So far away but still so close

[mythalenaste]

WHO: Pel and Cole
WHAT: Fun news.
WHEN: 14 Kingsway
WHERE: Skyhold
NOTES: Cole can see things Pel can't. Surprise!

She overslept this morning and still wishes she was in bed. Wrapped in a shawl, she shivers and walks briskly across the courtyard toward the library. About halfway there, she slows to a stop, staring at the ground and actually considering going back to bed. Actually considering it. There is no reason for her to be so tired that she is considering skipping an entire morning of work.

After a moment, she sits on a nearby stool and stares blearily into space. That's when she sees the boy in the hat from the corner of her eye, and she turns to look at him. He seems vaguely familiar, even though she can't recall seeing him around. He is quite tall, isn't he? She watches him come closer, still internally talking herself into going to work.

Comments

[colecomfort]

He'd been watching for a moment, silent and from a distance. There's no pain here, except the heavy drag of weariness — no need to say anything. Perhaps, he had thought, he'd go to the kitchens and make sure she got her first tea. She was so tired, she might forget.

But there'd been something else. Something that made him stay, watching with quiet curiosity, until she saw him. That's when he closes the distance, stopping in front of her.

"Hello."

His head is tilted down, the brim of his hat covering his eyes. Hard to tell where exactly he's looking.

[mythalenaste]

"Hello." If he spoke for long, she might recognize his voice from the riddle game. But now he just seems like a shy young lad, ducking his head as he speaks to a strange lady. Was she staring? Is that why he came over? She's too tired to worry about it too much, these human standards of politeness and rudeness. Every part of her is screaming to go back to bed. Maybe she should just go, if she can't even be halfway polite to people.

[colecomfort]

"Hello," he repeated back to her — redundantly, it would seem. His chin lifted slightly, and she would be able to just make out pale blue eyes staring out from under his hat.

"...oh. You don't know me, do you? Sorry. Sometimes it's hard to remember who I've stayed with."

[mythalenaste]

She squints at him a bit, then shakes her head a little, her voice very gentle. "You're familiar. Especially your voice. Maybe we've spoken over the crystals. I'm Pel."

No last name, no clan name. She is outclan, fully and truly, needed nowhere but here. Which is all a brave-ish way of saying she is alone in the world with no fallback plan.

[colecomfort]

He smiles. "Yes. The crystals. Shadows in the water."

That was one of the few times he dared to speak to the entire Inquisition like that. He'd wondered whether anyone would remember.

Then, his tone changes. His smile fades. It's as if he's responding to something, rather than continuing his previous thought.

"...but you're not."

[mythalenaste]

There's a bit of a pause as she tries to figure out whether he's just contradicted her or someone else, and if it was her, what he was contradicting.

"What do you mean, I'm not?" Not Pel? She is fairly certain she is Pel.

[colecomfort]

"Not alone." There's a subtle frown on his face, now, like he's trying to work out a complex puzzle. "Not really. There's someone else here, but they're... almost. Not really a someone yet, but... not you, either."

His chin drops again, and while his eyes will once again be hidden, this time it may be easier to tell he's looking in the general area of her midsection.

[mythalenaste]

Her heart stops for a beat, and there is a long pause. Her mind goes to the demon Cyril once saw following her. Is this boy stricken with the same illness so many suffered months ago? Is there a new outbreak?

Not alone. She had felt a pang of loneliness, as she usually does when she introduces herself with no clan name. The sickness hadn't given people the ability to read things like that. And now he's staring at her. Her boobs? No, too low. He must just be very shy.

"What do you mean?" she asks softly.

[colecomfort]

"You didn't know they're in there?" His head tilts, the wide hat brim swaying from one side to the other. "You've been feeling ill. Unsteady. Unexpected visitors can cause trouble."

...she didn't know. Oh, no. He takes a step backward, his hands worrying with each other.

"I'm sorry."

[mythalenaste]

She shakes her head a little. Then the world seems to tilt. Her stomach. He'd been looking at her stomach. Unexpected visitors making her ill. Her hand flattens against her stomach and her eyes go glassy.

"You think I'm--"

Too many questions. Even if he's right, how could he possibly know? How does he know she has been feeling unwell? A special boy he must be, because he's right about the latter and makes a great deal of sense with the former. When was her last bleed? It has been unusually long, if she thinks about it. She hadn't been keeping track, but now she thinks it might have been some time ago. She swallows.

"Am I going to have a baby?"