[Closed] Tea and sympathy

[circleprodigy]

WHO: Inessa and Saoirse
WHAT: Inessa's in a Mood and in need of some venting.
WHEN: A few days ago
WHERE: Skyhold, second floor of the Herald's Rest
NOTES: This post, for reference.

It's rare to see Inessa visibly irritated, for more often than not, she keeps that stoic mask on and her opinions to herself. There is plenty of drama to be had in inserting them where they weren't asked for, and she wants none of that. If there's nothing to be gained by taking such a risk (and make no mistake, for an elf and a mage, there is still plenty of risk in this world), and often there isn't, she will keep mum. It's not in her to pick fights when there more productive ways to spend her time, and when there is so much at stake, she isn't short on options for things to do.

And yet, sometimes moods aren't so easily shed. For once, her concentration is failing and her heart not in the right place for games, so she forgoes study and playtime with Garahel rather than let her distraction taint such activities. Leaving her beloved mabari to be spoiled by Ciri, she settles in at a table on the upper floor of the tavern. The Herald's Rest isn't a typical hang-out spot for her, but away from the noise and shenanigans of the first floor, it's tolerable. Now if only she can remember to actually sip her tea. Instead, all she's mastered is continuing to stir it absently while her lips form a thin line as she stares off.

Comments

[sulena]

Whenever possible, Saoirse spends time helping to make noise on the first floor of the tavern with a smile on her face. She has spent many days filling the Herald's Rest with music since her arrival to Skyhold these two months prior. There are more familiar faces these days, ones that she greets and sings for whenever they might request one.

There are even a few that have taken to the songs sung in the language of Starkhaven's alienage even if some fumble through the words at times.

Inessa is not one of those familiar faces though it is a face that she is nevertheless happy to see. After all, she last saw her covered in such terrible red lyrium and now it is visibly an irritated mood. That, she thinks, she can help with unlike the other. It is why, as soon as she finishes her current song, she climbs the stairs to the second floor with her lute in hand until she comes to the table where Inessa sits.

"You'll cause a whirlpool in your cup if you stir any harder," she says with a smile. "How are you this day, Warden? I don't think I've seen you in here before."

[circleprodigy]

Inessa looks up from her tea, surprised and then sheepish. In her distracted state, she hadn't registered the woman's presence downstairs...or the potential whirlpool. The smile is met with a small one of her own, as she sets the spoon aside.

"Quite true. It's usually a bit...loud for my taste, though I mean no slight to your music." She glances to the lute; while Saoirse's specific presence wasn't registered, the lute music itself had been a faintly soothing presence, much more so than rowdy drinkers or their own songs. "I suppose I needed the noise to drown out my own thoughts for a while, or at least that was the intent."

She glances down to her sadly neglected tea and hesitates, not used to explaining her emotional state to anyone but the usual suspects. However, in this case, they might not understand as well as Saoirse herself might. They have very similar backgrounds, after all. "To be frank, I could use your perspective, if you have the time for it."

[sulena]

"Do not worry. I know exactly what you mean," she says. "It gets the longer the night goes on and the longer the drinks are poured."

But Saoirse nevertheless smiles at the younger woman before the question earns Inessa a curious look. It only lasts a moment before offers a nod of her head, tucking her lute carefully nearby and moving back to sit down at the table the other woman occupies. Briefly, she brushes down the front of her robes before looking back.

"I have more than enough time if I am to be honest. What can I do for you?"

[circleprodigy]

As Saoirse finally moves to sit down, Inessa manages a sip from her tea, now barely lukewarm. Next time, she'll have to pay better attention, tea is not to be neglected even in a mood. "You heard Margaux's message over the crystals, I remember hearing your voice. Did you listen to the responses, as well? Some of them were...well."

Her lips form a thin line as she taps the side of her mug absently. "I admit, my connection to my heritage is...faint. I was four when the Circle took me in, and never saw an elven community again until Halamshiral. Therefore, I hesitate to speak for city elves at large and their needs or desires. It has simply been too long since I had that intimate knowledge. And yet, others with even less connection presume to speak for them, as part of elves as a whole or separate. It's...grating.

