In a moment of glorious surrender, you were broken for all the world to see...

[nadasharillen]

WHO:Nari and Sina Dahlasanor, Adelaide LeBlanc, Pel Ashara, and YOU!
WHAT: Visiting Sina in Recovery -- for whatever reason
WHEN: Beginning of Guardian, the first weeks after the Surprise Rift is closed.
WHERE: A private tent in the Skyhold garden
NOTES: Positive and negative reactions both welcome! If you're not sure what happened, check that sweet sweet 'Surprise Rift' link!



In the days following, Sina sleeps, the toll the active shard took on her thin, pale form evident in the hollows of her face; the way she'll wince and gasp, fingers grasping and twisting at the blankets. Sometimes she wakes in mumbling delirium, staring glassy-eyed at the wall. Rarely she'll open her eyes and actually see, lucid, but weak.

Always, her clansister is there. She looks like a fretful shadow of herself, wary. Her knives are sheathed but close by, lest anyone come to take issue with the small bed-ridden mage.

Wounded she might be, but she'd still opened a Rift in the heart of Skyhold.


[Adelaide.]

Nahariel is like a ghost that haunts her clansister's bedside. She talks little, sleeps less, and is only away for the briefest of reasons--one of which is to make sure Adelaide never runs out of tea when she's there. One day, as she sets down another cup, she suddenly and quietly speaks.

"I don't think I ever thanked you properly. Or your spirit."


[Pel.]

At some point during the next days Pel will look up to see the swarthy hunter often seen in Sina's company, with very little sound to accompany her appearance beside a polite throat-clear. She looks... tired.

"Pel?" She asks--mostly a formality.

"Sina was... mumbling in her sleep. She said your name once or twice, and..." she'll trail off, and run a hand through her hair with a sigh. Some of it sticks up afterwards--it doesn't look as if she's taking care of herself much.

"I know you fought not too long ago, and you were both hurt, but... would you come and see her? I think she'd like that."


[Everybody.]

[Bring flowers? Study her? Cry a bit? Be accusatory? Come on in!]

Comments

[madame_de_fer]

Madame de Fer has serious issue with a rift being opened directly in the fortress, but then, she had serious issue with an Abomination happening as well. They know so very little about these shards in people and what they can and cannot do, beyond the closing, and now opening of more rifts. It is trouble, plain and simple.

But this is not the reason she has come. Whether any of the mages in the Inquisition even know, or like it, Vivienne has collectively given herself responsibility for the welfare of them all. She considers them all hers, Dalish or Circle or apostate. Because someone must be active in seeing to their care and safety. Sina is no exception to this blanket concern. If anything, she's especially so, as she rather reminds the Iron Lady of a timid deer, easily startled.

Espying Sina's guardian in the tent upon entering, she inquires after the little mage softly lest she be woken. "How does she fare?"

The poor dear looks scared and in pain, even in her slumber.

[nadasharillen]

Nahariel looks up from her sketching, the beginnings of a simple halla-horned circlet traced out at the bottom of what looks like an unfinished letter. Given the sketch now takes up part of the page, it seems destined to remain unfinished. Her eyes widen slightly, taking in the well-dressed, graceful, and composed woman who'd come to visit her clansister. Everything around the Iron Lady seemed simple and rough in comparison.

She had never seen shem'len nobility before--and this woman was almost certainly one. Nari immediately resented the woman almost as much as she found her impressive. But her words were as quiet and sympathetic as her voice was cultivated, and so Nari replied without malice.

"Not well, but there are good things to be found each day. Her breathing is clearer today, and her fever is less." A pause, as the hunter turns to rest the back of her hand along Sina's cheek. She nods slightly. Less. Not gone, but less. Although she felt so often she could hardly tell. "She has not woken yet, not truly. Sometimes she speaks, but the words mean nothing."

[madame_de_fer]

In deep silence, Vivienne takes in this information, sorting it, pondering the nuance of every word. It is unlikely this caretaker is in any way playing the Game, but it is rather a force of habit for her regardless. Still, for a woman who spends much of her life behind a mask, even when not wearing one, she's slipping and allowing her true concern shine through.

