[OPEN] - Ain't seen the sunshine since I don't know when.

[laurenande]

WHO: Galadriel and Various
WHAT: Galadriel before her arrest, for those who would like CR before this Civil War plot is underway, her being arrested, and Galadriel in the cells for anyone who wants to come visit her or attempt to break her out. This post is super, duper open to anyone who wants to tag in. Please, have at.
WHEN: Late Guardian to early Drakonis.
WHERE: Skyhold
NOTES: No warnings yet, but have a link to the IC thread that happens amid all this: Cassandra interrogates Galadriel.

Pre-Interrogation/Arrest Prompts.

The Emprise du Lion was a dreadful place, and spending more than a fortnight within its borders had taken a toll on Galadriel. She arrived back in Skyhold only a few days before her conversation with Seeker Pentaghast, and she spent them taking what rest she could find. Sleep did not come easily to her, even at the best of times, so it was hardly a surprise that she spent long hours in the peace of the garden, watching the horizon on the battlements, or embroidering in the Rotunda.

(OOC: The above is the State of Galadriel, it's mostly for those who want to do something I haven't included, but it applies to the below as well. If you'd like to use a prompt for a specific scene, there are several options below to choose from. If the prompts don't appeal, please feel free (and encouraged) to write up any scenario you'd like, anywhere around Skyhold.)



Garden -

The winter chill that crept through the fortress was not as biting nor as pervasive as the wind outside the walls. There was something dull about the cold in Skyhold, something muted and gentle, but it was a feeling too fleeting for her to place. The sun chased the cold away just after dawn. Though the air was not warmed by the sun, the plants in the garden stretched toward it, green and vibrant as spring itself.

She adored spring and lingered for long hours in the gardens, relishing the sunlight that crested over the mountains. She spent each morning in the garden, watching the distant rise of the sun before tending to the plants. There were others who trickled in, as dawn passed and the fortress awoke, and she would leave the plants to them as they began their tasks, but she enjoyed the peace and stillness while she could.

The Emprise had been a grating, awful place but new growth and tender green leaves made her glad. More than once she found herself singing as she worked, and the plants grew quickly under her care. In only a few days, the grass would be renewed and the first small buds would open. She was thousands of years old and yet, despite that, she could hardly wait.



Courtyard -

Galadriel had not taken stock of the yard after the rift had closed. At the time, there had been more pressing matters to attend to, and she hadn't the patience to wait and search for subtle things. Now, without anything to pull her attention elsewhere, she devoted time to examining where the rift had split the veil.

Skyhold was a place with many curious sights to behold. The Orlesian nobility who visited the fortress were bedecked in feathers and quills atop gilded silk and stiff, polished leather. There were dwarves who quietly skirted the sunlight whenever they darted out of the fortress to their carts; their relief as they dove back to the keep was palpable. There were even a few humans clad in mud and fur who insisted on carrying goats. Truly, she was not so strange a sight that she merited recognition, standing in the courtyard with her staff in hand, simply peering at a space in the air. That she stood in place for hours on end, without moving a hair, was barely worthy of note.

The crowd moved and bustled around her readily enough, as though she were simply a fixture of the fortress, and she was glad for their disregard. A few mages slowed as they passed her, but they did not stop to speak. They would regard her oddly (a few of them frowned) and then they hurried away to see to their tasks. They were gifted mages, Galadriel noted silently; the majority of people who walked past her could not sense the slow current of power that rose against the veil. Those who could feel the pull of magic seemed disoriented by it, particularly when she shifted it or allowed it to ebb, but her study did them no harm.

If it had, she would have refrained from such tests in Skyhold.


Rotunda -

Galadriel's notes were artful and fluid things; they were not terribly numerous, but her time in Thedas had generated a few dozen pages of them. She hid none of them when she left the fortress, though she tidied them and tucked them out of the way when they were not in use. When she was using her notes, as she was now, she spread them out over the table as one would spread a map.

The unfamiliar letters of the tengwar curled over the sheets of cast-off vellum and pages of pressed pulp; when they were set side by side they were more drawing than words. She added to them as she read, writing between the older lines of text with habitual ease. Occasionally, amid the layers of tengwar, a word in the trade tongue appeared, but they rarely gave much clarity to the text around them.

It was early afternoon when she took over the space in the rotunda again. She had gathered a few clean pages and carefully written out the whole of the tengwar. She had promised to teach Sina these letters, and she intended to extend that invitation to all the elves of Thedas, but teaching required patience and materials. It had been centuries since she had last instructed anyone in their letters, but the memories were so fond, so filled with delight, that she couldn't repress her smile as she sat and carefully created a chart.

