OPEN | The daylight is almost gone

[mythalenaste]

WHO: Pel and YOU
WHAT: November/Firstfall open post
WHEN: Throughout Firstfall
WHERE: Skyhold
NOTES: Pel has near-constant morning sickness, so if you are squicked by vomit, let me know somehow and I'll spare you.

I

Knitting is a refuge, though it is a trying task as Pel's hand heals. Healers have carefully arranged the bones at each healing, but there is still a great deal of stiffness in her right hand. It makes knitting a slow and imprecise effort. Right now, it's a baby blanket, made of the softest wool she has. The pattern is popcorn, little buds covering every centimeter to make the blanket thicker and warmer.

She can also be found at her regular job during the day, in the library, thoughtfully twirling a pen between her fingers as she studies some ancient text.

At night, she can be found on the battlements, facing the sunset and sending up a quiet prayer.

II

There are some days when Pel is hunched over her desk in the library, cheek against the surface waiting for nausea to lessen.

Some days she doesn't get out of bed.

There is one night when she walks into the tavern from her room above, her face covered with her neck handkerchief and eyes watering. She dashes to the far end of the room, picks up a plate with an abandoned half-eaten boiled egg on it, and flings the egg as far out the window as she can manage, even using some magic to make it go as far as possible. Face still covered like she is entering the sulfur pits of the Western Approach, she runs to the other side of the room, then the top of the first flight of stairs, before at last daring to breathe, suppressing a gag amidst her gasps.

Wildcard

Comments

CLOSED to Araceli

[mythalenaste]

Pel has gotten around the shoe thing by making for herself barefoot sandals from some narrow ribbon and beads. The rest of her is exquisitely dressed in the day-gown Araceli provided fabric for. She walks slowly to accommodate her friend, though the cane she and Merrick fashioned for her is fine indeed. She thinks if they are threatened with trouble, she will say that Araceli is her mistress, and she is helping her shop as she recovers from a recent illness. That lie will get them safely through the human district of Halamshiral.

She has chosen this city over Val Royeaux because it is an elven city, and she would much rather patronize an elven business for an expensive purchase. But when the finest elven staymaker in Halamshiral has her order and her measurements--a gestation corset with top panels able to be moved out of the way for nursing--they head into the nicer part of town, masks donned, looking for a bite to eat and the finest wine they can waste on their unrefined palates.

"Do you see anything you like?" she asks softly.

CLOSED to Anders

[mythalenaste]

Pel is one-third of the way through her pregnancy and all she has to show for it is an oddly pointy bump and a very nice set of... Well anyway, she arrives at the healing tents for a regular check-up and sits down in front of Anders' tent to wait her turn, taking out her knitting to pass the time and exercise her hand.

II

[conqueredhearts]

Iskandar had been in the tavern when Pel had come out. He'd watched her and had recognized what was happening rather quickly. After all, he remembered what pregnancy had been like for his own wife when he'd been alive. For that reason, he got up to follow after her up the stairs. He didn't really have to offer anything to her but she was a friend. That was enough in his eyes.

So, he moved up behind her and went to rest a hand on her shoulder where she'd stopped at the top of the stairs.

"Can I get you anything, my friend?"

II

[judgemewhole]

James is usually in the Herald's Rest at some point, when he is actually in the hold, and has a night to breath. Tonight, he is taking some much needed private time in his corner, with his glass of wine and his book --

Right up until the moment that Pel came walking swiftly in, plucked up the egg and then firmly threw it out the window, before covering her mouth and running up the stairs to her rooms.

He stared after her for a moment, before closing his book with a snap and hurrying after her, "Pel? Pel, are you quite all right?"

[mythalenaste]

Oh, Iskandar. Iskandar is precious and huge and reassuring while Pel is still trying not to throw up. A few gasps later, she is calmer, and feeling a bit silly.

"No," she grumbles, leaning into his touch. "Well. Maybe a bit of ginger root, I think that's kept in the kitchen downstairs."

[mythalenaste]

Pel coughs hard, the last spasm before her stomach starts to calm down. Who said being pregnant is magical? Because she'd like to find the first person who said that and shove his head in a bucket of ice, because it was definitely a man who said that. Or someone else who was never pregnant.

"Fine, James," she says in slightly less distress. "All perfectly--"

She has to spend a moment breathing deep, especially since she doesn't know how to end that sentence. Her hand rests on the slight bump on her stomach, silently telling the baby that they had better make this worth it.

[conqueredhearts]

"Of course." He stroked her back once then offered her a warm smile. "Stay here. I will go get some for you."

Far better than to further expose her to the overwhelming smells again. Besides, he'd be able to move faster since he was taller and he wasn't trying not to throw up. So, he went back down and quickly found some of the root, something he easily recognized from watching cooks prepare food when he was a child. This he brought back up and his hand was returned to her back as soon as he reached her, petting her gently as he offered the root to here.

"Here. I remember my wife would chew on some of this as well when she was with child."

[mythalenaste]

Pel would double-take if she wasn't already being pretty obvious to someone who knew the signs. Him having a wife explains everything. She gives him a nod and takes a nibble off the root. The nausea eases, and her face regains some color.

"I think," she says with better composure, "that it is trying to kill me."

[conqueredhearts]

He laughed softly. "It must seem that way. Where is your room? I will walk with you there and keep you company if you like. Perhaps I could sing for you again while you rest."

Obviously he didn't mind doing that. He liked her and enjoyed her company. Besides, music for the child within her could be a welcome thing.

