faderift | closed; a civil disagreement

Entry tags:

closed; a civil disagreement

WHO: Cassandra and Leliana, and later Cullen and Josephine
WHAT: Cassandra has some concerns to express to her fellow advisors.
WHEN: Beginning of Drakonis, immediately following Cassandra's interrogation of Galadriel.
WHERE: The War Room
NOTES: here it comes

Cassandra is still shaking with suppressed indignation and fury as she makes her way across the courtyard and through the Great Hall, heedless of the startled, curious looks she attracts. Those who find themselves in her path remove themselves from it quickly. She had said little over the sending crystals, merely telling the Inquisition's advisors in short, terse words to meet her in the War Room.

This is a disaster. How could she have been so blind? All those people, appearing from the rifts alongside the demons...and they had been taken in with hardly a pause. No one had questioned who they were or where they came from, much less what they could do, or what they would dare to do.

Maker, how could she have been so blind?

She arrives first and sits down to wait for the others, but all too soon she finds herself back on her feet, pacing impatiently. The soldiers appear a few moments later and confirm that Galadriel is secured in one of the fortress's cells. They lay the items they had confiscated on the table as they report; the elf's staff takes up the better part of the map, and beside it sits a strange, glowing glass. Cassandra dismisses the soldiers shortly, and they retreat from the room.

And then there is nothing to do but wait, to try to calm herself so that she can think. She longs to act, to confirm that no one else threatens the Inquisition as Galadriel does, but she can not act alone now. They are the Inquisition; she must at least tell the others. She has no doubt that they will all be as horrified as she is.

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The Nightingale moves with care and precision, descending the stairs when she receives notice of the need to meet, wondering what has Cassandra sounding so tense. Cassandra excels at bunt force, whether it be delivered by fist, word, or whatever her weapon of choice might be that day. There is no immediate cause for concern every time Cassandra sounds displeased, but this is the Inquisition, and every matter is becoming a source for concern, she suspects. Leliana almost finds herself longing for the days of the Fifth Blight, when everything had seemed so simple by comparison, when it had been anything but at the time.

"Cassandra," she starts, opening the doors and closing them behind her. She makes it her business to be here first. Sometimes the Left Hand and diffuse the ire of the Right. Sometimes there is more that people will say to a smaller audience, even (or especially) of their peers.

She does not need to say why she is here, though her sharp gaze catches on the staff and the glass, before flickering back to Cassandra. "Something has happened."

Evidently.

Of course Leliana would arrive first. Of course she would immediately comprehend the seriousness of the situation; it is part of why they work so well together. Cassandra turns as the door opens, striding quickly over to the spymaster.

"Yes, something has happened," she says. "We have been remiss in our duties, Leliana. I had never thought - but I should have. We all should have recognized the danger we have been allowing into Skyhold." She pauses, agitated, shaking her head.

We have been remiss in our duties, she says, and Leliana's jaw tightens, spine straightens and her shoulders ease back. It is a subtle, dangerous shift, just as the accusation is a dangerous one. Leliana has dreaded it for so long,the possibility, has interrogated it and there is something defiant in the tilt of her jaw.

"If this is regarding the Crows, I have taken every measure possible to ensure the event does not recur." Frost descends on her tone, voice very soft as she starts to move towards the War Table, gaze narrowing as she takes in the staff, and glass, and considers them more carefully.

"Who do these belong to?"

The Crows? She has been so consumed by other matters, so focused on investigating the circumstances surrounding the rift, that the suggestion catches her entirely off guard. Cassandra just stares for a moment, and then shakes her head firmly.

"No," she says. "No. I am not concerned about the Crows." She would never doubt Leliana's capabilities or her thoroughness, especially not in this matter - not where the safety of one of her friends was involved. Cassandra had not worried for a moment that Leliana would allow Zevran's life to be put at risk again.

She turns to follow Leliana's gaze, her own expression hardening as she presses her lips into a thin line.

