faderift | [open] exploration, study, and practice

Entry tags:

[open] exploration, study, and practice

WHO: Waver + Open
WHAT: Mucking about
WHEN: Month of Drakonis, contemporary timeline
WHERE: In and around Skyhold
NOTES: None

i. Woods around Skyhold
Months ago, Iskandar had talked to Waver about wanting to build a small place for himself in the area. While Waver had had concerns, like the shards, he also wasn't going to argue with having a little bit more private space. And so with melting snows and the promise of spring that came with longer days, he set out into the forests.

He was methodical as he went, relying on horseback to get to whatever area he wanted to focus on on a given day, and then spending hours on foot making notes on natural clearings, where snow naturally drifted, and where it seemed as if there were heavier animal tracks for the sake of hunting.

Waver didn't enjoy the wind and the cold, but he enjoyed the quiet around him, the challenge before him, and the fact that he was actually working outdoors without wheezing and panting like he might have been a few months ago. For better or for worse, Thedas forced him towards the physical, whereas his life in London had only been academic. Or else it was Iskandar making him do the same.

His work and his thoughts are coupled with keen ears that listen for anyone who might be approaching. Animals, he expects, and hopefully none of them predators.

ii. Library
With Merrill having approved of his general approach of creating course schedules for the Skyhold classrooms, Waver was now tweaking what he had come up with. He wanted to build in a break week at the end of every cycle, both for courses to catch up or for people to take missions, and besides, some complimentary course timings were an issue.

So he sat at a long table in the library, parchment cut into squares in one pile and a drawn up calendar in front of him. As he worked, each class was placed on the calendar, and the squares arranged then rearranged as he tried to find something that would be as close to ideal as possible.

There were mutterings of fuck every so often that snaked down the shelves, coupled with that won't work or else ugh.

But it kept him busy, and he loved the puzzle of it all. And as he worked, there was a pleased smile on his face, one that wouldn't go away even if interrupted.

iii. Training
In asking Iskandar what might be the best weapon for him to learn given that magic might not always be available to him, Waver had been told that knives would be an excellent option. And while most of that learning was done away from prying eyes, there was always the need to practice.

Today, Waver did that in a corner of one of the grounds within the fortress, taking advantage ofa dummy left aside by someone else who forgot to put the thing into proper equipment storage. The daylight was fading, and the area looked as if it would see no traffic.

His movements were faster than they were when he and Iskandar had started out. But with the two little practice knives Waver had, he did nothing but miss mark after mark. The issue he knew was that he was now working with a skinny little dummy, rather than a man who was as big as a house.

He gave it several more attempts before muttering, "Goddamnit."

That one knife also went flying from his hand escaped Waver's notice for a moment. When he realized his left hand had nothing in it, he then immediately let out another swear before starting a search. "Where did that thing go--"

iv. Wildcard
For anything not covered above

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"Foxes are contrary creatures. Also, prone to eating things that have been dead for days, baking under the hot summer sun on the beach, sometimes after they've had a good roll in it." Araceli almost manages to keep a perfectly straight face, discussing the failings of her furry son as if he isn't a few feet away, nose tucked beneath his tail. She's assaulted his dignity and reputation innumerable times, it's fine.

With a nod, she smiles and shrugs one shoulder. "I took him with me. Not everywhere but if I can climb up with him on my shoulder unless he can make his way up steps or ladders, he'll run along rooftops and leap the smaller gaps. He's there for my classes most days unless he's got something better to do with his time." Which has her gesturing to the parchment; her own schedule is fixed but she's never actually sat down to plan it like that beyond roughly knowing where she might be at a certain hour.

"Struggling with a workload?"

"But dead things provide actual nutrition," Waver countered lightly. This entire line of thought was ridiculous and he intended to pursue it to the end. "Parchment does not, and it is far too thin to even be a filling snack. " And at this point, his eyes are not even on Arcaeli, but the fuzzy fox instead.

At the mention of classes, Waver just shakes his head. There's zero point in denying what he's doing, given that it is for a larger group's benefit - not just his own desire for a good logical puzzle.

"Nearly struggling. I got some notes on preferences for class times, and need to rearrange the whole rotating schedule to try and accommodate them. I've nearly got it down."

"Not in the quantities he gets through, believe me," she replies dryly, pinching the bridge of her nose to hide that she wants to wince so very badly. It wasn't even in Thedas that he did that but the memory still smarts all these years later. One eye cracks open when Lux yawns hugely, then closes again. "Still, it's been very tempting when I've had to sit here reading about the finer points of Chantry history and this Divine or that Divine, and all the various traditions and meanings behind place settings in Orlais and beyond."

