faderift | Our aspirations are wrapped up in books

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Our aspirations are wrapped up in books

WHO: Hermione Granger and Open!
WHAT: There's a new ~~witch~~ mage wandering around Skyhold. Come say hello?
WHEN: Backdated to her arrival near the end of Guardian and onward throughout Drakonis.
WHERE: ~~The library.~~ All over Skyhold. ~~But mostly its library.~~
NOTES: Feel free to run into her pretty much anywhere, or have her run into you. And be prepared for all the questions about your character and Thedas/their homeworld and everything in between.

If not for the fact that Hermione had spent so many of her formative years in Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Skyhold might have been overwhelming

As it was, the sprawling fortress was a little hard to get used to, since the academic environment that had given Hogwarts some sense of structure amidst the chaos wasn't present here. There was a library, thankfully, and she spent much of her time there, though it was so small that she was certain she'd end up reading every book in there in two weeks' time if she didn't actually go out and explore the rest of her surroundings.

And so every so often, she pried herself away from the cold little corner she'd set aside for herself and wander the rest of the area, though granted, she more often than not was carrying at least one book with her. Usually it was one of the books that had survived the trip through the Fade; anyone who might spot her in the garden or tavern or a safe distance away from the sparring going on in the training grounds might notice her engrossed in such unfamiliar titles as Hogwarts, A History or occasionally digging through Spellman's Syllabary in the vain hope of finding recognizable runes on various inscriptions throughout Skyhold.

After all, just because she was endlessly fascinated by all the new people and cultures and history and magic, it didn't mean she didn't occasionally need a bittersweet reminder of home. Especially when her other major reminder was her wand, which - despite the fact that she'd taken to finding the most solitary places she could find and practicing with it harder than she ever had the night before an exam - still wasn't behaving properly at all. Apologies to those of you who end up slipping on some wayward ice or getting sprayed with pebbles from a spell gone wrong.

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Hermione wasn't the only one looking for a solitary space. Ellana didn't mind others coming across her practicing her lute, but that was because she was switching between the few songs she actually knew rather well by now. There were still a few slip ups that left her flustered, but she decided to move on to something new rather than go over the same few pieces yet again. She'd asked the minstrel in the tavern to write out a simple song for her -- only a few repeated chords -- and now Ellana was looking for a quiet spot to practice this new song. She knew that the ramparts above the barn rarely saw people, and the wind up there would carry away her poorly played notes, so she headed up there, lute strapped to her back.

To her surprise, someone was already there, and holding a strange little stick. Ellana was just about to make her presence known when a load of pebbles came flying at her and she let out a yelp, dropping a glyph under her feet to raise a barrier over herself out of pure instinct. There was a brief moment of panic, born out of the fact that some people just really, really hated elves, but then logic kicked in and she knew that if this person wanted to hurt her, she wouldn't use pebbles.

"What are you trying to do?" she asked tentatively, still unsure if she was unwelcome.

Hearing someone cry out, Hermione gasped and turned around, immediately stopping what she was doing. A few larger rocks littered the floor around her, but she forgot all about them as she took a tentative step towards the other woman, reaching out a concerned hand.

"I'm sorry! You didn't get scratched up, did you? I was just trying to work on some small Blasting Charms; the larger ones haven't been working very well for me, so I figured that I could start small and if things got out of hand and I fell, at least I'd fall into the hay. Probably. Maybe if I stood a bit more to the right...."

Feeling a little foolish, Hermione hid her wand up her sleeve, giving up on magic for the moment at least. "I didn't know people came up here. I can go find someplace else to practice."

Quick to shake her head no, Ellana gestured to herself to show she was fine. There were thin blue lines swirling around her form as evidence of her barrier protecting her, but it was rapidly decaying without being cast with a staff for focus.

"I'm fine. I've never heard of a Blasting Charm before." Her head tilted in curiosity, especially as the wand disappeared up her sleeve. "You're one of those who came in through the rift, aren't you? Don't worry about being up here. I was just looking for a place to practice music, but you were here first."

More than the strange - though no longer entirely unfamiliar - light of the barrier, Hermione noticed the markings on the woman's face when she stopped to get a good look at her. She was torn between curiosity and a lifetime of being told not to stare, so she didn't make mention of them right away, even when she realized this woman might not be wholly human, given the barest tips she could make out of her pointed ears.

"No, I-... I mean, yes, I came in through the rift, but I can find somewhere else to practice. Or give it up for the day. My magic hasn't been working right since I got here. I'd blame my wand, but even the small bit of wandless magic I'd been able to do isn't-...."

