[Open]

[unharrowed]

WHO: Vasran and OPEN
WHAT: Celebrating being declared a Real Mage, training with her very own staff
WHEN: Late August
WHERE: Skyhold
NOTES: N/A

In the end, the pseudo-Harrowing endorsed by the Mage Council had turned out to be just like dreaming. Vasran had been prepared for what she was about to face, as well as one could be prepared. To walk in the Fade was to know that nothing could be trusted except one's own mind. And it was the mind that was truly important, because demons could trick the eyes, could distract the senses, could so easily toy with emotions. Logic and will, two things which were so simple and yet so difficult to wield effectively, were the only things that could be counted on.

It was a Desire demon that had tried to take her, offering her comfort and wealth and position enough to take whatever she wanted from a world where everything had once been lost to her. Of all things, it was Vasran's pride that allowed her to refuse the demon's offer.

She would take what she got back from the world on her own terms, and no one else's.

The day after she woke again, she celebrated in the Tavern, a place where she had rarely been seen before, dancing and tossing back as many cups of wine as she could afford — or convince others to pay for. As the evening went on, she got bolder, approaching a few people head-on with her empty cup and shoving it toward them.

"Buy a drink for a demon-slayer!"

In the days after — once the subsequent hangover had subsided — she could be found on the Training Grounds, drilling battle techniques with her staff, sending bursts of electrical energy toward the targets.

Comments

[unharrowed]

By that point, Vasran had had enough wine that she was starting not to care how successful her attempts were.

Although not enough to stop trying. Especially not when she was being challenged.

"First thing I lost today, if so," she crowed upward, raising her empty glass, "Human."

[demonicbeauty]

With a giggle, Ariadne raised an invisible glass back to her. Alastrians couldn't be intoxicated, so drink had never had much interest for Ariadne. Anyway, she didn't carry money. Occasionally, a stranger might send something over, but tonight, she'd been particularly inconspicuous.

"What are we celebrating?" she asked. "I heard something about demon slaying."

An involuntary shudder crept up the back of her spine.

[unharrowed]

As exuberant as she was feeling, Vasran had no desire to conduct an entire conversation through shouting. So she climbed up the stairs to join Araidne on the second level, settling next to her by the railing, letting her feet dangle over the edge.

"There's a tradition in the Circles," she explained. "A ritual, after which one may be considered a legitimate mage, rather than a mere apprentice. I wasn't able to go through mine, because some people decided we ought to all go live in the woods instead."

Her smile grew. "Not so anymore."

[demonicbeauty]

A rite of passage? How wonderful. Alastrians had none themselves, other than bonding with a mate. So Ariadne had no firsthand experience with such things.

But plenty of second-hand.

In her position, both as niece of the royal translator and as resistance spy, she'd attended many parties celebrating such things. Weddings and Daruc rituals. Naming ceremonies and retirements. Each had its own unique flavor, but they all shared a sense of joy and family. Ariadne loved that.

She smiled at her friend, offering her a light touch on the shoulder. "Congratulations!" she said with genuine enthusiasm. "No wonder you're in such a good mood."

[unharrowed]

"It was too long in coming. Two years since the rebellion started." Vasran shook her head.

"I did learn a lot in that time. A good deal the Circle couldn't have taught me. All the same. Two. Years. Criminal."

[demonicbeauty]

She could see how that warranted two years of celebration. Still, something about it was making her feel uneasy. And it wasn't too hard to pinpoint the problem.

"Does it...this ritual...involving slaying demons?" she asked carefully.

[unharrowed]

"Only one demon," Vasran clarified. "And really, it's more about... thwarting it. But they tend to attack once you manage that part."

[demonicbeauty]

"Oh." Ariadne supposed that she still wasn't used to the Thedas idea of what a demon was. It was oddly more specific than back home. More animalistic.

Even knowing that, she still couldn't shake a sense of...kindship.

Not to mention a fear that she would be next.

"Well, I'm glad you succeeded."

[unharrowed]

"So am I." Vasran leaned sideways against the railing post, smiling serenely, oblivious to Araidne's troubled thoughts.

"It's truly a frightening experience. It was offering me all these things... wealth and power, you know, your standard demon tricks." Not as if she had much hands-on experience with those 'standard' tricks, but the Circle certainly had talked about them enough. "And you know it isn't right. You know there would be a catch or a cost, that all it really wants is to ride your body out of the Fade. And yet, you still feel almost convinced. It's like a pull."