"An elf," she replies. "But not one of Thedas. Her name is Galadriel, and she arrived through one of the rifts." A certain dark warning enters her tone at the last word - an unfamiliar one, in this context. Until now, she had never considered the rifters to be a threat. The fact that they were obviously not demons had been enough.

How foolish she had been.

Barely a relief, that, when the tension still pulls taught between them, and Cassandra seems sharp as the knife's edge, and likely as willing to cut you open. (Leliana thought, sometimes, that the honour of killing was a fickle and subjective thing, though the fact remained that while blood stained both their hands, Cassandra's were painted with less shame than her own.)

"I know Galadriel," Leliana starts sharply, a frown already etched at the corner of her mouth. "She much respected by the Dalish here, stands as-- as a comfort to them, I suppose." Suspicion is starting to weave its way into her head, while all that makes it into her tone is caution. "A respectful woman. She was more respectful of the Chant of Light than a good many who find their origins here."

The next part comes more bluntly; "Why are they here, Cassandra?" Why were the belongings here and not with their rightful owner? She would flatter herself in claiming no anger survived into her tone, but she is angry. She is always angry, of late, or so it feels, even if she keeps the coals of it low.

"Respectful?"

The bewilderment and disbelief in her tone is clear. Galadriel had been anything but respectful to her, and while that had not been enough to drive her to do what she had done - she does not imprison people for being difficult, or Varric would never have seen the light of day again - it had done nothing to endear her to the elf. She finds it impossible, too, to understand why the Dalish would find comfort in her. It seems nonsensical. Galadriel is not Dalish; wherever she comes from, she is clearly not an elf of Thedas, and likely has little in common with them. What comfort could she be to them?

Cassandra wears her heart on her sleeve; for all that she strives to be stoic and self-controlled, for all that she acts with confidence and does not apologize for who she is, she is still all too easily carried away by her emotions, whether that be her temper or any of a number of other passions. She is frustrated, insulted, afraid, and it shows. Leliana is the opposite. Calm and controlled, adept in hiding her motives and her emotions alike, everything Cassandra is not. Any anger in Leliana's tone goes completely unnoticed, at least by Cassandra; any tension between them directly, and not caused by the situation itself, is invisible to her, subsumed by her own emotions.

She straightens her spine and lifts her chin at Leliana's question - urgent, demanding, and rightfully so, but contained. A question that deserves an answer.

"They are here," she says, measured now, as much as she can manage, "because their owner is currently in the custody of the Inquisition. She has proved herself a threat to the people of Skyhold."

She has proved herself a threat to the people of Skyhold.

Tension is rising in her. Her wrists are rigid, each muscle scaling up her arms, across her shoulders and down her back, is slowly tightening.

"How so?"

Perhaps she speaks a little sharply, again, from her urgency. An important question, for it will dictate whether she is angry with herself for another shortcoming, another misstep, or whether her anger cuts into Cassandra, instead. All actions need a reaction, all anger needs an outlet, or it will leave her to a festering corruption, though in truth Leliana is quite sure she is being hollowed out, already. She must cut away so much to be more efficient, to be stronger, and anger can be as counterproductive as it is useful.

"On what basis do you deem her a threat?"

Cassandra blinks at the sharpness of Leliana's words, at the almost...challenging question she poses, and frowns. She may be oblivious on occasion, especially now, carried away on the wave of her own emotions as she has been, but this is not quite the reaction she had expected from the Left Hand.

Still, the question she asks is fair, and Cassandra does not hesitate to answer. To explain. Somewhat calmer, now that she has Leliana's full attention, now that she is here and they can work to fix this.

"I had been questioning those present when the rift opened in Skyhold," she explains. "Neither of us were present when it occurred, and it was necessary to discover as much as I could about it. To prevent it from happening again."

