faderift | [semi-open] a friendly query

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[semi-open] a friendly query

WHO: Cassandra and rifters/shardbearers
WHAT: Rifter interrogations
WHEN: Following Cassandra's log with Galadriel and the advisors' conversation
WHERE: Skyhold
NOTES: For planned rifter/shardbearer interrogation threads with Cassandra! If we haven't discussed your character's thread, please drop me a note here or hit me up on Plurk for general (this can be very general) setup/discussion of what you hope the outcome to be. She'll be most interested in talking to rifter mages, but we can swing her interrogating anyone with a shard.

With or without your support, she had said to the Spymaster, and she had meant it. She would have preferred that Leliana understand her position, the necessity of action - but she does not, and dwelling on it will do nothing to change that now. Whether anyone else sees it or not, Cassandra at least recognizes the risk that the shardbearers pose. If nothing else, they must understand who the rifters are, what they are capable of - and what they may do.

There are still plenty who agree with her, who are not as idealistic in this matter as Leliana, and it's not difficult to find soldiers willing to find those of interest and bring them to her, one at a time. She waits until each is seated before she turns to face them, and always begins the same way, whether she recognizes them or not.

"I am Cassandra Pentaghast, and I represent the Inquisition. State your name, and where you come from."

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The first group she evades by chance. She was a thief for a long time before she became a guard and they’re hardly the most subtle persons to come marching but she’s small, light and nimble and so she manages to get up and onto the rooftops before they have a chance to come for her. Coming back down she is not so lucky, grabbed right as she’s coming down to the ground by swinging herself from the hayloft to the stables when a hand wraps around her wrist. The soldier receives a savage stamp to the instep before her other arm is grabbed and she’s dragged along, cursing them under her breath the entire time.

A shame none of them understand Antivan or the fact that she’s discussing how their mothers all fucked goats to produce them only without any wits before she’s dumped in the chair, rubbing her wrist. But she settles herself, righting her hair and straightening her coat before she even looks at Cassandra directly, eyes flicking up here and there

“Araceli Bonaventura y Castell,” but the speed at which she utters it blurs it into one long word perhaps, accent thicker than usual from annoyance. “In what capacity do you represent the Inquisition, I would like to know why I am accosted in public like a criminal and dragged before a stranger.”

Cassandra looks down at her, unimpressed. It had taken a long time to track down Araceli, and more effort than should have been necessary. And now that she's finally here, it seems she is determined to make the rest of the process just as difficult.

Fine. Cassandra can be difficult, too.

"I am its founder," she snaps, and scowls. "And there would have been no need to accost or drag you, had you come quietly right away." She leans over the girl, eyes searching her, pinning her to the chair with her glare. "What do you have to hide, that you were so determined not to be questioned?"

“Perhaps if your guards had asked. I am not unreasonable; ask Knight-Commander Sauveterre, I have been to dinner with him.” Her manners were impeccable that night, nothing to cause concern, completely beyond reproach, and he had hinted that things would change after what had happened to Sina. Perhaps this is exactly the sort of thing he had meant. “Where I come from, if a group of armed men come for you then it means something bad is going to happen to you, where death might be the kindest thing that will happen.” There’s a hesitation, a hitch in her voice when she says those words that betrays that she is young, that more of this than she would like is bravado. What happens here if she does? What will her family ever know, her loved ones?

Sina’s mark almost killed her. True, it sits in her chest and not her hand like Araceli’s but now there’s suspicion again when she looks at it.

“It was not that I was determined not to be questioned.” That paints it more as an escape than simply being faster than a guard and that’s always how she’ll look at it. “I haven’t lied while I’ve been here and there is nothing to hide, though I suppose that not a single one of us has any true way to vouch for ourselves do we, when we had little choice in coming to your world. But I do not wish to be taken away by a group of people armoured and carrying weapons when they will not say where we are going and why.”

Mentioning Alayre's name does Araceli no favors. Cassandra snorts in disgust, rolling her eyes. If there is anyone less qualified to judge what is reasonable and what is not -

Her disdain nearly prevents her from noticing the uncertain waver in the girl's voice. Cassandra glances to her, frowning thoughtfully.