[mythalenaste]

She's not even certain the baby can hear yet, but she gives him a wan smile and a nod. Up to the room it is. It's just above the tavern, tiny but comfortable and fit for two people to live in.

But Daenerys is out, for now, as much of a comfort as she has been. Pel eases onto her own cot with Iskandar's help and sighs as she lies flat.

[conqueredhearts]

The large man easily helped since she didn't really weigh that much to him even without access to the vast amounts of power he'd once had. So once she was settled on the bed, he helped to adjust the pillow to make it easier for her and even pulled the blanket up so she could keep warm. Perhaps he was a warrior rather than a healer but at least he could do this much.

"Have you a chair in here?" He turned to glance for one. Obviously he was ready to go steal one from the tavern if need be.

[judgemewhole]

"You don't look fine, in fact you look as if - " He paused, as she put her hand to her stomach, to a slight rounded belly. His eyes suddenly went wide, and his mouth dropped open in surprise.

"Pel - are you - is that?" He fumbled for a moment, before he whispered quietly, "Did ... you get married and not tell me?"

[mythalenaste]

Pel is very good at keeping her face still. She gives him a beat longer before she decides what she truly, absolutely has to do.

"Of course not. This is yours, silly."

[judgemewhole]

He stares back at her for a long, long moment, his expression flickering through shock, surprise, was that a brief flicker of hope, before it was dashed by hard reality and pragmatism. His tone reflected that in it's dryness.

"Unless we have been consorting while I was sleepwalking, I find that hard to swallow, Pel."

[mythalenaste]

She points to a stool. It's rather small for someone of his size, but it's what she has. "You don't have to stay."

Not that she minds it. It's nice, allowing herself to be looked after, for once.

[conqueredhearts]

Moving the stool closer, he sat down on it. He made it look like it was something made for children but there were no complains from him as he laughed over what she had to say.

"My friend, I do not have to do many things. Yet I am here because I wish to be and you have yet to throw me out." With that, he clapped his hands together. "Now, would you like a tale or a song?"

[mythalenaste]

Her grin is positively shit-eating, though that glimmer of hope breaks her heart a little. She knows that hope.

"I had to see the look in your eye, anyway. Take my amusement where I can find it." Her hand moves protectively, affectionately over the bump. "This is from a one-night stand, despite measures. He is...vehemently disinterested, might be the way to put it."

[judgemewhole]

"I see ... " James's lips pressed together, and now it is a deep anger that flashes in those green depths. "If you want me to soundly thrash him, I shall be more than happy to oblige."

A pause, and a gentler, "...Whatever you need, Pel. You know I will always do whatever I can for you." A faint twist of his mouth, "And your amusements."

[mythalenaste]

"You would have to get in line," Pel answers wryly. "But don't. Saeris isn't really co-parent material, and he knows that. He once burned himself lighting his farts on fire. It was a year ago."

[foxsays]

In a simpler mask than the one from the Satinalia party - no pearls, instead the suggestion of scales picked out across her cheeks when the gilding catches the light - the dress more of a statement, cut the way all her dresses seem to be; low at the front, laced in tight but enough to let her move. A handy distraction if it comes to it, even if she still has both her rapiers because people think she's Antivan (mostly) or Rivaini (sometimes) or both (now and then) so some oddness, well that's just to be expected, isn't it.

It's not the first time she's left Skyhold since recovering but going to the Avvar hold was different to this, fewer people, all of them friends of Korrin's departed friend. Not inclined towards any sort of violence she and Pel have been on the receiving end of lately. Maybe even a week or so ago, Pel's question would've made her jump but she flicks her eyes over, still keeping a watch for anyone that might let their gaze linger on them too long.

"I might get a coat here. I think the people here will appreciate the need for warmth over style better than in Val Royeaux," she replies, just loud enough to be heard.

[mythalenaste]

"Tell me a tale."

[justice_is_blond]

He shows out his current patient, a refugee, and gives Pel a small smile as he sees her there.

"That's one thing I've not learned. Sewing I can do, but not knitting. Come in? How are you doing?" Anders holds the tent flap open.

[mythalenaste]

"Probably. It's a little further south here, and it's not right on the sea." Pel's gaze sweeps the marketplace. "Especially with winter coming on. Good sturdy wool fits every budget. And some of it is very beautiful. In these parts they make loden wool from the lamb's coat where they herd them in the Dales. It's waterproof and nigh-indestructible, and dyes very well."

Such wool Pel had only seen at the Arlathvhen before joining the Inquisition; not only was it not produced in the Free Marches, but there was no need of such heavy clothing.

[conqueredhearts]

He nodded and then cleared his throat. He knew just the story that he wished to share that day. "Today I tell you the tale of a young boy with great pride. So much so that he let it overwhelm him to the point of forgetting the world around him in favor of his own desires. It might seem strange for one with so childish a mind to be the one we should focus on but I promise you that it is for good."

With that established, he began. "This boy was a mage in another time and place. In his place those with little magical blood running in their family line were though to be inferior. Often they were mocked for they could not accomplish things as grand as others. He was one such mage and was mocked heavily in his classes by peers and by teachers. It angered him to the point of him stealing a magical artifact from one of his teachers and learning of a summoning this teacher wished to perform soon."

[judgemewhole]

"You know that we would happily all go and step in to pound him sideways." He paused, before he snorted softly, "... Great Maker. Well, you know whatever you need, you shall have from me."