faderift | Truth or Dare: The Imperial Court

Truth or Dare: The Imperial Court

WHO: Select Orlesian and Fereldan Nobility and the Inquisition
WHAT: Josephine and Vivienne have orchestrated a good-will soiree in response to this dastardly rumor.
WHEN: Drakonis 15, Evening
WHERE: Skyhold Great Hall
NOTES:
- A list of nobles in attendance can be found here. The list was provided by the mods but there will be no npc support for them. Play away.
- A secondary outside party is being held in the valley in the tent town for anyone who couldn't/wouldn't attend and/or behave in the fancy pansty party.
- The goal of the evening is to clear up a spurious rumor about Cassandra and Leliana, with secondary goals of establishing the Inquisition as a respectable presence in Thedas (and fish for more money). Any major disruptions that would Game Over the court approval should probably be brought to the advisors and/or mods.

To say that Josphine has far outdone herself with this little soiree would be the understatement of the year. The Lady Ambassador has pulled out all the stops in providing a festive and yet elegant stage for this political intervention. Because sometimes gossip can be more deadly than a sword.

The Great Hall of Skyhold has been converted into a grand receiving hall, glittering with hundreds of lights around the room, in addition to the repairs accomplished to the original chandeliers. Of course, there has been artful placement arranged so there are a few shadowy corners for rendezvous of the more suggestive nature. Just in case. The majority of the floor has been cleared for dancing, and a fine troupe of musicians have been installed for the bulk of the evening's entertainments. Some members of the Inquisition have plans to entice attendees with their own artistic performances in addition to the group of mages performing illusory tricks to oohs and aahs.

For those who feel their energy flagging, there are chairs set against the walls, with a few tables interspersed between. Servers hired for the evening circulate the crowds with wine, fine Orlesian and Nevarran reds as well as crisp whites from Antiva. Refreshments are set out on buffet tables, tasteful and extravagant nibbles, including imported cheeses, spicy saucisson, dried fruits and nuts, and the highly sought after deep mushroom and anise petits fours that are all the rage in Orlais.

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And here is the master. Ellana inclines her head to acknowledge Morrigan's presence. Though this evening has been mentally exhausting, it feels good to not be afraid of these nobles. She isn't behaving in a manner than could come to discredit the Inquisition, and she's leaving conversations without feeling browbeaten or upset. The nobles, however, are leaving her confused as to what just happened. She complimented them... but told them they were wrong? How does that work? Should they be angry? But she doesn't seem to care what they think of her. Very strange.

"I hope so. Usually I'm the one they write off as a race traitor." It's said without any heat, but she knows that's what the clan thinks about her behind her back. "Fire is tempting, but the workers labored to get this hall in shape. I'd hate to destroy it."

Master is perhaps not the word Morrigan would use to describe it; master would imply that she cares about something other than herself. Morrigan cares about what she can accomplish, what she can get, and she's rather more like a storm and force of nature than a person at times, something that cannot be stopped or bargained with, something that will do as it pleases and the best you can do is get out of the way until it's over. But there's still something that female mages face that is different from what a mage or a normal woman must, and neither of them are from the same world as most, outsiders that others would put a name to.

"If there was one I thought would be carrying the name harellan then he tends to wear a hat," she says, surprised and amused at once, an eyebrow raising because Ellana the blood traitor? Certainly a surprise. "But pleasant thoughts can keep the smile on your face and they need never know."

Ellana gives Morrigan a slightly puzzled look, if only because she doesn't know Twisted Fate at all, and therefore isn't sure who she's referring to.

"It depends on who you speak to, I suppose, but I have long wished to leave the clan and travel. And I've been... interested in humans as people, and not just subjects for pranks and mockery." She recalls Gavin returning from his travels and how she'd rush to find him and hear stories about the places he'd been. She remembers the day they stood beside the stream and he asked if she thought he was a race traitor. And she had answered honestly: if they think you're one, then they must think I'm one too.

"The clan is good at being a place of safety and comfort, but if your heart lies beyond it, there can be tensions." But now she does as Morrigan suggests and thinks of pleasant things: her beautiful dress, her friends enjoying themselves, finding Felix and asking for a dance...

"I can keep pleasant thoughts in my head."

Twisted Fate is special, and the first one she has taught shapeshifting to, charismatic enough that it feels easy to assume he's the sort to know and be known to all.

