part of me wants to have varha's relationship with estinien resolved BEFORE shb because i'm impatient but also because the buildup is there (still workshopping things but i'm going to pick apart the later dragoon quests to suit my own needs here & re-arrange some things to give them an excuse to spend time alone together post-stormblood pre-shadowbringers, it'll be great once i figure out a solid timeline, i promise) so like on one hand it would make sense, they're both incredibly blunt people who Would just go for it under the right circumstances

however. leaving things on a 'not-quite-official-yet-even-though-we've-shared-a-bed' note gives us the combined comedy/angst of varha spending her downtime in the crystarium giving Major 'why should THEY be happy! [while throwing rocks at couples by the lake]' energy that will absolutely be made the problem of innocent bystanders and emet-selch, who's about to figure out exactly Which parts of azem's personality varha inherited (the hostile fire-starter ones, mostly). plus, estinien gets to spend that time ruminating on the fact that he missed his window to actually move things forward like, multiple times over the course of their multi-week dragon-hunting camping trip to make an official declaration of any kind, and he gets to to this while on his road trip with gaius (what did they even Talk about that whole time like???). no, gaius doesn't get omnipotence for narrative convenience, i just think him being around estinien while he dwells on this makes the situation objectively more miserable for him & therefore more entertaining for Me.