Sieze the day

[fledglingenchanter]

WHO: Sadira and YOU
WHAT: Various places around Skyhold at different times of day.
WHEN: Beginning to mid Solace before the shenanigans in Orlais takes off.
WHERE: Skyhold
NOTES: N/A

I.The Training Grounds- Early morning

Sadira was in the training yard, early enough that the sun was just beginning to caress down the mountainsides with light while she was busy flailing a training sword around. She'd gotten up early in order to have some small section of the training yard to herself, though there were others who had arrived earlier than her, and somewhere were just now arriving. It seemed the training yard got little rest, which seemed, to sum up, her appearance. She had the look of someone long used to functioning on too little sleep.

Despite her apparently poor sword skills-- she was overreaching as well as leaving herself completely open on the left side-- she at least had good footwork and showed little signs of tiring quickly. Clothed as she was in a simple linen tunic, brown knit pants, and worn leather boots, it was near impossible to guess that she was a mage unless someone had spoken to her previously about it. She was working with a will building up a good sweat while trying her best to perfect her abilities though it was apparent that she was in dire need of some instruction.



II.The Library- Mid-day

Tables were naturally at a premium with all the pet projects going on and research, interests and what not being done that Sadira had opted instead for a quiet spot surrounded by a stack of books that she was carefully trawling through. A casual glance through the stacks might have drawn more than a few puzzled looks as her interests seemed to vary widely from historical texts by Brother Genitivi to various copies of Hard in Hightown along with books on varying cultures, chevalier fighting techniques, constellations and southern plants. She also had a few scattered papers scribbled with and notes, annotations and page numbers that occasionally rustled when the odd draft caught them. Although she tried to keep her mess contained to her little haphazard area, it wasn't going to take much for some of it to spill over into someone's way.

She'd traded her training clothes for softer mage robes, though her staff remained hidden away. A lingering scent of soap clung faintly to her skin, signs that she'd visited the hot springs shortly before making her way here. The mess of black curls that she usually wore draped over one shoulder was instead pulled back into a loose ponytail that fell her back so the till damp ends might not accidentally drip down onto her work. Currently, she was scribbling a note using a charcoal pencil rather than a quill with one tome resting on her knee, and another one spread out beside her with her finger resting on the line she was currently copying down.



III. Battlements- Evening

Sadira has once again found an out of the way spot, this time on the battlements. As the sun dips further and further westwards, she is looking up with a book carefully cradled in her lap, and a sheaf of notes weighed down by a rock next to her. It appears that she is setting herself up to stargaze, or at least looking for the first stars that appear before it gets too dark to read or check her notes. Draped around her shoulders is a threadbare but still somewhat serviceable blanket. It seems she is settling in to be here for awhile. She even had an earthenware pot next to her that suspiciously looked as if it contained something to chase away the chills of the oncoming night.



IV. Wildcard!

She can also be found roaming around in varying places if that would work better. Feel free to PM me or

Comments

[mythalenaste]

"Big brown one up top with the silver tooling. 'The Magic of Arlathan.' Someone keeps shelving it there to vex me."

The staring is actually somewhat refreshing, because it's simply a stare of amazement rather than the other one, the one that's like someone watching a dog walk around on its hind legs. Val Royeaux is still fresh in her mind. Sadira is willing to reach a book for her, so on the sliding scale of racism Pel has encountered recently, she's in a pretty acceptable range.

[fledglingenchanter]

Stretching just a little more to get the kinks out of her back, she cast about looking upwards at the higher shelves until the caught sight of the likely tome. She looked askance at Pel, trying not to stare overlong as she reached for the book. Although she was taller than the elf, she still needed to rise up onto her toes to get a good enough grip on the book as she pulled it from the self.

"Here you go, one book on magic." As she held the book out, she looked at the cover thoughtfully, then glanced to Pel, "is the magic of Arlathan, all that different from circle magic?"

