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WHO: Araceli, Morrigan, Asher and you
WHAT: Catch-all for Bloomingtide
WHEN: Bloomingtide (post-5th Bloomingtide for Araceli)
WHERE: Skyhold
NOTES: A proper catch-up for all three characters below with specific starters and some open headers, if you'd like something specific feel free to hit me up! If you'd like a backdated thing for Araceli or Morrigan, let me know and I'll sort that too, I know I've been gone for a fair bit sorry!
Araceli's threads will all be post 5th Bloomingtide when she gets back from her mission in Antiva!
For some ooc details on Morrigan things, please see here, a rookery post will go up shortly for research helpers!
Warnings for talk of violence, blood and language in Asher's threads.

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The rumor has spread far enough to reach Ellana's ears, and she has to wonder at it. Could it really be what they say it is? She knows how stories get twisted in the retelling, and Ellana is the type to go straight to the source to find the truth of things, as she did with Leliana and her views of freedom. And since Morrigan has always been good to Ellana, she doesn't see the harm in coming to talk to her about this.

"Andaran atish'an," she greets, using the formal as a sign of respect to her teacher. "I heard a rumor, and thought I'd see what's true and what's not."

Ellana's arrival is a more welcome one than many, a presence she has come to enjoy compared to others. A student, tentatively approaching a friend - for this is Morrigan after all, she still isn't sure if she and Leliana count as friends after ten years of sharing so much and working together as closely as they do.

Still, she mentions the word rumour when there is one word that has been on too many lips so the sigh cannot be helped, nor the tightening of her mouth, the way her eyes narrow. "I see. What rumour is it exactly that you have heard then, I am sure there are many told about me." It doesn't do to confirm too quickly.

It doesn't surprise her that Morrigan's feelings are written all over her face. Rumors tend to do that. And she won't dither either, so she gets right to the heart of things.

"The word is that the artifact you and that group retrieved from the Hinterlands is an eluvian. Is that so? And, naturally, there are people carrying on about what you're doing with it: communing with demons, speaking to the Creators from across the Veil, typical overblown reactions. But what I'm most curious about is if it's actually functional." From what little Ellana knows, eluvians functioned somewhat like the sending crystals, allowing elves to communicate over great distances. But with the loss of their empire came the loss of the eluvians, and losing the knowledge of how to make them work.

Given that Beleth had practically shouted the word more than once within the cave, as if the Venatori had known for certain what they had been asked to fetch because Morrigan still has her doubts about that, she's hardly surprised. But now isn't the time to stir that up though she has no idea how close clan Ashara even if given Ellana wishes to walk her own past.

"I am surprised that you would listen to such rumours Ellana. No, I am not using it to speak to demons, or to the Creators, the eluvian is no longer used for communication for there is no one to speak with." Or Morrigan is not the foolish one that uses blood magic to get her eluvians to work and instead does it by smithing the glass herself until her chest aches, her throat cracked and hoarse. It's the second question that she's more careful about answering. Merrill has an eluvian though not with her, and she has never stepped through it as Morrigan has so she doesn't know about the world beyond, has never spent years living between worlds, living completely outwith Thedas itself. It's all well and good to tell Leliana about it, or even to speak to Merrill since the two of them are uniquely qualified in knowing how to work them but with the eluvian present, when it is still her eluvian? "Corypheus wished to have it for his own, and so sent his Venatori in league with the Red Templars to have it. We are fortunate to have it back for who knows what he might have done with it but there is no one to speak with using it, the eluvian is a very silent thing."

"I listen to everything," Ellana stresses. It's what Benevenuta has been teaching her to do. The first step to understanding politics is to listen to everything. "But there is a difference between listening and believing. Listening just tells you what other people think." And Ellana hasn't said that's what she also thinks. She's said where her interest lies.

"That's odd," she says, head tilted in thought. "Maybe he thinks there still is someone to talk to? Or maybe he wishes to take it apart to see how it works." She takes a moment to mull that over. "Corypheus would be the type to destroy something beautiful and ancient for his own goals."

