harthad_uluithiad: (wonder)
Samwise Gamgee ([personal profile] harthad_uluithiad) wrote in [community profile] faderift2015-11-27 11:56 am

[open] concerning hobbits

WHO: Samwise Gamgee and EVERYONE HE CAN FIND
WHAT: Sam's arrived at Skyhold and is exploring! Also asking questions. All the questions.
WHEN: After arriving from the Fallow Mire
WHERE: Skyhold
NOTES: Feel free to meet Sam in any part of Skyhold! He'll be all over.


He'd tried to stick close to who he'd already started privately thinking of as his new friends - the other Sam and the wizard Twisted Fate. He'd even glimpsed, once or twice, the Man who'd pulled him out of the Mire in the first place, and saved him from being drownded. But the road from the Fallow Mire had been long, and Sam had spent much of it on his own, tucked away in small corners of wagons or sitting astride horses alongside dwarves, being too short to walk and have a hope of keeping up.

And when they'd arrived at last, he'd found himself suddenly left completely to his own devices.

Skyhold. He rolls the word around in his mind, staring up, up at the battlements and the clouds beyond. It's a good enough name for the place, he supposes, being up in the mountains as it is. And there's something in it that appeals to him - it's not quite Elvish, not quite Rivendell or Lothlórien, but it's a bit more fanciful than Hobbiton or Bywater, he thinks. As for the place itself, he finds himself a bit overwhelmed - not only with the size (which is enormous in its own right, apart from everything in it being built proportionate to Big People), but with the ceaseless activity and the seemingly endless places to explore and get lost in.

He finds the kitchen first, hobbit-senses guiding him true, but after he's snacked his fill he finds himself wanting to explore more, and he steps carefully down the stairs into the yard. There are folk of all shapes and sizes everywhere (though nobody he recognizes), and he takes a deep breath before walking forward, not quite sure where he's going.

There are Elves here; he knows that much. If nothing else, perhaps the Elves will know more about what's happened and why he's come here. Perhaps they'll at least know Gandalf's name.
serannas: serious (elvarel)

[personal profile] serannas 2015-11-27 09:07 pm (UTC)(link)
One such elf is Ellana, who is keeping busy making deliveries around Skyhold. If the workers need drinks from the tavern, she brings them; if the blacksmith in the undercroft needs instructions sent to the workers in the armory, she delivers them. She's just set down a couple of tools in the barn beside the stables and is wondering where to poke in her head next to see if she can be of use. The kitchen, perhaps? Turning that way, she spots someone shorter than a dwarf. A child? But no, his face looks more mature than that. Who can this be?

"Hello," she greets, trying not to look too puzzled by his appearance. She thinks that would be rude. "Are you looking for someone? Or something?"
serannas: amused (isala)

[personal profile] serannas 2015-11-28 08:32 pm (UTC)(link)
"Why do you think that?" she asks gently. He looks so sad and she doesn't want him to give up hope, but then again, she doesn't know how long he's been looking.

It's still impossible for her to work out just who he is, but now that she's taking a good look at him, she takes note of the shape of his ears and the size of his feet. He's unlike anyone she's ever seen before, and that's exciting.

"My name is Ellana. What's yours?"
serannas: serious (halani)

[personal profile] serannas 2015-11-29 11:53 pm (UTC)(link)
"Oh, I see," she replies in sympathy. "I know this must be very difficult for you, but there are people here who will try to make you feel at home until we find a way to send you back." If they can even be sent back. Ellana thinks that it may happen without their intervention. If a rift opening is what pulled them here, then perhaps another opening will suck them back through?

"I'm not a lady," she adds after a brief pause to allow him to take in what she's said. "I'm Dalish. We have no nobility."

serannas: serious (lethallan)

[personal profile] serannas 2015-11-30 01:56 am (UTC)(link)
"It means I'm the type of elf that was raised in a clan, instead of growing up in a city among humans." Being Dalish means so much more than that, but it's not easy to ease a rifter into the politics and history of Thedas. "We have these tattoos on our faces to honor our gods. City elves don't have them." But that doesn't mean they're any less an elf to her. They are all Elvhen.
serannas: embarrassed (hellathen)

so fun. /sobs internally

[personal profile] serannas 2015-11-30 02:23 am (UTC)(link)
Obviously wherever Sam hails from, all elves live separately. She'll have to ask him about that too. Ellana gestures to a patch of grass where they can sit and she can tell him the story.

"There was a war long ago between elves and humans. It was fought in a place called the Dales. I'm sure the humans tell it differently, but how we elves learn it, the humans wanted us to worship the Maker, but we have our own gods, the Evanuris -- the Creators. They launched an Exalted March on us to bring us to heel. In the end, we lost the war, the Dales, and were left with a choice: either submit to humans and worship the Maker, or live in exile as nomads. The elven people split then. Those who live in the cities worship the Maker, though some try to keep the old ways. Those who don't are called the Dalish, and we say, 'We are the last Elvhen. Never again shall we submit.'"

As she finishes, her expression is sad. It all happened so long ago, but it affects every elf today. She has long wished her people could all settle down in houses permanently and have a sense of security, but that's easier said than done.