[mythalenaste]

"Not different, exactly," Pel begins. Her research is one of very few topics that break her normal monosyllabic habit. She sits and opens the giant tome. "The elves of Arlathan were the first to use magic, and Tevinter appropriated their knowledge where they could. You know how with some plants, it could be growing in the ground, but you cut off a bit of it and take it with you to plant it somewhere else? Maybe that plant grows smaller or taller or barer than the other because of where it's planted, but it's all the same plant. Good gardeners make healthier plants, bad gardeners might not even get it to bear fruit, some people find a way to make poison out of it, or a cure for a sickness instead, but it's still just the one plant."

[fledglingenchanter]

Intigued, Sadira also sat down, tilting her head as she listened to Pel speaking. The elf's description of magic reminded her in many ways of her former mentor, Serah. She used to use plant analogies as well due to being a herbalist.

"I've never thought of it quite like that myself, but it does make sense. I guess it was a little bit of a silly question when you think about it. I've just never been able to ask one of your kind before."

[mythalenaste]

"One thing is certain: the elves of Arlathan could make magic do things you and I can't even imagine." There's the faintest of smiles on her lips.

[fledglingenchanter]

There is a soft sigh as she closes her eyes for a moment. Being a Circle mage did tend to limit one's imagination in a lot of ways. Especially since hedge magic and other lesser known practices was so frowned upon.

"It's a shame that such magic was lost. Perhaps people might have a different view on it." And perhaps she would be less scared of her own abilities.

[mythalenaste]

"Which people, is the question." A faint shrug. "There's reasons it's hard to distribute what we do know about ancient magic, let alone uncover more."

But Sadira is being surprisingly open-minded, for a Circle mage.

[fledglingenchanter]

Sadira nodded glancing to the book speculatively. "The Chantry, of course, would frown upon it. Magic is dangerous and should be feared. The circles might covet it and use such knowledge as a bargaining chip-- that is if the Chantry even allowed it to be kept in the library." As much as she was pro-circle and afraid of her own abilities, she recognized that fear had a root in not knowing as well as not being able to control or understand a magic that was unfamiliar.

[mythalenaste]

"That's half-true: the Chantry is fine with magic, so long as it's magic they control. Elves--Arlathan was the first nation to use magic, really, so all magic is appropriated from them and attributed to other peoples. Tevinter saw to that quite thoroughly. The Chantry took the magic it agreed with and called the rest heresy. Your Circle magic is the same magic used in Arlathan, but...filtered through a sieve of ideals both good and bad. The Dalish have done much the same thing, with different results. It's like anything else passed down through history."

Getting Pel started on history is the one way to make her verbose. Her heart rate speeds up a little when she speaks of it, stoic face coming to a little more life than usual.

"The trouble with discovering new magic, or old magic that got buried, is figuring out whether it's safe. And if it's not safe, learning how to make it safe."

[fledglingenchanter]

It was almost a treat watching Pel grow more impassioned as she spoke. It reminded Sadira all too much of the debates held within the circle as mages weighed in on topics the world over. A sudden stab of longing impaled her heart, filling her with bitter-sweet memories. She'd missed this: discussing magic with someone who was not afraid to voice their opinions.

"You're right about that. It's made even harder when you have a group of mages who disagree about everything trying to come together. You'd think the Inquisition would give us enough common ground to stand together."

Despite enjoying her conversation, a twist of bitterness tinged her words, "But at the same time how can we easily determine what is safe? A magister in tevinter might say blood magic is safe or even necessary under the right circumstances. Someone else might say that the Qunari have the right idea about mages, binding us cruelly because that is the only safe way to deal with us."

[mythalenaste]

"The Council of Magi is here. I have good friends who sit on it. They try to represent every mage here, and even the Dalish mages will abide by their authority."

She holds up a finger.

"What you said is one of those questions everybody will have to strive to answer constantly. But I meant more immediately--we don't want to try an old spell just because it's old and powerful. We have to explore the immediate impact that sort of magic will have. Sometimes, it's history that provides the answer. Other times, it's research. That's basically what I do for the Inquisition."

[fledglingenchanter]

"I've heard of it though I have not yet joined it. I was a bit hesitant to push myself into politics and obligations until I found my feet here."

