faderift | [Open] Carve Your Name On Hearts

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[Open] Carve Your Name On Hearts

WHO: Bethany Hawke-Darton and You
WHAT: Bethany does what Bethany does - charity, kindness, teaching, research and a whole lot of knitting.
WHEN: The month of
WHERE: Kirkwall Proper, the Gallows
NOTES: I warn you of sap. That is all

Charity For The Wardens - Hightown

There is an advantage to being famous (and being related to the famous), and that is that is a great deal easier to talk to the merchants. Being married to Aleron, beyond being a wonder on it's own, let her speak to the nobility -- but sometimes the nobility only had two silvers to rub together on a good day. Merchants, though, knew that she was close with Varric and were more willing to talk to her than just any other nobleman's wife about her charity.

Which of course, was the Grey Wardens.

You can find her talking to a group of merchants, telling probably for the hundredth time, the story of how Marian Hawke took on the ogre, and adding in, "You see how necessary it is to have the Grey Wardens! Imagine a creature like that, tearing through Kirkwall? It could do the damage of half the Qunari forces in half the time ..."

Charity For The Wardens - and a few other people

Bethany has been gifted with a very rich and along with that, a very doting set of in-laws. Her dear 'Maman' and sister Ravonild had a tendency to ... compete in that area, and that meant that Bethany was usually drowning in every colored silk gown and every piece of large jewelry they could find. She kept one or two dresses, made sure anything that was family in origin got put into their safe -- and the rest she carted off to sell. Usually to the Hightown merchants, because they could get her a better price, but she did go to Lowtown as well.

The money was divided with a heavy sum towards the Wardens, but she always kept some gold and silver on the side to give to the poor. Large donations in small coins, because a piece of gold could get you stabbed in Darktown. You could probably see her right outside Anders's clinic, making sure families got some coin, some food, and of course knitted blankets.

Knitting Hours

Bethany usually kept at least one to two hours of her day open to sit in front of Sina's Forest, as she had taken to calling it. She would have her balls of yarn, her knitting needles, and a table set up for charity to the poor -- but now she included items for sale - shawls knitted from fine Orlesian silk yarn, finely stitched cloaks, and the like. All going towards the Warden, as a helpfully painted sign pointed out. As it was colder, she usually bundled up in her own new cloak, but she would put it down immediately to help anyone who came up to her. Sometimes you might see children, gathered up around her seat as she pulled out a book and read to them, having them sound out the words with her.

Library Hours

Yet she couldn't spend her entire day doing good works - there was research to be done, so most afternoons found her in the Gallows Library, either knitting in her lap as she turned pages, or she was so engrossed that she leaned her dark head against her hand, absentmindedly chewing on the end of her quill.

In those moments of intellectual fugue, it is altogether too easy to sneak up on her, if you would like.

Insert Random Scenario

(Just want to talk to Bethy? Hang out with her at the Hanged Man? Let me know!)

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She gives Inessa a sympathetic look, and then sighs herself as she looks back at her own pile of books. "I am trying to pin down Corpheyeus's history. Who he might have been, in the past. It is ... as you may have guessed, as tedious as it looks and about as vague as one can get. Everything on the magisters who breached the Golden City is just stories - legends and Chantry rhetoric. I am having a hard time finding Hard Facts that will help us."

"Does anything remain of the prison used to hold him? Other than that, perhaps Weisshaupt has something...but that might as well be as unreachable as the Golden City itself." It's not as though the First Warden is just going to let them waltz right in, not after everything.

"Well unless I am willing to sneak into a fortress filled with demons ... which honestly might be both options." Bethany sighed as she looked up at the ceiling, huffing out a breath. "But still, the fortress in the desert might yield better results. Have you - well - have you tried going to talk to the dwarves directly?"

"It's an idea that remains on my mind...as well as returning to the Temple of Sacred Ashes' former site. It was rich in lyrium before the explosion, but all that anyone saw afterward was the red. If we could determine precisely what happened, there might be progress." Or just as likely, more questions.

"Should you decide that is your course, I'll volunteer our time if we can spare any." She gestures to Garahel, who's settled down but still has his eyes half-open. He wags his tail upon being noticed.

"The same to you, Inessa." She gave her fellow Warden and friend a warm and encouraging smile, if not weary around the edges. "We can do a couple of trips to horrible places to see if we can finally figure out these answers."

She smiled at Garahel, her brown eyes bright.

Inessa echoes that exact tone in her own smile, nodding as she taps her fingers on her book. "More likely than not, they'll lead to more questions, but I don't mind that as long as there's some progress. I need to focus on the anchors as well, but that is painstakingly slow. A previously unknown phenomenon requires so much more study." And normally, that would thrill Inessa but her tone is more one of concern than anything else.