"I see..." Indeed she does see, and what is before her eyes is not promising. She keeps her voice low, so as to not disturb what is clearly much needed slumber. "Is there anything I can do to help?"

Vivienne is no healer, but there are considerable resources available to her which could be vitally important. If only they knew more, it would make the cure go better.

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[nadasharillen]

When Korrin had offered help, she'd wept. Everyone had been so kind. This time, it stung. Even though the words were kind, the lady's face filled with what seemed like true concern, it still felt like a slap in the face. Shem nobility here to help? Was the Inquisition so magical?

"Is there anything you can do to help." the hunter repeated slowly, her green eyes glinting like agate. Nahariel kept her voice low as well, although her softness was decidedly cold. "Why do you care? What is an elf to you? What is she to you that she deserves the attention of such a fine lady? A lady's companion? A beloved pet?" Her eyes narrowed slightly.

"Do you keep us as servants, like the rest of your peers? Are you kind to them too? So wonderful, deigning to let us scrub the halls that once were ours." They flashed, dark as serpentstone with anger... and beneath the anger, a rending grief that was unmistakable to Vivienne's trained eyes.

"Yes, you can help. Give us back Halamshiral. Give us back the Dales. Free my people--all of them. And then leave us alone. Help. You and your people have done enough. I--"

It finally dawned on her than she was more than likely snarling vitriol at someone important to the organization she was trying to make herself useful to.

So that they'd help Sina.

Exactly what Vivienne had offered.

She didn't apologize. But she did deflate slightly, looking away and biting her lower lip.

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[madame_de_fer]

Well then.

This is not the first (nor likely the last) time that Vivienne has sat through an angry Dalish tantrum. Sometimes she does wonder if it's something they are taught at their mother's breast, or if the milk is simply laced with fury. The Iron Lady has very little patience or tolerance for such outbursts. She herself has found her whole life forced into a system with a history of abusing the occupants; she has chosen to rise above it and carve her own place in the world. It is a place of dignity and respect, hard won, and she doesn't care to have it tarnished by cries of oppression by a people who seem unwilling to improve their lot themselves.

But in all that rant, she merely watches, silently judging with an impassive expression to mask her inner thoughts. By the end, the little protector seems to have adequately chastised and deflated herself.

"My dear, I do hope you realize that outburst is hardly productive and does nothing to improve the poor state of your clanmate." Yes, she's scolding the elf with some cool disdain. For personal bad behavior, and not being an elf. She's not going to justify herself in regards to providing gainful employment to her servants either. They lead better lives in her home than roaming the countryside scrabbling for food and shelter.

Moving on to the pertinent issue at hand. "I presume the healers have been to see her. What have they to say of her condition? And does anyone know what happened?" Because knowledge of what caused this might hold the answers for a cure.

[nadasharillen]

Nahariel's eyes flash again briefly at the Iron Lady's dismissive tone, but she's not about to lash out again. For one, it would make the woman more set on believing she was some sort of petulant child, and even while angry she had her pride.

For the other... Sina really did need help. And sending away someone who was willing to do so--no matter their bearing--because of that pride would be inexcusable. Not accustomed to hiding it, the parade of emotion across her face--from impotent anger to sullen acceptance to cool and composed (with a hint of chagrin)--was obvious.

"Adelaide has overseen much of her recovery--and her students do so when she can't. It's... she sleeps. Better than she used to. Her breathing comes hard sometimes, and that pains her. It's slow going... but every day is a bit better than the last, even if just by half a candlemark of good rest. She's even woken lucid once or twice, and spoken--though that seems to pain her as well. But she's good--" to her embarrassment, the hunter felt her throat closing slightly with emotion. She tried to disguise the strain in her voice with a cough, looking away. "--good natured all the same. Kind. Still herself."

"As far as what happened?" she'll shake her head. "Something happened when she was practicing her spellcasting. I haven't asked her any more about it. Didn't want to upset her."

Although with some of the Rifters being mages, it's an important question. Maybe more important than keeping conversation light, when it happened. There were civilian workers here. Children. They couldn't chance another Rift. They had to know. Nahariel grimaced.