Headscratchers / Atelier Shallie: Alchemists of the Dusk Sea

• In Chapter 7, the two Shallies have a falling out. This involves Lotte complaining that Stera relies too much on other people and doesn't really care about Stellard. Stera counters that Lotte has never seemed too concerned about Lugion - a village that was in trouble long before Stellard, and whose situation is growing worse by the day, while its rescue team is basically being held ransom by Stellard administration. She also claims that Lotte is too headstrong and doesn't consider other people. However, given what we've seen so far...shouldn't those "flaws" be the other way around? Stera does start out the pampered princess, but resolves to become more independent...and actually follows through. She is in charge of negotiations, she decides to help Stellard as a way of saving Lugion, she undertakes the work for the union, she secures the materials for the ship (twice, actually, as Teo turns out to have underestimated what they need) and she decides to act as meat-shield for the dragon-hunting party. She consults other people to arrive at her decisions (as any reasonable leader would), but she's the one who ultimately makes the decisions. If anything, I would understand Teo and Kortes calling her out on risking their lives for a town that's been using them to its own advantage for weeks, if not months. By contrast, Lotte, while hardworking and self-sacrificing, has a wide support network (plus an outright mentor!) that she cares deeply for and, while poverty is clearly a problem, the Stellard natives are much more protective of her than they are of Stera. In fact, she piggybacks on Stera's ship in order to further her own goals. Stera would seem to be the "independent" one who is occasionally guilty of overruling important people, while Lotte is the "interdependent" one who relies on other people. It really bothered me when Shallistera was bemoaning how needy she was, when that was the exact opposite of what had been established...especially when Lotte's accusation of not caring about Stellard was patently false, given the Sand Dragon incident.