"You are in no danger here," she tells her, in her best attempt at reassurance. As much as she hates to admit it, Araceli has a point. The Inquisition soldiers she had assigned to track down and bring back the rifters are hardly the comforting sort. And while intimidation is a great help in many aspects of her work, she had never wanted to frighten innocents.

She sighs, leaning back so that her posture is a little less threatening. "You are here because you have come through the rifts, and because the Inquisition must know what sort of people now live and fight alongside us. If you are truthful and swear to do us no harm, you will have nothing to fear."

Well, that is certainly interesting. She is not oblivious to the issues with the Templars but nor does she fully understand their place in this world, and it has her thinking of Vergil, when he had told her of schisms. Something to remember for later.

The laugh escapes before she can help it, a bark of a sound, the edge of something worse. "I am in no danger? When have I not been in danger since I have come here? I was stolen from my home and fell out of the sky beset by demons. We were suspected of being the very same by a man who spoke with a title and manner that rang of some authority. The first of us arrived with the news that the woman who had a mark such as this," her left hand slides forward, she doesn't look at it, doesn't dare, "had been found. Dead."

Curling her hand, she pulls it back and out of sight entirely, under the table. What she was able to ignore before what happened to Sina is no longer so easy, not when Sina almost died, not when Araceli knows how strong her own moods are. "I went to the Fallow Mire to help and was attacked by corpses rising out of the water. I went to Emprise du Lion to help and saw people put in cages by monsters. No one understands the thing in my hand and I-" It wouldn't take a genius to finish that sentence but her mouth thins into a line, jaw set as if that's going to actually help her at all here.

Cassandra sits, and listens, surprised at the force of her response but unable to refute any of it. She waits until the girl cuts herself off, and only when she falls silent does she shift in her seat.

"You are right," she admits. "No one in Thedas is safe now. Perhaps you are wise to be afraid." Briefly, she wonders just how young the girl is. She is sharp and observant, that much is clear, but still - young. Alone, and probably terrified.

She leans closer, trying to catch Araceli's gaze. "But you are in no danger from me, nor from the soldiers of the Inquisition. Everything we do is for the safety of the Inquisition and of the people in Skyhold."

She hesitates for a moment, thinking, and then asks, "Do you know of the rift that was opened here?" Her tone is one of curiosity rather than interrogation now. In this instance, perhaps it would be best to explain her reasoning first, rather than merely demanding information.

“Wise is probably too strong a word.” Wise makes it sound like she’s doing something beyond just trying to keep some sort of forward momentum, it does her too much credit to say she’s wise.

She hesitates before she asks the question, looking up because if nothing was certain before, then what is it now? “And if there are those in Skyhold that are seen to be a danger to others in Skyhold or to the Inquisition?” It could happen. It might be happening even now because no one ever questioned her unless she counts the mages checking her mark when she arrived. It’s the next question that follows that hurts, the one that’s caused nightmares ever since she found out. Cassandra is more reasonable than she expected but being in Thedas is like standing on the tip of a knife in your bare feet, waiting to see which outcome will be worse but even that hurts.

“I was in Emprise du Lion, I didn’t hear until a friend went back to resupply that something had happened to Sina. I know she had been upset not long before we had left Skyhold, but she said it was private, personal. A Dalish thing. I...I don’t know how this works. I’ve never even closed a rift. All I know-- All I know is that something happened. To a friend. Her mark almost killed her. What if that can happen to the rest of us?”

It’s enough to have her covering her face with her hands. Bad enough she’s crying, worse if she were to let this woman see it until she gets herself under control, until she’s less ashamed and embarrassed about her inability to maintain some sort of composure.

"Then they will be dealt with." Simple enough, if not particularly comforting. "It is my duty to protect those under my command, and those who have come here seeking refuge."

Cassandra does not look away as the girl speaks, refusing to bow to discomfort, to any urge to break eye contact. She is upset, clearly, and Cassandra will not do her the disservice of glancing away and appearing to dismiss her fears.

And then Araceli hides her face in her hands, and Cassandra falls silent, uncertain. It's obvious what is going on, but she cannot bring herself to offer comfort. She would not know how.

