[OPEN] So Much Is At Stake

[madame_de_fer]

WHO: Character(s) Vivienne and OPEN
WHAT: Catchall leading up to Orlais happenings
WHEN: Beginning of the month up until Orlais event starts
WHERE: Skyhold (early) / Val Royeaux (one week before event start)
NOTES: Open to all. Val Royeaux segment is a shopping trip en route to Halamshiral (which is available for 'guests' to tag around with each other.) Prose or brackets is fine, I'll tag to match.

Early Solace
Courtyard
Even with whispers about ongoing strife in Orlais, little notes and letters finding Madame de Fer's hand confirming as much, she remains in Skyhold for the time being. Her business is much as it has been. No small part of her day is spent working with the younger mages present in the Fortress. With no Circle to provide these youngsters with solid training, they find themselves trouble in trying to alleviate their boredom. The best solution she's found is to take an active role in not only learning their names and personal quirks, but genuinely trying to seek out responsible mages to serve as mentors to guide them. Much of her time is spent finding suitable adults willing and able to work with their younger members.

Balcony
Not quite as many new mages are joining the Inquisition as there were in the early days. Those who do are often either Rifters, or rebels who didn't follow Fiona to Redcliffe, for good or ill. Regardless of affiliation, Vivienne attempts to stay apprised to the numbers of the magically gifted present in Skyhold. It's especially important that she does so now, as the recently appointed mage liaison. For her part, she tries to remain as available to find on her balcony as she may. When a new name is brought to her attention, an invitation is sent out to join her for tea where she holds court from her chaise lounge.

Anyone passing through the Main Hall of a late night might find her still awake upstairs and intent on an alchemy project.

Gardens
Any morning following a late night dabble with alchemy will find the Iron Lady strolling through the Skyhold Gardens. She examines the plants as she passes through, calm as always, though sometimes a thoughtful hum gives away her extra consideration of something she sees.

---

Val Royeaux
Convinced now that the Inquisition will be making a move into Orlais in short order, Vivienne's routine alters. She decides that a little detour en route for shopping is absolutely demanded. Nevermind that the capital is actually beyond where they will be traveling, or that it seems perhaps frivolous to be indulging in retail therapy when there are far more serious matters to attend to. She, of course, insists that if they are to deal with Orlesians, those agents should at the very least look presentable as such. No, plaidweave is unacceptable. Find something else. Shopping is happening. They've plenty of time to conclude their business and meet with the intended encampment at Halamshiral.

She doesn't travel to the capital alone, however. There are a number of people she's invited to join her for the excursion. Not all of them are particularly pleased to be present, but somehow the Iron Lady's gotten her way. Not that blackmail was involved in any way, that's far too cheap to someone who revels in playing the Game. However, her bullying victims might perhaps feel otherwise. She's arranged lodging for them all at Bastien's townhouse, though the Duke is not in residence at present. Playing hostess is quite fun for her, thus Vivienne will point out the best shops, the tastiest pastries, and of course the most ideal restaurants to see and be seen.

Her own personal shopping involves inspecting a golden pig, which she decides firmly against, browsing fabrics, pretty jewelry pieces, careful inspection of practically every bookseller she can locate, and much time inquiring with the local herbalists.

Comments

[foxsays]

Most of the mages she's spoken with in Skyhold that sit on the Council too are all friends, barring Lady Thevenet and at least there she's given the woman a lesson in climbing save a quick moment in passing; but that can't be helped, and she isn't about to waste time when she's done what she can elsewhere. When what Madame LeBlanc has told her is fresh in her head. After this she'll be off to Rivain before she can speak to the final Councillor present from the start, but then she can speak to her teacher again about what she knows, about the next step.

Her approach is near-silent, as is her way; the blue suit of her guard from home worn since she'd wear it to such audiences, and she wonders for a moment if Madame de Fer is expecting to meet with a rifter. Araceli's face is one sometimes glimpsed outside where the Mage Council meetings take place, if they carry on longer than expected, and since the lady in question reclaimed her balcony, Araceli hasn't used it as often on her routes around Skyhold.

"Araceli Bonaventura, Madame de Fer. My gratitude for agreeing to meet with me," she offers as she dips into a bow, not so foolish as to extend an 'at your service' after her last talk in the library prior to this. "I realise you are busy, but there are questions I have and as Enchanter to the Imperial Court, you are best suited to answer them. The library has offered some insight but much of what interests me hasn't been committed to the page yet." And books have a very nasty habit of being out of date the moment they go to print anyway.

[madame_de_fer]

Aha now the young lady has Vivienne's full and undivided attention. She's come in full knowledge of who the Iron Lady is and her place in Celene's court. This both excites and intrigues her. New players of the Game never fail in proving novel distractions. That this one is a Rifter makes the first moves all that more fascinating.