She begins pacing again as she speaks, focusing on her words, on telling Leliana the whole story. "Five of the rifters worked together to close the rift. Each of their stories seemed to corroborate, as I spoke to them, but I needed to be thorough. To know as much as I could. And - as I spoke to them -" She shakes her head, and raises her own hand, opening and closing it as a demonstration. "One or two of them had mentioned the shard reacting, when the rift opened. The details were vauge. I wanted to know more. And then I spoke to her, and -"

Frustration rises in her again, as she remembers the elf's infuriating obstinance, and her hand closes into a fist. "She refused to answer my questions. She refused to take my concerns seriously. And then she implied that she knew much of the rifts, that she could open and close them at will. I asked her plainly what she knew, and she would not tell me. She insisted that she did not answer to me and that she would do as she pleased." Acid, angry. She takes a breath. "I asked her to swear that she would not open any rifts, and she refused outright. She knew the consequences. We cannot allow such recklessness, such defiance, within Skyhold. Not when it puts us at such risk."

It follows, but Leliana cannot yet allow herself to ease. She cannot soothe her concerns so lightly, nor when she can feel Cassandra’s words, her very mood pressing upon those matters that are so essential to her. Freedom. To keep their people safe, of course - but if it is at the cost of seeing people wrongfully suffer? Imprisoned, detained, denied their freedom and their expression, what then? What manner of Inquisition would they be, what manner of power, if they were willing to strip people of their freedom?

And it is the matter of who Galadriel is, as well, that makes that prickle all the more. An elf, an icon to those who have lost so much. Oh, she is not like their Dalish here, but when so much knowledge of them is lost then what can they (and especially they, humans) claim of their difference? What possibilities and potential might Galadriel represent to them? Elf, mage, rifter. A symbol of three peoples who could suffer so easily at the hands of authority, and Cassandra had imprisoned her before Leliana had even known that she was under interrogation.

“You imprisoned her,” Leliana starts, very quiet and very calm, “for not speaking as you would like?”

Her smile is a vicious, dangerous thing, rich with disbelief. “You imprisoned a woman who had done no wrong against the Inquisition, one who might have leant her aid, had you approached her with a manner less akin to a warhammer?”

Leliana respects Cassandra in many things, but she does not admire her ability to hold her temper, to not take offence, and she cannot but wonder just what Galadriel said. Not something to merit this response, not if Cassandra had approached her with the respect she was due. “I cannot believe this. I cannot believe you.”

All that quietness is falling away, now, and the tightly controlled temper of the past few minutes is spilling forth, vicious.

"If you would imprison all who show defiance, then our entire Inquisition would be caged."

Cassandra balks. The rebuttal rises to her lips instantly - it had not been Galadriel's manner, it had been the danger she posed - but before she can say a word, Leliana continues, her voice growing more dangerous, more scathing with each word. Cassandra gasps, stung.

And then her expression fills with rage, and she lunges forward, hands clenched into fists at her sides.

"How dare you accuse me of such things," she hisses through her teeth. "How dare you. You think that I would imprison her for the way she spoke?" Her hand slams down on the table, rattling the glass, her voice growing louder now with each word. "I did this for you. I did this to keep all of us safe. It is why I do anything. For the good of the Inquisition, and you dare to assume that I imprisoned her because she insulted me?"

"Because mages and elves have suffered far more for far less," Leliana snarls back, "and because I saw you lash out at our own Herald when you did not understand her mark and she could not grant you satisfactory answers. Because your are guilty of the same small minded fear mongering and paranoia that infects all Thedas!"

Her temper has been unfurled, revealed for the vicious, bloody thing that it is, and she is leaning forward to meet the Seeker's gaze, as if she could tear her apart with it.

"What safety is that? When one is imprisoned for such a reason as this, it opens the doorway to many more receiving the same sentence in the same of 'safety.'" She has seen it before. She has breathed it. She has seen false accusations and innocents people suffering for it, and the Game has always demanded that you consider consequences. "If we are to imprison Galadriel for an act she has not committed, would you have us imprison Templars for their gift with a blade, for fear they might stab us in the back on the battlefield, simply because they are able? Perhaps all our rogues should be shackled, lest they cut our throats in our beds."

No. This will not be endured, and she will not back down. To do so would be to suggest that the only way to be safe was to jump at shadows and to assume motivations before a person ever had a chance to act.