The perils of bard life aren't just the Grand Game, at least if you're a rifter playing catch-up when you've chosen that path.

"What class are you teaching?" She asks, genuinely interested since she does like to know the goings on around Skyhold. "I usually stick a notice up in a few places around Skyhold to say when I'm available to teach mine, but it works best in small groups or one-on-one."

"That's when you grab food from the kitchens, hide it on your person, and pray the librarian doesn't hear you snacking away," Waver said, as if he was an old pro at that. Which wasn't wrong, he did that a lot back when he was still a student at Clock Tower and studying late into the night at the library.

Waver shakes his head when asked what he's teaching. It has been a strange thing to say I'm not over the past few months. "I'm helping design a new rotation schedule and set up course levels, actually," he explained. "Back home I teach and we use this kind of system. Merrill liked the concept and--" well. Here he was. "I like the challenge though."

"Go up to the rookery, out the door at the top and along the ledge to the left then jump or climb down, you're on top of the kitchens quicker than going the other way." Handy tips for getting around Skyhold faster, if he's ever inclined that way because the first thing she did on arriving over a year ago was figure out every single one, preferably with as little time on the ground as possible. "You're lucky you aren't a pretty girl, you'd get no peace from him begging to see if you possibly have something for him. Begging, rolling over, looking so very sad - he is wasting away to a shadow, you cannot tell."

Look at him. All that thick fluff must surely be hiding nothing more than flesh and bone, not a roly-poly fox underneath it all.

Not an instructor then, something that she doesn't actually have the right word for here and she doesn't know if what she's thinking of would translate correctly anyway. "Right now it isn't so bad as it has been for the assignments people are sent on, in truth, I am surprised at how long it has been since the Inquisition expanded and set up a presence in a new place. That and the flurry of missions at the time could easily disrupt everything for several weeks if it was the way it had been this time last year." In a way, she misses getting to go out and see more of Thedas with a larger group of people, getting to just go exploring in a way that had felt more like it was for the sake of it instead of some of her own missions. Rivain had been the last time she'd stopped to enjoy herself for a long time and Rivain is more than half a year behind her, creeping ever closer to a whole year gone. "What do you teach that needs this sort of system? People do not have just have their tutor?"

Remember the old days, when people had tutors for one subject or several? Guess what sort of world Araceli comes from.

"Noted for the future when I eat everything I've brought with me." Albeit Waver knew he'd be more likely to break a leg with that kind of a route, never mind refuse to take it during the colder months on principle.

At the description of the fox's usual routine, Waver finally gave in and cracked a smile. He can imagine it all rather easily, and the sight is both ridiculous and endearing in equal measure. "How often does that routine prove successful though? 40%? 50%?"

"That flurry is sort of the point," he said. "Even if we have to pause everything and then there's a bunch of new folks, we can give them a set time where they'll be entering into and progressing through the courses together. There's no need to play catch up in a class that might be well advanced."

As for his own career, Waver paused. He tended to be cautious about revealing his status as a mage back home, given well, Thedas. "My institution is a large university with a few hundred students at a time and a set number of years of attendance. While I'm mostly focused on contemporary theory, there are other more practical courses. Students are expected to have a certain level of balance in their studies, and there are multiple professors in departments. It is a big beast with a lot of moving parts."

For all of the old fashioned-ness of Clock Tower, they had at least adopted some contemporary trends. "I can't imagine a one-on-one ratio for that number of students."

"If you like sweet things, get in with Burly." Burly is her favourite. Best thing about being part of the group that got the Tal-Vashoth chefs to come to Skyhold? They feed you extra things.

Laughing quietly enough so she doesn't disturb anyone else trying to get some actual work done, Araceli shakes her head. "I'd put it closer to sixty, he's had a lot of practice growing up where we did and as I did." To call Lux's situation unique sometimes feels like selling him short, but Araceli had never met another fox in the flesh until the little ones in Thedas.

"For some that must work, if there's a lot of instruction for learning all the same parts together. I cannot imagine it working for the climbing so well, but that's always going to be individual cases each time. Language and culture, maybe some of the alchemy or even the mounts." She's heard a bit about Korrin's lessons but that's pretty much a given for the two of them.

Eyes wide, she tries to imagine that but there's not really anywhere in Castileos that would be so large with the way things are. "So many? Not even the University of Orlais could boast so many I am sure, and they have changed in the past few years from what I have studied so far. I cannot imagine such a thing in my homeland, there the classes are smaller, or apprenticeships are how someone learns a craft or profession that requires a great deal more time and dedication than lessons alone.

