@Assurbanipal_II I read the two chapters you recommended!
They're intriguing flashbacks for sure, and it's interesting content that provides even another layer to Aurora.
I'm not sure if it's emotional enough to my personal tastes, mostly in part because a lot of times I seek things that are emotional in a relatable way. Emotions of a child are sort of difficult to manage because they tend to fall in more simplistic directions, and they don't always hold a lot of complexity (I mean, children aren't developed yet xD).
^ To highlight these two paragraphs, you have a tendency to "tell" emotions (i.e. "she was happy", "her mood improved"). It's okay in these two chapters because children are often portrayed with simplistic emotions/personalities, but one exercise/challenge to consider is whether it's possible to convey emotions without saying it.
For instance, how do you express a sad character without using the word "sad"? Or a happy character without using the word "happy"?
That's what I mean! ^^ I'm actually a huge sucker for emotions told through negative space, such as emotions expressed with unreliable narrators. Isn't it beautiful when a character when a character lies about their emotions? ("I'm not angry."), or when a character's body language reveals their feelings? Or alternatively, the narration / though content can be used to express emotions too. For instance, if you have a character who's attracted to another character, you can spend a paragraph narrating the exquisite details of the ML's jawline to simulate your MC's fixating their gaze on the ML without explicitly saying that the MC is "in love".
That said, I actually found Friedrich's character particularly interesting in this section.