"That does not mean you need to repeat it to me, if you have any idea what I have had to listen to, what I have had to answer since I returned-" Small wonder she took Kieran and absconded, if she hadn't already planned it, and if the illness hadn't forced her hand too. There is much that Morrigan hears after all but keeps to herself, knowing how to ask questions the right way, and there's no reason to be gentle with Ellana in this if she's to ever learn how to stand on her own two feet in the world because no one was ever gentle with Morrigan when she learned. "You still have much to learn, even to those you are close to you must be aware of everyone else that might be around you."

Is it motherhood that makes her more aware, time in Orlais, time with Leliana, or all three together along with that paranoia Flemeth left her with.

"Who can say what he desires." Morrigan can. She can hazard a very healthy guess but she cannot tell Ellana, and if she is to tell Merrill she will tell her in person, before Leliana at the very least after Leliana has seen the eluvian for herself too. This is far too much to be entrusted to simply anyone. "I do not think it lies in destruction. If he seeks to tear open the skies, perhaps he seeks answers. Think on how much Tevinter gained from the ancient elves - they might have more eluvians and wish to use them themselves as we use the sending crystals, or for other purposes. At present, there are far too many options we might speculate on only to divert our attentions from what would be most productive."

Once again, Ellana has taken a lesson she's learned, applied it where applicable, and been smacked down and told she's wrong. Her eyes lower from the sting of it. She's been trying so hard to understand, but it feels like no good ever comes of it. When she met with Benevenuta, the woman told her everything Ellana did at the soiree was wrong, and she'd accomplished nothing because the nobles didn't even consider her at all. If anything, Benevenuta had said, Ellana did more harm to the elves by sticking up for herself. Her throat feels tight, but the only thing that keeps her from crying is the fact she's so angry with herself too. Why can't she understand? She'd meant to help Morrigan, by letting her know what some of the rumors were so she could better prepare to face them. Isn't preparation good? Knowing what people are saying allows you time to formulate a response, doesn't it? It lets you stay a step ahead. But, no, she's wrong. Again.

She says nothing while her throat aches, straining with the force she's applying to stop the tears from coming. It's so easy for others to wrap their minds around how best to approach situations, but for her, she just can't do it. She keeps messing up and told to learn better, but she thought she had been.

Her nose is red, eyes turning pink too. The longer she stays silent, the worse it will be, but she doesn't bother to apologize for annoying Morrigan. It's just another thing she'll be told is wrong to do. But she does need to speak; to be a part of the conversation. Quietly, she says, "What would you like to study, then? What would be most productive?"

There is nothing to be learned from being gentle with her, not when Ellana is already a grown woman. The road ahead of her will be hard now that she has chosen to leave her clan for Morrigan knows the sort of words that will be thrown at her; she cast off the opinions of others when she was younger, when she left Flemeth, and though those marks remain, they taught her well. She has never cared what people thought of her, she has never played their games or danced to their tune, she has always moved as she would on her own path. That she turns her face to the side to allow Ellana some time to compose herself is more than she would have granted ten years ago when she would have needled her to see if she could provoke noisy sobs or far worse, and she keeps her sighs to herself. She will gain nothing by repeating herself here as she folds her arms.

"Speak up," she says at last, reminded again of their first meeting. "You wish to walk your own path and there will be setbacks on them, you left your girlhood long ago I am sure."

The Dalish might age a little differently to the rest, not quite so fast as a city elf married off young to keep the bloodlines going, but Ellana is a woman and she is here to be a part of things. Tears have never moved Morrigan but then Flemeth had a hand at the ready so she learned before she had to use two hands to count all the years she'd lived that she should never weep where a single soul that possessed a voice might ever see or hear her. She leads the way to her study in silence, taking a moment to write a short note to pin on the door for Kieran's benefit; his lessons are shorter today, so there is the chance they might be interrupted at some point, and while usually she wouldn't mind, after what's just happened it would be better to let him know that she won't be alone.

