faderift | OPEN | Elfroot and Rashvine and everything fine...

WHO: Nari, probably Sina, and YOOOOOU
WHAT: Bringing our herbs to replant in Kirkwall! We spent way too long cultivating this sh*t to leave it here in Skyhold.
WHEN: Cloudreach 1, just prior to leaving
WHERE: Skyhold Garden
NOTES: NOSTALGIA TRIP + PACK IT UP! Everyone just pile into whatever thread you want to join--it's a small space, and it'll feel more like companionable labor that way. ♥

Nahariel stood just outside the tent she shared with her clansister looking out at the neat planned rows of the garden they'd spent the better part of two years cultivating with a thoughtful frown. When the Inquisition had come to Skyhold, it had been nothing more than a straggling mess of sickly vines, and long-dead plants in chipped stoneware pots. Untended, overgrown, producing nothing more than the lonely feeling of being forgotten and left to the mercies of time. Months of hard work--first just the two solitary Dalish from Clan Dahlasanor, and then many industrious others as time went on--had produced a verdant sanctuary within the keep.

Rows upon rows of Elfroot cheerfully turned their leaves toward the bright mountain sun, carefully harvested in rotation to keep their soldiers hale and hearty, with one or two proud lavender chased Royals pampered in the pots nearby. Arbor Blessing wound its way gracefully up lovingly crafted trellises, a green waterfall rippling in the gentle breeze, the remnant of the bracing wind after its blunting by the fortress walls. The same breeze chimed quietly in the delicate patch of Crystal Grace--a souvenir from their foray to the Winter Palace. A still shallow pond--carefully lined with oilcloth and stones--holds the sky, the clouds, and a healthy crop of Blood Lotus, as well as the children of Nahariel's prized Dawn Lotus, fetched so long ago from the Fallow Mire on the first mission she'd taken. Deep Mushrooms grew stoutly along the wall that never saw sun, Rashvine and Embrium blazed a jaunty red amidst all the green, the small purple flowers and red pods of Deathroot winking a warning from their place wound beneath several trees.

And then, quiet and sun-dappled in the corner, a still tender sapling surrounded by oft polished rocks, painstakingly hand-carved with the names of the Inquisition's fallen and ringed by flowers whose only purpose was beauty; strewn with bright ribbons, unique pebbles, small dolls, and other loving remembrances. A few magelights hung dimly in its slender branches, becoming visible only at dusk, and fading again with the dawn, keeping silent company with those who'd come and gone.

How to leave such a place?

Nahariel flexed her bare toes in the soil and sighed.

How. Well, not alone, for a surety. They'd definitely need help.

--

↠Herbs

Time for a massive harvest! Some will need to be bundled up live to transplant, and when we run out of room for that, the rest can be cut and dried.

↠Memorial

Let's figure out how we're going to move this--unless you'd like to argue we shouldn't. Tree is young and needs to be protected, and uh... that's a lot of rock.

↠After Work

Sit around and drink! Smoke some extra elfroot because there was a lot, man. Let's talk about leaving.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Sina is taking point on this, because she has proven her willingness to yell at people who treat the plants incorrectly. Even if she's... not really yelling or being aggressive at all. The point is, it has to be done right.
She's hurrying up and down the rows, overseeing the process-- they won't be taking all of them, of course, since Skyhold still needs to sustain itself-- giving directions here and there, sometimes diving in to save roots from being severed, and on the whole providing a quiet but encouraging presence. The garden has become her passion project since they first arrived, and she'll see to it that this is done right.