[open] a little truth arrives in the dying of each day

[eolasemah]

WHO: Sina and you
WHAT: here we go
WHEN: mid-Harvestmere
WHERE: Hightown and then the Gallows
NOTES: All Sina logs from this point onward will involve discussions/dealing with death and illness, so if you're sensitive about those topics I recommend passing these by.

I. Just outside the Forest Garden [single thread please, 1-3 people max]

Sina still looks like Sina, but if Thedas had photographs, and the ability to compare a person's image of two years ago to their image today, only then would it become achingly clear how much mass she's lost. As the weather grows chill, she has to bundle up more and more just to go to work in her gardens, and even then is constantly cold. But she's been all right, all things considered; she's still upright, at least.

Until she isn't. Having felt a little strange since they found the elf children in the warehouse, Sina has chalked it up to the usual business and the gut-wrenching trauma of what they found. Her chest has felt a little heavier, her step a little slower, her hands a little colder, nothing worth calling a healer about until today: she's nearly down the stairs of the former Chantry when she abruptly loses consciousness.

Crumpling like a doll, Sina scrapes her leg on the last few steps and collapses to the ground, basket of herbs on its side, its contents splayed everywhere. She wakes up at once, but with bleary confusion, disoriented and burning with fever.


II. The Infirmary [ota]

Those who spent any significant time with the rescued elven children may also have caught what ails Sina now, but with a body already so ravaged by weakness, fighting it is clearly difficult for her. She's asleep most of the time, coughing when she's awake, and unable to keep food down.
It's not the first time she's been in this position, but it may be the last.

Comments

[youwonscience]

"I'm working for the research department, adapting what I can. I hope I can help." Cosima hesitates, unsure whether she should be more direct, then settles on: "I'm sorry it's not going faster."

You're not a rifter working on the projects Cosima's working on without hearing at least a little about Sina's situation. Her tone isn't pitying, exactly, but it is sympathetic.

[eolasemah]

It's hard not to be alarmed by Cosima's frankness, but Sina doesn't mind. Her eyes do widen slightly, but with a sympathetic twitch of her eyebrows. "That's not your fault," she insists, her tone gentle.

[youwonscience]

"Maybe not, but even so." She sighs. "It's weirdly familiar. At home, I'm working on a cure for something threatening my sisters and me, too. I'm doing my best, but part of the reason I decided to be a researcher instead of a doctor -- my world's healers -- is I'm not great at staying objective when someone right in front of me is in pain."

She knows her compassion is, on balance, probably an asset. But she cares about individual rifters, the way she cares about her individual sisters (at least the ones she's met). It makes it harder to consider the problem with an objective eye.

[eolasemah]

Sina's brow knits deeper when Cosima mentions her sisters. "I'm sorry," she breathes, "that you have to be away from them." She can't even begin to understand half the afflictions suffered by Rifters, but some things remain true across all lives. "...but I'm glad you're here."

[youwonscience]

"Thanks," she says, with a warm smile. "That's kind of how I feel too, these days? Like, I miss them, I get homesick, but I'm also invested in Thedas now." It's not home, not exactly, but it's a world she's come to care about too. She's put in her lot with the Inquisition actively now, and she doesn't regret that.

[eolasemah]

"That's good," Sina sighs, and seems about to say something else when she's interrupted by a cough instead. She holds both hands over her mouth, eyes squeezed close as she curls forward to minimize the impact. Not that that helps much.
It passes quickly, however, and she rests back again, all the more exhausted. "Sorry," she whispers.