"I had tutors in my girlhood, then when I left home I had more practical lessons from those who knew the ways of the world not found in their books."

"I'm generally for savory, but I have noticed that when I want proper afternoon tea, a sweeter scone craving hits. I'll keep an eye out." The kind of scone that might have candied peel, or else dried fruits and be topped off with sweetened cream. A luxury by any stretch of the imagination, even back home when students and departments demanded too much of Waver's time.

"That's a pretty good average, really," Waver grinned. "And I'm sure thick winter coats helped make him appear even fluffier and help out with things."

Actually, a coat that fluffy must've felt good about now. It was still cold most days, and Waver envied having that kind of constant insulation.

"Oh, absolutely," Waver agreed. "Although I conceed that climbing is deeply individualized and not suited for this kind of rotation. But then--" he shrugged. "We'll see if it works at all. I could be wasting my time for all I know."

But at least it was a good challenge. Waver missed those.

"I can't say I've investigated the university there, but can you give me an estimate of the student population?" He was genuinely intrigued by the idea. "Apprenticeships are mostly left to family-teaching-family within my institution - and family is key, don't get me wrong. Usually our students have been going through that most of their lives. But there's a lot of value placed on coming out of the university as well. I'd call it a societal marker for the rich and well off, but the less well off kids do genuinely benefit."

He smiled quietly at the mention of practical lessons. "I find that those I've taught that have had practical lessons do better."

Macarons are her downfall, personally speaking. Probably the reason she gets banned from the kitchen if the have to make a set number since all three chefs know she was a damned good thief back home and the temptation for tiny brightly coloured things is near impossible to resist.

"Don't remind me, before long he'll be shedding. We already have bearskin blankets, he even got one all to himself." Because she spoils him rotten of course. "I'd be surprised if people haven't already seen Korrin wearing him like a lady's stole about the place if she's feeling silly." The smile is even brighter this time though because she's seen it when she's had to go looking for one or, more commonly, both of them and they're entertaining someone that way. It's a pretty ridiculous sight all things considered.

"You're talking to someone who doesn't even have a sleep schedule though," Araceli concedes since the routines of others benefit her as much as her own lazily defined one benefits her. "I can see a lot of people who were Circle mages or even Templars being interested. People with routines that always had routines? They find that hard to break."

With a quiet sigh, she finds a chair since she needs to rack her brain here, looking up and away for a few moments to try to remember it once she's seated. "The largest in Thedas, I am certain of that but there are many restrictions on who can attend as you can expect for a place like Thedas. Even before Empress Celene came to power it was considered something of a place to send those who didn't have a prospect the same as other siblings in a family might, and the Chantry would take the greatest minds that could be found there. She elevated education and arts within Orlais far more than those before her. Elves were even sponsored to enter though…" Trailing off, a flicker of anger and disappointment passes over Araceli's face. "Well, given how terribly elves are treated, I am sure you can imagine."

The things Araceli had heard about things students had been asked to write about elves still make her feel sick.

"My homeland is a nation of sailors, many things can only be taught by being alongside an experienced hand. For a lot of people who weren't born to a noble family or merchants? It's the best way to make a life for yourself from a young age so you don't need to choose between a roof over your head or food on the table." It should never have to be a choice, and even if she has the skills to hide it, she never bothers to disguise her bitterness over that fact unless she's working with nobles to get something done.

"Ah, yes. The joys of having to clean up animal fur during the shedding seasons. Goodness knows I can see the tell-tale signs on my colleagues, and it is even more reliable than when greenery pokes up through the snow." The mental image of Korrin wearing a living stole causes a sharp bark of laughter. "Please, please tell me that has happened before, so I can get my hopes up that it might happen again."

The notion of no schedule fits with the sort of personality Waver's read off of Araceli so far. So he nods rather than say anything on it, as it is a personal preference with zero consequences as far as he's concerned. Not everything worked for everyone, Waver knew that.

"Mm. That developmental track is close enough to how universities evolved back home, including the poorer treatment of minorities." It isn't worth clarifying that there's no elves in England. Kind of besides the point. "We use examinations to admit rather than other restrictions, but that hardly makes the enterprise democratic. Families with prestige subvert everything easily." Of course, that was also because the politics of magi and the Clock Tower were one in the same most days, but to complain about that was to complain about the sky being blue.