"But I do think city elves are as much a part of the Elvhen as we Dalish are. It's just something we say."
serannas: serious (elvarel)

[personal profile] serannas 2015-11-30 06:15 pm (UTC)(link)
"It matters very much to them," she says with a sigh. "Or, rather, to some humans. Many here have never even brought up their religion with me, for which I am grateful. It's just that they want to believe the Maker made all people, and we should worship him for it. But the Creators did it all long ago. Once, we elves had a great empire, but we lost it all with the coming of humans. So we claimed the Dales as our second homeland and tried to hold onto our culture, only to be scattered to the winds."

But it's a heavy topic to go into and while some elves tell it with anger, the loss of so much just makes Ellana sad. She's never thought all humans could be bad, and it's proved true being here in the Inquisition, but that doesn't mean she doesn't grieve for what the People have lost.

"But tell me about yourself. I'm so interested to know all about the rifters and the worlds you come from."
serannas: serious (lethallan)

[personal profile] serannas 2015-12-02 07:22 pm (UTC)(link)
Oh, she hadn't meant to make him cry. Certainly the history of her people is filled with tragedy, but she didn't expect someone from another world to sympathize. What a sensitive soul he is.

"He is a great storyteller, then? Well, perhaps you've picked up a thing or two from him."
serannas: serious (Default)

[personal profile] serannas 2015-12-05 06:56 pm (UTC)(link)
"Hobbits? No, I've never heard of you, and I think even if you do keep to yourselves, someone would have sussed you out here by now. I've been reading books in the library by this great traveler: Brother Genitivi. He's been everywhere, and I'll bet he would have found hobbits somewhere if they existed in this world." Her expression is gentle as she adds, "Not everyone here is kind to those who aren't like them, but you can be assured that I will be. You can ask me anything you wish, and I'll do my best to help you."
serannas: serious (lethallan)

[personal profile] serannas 2015-12-08 06:22 pm (UTC)(link)
"Good," she says with a smile. It would be easy for people to take advantage of rifters, since they barely have a foothold in this world. "I treat others as I would wish to be treated. Sometimes, though, they judge me in advance, and I'll admit that I have some pre-conceived notions of my own." Ellana shakes her head at herself.

"Two countries who have done horrible things to elves in the past are Orlais and the Tevinter Imperium. I've been having to remind myself that the people I see here from those countries are individuals, with their own views. I can't judge them by their country."
serannas: serious (falon)

[personal profile] serannas 2015-12-10 01:25 am (UTC)(link)
Ellana can't help but chuckle softly at his innocence. Part of it can surely be explained by the fact that he's a rifter, but she assumes the other part is just him, thinking it's as easy as people suddenly treating elves fairly.

She wishes it were so, because it's nice to dream.

"Well, let's talk of brighter things now. Anything you have in mind?"
serannas: serious (theneras)

[personal profile] serannas 2015-12-11 12:24 am (UTC)(link)
"I'm afraid to say that all our songs written in elven are about sorrow and loss," she says, wearing an apologetic smile. But she's also one who doesn't like the sound of her own singing voice. She only sings with her clansmate Merrick, or under very rare circumstances, because she doesn't want anyone to hear her. Maybe with time and encouragement, she'll be more open to it.

"But happier tales? Hmm." She needs to take a moment because all that are coming to mind have death and destruction in them. All of them. It's enough to depress a person, but finally she recalls one to tell him.

"There are evil creatures in this world called darkspawn. They are corrupted beings, and their blood does the same to others. Once, long ago, one of the Dalish clans fled from a group of darkspawn, but no matter where they went, the darkspawn followed. Finally, the clan's leader, Iloren, stopped his people. He said they would stand and fight, but they would be clever about it. And so before the darkspawn arrived, the clan gathered dried grass, brush, and anything else they could that would burn, laying it out all around their camp. When the darkspawn came, hungry for chaos and death, Iloren used his magic to call down lightning upon the brush, which lit and engulfed all the darkspawn, sparing his clan."
serannas: serious (atisha)

[personal profile] serannas 2015-12-15 01:39 am (UTC)(link)
Since he takes so long to form a response, the only thing she can take away from it is that he didn't like the tale. Perhaps it's a cultural difference. The elves celebrate their victories because there are so few.

"They would have moved on again," Ellana answers. "They were far in the Anderfels, a desolate land of desert. Once the darkspawn were defeated, they would have traveled back to more hospitable lands."
serannas: serious (serannas)

[personal profile] serannas 2015-12-16 09:29 pm (UTC)(link)
"They had no choice," she answers gently. "We Dalish do not have permanent homes. We live in camps, and move to where there is food, or where there aren't hostile humans closing in on us. It's the way it's been since the fall of the Dales."

Ellana looks off into the distance for a moment, deep in thought, before she turns her attention back to Sam. "Between just us? I have long wished to have a permanent home with a roof over my head. But tradition is hard to break and my people don't feel the same."

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[personal profile] serannas - 2015-12-23 02:29 (UTC) - Expand