Realizing she was babbling, Hermione shook her head, remarking, "Sorry, I didn't mean to prattle. I'm Hermione Granger, and I'm very glad you're all right."

She didn't blame Hermione for prattling, since she seemed pretty alarmed at her spell coming out the wrong way. She gave a gentle smile and shook her head to assure her it was all right and that she really was fine.

"No harm done," she said as the barrier dissipated. Maybe things could have gone poorly, but she wouldn't dwell on the what ifs here. There had been talk recently among the Mage Council about rifters who could do magic. In the wake of a shardbearer accidentally opening up a rift right in Skyhold, it was thought that anyone with a shard should be watched more closely. Ellana was of the mindset that only those with magic should have supervision, and only if they were doing experimental magic. Now seeing Hermione and hearing how her magic wasn't performing as she intended, it gave her pause.

"Ellana Ashara," she added a moment later. "Pleased to meet you. I would caution you about using your magic at this time. People are still recovering from recent events having to do with a shardbearer using magic and opening a rift here, and I wouldn't want you to get in trouble for not knowing about it."

For what it was worth, she was glad that she hadn't accidentally hurt anyone, though she still wasn't pleased about the suggestion that she not practice magic. She wasn't one of those witches who couldn't so much as pour themselves a glass of water without magic, but knowing that things weren't working the way they should, how could Hermione properly rest without at least trying to straighten her magic out?

Still, it was nice to have a warning, leading her to reply, "I appreciate that. It's just frustrating, having studied magic for so long and now I suddenly can't do the spells I'd had perfected since I was eleven. I'm trying to do as much research as I can, but there aren't a huge amount of books on practical magic in the library, and what I find doesn't sound at all similar to what I'm used to."

She pauses for a moment, frowning in thought. "I wouldn't be able to open one of these rifts accidentally, would I? Is that possible?"

"It's possible, yes," she replied with a sigh. She moved to lean against the stone wall of the battlements, palms pressing against the cool stone. "I'm part of the Council of Magi here, and we've been discussing the rifts. We're hoping to appeal to the Inquisition to study them. Perhaps do some fundraising. We know so little, but what we do know is that experimental magic or pushing magic to its limits when you have a shard can accidentally open a rift. It's what happened recently to a friend of mine."

And while Ellana had no wish to scare Hermione, she did want to prepare her. "She nearly died, but the shard is lodged in her chest, not her hand."

"Her chest?" Hermione's hand went to her own chest at that, as though trying to fathom how that would even work. "That's-... that's awful! I'd think that it might be more prudent to figure out a way to remove these shards, particularly from people who have them somewhere so... inconvenient." That was a mild way of putting it, considering that she didn't even want the shard in her hand, never mind so close to her heart and lungs.

"What 'limits' are there, exactly? I've been starting off with simple things ever since finding out that some of my more advanced spells kept backfiring, so I wouldn't want to inadvertently cross that line." Surely a few simple Levitation Charms or basic offensive and defensive charms shouldn't be too much of a problem, right?

"No one wants it to stay there," she said, frowning a little. "But magical healing couldn't remove it. Practical removal is dangerous because of how the shards act up. They're unpredictable, which is why we need to study things first."

Hermione was asking questions that Ellana didn't have the answers to, and it wasn't a great feeling. She was on the Council in order to help the Inquisition's mages, but there was too little information right now. They were fighting this war against Corypheus to stop the spread of chaos, but between the mage-Templar war, shards and rifters, and everything else going on, it seemed like chaos would not be quickly tamped down.

"I can't say. I don't suppose you draw from the Fade to cast your spells, do you?"

"I can help you study," she says immediately. "If there are any books or... or any kind of historical research site or anything that hasn't been looked at yet because there hasn't been time or resources, I can help. Not for myself - I can deal with this in my hand, if I must - but no one should have to have a foreign object lodged in their chest with no hope of removing it."

She straightens a little, frowning at the mention of the Fade. "I'd never heard of the Fade and would have told you no if you'd asked me this when I'd first arrived. But if I came in through the Fade, and all magic here is connected to it, then I suppose the only logical conclusion is that my magic is being filtered through the Fade, if nothing else. I'd need to research it more to say for sure, but considering how muddied my spells have been, that's the only thing I'd been able to think of."

Ellana nodded at the offer of help. "Books are rare at the moment, since the rifts opening only started last year, but there have been some experiments and essays written so far." And they had someone at Skyhold who knew more about rifts than anyone else, mostly because she was the only one left alive.

"There is a mage who wanders the lower courtyard who goes by the name Your Trainer. She's studied the rifts and how to use their power for spells and it's left her... altered. Still, she's a valuable resource of information."