"You cannot shackle someone for the simple risk they could present, nor for some imagined crime. The very root of this Inquisition was within wrongful violence and abuse of power against mages. Are we to condemn another group to take their place, now, by considering what could happen before it is done?"

Edited 2016-02-28 12:38 (UTC)

"I cannot?"

Cassandra's eyes narrow, her expression darkening further. This is insane, and she cannot understand what has happened. She and Leliana have disagreed before, but never like this, and never without a swift resolution. Always, Divine Justinia had been there to guide them, to help them understand each other and temper both their passions.

But Justinia is no longer here. And Leliana has never spoken to her like this. Does the Left Hand truly think so little of her? Only days ago, they had spoken in the Emprise, and Leliana's - her friend's words return to her now.

You are not alone in this. We will keep them safe.

Together it is. Just as we have always been, even in our differences.

All lies, she sees now. Empty words that mean nothing. As their friendship has meant nothing - must mean nothing to Leliana, if she could so quickly turn her disdain and contempt upon Cassandra, assign her motives she has never held.

No. She is alone, and alone she must act, if Leliana is so faithless as this.

"I can, and I will," she sneers, her expression one of anger and disgust. "I have not imprisoned her for being an elf, nor a mage, and the only imagined crimes are those you assign to me. If you cannot see that - "

She cuts herself off, though she is not nearly done. Her hands are shaking now. She had never, never foreseen anything like this.

"I will keep this Inquisition safe, and I will do it with or without your support, Spymaster. If you choose to blind yourself to to the risk, that is on your own head."

There's to be a meeting soon, so in the meantime Josephine has busied herself with the latest correspondence that's made its way to her desk. Two or three more letters and she will head off to the war room. At least, that's what she tells herself before she hears the shouting. It is not unusual for Josephine to be able to hear the hustle and bustle of Skyhold from where she sits, and as a matter of fact, she's rather fond of it. But if she is not mistaken, that sounds like Cassandra. Josephine does not know Seeker Pentaghast quite as well as she would like (knows more of her, certainly), but she is at the very least well aware that Cassandra is the type of woman who can be easily swept up by her passion and ideology.

Curiosity now piqued, she listens for a few more moments, head tilted to one side, trying to get a sense of the situation. This is not some mere ordinary shouting. Cassandra sounds indignant. Furious.

Josephine gathers her belongings and gets to her feet. It is probably for the best to check on the Seeker, for the good of whoever is the source of her ire, at any rate.

She only intends to watch and listen at first, but when she crosses the threshold into the room to see Cassandra staring Leliana down, hands shaking, she knows that she cannot remain silent. Josephine's gaze flickers from Cassandra, to Leliana opposite her, then back to Cassandra. "What's going on here?" Face schooled as neutrally as possible, she leans against the door frame with her arms held out in front of her. It is not altogether odd for the two former Hands of the Divine to disagree... but Josephine can't help but feel that this is something greater than that. At least she is confident in Leliana's ability to stand up for herself.

Edited 2016-02-29 09:56 (UTC)

As usual, it seems like Cullen is always the latest to arrive. Which is often not uncommon, considering where he's chosen to make his office and how often he gets bogged down on reports. Today, it was business as usual, and when he finally makes his way down the stairs from the battlements he gets stopped no less than three times while on his way to the War Room. Clearly no one understood the meaning of urgent.

He's quick up the stairs and into the hall, whispers of shouting coming to his ears. He's not often one to listen to rumors, so they're taken with a grain of salt and he's off into the hallway that leads to the War Room.

He's usually greeted with a closed door and the rest of the ladies talking among themselves when he arrives, but this scene is something else entirely. The air is so thick with tension someone could cut it with a knife and he doesn't even know what's going on yet. "Apparently I've missed something," he says finally.

She cannot help but be reminded of that day on the bridge, of Chancellor Roderick's criticisms of Cassandra. In that moment she had been struggling, but it was standing together with Cassandra, with Cullen and Josephine that strengthened her. On your head be the consequences, he had told Cassandra, and the Seeker's words now make the memories of that day echo painfully in her chest, slow, thudding and expanding outwards.

