[Open] Remembering one of the good guys

[justice_is_blond]

WHO: Anyone who knew/cared about Herc!
WHAT: A wake for Herc
WHEN: Around now, the 10th of Egg
WHERE: Tavern!
NOTES: Drinking, grief, etc.

There aren't any formalities here. The Calling has taken another Grey Warden, but for once he was known to more than Wardens and mourned by more than them too. The music is lively to start with, mostly because Herc probably would have grumped if it had all been sad and there's a tab at the bar open to anyone worthy. Granted, one has to manage to be polite to all the Grey Wardens for the duration of the wake to be deemed worthy, but that's not too hard, is it?

Hit up the bar, share a story, complain about how he owed you money, and remember someone who deserves it.

Comments

[chainlightning]

A hug, a friendly face, and Merrill can't help her reaction. Her hug back turns into a cling, her sniffling on the edge of sobs against Ellana's shoulder. She can't articulate just now what Hercules had meant to her, the significance of the griffon locket around her neck. For a moment, she just needs to cry, to know that she has a friendly shoulder to do it on.

[serannas]

Ellana squeezes Merrill close and lets her cry. She doesn't shush her, or tell her everything is going to be all right. Being a sensitive soul herself, she's had her fair share of crying fits, and the best thing is to just be allowed to have it. She reaches up a hand to stroke Merrill's hair and does her best to comfort her.

[chainlightning]

"He didn't tell me," Merrill chokes out at last, fingers digging into Ellana's clothing, face lifted just enough that the other elf should be able to make out the words. "He just- he just left, like everyone else leaves, like everyone else dies, and I didn't even have any warning-"

It's all she gets out before sobbing again.

[serannas]

The words break Ellana's heart and she feels tears come to her own eyes, hurting for Merrill and perhaps recognizing that some day she'll face something similar.

"He shouldn't have done that," she murmurs softly, still stroking Merrill's hair. "I wish he would have told you." Odds are, Hercules thought it was better to leave without Merrill's sad face being the last image of her in his memory, but it seems cowardly to have not faced her and prepared her. He's left her to grieve and not be able to say goodbye to his face.

[chainlightning]

What Alistair had first told her still rings through her ears. Wardens are Tainted by the Blight -- but Merrill can cure that taint, or at least has cured it on an eluvian. It would likely take more work, trial and error, on a person, but she thinks it must be possible. And Hercules had known, but hadn't wanted her to try. Maybe that's why he didn't say anything. Blood magic, again, even though she isn't hurting anyone with it.

"I- you know, I wasn't born in the Sabrae clan? I was given to them when I was just a child. And it's- silly, maybe, but he felt like- he felt like a father, when I haven't had anything like one in so long."

[serannas]

Ellana feels for her, and though she was never traded away like she should have been, she lost her father too, long ago.

"I didn't know you felt so strongly about him, Merrill. I'm so sorry. I haven't had a father in a long time either, so I know you were blessed to have him the time you did."

[chainlightning]

"He gave me this." Merrill picks up the locket around her neck, shows it to Ellana -- the griffon on the front, the compass inside, and all of it rather nice craftsmanship, as far as Merrill is concerned. "The last time I saw him. Said it was for all the help I'd given the Wardens, when- I felt like I hadn't really done much at all."

[serannas]

Her hands slide away from Merrill's back and hair to examine the piece.

"It's beautiful. And you must have done a lot. You went to Weisshaupt, didn't you? Hercules wanted to thank you."

[chainlightning]

"I did. He said it was for helping Anders, too." And... who even knows what else. Being a good friend to some of them? "I just- I mean, maybe not everyone would help pull a spirit out of someone, but I do think most people would have helped at Weisshaupt."

Of course, she's Dalish, where clan helps their own. Hercules is -- no, was, she has to remember that now -- human, where they rely on the Chantry to do that and then the Chantry, historically, fails at it.

[serannas]

"I think he must have felt otherwise," she reasons. "Really, Merrill. What you did was kind, and selfless, and being thanked for it is a good thing."

[chainlightning]

"It's got to be another human thing." She shakes her head. "Where the clan would care for everyone, they pass the sick and orphans off to the Chantry. I suppose that kind of thinking would make him want to thank me for it."

[serannas]

"Have you never felt the need to thank someone for something they've done?" she asks gently. "People thank others for kind things they've done that touch the other person, and I don't think that on the whole, humans don't know what kindness is. If I really believed they didn't, I wouldn't be here."