( closed ) No longer I can justify the bloodshed in his name

[fightingale]

WHO: Leliana & various closed threads (for now - open stuff later)
WHAT: Wicked Grace night goes horribly wrong and Leliana is kind of dying
WHEN: forward dated to the night of the 22nd, post-assassination attempt
WHERE: Leliana's creepy Rookery chamber place
NOTES:
1. Pretentious images in the main post and starters in the comments because I'm a bit ridiculous.

2. Content warning for attempted murder/violence/poison/all that implies.

3. Party style threading is welcome and encouraged, it might make it a bit easier to discuss side matters after the initial discovery.

4. This will probably open up for including other threads and stuff that can be forward dated, but initially just closed.

5. There will be some terrible poetry in here and I'm not even sorry; it is only one in a series that will be left around Skyhold and will be posted later. Belle, Jansen & Libby are beautiful humans for enduring my rambles.

Comments

Cassandra

[fightingale]

Bonheur seeks out the Seeker, first. It is not a matter of preference or much reason beyond knowing she can make it to the Seeker fractionally faster than the Commander. Perhaps the Commander would have more of a calming effect on the Ambassador, but then it could be said the Nightingale has more of a friendship, a history, with the Seeker. These are not matters she thinks the Nightingale would wish to see prioritised over speed.

It is late, and Bonheur makes no apologies for the hour as she approaches Cassandra in her scouts uniform - the hood conceals the point of her ears, but not the scar running down her right brow, nor the pale blonde of her hair.

"Seeker. Urgent news." Her everything would seem to suggest confidential, as well.

[stabsbooks]

She doesn't know the elf, but the uniform of one of Leliana's scouts is instantly recognizable. Cassandra looks up from her desk, immediately abandoning her work at the grave look on the scout's face.

"What is it?" she asks, pushing her chair back and getting to her feet. "Is something wrong?"

Something is obviously wrong - she just hopes it is not something irreversible.

[fightingale]

The room is such that she can speak freely - as freely as a scout is ever able, but the point stands.

"Yes," she replies, quite simply and without a trace of flippancy.

"An attempt has been made on the Nightingale's life. She was discovered by the Ambassador, Dorian Pavus and Zevran Arainai. She is alive."

But, the but hardly needs to be spoken.

[stabsbooks]

The mere fact that the reassurance is necessary, and that nothing more comforting is offered - alive and well would have been preferable - would have been enough to make Cassandra move, if she had not already been doing so. She rounds the desk, already gesturing to the door. "Take me to them. Now."

No further questions, no insistence on explanations. Demanding answers would just waste time, and she would prefer to see things for herself.

[fightingale]

Bonheur nods, turns. "They are in her chambers. The Commander does not yet know."

A question, in a way - does Cassandra wish to be escorted, or would she sooner the Commander was alerted first? Bonheur moves with her, rather than stopping to ask the question. No need for pointless delays.

[stabsbooks]

Cassandra bites her lip, thinking quickly even as she follows Bonheur out the door. Cullen needs to know as surely as she does; her only hesitation is in regards to the scout's own safety. But she had found Cassandra safely enough.

"All right," she decides. "Go and inform the Commander, as quickly as possible. Stay with him - and be watchful."

The warning is likely unnecessary; the Nightingale does not employ incompetent spies. But if Leliana herself had been attacked, then everything is in question.

She does not wait for a reply, merely nods in acknowledgement - as much of a thank you for informing me as the scout is likely to get - and goes on her way, striding purposefully towards the Rookery and Leliana's small chambers.