She could have stopped after writing them out, she supposed, but drawing the pictures that accompanied the letters was half of the entertainment of it. Sina was too old to need tales of lamps and ships and golden treasure to learn letters, and Galadriel did not need them to teach this lesson, but needing and wanting were very different things. In this instance, she wanted them and there was no reason to refrain.





Galadriel being escorted to the cells.


Courtyard - Under Arrest.

Galadriel rarely used her height to intimidate - it was cruel and largely ineffective - but she had drawn herself to her full height as she stared down Cassandra. The guards had not offended her so direly, but as they took her by her arms and lead her down the stairs and into the courtyard, she gave them no quarter. They were wary of her, as well they should have been, and she towered over them like a great looming shadow.

Her expression was rigid and thunderous, filled to the brim with deep, consuming fury masked only by the cold veneer of disdain. She walked with sweeping grace, despite the indignity of her situation, and the guards that led her avoided her gaze as they opened the door to the cells. They had made a spectacle of her and it was another slight she would not forget.





In the cells.


Day -

The cells were barred, with heavy iron gates and thick, artless locks. The stone of the chamber was crumbling, despite the efforts to reinforce the mortar and the floor. Half of the cells were unusable, collapsed or filled with rubble, and the other half were bare things, small and littered with chunks of rock and dried hay. The only objects that had been placed intentionally within the cells were a threadbare, unclean bedroll and a wooden bucket.

The chill that moved through the fortress was keenest here. Wind cut beneath the far door and the torchlight twisted wildly in the drafts. The single fire that burned in the middle of the room was barely sufficient to heat it; the brazier that held the fire was large, but it was unshielded and not well fitted to its current use. The two guards who had accompanied her devoted the majority of their attention to keeping the brazier lit. Between the bare nature of her cell and the build of the room, it became very clear how the people of Thedas dealt with captives.

Galadriel rarely lauded Mirkwood for its splendor, but her current trappings made even Thranduil's deepest, darkest cells seem kingly.


Night -

Twilight was an ordeal in these cells, one that dragged on for far longer than it had any right to. The cells that had collapsed and were open to the sky leaked grey light for hours; when they finally darkened, the far door lit the room in much the same way. Eventually, when the sun finally dropped away, a deep darkness settled over the room. The guards were attentive, but the night was cold and she unnerved them in the dark. They stood farther from her, behind the pillars that lined the walkway, and spoke only in hushed tones.

The fire required less attention at night, but without the wind threatening to extinguish it, the guards stoked it far less frequently. It burned low, dancing red and orange in the darkness, and Galadriel was left with the option to watch it or sleep. She chose to watch.

Comments

cells, day

[serannas]

Ellana left her conversation with Cyril hopeful that something could be done on their end to free Galadriel. Seeker Pentaghast had obviously overreacted and had set herself up as a leader when the Inquisition had no leader. Did Ellana make decisions about mages based on her own wants only? No, she belonged to a council, and they only spoke for those mages who wished to be under the council's guidance. Cassandra had spoken for all the advisers when she had arrested Galadriel. It wasn't right.

When she entered the dungeons, she was shocked to see it was one of the areas that hadn't really been repaired yet. It was cold and stark, and a flash of anger coursed through her. Still, she tried her best to remain outwardly calm. It wouldn't help their case to get Galadriel free if she starting yelling about the conditions.

Once the guards looked her over to make sure she wasn't smuggling anything in to the prisoner, they took her to Galadriel's cell to let her speak to her through the bars.

"Aneth ara, mellon nin," she greeted, using both of their languages.

[laurenande]

After a few days spent within the confines of these cells, Galadriel's anger burned low. She had not forgotten the slights that had been paid to her, nor had her temper truly cooled, but the emotion had settled into something stable and silent. The anger that had colored her conversations was mostly absent by the time Ellana came to greet her and, for that, Galadriel was glad.

She had been unfairly terse with many who visited her; she had no desire to place any of that upon Ellana.

"Andaran atish'an," she greeted politely. The guards, who had become more bold as her rage settled below the surface, stepped back but lingered within hearing of the cell.

[serannas]

It was awful to see such a bright, beautiful person like Galadriel stuck in such a bare cell. But Ellana tried to keep her composure. Crying would do no good, and she'd much rather Galadriel see her happy tears, like when she held that phial of light in her hands, than her sad tears.