"Apprenticeships are common in some parts of home, but for--" for magi. "My line of work has bizarre baggage for centuries of reasons, and to be considered good at what you do means you have to play politics. To play politics, it is generally advised that you study where I'm instructing. It is, in short, a complete mess."

"I think it started whenever I was away from Skyhold and Lux was bored, then when I was wounded several months ago she had to entertain him more so he wouldn't mope," she breezes past that bit, it's not a happy time to remember with her jaw clenching. "Now it's a habit."

If Korrin ever manages to wear him to a fancy party-- well, maybe she might if it's in Ferelden. They're the ones draped in furs not silks, she could maybe sneak him past the notice of everyone that way before he started snatching up the canapes whenever a tray passed him.

It saddens Araceli to hear about another place where it was the same again, where people are denied simply because of who they were. "A cautionary tale then. So many places I learn about where the same tales have happened again and again. Someone always tries to rise higher, someone always begrudges them that and tries to shove them back down because they are somehow less than them or different. We will see how Celene's work continues in Thedas now Briala has a title and I will hopefully return to my homeland one day to see how my own queen changes things." Since Araceli will be there at her side helping but a she can count the people who know that about her on one hand still over a year into her stay at Skyhold so that's a card comfortably close to her chest.

"What is your line of work, exactly? If I am allowed to ask that. Politics is in us all no matter how you slice it; the sword or the pen, blood or ink. We are always manipulating, no? Moving as best we can whether we are aware of it or not." If there is a lump in her throat she will fight through it and think that Martel will be glad of his words living on somehow in the same place as they spoke of them before, even as the tears threaten. Old man how dare you, she thinks.

"Well, it'd make sense. You weren't there to put a stop to the silliness immediately, so it was able to take root. But there are worse issues to have with one's companion, I suppose." It was fairly harmless, and moreover, added an element of levity to any proceeding. That was doubtlessly a good thing.

"I don't know if it is a cautionary tale," Waver admitted. This kind of thing had been something he chewed over time and again since arriving in Skyhold, thanks to the luxury of multiple perspectives. It was quite nice, in a way, even if the truth of all worlds seemed to be an ugly thing. "I'd suggest it is more a universal pattern, true across time and space. Not that it makes such a thing any less distressing, but--" he gestured idly with a hand. The sentence could be filled in too easily.

"I'll give you my answer, but I'd like to know what your ruler from home is looking to do. And as long as you don't jump to conclusions with my answer." Waver enjoyed learning about other worlds just as much as he did trying to interpret the patterns of them. "My line of work is being a professor of magecraft. Very different from magic here, but the word mage is what we call ourselves back home. We're a small group, and our government and school are--" he paused, crossing his fingers. "Like that. It makes life interesting."

waver made a point of not commenting on anything he saw threaten on Araceli's face. It wasn't something to pry at.

"He earns it, perhaps one day you'll get to see him when he's hard at work. The Fereldens talk about how smart their mabari are but they know nothing of the cunning of a fox." Maybe because all of their foxes are tiny things that can fit in her pocket if she felt like scooping one up but they also tend to scatter if you anyone seems to get too close.

"I have been the one told I am less for my station in life, there was a time I allowed it to get beneath my skin. Never again. My work here for the Inquisition has me having to play nice with the nobles, perhaps it colours things more." As if her work before didn't already do that though here she doesn't have the same familiarity or the buffer of her fellows to help out, almost entirely alone even if she knew that and accepted it going in. Some things you can't help but miss.

Smiling softly once she's managed to push her grief down to be dealt with later, she continues. "The simple and wrong thing to say is change for the better, because no one ever agrees on what better is. Her Grace Above the Waves to give her her proper title wishes education to be available to all regardless of their birth, and to hold the nobility and the wealthy accountable for their actions. Higher taxes for them to pay for such things, to stop some of them from having a monopoly on certain goods if there is ever a shortage and such." Is it still going on without her? She hopes so even if she does worry because she was always the one to take Leandra out into the places of Castileos deemed 'too unsafe' for a queen, ridiculous really, for a council to ban the queen from anywhere she had been born to; how could she rule if she didn't know the whole of her nation, something Araceli had argued early and Leandra had laughed and said 'we will be such good friends, you and I'. But Waver speaks of mages and Araceli's eyes light up because this too is a thing she cares for though with so many departures from Skyhold?

Well, she's at a loss really. And this might help.