[demonicbeauty]

A test of character. Well, she could see how that would be important for a mage. They did wield enormous power. Good to know that they could do so responsibly.

"Why wealth and power?" she asked. Those might be temptations for some people, she supposed. Including Vasran. But it felt...constricted, somehow.

[unharrowed]

"Why not wealth and power?" It seemed rather obvious, from where Vasran was sitting. But Ariadne wasn't from around here. Perhaps she could be forgiven.

"Wealth can get you almost anything in this world. Power could get you the rest." Vasran dangled her feet a little, looking down at the crowd below. "Elves in Thedas have a bad lot. I was lucky to develop magic. It meant being taken into the Circle, being warm and clothed and fed. Plenty of elves can't even read... enough money and strength, and any one of us could rise above our position."

She shook her head. "But I wouldn't take it on a demon's promise. I'll earn whatever I get out of this life — the right way."

[demonicbeauty]

She appreciated Vasran's staunch sense of right and wrong. It was a rare commodity. At least, where Ariadne was sitting.

But now she found herself wondering...what possible temptation might she be faced with? If she were a Mage, that was.

Decidedly not wealth. She was sure of that. But power?

If she had the power to single-handedly stop the Red Dragon...would she give in?

For a moment, she blinked into nothingness, before shaking her head a little bit. "I know about how the Elves are treated," she said. "I wish there was something I could do to help..."

[unharrowed]

"Not much anyone can do about it. It's been that way for ages." And when your history was measured in Ages, you could say that and mean it literally.

"At least in the Inquisition, things seem mostly equal. You hardly ever hear the term 'knife-ear' being thrown around."

[demonicbeauty]

For all of her maddening abilities to see probabilities, Ariadne didn't believe in the impossible. Just the...difficult. And the extremely difficult. Not at all the same as impossible.

With the right people, she could do it. She could make a different in the lives of the Elves. The only question was one of time. And help, because as tenacious as Ariadne was, she was still an outsider, looking in.

"It's funny," she said. "Where I come from, it's the Humans who had to claw their way up to equality. And there are more...shall we say...colorful metaphors...for them than for any other race."

[unharrowed]

"Oh yeah?" Vasran's smile turned sharp. "What's it been like, suddenly finding yourself on the top of the pile? Freaky magical shards aside."

[demonicbeauty]

She blinked in surprise for a moment, before remembering, once again, that she was effectively Human.

By the gods. Would she ever get used to that? A part of her hoped so. But another part hoped not. It was all a bit confusing, really. Like the 'be careful what you wish for' sort of tale. Except it wasn't a story. It was her story.

"I wouldn't exactly call myself on top of the pile," she said. She looked down at the shard in her hand. "This can't be put aside. As far as far too many people are concerned, I'm a demon."

...and she was. Sort of.

[unharrowed]

"Well, I don't think you're a demon." For whatever it was worth. In addition to that sharp smile, there was now a glimmer in her eye: the harbinger of good-natured teasing.

"You're not nearly clever enough."

[demonicbeauty]

Ariadne giggled. "Well, isn't that just what a clever person would do?" she asked, bumping her shoulder against Vasran's. "Make you think that they weren't clever at all, so then they could surprise you?"

It was actually Ariadne's standard method of operations. Entirely.

It was just that...well...she had yet to be given a reason to...operate.

[unharrowed]

Vasran's eyes narrowed.

"Hmm. Fair point. I'll have to watch out for you turning up in my dreams."

Yes, that was a semi-flirtatious comment directed at someone who looked very much like herself. All in good fun.

[demonicbeauty]

"Oh, don't worry," she teased. "Dreams have never been my forte." And not just because Alastrians didn't really dream.

...there was also the fact that Ariadne had no magic whatsoever.

"But you should never play cards against me," she continued.

[unharrowed]

"You're a mind-reader?" Vasran guessed, and before Ariadne could answer: "What number am I thinking of?"

[demonicbeauty]

Again, she laughed. "No. Not a mind reader. But I'm very, very good at reading cards. And card players. I always know when someone is bluffing."

Just a matter of listening to their pulse, really. Or, if they had particularly stubborn pulses, then the way they swallowed

Aunt Lysia sometimes joked that she'd have made a better living as a card shark than as a spy. But then, she wouldn't have been able to save people. Would she?