OPEN

[pinprick]

WHO: Nathaniel Howe and YOU
WHAT: Open post for August
WHEN: Present, with one backdated thread
WHERE: The Gallows
NOTES: Take a peek, see if you're someone he sent a message to about Jonas Cousland.

I. Alistair | backdated to immediately after the mission to find Jonas Cousland

Nathaniel returns to Kirkwall on a cloud of exhaustion and numbness, and the first place he goes is Alistair's office.

He knocks. He rarely ever knocks when it's just the two of them, but he feels he has to give the audible warning of bad news. If it's not the knock, it's the wearied expression on his face as he slithers into the room.

"We're back," he announces unnecessarily, and pauses to make sure Alistair knows he's bringing bad news.

II. Letters to Morrigan, Velanna, and Oghren

I am sorry.

Jonas Cousland was found in the Deep Roads, barely alive and badly mauled by darkspawn. He passed away a few minutes after he was found. He was among friends, in as little pain as possible, and held in the arms of someone who knew him since he was a baby.

You traveled with him and knew him. You were friend to him. So was I. He was a man of great talent and charisma. He will be remembered for uniting a country at war with itself and leading it against the Blight. He carries no shame with him to the grave.

Queen Anora has been written of his passing, as has his brother, Teyrn Fergus. I leave you with no obligation except to deal with your own grief.

Your obedient servant,
Nathaniel Howe

III. Hightown Shops

Nathaniel needs a new pair of boots. Which is a pain.

Shoes are easier to buy than boots. Shoes are less expensive and have less material that has to be fitted correctly. But after this last excursion in the Deep Roads, he needs a new pair entirely. Too much wear, too much Blight, which comes in big black patches in those parts of the Deep Roads. Too many porous surfaces for Blight to seep into. A uniform is standard, but boots don't have to be standard-issue for Wardens. Boots can be purchased at Hightown, and Hightown is where a discerning individual like Nathaniel Howe would go for them.

Once he has found a pair, however, he finds himself browsing other wares at other shops. Fabrics, accessories, pretty little knick-knacks for the home. He can be found waffling about a purchase at whatever shop you happen to be near.

IV. Wildcard

Comments

[pinprick]

Nathaniel gives Alistair a moment, frowning and internally wincing at his insensitivity. Truthfully, he'd thought Alistair sort of hated Jonas. He hadn't thought he'd take Jonas' death this way. But these things are complicated. He gives the man a respectful nod when he speaks again.

"Anders might have something for you to look at. The, ah, the trouble with bringing samples was that most of the--" He interrupts himself and looks faintly cross. "It had to be a dragon. But it was no archdemon, and it...it was so huge, torchlight didn't even reach the other side of it. I've not seen many dragons, but I've seen a high dragon. This made it look like a cat."

[byblow]

"Right, well, that's comforting," Alistair says, returning to form. It's no secret that he doesn't care for dragons. Everyone who likes to coo about their majesty or the exhilaration of taking one on can go talk to farmers who have lost their livelihood or people who have lost their children, then talk about the loss of wonder and mystery in Thedas, Morrigan. "You're full of good news today. Got any more? An undead army we didn't know about, maybe? Impending Qunari invasion?"

[pinprick]

Nathaniel looks cross. Or, more cross than he usually looks. But Alistair is grieving. So is Nathaniel. Both of them are short on patience right now and this is not the time to start an argument.

"No," he replies simply.

[byblow]

"Thank the Maker."

But it's less fun—less distracting from the sudden weight he's feeling, not just on his shoulders, everywhere—if Nathaniel isn't going to rise to it. Alistair looks at the desk, the mound of likely futile work, instead

"I can send ravens to Valeska's Watch and Griffon Wing Keep." The little Wardens. They ought to know. Some of them might have served under him.

Cousland.

Who's dead.

Alistair shakes off that thought, or tries, and focuses back on the dragon, the taint, what he apparently died for.

"I'm sure I won't be able to figure out anything that Anders can't, as long as he has something," he says. Clever man. Stupid choices, but clever man. All of this taint cure business still doesn't sit right with them, not when it's so often framed as saving the Wardens instead of the rest of the world, but he can hardly complain about that to Nathaniel, knowing what they both know. He fishes around his thoughts for something to offer instead, and comes up with, "Maric Theirin was with Fiona when she met the Architect and—everything happened. If I find him alive I'll try to see if he knows anything before Ferelden takes him back."

[pinprick]

The search for the cure is only Nathaniel's battle because Anders will drive himself mad looking on his own, while Nathaniel swiftly runs out of time, and at some point they will look up and realize that they spent the best years of their lives apart from each other. So Nathaniel aids in the search.

His brow furrows, the cross look shifting into sympathy. So much of this is so very personal for Alistair.

"Do you need my help?"

[byblow]

Now it's his turn: "No," he says shortly, but then, since Nathaniel was trying to be helpful rather than a pain, he adds, "Thank you. If I do later I'll let you know."

He sits back down, finally, in a tense way, perched on the edge of the chair. He's never been good at sitting down.

"I'm glad you were with him." Jonas. It's a bit like a first crush—however it ends, there's really no getting fully over it. He pushes a book aside aimlessly to see what's beneath it, just to move his hands. "That's the best end we can get."