"Of course, my dear, it's so lovely to see you again." She hasn't forgotten the topic of bodices and corsets, prior. Nor the exceptional gown made for the evening of the soiree. "Do come and make yourself comfortable, darling. I'll be happy to answer any questions you have."

With the unspoken caveat that she will answer as benefits herself and the Inquisition. Her own benefit being the higher priority, regardless of whatever she'd say aloud to the contrary.

"Unfortunately the library here is most dismal in what is available. It is an embarrassment to admit that what we have has been salvaged from refugees turned Inquisition agents and the general sacking of the Circle libraries. Though I am to understand a volume or two was saved from Haven chantry before it was obliterated."

[foxsays]

Months of palace etiquette mean that Araceli can fold herself into a seat like a lady just as easily as she can commandeer her favourite spot in the tavern, only with a straight back instead of her usual easy grace balanced out by the casual sailor's swagger she inherited from her father. The uniform helps. Reminds her of meetings, audiences, taking everything in that Leandra cannot.

She doesn't have anyone else to compare with here though, only herself to rely on.

"I'm flattered to be remembered," she replies with a nod, and if this had been before the Western Approach and closing a rift with Martel she might have curled her left hand without thinking but she has control over that. It was almost a flinch for so long, to be a rifter, and even if she has stepped out of it, it still remains a part of her. It might not be what Vivienne remembers her for but that wasn't exactly a good time in Araceli's life coming hot on the heels of so many things slipping through her fingers all at once.

Now she's forging something new, Araceli-the-Inquisition-bard. Araceli-the-Mage-Council-ally, well, that one is further down the line than the bard part.

"My studies have to stretch further back than most; I must begin with the history of the Chantry as well as nations, along with the politics to fit the pieces together. The Circles were not entirely isolated from all as some would have me believe." She smiles; of course people will say all sorts of things to rifters, that is the way of the world, to say what you will to the new arrival when they hold out their aching hand shivering from the cold and the shock. "I am sure there will be only too many that will be happy to sell you your own books back, for a steep margin. If I can be of assistance with that, I am willing to assist. Fences are fences, rogues are rogues no matter where you go." Araceli herself for instance was as good a fence as she was a thief, she just enjoyed the thrill of the act itself and didn't mind sharing a cut to get someone else to sell for her.

[madame_de_fer]

"Reclaiming what has been stolen would be a great boon to the Circle and to Thedas, as lost knowledge only impoverishes us all. If you do happen across any, we would be most grateful." Not the royal we, but she speaks for the mages of the Circles and lovers of scholastic matters. A few of her closest acquaintances have already begun to find and collect missing tomes, and she is exceptionally grateful for their care.

Smoothly, Vivienne sets about the business of pouring out tea and making sure the both of them are comfortably situated with nibbles to accompany the hot liquid. The chill of the mountain air at this altitude, even in the fullness of summer, makes hot drinks ideal all year round. Once her hostessing is established better, she settles in comfortably to talk out the topic at hand.

"I must confess I am very curious as to the topic which is of interest to you, necessitating such a deep delving into Thedas' history. A worthwhile endeavor, though more specifics will allow me to answer you more usefully."

She's practical this one. As practical as a woman can be when she goes stomping into battle in silk and jewels and heeled boots.

[foxsays]

We she says, and Araceli remembers what Adelaide spoke of in the library. Careful, she reminds herself. Too many alarm bells had been set ringing by that one conversation but this is something she has to play close to her chest, something she can't breathe a word of yet. Maybe she's meant to trust her fellow bard with it but when she doesn't know Beleth, she isn't about to be so foolish.

"I am here now. I have sworn my service to the Inquisition, and I was not an ignorant unschooled girl where I came from." None of that is a lie. Her mother paid for a good education for her daughter, one that Araceli didn't use in the way so many might have expected of her but nevertheless, she had it. It was there. Taking a sip of tea, she holds in a sigh because so much has changed; first it was to secure her place in the world, now it's to make better a place that isn't hers, to carve out a place that is hers. To keep safe the people she loves.

"Since we have been speaking of reclaiming, I suppose what I came to speak of isn't entirely beyond that: the fraternities." True, she spoke to Adelaide about them but Adelaide belonged to one, and what's the harm in finding out the opinions of a different mage, from a different Circle, of a different rank? "The Council is not a Circle. So it is said. Yet you cannot strip away so much of what made the vast majority of mages what they were, and for all that I know there must be very loud voices of opposition against anything remotely from the Circle in nature, in finding anything of value in it. But they were to be a voice for mages, no? Or is my understanding of what I have managed to read incorrect?"

When it comes to loud voices against anything remotely supportive of the Circle, well, Araceli does share Korrin's bed. She's well aware of when a Council session hasn't been a good one, or when things aren't exactly smooth sailing. As for the rest, she is a rifter even if she doesn't lump herself in with them now which is something she only told Church and Martel at first though it trickled through everyone else that might matter. People in general are often surprised enough that anyone reads in Thedas, let alone rifters reading their histories.

