OPEN

[mythalenaste]

WHO: Pel Ashara and YOU
WHAT: Beboppin' around Skyhold
WHEN: The middle of Wintermarch through the middle of Guardian.
WHERE: Skyhold
NOTES: Catch-All. Will update.

OOC: Pel can be found in any of her usual places: the library, the garden, and the tavern. Or make up your own place to find her. PM me for a starter if you want one.

Comments

Norrington

[mythalenaste]

It was hours ago that she and Sina fought. Sam and Krem calmed her down, but now she just wants James. Waiting to see him this long has been like a self-test, making sure she is of her own mind and not just reacting emotionally. No. She really wants to see him.

It is very late at night. He's probably asleep when she knocks.

Re: Norrington

[judgemewhole]

He is in fact, asleep when she knocks, but he's a Templar so knocks in the middle of the night immediately wake him. He has already reached for his sword as he moves towards the door, slightly bleary-eyed as he asks in a sleep deepened voice, "Who is it?"

Maker, just don't make it be another abomination.

[mythalenaste]

"It's Pel." She sounds tired and hoarse through the door.

[judgemewhole]

Suddenly he was wide awake, because Pel visiting him in the middle of the night sounded exhausted was not something good. He sheathed his sword, grabbed a shirt to pull on and moved towards the door. He tossed it on as he opened it, eyes filled with concern.

"Pel? What's wrong, what's happened?" Oh, her eyes were red and puffy, "Has someone died?"

[mythalenaste]

"No. No, I just. I want to be with you." She steps inside and close, resting her head against his chest.

[judgemewhole]

He closes the door behind her, and wraps his arms around her automatically. He kisses the top of her head, squeezing her gently. "Then stay here with me."

[mythalenaste]

She's too tired to start crying again. But all of her problems seem to matter so much less when he holds her like this.

"All right." Her arms wind around him now, keeping him close.

[judgemewhole]

He didn't say anything, just stroked her silver hair between his fingers, rubbing one hand up and down her back. He wasn't sure what had happened, but if all she wanted was to stay with him - he would not let her go.

Not ... for anything.

[mythalenaste]

She allows herself not to think for a while. To just rest against him and let everything go blank. After a while, she sighs.

"Sina...is the reason I joined the Council. I've hated every step of it, but she wanted me to represent the People. She trusted me. I've fought for her so hard. And now she thinks I've turned my back on the People."

[judgemewhole]

He frowns a little, because he's not entirely sure where this is coming from but he listens anyways. After a moment of puzzlement, he asks quietly, "Why would she ever think that?"

Pel's dedication to the People was one of the things he loved - er liked, a great deal, about her.

[mythalenaste]

She doesn't answer. She keeps holding him, and lets him think about it.

[judgemewhole]

The small elven woman, holding more tightly to ... ah. The large, human, shem Templar. He exhales again, and this time it is pained. He holds her tighter to him, before he speaks again.

It is ... rough. "Pel, I am so sorry. I never meant my feelings for you to be the reason you were hurt by those you love."

[mythalenaste]

She shakes her head, pulling away just enough to look up at him.

"I knew it would happen. Just...not with her. She looked up to me. Believed in what I've done. She helped me with my research, she believed in it so much. She's barely more than a child. If even the young believe I've betrayed my own kind, what hope is there for the rest? Am I going to sacrifice so much, give everything, and find everyone hates me because I took one thing that I wanted just for me?"

[judgemewhole]

He looks down at the ground, and away from her, before he looks back at her with solemn green eyes.

"I do not know about the rest, outside of Cyril, and he will love you no matter what." He lifted one hand, to slide along her cheek, his voice quiet. "It's not right, that you should lose everything that you care about, for me. I won't have that."

He set his shoulders, "We're just courting now - so - I will not promise anything. However ... I want you to know, if you agree one day to more, I will resign my commission with the Templars."

[mythalenaste]

"It's not that you're a Templar. It's that you're human. Therefore, our children would be human. I wouldn't be continuing the blood."

[judgemewhole]

"I - oh." He hadn't thought of it that way, and he frowned softly, "But they would be half-blooded, wouldn't they? They could still ... I don't know, continue the traditions, the history. Does it truly matter if they are not full-blooded?"

[mythalenaste]

Human privilege. She looks faintly hurt, though she knows he has no way of understanding.

"The elves are dying. Those of us who carry on those traditions. Fewer and fewer of us every decade. Human children won't be accepted among the Dalish. They would represent the threat of the race dying out altogether, their blood mingling with the rest. I'm not going back to my clan, so it's not actually a problem, between us. But to the others, it means...it means I might as well be flat-eared."

[judgemewhole]

"Oh." And now he feels like a right idiot. He breaths in deeply, then exhales slowly, as he holds her. He searches her face, that tilt in her head. The firmness of her words. She is not leaving her clan for him - she is leaving for herself.

But it is still killing her inside. Right, well. She asked him to be honest, and he would be honest here. "I don't know what to say, Pel, that will make this any easier for you. All I can say is ... whatever I can do, I will do. Even if you ask me to let you go so you can marry some ... handsome, dashing elven warrior." He pauses, "... I will hate that from the bottom of my soul, but ... I will understand."

[mythalenaste]

"I don't want you to let me go." Her throat tightens, pitch rising, tears threatening again just thinking about it. She curls against him again. "Can I just stay tonight? I won't be able to think about anything or discuss anything properly till the morning. I don't care what's said. I need you close."

[judgemewhole]

Something in him relaxed at that, a fear that had tightened around his heart slowly let it beat again. He wrapped his arms around her once more, this time holding as tightly as she held him.

"Of course you can." Is his soft reply. "And I am yours, for as long as you desire."