"Now," she begins again, seated at her desk after moving to make tea (or what she would call tea, herbs in hot water and honey to sweeten it, nothing fancy or frivolous, not even after time in the court), "Is there no area you are studying? If you are walking your own path. I do not believe you were on either of Pel's journeys to the ruins in the Hinterlands or the Temple of Dirthamen, nor were you among those who came to the Hinterlands with myself. What is it that you are studying?"

It's not exactly a kind offer by the standards of most but for Morrigan standards it is because she's trying, and she's not bringing up what happened, and she is allowing Ellana to lead, and a chance to recover herself.

Speaking up is easy to say when no one would dare cross you. It's easy to make your opinion known when others can tell you'll chew them up and spit them out. How exactly is Ellana meant to speak up when everything she thinks is the right thing to say is the wrong thing? How can she learn better when people like Morrigan say speak, people like Benevenuta say listen, people like Araceli say watch, and Ellana does all three to come to the wrong conclusion?

Throat still tight, she gets up to follow Morrigan to her study, her head a storm cloud of anger and frustration. She wishes she could be frustrated with her teachers. That would be far easier. Instead, she's frustrated in herself and her failings. At least she's that observant. The fault lies with her. She simply doesn't know how to fix herself.

By the time she seats herself in a chair across from Morrigan's desk, she's told herself that there's nothing she can do about it right now. They're in the middle of something else here. She clears her throat.

"I don't have one in particular. I'm dedicated to serving the Inquisition right now, and I've only been reading things in the library." She fiddles with the edge of her belt a moment. "I know most of what I read is biased. It's why I want to search things out for myself: so I can write an account that elves know hasn't been interpreted by a human with no respect for elves as people." Their culture, sure; just not the people themselves. "But... I don't really have an idea where to start yet. In researching things."

"Are we not all dedicated to serving?" There's an inflection in the way she says the words, one that might have the people that have known her longer or better snorting, raising a brow, wondering what she might be up to; mild enough yet not quite, still with enough sharpness to it. 'Serving' after all is a very broad definition. "You will find very little in the library unless you make a list of what you might wish for the Inquisition to send for personally and that will still take time, twas one of the many benefits of Celene's patronage. What I desired, or whatever I required to aid me in my research she was able to procure for me."

Not always without argument, however, yet she had been able to get what she had needed, and there had been a certain sort of simplicity to their arrangement, amidst all the games of the Imperial Court where they had simply been two women supplying what the other needed with few complications.

"The Inquisition unfortunately does not have the same reach or influence as Orlais has." Rising to pour tea, she considers the situation for a moment, laughing quietly. "Or had, rather, the war has changed many things, and it certainly complicates matters for the Inquisition too given that I carried out so much of my own research in Orlais where so much of elven history still remains where Celene and Gaspard send their soldiers. Added to that, as the Inquisition grows, resources are stretched, influence too." Simply put, there isn't quite enough to go around and while Morrigan can go to Leliana to make her case, that isn't a guarantee of getting what she needs, and with Kieran present she can't simply disappear quite so easily as she might have done to go investigate ruins alone, not when she's a known quantity within the Inquisition. Anyway, a true Orlesian lady would be horrified by what Morrigan passes off as tea but it was good enough for the Wilds and she would imagine it will be good enough for the Dalish, the honey only kept around because Kieran likes it, on the off chance Leliana might come around since there was never such an indulgence for Morrigan as a girl so she has grown accustomed to the bitterness.

"Perhaps starting with a topic. My own is broad, yes, but I have had ten years to study and I began with eluvians, as I believe Merrill did." Though it did rather ostracise her in the end. "You are aware though that getting this account out there could lead to a great many problems, not only for you but from other elves as well? Not all will take so kindly, if you have left your clan, or even that you have come from a clan. That is why I would suggest you pick a starting point and work outward, that is not to say you cannot change course but to begin with, to truly learn how to do it correctly?" She takes a sip of her tea - you learn by doing, by failing, by trying again until you want to scream with frustration, until you have worked your fingers to the bone because that's the only way to do it. What else is magic but making offerings of yourself, of power, of time, of effort, of your blood and sweat and tears and sacrifice, all of it out into the world and always - no matter what anyone might say - drawing the attention of those across the Veil, until finally the answers come, until at last you work hard enough and find that one small fragment, or look at something in a new light.