Leliana stands tall, as she always must.

There is no time to make a proper response to Cassandra or Josephine before their Commander is arriving, with that ever-so-slightly perplexed air, but their combined appearance spares Cassandra the full force of her viciousness. She pulls away from the fire crackling over her nerves, lets them cool and settle rather than fan them. She is the Spymaster, yes. She must collect clues and consider the repercussions, and this is not different.

"Apparently so, Cullen," Leliana replies, standing up tall and glancing to both he and Josephine briefly before continuing. "Seeker Pentaghast sees fit to imprison a woman who has committed no crimes, and contends that my concern for justice does not align with the safety of the Inquisition."

Her voice is cold, for all the fury layered into it. "She does not consider the potential impact this may have within our ranks. That imprisoning any person, let alone one who is elf, mage and stranger to this land when they have done no wrong, is in direct conflict with the freedoms and the need for change that is so important here. To imprison her could make any number of people feel threatened, and furthermore," the look she casts Cassandra now is most akin to a sneer, "She does not consider that we need their help in closing the rifts, not their resentment or their fear, as could well follow from such an event as this. It is she who is blinded, and by her own shortsightedness."

Especially if she thinks the Spymaster, the gatherer of information and of secrets, the girl that owed so much to Dorothea even before she was the Divine that Cassandra met, the Nightingale so easily chastened as that. She had failed so many. She had failed Wynne and she had failed Justinia and Evelyn, but she would not fail in this. Leliana has been playing the Game since long ago.

Edited 2016-03-01 23:24 (UTC)

Cassandra stares at Leliana, silently fuming. Her expression shifts from angry disbelief to righteous indignation as she listens. She will not allow her fury or Leliana's betrayal stop her from doing what she knows must be done. Cassandra has never bowed to anything in her life; she will not bow to this.

"And the Spymaster twists her words to fit her own purposes, as she always does," she replies, her voice steel. "I do not care if people feel threatened. I care that they are threatened." She turns to Cullen and Josephine, her eyes flashing. "One of the rifters - a mage of no loyalty and unmeasured skill - knows how to open rifts. When I asked her to swear that she would not, she refused. She believes that she is above the authority of the Inquisition, and will neither obey my commands nor tell us what she knows." She is a danger, that much is more than clear. How can any of them be safe when so powerful a mage as Galadriel throws all caution, all concern for the consequences of her actions to the winds? "I have taken her staff and had her locked into the dungeons, for the safety of us all." She throws Leliana a look of contempt at the last word.

I do this for you, because you are too idealistic to see that it is necessary.

The problem is that both of them have excellent points. Then again, that is always the issue when it comes to moments like this: people usually try to do what is right, or at least, what is necessary, but people are biased. Even though Josephine knows her own talents at diplomacy she knows she is not immune to this effect. It was Leliana who had invited her to the Inquisition, Leliana who had convinced her to come along by appealing to both her good nature and her thirst for challenge.

Sometimes, Josephine can't help but feel she falls short of the mark. She has to try, however, so she takes a deep breath and does her best to push her biases inside. A younger Josephine would have leapt to Leliana's defense without hesitation, but... in times like these, she plays a different role here. "Cassandra," she starts, using the woman's name mostly as an emotive appeal, "your care for us all is certainly appreciated. Few have done as much as you to ensure the safety of the Inquisition. However..." It is here that Josephine allows disappointment to carefully flavor her voice. She is not an imposing woman, she knows, certainly not the type to be capable of intimidating Seekers, but that does not stop her from straightening, drawing herself up to her full height before looking Cassandra straight in the eye.

"However, may I suggest it was perhaps unwise to act before consulting with the rest of us? I know you only did what you considered necessary, but Leliana has a point." Josephine inclines her head in the Spymaster's direction. "We are all supposed to be working together, and that means the mages and the templars, as well as the four of us." She throws Cullen a look over her shoulder. He hasn't said much yet but she is sure that the Commander has his own thoughts on the matter.

