[open]

[eolasemah]

WHO: Sina Dahlasanor and you!
WHAT: Sina has a shard in her chest and has been told the rifters have similar ones in their hands. She wants to seek out rifters and investigate this further/compare marks/find out if they're demons or not.
WHEN: Frostfall
WHERE: Around and about Skyhold
NOTES: Please feel free to join if not a rifter! People on surveillance duty are also encouraged.



The diminutive elf resembled a deer as she made her way through the scattered crowds of Skyhold: dignified and alert, but ready to bolt at any sign of danger. The shard in her chest glinted conspicuously beneath the light shawl she wore, and her careful grey eyes scanned the area for any glowing that matched it. It was like a homing beacon, and for the first time since she'd acquired it, Sina wasn't trying to hide it.

[The Herald's Rest]

She'd never been in here before, having been warned off over raucous drunken humans and sword-happy Templars. She had a mission, however, and hoped she was right to assume the tavern would be less frightening in the daytime.


[The Healing Tents]

It was a wild guess, but surely some of the newcomers would need healing? She wandered along the rows of tents, seeking out the telltale green glow.


[The Dungeon]

The very act of going into this dismal place of stone walls made her feel ill, but perhaps there were still prisoners here, those accused of being demons. She steeled herself and made her way down.


[Wherever!]

Anyone who wants to be found somewhere else is welcome to post in! She's being very thorough.

Comments

[foxsays]

When water tends to turn to stagnant slime on a ship, you turn to the rum and it had always been a part of their culture. "Ah, my parents introduced it to me as their parents did, just to make sure I knew what I was drinking, what it did and if I got sick then I had to work anyway and got no sympathy whatsoever. I don't think I've heard the term Keeper before though." Guardian, she guessed, or some sort of rank but if she could tenuously keep the Qunari-Vashoth-Tal-Vashoth thing mostly straight in her head she could add one more thing.

"Word of advice: don't get hit by anything like that if you can help it, it hurts and when it heals it itches and the healer always smacks your hands if they catch you scratching." She traced the borders of her own mark as she spoke, enough to feel something that was and yet wasn't like tiny little fish nibbling very delicately at the tips of her fingers or the brush of the floating anemone tentacles warning away intruders. "I hope for both our sakes then the mages who seem to have the best shot of understanding it can come up with something."

It felt less selfish to hope such a thing when she was hoping for another instead of just herself, almost enough to ward off the shudder at remembering the demons so close to her.

"None of them tried to attack you, did they?" She asked with something almost envious but then who wouldn't be if they'd had to look a despair demon in the face as frost crawled up their blade?

[eolasemah]

"The Keeper leads the clan," Sina replied, "she protects them and makes important decisions, and learns and keeps the history of the People." She smiled faintly. "I'm the Keeper's First, so when Keeper Thalia moves on to the next world I'll take her place." She clasped her hands together, pursing her lips self-consciously. "...I truly hope it's not anytime soon." The thought of leading anyone, let alone her clan, was enough to turn her stomach.

She first looked confused by the word of advice, then smiled once she realized it was a joke. "I... would rather not do it again," she agreed, "I'm sure the mages will think of something. That's why I was sent here in the first place." Not to join the Inquisition, but simply to see if anything could be done.

At the question, she shook her head. "They were far away. We gave them a wide birth, not knowing what they were and all."

[foxsays]

"Like a ship's captain then." After all, even a ship and crew had a history, knowledge to be passed down to guide them safely through the waves and she listened with a smile, chin propped up on her hands as Lux rolled over to stretch out, tail wagging lazily with happiness. "Seeing as I'm drinking, I will drink to her health, such is the way of my people." Hopefully it wouldn't be considered offensive but to be safe, she took only a small sip and set her glass to one side as the serving girl returned, a few more silvers than required slipped into her palm as Araceli poured water from the pitcher.

"Does it help you to understand it better then? I'm wrapping my head around magic. Around the different opinions of different people in the same and different places; it wasn't real until that day. Now it's very real and it confuses me the harder I think about it." Hardly helpful if she was meant to fix it but some things are such a part of a place that they have to be sewn in your bones and soul for them to ever make sense completely.

"Did you travel here with others? I kept to myself for most of the journey, making sounds like a beached whale when I saw just how much more damned climbing I had to do. My legs will never be the same." Seriously, she found muscles she had no idea she had and when parkour, duelling and swimming had always been part of her life, that was quite the feat.

[eolasemah]

The offer to drink for the Keeper elicited a genuine smile from Sina. She knew what the gesture meant, even if she'd never done it herself, and she found herself warming considerably to this candid human (the fox's presence didn't hurt). She bent down to stroke Lux on the chest, a bit mystified by the animal's domestic behavior, but not one to turn away a creature seeking attention.

"I'm not sure I understand much of what's happening now," she confessed, "though... I have the fortune of having been born in Thedas, so there's that." She smiled sympathetically. "I'm from up north, in the Free Marches. I traveled here with my clan sister, Nahariel. ...it was a difficult journey." The thinning air and exertion compounded with her mark had given her a rattling cough, and she'd had to be carried up on a Templar's horse. It wasn't an exceptionally happy memory.

[foxsays]

If asked, it might sound a sad story: a fox cub found on a ship when they were too far from land to turn back, brought home to an island where the only other fox happened to be Araceli, in spirit of course. Brought up tucked in her coat pockets and then at her heels, the one who always barked when trouble was about to find her. He'd even met a few fennecs on the way up only to stop and preen, smug almost at how much larger he stood with his odd ginger and black coat.

"Is that as far north as where Qunari come from? I've studied maps but very few countries actually physically border each other; I come from a place that's really many many islands all nestled close and bound together. To have this big blob with everything sprawling out, it's almost unseemly." The thought of so much ocean to chart made her giddy, how could it not, but still, everyone rubbing elbows with one another like that, no wonder there had been such conflict. "Marching up that mountain snow up to my hips, I'll be glad to go down but not to come back. I shudder to think of what happens when storms come. Did your sister stay? I imagine it's nice to have a friendly face amongst the rabble."

[eolasemah]

"Um... I think they're from farther north," Sina replied, considering. She knew some geography, but was mostly unfamiliar with the names and customs of foreign places.

"Yes, Nari's still here," she said, "though soon she'll be off to-- what is it? The Teeming Bog, something like that."

[foxsays]

“The Fallow Mire?” The name had been on many lips and a bog was a bog, it wouldn’t be the sea and it wouldn’t be pleasant but it would be going somewhere. It would be an escape from the snow and feeling like a spare part rattling around Skyhold with nothing much to make her feel relaxed. Besides, how many circuits could she make of the battlements before she grew bored? How many times could she hit practice dummies in silence before she felt heartsick with missing her usual companions? “I’m heading off that way too, I thought it’d be good to see more of the country here besides endless snow and mountains the sky might swallow. Are you still tired from your journey here? I confess, the idea of getting to see new things has me climbing the walls in readiness to escape.”

[eolasemah]

"I've never been one for wanderlust," Sina confessed, ducking her head in a bashful smile, "it's all the better if I stay here. But do.. be on lookout for any interesting herbs, while you're there. I've been doing my best to bring the garden here back to life."