"Are you free mages? How you teach, how you are governed, it isn't like the Circles of Magi with restrictions and being kept from your families and freedoms? I confess, magic is only a thing in books where I am from so Thedas has been an education to me on such things. How does it work? Being a professor of magecraft?" Waver you might have regrets because there's the Circles or apostates or being Dalish or being a mage under the Qun, that's pretty much it for her knowledge here and finding out something new is exciting.

"I'll keep an eye out. Then again, that shouldn't be hard. He's a unique creature, and to my knowledge there aren't any other foxes living in Skyhold." Or if there were, Waver hadn't seen them.

Waver recognized far, far too much of himself when she began to speak of being less for one's station in life. That was how magi back home operated, the stupid hierarchy of talent and marrying up, and it never sat well with him. "I think that it might, but that isn't a bad thing. It makes proving people wrong a lot more satisfying, for one."

The reforms were ones Waver favors across any world, and he nodded along approvingly at the expanation. There was precious little point in stating the obvious fact that reforms like that are hard and can lead to revolt - doubtlessly, that's known info - but he could appreciate that anyone's willing to do that. Rather he settled on the far more hopeful, "Those are good goals to strive for. I hope things take root and grow according to her plans."

It felt strange to have someone excited about home and about magecraft though. Waver iwas used to grousing about it, about the politics, about his adoptive sister, about all the little infractions that make him want to critique everything around him until it is dust. But then again, home was sunshine and puppies compared Thedas' opinions on magic.

"I think the most straight forward thing to say is that the infrastructure of magic in Thedas isn't comparable to anything back home. Not in how our craft draws power out and not in how we do or don't move about in society." Which was an understatement.

"Magi don't advertise themselves as magi. It is a societal preference, and for most people where I'm from, it is like you said. Magic is in books, it isn't real. Which suits magi just fine, as many are old families who have had their craft passed down through generations." It isn't going to be a lecture, if Waver can help it. "That same element has created a bit of a mage nobility versus younger families divide, which is what I often contend with at work. To be a mage is to be an heir to a family fortune, in a way. But families can choose to be as insular as they like, or interact with non-magi and the wider world as long as they keep the craft on the down low to their other friends and associates."

"There is that satisfaction, I won't deny it but there are times when I get so very tired of it. You always know those people are watching for you to slip up and prove whatever point they have right so whatever you think or feel, you need to keep it held very tight until much later." It's been far too long since she's spoken to someone else who's had the same issues, just getting to talk about it lets her relax, sink back more comfortably. Bards wear masks even when they aren't wearing them and in her room she's lost her temper in private more times than she's proud of. It's why she misses everyone else from home so much, the well-oiled machine it was where one person didn't have to bear the brunt of it alone.

Thedas is much more of a balancing act and with the mark upon her hand, it can tip so fast, so very easily that she is always aware of where she is.

"She is a young queen, ages with myself, but she has belief and will. She takes audiences with normal folk more than other monarchs that I can remember." She does try to not sound too enamoured of Leandra but she loves her queen, what can she say.

"Such a thing usually takes a long time and usually has a cause - was there ever strife, some danger or stigma for those who possessed it? I can imagine that there are many mages in Thedas who would prefer it was that way for them. Unknown but not restricted." Already though she can see where there might be a problem inherent in it, a world within a world but that's what happens with nobles or anyone with power, it matters more about the character of the individual persons than anything else. "Is it guaranteed then that they would have mages? From my understanding in Thedas there are some bloodlines where magic is more inherent same as how in my own world there are some where they are famed for all the daughters having the same eye colour, everyone having the same nose passed down through generations and so on. Trying to bring the old attitudes together with the modern, even to find a meeting place to begin with must be a challenge."

"Mm, that. I used to be a lot worse with keeping such reactions under my hat. I don't know if it is because I've gotten older or have learned to put up with even more nonsense that has caused the slip ups to slow down." Both, most likely but that was neither here nor there. Waver also knew that having pointedly non-mage related hobbies, like video games, were a factor. Easy to vent and no one to be the wiser.

The love is clear, and there is a part of it that is deeply familiar. A smile tugged at Waver's lips recognizing familiar sentiment. "That is a good sign. Does she have a council that voices all perspectives, or only the ones bent towards reform?"

If it was a cabinet or council or some other word, Waver didn't know. Just a stab in the dark.

"Yes and no to cause. There was a fear of witches for a few centuries, but most families were already underground and bypassed. I think it is just the nature of what the supposed end-goal of the craft is." It was, in Waver's opinion, now a pointless goal, but he didn't voice that. No one wanted to hear him say such things. "As far as children goes, it is almost promised that a child will also be able to use the craft. It is also a generally accepted rule of thumb that two powerful parents will produce a more powerful offspring. Mind, families do eventually decline, but the causes of that are still being researched, as is how one might become a more powerful mage in their own lifetime before they have children."