"I am well aware that everything I do invites scrutiny from those who happen to pay attention," she says before blowing on her tea. But she's not here to debate the finer points of that, whether her fellow elves will applaud her or hate her for it. Whether humans will sneer or blatantly ignore her completely. She's going to do this regardless, and once the information is out there, it's out there.

"I'm thinking of the written elven language, and how we know so little of it. But that reminds me that veilfire ruins can reveal so much more; not just words, but emotions too, and what was happening at the time of the rune's creation. So that may be why we don't see much elven writing out in the world. But what is there a great deal of? Artwork, and statues. I should look into it. Perhaps they're meant to tell a story like the veilfire runes, only they were created by non-mages. Perhaps they were painted or built to favor a certain god at a ritual site, or to thank the god for their knowledge. It's a narrow focus to start from, and I can go outward from there."

"At least we should be free of nobility for a time. I am glad to see that coin is being more sensibly spent at present with the plans for the valley rather than indulging Vivienne." As ever, the name has her curling her lip for a moment but the steam from her tea hides the worst of it when she blows on it, taking a sip as she closes her eyes. It allows her time to think upon what she's seen since she can move alone and at her own pace, able to hide in plain sight more easily than Ellana could until she taught her, and as a human - even a mage - still less likely to be outright attacked on sight.

There's a moment of hesitation, where she fixes Ellana with a look as she reaches into a simple pack on the floor by her desk. "If you stay within the walls of Skyhold, I will trust you with this. If you stay within the walls. This is to remain between us, you are to understand that as well."

Morrigan's hand isn't the elegant hand of the nobility who all have the exact same flowing script they must match but it's neat, soft and looping, long elegant letters but that likely won't be what catches Ellana's eye; when she hands over the journal there are sketches she has made amidst the notes as well, fragments of her thoughts jotted down as she goes, the words non-sensical but the drawings are the important part. "I returned to the Brecilian Forest and the ruins there after I first journeyed with the Hero of Ferelden, but we had a task that first time so necessity prevented us from lingering. There are other places I have been too, mainly throughout Orlais, stops along the road. But these are the sketches I have made when I have gone."

There's another copy, of course, when she's worked so hard to find these places she doesn't have a singular copy but it's still hard work to make one in the first place but sometimes you have to make the offer so she extends it to Ellana, a leather volume with the corners curling, a silver catch to keep the pages closed.

"Tis a place to start that will not be blinkered by the Chantry the way Genitivi's ramblings are." Jonas why didn't you just let him die, really, no one would have known.

The offer of the journal comes as a surprise, and Ellana sets down her tea when Morrigan first speaks of the conditions set upon this loan. Sketches. Ellana feels her heart pounding at the thought that she has her start right here at the present moment. It doesn't require her to wait.

She takes the book and sets it in her lap, a little in awe at the gesture.

"I'll be careful. Would you like it returned to you when I leave Skyhold on a mission?" There would be no guarantee of safety with it left in her room, though she could place wards. But the ones she knows best are those to block sound, so she could hide away in the woods for a little while when she was supposed to be gathering wood. She wanted to be left alone, but others would be able to find her singing to herself unless she cut off the sound around her.

This time her smile comes more easily. It's very rare that she makes these offers but Ellana understands the value of these things, and she seems to have a delicate enough touch that Morrigan believes she can be trusted.

"I would prefer if that would be the case, you may mark your place and collect it again upon your return. And if you might keep it between us? Tis for the best, so that I might keep track of things. And before I have an endless procession of people at my door at all hours as though I am the library." Certain things have to be earned, after all, and Ellana has earned it since Morrigan knows her far better than any of the rest, even those who accompanied her.

She wasn't the one in the cave shouting about an eluvian in the heat of battle after all.

Ellana can easily agree with that, nodding her head with a look on her face that says she can understand how annoying it would be to have people constantly bothering Morrigan while she's trying to work.

"Understood. Thank you for this." She really wants to go right now to pour through the book, but Morrigan offered her tea, so she takes it up and starts drinking it so it's not wasted.

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