OPEN | No ploughman's blade will cut thee down, no cutlass wound will mark thy face

[mythalenaste]

WHO: Pel and YOU
WHAT: Open post for December
WHEN: The month of Haring
WHERE: Skyhold
NOTES: Let me know if you want a starter.

Pel's baby bump is unmistakable for those who look for any amount of time, at first. By the end of the month, it's clear she's pregnant even from the corner of someone's eye. These days she is dressing in loose clothing, with a proper gestation corset to support (but not suppress) things both up top and below. None of this slows her down.

Courtyard

Here's something different: a known mage fighting a training dummy with a perfectly ordinary sword. The blade is pitted from corrosion but extremely well balanced. Rather more unusual are the forms she practices--not quite like anything taught by human masters, some things about them completely unique. Obviously it all tends to follow with common sense--except that Pel doesn't strain with the weakness of someone whose muscles are still getting strong enough for this exercise. The sword in her hand could as well be a feather, and she herself weigh little more than one. The only clumsiness comes in the imprecision of her movements. Otherwise, she is incredibly focused, all attention directed inward.

None of this is to say she won't wake up sore, of course. As little strain as they seem to bear, those muscles are still being used, and not quite used to it yet. It's still better than the nausea, which still comes on if she does not exercise.

Barracks

At least once a night, Pel has to wake up to head to the privy. She has recently moved to the barracks and one very kind soul moved rooms to give her one of the beds closest to the toilet. Feel free to stumble into her one night, or two.

Early in the mornings, when dawn is barely underway, she loads up what she needs for the day in a pack and walks briskly to the keep. It's a good warm-up exercise for her morning training with the sword, so long as she keeps the pack light and leaves her books in the library. Her sword is on a belt slung over her shoulder, swinging as she walks. It looks like a bigger load than it is, especially as she practices bolstering her strength with magic. But she won't say no to helping hands.

Library

Today, she hit a point where she could not make herself think about work anymore. She can barely think at all, between stress and pregnancy brain. So instead of the endless droll, she has put her pen to a different use: a completely brainless story about Shartan and Andraste teaming up to fight crime. Also a stray piece of paper falls to the floor with two stick figures, one lying and one standing, respectively captioned "Sylaise" and "Sy stands."

If you creep quietly and read over her shoulder, she will take a while to notice.

Wildcard

[OOC: Daily Schedule]

Comments

Courtyard

[judgemewhole]

James is off on the side, as he yells at the new recruits, but he does glance over to Pel once and while. Then his attention shifts back over to the recruits and he yells, "Shields up! Cover your face or you will get a mouth filled with poison or fire! Higher, and angled! Yes, much better. Again."

Then with a much calmer tone, he turned to Pel, "You might want to relax your stance a little, Pel. Your arms will be completely useless tomorrow if you grip down so tightly."

And then ...back to the troops, "The thrust is upwards! Upwards, up through the chest and to the brain!"

[mythalenaste]

If only Cyril were here to make the that's what I said last night jokes to some of these things. A dimple appears at the corner of Pel's mouth as she represses a chuckle, but she follows his direction. Yes, she can feel how she was overthinking the stance before. That is how she approaches this--perfectionism, the need to get it right immediately. That isn't expected of her anymore.

She chose Iskandar to train her, not because she did not respect James, but because Iskandar was less likely to mind the whole backstory to the sword thing. And he didn't mind it at all. She worried how a Templar, of all people, would react to it. How many mages died for less. She's most likely overthinking that part too. It will all work out better once she thinks up a good enough cover story.

When the recruits take a break, Pel keeps going, sweat pouring down her back. She can see the face of Pryderi sometimes, the Dalish elf she killed for trying to hurt Sina. A sword in her hands feels like power.

She stops suddenly and sticks the point of the sword in the ground, hand going to her stomach and eyes widening as she has the sudden, very strange feeling as if she has dropped sharply from a great height. She is still steady on her feet and not faint or pale, though she could probably use some hydration.

[judgemewhole]

Honestly, James knew very little of what had happened to Pel, Sina, and Herian once they had been kidnapped. When she turned down his offer to train her, he thought it might have been because he was a Templar. It stung, slightly, but he could not expect Pel to trust him just because ...well. Iskander was a fine man - an odd one - and a strong warrior to boot. James had no objections.

Except when Pel was clearly going about it like she was trying to murder the dummy and her arms. Then he was at least going to say something.

He was speaking to the recruits about the importance of keeping loose, in fact, when one of them let out a sharp noise, "Ser!" and he turned around just in time to see Pel plant her sword in the ground, and put a hand to her stomach.

As she still stood, and had not suddenly gone pale, he did not run but he did call out to her, concern clear in his voice, "Pel? Are you all right?"

[mythalenaste]

Pel raises a hand to wave at him. "Baby doing acrobatics," she says with a laugh. "Probably telling me to take a breather."

She pivots to sit on a nearby bench, waiting for him to finish speaking with the recruits as she drinks from a waterskin. She felt a few flutters leading up to this, but that feeling was new. It was like the baby somersaulted.

[judgemewhole]

"Amazing. I would think one would have to be born to manage that." James stated dryly, then turned to finish with the recruits. A few minutes later, seeing that she was still looking at him, he arched an eyebrow and grabbed his own waterskin.

He dropped on the bench next to her, wiping his brow as he took a long sip of water, then said, "Yeeee-s?"

[mythalenaste]

She's feeling cooler now, between the autumn air and the sweat, and she lets out a breath.

"Have you ever worked with Knight-Enchanters?" she asks casually.

[judgemewhole]

He glances over at her, before his mouth twitched up at the corners. "A few, in my time. It's an honorable title, Knight Enchanter. Many have served the Divines, in days past."

Wildcard

[conqueredhearts]

They'd been training early in the day and Iskandar had made sure to never miss a lesson. For that reason he was there again to wait for her, sitting against the entrance to the stables as he stroked his beard. Much like he was pondering whether or not it might need a shave or a trim. His sword was there beside him, resting lazily against his leg as he looked up at the skies.

It was always amazing how vast they were. Were they the same skies as the Earth? There was no way to tell really.

He was pulled from his thoughts when he saw her, lowering his gaze and giving her a wide grin as he rose to his feet with sword in hand so he could go greet her with a warm embrace. It was just his way really. Besides, he was very fond of her which just made it seem so natural to offer her plenty of affection.

"And how are you feeling today? Do you need some ginger before we start?"

[mythalenaste]

Pel shakes her head, giving him a squeeze back before stepping away and picking up the sword. "This helps better than ginger. Though training with both the sword and the magic at the same time is like trying to write different things with each hand at once."

She weighs the sword in her hand before gripping it like she's ready to leap into battle already. She has been, perhaps, a touch over-zealous in her training. Excited would be the polite term, but impatient would also be accurate.

[conqueredhearts]

"Then it is training we shall do." Of course when he saw her grip the sword so fiercely, he laughed softly. Reaching out, he gently moved her to a more relaxed position. "If you hold the sword like that then you will tire yourself before a battle is finished. Relax the body and feel the weight of the sword for just a moment. Just as a staff is part of you when you move, this blade will be too."