You came to the Circle from an alienage as well, did you not? At a young age? Did you have similar impressions?" Or is it just her, she really wants to ask.

[sulena]

As Inessa begins to speak, Saoirse nods quietly at the question involving Margaux's earlier message over the crystals. It has... ignited quite a number of different opinions from a number of different people but most notably there were a number of opinions bouncing around about them: elves born in cities.

"Everyone has an opinion," she says. "It has something I have simply learned to take with a grain of salt."

It has helped to protect her, she thinks even though she does very much care.

"But that does not mean I do not find it grating as well. I left the alienage for the Circle when I was barely a month into my eighth year and I left Starkhaven for Kirkwall not long after that but there is a part of me that will always hold where I come from close even if my traditions are not like those of other city elves or what the Dalish expect of elves."

A sigh, her hand coming to rest atop her heart. "I am an elf, I'm proud to be one and I will always be one even if my culture is utterly different from another. This is who I am. Things will never be as they were and Ages from now, things will be even more different but we will always be ourselves."

[circleprodigy]

A faint smile forms as Inessa nods, relaxing slightly as it seems her and Saoirse are of a similar mind. After hearing from so many others with differing (sometimes widely differing) perspectives, it's a little refreshing to hear her own reinforced. It's a rare experience, and she's once again reminded how isolated she has been from it all. Perhaps with Saorise, that can change.

"That's a sentiment I can understand. I'm not ashamed of my heritage, but all this talk of how there is only one way to be an elf...it seems rather limiting, to me. I do not feel lesser for having been raised in a Circle, or that I have any less to contribute." She sips at her tea again, slowly shedding some of her edge with some caffeine in her. "I always hear people speak of city elves with pity, when they speak of them at all. This notion that they are as children, that they cannot speak for themselves, is so condescending. And to hear it from other elves...."

She's not an innocent, she knew such behavior existed. Even so, it took considerable willpower to avoid responding to such comments. That Saoirse comported herself so well speaks even more highly of her.

[sulena]

"I always though rather silly to believe there was only one way to be an elf. I do not believe those that came before us would be happy if we were not allowed to grow into our own selves," she murmurs. "That is how I see it anyway."

Interlacing her fingers, Saoirse rests her elbows on the table and lets her chin rest atop her hands with a hum.

"Yes, poor us. We're happily trapped under the heel of humans but no one ever cares to ask how hard we work to make things better for our people. Because we do not live in the forests, worship the Elven gods and tattoo our faces... others seem to think we have failed in some way."

[circleprodigy]

"Even if they would not approve, I still share your view." They have no way of knowing, after all, and Inessa doesn't live for the approval of those long dead. If her focus is to be on anything elven, it's for those who live now.

She leans back and sighs, relaxed enough with Saoirse to let that mask slip and let her see how weary all this makes her. "It is not the Dalish alone who think so; at least one of the rifter elves seemed to say as much. He wants to teach us pride, as though we have none, as though that will solve our pressing issues. Perhaps I should have seen that coming, as I explained the current state of the elves after his rift was closed."

[sulena]

"I am still unsure of those that come from other worlds. Though it is strange to think we are without pride because what determines pride? Is it simply because we do not live in grand cities, towering over others?"

She has always wondered about why so much distrust was shown toward sharing a city with humans. Of course, their situation could be better. So much could be better but alienating themselves from the everyone else in the world.

"But it is good to know that we are of a similar mind. We elves of the city are represented so little here that sometimes I feel... out of place among the others."

[circleprodigy]

Inessa nods, staring down at her tea after she remembers to sip it again. "There are others who can speak better for the state and needs of city elves than I, but I won't forget my roots. There was a city elf representative...Eirlys, I believe? Though I haven't heard from her in some time; if she doesn't speak for them now, who does?"

Has the Inquisition even bothered to fill that role, or have the city elves once again been forgotten?