"Before anything else, I want you to know that a group of us are going to make an official request to have you released. We can't sit back and not try to do something. It was Cyril's idea."

[laurenande]

"You two do me much kindness, for that I am in your debt," Galadriel said and bent her head toward Ellana. Cyril had been offended beyond measure to see her here, and to hear of their efforts was a balm on Galadriel's temper.

"I fear your efforts will be for naught, but I will not be trapped here forever," Galadriel assured her and took a moment to level a flat and startlingly icy look at the guards. They regarded the pair for a moment before retreating, as if they spontaneously recalled why she'd been sent down here.

Galadriel was silent as she watched them move away and, once they were nearer the brazier than the cell, she returned her gaze to Ellana. Some measure of her anger danced across her face, then, but she hid it well.

"They have taken the Light of Eärendil. Fools that they are, I fear they may open it and all the power it holds will be lost."

[serannas]

"It's possible it won't work, but we'll be sending a message," Ellana replied. "The humans here pass around stories from their fathers and grandfathers, about how Dalish elves are savage and cruel. Putting forth this request shows that we are civil and will allow explanation before we act. If it doesn't work, at least we've proven that we are not rash. Not like the Seeker has shown herself to be."

Being a Councilor has taught Ellana to look at every possible benefit a situation can have, even if it doesn't bring forth the intended result. Yet even her optimism was dimmed when Galadriel spoke of her phial. Ellana's pale face went white, and she sucked in a ragged breath, trying to keep calm.

"Where?" she whispered harshly, heart pounding. "Did they say where they were putting it?" The had no right to it. How dare they take it! Ellana wanted to know exactly where it was, and know that it was safe.

[laurenande]

"I do not know where it has been taken, only that it was taken from me ere I left that room," Galadriel replied.

Ellana had done well, she was calm and clever, but her distress was palpable. It was a selfish thought, but she was glad to see the young elf so offended--if anyone could be trusted to seek out the star-glass, to protect it, it was Ellana.

"It was seized along with my staff. I do not know what else they may have taken."

That they had left her ring was darkly amusing, but that was not a joke Galadriel felt ready to share.

"I have not felt it wane, but the loss of it troubles me. I lack the strength to recreate it here, nor do I expect your Creators will assist me."

[serannas]

"No, I don't think they could. We've prayed to them, called out and begged them, and they can't answer us from where they're trapped. They helped in the ancient days, but no longer." Her brow furrowed and she came as close to the cell as she could get, voice hushed.

"I'll see what I can find out," She needed to do something. Even if the light was buried deep down in a trunk, knowing it was there was better than knowing it was sitting out in view, ready to be opened by any curious fool who would end up ruining it.

[laurenande]

"Trapped?"

For all the dire happenings in recent days, that one word snared Galadriel's attention as surely as a blow. Her brow furrowed as she regarded Ellana, the Dalish elf had always been willing to indulge her with tales of Thedas, surely this one question would not go unanswered. Galadriel had told her of Morgoth, of his deeds and how he was chained, but she had not heard any similar stories of the ainur of this world.

If they had been cast out as the Lord of Night had, the many plights of this world would make a terrible sort of sense.

[serannas]

"Yes. The Creators were tricked by the Dread Wolf, Fen'harel. Remember when I told you Fen'Harel ma ghilana: the Dread Wolf guides you? He was a trickster, and he tricked the Creators into crossing the Veil to await him as he organized a truce with their enemy, the Forgotten Ones. But he deceived them, and sealed them away from the People."

Despite this situation and the dour subject, Ellana loved telling Galadriel her people's stories. She felt it drew them closer together.

[laurenande]

She would have wondered at that, at how any but the greatest of the ainur could seal the others away, but the veil still rested heavily over her. If the domain of spirits was held apart from this world, perhaps it was a simpler here to close the borders of that land. The Dread Wolf was clever enough that Ellana had likened him to Fëanor; if any creature could have done something as disastrous as locking the ainur away, they would have to be possessed of truly Fëanorian hubris.

"And he aligned himself with the Forgotten?" Galadriel prompted.

[serannas]

"Not exactly. Each side thought he was one of them, but he was truly neither. He tricked the Forgotten Ones too. He told them to go to their realm in the void and once they were there, he sealed them away too. We call them the Forgotten Ones because we literally know almost nothing about them, beyond them being the opposites of our Creators. They brought chaos and destruction."

Ellana sighed and rested her head against the cell door. She wished she could be telling Galadriel this tale out in the sunshine, instead of where she herself was locked away.