Salem Lavellan (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
fortheloveoffalondin) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
faderift2015-11-20 12:04 am
fortheloveoffalondin) wrote in faderift2015-11-20 12:04 am
Entry tags:
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.
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.
no subject
"Halani...ma vhen'an," he breaths before letting his head loll against his shoulder. The scouts exchanged looks, then shook their heads. Damned elves...
He'd come to help his people. That was the last anyone would be getting out of him for the moment.
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"Halanir ne. Ar Dirthavaren." We will help you. I promise.
She doesn't say anything else, though once they get him to the healer's tents, she stays to the side, out of the way, but remains there for a while, until she's sure that he'll make it. Maybe she'll try to visit once he's more conscious. But in the meantime, she would need to alert the clan that there was another Dalish.
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Now it was just a matter of getting in fast healers that could deal with a belligerent Dalish elf. They were at least confident that Beleth could belay some of that ire when it came about.
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She would peek back in over the course of the next two days, making sure that he was recovering--until quite suddenly, he was gone, leaving only a large axe behind. She blinked in confusion, but with no answers from the healers, she shrugs and heads off. She doesn't think too much of it until later, as she was moving into one of her various hidey holes to go sleep--only to find a familiar face there.
Or at least, he was mostly familiar, save that he was completely conscious now.
"Oh--! It's you." Pause. "Um, I don't know if you remember me, but. Ah. I found you. When you came to Skyhold." She squinted at him, eyes flicking from his ears to his fingers. "...You left the healer's tents early. Are you doing alright? Are you still having issues?"
no subject
"Aneth ara, lethallan," he said immediately, closing the journal and standing up at attention. He's a little bit unsteady on his feet, as not all of the feeling had come back into his toes, but the way he sees it, it's better to get the blood circulating a little better by moving around. At least, that's the excuse he would give. "I'm ok. A little cold still. It's, um. Ah. How are you?"
Lame.
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"I'm quite fine, thank you. But I wasn't the one that was half conscious, and nearly frozen to death. Are you sure you don't want to go back to the healers? You left your axe there." She pauses, eyes flicking first to his ears, than fingers--the parts that had seemed the worst from the cold. That she'd been worried might have been lost. Lucky that the Inquisition had some of the best healers. "I could probably get a potion for you, at least...And don't worry about my scarf. You can keep it until you're better, alright? I can always get another."
no subject
"It's not really the easiest thing to hide, so if someone takes it upon themselves to take it I'll just...y'know. Take it back." He shrugs some, giving Beleth a crooked little smile. His ears are held a bit low though, moving sluggishly with the cold damage. He catches her looking and sighs, his hands coming together in front of him with his fingers laced together. "Of course. And it'll be washed beforehand." Nevermind about the offer for a potion. It wasn't exactly at the forefront of his mind at the moment.
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But she's more worried about him than her scarf, and after clicking her tongue, decides to go ahead--he was a Dalish, right? They were all family. Kind of. Her hands reach up to cup his ears, frowning when she felt the chill in them still. "You're still cold. Are you sure you don't want a healer? You should get a healer. Or at least go inside. I can get you into the kitchens. I could probably swipe some food for you, too, while I'm at it. When was the last time you ate?"
Salem, welcome to Beleth's circle of Dalish, where you will be clucked at and fussed over. After a small pause, she realizes she's forgotten something.
"...My name is Beleth. Of Clan Ashara."
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"Really, lethallan, I'm fine. Moving around will help. It'll get me warmed up, and maybe I'll meet more of us here." There's that unspoken like you, riding on his smile as he lets her fuss as she pleases, though he ducks his head out of her reach when she touches his ears. The feeling of fingers on the numbed bits is still weird. "Beleth. B- Bel- stop," he laughs, taking her hands and easing them away from him, giving them a gentle squeeze. She sees him as something akin to family, and he will certainly reciprocate that. He leans and gives her a polite peck on each cheek, then reaches up and arranges her hair back out of her face. Short and fluffy, looks like it needs care that she doesn't really have time to give it.
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It would be different if it were one of her clan--hadn't she just been treating him like one? But that didn't make her fervent blushing go away. Sylaise, grant her strength.
"Um--S-Sorry." Play it cool, Beleth, he's just being friendly. Very friendly. "I...Can introduce you to more of us? There's a few. Around. Places. Wherever. You know how it is." Her tongue moved faster than her brain did, babbling away with little sense to be made of her words. She'll facepalm at herself later.
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"I've met one or two already actually. Another of Pel's brothers, one that came after me. Not a very cheerful sort, but when I spoke with him he was very...protective. It's good that you all have someone so adamant about your safety." Not exactly cheerful himself as he says it; Merrick has a way of turning a positive moment into a confrontation, that's for certain.
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"He didn't give you too hard of a time, did he? Don't take it to heart--Merrick is a good guy, he just doesn't always act like it."
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"But you're right. Pel is one of the most intelligent women I know, and she has great judgment. She'll make an amazing Keeper, when the time comes for it." She spoke with surety and pride, back straightening. Pel was, after all, the ideal First--Beleth would know. She'd been shown often enough.