(no subject)

[perseverances]

WHO: Those who didn't go to the Fallow Mire
WHAT: Some people were smart enough to not go to the Fallow Mire.
WHEN: Firstfall
WHERE: Skyhold
NOTES: None as of yet. Any threads that need to have content warning please tag them properly.



While the exit of the volunteers to the Fallow Mire had left Skyhold a bit more quieter, there were still things left to do in the mountain stronghold. Just because you didn't volunteer to go fight undead doesn't mean you get to shirk on your duties! In fact, you should probably pick up the pace. Less people around meant it might be easier to stand out and get in trouble, and you don't want that, do you?

But always, the Inquisition is there for you. There to help, there to overcome any challenges that might be presented. Make new friends, chat to old ones.

Comments

Ariadne | OTA

[demonicbeauty]

If there was one thing Ariadne couldn't stand, it was being useless. Alastrians weren't used to sitting still. There was always something to be done in the service of the pack. And even after she started living as a Human, Ariadne had always felt the need to contribute. The problem was, that need was now directly in conflict with her desire to keep her head down and avoid suspicion.

It was difficult to hide the fact that she was a 'Righter,' as they called it. The shard was still in her hand. But the threat of being considered a demon left her slinking to the shadows at every chance.

She did her best to reconcile the problems, pitching in with any menial task she could find, things that didn't really require instructions or orders. She fetched firewood. She helped out with the nice healer she'd met. She even played her flute for some of the refugees.

Of all her contributions, it was the last that had gained her the most respect and interest, especially among some of the younger inhabitants of Skyhold. So when Ariadne didn't know what else to do with herself, she perched on a sturdy tree branch and played.

[girlinthebox]

Restlessness was at least something she could sympathize with. There was enough space around the keep to get lost in, and enough thoughts bouncing around to make one dizzy, but Simon's latest effort to keep the noise down had her feeling a little less adventurous and a little more groggy. No less prone to wandering off, it appeared.

So there she was, peering quizzically up into the tree that Ariadne had perched herself in, though with only slightly more curiosity than one might have shown a bird in a similar position.

[demonicbeauty]

People had a tendency to compare Ariadne to a bird. With good reason, really. Although she'd traded her wings for a normal, Human life, she couldn't really forget what it was like to fly. And there were moments when she felt ready to take off.

But she turned her attention to the earth instead of the sky when the girl approached her tree. A little bit older than the children who were usually drawn to her song. But that didn't matter.

She kept playing the spritely tune--a common dance hall favorite back home--and she tried to catch the girl's scent.

[girlinthebox]

The music was heartening, a way to hear something other than whispered secrets echoing in other people's heads or the vibrations of the Fade. It reminded her of simpler times back home in Cumberland.

She stood there a moment, listening, taking in the beat, the rhythm of the thing. Then she took a step, feet pivoting in the mud, her robes spinning out around her as she twirled. Yes, she remembered how to dance, of all things, and the music was rather compelling

[demonicbeauty]

Seeing the girl dance delighted Ariadne.

It was something of an act of defiance back home. Dancing. Dancing in the face of the Red Dragon's approach. Dancing out of joy that life still went on. Dancing in honor of the three goddesses of the Elves, goddesses Ariadne had begun to adopt as her own.

Her long fingers played deftly along the shaft of her flute and she stopped trying to catch a scent for a moment, more enraptured in the display than in secrets and hidden meanings.

The corners of her mouth twitched slightly, though.

[girlinthebox]

The lilting music turned her about as if a guiding hand in its own right, and River breathed deeply before turning into the pull of the notes, her hair streaming behind her. It must have looked deeply odd to any onlooker, one young woman playing the flute in a tree while another danced about in the mud without a seeming care in the world.

But perhaps the world needed a few more frivolous things, untethered to the sorrow that had lain over Skyhold like a shroud as of late.

[demonicbeauty]

All songs had to end. It was an unfortunate truth. Ariadne tried to keep the last notes going as long as she could, but eventually, she had to stop.

The regret was written all over her face.

Still, she smiled at the girl, tilting her head so that her long braid fell over her left shoulder. All Alastrians wore their hair long. The braid dangled down from the branch, swinging like a rope. "You're a wonderful dancer," she said.

[girlinthebox]

River was slightly out of breath, flushed, but happy. Clearly happy for the first time in a long while, and she peered up at Ariadne with unabashed joy.

"They missed moving to the songs of instruments. The other songs were sadder, deeper. I didn't want to forget the other music, either."

[demonicbeauty]

It wasn't the sort of answer she would have expected from a Human. Which intrigued Ariadne far more than the dancing itself.

"You can never forget bright and happy music," she said. "That's inside of everyone, no matter what. When your heart beats, it's playing a song."

She normally didn't say things like that. Not right off. Too Alastrian, too strange.

But there was something about the girl...

[girlinthebox]

"Sometimes the other drowns it out. So many songs here. But they don't play the way you do. Theirs is older, echoes. Ripples in the pond."

Some of that sunniness faded a little at a time, the euphoria waning. But she still felt lighter. And what's more, it seemed the woman in the tree could understand. What a wonderful thing to speak and be understood.

[demonicbeauty]

Ariadne slid off of her branch, falling to the ground and landing softly in a crouch. Despite having given up her wings, she retained her natural Alastrian grace. And anyway, it wasn't that far of a drop.

Standing up, she was slightly shorter than the other girl. It was unfortunate, because the best scents came from the hair.

Of course, Ariadne was shorter than almost everyone she met, so she'd make do.

"It won't last forever," she said, offering the girl a reassuring smile.

