fortheloveoffalondin: (Default)
Salem Lavellan ([personal profile] fortheloveoffalondin) wrote in [community profile] faderift2015-11-20 12:04 am

A Challenger Arrives!

WHO: Salem of clan Ghilan, and whoever finds him there at the gates
WHAT: The arrival of one small, cold elf that is not part of clan Ashara
WHEN: After most people have returned from the Mire
WHERE: Skyhold's front gates, then possibly the healers' tents


Keeper
I've made it to the mountains. It's so cold in the South.

I will find our missing brothers. They deserve to be home, or if they've not survived, they deserve to be buried as the knights are.

Updates will be sent as events escalate.

You have my thanks for allowing me on this journey. Now you must endure until I return.


The scroll was kept in a skin tube at his side, to be delivered when he arrived at Haven. When he'd arrived in the valley where it had been tucked, though, all he'd found was a mound of snow, rattled off the mountain, and droves of corpses. He'd lingered only long enough to offer prayers, ask that the souls be guided from the place to what afterlifes they would seek, then started off into the mountains. It was fortunate that one of his few great skills was tracking, as he'd been able to pick up a trail, first wide and hectic, trampling the snow as people had fled, but as he'd followed, stopping where the ground was swept clean and there were still traces of campfires, humps of snow and crude markers over the graves of villagers that had fallen, he'd started to slow. He was persistent, stubborn, and had a good capacity for endurance in conditions that really should have killed him within days.

The snow had all but completely erased the tracks he'd been following in some areas, but people always left markers behind that were easy enough to find, for one with keen eyes and determination that bordered on obsession.

When the hold had come into view, Salem was draped in furs, wrapped up tight to stave off the cold as his armor hadn't been able to. There were still parts of him that were frostbitten, and by the time he'd started the trek up the last leg of the path, his vision was swimming, legs shaking. His food had all but completely run out, hard tack and dried herbs the last scraps in his bag. He'd been chewing on strong mint to keep himself conscious, but even that was failing, and as soon as he'd rounded the top of the last slope and found where the land had mostly leveled off on the path up to the gates, he'd finally fallen.

An alert was put out to some of the healers: an unknown Dalish had been found in front of the hold, freezing, dehydrated, delirious upon being shaken to consciousness, but alive.

Two days later, after regaining the ability to walk without wobbling
Where was he now? The question went out among the healers, unanswered as the elf had disappeared from his cot while their backs had been turned. His armor was gone, his blades were gone, but it had apparently been too hard to drag his axe away unnoticed, so it was still dug into the dirt where it had been.

Now one elf a little too thin and dressed a little too sparsely was tucked away into a shadowy corner with a good view of the courtyard, a book in his hand and charcoal pencil scribbling away as he took notes on everything that he could see, from the Orlesian humans wandering the hold, to the elves here and there both from the city and from some other Dalish clan. He'd caught sight of an armored human man that looked like he'd had better days, a sword sheathed at his hip and an empty harness across his back similar to the one that he wore when he carried his greataxe, and had leaned out of his corner to track his movement until he'd disappeared into the tavern. Then he'd caught sight of another human, blonde and older and tired but with the bearing of a leader and a scar on his mouth that he wanted to see close-up and no his face was not turning pink over these stupid gods-forsaken shems you see nothing.
mythalenaste: (be not afraid)

[personal profile] mythalenaste 2015-11-23 12:22 am (UTC)(link)
That's when she starts crying, though little else about her manner changes. She doesn't care that he's holding food, she throws her arms around him and holds him tight, her tears falling silently on his hair, the only sound of her catharsis the wet sniffles as she breathes.
mythalenaste: (ag Lios Bhéal an Áth')

[personal profile] mythalenaste 2015-11-23 12:37 am (UTC)(link)
Their father sang that to her as well, the very first time she met him at the Arlathvhen. It was part of his attempt to catch her up, somehow, to bestow on her the things she'd been denied from the parents who loved her so much. Maybe she's imagining that Salem's voice sounds like his.

"I won't let anything happen to you now," she promises. "Now. Lie back and eat and drink."

She releases him somewhat reluctantly, wiping at her damp face.
gatheringstorm: (raised eyebrows)

[personal profile] gatheringstorm 2015-11-23 12:52 am (UTC)(link)
Hey, even badass battlemages have to eat sometime. Korrin stops short, surprised but pleased to see him again. "You don't need to call me 'ser', Salem. No title, here. It's good to see you again!"

