faderift | [OPEN] Heaven bend to take my hand

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[OPEN] Heaven bend to take my hand

WHO: Hermione Granger and YOU
WHAT: Hermione's seen some shit and is trying to get over it.
WHEN: Mid-Kingsway through the end of the month.
WHERE: In and around Skyhold.
NOTES: Takes place after this plot, so some threads will likely have mentions of child death and/or signs of depression. Please let me know if you'd like me to avoid any triggery topics.

Library

Though the curly-haired rifter has become a staple in the library over the past six months, Hermione has been relatively scarce there lately. She has no real heart for research anymore, not after the things she'd uncovered in those journals in that cave in Fromage, and there's so much more to Thedas than what can be found in books. She'd learned that the hard way, and now instead of reading and taking notes, she finds her thoughts wandering as they rarely do. For once, she can use a distraction from her failed attempts at studying.

Stables

Avoiding people isn't always as easy as she'd like it to be. But if she can preoccupy herself with animals, Hermione can withstand a bit of small talk. There's usually a kitten or two playing around the stables, and if not, at least helping to feed some of the horses will make her feel productive as well as distracted. And if that doesn't work, there's a certain dracolisk that she'd been slowly learning to get friendly with, assuming it won't sense her dour mood and become agitated.

Battlements

The battlements are actually quite pretty. She'd never really come up here before - if she wasn't in the library then that usually means she wanted to be social, and so the courtyards were where she'd spent more of her time - but now that she's looking for a change of scenery... well, there are worse places to get some quiet with a beautiful view. She's not always alone, since there are always people passing back and forth, but most people don't seem all that keen on hassling the young woman perched in between two turrets, staring out into the mountains. Indeed, unless someone happens to recognize her or just manages to catch her as she wipes at a stray tear, most probably wouldn't even know she's there.

Healing Tents

Returning from Emprise had been difficult, for more reasons than one. Beyond the obvious, Hermione still had a few physical injuries that she'd intended to ask the healers in her group to help with on their way back, but had clearly never gotten around to it due to the extenuating circumstances. Of course, she can't indefinitely deal with waking up with a sharp pain in her back and some of the bruises had begun to look particularly gruesome, so there's nothing wrong with making the occasional visit to the healing tents. If she takes care of one thing at a time and sees a different healer each time, it minimizes the chance of any awkward questions being asked, which is all the better; she's not ready to talk about that dreadful day and is in no rush to change that.

Wildcard!

She probably won't be quite so cheery until later on in the month, but Hermione still needs to eat, drink, bathe, and presumably sleep. She may be a little awkward around those that had gone to Emprise du Lion with her, but she isn't about to actively ignore anyone or send them off. Her nerves might be a bit frayed, but there's still such a thing as etiquette, after all.

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Hermione hesitated at his question, not quite knowing how to answer. It wasn't a wrong assumption to make, given that she was lonely, missing her friends from home more and more with every passing day. But she'd been able to bite back that loneliness in her effort to survive here in Thedas.

It was just getting harder to do that every day.

"In part, I suppose," she admitted, glancing down. "I also just-... I came back from a particularly harrowing mission with some of the Inquisition recently, and I saw some things - witnessed some choices - that made me realize that I'm hardly cut out to live in Thedas for an extended period of time. I can adapt to most things, but it's a matter of casting aside certain morals. Morals that I happen to be rather fond of, to tell the truth."

Trying to wave it off, Hermione shook her head and remarked, "But that's neither here nor there, really."

So that was it. He nodded a bit. Sometimes it could be very hard for some to set aside that which made them comfortable when they were faced with matters that brought discomfort. Iskandar was willing to do the difficult tasks but knew not everyone was prepared for it. Which could make things very difficult for those who felt these things grip their hearts so tightly.

A strong arm came to tug her chair closer to his own and then he hugged her with that one arm. Perhaps it was so little but sometimes just an embrace could make a world of difference for a person and he was willing to offer that now.

"It matters to you and so therefore it matters at all. I may not ever find out exactly what happened on this mission but I do know that much to be true and that is all that matters to me in the end. So I will offer you this embrace. Now and any other time you might require one. You only ever need to ask and one shall be yours."

Hermione made a small, startled sound when she felt her chair jerk before feeling that large arm practically envelop her. She liked hugs well enough - missed them terribly, really - but hugs from relative strangers were another matter altogether. Still, she didn't sense that it came from a shifty sort of place, and after a moment of hesitation she agreed to lean into it a bit, even if she was still a little too bemused to properly return the gesture, genuine though it might be.

