Is No An Emotion (closed to Gwenaëlle)

[toujoursdroit]

WHO: Romain de Cocucy and Gwenaëlle Vauquelin
WHAT: Family time
WHEN: late Cloudreach (after the very last boat)
WHERE: Kirkwall
NOTES: None to start

Romain has, very deliberately, given his granddaughter some space. He did not chastise her after her very alarming (and very public) incident on the ramparts; he has not insisted that they travel to Kirkwall together. She might even have gone so far as to wonder if he would follow her there at all, as his ties to the Inquisition thus far have been mainly "giving them money so no one makes him leave."

And yet, here he is, eyeing the Gallows in the way he has (outwardly unjudgmental but with a definite judgmental undertone). It will not do for long, but he feels it important to demonstrate cooperation for now. He's not going to be done with the Inquisition as long as a shard remains in his grandchild's hand, and as long as he's there, he doesn't not find it useful to needlessly alienate people by acting aggressively superior and refusing to do what he can.

That said. It's time he checked in on Gwenaëlle, whose reaction to the new accommodations he's fairly certain he can guess in advance.

Comments

[toujoursdroit]

"Guilty as charged, I suppose. I didn't think it would be so very unwelcome." His look is evaluating, not hurt -- never that -- but still, she does really seem to have given him pause.

"Would you have me go then? Truly." They both know he is very unlikely to take his fingers out of the Inquisition pie entirely; she really isn't the only reason he's there, after all. But there is much he can do in the field, or even back home. He doesn't wish her abandoned, but she is his favorite, and as such she is one of the few people who can sway his mind by simply asking.

[elegiaque]

"Not you," she sighs, a bit grudgingly. "I just didn't - expect you, I wasn't prepared."

Gwenaëlle being unprepared is not exactly unfamiliar. Particularly in the context of there being altogether too much Orlais to deal with.

She hesitates for a moment, and then, remarkably frankly, "I don't care for Kirkwall and I don't like being chained to the Inquisition, but I don't miss Orlais, either."

[toujoursdroit]

"Even I cannot say it has been at its best, of late." Which, coming from the duke, is something to hear. "It is clear that you will not be free of the nonsense associated with your shard as soon as any of us would like, so I suppose at least 'homesickness' is one less thing to worry about."

Under the circumstances.

"I am rather too Orlais for much of the Inquisition, I suspect, so at least you are not alone in your assessment."