The last thing is Waver's pet project, a thing that got him laughed at as a teenager and something he still believed in deeply. Beyond his work, beyond his duties to the Archibald family, there was the desire to improve as a mage in his own right, in spite of all limitations before him.

"Basically, families are so obsessed with breeding for more powerful kids to continue the line that they ignore everything else. It helps those on top quite a bit as well. There are studies of this kind of inheritance outside of magecraft but--" magi using technology is often a thing scorned. "Well, getting anyone to agree to use techniques of non-magic users is an uphill battle at the best of times."

"One day our neighbours will complain, I am certain, but that's the benefit of living in the main hold with thicker walls than being packed in like sardines down in the barracks." Carefully cutting some purses too so she can donate the funds to worthy causes like the mages or the elves same as she would to feed the hungrier parts of town back home? Incredibly satisfying.

And since she's thinking of a mostly oblivious older generation… "From what I know - and I am but a thief, though my father and mother have both been summoned to audiences with her for what they do, her council are mostly the old guard. They try to fight her tooth and nail." Araceli's good at lying about not knowing how that bit works when she knows each and every one of them very well indeed, all their tics and habits, all the tells they have when they lie, when they're about to snap, when they can be pushed into agreeing. "I think that they serve for a term but it's a very extended term and to be seen to suddenly replace them without grounds could cause a great deal of upset that would be visited upon those in the least position to defends themselves against it. She moves carefully."

A young queen, a new queen, there's no other way to do things but softly softly until no one knows what she's doing until it's too late and the board is already set. That's the plan at least.

"Does that not pose a danger to them in the end? Even if there are enough families, eventually they start to overlap and the blood intermingles too often, I know that there are many things my people are less advanced with in what others call the sciences but we know that part." Araceli's stolen some family pedigrees to sell to fences and the sums some of those have been worth have been absolutely staggering until she'd sat down and realised what they'd meant beyond being papers with names scrawled on them. "Hard work and dedication alone are not enough I take it. Or is it a self-fulfilling prophecy where if you are told a thing often enough that it becomes true because it takes root within you."

Times like these are when she appreciates how much freedom she was given as a girl. Lessons from her parents and tutors but plenty of space and support to go out into the world to make her own path and mistakes, knowing that if she fell flat on her face so she had a space to do it. It would be her choice, not something they plotted out for her. Having to live a life dictated by another would be a cage to her, no matter how elegantly gilded and lavishly furnished it might be.

Her brow furrows very slightly. "Mages are not allowed to us, or are looked down upon or scrutinised, if they use a thing that is considered to be for the use of non-mages?"

"One day is probably far away, which also means time to plan."

Listening carefully, Waver nodded along. He wasn't surprise that the older members of the council were against reform. But those kinds of voices were also what Waver would consider an advantage. A way to anticipate opposition and find ways to pacify it before anything else could happen. "As well she should. Those kinds of voices always have their use anyway, and I'm sure that she's factored that into decisions too. Goodness knows that perspective like that is needed, even if they fight everything."

But magi things, well. Araceli already had the right of the problems, in Waver's view. "It absolutely does. Some families can luck into powerful heirs when they're young and then wed into the nobler ones, but a small group is a small group. But--" he gave a tired sigh. "They prioritize tradition, sometimes to a fault. There are sometimes odd fluxes too, but they are rare."

Not ones he'll get into either. He was one such example, lucking into the position of being a lord through a complicated set of circumstances, but that wasn't a story for anyone right off the bat. "Hard work and dedication are considered to only get one so far, because one's spellcasting power is tied to what are called magic circuits. Veins for spellcasting, and the more you have, the more powerful your work. Those are fixed, and you can only do so much to improve until you hit a hard limit." Trying not to despair at that was always hard, but Wavers tone was a practiced neutral.

"Technology is looked down upon," he continued, rolling his eyes to make it clear just what he thought of such attitudes. "Magi have an often pointless sense of superiority and like to be showy over pointless things. Who cares about a fancy way to contact other people when you can use a mobile phone and make a sodding phone call. "

One day is going to turn out to be Kirkwall, thinner walls, and far less understanding neighbours down in the docks. But that day isn't just yet.

