[open] exploration, study, and practice

[kartereo]

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

Comments

[foxsays]

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.

[kartereo]

"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."

[foxsays]

"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.

[kartereo]

"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.

[foxsays]

"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.

[kartereo]

"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."

[foxsays]

"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."

[kartereo]

"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."

[foxsays]

"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?"

[kartereo]

"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. "

[foxsays]

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?"

[kartereo]

"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."

[foxsays]

"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."

[kartereo]

"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."

[foxsays]

"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.

[kartereo]

"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."

[foxsays]

"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.

[kartereo]

"Honestly, I don't think I blame them," Waver admitted. Thedas' history had taught him quite a bit, and it was mostly that the elves got the shit end of the stick, and the qunari didn't seem to do much better. Neither did mages. Neither did-- well. Never mind. That was a long list to contemplate another day.

"Hm. I'd say that such an exploration group would need a team, including a pretty solid historian. I do wonder if magic in Thedas could replicate some techniques technology accomplishes back home, but that's likely a stretch." Magic being as monitored as it was, Waver doubted magical carbon dating was going to be possible. "I'd only be good at digging stuff up and making hmmm noises at it." And maybe mapping.

The idea of rifters as a form of exploration was interesting, but Waver frowned as he ran it over in his head. Perhaps he was failing to appreciate the perspective because he was evaluating it against Earth history, but something didn't sit right about the comparison. He hated not being able to articulate why.

"But that's a painfully recent development," he said finally, hitting upon the issue. "It doesn't account for centuries of stasis like the Blights and other events do." There. That was better. "Although you've pointed out that we've probably gotten the fastest turn around time from problems to friends in Thedas' history."

[foxsays]

"The Qunari do not believe in freedom. You are given a place, a role. If you are a mage you are not even a person. The word for it translates to 'dangerous thing' and they are masked with their mouths stitched shut that they might never speak to a demon and given a handler. Qunari flee the Qun to seek a new life for themselves, a life that they've chosen. Korrin's family did that." Freedom has always been everything to Araceli and the idea of not being able to choose what she wants to do, to having a life planned out for her start to finish so that everything is fixed? What spark would she have? She's aware of limits and restrictions in her life but she can still make choices; turn left, turn right, double back.

Considering some of the places the Inquisition goes? It wouldn't hurt. "Most historians are from the Chantry. The Chantry has a way of viewing things and who would say no to an extra set of hands? If you don't mind some of the places they go." Wild animals, the undead, Darkspawn, demons, extreme conditions from freezing cold to festering bogs to intense heat - the Inquisition - you'll go far.

"Are they?" 'They' not 'we'. Deliberate on her part though light enough to pose it as a question. "The Inquisition is for all but the Inquisition is not Thedas and even within the Inquisition there are differences of opinion. In Skyhold everyone is far away from the rest of the world unless heading out into the field or the towns and cities, it isn't the same as living with it." Araceli's been fortunate enough with her experiences elsewhere until her kidnap but she remembers being warned when she started her bard training how they might look at her, what they might want, some of the questions she's already been asked while she has to smile politely as if nothing touches her at all.

[kartereo]

"Reasonable response to that environment, I think," Waver murmured darkly. He had never asked Korrin for much clarification of how she had came to Skyhold, and now he was confident in that decision. That kind of thing was personal, and in his opinion, information to be volunteered. Of course it also went to show that mages were still on the shit end of the stick, but that seemed to just be a reoccuring theme at this point. "And not an easy decision to make either."

Leaving everything in one's culture behind was a lot to do. But then again, that speaks volumes about the intolerableness of the situation. "Hm. I have been to some strange enough places in my time, but this all seems like the set up for a particular story back home." Did Thedas have a lost ark?

"Hm. Good point. People here are already more likely to be open and tolerant, it is a biased representation of Thedas citizens. Being remote and isolated doesn't help either." But it felt like something positive, at least. Better than a lot of other things.

[foxsays]

The time Araceli went off to Rivain? She kept herself far from the Qunari settlement there, unwilling to risk it. The natives had prodded and poked, comfortable enough with spirit mages and a girl that could pass herself off as a slightly odd Antivan if she chose to but it had been a shadow looming over more than a few she'd spoken with. The mages who had come with her had been almost as afraid of the idea of them as the Templars that had slaughtered and tortured them.

"Likely you have been further than many have here before they ever joined the Inquisition. I get the feeling that this is not a world that lends itself to travel, or at least not so easily as elsewhere. Stories are a foundation for a great many things, they took me somewhere that allowed me to help in a way that was unexpected." It's an offer if he wants it, but if not she can drop it, she's learned far more than she thought she would already.

"The Inquisition was reeling after Haven's destruction but this is a terrible place for getting fresh supplies, especially goods that spoil easily. Magic can only do so much and not everyone can or will travel with mages and that adds to the burden and the expense, of course that in turn is passed on to all of us." A consequence of spending so much time in the markets and around the docks as she did growing up, as well as having a pirate for a father or living in a building of hungry people - she knows how much it costs to fill bellies and in Skyhold it must be staggering. Then there's the mounts, the hounds, clothing them, heating the place, the ravens, on and on and on it goes. The Inquisition has greater support than it had but up here in the mountains there are practicalities to be looked to beyond safety from their enemy. "People carry tales back from Skyhold, rarely do those in the Inquisition ascertain what those tales are for themselves so that they might be lived day by day. The mages have their freedom for the moment, what good is it doing them when they are here and not somewhere that they might be seen to be living the same as all other folk."