Josephine rolls her shoulders, a motion of resignation. "In any case, your actions can not be undone, so what we must think of now is what we can do going forward." She can feel her heart hammering in her chest as she considers her next words. When she had started speaking, she had done her very best to push her biases aside and consider the situation objectively. However, she has had to contain herself for far too long, and these have been frustrating, trying weeks. She should bite her tongue, but doesn't.

"All I can think of is this: the Inquisition was founded in part to be a stabilising force among all the uncertainty that exists in Thedas. How can we say we are pursuing that goal if we only contribute towards such uncertainty? And..." she lowers her gaze then, eyes dropping to her noteboard. "I cannot help but wonder what Evelyn would think, if she were here to see us fighting amongst ourselves like this."

Josephine can feel her face burn as soon as the words leave her mouth. Oh, how she hates drawing attention to herself. Half of her wants to shrivel against the wall, the other half wants to lift the lid off her carefully contained temper entirely. In the end, she takes a step back, so that Cullen's more in the room than she is. She can play it off like she's given him the floor to speak, but in all honesty: she needs a break to calm down.

Edited 2016-03-03 00:12 (UTC)

"How is her reasoning unwise?"

It's a simple question as Cullen enters the room fully with a thankful nod to Josephine. "Lady Cassandra has done what she thought was in the best interests of the Inquisition. I would have done no less in her position." And he's glad he wasn't. He's not sure how he would have reacted in her situation.

"If they - those with the shards - can open these rifts, who is to say that they will not do so again? Who is to say they will not rise up against the Inquisition should they decide to? To align themselves with Corypheus?" He thinks in broad worse-case scenarios, but he's trying to think of the bigger picture here. He sees where Josephine is coming from, that Cassandra may have acted a bit harshly when it came to such insubordination on the Rifter's part.

"I understand your concern, Leliana." He pauses, choosing his words carefully. "It looks... bad, for lack of a better word. But we cannot risk the rest of the Inquisition because one person has gotten their feelings hurt. The needs of this Inquisition outweigh one person."

His tone at the end is a bit sharper than he wants to admit, but the fact they are all questioning this is talk of concern. Josephine's mention of Trevelyan does not go unnoticed, and he has to bite his tongue before going on. "She would have wanted us to be reasonable."

A slight sneer curls the corner of her mouth, subtle and allowed to linger for barely a moment before Leliana brushes it aside. "The traditional response of Seekers and Templars, then? To act against others without considering what consequences might follow."

It is a low shot - too harsh, too cruel, and especially in the wake of Anders, but Leliana feels herself twisting, of late. She has been becoming something harsher even than the Left Hand needed to be. Acts of mercy feel wrong and warped, even as she is glad to have spared a live, to have stopped a man such as Anders as being painted as some hero for a cause, cut down by the Inquisition. She has her beliefs though, her faith, and she will hold onto those until the very last.

"We certainly do not give them much incentive to ally with us, if we are willing to lock them away. You complain that she did not swear loyalty, but what reason have we given them? And then, when word gets out of this - and it will, without doubt - how will people react, if not with trepidation? Is fear and desperation not what has driven so much conflict, and prompted backlash? What have they seen of Thedas most, if not the conflict between mages and templars in Skyhold itself and horror stories of what is done to people who do not fall in line? After the Conclave and Haven, Thedas must seem a grim and bloody place to be trapped, and then the one place they have turned to locks up a rifter who has committed no wrong beyond displeasing the Seeker?"

They could no better job of forcing people to look to other alternatives in their desperation, if word should get out, if more should be arrested under the same reasoning. She has seen for herself, and more than once, how quickly a single event can spiral into something bigger.

She shakes her head. "Do not misunderstand me. The safety of the Inquisition and Thedas remains my highest priority, but what are they if not made up of people? This is not a matter of feelings being hurt, Cullen. It is a matter of alienating a group whose aid we need to close the rifts, in the wake of Evelyn's death. We should be extending an olive branch, winning them over as allies so that we might better progress, not imprisoning them."