"Having so many audiences with as many as possible was always done but she has far more than those who ruled before her, especially with those who travel. Though, unlike Thedas, we actually do sail far more places than anyone seems to have done in Thedas. Our world doesn't abruptly stop." If it weren't for the anchor shard keeping her tied to other rifters and thus to the Inquisition, trying to sail off somewhere else if she could find the crew would maybe be in her top priorities. After all, who knows what they might find, what new information, new insights, what might actually help with everything going on here.

As someone with no plans for marriage herself, she still manages not to make a face. Although that's more down to her father passing on his poker skills from before she knew what he was doing, thanks dad. "And the children, are they given any sort of say in this?" It's...well, if a marriage is brokered in a way that allows for love and happiness then she can support it but when it's the old dictating the lives of the young it doesn't sit well with her. A person's life is theirs to live after all.

"Do you mean veins such as-" Instead of finishing, she turns over her hand, tapping her wrist to trace where the veins are under the skin because in her head that would make sense. Bloodlines, veins, magic, all running through them, somehow building up as the blood intermingles same as certain traits become more prominent the more closely related certain families become depending how tightly they wish to tie their fortunes. But she would rather know, though she does pull a face at the last part. "Mobile phone?"

"Is home particularly land locked though?" he asked, tilting his head very slightly. "The ocean here, from what I've seen on the maps, is pretty small compared to even home for me. But-" Wait a second. "The edges are abrupt stops? This place isn't circular?"

That was possibly the most ridiculous thing he had heard since arriving, come to think of it. Waver politely picked his jaw back up off the floor, hoping the had heard wrong.

"Most kids aren't, no. It depends on how they're raised, and the individual choice of families. No matter what, anyone who is from a family serious about magecraft will have the notion that their responsibility is to their family first." Waver's family weren't serious magi. He had been the first to undertake it with any kind of gravity, and it had thrown him in his youth. "A few of my students are more free spirited, but by and large, the family's legacy is valued above everything else."

It wasn't something Waver agreed with, and the thin frown of disapproval made it clear. But it was easier to talk mechanics rather than child rearing, and he nodded in confirmation at the tapping. "Basically. Invisible veins, if you like, but still present. "And uh. Mobile phones are like the crystal network here."

"Castileos, where I come from, is a series of islands; we're not a country exactly, we're a nation. Some islands are tiny, others are very large, but many many islands, elsewhere though you have proper countries, three of them all share one huge landmass together. But sailors from my home were the very first to explore all our world, to chart it. Thedas--" Getting up from the table, she moves to one of the shelves to find one of the books she remembers using to begin her studies, Lux's head popping up to track her until she returns to the table.

Sitting down again, she opens the book to flip to the map, tracing where it seems to abruptly cut off with a shake of her head. "You see? So little has been explored in Thedas. It could be their history of Blights and wars but for a people to have been present so long and to have not accomplished any further on any map than this? It troubles my heart, truly it does."

That might be her father's influence though but she can't imagine a people being content with so little known about where they come from.

"I cannot imagine that. I come from a place where we are expected to think of the whole and to be able to pull together as a crew in a time of crisis but freedom is so deeply prized. To be true to your heart, to follow your passions. So long as no party is hurt by it? You go where it takes you and live to the full each and every day." The joys of a nation of sailors founded on that belief. "I hope that it changes so that they might all make their own choices in life to live as they will, as people. Not some instrument of another."

But another place, and another way to keep in touch that she envies. "We only have letters where I am from. Ships to send them across the seas or a few birds if you have the money. Birds or riders or a person on land. Though I know many jobs I wouldn't have had if we had such things."

"You're right, actually," Waver agreed, following the map and the lines being traced. He frowned, trying to imagine the implications of say, Thedas actually being flat. "Any society eventually gets to seafaring and exploring. It can take some time, and bodies of water might be massive, but it does happen. And it isn't as if the histories here are young either." He paused, tapping his chin thoughtfully.

"Blights and wars slow. They don't halt. But what is the impediment then? I certainly can't think of any." His gaze seemed to seek Araceli's opinion on the matter. He was no sailor.

Waver could only agree with what should be done. It was the ideal, as far as he was concerned, but Waver also knew that magi erred towards being less progressive rather than more. "It'd take generations to get to that point of change. I think the outside world is forcing some stuff to move along faster though, and I can only ope that this area is one of them."

"As for correspondence, I fully admit that my time and place has made us lucky. But it isn't like the network here is the only form of communication, you know? Same holds true for home. The instant one is just the primary means."

