OPEN | Dreams are more precious than gold

[mythalenaste]

WHO: Pel, Nathaniel, and Colin
WHAT: Open log for the month of December/Haring
WHEN: All month
WHERE: Kirkwall
NOTES: Some warning for grief and loss, anxiety disorders, chronic pain, and Rendon Howe.

Pel

I: The Alienage

Pel is bundled up, with coarse fennec pelts strapped around her boots for traction. Little Sina is similarly bundled and peering curiously at this new white world. Before leaving the Gallows, Pel stops to take the time to introduce the little girl to snow for the first time, letting her touch it to test the coldness, and showing her the intricacies of a single flake against the dark contrast of one glove. Then she hoists the baby up into a harness on her back and sets out.

The alienage has a great need right now, being in such a poor state of repair generally. Pel's aid there is less magic and more elbow grease, hauling a bag of sand gathered from the shore and scattering it over the ice. The only magic used for it is the magic she directs inward to increase her own strength.

Inside houses it's a little different. People are desperately cold. Some see that there are mages given to other parts of town and request magical aid, desperate not to freeze themselves and their children to death. Pel seldom suggests magic herself if there is any other way, but finds herself making quite a few glyphs--on stones, for putting at the foot of a bed, in the fireplace, even stitched discreetly into one man's gloves and stockings because he works at the docks and is in danger of frostbite. Sina observes all of this, and Pel somehow feels like this is just as important for her daughter as for anyone. At seven months old, she is already being exposed to the value of hard work.

Saoirse

A grateful elf has made hot stew for the Inquisition workers. Pel sits by Saoirse and hands her a bowl.

"Eat up while it's hot, lethallan."

II: Ice Skating

Pel is quite literally in her element in this weather. In the center of the courtyard, without asking anyone, she creates an ice sculpture of a roaring dragon unfolding its wings. And almost immediately after, she takes a pair of skates, straps them on, and introduces Little Sina to a new form of movement, holding her tightly in her arms so she can watch her daughter's face.

The first slide is gentle, slow, and the little girl looks at once baffled and intrigued. The second slide is quicker, and an open smile flashes across her face. By the third, she is laughing, and so is Pel. Faster and faster they go, making turns, sometimes going backwards. Soon, Sina is shrieking with laughter.

It's the first time since the older Sina's death that Pel has had laughter in her life.

Sorrel

"Here." Pel skates up to him to pass the baby to him, breathless and grinning. "Your turn."

Herian

Pel is now taking up her sword practice indoors, where it is not likely she will slip and break her neck. In a wide-open room, she goes through the stances while Sina lies belly-down on a blanket, trying to push herself up to hands and knees. Herian walks in, and Pel stops to give her a wave.

"Grab a sword and spar with me."




Nathaniel

I: Closed to Loghain

As Nathaniel is terribly formal, he leaves Loghain a note to join him for dinner in his quarters. As he is terribly polite, he cooks the meal himself. As he is terribly nervous, he fusses over table setting and almost calls off the entire thing because is it really doing to do him any good to have this conversation?

But he has to know.

He hears the knock. "Come in," he calls.

II: Warden Office

Most days, especially with the cold and snow, Nathaniel is drawn and pale. His ribs are nearly healed from the most recent break, but his rheumatism is worse than ever, and he can feel every shift in barometric pressure. He has gone all out with the fire glyphs and buried himself in paperwork, including a new sign (paper) on the door.

WARDENS--

Enquire here for work assignments. For relief effort requisitions, please speak with Senior Warden Teren.

--Ser Nathaniel

Ciri

A message comes over Ciri's crystal:

"Warden, please meet me in the office at your earliest convenience."

Bethany

Since there are relief efforts underway, Bethany and Nathaniel have been hard at work. Their donation funds are not going back to the public, of course--the Wardens need the charity. But they are finding an increase in donations the more legwork their people put into relief efforts. After Bethany delivers her daily report, Nathaniel stands, supporting himself against his desk.

"With that," he groans, "I'm done. If anyone else needs anything, Alistair or Loghain can handle it."




Colin

I: Closed to Gareth

It's bizarre, the effect any shift plays on Colin. He doesn't like the open, shared room he is in. He wants somewhere small and safe. But outside the room is less safe. He is paralyzed by a peculiar mix of complacency and fear, ready to simply tuck himself away until the snow melts because who would go outside in the snow? Isn't it a good excuse not to see or talk to anyone?

But he has to work. He has to help the city, too. These are orders, not options.

He calls Gareth over the crystals. He should probably talk to someone who already knows why he cowers like this, but Gareth feels safer.

"Gareth? Could you...could you come to my room?"

It's humiliating. He feels weak and pathetic. But he needs help leaving his room.

