[open] now my head's splitting at the seams

[onlyhymns]

WHO: Cade the Disgraced and you!
WHAT: Cade is free (to a point) and around and about Skyhold again. He always has a buddy with him, whether it's Nerva, a Tranquil, or a scout who's been saddled with babysitting duty.
WHEN: Drakonis
WHERE: Skyhold
NOTES: Warning for probable violence and possible other dark shit, depending on how things go.

Cade is miserable, but at least he is not in a cell. Most of the time he is at the whims of whomever is in charge of supervising him, which means a lot of labor, assisting Nerva or Tranquil or scouts, and generally being little more than a manservant or a leashed dog.

He keeps his head low and his tongue still for the most part, but anyone is still free to approach and engage him.

Comments

[lifeofendurance]

So. Aleron has somehow acquired a secretary that he is not accustomed to having. He suspects once his mother finds out, she'll be thrilled. And Ravonild is almost certain to have thoughts about how overdue it is to have a personal manservant. The women can't get it through their heads that his life doesn't allow for what they consider everyday necessities. but he has taken on the task out of a sense of responsibility. Though logically it could be helpful to have someone to pass on more tedious bureaucratic tasks.

Truth be told, having to deal with the tedious bits is a good punishment for Cade's lapse of self-control.

The Seeker is set up at one of the tables in the library with a stack of books for research, not pleasure, at hand. But those are not what he's engrossed in currently. It's a rather substantial stack of letters he's already received that he's only just getting around to going through before starting for the day.

[onlyhymns]

Cade has proven himself an obedient servant, if not an especially competent one. He's a bundle of nerves each day, constantly afraid of doing something to upset the Seeker: spelling something wrong, stacking things in the wrong order, speaking out of turn, and so forth.

He arrives in the library to find Aleron, at which point his escort leaves him. Cade looks behind him to watch them go, then inclines his head and presses his fist to his heart in a typical military bow of greeting.

[lifeofendurance]

Cade's nervousness hasn't gone entirely unnoticed by Aleron, though he does nothing to alleviate it. Simply put, the Seeker is accustomed to making Templars nervous or testy, usually a combination of both. Something he chooses to ignore as their discomfort doesn't impact his job, beyond willfully using it to ferret out answers when necessary.

Still, it's not as if Cade's done anything wrong or out of step as regards the work itself. Even if he had, Aleron's not the sort to lose his temper or lash out over a clerical error. If anything, he'll find it's hard to get any sort of reaction from the Seeker beyond serious lineface. That's something that will have to sort itself out in time.

There's a crisp nod of greeting and then Aleron's attention goes right back to the stack of letters in front of him. He holds out one for the taking, unopened, still sealed with green wax stamped with a ram's head. "Burn this one, if you will."

[onlyhymns]

To be fair, Cade is an endless font of anxiety with or without a Seeker present. He's always glad to have something to do, however, and he relays the letter to the fire without a second thought. It only strikes him after he's completed the task that that's a strange way to deal with correspondence, but he doesn't remark on it, instead coming back to seat himself on the opposite side of the table, where he begins to carefully sort through the remaining letters and scrolls, putting them in neat little piles according to urgency.