It was hard to imagine the nature of her spellcasting suddenly changing on her, but Ellana felt for Hermione. "My people sometimes call the Fade the 'Veil,' instead. When we die, we say the person has crossed the Veil. In that way, it's as though your magic has been shrouded."

"Do you know where they started opening? Or why? Someone can go back to where the original one first opened and see if there are any clues that might point to something." Of course, she was aware that she was likely saying something stupid or at least pointless, but it wasn't like Hermione not to at least try.

Frowning a little, she asked, "Your Trainer? That's a... peculiar name." Still, it was perhaps best to leave it at that, since this "alteration" mentioned might have had an impact on those peculiarities. "Thank you for the tip."

Though she hadn't given it much thought before, the terminology picked at something in the back of Hermione's brain. "Your people?" She'd read about the Veil before, but where did she....?

"Oh! You-... are you an elf?" She looked thoroughly surprised, finally piecing together the Vallaslin and the ears and all that sort of thing. This was definitely a far cry from Dobby and Kreacher, but at least now she knew why the physical descriptions in the books she'd read in the library here had seemed so odd.

"They opened when there was an explosion at a place called Haven. It formed a giant breach in the sky and many smaller rifts. The first person to come out of the rift was a native of this world, who was the only survivor of that explosion. She bore a shard in her hand too." Ellana shifted awkwardly against the stone wall. "She died closing the Breach."

It was shortly after her death and the move to a new base that Ellana arrived at Skyhold, and the Herald's body was recovered from the snow and laid to rest on a pyre. She knew others in the Inquisition felt a deeper connection to her than she, but she was still proud of the Herald.

"Yes, I am a Dalish elf. There are also city elves here. You'll find some like to make the distinction. We're all elves to me, however." It was unfortunate that bitterness had settled into the hearts of many on both sides when they were all elves. The Dalish pushed the past too hard, and while Ellana recognized the importance of their heritage, she wanted the People to move forward too. City elves were barely even free, and it pained her to see how it hardened them.

"I've heard about her," Hermione replied with a small nod. "They called her the Herald of... Andraste, was it?" She was reluctant to ask much more about it, since she knew religion was a touchy subject for many, even back home. That seemed to be a especially true here, since she'd been hearing mixed things about the Chantry and other such religious groups.

Focusing on something that sparked her interest much more keenly, Hermione lit up at the confirmation that she was speaking to an elf. "You're very different from the elves I know back home! But yes, I suppose at your core, you're all elves. Just like how human mages and non-mages are all still human. We're all still just people, regardless of whether we can do magic or come from this culture or that country or believe in this god or those."

"Yes, that they did." And if the humans wished to believe Andraste guided her, that was fine with Ellana. She believed in the Creators, but it was possible the Maker was real and created humans. Sending Andraste to help was a good move, if so, since otherwise their Maker had abandoned them. The Creators were taken from them, and that stung less than if she were human and knew the Maker turned his back on them.

"I suppose elves are different everywhere. There is one here -- a rifter -- that is as tall as our human men, and her ears are smaller. But she is beautiful and wise, like I imagine the ancient elves to be." Ellana offered a small smile. "I like the way you think. There are far too many prejudices here. Even I must work on my own." Because Tevinter was full of slave owners. And Orlesians stole the Dales. She was working on it.

Hermione knows little of Thedosian religions, given that it had never been an interest to her. But given how tightly religion is wound in with so much of the political and social atmosphere of this world, she might just opt to pick up a few books on the subject the next time she went up to the library.

"Elves are very small where I come from," she explains. "And their ears are much larger. And their noses, too, usually. You'll have to understand why I didn't immediately take you for an elf; I'm still learning that people don't always mean the same things that I do even when we use the same words." Looking down for a moment, she adds, "Prejudices exist everywhere, and it seems that there are always people who have something to say about me whether for my magic or for the fact that my parents aren't magical, so I'm the last person to cast aspersions. Just so long as everyone is treated fairly, that's all that matters."

"I wonder if the same can be said for the other races," she mused. "Elves in one place are taller than us with smaller ears, and you say the ones in your world are smaller than us with larger ears. What of humans, dwarves, and qunari? It can't just be elves."

And it was odd but not unpleasant that those other elves had never faced what the elves in Thedas had. Surely they had troubles of their own, as Galadriel's tales of ages long ago could attest to, but they didn't have the same history as her ancestors.

"I wish I could tell you that you won't be subject to that here, but it wouldn't be true. You're human, so that works in your favor, but having magic and being a rifter does not. But you'll never have to worry about me treating you unfairly just because of who you are."