Cassandra does not fix Josephine with the same angry glare she had pinned on Leliana, but her brows draw down in disapproval at her suggestion.

"Should I have left her to wander free while I consulted with you?" she asks sharply. "Should I have asked her to wait while we discussed in detail just how valid a threat she posed? Yes, I am sure she would have been happy to sit patiently and allow us to come to a consensus on what must be done with her, this mage who directly threatened the Inquisition -"

She is ranting, at Josephine no less, and she cuts herself off, seething and looking angrily away, her heart twisting in her chest as their diplomat invokes the Herald's name. She shoots a grateful look to Cullen as he speaks up; he, at least, seems to understand the potential risk, their duty to keep the entire Inquisition safe.

Then Leliana speaks again, and the flames of Cassandra's ire are fanned to life once again. "Forgive me if I argue against known threats being allowed to wander Skyhold freely, Spymaster," she says with a cold waspishness that surprises even her. "Forgive me if I seek to identify them before they act against us, and lives are nearly lost." It is petty, and more cruel than she ever allows herself to be - but she feels petty, and angry, and betrayed anew with every word that passes Leliana's lips.

Her own lips twist in a sneer as Leliana fails to understand the point yet again. She has never known the Left Hand to be so obstinately obtuse. "If you will not listen, then this is pointless," she growls. "I have told you. I did not imprison her because she displeased me. You will note that I have made no move to imprison you." Her voice raises again, louder with every word as if hoping that if she only shouts loudly enough, Leliana will finally hear her. "She threatened the Inquisition. I did not have time to consider allies, to consider how the elves might feel that a stranger who is not even one of their own now faces consequences for her promise to open further rifts as and when she pleases." She pauses, breathing heavily. She is angry now, her face red.

"I acted because I knew I must, because action had to be taken and I was the one in a position to do so."

Josephine is still busy maintaining her composure when Cassandra rounds on her, so she remains tight-lipped and silent in the face of Cassandra's accusations. Of course the Seeker is going to be angry, and Josephine will not invalidate her emotions. Cassandra simply did what she thought must be done, as she always does, and here they are standing around questioning her decisions.

Maker have mercy, she really is not in the proper frame of mind to be dealing with this right now. She is still gathering her thoughts, trying to think of the best way to respond to everyone's concerns, when Cassandra directs her barb about imprisonment at Leliana and then, involuntarily, she feels her fingers clench more tightly around her clipboard. How dare she. If she were in less control of her emotions she may very well have thrown it at Cassandra, but she is not a child or even a young bard any longer. She has no right to be getting into physical tussles. Not to mention that Cassandra would certainly win.

In the end, her restrained frustration and anger result in the heavy exhalation of air through her nostrils. How can she remind everyone that the issues at hand are bigger than any one of them, bigger than them all, if she allows her feelings to get in the way of her diplomacy? She takes a step forward, and then looks at each of the other advisors in turn. Her brows are furrowed in a way that might on any other person be referred to as a 'glare'.

"I understand the risk is too great to allow Galadriel to wander freely. However, the way you talk about her is as though you have already judged her guilty."

Josephine turns her gaze to Cullen before she continues speaking. "You are right, Commander, that the needs of the Inquisition outweigh the needs of any one person within it. That, however, must include us."

Then, finally, she turns to look at their Spymaster, and finds herself feeling extraordinarily bashful. There was a time when she was much younger when she admired Leliana very much, and though that has not really changed, it is still unsettling, sometimes, to look at her friend and be able to see her flaws. "What is going to happen when the rest of the Inquisition discover that the very same people that founded it no longer get along? How can we stand up to the threats we face if we cannot prevent a united front to the world? Dislike each other as much as you please on a personal level, but as it stands, if we are unable to make decisions together, we have no hope in achieving our goals. The Inquisition will rot from the inside."

She lifts her chin then, feeling the exhilarating thrill of defiance that she has not allowed herself to indulge in for so long. "I came here to help resolve the unrest that threatens Thedas. I have no desire to contribute to it."