"Do you need any help with that? I've known a few of the Rifters personally - if you have questions I'll be happy to answer with an outsider's view." She paused, and then grinned faintly. "You know, like the dozen or more you probably already have."

Inessa begins shuffling her notes, tucking away the red lyrium dilemma for now as a smaller yet no less important task can be done without leaving the library. "Hm...well, I am compiling a survey, for those bearing anchors. It's not fit to be submitted to the public, yet, but I want to ensure that there are no glaring oversights...."

She tipped her head, before a questioning look settled in her dark eyes, "Did you want a fresh perspective on it? I ... wouldn't mind. Especially if you are willing to go over my Corphyeus notes."

"Of course, that seems a fair trade." Inessa continues talking while surveying her notes to be sure she's offering them in the right order. "Church made some interesting points, but otherwise I've had little feedback yet. Ah, here it is. It should be in the right order, now...."

She went over the notes, her gaze thoughtful as she nodded her head. "He's very blunt, which was good. There's a lot of hard facts we haven't had before ... how strong is Church? Can he close a Rift by himself?"

Inessa taps her quill on a piece of paper, thinking. "I don't believe any rifter has the power to do that on their own; it's always in conjunction with others, I believe. But I do know his anchor has evolved and giving him abilities beyond rift closure. Whether it's the passage of time or the sheer amount of times he has used it, I can't say."

She rubbed her chin, her brown eyes narrowed. "You know - a lot of the anchor bearers are getting stronger. And with different powers."

Inessa lowers her quill, frowning in thought. "So far, it's either a defensive shield or bursts of energy. What if there are more uses on the horizon? Or a threshold, where risk outstrips power. Not that possibilities are going to be included in the survey itself, but I'm trying to anticipate how unknown magic might evolve."

"We ought to tell them to use it sparingly." She presses her lips together. "We both know what happens when magic is ... overexerted. But at the same time - we should see what all these new abilities can do."

There's a nod as Inessa leans forward, resting her elbows on the table like her tutors had sternly instructed not to do. "We need to pursue this, without a doubt...but I agree, I don't want a lack of caution to result in disaster. Then, too, it must be framed in such a way as not to cause panic. It's a concern, not an objective reality yet."

Bethany leaned forward herself, her gaze thoughtful. Then she tapped her fingers. "You know ... I am wondering if there might be a connection. Think about it - did Corphyeus not know that his anchor would do this? I doubt it."

"He could have been arrogant enough to think he could overcome any risk that the anchor presented him. His pride seems to know no bounds, after all. I cannot say that I want to see him in person, but if only we could understand how it affects him...."

"I am wondering if he had these powers for the anchor already worked out - or this is a different variation of what the anchor was supposed to do." She pressed her lips together thoughtfully, "In any case - I can now cross-reference, into Tevinter magisters who might have experimented with this kind of magic."

"We also now have another orb; Anders and I along with others recovered it from the Blackmarsh. I cannot say for certain, but it seems to be similar to the one Corypheus possesses. It's my hope that my project and the Elven Artifacts project can uncover more."

Inessa chews her lip. "If anyone knows the full extent of the anchor by now, it would be Corypheus. Would that we could learn what he knows without facing him in battle. But no one's actually seen him since Haven, right?"

Her eyebrows raise together, before she sighed and shook her head. "No, he we was dealt a serious blow, and no one has seen him since then."

She looked thoughtful, "Have you let any of the rifters pick up the orb, yet?"

"I don't believe so, no. After we returned, I handed it over to Pel for further investigation. In all the time, it has remained utterly inert. Perhaps the touch of one with a shard would make a difference...but considering how all this began, we have to be very careful." Corypheus' orb somehow leveled the Temple of Sacred Ashes, and she has no intention of seeing a similar effect overtake Kirkwall.

"Oh, good! Between you and Pel, you should at least be able to figure out wht it does ..." She bit down on her lip. "What I wouldn't give to have an elf of old here. Think if all we could learn about this."

Inessa frowns a little at that thought, tempted but also wary at the prospect. "Perhaps, or they might consider it an affront for an orb to be in the hands of a shemlen organization. I suppose the point is moot, though. None now exist, and all we have to go on are what they have left behind. I can only hope that they thought orb instructions worth preserving, somewhere."

"Oh great Maker ... yes." Her eyes widened. "They would probably kill me on the spot, just for saying it." Her mind went back to Merill's clan, and she sighed softly. "Well, we can research it. It connects both of our fields, after all."

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[Open] Carve Your Name On Hearts

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