Pel talking of research piqued Sadira's full interest once again as she raised a brow speculatively, "That sounds like an unthankful task, going through so much history, especially when the information is prone to conflicting itself. You must have a great deal of patience then."

[mythalenaste]

"Most of it is paperwork and sorting through irrelevant information. But I've made a few expeditions. Discovered some old magics the Inquisition might benefit from. My primary focus has been Veilfire runes, though I've gone a bit sideways from there lately. But before it all comes into common use, we have to be sure we're not going to tear another hole in the sky with it by accident."

[fledglingenchanter]

The strange word Veilfire causes her to tilt her head as a small furrow appears upon her brow. Not for the first time did she wish she hadn't focused with such single-mindedness on control of her magic alone.

"I'm afraid I am not familiar with that kind of magic. What exactly is it?"

[mythalenaste]

"It's a method of writing the ancient elves used. Do they teach about Veilfire in the Circles?"

Pel is having fun. Is this what it could have been like, to be a Keeper and take on an apprentice? She would hate to think of being the sort of Keeper Deheune was, but this is different. This is sharing and enriching, not bestowing burden after burden.

[fledglingenchanter]

She shook her head gently then brushed back an errant curl as it fell in her eyes.

"No, or at least mine didn't. It sounds properly mysterious and admittedly quite elven. How does it work? And what was it used for?" As she spoke, she leaned in, hunching slightly so she wasn' looming over Pel. A desire to learn shone brightly in her eyes.

[mythalenaste]

"Where the Veil is thin, a mage can summon Veilfire. You can do it, I can do it. Veilfire is sort of a memory of fire from the Beyond. The Fade. Some people use it to light lamps. Arlathan used it for writing, if you can call it that. Veilfire runes are sort of...writing on the Veil itself, but visible on our side. Veilfire causes the rune to activate--a sort of call and response. The person reading the rune by the light of the Veilfire doesn't just receive the message of the rune. There are emotions, images, memories sometimes. It's an art perfected, and lost, in Arlathan. Even Tevinter didn't bother to appropriate it, really."

[fledglingenchanter]

The information is absorbed in a reverent silence and filed away for later when she could better spend some time dedicated to reading more on it. Strange and unusual magic often was scary to her, but this sounded like it might be the perfect thing to learn about that wasn't chantry certified.

"Is there a book I can read about this somewhere? Not that you didn't describe it well enough, but I am curious about the theories behind this magic, and the application of it."

[mythalenaste]

"There is, but it's banned. Fortunately, someone was able to track it down for me. I could lend it to you. Though you should know it's written by a Tevinter."

Pel has her own prejudices, but while Tevinter isn't her favorite place in the world, the people she's met from there have been perfectly tolerable. It's Orlesians she (mostly) can't stand. The history there is less ancient, the injustice still rampant and yet sanctioned by the rest of the world. At least everyone knows Tevinter is a terrible place.

"This'll be the only one till I can write my own book about it."

[fledglingenchanter]

Quickly, Sadira makes a staying gesture to Pel, raising her hands up to forestall talk of taking the book. "I'd hate to part you of valuable research material. I'd only read it if I weren't inconveniencing you for my curiosity."

While she had misgivings about reading non-Chantry approved books, the months of running and hiding from Templars made her hungry for knowledge. "I think I could look past it being written by a tevinter, so long as they aren't trying to convince me to use blood magic in the process."

[mythalenaste]

"It's a loan, not a gift. And I pretty well have the important bits memorized." A shrug. "And they're not talking about blood magic. Blood magic in Tevinter is sort of...taboo while most everyone practices it. They like their pretense, Tevinter."

She offers it again. "Take it. Once you're done, I'll show you a rune and how to read it."

[fledglingenchanter]

Sadira took the book off Pel, immediately clutching it to her chest to keep it safe.

"Thank you for the loan then. I promise I'll start reading this as soon as I get a quiet moment." Preferably away from other people where she could be at ease. New magic was, after all, one of one of the most fascinating things to learn and this was more so than most.