A bottle of white, a bottle of red

[fleurdesel]

WHO: Open to anyone that wants wine and warmth and a little company.
WHAT: Wine and no whining.
WHEN: After the mage meeting wraps up.
WHERE: Close to the healing tents, specifically the Orlesian section.
NOTES: There will be wine, drinking, unwinding, and nibbles.

The meeting had been stressful for just about everyone involved. Tempers had flared, opinions made known, a few rounds of confetti and arguing before some manner of accord. Whether it would last or however long it might? No one could truly say. In the interest of being quite done with the stress and headaches such debate brought on the Orlesian healing tents clearing out the potions, bandages, and poultices in favor of what cushions and braziers they had on hand for light and for heat. The space was open, warm, and inviting with an odd assortment of tin mugs or clay glasses set around flat side tables propped up with stones to keep them from wobbling and tipping the whole mass onto the ground. There are some dried fruits and hard cheeses, dried meat and hard crusted bread- whatever scraps they could scavenge or spare and a few bottles of wine or brandy. Across the entrance to the tents there was a sign:

Bring a bottle or food to share for entry.

Tacked below was a list of rules:

• Everyone is welcome, don't make a fuss
• Don't hog the wine
• Don't hog the food
• Don't fight or argue
• If you finish a bottle open a new one, don't recork it for someone else to find
• Clean up after yourselves

Comments

[blightedson]

He laughs outright at that. "Well, yes," he replies with such strong fondness in his tone. "But it's well earned. He's talented, beautiful, and knows what he's talking about."

[fleurdesel]

"He is beautiful, damn him, and he knows it- he reminds me of my sisters that way." Everything else she can wave off as arrogance.

[blightedson]

"Were they also the product of careful Tevinter breeding?" Felix asked. He knew that wasn't the case, but it seemed more like a dig at the way most altus treated their children.

[fleurdesel]

"Orlesian rather than Tevinter, but yes. I do not think any LeBlanc has seen a suitor that wasn't at least equally handsome." Thank god she was spared that much.

[blightedson]

"Oh, and having seen both cultures, I'm not sure which is worse." It's a joke but it falls a little flat. Orlesians and Tevinters both value their children very differently, but not exactly as children ought to be.

"When it comes to Dorian, some of it is a type of armor. He is one of the best men I know, even if he can come off a little strong."

[fleurdesel]

"He can come off as a sanctimonious know it all and it'd be thoroughly alienating were he not so foutu charming about it. I'm beginning to think that is a northerner thing." She herself has found herself charmed more than once. "He's got me maneuvered just where he wants me. Or at least thinks I ought to be, and I cannot even be angry with him for it. You've known him a fair while. Is there a way to make him not?"

[blightedson]

"Ask?" Felix suggests after giving it some thought. "Dorian is not one to do things that make others uncomfortable. As long as you are open and honest about it and don't accuse him of doing it on purpose."

[fleurdesel]

"I shall have to remember that." Even if it wasn't maneuvering she'd been entirely against. The help was somewhat appreciated. Mostly. Damn him.

[blightedson]

"It's difficult to put aside all of the protection you keep around yourself growing up in an environment like our country." He points out. "There is so much to be proud of, but far more that need to be changed. The impulse that many of us have to put on a show by way of defending our true selves... I'm sure you can understand that. The Game is exactly kind to those who are honest either."

[fleurdesel]

"I was sent to the White Spire when I was eight. While there were those that played a shade of The Game there- I never did. I never wanted to." More or less for her- what one saw was the truth. She'd never learned to hide her thoughts or feelings, not all that well.

[blightedson]

He nods at that. "That whole idea... it's still very strange to me. I know what happens here to children born with magic but it's easy to forget."

[fleurdesel]

"...honestly- I was relieved." It meant she wasn't hearing voices because she was mad- but because there was someone speaking to her. "It meant I did not need to learn to play the Game."

[blightedson]

He nods at that. "Understandable." Then, after a moment. "I studied at the University of Orlais. Have I told you?"

[fleurdesel]

"I do not think you have, no." She laces her fingers together and leans forward, attentive. "What was it like?"

[blightedson]

"It was..." He pauses for a moment, trying to think of a proper way to word it. "Like breathing after being under water for a long time." He realizes that's a little too vague so he expands on it.

"I'm not very talented with magic, I'm afraid. I can manage a lightning spell if I focus very hard on it, but otherwise I'm pitiful. Being an altus who lacks skill in magic meant that I never really belonged with my social peers. My parents did what they could for me to feel accepted but there was little to make me fit in at parties. When my interest in mathematics grew, they sent me to Orlais to study. For the first time I meant minds who were tuned to the same things as mine. I enjoyed my time there greatly. Once those around me moved passed working with a Tevinter, it was the most exciting time I've ever had."

[fleurdesel]

"That was much how it was for me to learn at the Spire- but the University...I've heard such things of their libraries, of their teachers." That they were the best. That none in all Thedas could compare. That it was only for the brilliant and those that came away were the brightest and best in all Orlais.

She'd been wary of believing it- but to hear Felix speak of his time there? She could be convinced. "What particular branch of Mathematics caught your interest?"

[blightedson]

"I've been drawn to theoretical mathematics for a while. I like uncovering the language of math, or the way that numbers help to describe our world." He pauses a bit, realizing he's starting to get a little odd. "I suppose that could also be something people feel about studying magic."

[fleurdesel]

"Theoretical mathematics seem to have clearer rules than most branches of magic. It's terribly subjective. At least with mathematics the language is consistent?" At least she assumes so. Otherwise they'd all become terribly confused.

[blightedson]

"Hm, for the most part, yes." He smiles a bit. "Magic does throw everything for a loop. I suppose I"m just more used to it because of my parents. They were both brilliant in magical theory."

[fleurdesel]

"Differing schools of thought, I'm certain. We are permitted to explore to certain limits and no further- especially those of us studying the Spirit school of magic. Higher risk of becoming possessed, you see." Something that's been held over her head for as long as she can remember.

[blightedson]

"Tevinter mages don't always feel the same way."

[fleurdesel]

"On the one hand I wonder what it might be like- to study what I do in Tevinter. On the other there is a great deal I cannot quite abide of the culture- at least what I have heard of it." Nothing terribly kind was spoken in The Spire.

[blightedson]

"With good reason," Felix says carefully. "My countrymen give into their basest desires and claim it for the best of our home." He sighed a bit. "My father fought against that for most of his life, until my illness drove him to madness."

[fleurdesel]

"Grief and fear of loss can drive the most sane of men to extraordinary lengths. There was a man in Val Royeaux, not a noble, not a merchant- a baker that had a terribly ill child. He could not quite afford the price the Spire placed on the use of a Spirit Healer's time- normally we are only sent out for plague or famine- for an entire village rather than an individual. Whatever healers he had seen for them before either did not satisfy his needs or were unable to help. He sold his hair, his teeth, his horse, his home- and his youngest child." Madness is not so wrong a word to use.

[blightedson]

Felix frowns a bit at that. "I couldn't imagine giving up one child for another." Though, honestly, this story just makes him happy he's an only child.