"That's... very sweet," she told him, honestly appreciating it even if she was still a bit puzzled by his earnestness. "I'll try not to take advantage of such generosity. Especially since so few people here seem willing to offer similar."

Awkwardly patting his arm as she straightened up, she offered him a small smile, showing that she really was trying. "It's rare to find someone so willing to be friendly, even if most of us here have acknowledged that we're better off working together than we are against each other."

"You know, I seem to be getting that impression. People continue to be surprised by my attitude about things." He really couldn't understand why it should be so surprising though. Was it really that unusual to find things like this happening? If that was the case then he was going to have a lot of people in for a big surprise with how he was just always like this. Friendly, outgoing, ready to share that with everyone around him.

"Perhaps it is a good thing I was brought here after all then. I can remind people that there is still so much good out there no matter how dark things might become or currently are."

Why not? He was up for the challenge.

Hermione could only smile when Iskandar agreed that he'd noticed that people were continuously surprised by his demeanor. It was refreshing in its own way, certainly, but he had to see how it could be a bit jarring, especially for those native to Thedas who scarcely even offered an olive branch to one another, depending on whether the other person was a mage or Qunari or Orlesian.

Tilting her head a bit, she tried not to seem as though she were entertaining an idealistic fancy as she asked, "Are you sure you're up to the challenge? Things can get a bit bleak hereabouts. Quite quickly, too, I might add."

"They would not call me Great in the books about me if I were not up for the challenge, I should think." Oh he knew it wasn't going to be easy. The people here had faced many trials and that could be a heavy burden on people. However, he was determined to show them there was still hope in the world. Even if it just meant giving them a smile when he saw them. Sometimes, that was enough.

"If this is what I am here for at this time then that is what I strive to be the very best at. It might be a foolish thing to some but as long as one person can still see the light then that means we can still find it in the darkest of times."

Oh. He was still insisting that he was Alexander the Great. Despite bearing no resemblance to what she'd always pictured the historical figure looking like. But then, that had no bearing on anything, really, since accounts varied a bit and besides, Iskandar seemed congenial enough. More than enough, really.

"That's a... refreshing way of looking at it," she offered politely. She was still in her funk, nothing could snap her out of that quite so quickly, but Iskandar really was a nice reminder of what a fresh perspective can envision even for a world such as Thedas. "I hope you manage to maintain that optimism for a good long while, and that it will see you safely home, if we can ever figure out how to reverse the process that brought us all here to begin with."

There was a look that came across his face. It wasn't exactly sadness even if there was no real joy to it. Rather it was something like acceptance. Like he was going home to a fate that likely wasn't what one could describe as good. Which was probably the understatement of the year.

"I can promise you that it shall. I may not know how yet but it shall." To that last ride of his. To where Archer stood at the end and he would not make it past him.

It had been a very good ride.

"Good," Hermione remarked, nodding her head slowly. She did notice the change that had come over him at those words, but she wasn't entirely sure what to make of it. She'd never spoken to a rifter who didn't want to go home, especially not without having been in Thedas long enough to have developed any ties to it.

But asking after such a thing felt far too personal for a first-time meeting, so she pretended not to have noticed, saying only, "I wish you the best with that, Iskandar."

"And I wish you the best in all your endeavors." He reached over to actually give her hair a ruffle. A fond gesture that spoke of how he felt about her despite the fact that they'd only just met. Perhaps this meeting had been brief but she was now a precious friend to him. He would treasure her for a long while and then some after that. Such was his nature really.

"I've distracted you a good while now, haven't I. I suppose I should actually allow you to work on whatever it is you are up to."

While Hermione was no stranger to physical contact, that was usually between close friends, and so she was surprised when he actually moved to give her hair a ruffle. It made an embarrassed sort of blush begin to rise to her face, an instinctive response to the possibility that she was being regarded as a child, even if she wasn't entirely sure that that was the case here.

"Th- thank you," she replied, managing not to sound too flustered. "I appreciate the, um-... the distraction, but I suppose we can talk more some other time?" Preferably during a time when she was better suited to believe him when he claimed to be the sort-of ghost of a famous historical figure.

"Of course. I would welcome your company anytime." He gave her another warm smile then rose up so that way he could let her be. He could always go and find his own books to read and let her get back to her studies. Already he was sure that he would see her again and that satisfied him completely as he moved off to another part of the library to continue to read things.

There was still so much of this world to learn about, after all.

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[OPEN] Heaven bend to take my hand

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