[madame_de_fer]

Vivienne's attention to the discussion at hand is far from passive. She listens, she observes. Noting every nuance, marking every word said and those unsaid as well. It's second nature to her as much as drawing breath.

But even so, a melodious laugh breaks out and then settles into an amused smile. "My dear, what the fraternities were depends wholly on how one chooses to see them. They're internal circle political groups, entirely voluntary, though they often drove the direction any one Circle would choose to conduct itself. Though like any political posturing, they could and did turn quite ridiculous. The Aequitarians and Lucrosians would inevitably become engaged in passive-aggressive bickering over the number of ballot boxes and the arrangements of voting cards before a vote. Left without someone to babysit them, Isolationists will seal themselves in some major chamber with ice walls in protest over some imagined slight by a Libertarian."

Frankly, Vivienne never saw a point in joining any of them and chose not to. She had far greater political ambitions than the petty wrangling within the Cirle's walls.

"You are quite right, however, about the very loud and exhausting objections to anything remotely from one of the Circles. Which of course is ridiculous, as it's stood for over a thousand years as a sanctuary in which mages can study and practice their craft in peace. Frankly, the Council is what the Circle has ever meant to be, though no one wishes to hear they are the same." Vivienne shrugs. People will dwell forever in their self-appointed blindness. "Though as you study, I would advise you not to bother with the opinions of anyone who has not actually lived within a Circle. Those opinions are not based on fact, nor experience, and therefore unreliable and ill-informed at best."

[foxsays]

As much effort as it takes to sip her tea, to not allow her jaw to clench, she listens. None of it is directed at her for a change. Vivienne is not talking down to the girl rising too high above her station that will make off with the silverware, and she is not forced to laugh as if the joke is the funniest thing she has heard, as they then go on to insult her, her mother, her father, all in the next breath. No, she can sit, she can listen, she can make note without reaching for the hand of one of the queensguard under the table when the words hurt worse than a knife. (A knife, after all, doesn't sit under your skin waiting for the days when you feel your very worst to come out and start flaying you again.)

Loathe to give ground, Adelaide had said. And the True Loyalists at Andoral's Reach that had voted against fighting had rallied under Vivienne. Loyalists she does not mention, so Araceli will.

"You make no mention of the Loyalists," she says when she sets her cup down, folding one knee over the other the way ladies do at home even though she is not in her skirts. "They are as much a part of the Fraternities as the rest, and I understand that there are still a great many of them who advocate a return to the Circle, or for the Mage Council to hew closer to the Circle than it does on many matters. Soldiers are the worst sort of gossips, though given who leads Skyhold's soldiers, that isn't very surprising that mages are among their favourite topics to talk about."

Or it is when Araceli gets them talking, but that is the talent of pretty girls with quick hands and quicker smiles. Soldiers have terribly honest faces compared to scouts who know that their lives might hang on how well they can lie.

Trying her best not to think of what Korrin might say to that (rude, loud, angry) or Ellana (she thinks it might be more akin to hurt with what she knows of how much the Dalish have lost) she does raise one eyebrow slightly. "Sanctuary is something rather different, where I am from," she says carefully same as she would say that the definition of 'serving' that the Circle uses for magic is the least useful of them all. But she does give a shake of her head and a smile, because she can agree on the last point; how much simpler would her life have been had others left her alone without wishing to attach their own expectations and petty narrow judgements to her? "If we were all so free of the opinions of those who were not a part of the private rules of our lives, how much better we might get on, alas, that is never the case. A thing must be listened to. Must be weighed and measured to see how much it is found wanting. But that is my father, the captain, slipping out."

On purpose. Because he did not teach her to go through the world blind and deaf to anything that might one day come in useful. Store your blessings in your holster, Araceli girl, before you speak one word of what you might do with them.

[madame_de_fer]

"I cannot say that I blame them." Them, Vivienne says, not we or us. While she has Loyalist leanings and they rallied under her, she still does not consider herself amongst their number. "For a great many Loyalists, the Circle has been a refuge, a source of education, and a safe shelter without fear of starving or abuse. Change is terribly difficult to weather under the best of circumstances, and these were hardly ideal. Having their entire life dashed from beneath their feet has crumbled their world and left them adrift. It is no surprise that many wish a return to what they have known. More than that, there are devout Andrastians among their number who find themselves forced into apostacy against their will or desire. One can hardly fault them for wishing to reaffirm their faith."

This is actually one of the sticking points for Vivienne on a personal level. That stupid vote made apostates of every mage in Thedas, even those who had no desire to break with the Chantry. A mockery of everything she's worked with and for her entire life. Selfish monsters, the lot of them. Not that she betrays one hint of her personal irritation with them, choosing to maintain an entirely conversational tone and pleasant expression.