[OPEN] Why trouble her lonely soul

[failedfirst]

WHO: Velanna, Fen-Purrel, and YOU
WHAT: Catch-all for Velanna
WHEN: moments throughout Firstfall
WHERE: Skyhold
NOTES: Velanna will be in Serrault for the middle of Firstfall, and is not attending the Winter Palace ball, so threads can be beginning or ending of the month. If you would like a personal starter lmk.

i. Warden Camp

Velanna, per usual, spends most of her time in the Warden encampment. Unlike some of the others she's still living in her tent, though a little more of her time is spent split between sitting in her own personal camp and at the larger campfire. At either one she's usually wrapped in a blanket with a book open on her lap, only actively engaging in others if they approach her first.

Fen on the other hand is a little bolder, and at times Velanna finds she has to look up and click her tongue at him as he climbs into a lap uninvited.

ii. Library

Often if Velanna can't be found in the Warden camp she's making use of the Skyhold libraries. She's been working her way through the books for quite a while, looking for anything of interest that might reference dalish culture, or just something that catches her eye in general. Even if they do not resonate with her, she still knows many shemlen tales.

She is always in her usual alcove surrounded by books, scribbling in her journal every once in a while, cat stretched out on the table next to her snoozing in the sunlight coming in through the window.

iii. Gardens

The gardens are not a place that Velanna frequented, at first. She grows many of her own herbs down in the camp, but there are some that simply don't thrive there. So a little more time is devoted of late to tending to some of the herbs growing throughout the open gardens while also pointedly avoiding any looks from the Chantry nearby. It's something she's grown used to, ten years as a Warden and the nasty looks from Chantry sisters always seem to start with her, despite traveling companions that range between dwarves and apostate humans.

Sometimes when she's working and she thinks no one else is listening she sings quietly while pruning leaves, old Dalish songs with meanings mostly forgotten but are soothing to her all the same.

Comments

[failedfirst]

The look she gives him is, to her credit entirely blank and maybe doesn't entirely show her exasperation with that question. Or maybe she's just giving him an opportunity to noticed the vallaslin on her face. It is fairly light, perhaps it just isn't that noticeable in this particular light.

"I have read it, yes." she's read everything on the Dalish people the library has to offer, even things that weren't worth the time spent printing them. "It isn't the worst book written on the Dalish." Though most of them are pretty terrible.

[lifeofendurance]

Ah yes, he can vaguely make out the vallaslin in the light, but more importantly, he's been trained never to focus on facts rather than broad assumptions based on appearances. Drives his Orlesian mother mad with frustration that he's not a raging bigot about elves.

The important thing here is that she's read the book and can help him determine if it's worth looking through for what he seeks. The man goes from stoic and dispassionate to eager in an opportunity to talk books with someone. "No, the worst, without doubt is Mother Agathe's A Discourse on the Cult of the Creators." Terrible book. Started by calling the Dalish faith a cult, offered nothing at all factual to back her claims, then spent 300 pages spewing contradictions about how Dalish life would corrupt all of Thedas. It was nonsense. He is a man of faith but it's astounding how terrible some Chantry mothers can be in their condemnation of others.

The book gets another curious glance before he looks to Velana again. "Was there any references regarding creatures which have horns? Not halla. More like women."