[kartereo]

"You'r correct on that front. But travel is incredibly easy in my own time and place, although I believe Kirk has me beat." Space travel was still in its infancy. But no matter. "But may I ask you to elaborate on that point?" Stories always had power, but how they were being used intrigued him.

As for mage freedom though, Waver had to admit, it felt like the answer had already been given. "Stories have power. If any stories from Skyhold include the general freedom of mages here, then that is disseminated into the larger consciousness. It is the first step of many to greater integration. What's here is like--" he paused, before the right word smacked Waver upside the head. "An incubator. The conditions here are warm and safe for a fledgling concept to grow and become stronger before heading out into the wider world. It also helps build a support network in case of when they do go out and be seen, old biases remain."

[foxsays]

"James? Sí, I can barely imagine being able to travel as he does. My own story is small but I will tell it; I am a student of the Nightingale, or Leliana if you know her by that name too, one of the advisors to the Inquisition. She knew so little of me when she agreed to teach me the ways of being a bard so I wrote her the creation story of my world in a letter that she might understand who I am, where I come from. That tale means so much to my people. It has shaped us in so many ways." Nearly all of Araceli's tattoos reflect the sea and another that sits above her heart holds the moon and waves. The ache when she speaks is a good ache, or so she tells herself. "When a letter back came for me, it said I might enjoy the stories of Rivain and there is precious little recorded of Rivain worth knowing that isn't in Rivain itself so I was granted the opportunity to go there. To study, mostly. I spoke well of the Inquisition with the sailors too - sailors talk, I hope my words hit the mark.

"In Rivain I learned of mages who were in trouble after an annulment long ago in their Circle at Dairsmuid. Templars hunted them and those who had sheltered them, so I arranged to have others from Skyhold meet me to bring them here for their safety. We ended up having to rescue them from the Templars after an ambush. It wasn't how I ever imagined writing of the sea and the moon to Nightingale going." There's a lot she's left out of the story but she tells it proudly with a smile because there was so much good that came of it, people rescued and new friends made who have a new life for themselves. Next time she gets to go to Rivain though, Araceli hopes it'll be for something with less blood and death, a chance to explore a place that reminds her of home, somewhere with a culture that left such an impression on her.

It takes a little while to parse the word just right, always a hazard when Araceli needs to make sure it makes sense when in her own tongue too but she considers the idea. "Perhaps it's the thief in me or my father talking, always having to have more than one plan, as many routes as possible. You never know when a guard will turn around again or a sudden storm will blow in. One wrong move, one slip and perhaps all we have accomplished here unravels entirely - each time there is a party or a soiree? I have my heart in my mouth the whole night."

[kartereo]

He listened very quietly as Araceli spoke. There was no interjections of mm or mmhmm, only a very occasional head nod to show that Waver was engaged with the story and, indeed, quite intrigued by all of it. There was no doubt in his mind that there was material left out, but even so, it didn't matter. It had so much going on, what with recording oral histories, dealing with the matters of mages in the current environment, and just a hint of spreading the word about the Inquisition that it was more than enough on a fist listen.

"That's," Waver began, when the tale came to a close. "That's a lot to pack into one trip." A little smile flicked across his face, but it didn't linger. "Do you intend to go back to Rivain at any point?"


"No, that's the person who knows how politics work and how easy it is to upset a delicate balance," Waver said. It wasn't a correction, more a confirmation that such a thought was pretty much the best one to have in response to something that in theory sounded so lofty and secure. "Which speaks to a sound strategic mind."

In Waver's opinion, that was a compliment.

[foxsays]

"More than I had bargained for, when I finally returned to Skyhold that was when I could truly sit down and think about it all. After we had the Rivaini mages settled." That's leaving out how they'd had time to contact a Dalish clan, everyone getting to do some exploring, having a little time to relax before the ship was ready to depart where people got to see the Inquisition - mages, Templars, rifters, a Dalish elf, so many different people in all, out in the wider world doing more than whatever rumour said they did. Oh and she made two men named Malcolm duel each other to decide who could truly be called Malcolm. (And because the Inquisition is sorely lacking in duels.)

"If I could settle somewhere in Thedas, it would be Rivain. Somewhere near the sea to let me go to Antiva whenever I pleased but having this," she raises her left hand with a sigh. "It limits options for us, or so it has been noticed before."

She'd been starting to hurt by the time a few others had shown up in Dairsmuid.

Favouring Waver with a look that's more guarded, she considers how to reply to that. Maybe it's too long being comfortable with her secret and so many knowing her that it's just caught her offguard but she flinches. Or close to it. A twitch of the mouth, the way her eyes dart so sharply his way. "The Nightingale would be happy to hear such a thing, as would my mother and father were they here too so that they could sit smugly and sayy that all the lessons of my childhood were worth it, even when I would try to climb out the windows or up rigging to escape."