"We came from the sea, where I come from." Her heart longs for it, even if she has come to make a terrible sort of peace with being up in these mountains so far from it, so long as she might spend her birthday by the salt air at the very least. "The histories we can say are fairly accurate and well-recorded from the founding of the Chantry; all of us are prone to error but that gives us the standard Ages for Thedas, dates and so on. Going further back is what makes it more difficult.

"I cannot say what stopped them. They do not lack for the ability to build ships, and with their magic and discussions I've had with Korrin, it should give them some things we had to overcome with different methods. Even the Qunari...the timing doesn't match up if they were afraid of that. There are pirates in Thedas, the Raiders of the Waking Sea or the Felicisima Armada but there are obviously other routes to take." Looking up from the map to Waver, she shakes her head, trying to get rid of the confused frown on her face because it doesn't make sense to her, not at all. "Thedas is very focussed within itself. It could be just that. I will be sad but unsurprised if it is that."

Always looking to their own borders, to themselves? Orlais was proof of many things for her so she wouldn't be hugely surprised if that's what's managed to keep them bound to these shores all these centuries.

"What other methods do you have? It must be so freeing in so many ways - so many times I have worried about a friend or a contact I rely upon, where you have to go through so many people in different ways to pass a message. If you can just--" She doesn't know what to do to illustrate her point exactly so she waves her hands slightly, trying to convey something of just doing it. Something that would free them up. Even the sending crystals had been so strange and impossible, more is nearly too much.

"There are ways to date and explore the composition of the land prior to any written records back home," Waver murmured. Geology and archaeology sprang to mind, but one was hard without the appropriate advances in technology within the boundaries of Thedas, and the other was hard to do without enough context of the history and cultures of Thedas. "But they aren't viable unless you feel like finding some ruins and go tromping about in them."

Waver's lips thinned. The lack of sea culture was truly bizarre, and perhaps there was some deeper, older fear of sea exploration that was never articulated. "That level of self absorption does sound par for the course." He looked around, hoping that wasn't overheard. Satisfied that no one reacted, Waver nodded, pleased enough. "The worst part of me does dread what would happen if there were new cultures that the people here hadn't made contact with though. Things here are already chaotic. Adding an entire new people could be--" he mimed the gesture of an explosion. Definite bad news.

"Well, the older, more traditional way. Mailing letters and such, but those methods are faster as well. You can drop a letter into a specialized box, and there's a dedicated national service that gets your correspondence there within maybe two or three days," he continued. "But that's really the other major one. Older pieces of technology that were common have long since fallen away."

"Honestly if there are a people who might have methods such as that in Thedas, it would be the Qunari but the Qunari are very unlikely to share with the rest of us. For many reasons." The Qunari in general are a subject Thedas always seems to like to keep well away from them unless it's to bring up heathen oxmen or something like that, and she understands why people like Korrin have good reason to feel that way, or any mage who fears restrictions tighter than the Circles. It doesn't change that the Qun seems to have things that the rest of Thedas doesn't and that the other thing they don't have is a much tighter restriction on magic.

As much of an outsider as she is, Araceli knows when to notice things and keep her mouth firmly shut until she is entirely sure about the company. "Thedas does have plentiful ruins, Ellana Ashara, a friend of mine has gone to more than one very recently. Elven but many of the oldest ruins in Thedas are. She would be a good place to start I think."

Hopefully Ellana won't mind if Waver does head her way, if she does, Araceli can always make it up to her.

"There are the tales of the cetus, this sea monster but we have leviathans and other beasts where I am from and we learned how to sail alongside them and that's without the aid of magic. Thedas has Blights and wars, it looks inward to rebuild, to expand territory, to alliances or whatever else might be done around their neighbours. Perhaps they are afraid to think beyond." Perhaps they've been taught not to for so long that it's become such a part of them that they don't even think about it now and she has to look away to the table, closing the map because it feels like it's mocking her just by sitting there, so small, so pathetic. She smiles suddenly, the bard mask up because she's practiced, teasing and almost coy. "You could say that rifters are new cultures, no? I was in the first group to arrive, it has not been as it is now. We were branded demons, I was even called one to my face. We're friends now."

Araceli hasn't counted herself as a rifter in a long time now, not since she understood what would be best for her; assimilate into the Inquisition, make herself useful, find a true place to belong. Yet here is always the heart of it: there is a mark on her hand, this is not the world she belongs to and so she will always be a rifter and what one of them does reflects on them all, and perhaps having been here as long as she has or what she does as a bard and before in her home? It makes her too aware. There are always so many eyes. Not all of them are kind. But there are always eyes, always watching, and they all have mouths and hands to report with.

[open] exploration, study, and practice

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