"We are going to disagree on different matters, plain and simple. And this happens to be one of them. The Inquisition will not rot if we disagree on this matter." He doesn't mean to snap at Josephine, but it comes out harsher than he would have normally liked. She makes valid points, but everyone has at this point.

Cullen's tried to keep calm up until this point, knowing that cooler heads prevail when it comes to arguments like these. They've had long arguments in the past, trying to come up with compromises when they do not want to agree on anything. They do not have the luxury to argue, to have long conversations when things need to be done. The Inquisition needs its leaders to effectively lead.

"If she has threatened the Inquisition, she threatens all of us. That means she is guilty. Cassandra did what she thought to be right in that time, and you cannot fault her for protecting the very thing that Evelyn gave her life for."

That both Cullen and Cassandra turn on Josephine with those tones make her hackles raise, and Leliana finds herself stepping forward. If not for how they were spaced in the room she would move to stand between the the others and Josephine. She does not have many friends, those that remain to her are precious, and for all that she would count Cullen and Cassandra in that number, in this moment they are the threat and Josephine is the one in need of shielding.

Some habits died hard, it seemed.

"Disagree seems an understatement," she comments, a little too sharp. "You are both determined to see her guilty." As though they would like nothing better, as though the backlash from Anders and their frustration is to be taken out on a woman who, so far as Leliana had been able to tell, was not vicious, who had treated their Chant of Light with more respect than people from this world might.

And Evelyn's name has been invoked enough times in this-- this discussion that it seemed to be treated as dirt, something to be bandied about so easily, so comfortably. "The Herald," Leliana starts, crisply, barely holding back a rawness that threatens to infect her tone, "did not give her life to see freedom and justice undermined. I know Galadriel. I cannot imagine that she would make a threat against the Inquisition unprovoked, and I would know what brought such an event to pass before we condemn her."

"I am determined to see the truth."

Her voice is cold. She is done with this. Cullen understands, but it is not enough. Not when Leliana refuses to listen. Josephine pleads for agreement, for a united front, and Cassandra agrees with her, in principle, but it is clear to her that neither are possible right now.

Her lip curls when Leliana dares to - yet again - fling Evelyn's memory back in her face. Cassandra had not brought up the Herald's name before now, unwilling to guess at her motives or use her as a shield, but she will not allow Leliana to use her as a weapon, either, to cut Cassandra down through guilt and grief.

Cassandra has few friends, and fewer today, she thinks bitterly as Leliana spits her vicious words, than she had yesterday. But she had counted Evelyn among them, and she will not see her name used as a tool, used to further an agenda. Leliana goes too far.

"The Herald gave her life to keep us safe," she says, her voice shaking, "and I would not see her sacrifice be in vain." She pauses, and shakes her head. "I do not pretend to know what she would do. Perhaps she would see things differently than I. But I was there, Leliana, and you were not. I have told you what happened. Galadriel was obstinate, and then she was belligerent. She spoke of opening rifts, and parting the veil, and when I asked her to swear that she would not, she refused." She takes a breath. "Evelyn is not here to guide us, and we cannot guess at what she might say. We must use our own judgement, and my judgement is that Galadriel is a threat to us all."

She lifts her chin, leveling a challenging gaze at the Spymaster. "If you wish to see her freed, you must go through me."

They are going in circles, and Josephine's head is spinning from looking at Cullen to Leliana to Cassandra. The two women still at each other's throats. It seems that despite Josephine's best efforts, this is not going to be resolved today, and she might very well have to retreat back to her office to brainstorm all the potential ramifications Cassandra's actions have caused. She takes another breath to steady herself, to swallow down the tremor that threatens to slip into her voice.

She cannot remember the last time she has been so angry. They are behaving like children. Josephine allows the initial rush of rage to surge through her before displacing it.

Her personal emotions have no place when it comes to diplomacy.

When she does speak, her voice is calm, although quieter than her usual tones. "Has everyone said their piece?"

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

closed; a civil disagreement

we could have had it all

tried so hard and got so far

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I'M SORRY FOR MY SLOW and also for leliana being a jerk

never apologize

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