faderift | [Open] Autumn is a Second Spring

WHO: Bethany Hawke and You
WHAT: Teaching, knitting, reading, and surprise ... bringing stuff for baking.
WHEN: Last two weeks of September (Kingsway)
WHERE: Skyhold
NOTES: Warnings for cheekiness?

Knitting

Fall is fast approaching, and with that, the need for warmer clothes is coming to Skyhold. Bethany is always all about doing her part for the refugees, so one might find her out enjoying the early fall sunshine in the gardens, skeens of yarn before her as she knits blankets, sweaters scarves and hats of all sizes and colors. Sometimes, she will have a book in her lap, reading while her needles click away, murmuring under her breath as she reads.

Teaching

When Bethany agreed to help Merrill teach the Rifters about varying aspects of Thedas, she never thought she would find herself teaching so many other people as well. Today's lesson is a simple one - she is teaching the tale of 'Every Grey Warden', quoting it from memory as she looked out on a number of faces - young, old, dirty and clean. Some familiar, some not.

"The Blight had ravaged the land for months; the armies of the great kings amassed for one last stand. As the sun burst through the clouds that boiled and churned in the dark sky, it illuminated a vast seething horde of darkspawn with the Archdemon at its head.

It was then— when courage seemed to fail and all lost to death and despair — that the Grey Wardens came...."

Baking

Ever since that young cook Avery had spoken out about people stealing baking supplies, whenever Bethany wanted into the kitchen, she would bring her own - larger bags than what she needed so she could share with the chefs and of course, continue garnering goodwill. Today, she brought in a basket with eggs, along with a small sack of flour and apples, along with a smaller sack of sugar and some cinnamon sticks.

She peered inside, beaming at the cooks, and chatted them up as she charmed her way into using some of the tins and some of their tools to make fresh apple tarts for the Wardens down below. You could find her there, a smudge of flour on one cheek, telling a rather saucy tale about the time Isabela got them all into a game of Strip Wicked Grace.

"So then - Marian looks over at me and I can tell - I can just tell that's she's got nothing on her besides a very small hand ... and I have this sinking feeling that this might be one of the days she decided not to wear smallclothes..."

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

He nodded and from there did not ask any further questions, merely listening and taking notes for further inquiry later. When the class ended and the others filtered out, Kirk walked up to Bethany, taking a seat in one of the closer chairs.

"So, let's start me with the basics - what does 'breaking from their King' mean? To leave his service?"

She looked at him, folding her hands together as she gave him a curious look. Then her mouth twitched upwards, "You know, I keep forgetting that people aren't familiar with the language syntax -- yes, it means they left his service without his permission."

"I would rather know for sure what I'm thinking is right than make a fool of myself later for having assumed wrong," his mouth twitched into a smile that said he had done that enough times to have learned not to do so.

"And they left him because they didn't think he was doing enough against the demons, or did they decide there was another way to combat them by performing this "Joining"?"

"Well, since assuming things around here can get you killed ... yes, exactly right." She shook her head a little, "No, not against the demons. Against the darkspawn. Completely different creatures. They didn't think he would take the actions necessary to save the world over saving his own legacy, or so legends say. So they joined with others, and worked on a way to defeat the darkspawn, to end the Blight, along with scholars and mages."

Ah, that was something of a revelation. He had begun to equate the darkspawn and demons as the same thing, more or less, but apparantley there was a difference. But he could come back to that.

"Right, and that would be the Joining, correct? What did the Joining actually do that suddenly gave them a way to beat back the Darkspawn?"

"That, I cannot tell you, and I apologize for that, but that is part of our ancient code." Bethany stated simply, "Unless I have permission from the head of our Order who is currently ... I believe, Alistair."

He shook his head. "It's all right. I understand that there are certain things that cannot be told to outsiders," he said, and his tone suggested he meant it. He operated under similar principles, though he had loosened it as of late, for his own sanity.

"So let me rephrase my question - what did these first Grey Wardens do after the Joining to defeat the Darkspawn?"

"Thank you for your understanding, James. I know it can't be easy, with all that has been going on, to trust that some secrets must remain so." She considered the question again, "They did the one necessary thing to end the Blight - they killed the Archdemon. Once the Archdemon is dead, the horde becomes disorganized - they will break and run back for the tunnels."

[Open] Autumn is a Second Spring

Teaching

Re: Teaching

Re: Teaching

Re: Teaching

Re: Teaching

Re: Teaching

Re: Teaching

Re: Teaching