[open] we ask that life be kind

[eolasemah]

WHO: Sina, the greater Kirkwall populace (including you)
WHAT: dealing with the magic forest backlash
WHEN: early August
WHERE: the steps of the former Chantry
NOTES: with regard to this fiasco

It's early morning, but past sunrise, so many people are still on their way to their daily occupations when a small Dalish elf takes up residence on the steps of what used to be the Chantry and is now a very condensed forest. She's brought with her supplies to see her through the day: a few snacks and plenty to work on, mainly grinding herbs and creating poultices and tea blends, unremarkable and nonmagical activities to put people at ease.
Sina has paid little mind to the guards around the garden's perimeter, apart from offering each of them a bit of dried fruit for their trouble, and she has more of the same for anyone who comes to talk to her. To each, the message is the same: it was me, I did this for you, and there is no reason to be afraid.

Of course, there is a reasonable contingent of those who prefer to shout and carry on, some simply grieving over their chantry and their lack of control in repurposing it, some insisting this is Dalish trickery that should be punished. To both, she listens and says little, with apologies to the former group and polite deflections to the latter.

Over the course of the day she finds herself joined by an assortment of people from the street, who come and go in their efforts to make coin or simply occupy themselves: the occasional musician, bored children, beggars. Sometimes they interact with Sina and sometimes they don't, but regardless, she hold her vigil and, to a degree, actually enjoys it.

Perhaps it doesn't help at all. But whatever the case, the people of Kirkwall who care to look will find a face and a voice connected to the sudden forest, as well as a pointed listening ear and a giving hand.

[Feel free to approach sometime during the day, or we can arrange an interaction after!]

Comments

[eolasemah]

If he were to use it, she'd show no offense, but Sina also has no expectation that he will. Being with city elves has taught her much.
"Siuona," she replies, "First of Clan Dahlasanor. Most know me as Sina."

[faithlikeaseed]

"Sina," Myr echoes, fixing the name beside her voice in his mind. "And the First--you'd be the next to be Keeper?" He thinks that's the way it's organized. There wasn't so much reading on Dalish mages he'd been able to get his hands on, but there'd been a little.

[eolasemah]

"Yes," she confirms with a widening smile, though there's an unspoken sadness to it-- it doesn't quite reach her eyes. "In line to be Keeper when she moves on."

[faithlikeaseed]

He isn't sure how to ask the next question. Perhaps it's best to simply get it over with, though he pitches his voice low and lets his own worry leak through: "Will you make it?"

[eolasemah]

If Myr could see her, he'd see how Sina's face falls and looks a bit like someone just shoved her in the chest. She breathes out quietly, looking down at the ground, and bites her lip before answering.
"I've begun to think not," she admits, with a strange calm. Perhaps it's forced.

[faithlikeaseed]

He's no stranger himself to saying things he means in tones he doesn't, and knows far better than to pry at someone else's defenses.

Which doesn't unask the question, but there it is.

"I'm sorry." Quiet and earnest--and something he's not going to dwell on.

Instead, he tips his head back, turning his face to the late-afternoon light. "...Did you start all of this from seeds? I've done that before with smaller things--wheat, herbs--but I don't have the power to do more than give them a few days' head start."

[eolasemah]

This is the first time the subject has been broached so openly, and Sina feels strange about it. Everyone's time is finite, but this man is quietly apologizing for her confirmation. She doesn't know when it will be over, but an instinct in the back of her mind tells her it's coming. Somewhere along the way, the point of no return was passed. It's too late.
Sina is almost too distracted to answer Myr's question, and gives a shaky laugh. "Yes, of course," she says lightly, "even magic can't make something out of nothing." Life out of death. When it tries, it just makes husks.

[faithlikeaseed]

Death, in Myr's world, is something that comes suddenly for apprentices near Sina's age, bearing them off when they fail their Harrowings. In that light her grief and hard-fought calm make perfect sense; there were any number of young Hasmal apprentices who faced the prospect of their own doom in the same way.

Except with a Harrowing there's always a chance of eucatastrophe at the end, the new-made mage returning to her Circle alive.

Not so here.

"Though we might try," he replies, with a smile. And how world-shaking would it be if they could manage it... "That's why they all came into fruit together at once. Will they stay like that, over the years? Or will the apples remember they're after the plums, over time?"

[eolasemah]

Sina smiles, her demeanor softening as she looks back toward the forest. "I don't know," she admits, "it's up to them now, to decide." Presumably they will eventually bend to weather patterns, but she has no way of knowing. And never will.

[faithlikeaseed]

It's up to them now, to decide.

Myr's own smile widens at that, though it's more wistful than happy. "Isn't it always?" It could as justly be said about the crowd around them, he thinks.

"...I wouldn't mind sitting here a little while longer, if that's all right with you." He's actually run out of questions for once, but it's lovely out here in the sunshine even despite the protestors. Who, once he's had a little longer to soak in the sunshine, he's inclined to go have a peacable discussion or two with.

[eolasemah]

Her smile broadens, and though Myr may not see it, he can likely hear it in her voice. "It is," she agrees.
"Be my guest." She gives his hand a squeeze before pulling hers away, looking out at the modest crowd once again. Though she remains where she is, once he wanders away to talk to them, Sina feels the pinch of anxiety soften slightly. It may not fix everything, but he's helping, and she's made a friend, and that's really all one can ask.