II: All Over Kirkwall

During lunchtime, Colin closes the shop and starts making his rounds in the city. He rolls a cart with a rich, hearty pork bone soup with fresh bread on the side, all kept piping hot by a couple of runestones. All the hardworking people need to do is bring a cup to get fed. In Lowtown and the alienage, quite a few citizens also come, and he feeds them without question.

Anders

After lunch is passed out, Colin sits on a step, sipping on a mug of soup and occasionally dipping bread into it. When he sees Anders, he grins and waves.

"Did you get food?"

Comments

[ichaer]

She outdoors going through morning routines with Kelpie when Natheniel's voice comes alive over her crystal. Breathing out a puff of cold air, Ciri fishes for her crystal and eyes it carefully before speaking: "Loud and clear, be there soon as I finish up at the stables."

Which included more than just her usual routines with her horse. As its begun to grow colder, she has been working to make sure that the stables are in good condition and the mounts have enough protection from the winter weather. She doubts it'll get as cold here as it does back home but she worries more for the wind off the bay and whatever might come down from the mountains.

A short time later, still dressed in her work clothes and a protective muffler wrapper around the lower half of her face, does she approach the office and knock.

[pinprick]

Nathaniel is alone in the office, for the moment. He sits stiffly in his chair and looks grumpier than usual.

"I dropped my pen." Which is true. There is a pen lying on the floor. He cannot work without a pen. "Will you please pick it up for me?"

[ichaer]

She blinks once and then twice, standing in the doorway before glancing around. Was... was this a trap? Was someone going to jump down from the ceiling and throw her out the window when she bent over? Was she being ridiculous?

Probably not, maybe and definitely.

"Uh, aye... sure." Ciri says slowly as she moves into the room, closing the door behind her and picking the pen up from the floor to set it back on his desk. With a chuckle, she grins. "I hope this wasn't a test of some sort."

[pinprick]

Nathaniel takes the pen, face flushing with embarrassment. "I had a few ribs break recently and I can't bend. But I did call you here for another reason. Sit down."

[ichaer]

Shit. She's definitely going out of a window at some point.

"Right," she says with a careful look at him before finding a nearby chair. Ciri, usually quite the talker, remains silent as she ponders over what this might be about. Can't very much throw her out of the Grey Warden, windows aside, so she has that much going for her.

[pinprick]

Nathaniel shifts uncomfortably. He does not actually know how Ciri will feel about this, but...

"How would you feel about working in this office a couple days a week? Chiefly drudgery, filing paperwork, picking up my pen if I drop it. The experience wouldn't be particularly hands-on, but you could learn a lot."

He's not going to say what he wants her to learn because these sorts of office positions have long held the purpose of grooming juniors for command. This would be a very low-key sort of grooming, giving her the freedom to get the more hands-on experience that would give her a clear perspective later on. But with his Calling on its way in the next few years--supposedly--and his sustained injuries, he needs to start looking ahead.

[ichaer]

"Oh," she says as if that gives all of the answers to his question. "Are you sure you want to ask me?"

Ciri was good at a lot of things. Horseback riding, sword fighting, alchemic mixtures and breaking locks but office work? It was the sort of thing that people tended to look over her for in the long run. It wasn't the sort of thing that she was 'cut out for' as they'd say.

"Most folk ask me to go out and punch or stab things, not help them in more... official settings."

[pinprick]

"A person doesn't need training who is already good at the job," Nathaniel points out. "You would get to observe things, here. See how it's done at this level. Which might be useful, should your ambitions...call you to this level, eventually."

[ichaer]

"Folks tend feel out this sort of stuff. Figure out the sort of ones that will be good for it, you know?" Ciri says, crossing one leg over the other and breathing out a cold breath of air. "I'm not saying no, of course. Don't think that. Just wondering why me though? Nessa is far smarter than me and Kain is well... he's probably good at observing stuff."

Probably the nicest thing she's said about Kain lately.

"Both would be better for..." She makes a awkward gesture with her hands to him and the office. "All this."

[pinprick]

"I disagree," Nathaniel says without hesitation. "You have a great deal of promise, Cirilla. I would like for you to learn, if you are agreeable. This isn't very glamorous a task, nor an especially difficult one, but it is a necessary one to pass on. And as I said, you would learn what we do as leaders of Wardens. An invaluable experience, in my estimation."

[ichaer]

There's a visible shift in her stance at the mention of her full name. Of course, she used it more "professionally" since she didn't have a surname... or rather not one that she cared to claim so openly when she all but abandoned it.

It nevertheless leaves an odd taste in her mouth but it doesn't show as much more than a frown.

"I suppose can't say no when you but it like that," she says with a careful sigh. "Might be worth learning when most of the Warden leadership has already fucked over me once. Though you've been doing a right good job of it considering... literally everything else going on in this world. "