularly care for power. Odyssial can respond to this in at least two ways. He might simply accept it, but that requires him to internalize that will to power is not a terminal value. That has to cause some sort of BSOD for someone of his original mindset, and there are no guarantees that he will emerge from that crucible the same man as which he entered. To accept Lea's ameliorating influence is to also accept that she might change Odyssial, and perhaps not for the better. At least from the perspective of his original self focused upon strength and human independence. Or, if Odyssial is really as consumed by a desire for vengeance as the last prelude update indicated, I think this attitude might honestly disgust him. He has dedicated his very life to pushing that one inch more, straining for that additional bit of inspiration, to achieve his goals and to free humanity from the uncaring hegemony of the Daeva. How frustrating must it be to know that your counterpart, the true partner ordained by the fate and power to which you owe your life, simply cannot comprehend the deepest core of your being? Worse yet, she simply rejects the aim to which you devote each and every moment of your days as unnecessary. It would seem inevitable that friction would grow between Odyssial's ideals and Lea's attitudes, which might sour the relationship in the long term. It is possible that this conflict might eventually, through sufficient application of the Great Curse, time, and Wyld exposure, result in a relationship similar if lesser to the Mortal Foe. At the very least, it would strain their friendship and make her a less willing aid to Ulyssian, a further changed Odyssial with grossly different experiences.
Compare these then to the Masked Queen. She is the one thing Odyssial has never before encountered - a true equal, a counterpart, strong where he is soft, weak where he is powerful. They fit together in a union surpassing even the Sun and Moon which gave them life as they currently are and still tread forward, pushing each other to be better, to grow stronger, in service of a shared dream. She can understand him like no one else, and he her, for they walk the same path with the same conviction. In her is the realization that Odyssial need not strive alone, for to care for her is no risk and she supports him just as he reinforces her. Because she stands at his side, he can dedicate himself to true perfection in his areas of expertise and trust her to carry her own weight in hers. And further, once each has reached the peak of their current endeavors, the other serves as the best possible tutor in new fields of scholarship. Their twinned merit imposes no burden upon the other, each drawing their counterpart in turn further towards the fullest realization of excellence. And yet still, in the secrets told and the hidden weakness shared, they reflect the continued humanity of the Exalted, so that they do not lose themselves in the power they hold. Together they are a beacon as to the potential of their race, a clarion call summoning all to stand against the Primordial apathy that has bound humanity to its shackles from the instant of their creation.
Yes, the existence of this relationship will impose drama with Ulyssian's academy romances, but it is ultimately a necessary step. Moon, no matter her honor and accomplishment, will never stand as Ulyssian/Odyssial's equal, cannot by her own heritage stand unafraid at his side a commensurate partner. It would be the greatest sin to sacrifice the living proof that Odyssial/Ulyssian is not alone in this world, that his efforts are not the lonely struggle of a single man against all of Creation, for the sake of an as yet untested youthful romantic fling with no guarantee that it will ever become anything more. After all, to be a Solar is to be Anathema in the Immaculate Creed and Moon is and shall always a true example of the Shogun's blood.
And, on an entirely separate note, I also support Lore.