"Well, the humans look about the same. I... haven't met any dwarves here, and don't know many at home. They're also small, about child-sized, but everything else about them looks like a full-grown human adult. If we have qunari at home, I've never seen them; I'd thought Bull was a Minotaur when I'd first met him, and they're creatures of legend." She hesitated for a moment before asking, "What about goblins? Or giants? Do you have any of those?" Not that she had anything against goblins or giants, but every time she heard of a new race of beings in Thedas, something awful was happening to them. Except the non-magical humans. Imagine that.

Somehow, Hermione didn't think it was the best of ideas to talk about how the magical community has largely used elves as slaves in her world. Even if she hadn't yet read up on Tevinter and its practices, she certainly didn't want Ellana thinking the worst of her, or of any other witch or wizard that might find their way here.

Though she didn't find the matter particularly amusing, Hermione grinned a bit and dryly remarked, "I could always take to wearing a glove over my shard hand and keep my wand out of sight. Then I could pass for 'normal'." Incredible, that there could be so many different kinds of people in this world, and base human was still considered the norm. "If you're going to treat me any particular way, I'd much rather it be because you simply didn't like me than because I'm whatever this world's equivalent of a Mudblood is. If nothing else, I'd been getting enough of that sort of treatment at home until recently, so at least I've developed a thick skin."

"Dwarves are like that here too." She looked intrigued by the word 'minotaur,' but brushed past it to answer Hermione's question.

"There are giants, yes. I heard there were a few in Emprise, in fact, being experimented on by the Red Templars to be their muscle. Even without that happening to them, they aren't to be trifled with. They have huge tusks and one eye in the center of their forehead. They'll eat anything, including people, so it's best to keep away if you see one or else you'll have to fight it. Not an easy task because they are, as the name suggests, giant."

Ellana nodded. "That's how I feel. Not everyone will like me, but if it's for a good reason instead of just my ears, I would understand."

Hermione blinked at the explanation of giants. "That... sounds more like a cyclops," she murmured uncertainly. "No, our giants look just like people, just... well, giant. They're thought to be a bit savage, but they can really quite reasonable if you'd just sit down and talk to them. Why, the groundskeeper at my school is even half-giant, though I have no idea how his parents quite managed that. It boggles the mind to think about that sort of thing, really."

Cracking a small smile, she told Ellana, "Then it seems as though we'll get along just fine. And for what it's worth, you have lovely ears." She was pretty certain that wasn't what she'd meant, but Hermione decided to throw it in there anyway.

"I'm pretty sure you can't talk to giants here. Anyone who tried probably didn't live to say they tried." But she left it at that, because she too was rather mystified as to how someone could be half-giant. The races in Thedas did intermingle, because they weren't so far off in size from one another, but it was rare and a sign of shame for many based on the community in which they were raised. A half-giant just seemed... well, Hermione put it best: it boggled the mind.

"Oh, thank you." Her pale face took on a rosy look, because compliments made her blush, and she shifted a little, standing up straighter and tucking a stray piece of hair behind her ear.

"Humans' ears are so little. They're cute, really."

"That's... sad," Hermione noted softly. "Hagrid - the groundskeeper - introduced me to his half-brother, who's rather small for a full-blooded giant. He gets picked on an awful lot for his comparatively small size, and he's a little intimidating for a human to look at, but he's really quite sweet and usually listens if you tell him to put you down." Usually.

She couldn't help sheepishly grinning at the way they seemed to be batting compliments back and forth, and Hermione found herself mirroring Ellana's movements, tucking a bit of hair behind her own ear. "It's just a superficial difference," she said, trying to shrug it off. "I mean, it is, isn't it? Or do elves have better hearing than humans do? I'd never really thought about it."

"You know," she began, looking thoughtful, "I've never noticed if I've heard things better than the humans with me. But I do know we can see better in the dark than the other races. That's easy enough to see at night when their eyes reflect no light and the elves' eyes do."

It made her wonder how these differences came to be when the Creators set about how the People would look. Why did they need them to be able to see so clearly in the dark? Were they meant to hunt prey at night? Or was it for their safety, so predators couldn't attack them? A curious thing.

"Like a cat?" Hermione asked, grinning a bit before sheepishly adding, "I don't mean that in any disrespectful way. I like cats. That's just the first comparison I thought of."

Unlike most people from her world - and from Thedas, for that matter - Hermione was hypersensitive to the possibility of insulting people, particularly elves. They had enough to deal with, after all.

"I suppose so. And I took no offense, but other elves might. We're unfortunately called 'rabbits' by some small-minded Orlesians. Because of the ears." Ellana sighed and gave her shoulders a shrug.

"At least they took the time to think up an animal. Fereldans just call us knife-ears."

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