OPEN: this will be a better year

[faderifting]

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!

Comments

[harthad_uluithiad]

Sam's warm and pleasantly fuzzy with ale, though still able to focus his eyes and walk in a (mostly) straight line. It occurs to him that the garden might look lovely this time of night, as well as providing a bit of fresh air and a break from the crowd.

He makes his way over through the throng of people, only to stop short at the door to the garden. It's blocked, and he blinks in confusion at the tangle of branches before he spots Sina sitting quietly nearby and his face splits into a shy, but happy smile of recognition.

"Oh!" he says. "Hello."

[eolasemah]

Although she can't see him well through the tangle, Sina recognizes Sam's familiar voice. "Hello," she greets amiably, "are you having a good night, Samwise?"

[harthad_uluithiad]

"Oh yes; the best so far, I think," he replies, and means it. It's been a long time since he's been to a real celebration like this, even before he arrived in Thedas, and it's much needed. "And what about you? Is your," he gestures vaguely to his own chest, and drops his voice a bit for privacy, "your shard still paining you?"

[eolasemah]

She smiles at his response, gladdened by his enjoyment. Parties may not be her thing-- she's not ready for that many people yet-- but she's pleased by the cheer in the air.
Noticing where he's gesturing, Sina looks down and sighs mildly. "Not much tonight," she says, with a grateful smile.

[harthad_uluithiad]

The hobbit looks honestly pleased to hear it, smiling in return. "I'm glad," he says, and then glaces up at the greenery blocking the entry to the garden, face creasing in confusion. "But what's happened here? It looks as if the garden's decided for itself that it's had enough of us all!" He pauses, struck by a sudden thought. He'd been joking, but - was such a thing actually possible? Certainly he'd seen similar, back in the Old Forest.

[eolasemah]

Sina laughed and shook her head. "Oh, no, that's me," she explained, and waved her hand, which in turn made the tangle shift. "I'm not letting in anyone who's been drinking, though you being a fellow gardener I suppose I can allow it." She motioned to the side with more finality, and the barrier gave enough space for a hobbit to walk through.
"Just be careful. Everything's so fragile right now."