faderift | OPEN: this will be a better year

WHO: Everyone
WHAT: First Day
WHEN: Wintermarch 1 (forward-dated)
WHERE: Skyhold
NOTES: Scouts from both the Western Approach and Emprise du Lion are welcome (but not required) to have returned to Skyhold in time for this event.

There have been better First Day feasts, and less crowded ones, and cheerier ones. It isn't a good year for many to look back on, and this one isn't starting any better. Reports from both Eastern and Western Orlais are grim. Many in the Inquisition can't afford to take more than a few hours away from their work, if that.

But for those who can, the ambassador does her best. At lunchtime some tables, hot food, and finery are reserved for visiting nobility and wealthy pilgrims--cause for grumbling in some quarters, perhaps, but they're the people filling the Inquisition's coffers, and allowances must be made--but there's plenty of stew, bread, and ale for everyone, even with the soldiers and refugees who stay outside the fortress invited inside for the holiday. The recently repaired garden and its carefully tended plants aren't off limits, but anyone noisy and holding a drink will be stopped at the door; the battlements, with their potential for deadly falls, are blocked by Inquisition guards. But the courtyards brim with people, most of them happy despite the possibility that the world might end before another First Day arrives.

If the courtyards are too full of tipsy visitors for comfort, there's also the valley beyond the fortress, expansive, barren, and covered in snow. By the river the soldiers help the refugees make a bonfire larger than would ever be allowed inside Skyhold's walls, and some lend their shields to use as sleds down the embankments. A group of scouts start the most intense game of hide and seek Thedas has ever seen, with snowballs to the face for whoever is found first. In the camp, a refugee girl with her hand wrapped in a green scarf chases other children around the tents, shouting raaar, I'm from the rifts!

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Norrington doesn't have a drink on him, and is as sober as a magistrate when he appears at the garden door. Which is, well, blocked by a giant tree. More of the Keeper magic Pel had told him about, and he looks at it in wonder, before he calls inside.

"Lady Pel? Are you within?" He called out through the tree roots. If he could get a quiet moment alone with her, he would not complain.

Sina narrowed her eyes when someone approached-- someone she didn't recognize, though she could tell by his voice that he was reasonably sober.

"She's not," she said matter-of-factly, then took a sip of her tea. She wasn't sure where Pel was, or she would offer further information.

"Oh." Well, the disappointment is rather clear in his voice, now isn't it? After a moment, he looked at the roots and stated, "Is this the Lady Sina, then?"

Because Pel said there was one other who was a superior at this sort of plant magic.

Sina gave a small snort at the honorific, but smiled a little. "It's Sina, anyway," she said easily. Lady? Probably not, at least not by human standards.

"Right. Sina." He nods his head, tapping on the roots. "Lady Pel was correct - your magic is truly impressive. I understand you are protecting the gardens. I was just looking for escape ... will that not be possible this evening?"

"Thank you," Sina said in the same polite, genial and somewhat firm tone. "...just be careful not to step anywhere off the path. Things are very fragile right now." She waved her hand to relax the spell, keeping it poised to renew it once he'd stepped through.

"Ah, oh, yes, of course ... I shall keep to the path." He let out a sigh of relief, as he slipped inside, and per Sina's instruction, put himself on the path. He was wearing his Knight Commander armor, arms folded behind his back as he walked into the garden.

"You have done amazing work here." He said frankly, looking around.

Sina's friendliness dwindled the moment she saw the insignia on the man's armor, and she seemed to recede into herself, watching him like a nervous hawk when he made his way into the garden. A Templar. She avoided them when she could, even now. She'd heard things.
"Thank you," she said again, a significant chill in her tone where there wasn't before. "Why are you looking for Pel?"

Yes, he should have figured that. So he kept far away from her - for her own piece of mind and his - as he continued to wander through the garden. He paused at her question, remembering that Pel had not wanted their fledgling relationship tested against any of her kith and kin just yet. Now he understood why.

"She is a member of the Council, and I of course wished to speak to her about the New Order, and the resolutions recently passed." He stated, looking back at the trees.

For the first time, Sina did not remake the barrier once the person had entered; she needed to be sure she could leave at a moment's notice, not that she wanted to leave the garden with a Templar.
She angled herself to watch him as he walked around, the increase in her heartbeat causing the shard to give a little spit, which momentarily caused her to hunch forward and clutch at her chest. She pursed her lips, willed a glow into her hand that would temporarily calm the shard, and lifted her gaze back to Norrington.
"Is tonight not a party," she asked suspiciously, "I'm sure Pel is enjoying it." Rather, she didn't need some Chantry psycho sniffing after her for business reasons.

Norrington frowned at a shrub as she spoke suspiciously, before he cleared his throat and looked at her. His eyebrows rose together as she jerked, then held her chest, and one hand went up in alarm.

"...I ... did not think Lady Pel was much for parties." He said frowning, "Is my being here causing you to have some sort of panic attack, because I can leave?"

Happily. Before he gave anything away.

Sina's expression was incredulous as she shook her head. "No," she replied, wondering with mild distress just how frail she must appear for him to think she couldn't even exist in his presence without panicking. How unbecoming. "It's fine." Even if she did know where Pel was, she wouldn't tell him. Not without speaking to her first, anyway.

Honestly she looks downright tiny, to Norrington, and looks like she is about to break in half. Or attempt to break him in half and die in the attempt. He put his hand down, frowning, before he cleared his throat again. "Very well. I can still leave though, if I am causing you discomfort."

Sina watched him a moment longer, no doubt wondering if this was some kind of trick. "...all right," she agreed. She wasn't about to stop him.

All right. She was going to let him leave without screaming 'Assault' or something even more horrible. So he slowly made his way towards the door once more. He paused, then spoke quietly, "Thank you for letting me see the garden."

If Sina had known that was what he thought she would do, she would have been disgusted, but fortunately she didn't.
"You're welcome," she said stiffly, angling her head just enough to look at the man as he made his way toward the doorway again.

Wariness stemmed from both sides. Unfortunate, but true. Norrington would be back - in the company of a mage - to make sure the girl was more comfortable with him the future. If not Pel ... perhaps the Lady LeBlanc.

He bowed, respectfully, before making his way out through the roots. Damnation. Now he had to find another place to hide.

OPEN: this will be a better year

Before he's dragged to Socialize ...

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