[girlinthebox]

"Nothing last forever. Permanence extended but not guaranteed. The world's in flux and it bleeds where he ripped it open." She tips her head towards the sky, a deep breath taken as a swift wind courses through the stone courtyard.

"It's all going to change. I can feel...like...prickles on the skin before lightning in a storm. They're watching, waiting, pressing in from the other side."

[eolasemah]

True to her motives, and not about to risk worsening her health via plague or overexertion, Siuona stayed behind to tend the garden. She was there every day, weeding, sorting, replanting, trimming, anything that needed done to make the area more functional for healers and cooks alike.

Anyone passing through or frequenting the courtyard would grow used to her constant industrious presence, though she rarely spoke to anyone unless first addressed, and seemed reluctant to accept help. But under her touch, and despite the chill in the air, the garden began to flourish.

[ashesandboneyards]

Chaya was not really in the habit of asking before taking. She certainly was not in the habit of asking before taking when it came to things that grew out of the ground - property of nobody at all as such things were in her opinion. It would be like asking to breathe. And so it was only after she had entered the garden, after she had looked through the plants to find the one she was looking for and after she had crouched by a patch of witherstalk to pluck a few of the long stalks that she even thought to speak to the younger elf-

"'mpressive. You looking after these?" -and even then it wasn't asking permission. "Not easy for them to grow in a place like this. Used to the heat and sand and all."

[eolasemah]

Sina had watched her do the plucking, but apparently decided it was done competently enough that she didn't need to lecture. She smiled, a bit uncertainly, at the newcomer. "For now," she replied, "many of the people who helped tend it have gone off to the Fallow Mire."
She took a moment to appraise Chaya, her gaze lingering on the stranger's vallaslin as her smile warmed. "Andaran ati'shan," she said after a pause, "are you of Clan Ashara? I haven't seen you before."

[ashesandboneyards]

Chaya returned the smile, but shook her head. For a moment, her tone became slow and careful, though no less warm. She isn't hurt by the question, but it takes a moment to think how she should respond. "I was of the Suvahl, and now I am not. Now, I suppose, I am of the Inquisition."

She held one of the stalks up to the sun, twisting it between her fingers to inspect it, and the moment ended. Her words returned to the careless, easy way they had come before. "Not even insect marks. You've been hard at work, hmm? This'll work well."

[eolasemah]

Sina knew she'd heard of the Suvahl, but it had been a while since the last Arlathven, and she couldn't decide if Chaya looked familiar or not. The woman's assertion that she was no longer of the clan, however, was enough to give Sina pause.

"...what happened to them?" she asked timidly, before she could stop herself.

[ashesandboneyards]

"Oh!" She realised what she might have implied there. "Nothing terrible. One of the little ones came into their magic, and no-one else we could find had space. You know how it goes. Better an adult go clanless than a babe, I thought."

The words come easier the second time she tries to explain it. "The inquisition seemed as good a place as any to go."

[eolasemah]

Rather than clarify anything, this confused Sina further. She found herself staring openly at Chaya, perhaps with a hint of distrust.
"...so you just..." she said faintly, "...left?" As far as she knew, this was simply not done, and certainly not with so cavalier an attitude.

[ashesandboneyards]

It generally wasn't, but it'd be hard to tell that from the way Chaya spoke of it so casually. "Yup. Up and left. Not sure it was the best choice I ever made, but I made it."

[eolasemah]

What had begun as confusion was now rapidly becoming affront. Sina stared at Chaya for another long moment. She had a multitude of questions, none of which were polite to ask a stranger, even one of the People; but was she really, anymore? Sina's eyes flitted to the woman's forehead once again. Mythal. There was an irony to this, but she couldn't place it.

"..how?" she asked, with the implied 'could you' never reaching her lips. Her shy demeanor was quickly icing over.

[ashesandboneyards]

"Easily enough." She wasn't sure how to deal with the affront - she was still working on that part herself. Taking the question literally seemed the easier way to answer it, and Chaya always did love easy ways of doing things. "I went to collect herbs, didn't come back. Left a letter for them to find, so they knew not to waste effort looking for me."

She shrugged. The topic was clearly bothering the other elf, and she herself was only too keen to move from it. "Guessing that that's not how you ended up here, hmm?"

[eolasemah]

Sina's stare had become incredulous as she listened, and the look she gave Chaya at her following question was downright sulky. The woman was probably only a bit younger than her Keeper, Sina thought, and she'd been taught better than to be overtly disrespectful to her elders-- even if they were only elder by a decade or so-- but she found the topic offensive to a frightening degree.
"No," she said, more clipped than before, and hunched her shoulders as she went back to her planting. "It's not."

[ashesandboneyards]

"Another representative of the clans, then? I heard a few of us-" She paused. Not 'us'. Not anymore. Certainly not to this woman. She might have given every indication of ignoring her growing distress, but that didn't mean she hadn't taken note of it at all.

A quiet snap filled the awkward silence that followed, as she broke off a small piece of the stalk, examining it for a moment before putting it in her mouth, chewing it thoughtfully.

After a moment she corrected herself. "-heard a few of them had thrown their lots in with this inquisition business. Can't fault them, seems as safe a bet as any."

OTA

[easternseaqueen]

Admittedly, Isabela still spent a lot of time in the tavern. It felt most like a home to her after Ferelden and Kirkwall. But even then, there was only so much time she could spend in her cups, dealing out yet another hand of cards. Not that she wouldn't be up for it, but it got dull with so few people having anything worth betting.

So, more and more often, she began to start offering to duel. Whether it was to teach someone new the basics, or just keep her sparring partners on their toes.

The question was, how many were willing to go up against a swashbuckling pirate queen of a duelist?