faderift | seeking knowledge [open]

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seeking knowledge [open]

WHO: Sansa Stark
WHAT: Settling in
WHEN: 11 Harvestmere - the end of the month
WHERE: Around Skyhold
NOTES: Feel free to find her around in another place that her log text doesn't mention, just let me know. Some implied mention of abuse/sexual assault in the Tyrion-Sansa thread but nothing explicit.

Sansa has settled into this place, so much as one can settle into a place where she's dropped from the sky. It's not a terrible one, really, and once she'd been brought to the keep called Skyhold, she'd felt a little better about things. She spends quite a lot of time in the keep. There's great libraries full of books and papers and letters and all of them have information about the place she's landed herself in; Sansa spends most of her days educating herself on the place she's wound up and reads for hours and hours until her eyes are tired and the candles have burned low.

The nights are a bit different. She has stuck close to Lord Tyrion since he's the only person she knows from Westeros, and they have found lodging close to one another. It makes her feel a bit safer, all told, and she just wants to keep close to him for the time being. If he minds it, he hasn't said anything to her, and she's happy to go on as they have.

Currently, she's curled up in a chair in one corner of the keep, one of the journals in her hands. She's trying to learn all about the politics of this place but the names and places keep running together and she doesn't know if she'll ever keep them straight. She wants, desperately, to learn them so she feels like she has a purpose but she knows it won't happen in just a few weeks or even a few moons.

"You have to be patient, Sansa," she mutters, diving back into her work.

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Christine has duties to keep her busy and she ends up passing Sansa several times as she hurries back and forth with them. Around the fourth time, she stops beside the young woman holding two glasses of cider.

"You have been here a long time. Would you care for a drink?"

The woman has a kind smile and Sansa cannot help but return it when she offers her cider. She has been sitting for a while without a break and she thinks she ought to try and talk with some of the people here instead of studying dusty books; letters can only spell out so much.

"Yes, absolutely, thank you. I lose track of time sometimes when I'm reading and I end up ignoring that I ought to eat or drink."

"I thought that might be the case," she replies, giving her the glass and sitting close by. "When I was younger, I tended to lose myself in my studies and would only realize I had not eaten when I got up and found myself lightheaded. I did not wish the same to happen to you."

Of course, she still does study new disciplines and she still needs to remind herself not to repeat the mistakes of her youth. She doesn't want to faint in front of anyone

"This place is new to me," Sansa explains," lifting her hand and showing where the green mark remains. She doesn't understand it, at all, but she knows it is a mark that shows she came through what is referred to as a rift.

"I want to learn as much as I can about it so I'm able to feel like I belong here, as much as a person can when they aren't from here. Does that make sense?"

"Oh, yes," she replies. "I have often wondered how I would react if our places were reversed and I was sent to another world. I would do the same." She pauses to sip at her cider before adding, "What is it that you are reading right now?"

"It appears to be a monthly accounting of the goings on the Inquisition," Sansa says, looking at the title of the bound volume she's currently reading. "The Inquisition is the group that holds this fortress, is it not?"

Sansa is still learning the names of all the major players and she hopes she's gotten this one correct.

"It is. An organization that crosses nations, hoping to stop this war and the chaos it is creating." Not everyone is happy with the Inquisition butting into things, but it was sanctioned by the Divine herself and there was no higher authority than her.

"So, what is this war, then? I am not certain I understand why these factions are fighting one another," Sansa says. She thinks the best way to learn about which factions are involved is to talk to someone who is from here, someone that it truly matters for.

"Why is it that the Inquisition receives so much resistance?"

"Ah, I am afraid that has a complicated answer." Christine offers an apologetic smile. "But I will answer as best I can. You see, there was first a war between Templars and mages. I will go into more detail on that if you wish, but the important thing is a Conclave was held in the hopes of both sides agreeing to peace. Representatives from both sides attended at a place called the Temple of Sacred Ashes. The Conclave was called by the Divine. She is the head of the Chantry." Christine isn't certain how far into her Thedosian reading Sansa has gotten to know if she's acquainted herself with the Chantry yet.