"Much of my life was spent within the Korcari Wilds, I seldom ventured out into the world of man before I left with the Hero. I still find much of it distasteful. But I remember when I grew too curious of what lay beyond my home, beyond the swamps and the trees, where there were more things than wolves and snakes, birds and the odd feral cat or hound, more than hares and other small creeping things." That isn't entirely true. There had been plans, it had been carefully calculated but she had wanted to go but she didn't have true safety, not the more she guessed of Flemeth, not when suspicion gnawed at the very roots of herself. "It will be harder than you than for I. You will still be Dalish. But if you are able to weather this storm, then perhaps you will be able to go where you will, though you may have to learn as a hunter learns too in order to survive. I have an advantage very few do when I am less limited in what I can be, as well as securing patronage."

Celene might have liked to think of herself as a champion of greater rights for elves but after the mess with Briala, should she triumph in the war then the chances of her taking an elf to work so closely for her are exceedingly slim.

"I have always liked to look back upon each and every time Alistair found a trap with his feet rather than waiting for Leliana to disarm it." She'd say Zevran too but she's still angry and well, history has been a little more kind to him in regards to his roguish abilities.

Somehow, Morrigan always has a way of laying things out that make perfect sense. These are all things Ellana already knows. Her entire life she's feared discovery by Templars who would either drag her to a Circle or just kill her on sight. But her desire to roam, to learn, to explore, and experience the world is now too great to be dimmed. She can't go back to the clan and live out her days staring at the same people, reciting the same stories, and have that be all she has. But she is as Morrigan says: she's Dalish. She's hated by many just for existing. More than that, she's a mage. The world will not suddenly be accepting after this war is over. She hopes things improve for her people, but she knows it will be a long road.

Her eyes shift to stare at the middle distance for a moment. Morrigan has advantages. It's easier for her. What if Ellana makes it easier for herself too? She starts to formulate an idea, but it's something that can wait to speak to Morrigan about after the soiree. She's still pledged herself to the Inquisition, and this is something that will come after. There is plenty of time.

"Oh!" she says, refocusing on Morrigan and lifting her brows. Of course the stories make it clear that the young Warden and Witch of the Wilds hated each other, but Ellana considers both of them to be her friends. She doesn't think she can delight in the pain of one while speaking to the other. "Well, that will certainly leave others guessing as to your happy thoughts."

When they had gone through Lothering once as it waited for the Blight to come down on them, to swallow and devour leaving rotting blackened earth, scorched buildings and corpses behind, she had met a girl, and pressed a feather into her hand. Now, as she had then, she can only offer words, her eyes glittering in the light of the hall, eyes that have seen so much more than most would ever imagine. "Tis a long and dangerous journey that lies before each one of us that has pledged our service to Skyhold and to the Inquisition. What is known for certain of the first Inquisitor are only fragments. As with the Blight, the lands will grow dark, and the darkness will grow longer before it is over. But you have the tools you will need to face what is to come."

There is nothing wrong with walking alone. Morrigan had been prepared to do that, and has done it; Kieran has been with her but he is a boy following his mother. One day it will be his turn to choose and Morrigan will have to let him.

There are years to go before that day. She will be ready when it comes.

Hate would be simpler. Even now in light of certain revelations she is furious, and betrayed though she knows not why, but ten years is a long time when you find traces of the man each day, each month, each year, and she has had ten of those years with Kieran now. He is a good man, for all that he has faults. Not a single one of them in this life walks away clean without blood under their nails and the cloying bitter taste of regret caught in the back of their throats. "Remember that with men, they always wish to believe that you find them handsome, a pretty smile and they will tell you all sorts without realising."

It's hard to think of the darkness closing in when the Inquisition has been a beacon of light for Ellana. They work together, support each other, and as long as they stay strong, they can push back the shadows. But now she wonders if that's so. Morrigan has seen much, and probably senses that the Inquisition alone can't stop what's to come. Already Ellana is trying to learn more than her Dalish education has given her. She needs to study politics to better understand issues brought to the Mage Council. She needs to keep herself above the game so she doesn't fall into its depths. She's been trying to school her features so she can better lie to people, in case it's required of her out on a mission. And now? She wonders if a skill like shapeshifting won't be needed during her time in the Inquisition too.

"That's very true," she answers. "It's something that you must be able to see clearer than I can right now. I look at this Inquisition and see all our strengths, but you've seen the Blight and the destruction it brings. If it would be all right, I'd like to discuss more of the tools I need to face this with you in a day or two."