"Sina's situation is...unique," she says at last. "The rift shard embedded in her chest has always been a danger to her, more so than that of any other who bears a shard. She came to Skyhold in search of...a cure, of sorts." She frowns. Thus far any hope of a cure, for Sina or anyone else, has not been forthcoming. "I do not believe anyone else would face the same danger. Yet even so, that is why I have called you here, to ensure that what happened to Sina does not happen to anyone else."

"Thank you." It's said from behind her hands so it's muffled but soon enough she wipes her face, hoping she doesn't look the state she fears and repeats it again, clearer this time. Strange to think of herself in the same boat as all those who flee Zimevur for a better life but there wasn't really any other option: Skyhold or take her chances in the world. Skyhold was the only one that might see her home safe again. Hopefully absent the shard.

"She told me of how she came by it when we first met. That it pierced her chest same as an arrow might. Maybe those of us who come from the rifts are luckier not to remember how we gained them, though I am sure most would rather natives than even a single one of us." As much as she would like to argue that home would be different, she can't be so sure because even a place as accepting as hers would have every right to worry, but Leandra would have to have died and that certainly isn't a thought to entertain even for a moment.

Instead she takes another breath to compose herself and sit up straight in her seat, shoulders back and head up. She can be fully embarrassed and appropriately ashamed of herself later when she isn't under the Seeker's scrutiny.

"If I am needed to close rifts, I will close rifts. If the mages are to study the marks then I will allow them and assist as needed, I have no plans to do anything else. Is my word alone enough? Or is there a gesture of good faith that I should make? Thedosian customs seem to vary wildly depending on which nation a person hails from, and the Inquisition is not bound to any singular one of them."

Cassandra keeps her expression carefully blank as Araceli speaks. She can't deny that her life would be easier if those from different worlds had never appeared here, nor can she imagine that they would have chosen to be separated from their homes, if they had had any choice. But they are here now, and that is what they all must deal with.

Araceli's offer is surprising, yet gratifying. She raises an eyebrow, considering.

"Your word alone will suffice," she decides. It will have to. The Herald had proven herself, had risked her own life willingly before Cassandra had ever trusted her, but there are so many now, so many whose origins and intentions she does not know. To have them all prove themselves at the forefront...it is impossible, and she will not risk more lives. Not until she has to.

And this girl...she is so young, as Evelyn had been. Cassandra's expression softens somewhat, though there is still a certain distance in it. Araceli is still a stranger, and Cassandra does not let strangers close.

"If I have frightened you...I apologize."

The customs of the realm is something that's been drilled into her from home, and even her bravado has limits. There's also the matter of what happened between her and Galadriel in the prison but that can wait for another day most likely, she doesn't really have the proper words to explain something like that right now and she'd rather have the space to breathe, considering her next move there a little more carefully. Maybe another meeting with the rifters might work, she's certainly got new information to be shared with them all but she'll need to consult with Marcel about it first. They're the two that seem to be the most concerned with how they appear and if this isn't some sort of proof that yes, like it or not they're all going to get lumped together because they do share a very common thread then she doesn't know what is.

"If there is anything else, I will do my best to comply. And to make sure Korrin knows I'm not being pressured," she gives half a smile, because Korrin's temper is far worse than her own, and Korrin's a great hulking mage, not the sort of person easily talked down if the mood strikes her. Even bringing this up to her is going to have to be done with great care. "And I'll make sure it's known that I did offer, should it come up."

Skyhold will be better if they can keep the peace. She's not the rifter getting thrown in the cells and then threatening people inside their own heads or whatever the hell that was.

But then she smiles, a proper smile, nodding her head gratefully. "There is no need, more of that was—I have made friends here, they've been hurt. But all of you have had friends hurt or even taken from you, no one ever forgets that easily."

Korrin? Her brow furrows in confusion at the apparent non sequitur. She knows the qunari mage vaguely by reputation, but does not see what she has to do with anything.

In the end, it does not matter. Cassandra nods, not returning the smile. "Of course. It is understandable." She will not think of hurt friends now, or lost loved ones. She will not think too deeply of that - but her purpose here is to keep anyone else from being hurt, if she can. The girl understands that now, she thinks.

She nods at the guards, and then at Araceli. "You may go."

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