"There was a huge explosion at the Temple. Everyone in attendance was killed except the Herald, though she was later killed. The explosion caused a Breach in the sky, as well as smaller rifts throughout southern Thedas, like the one you fell through. The Divine had left permission for her subordinates to form the Inquisition should the Conclave fail. It was formed to find out who had caused the explosion. It was discovered that this... person, I suppose, is named Corypheus. He thinks to conquer the world, restore his homeland to its former glory, and install himself as a new god. The Inquisition works to destroy his allies and him."

"Well, I am with the Inquisition, for what it's worth," Sansa says. She doesn't know enough about the other players to cast lots just yet but she knows the Inquisition has sheltered her and been kind to her when they could have left her for dead. It's enough for her to owe them fealty.

"Now, which are you a part of? Are you a templar or a mage?"

"It is good to hear that," Christine says. Though it's clear that the Inquisition is keeping an eye on the rifters whether they like it or not. Still, their loyalty allows them a great deal of freedom to travel Thedas since they will always return to Skyhold.

"I am a mage, but not all you will meet here belong to either faction. Some are soldiers, bakers, stablehands, whatever needs doing. They simply wish to be a part of the Inquisition."

"A mage? That means you are able to perform magic, then?" Sansa has been studying quite a bit over these last days and what she's learned of magic has interested her. There's little talk of magic in Westeros and most of it is among witches and warlocks across the Narrow Sea.

"You use it to fight, yes?"

"I can, yes, but I prefer to use magic to heal over engaging in combat." She raises a shoulder in a shrug, however, not about to claim she abstains from it. "But when there has been need, I have used my magic to fight, yes. People need protection from the enemy." She thinks of all the refugees she's seen who have been driven from their homes. At first, it was due to the war between Templars and mages, but as their common enemy made himself known, his army began to cause havoc across southern Thedas. And that's not even taking into account the Orlesian civil war.

"I take it in your world you are not familiar with magic?"

"No, not at all. There's rumor of it, across the Narrow Sea," Sansa explains, "But I have never heard of anyone using magic in the Seven Kingdoms. Not like what I have seen here in Thedas already."

She gives the other woman a bit of a smile. "So you use it to heal? We would call that a maester, in Westeros. They treat injuries and heal the sick."

"A maester? It is a nice-sounding title." And Christine has no title here. Not even Enchanter. "I rely on magic to heal, but there are some who are wary of magical healing. I have educated myself on techniques non-mage healers use as well, but I will always prefer using magic."

"It is strange to me, if only because it isn't something that exists where I'm from," Sansa admits. "But I do not mistrust it. Not when you seem so kind. I don't think you'd use it for harm, necessarily."

Sansa has learned how to read people better now than she used to and this woman seems to be what she appears to be on the outside. She wants to heal, not to hurt. It's something the world needs more of, Sansa thinks.

"It is good of you to say so. I will not say all mages are good people who think as I do, but we have been mistreated here for ages because of the potential we have to be destructive." It may be something Sansa has already read about here in the dim light of the library. The setting seems perfect to read of the mages' life behind walls. One cannot get a sense of the despair many faced while reading out in the sunshine.

"You must have met a great many people here since your arrival. Tell me, do you have races other than humans in your world?"

Sansa shakes her head. "We do not, not the way you do here. We only have humans, I believe. We do not have elves or dwarves. What we call a dwarf is like my husband, Lord Tyrion, but he is nothing like one of the dwarves here in Thedas."

Westeros seems a boring place by comparison, in some ways.

"Oh? This must have been a shock, seeing people so different from yourself." Christine had never seen a Qunari before arriving at Haven as part of the Inquisition's recruited force of mages, and that had been quite the sight.

"Do you have any other questions about this world for me?"

"So, so many," Sansa admits, her cheeks rising up with a bit of a blush at the sheer number of questions she honestly has. She cannot burden Christine with all of them, that would be cruel.

"I couldn't keep you, though. What if I simply wrote a list and gave you a few at a time?"

"Well, that is an idea," she says with a chuckle. "And that way you could keep adding to your list as new questions come to mind. I would be happy to go through them all to help you grow accustomed to this place." At least Sansa realizes that as accommodating as Christine wishes to be, she can't spend all day every day answering questions. Christine had a hard enough time answering the spirit of Faith's questions when it began communicating with her. Thankfully the spirit has come to understand enough of the world to not have constant questions anymore.

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