Morrigan's words concerning men are very true as well. She knows that firsthand. Atlan had been her first and only love, and he had charm permeating through every pore. He smiled, and complimented, and it was easy to fall under his spell. She was young and lonely, feeling like the clan's little mage secret. She would never be a Keeper, never traded away like she should be, and yet she wasn't a hunter or craftsperson. She tried, helping around camp where she could, but she hadn't felt really connected with anyone until him.

A shadow briefly passes across her face. He betrayed her ten years ago, and yet as much as she wants to forget him, he won't leave her memories. "Yes, they do. I have experienced it before. But I don't believe it is all men who do such a thing. I know one in particular who is very humble." Because she can't go long without thinking of Felix. Surely he hadn't thought himself to be handsome while he'd been dying. He had been gaunt and pale, and the only thing he ever asked of Ellana was for stories and songs while he was in pain.

Once she saw the sky turn the colour of a bruise, mottled reds and purples, the sun hidden as the world withered and died. Now the sky is torn and the world reflects that eerie green of the Fade that all mages know so well, the midnight horrors come to prowl the lands. Demons are common enough during a Blight, she has read her histories, but she can think of no time in the history of Thedas when it was ever quite like this. That the Fifth Blight ended so quickly, so decisively, with so little chance to spread should give some hope though even with so many of those who fought against that present, they would be fools to trust to hope.

Intrigued, she inclines her head with a smaller smile than usual, the way a cat watches a mouse from a comfortable corner. "You must be careful to make sure your eyes are always open, there are those who go through all their life with them shut. I have no immediate plans, though I may leave Skyhold for several days, towards the end of the month." If Leliana's scouts are correct, something she's trying not to think about at all.

Ellana is one to watch closely, though that could be said of all Clan Ashara, though less for Beleth who reminds her of a goat; stubbornly clinging to what she knows, not opening her ears or her mind to new information, new knowledge. Morrigan has advantages the Dalish do not. A human woman, a human woman raised as so few others are with the weight of legends clinging to her name and the title she bore prior to the one Celene bestowed upon her, one with a mind not clouded by the Chantry and a gift for seemingly appearing and disappearing at will. Of course she has gone where they cannot through Celene's patronage, allowing her access to a whole other world within Thedas itself; Morrigan draws no attention and if she does, they know her. What happens to a clan that cuts too close to a place they are not welcomed? Ellana however has always seemed willing to listen, and that she was so happy with the gift Morrigan gave her speaks volumes as to why she is always the one approached first these days.

The roll of her eyes is impossible, thinking as she is of those she knows. "That can change so very quickly, but I am sure you know that experience is a lesson." Cough cough Leliana cough cough.

The idea of stumbling through life with her eyes closed has no appeal for Ellana. She may have been sheltered all her life, but she's never turned her back on learning new things or having new experiences. She knows the world is full of danger, but she needs to know it instead of hide from it. Maybe she is a fool to have too much hope, but is it so bad a thing to want good things to happen? To believe that not everything that happens is the worst-case scenario? She has to keep hope.

"Walking forward with eyes open requires some preparation. We can at least talk about it before you go."

Morrigan can read Ellana well. Some might think her too easily led, or too indecisive, but it's always been her way to be diplomatic and hear all sides of something before she weighs in with her opinion. The issue with Galadriel may be an outlier, though, as she is firmly in Galadriel's camp. But that's not unusual, especially since she doesn't know the charges brought against Galadriel. She thinks if Galadriel had secretly been murdering people down in the valley, then her opinion on her would change, but without any information to work with, she assumes innocence first and rashness on the Seeker's part too. In all things, Ellana is willing to listen, learn, and change her mind if the argument is good. Stubbornness is what has kept her people clinging to old bitterness and tales of the hunt, instead of looking towards their future and seeing anything different. It's something that's frustrating for her, but she's accepted it. Now she hopes to give the People something new by exploring elven ruins and digging up what was once lost. Then they'll have new stories to share.

"It is, yes. Experience has given me a new perspective, and I use more caution than I once did." Things have been progressing slowly with Felix as she held herself back, but tonight she's feeling so confident in herself that she's going to tell him how she feels. And from there, they'll see what's next. Trust in a lover comes much more slowly for her now, but she gets the impression that Felix is a man willing to wait until she's sure.

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Truth or Dare: The Imperial Court

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