And she looks him over, brow furrowing as she notes the thinness. That prompts her to extend her plate, readily sharing the hearth cakes. "Here, have some. You look as though you need them more than I do. What happened?"
mythalenaste: (in a shimmering galaxy)

[personal profile] mythalenaste 2015-11-23 01:12 am (UTC)(link)
"That's a different question," she points out. "There are good people here, and there are enough of them that they put an end to things when the bad people try anything. I'm living with a shem right now because he protects me."
mythalenaste: (gan scíth 's á fadú go géar)

[personal profile] mythalenaste 2015-11-23 01:31 am (UTC)(link)
A faint laugh. "Absolutely certain. He thinks it's the duty of those who have any manner of privilege to look out for those who haven't. And there are others here who are from Clan Ashara." She avoids saying my clan because that feels weird around her brother. "One of them is our cousin, actually. I'll introduce him."
gatheringstorm: (well shit)

[personal profile] gatheringstorm 2015-11-23 02:07 am (UTC)(link)
Only when Salem takes one does Korrin bother to do the same, though she frowns upon glancing down and noticing those slippers.

"You...walked here. Not with one of the caravans, I take it. I don't know whether that's amazing or foolish."

Both, perhaps? Salem doesn't need to worry about a lecture at the moment, since...well, what's the point. He's already been through enough.

"Now I wish I'd shown you the way personally. At least you'd have found this place without incident. The Frostbacks can be brutal when you don't know the exact route."
mythalenaste: (cannot be the shore and the sea)

[personal profile] mythalenaste 2015-11-23 02:22 am (UTC)(link)
"Cyril is our second cousin." May as well jump right in. Some of these people have warning labels. "You'll know him when you see him, promise. Merrick is...special, to me."

...Guh. Getting into Merrick and Gavin is going to suck.

"Merrick witnessed his father killing himself when he was eight. I was with him. He's a very angry boy, but if you don't deliberately provoke him, you'll get on fine. Ellana is another mage, she's very friendly and charming and beautiful."

And everything else Pel wants to be.

"Beleth is a bit of a club to the head, but she's good. Gavin...Gavin is good. He and I were nearly bonded once, but it didn't quite happen, and it's for the best."

There. That was all very diplomatic.
mythalenaste: (I'll wait the signs to come)

[personal profile] mythalenaste 2015-11-23 03:11 am (UTC)(link)
Pel picks up the mulled wine and offers it to him. "Keep drinking." She warms it just slightly with her magic, though she usually doesn't use it for something so trivial. "It will get you warm."
dalishious: (pic#9458835)

[personal profile] dalishious 2015-11-23 03:11 am (UTC)(link)
The arrival of the other elf is less than favorable to Merrick. He glowers a bit, looking up at Salem from under tightly knitted eyebrows. That tends to chase most people away from his smoking spot, anyway. Few dare to cross him around here.

"Who are you?" he says gruffly, ignoring the compliment for the moment.
dalishious: (pic#9614849)

[personal profile] dalishious 2015-11-23 04:14 am (UTC)(link)
Merrick is sure that his clanmates had told this new elf who he is, but what else exactly had they told him? Probably a whole lot of things that made him seem like a better person than he is, which he wishes they'd stop doing.

"Why?" he asks.
gatheringstorm: (curious)

[personal profile] gatheringstorm 2015-11-23 04:25 am (UTC)(link)
Following Salem to the training ring, Korrin munches on her own hearth cake while awaiting the arrival of sparring partners to observe. Hearing Pel's name perks her up considerably, and she eyes her companion with new interest.

"Oh, I know Pel. She was just what we needed at that recent mage meeting. Are you part of her clan? It seems like this place is drowning in Asharas." Not a bad thing at all, given her tone. "No, wait--you mentioned another one." It's on the tip of her tongue, but she can't quite recall it.
dalishious: (pic#9452593)

[personal profile] dalishious 2015-11-23 05:02 am (UTC)(link)
Pel would say something like that. Merrick just shrugs and goes back to his carving, making no indication of wanting to talk more. The tobacco continues to smolder between his lips, surrounding them both in aromatic smoke.

It's easy to nick tobacco around this place, which is a decided improvement over the woods. Before it was down to traders or stealing it from humans.
dalishious: (pic#9653827)

[personal profile] dalishious 2015-11-23 05:18 am (UTC)(link)
Salem's sudden company is...irritating, to say the least, and Merrick is fully prepared to shove him away when he realizes the other elf is working on a drawing. He cranes his neck a little and sees something vaguely resembling him, no less.

"What are you doing?" he asks suddenly. "Is that supposed to be me?"

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