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Entry tags:
{ OPEN } Shine with all the untold
WHO: Ellana + OPEN + various closed starters
WHAT: playing catch up
WHEN: covering the month of Solace until she leaves for Rivain
WHERE: Skyhold
WHAT: playing catch up
WHEN: covering the month of Solace until she leaves for Rivain
WHERE: Skyhold
Closed starters in comments, but here's an open option:
{ halla at ya }
Back in the clan, Ellana was close to their halla keeper, Sulahni. She could always tell when Ellana was upset, and told her she needed her help to feed the halla. And since Ellana is a soft-hearted soul who often ties herself into knots over things, she spent a great deal of time with the halla, feeding them out of her hand, helping Sulahni apply salves to their wounds, and just sitting beside them as they gazed at her with understanding eyes. She knows she doesn't have the gift of understanding them like halla keepers do, but she's dedicated to taking care of them here. They've had a long journey and she wants to help them settle.
She hasn't chosen names for them, because they don't belong to her. Halla are free and she doesn't own them. But she would love to have one as a dedicated mount, and she had assumed eventually one would stand out as the one who would allow her to ride it. Imagine her surprise when early on, one took a shine to her, nudging her shoulder for treats and following her around to the edge of their allotted space down in the valley, before she gently had to convince him not to go with her. Everyday she can be found with the halla, either feeding them from her hand or petting them, with one trailing her steps and sometimes setting his chin on her shoulder.
"Would you carry me if I asked you to, brother halla? Would you allow me to give you a name so I can call for you?"
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"Of course," he says. He offers his arm to her so they can walk somewhere quiet together. He can't promise that he'll always be able to drop everything for her, not with the Wardens being what they are, but he can do so now and he'll always do so when he can.
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Leading him down the path towards the valley, they pass refugees, mercenaries, and whoever else has made this land outside Skyhold their home. It's been feeling like home to her too, but it's also a stepping stone out into the world and its endless possibilities. She still wants to see so much of it. It would be nice if she could see some of it with Felix. Maybe he's ready to go out and do things to help the Inquisition now. Maybe he could come with her to elven ruins along the way.
"Things have been very serious lately. And it's got me thinking about things." She sighs, running fingertips down his arm. "The way Hercules just left here. He probably thought it was better, but I saw what it did to Merrill. I don't want you to leave me in the middle of the night to answer your Calling because you don't want to see my tears."
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"My parents adored each other, you know," he continues and moves to continue their walk. "They thought the world of each other. My mother was tough, and fierce - my father, less so. But they were both brilliant and dedicated their lives to the study of magic, to me, and to each other."
He looks a little sad now, remembering how things had been before the darkspawn. "And then she died. He didn't get the chance to say good bye and it drove him completely mad. It broke him. He was left wondering every day if he could have done something else to protect her, to keep her with him. That guilt forced him to do everything he could to keep me."
She knew how that ended. "I would never want to do that to someone I cared about. I would face your tears if it meant you could have that closure."
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"Thank you. That means so much to me." She exhales a soft sigh of relief before looking up at him. "Your mother... I wish I could have met her." His mother's death and Felix's illness had been the catalyst that set everything in motion. Felix wouldn't have had reason to come to the South had his father not been trying desperately to save him, nor would he be with the Inquisition now, unless he'd made that decision on his own. Therefore, if his mother was alive, Ellana would never have met her anyway. But she still wishes she could have. Felix is such a dream of a man, that she would like to have seen where it comes from.
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Felix smiles a bit. "I wish you could have as well." He's also keenly aware he wouldn't have met Ellana without that attack, but in a perfect world perhaps there would have been a different reason? Perhaps he and Dorian would have come here on their own to join the cause. "I know she would have liked you."
At least he hopes so. Neither of his parents had fallen into the thinking that elves deserved less than humans.
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"What do you think of everything that happened at Weisshaupt? Have you met any of the Wardens who came from there yet?"
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"I've seen them around. There's all mostly concerned with settling in so I didn't want to get in the way." Then, after a moment, "I have to learn how to be useful to the Wardens so I'll probably talk to some of them soon." He offers her a small smile. "What about you? Are you getting a long with them?"
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"I've met Ciri and Inessa so far. Inessa is an elf and a mage too, and she's the one with the mabari always at her side. I saw Ciri during the snowball fight and we talked a little. She says she knows someone who can make me better boots, because I fell on the ice out there."
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"You fell on the ice? Are you all right?" he asks, uncertain then. He wants to focus a bit on that before they move onto what he might do in the future.
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"That may have hurt a little. But I'm fine now." After the scare she had in the Western Approach, she should probably be more careful, but at the same time, she doesn't want to be too cautious and miss out on doing things. Besides, she couldn't let that dirty flag thief get away, could she?
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It was probably what had happened to her in the Western Approach that had made any hint of injury grip at his chest in a weird sort of panic. That feeling had to be dealt with, he tells himself, if they're going to be involved in the Inquisition. Danger was part of the job. "Oh good," he says, calming himself. "As long as you had fun, then." He offers her a smile.
"As far as what I can do for the Wardens, I'd probably be a bit more useful as a researcher or historian than anything. They don't have much need for mathematicians and I'm still not that great with a sword. However, we do need to do things like record darkspawn activity and research more ways to destroy them. If nothing else to help us avoid making the same mistakes we've recently made."
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"Oh, you'll be wonderful at that! And I'm sure your research could take you out into the world to interesting places too." Interesting places with darkspawn activity, but Ellana is nothing if not an optimist. "And if you ever want to stop at an elven site on the way back..." she says, a teasing tone to her voice, "Just let me know."
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Felix smiles a bit. "I'd love to do research with you," he teases just a bit. There is a bit of uncomfortable history at a Tevinter looking into elven history, but if she was there it would be more focused on her and her needs. That had to be better. He'd maybe even be able to help uncover some of what his people had forced her people to lose.
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"You know, we found dead Tevinters in that ruin we visited," she adds, though it's not from cleverly reading his mind and his thoughts, but from the conversation she's started leading that way. "At first I wondered if they fell prey to old elven traps, but that wasn't it. It was a slave turning on his master, wanting his freedom while they were far from home and alone." And for both practical reasons and as a snub to that master, she took his staff. He isn't going to need it anymore.
"Ruins can always surprise you, whether there's old magic clinging to them, or something like people arguing and that being their final resting place because of it."
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Felix is a little surprised to hear that a slave would do that. Still, even though it meant the death of his countrymen all he can think is good for him. The thought of finding some old magic though, of restoring something that was lost, was almost too tempting.
"That would make the occasional distract worth the risk."
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"I'm sure I'll be able to focus when needed."
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"Have I ever mentioned this before? It sounds so silly, but it's true. I can't stop being a romantic, but who wouldn't get distracted dreaming of you, hmm?" She gives his arm a squeeze, hoping her earnest confession isn't falling back into the gushing she tends to do about him. But when a person is a romantic who has found her prince, it's hard to stop.
"You know, sooner or later we'll have to get something wrong, have a fight, or something. It's only natural. It's taking it's time happening though, isn't it?"
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His smile turns a little goofy as he listens to her but then he tries to lessen it as she asks her questions. "We could find something silly to argue about if you'd like? Just to get it out of the way."
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"Dogs are better than cats?" she tries. She's owned neither in her life, but being here at Skyhold she's seen plenty of both, and the dogs are overall more friendly and willing to approach. Plus Sam can become one. That works in its favor.
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"Oh yes," he says. Then he clears his throat as he thinks. "Cats are infinitely better than dogs. For one, they do not drool."
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