get ready everybody 'cause here we go

[dashing]

WHO: Saoirse, Herian & open.
WHAT: a combined birthday hangout.
WHEN: 30th Haring.
WHERE: The Hanged Man.
NOTES: Drink up now and turn up hungover to the Firstday feast. Open invitation over here, no need to reply to the network post or even have prior cr in order to attend. Please add any warnings to subject lines if they come up.

"Party" would be an extreme word for it; the more accurate word would be "casual gathering of people with liquor readily available." It is The Hanged Man, though, so who knows what shenanigans could unfold.

They've taken over a corner of the inn, and though there isn't much in the way of decorations - making sure the place could be easily accessed after all that snow was work enough - there are a couple of strings of bunting.

Don't get too wild; it'd be unfortunate if Herian had to interrupt her own (shared) birthday celebration in the sake of preserving the Inquisition's reputation. (Or do get wild, and simply shrug it off as The Hanged Man's influence. Whatever.)

Be sure of one thing, though - at least one round is one Herian. Maybe. If you're a close friend, or look particularly glum.

Comments

[dashing]

Twenty-two.

When Herian was twenty-two she was still in the White Spire, eagerly trying to prove herself. Her life had been an obsession with becoming the best Knight Enchanter that she could become for long before then, as well. And now she was a Knight Enchanter, but what had it done for the world, or the Chantry, or the Circles? That she would ever be the personal guard to the Divine seemed dubious at best, when they had gone so long without a Divine elected in the wake of the conclave. A life of dedication sometimes seeming eclipsed, when apostates could make claim to something that was years of work without any consideration of duty.

She takes another sip of wine.

“I am reaching nine-and-twenty. I must confess this is not where I imagined myself being now, when I was your age.”

[circleprodigy]

"Before the fall of my Circle, I was so certain that I would be an Enchanter by now. One more step on my way to perhaps becoming First Enchanter somewhere, someday."

At the very least, she would have joined the Aequitarians formally, instead of merely sympathizing with them. It had all been planned out, her future seemingly secure...only for the rug to be pulled out from beneath her feet. Suddenly, one path was cut off from her while endless other possibilities arose. Suddenly, she could follow in the footsteps of her childhood heroes...but that that had not quite turned out as she had thought it would, either.

Pausing, she takes a sip of her own wine, savoring the flavor. "And what life did you imagine for yourself, as a Knight-Enchanter?"

[dashing]

“Ambitious.” Impressive, to strive so far, though ambitious mages were not always looked on kindly.

She sips the wine again, enjoying the warmth of the spices on her tongue. Clove, she remembered, her uncle would keep for spiced wine, while her mother desperately tried to keep them for numbing sore mouths.

It is strange, abrupt association, but she sets the glass down gently. "I hoped to serve the Chantry and the people through it. I long believed knights had the opportunity of bettering the lands they were to protect, and I wished to play my part in that. Educating more Knight Enchanters, serving the will of the Divine."

A moment of pause; “I was considered unusually driven to make Enchanter when I did. Did you have a particular desire to teach your fellow mages?”

[circleprodigy]

Inessa nods as she listens to Herian's own erstwhile plans, approving of her motives. "Ambitious as well, but I expected no less. You have always struck me as the proactive sort. The Divine would have been fortunate to have your continued service."

In response to the question, a fond smile forms on her lips. "One of the reasons I thrived in the tower was due to the attentions of tutors who saw the best in me and strove to bring it out. They were just what I needed, attentive and encouraging but challenging as well. How could I not want to repay their efforts by passing that on to a new set of students? Though I have a feeling my particular magical focuses would be different." Rift magic is relatively new, and necromancy is not met with widespread approval, outside Nevarra. Perhaps she would have secured a transfer, though.

[dashing]

"Thank you." It is a bittersweet thing to hear, all kinds considered.

"Perhaps," Herian agrees, but she has no great certainty on that count. How can they judge what might have been, when the world as it is lies so far beyond their expectations? "Are there any focuses that particularly called to you, before you departed the Circle?"

[circleprodigy]

"A spirit healer, perhaps? I had wanted to be useful, and that seemed a solid path to that end." But spirit healers were in short supply after the fall of her circle, and the creation of the Breach shifted her focus. What it had left in its wake needed to be studied and harnessed, and at least in that end there has been some success.

She shrugs, after a small sip. "But that was then, and the world has changed so much since. Now, with the turning of the year, it's probably more appropriate to consider what to do with this new one."

[dashing]

“When I was younger I hoped I might have the talent for Spirit Healing. My mother healed people in the alienage, and her father, and I’d… hoped to share some trait with them, even in absence.” Her smile is barely present, disappears as quick as it arrives. “I have no talent for the healing arts of magic - the best I can manage are defensive barriers, to try and prevent injury. I’m told one of my aunts was a Spirit Healer, though.”

Herian sighs a little. What was done was already done; they could only do everything moving forward. Life was not a canvas where errors might be painted over. “You speak rightly. I dread that the Inquisition’s reputation may prove to jeopardise any chance we have of defeating Corypheus, if we continue to alienate those who might prove allies and lend aid.”

[circleprodigy]

"I don't know if any of my kin had magic, let alone that talent. Perhaps...?" Inessa was young when she was taken away, scarcely any time to remember what pieces she does, let alone extended family. Though now she wonders if any of her relatives were in her circle, or another. She'll probably never know.

"You mean the chilly reception that has formed due to our present leadership?" A Dalish elf and two rifters...and at one time, three. No wonder it's alarmed elite and common folk alike. "Now that Ser Coupe commands our forces, I hope that will change to some small degree. I had no ill-will against Iskandar, but I can see why a native Andrastian would do much to ease minds."

[dashing]

“A good many of my father’s family have magic. It is why I was sent to the White Spire after Starkhaven burned, instead of to Kirkwall with Enchanter Ceallach; my aunt was thence already. Most of the Marcher Circles had an Amsel already, and some of Nevarra, and I was to Orlais.”

And Herian cants her head very slightly to the side.
“It is born of more than that,Warden.” Her tone remains as careful and polite as ever; she’s no want to cause offense, and these are sensitive topics to tread. “In our visit to Nevarra we won some favour, aye, but then the outbreak of violence in the Necropolis was seen as an attack upon a sacred site. In local quarters the Inquisition has brought with them Dalish that are known to be responsible for a forest that… while beautiful, sprung up overnight in a city with a colourful history of mages. Now it is host to territorial violence between those attempting to profit from it. We are known to have been involved in affairs in Orlais. Though you and I and members of the Inquisition might better understand these events, our reputation amongst the people of Thedas is one of destructive interference and disrespect. If we cannot win the Chantry and through them, the people to our cause, I fear that the opposition we face will hinder our efforts against Corypheus and result in our failure.”

And if they fail, Thedas falls.

[circleprodigy]

Inessa nods at mention of Nevarra, her lips forming a thin line at mention of their visit. "Fair points, all. I was there for the attack on the Necropolis; we had intended no more than a respectful tour, but the hostility of the dead forced us to defend ourselves. We were played by someone who wished to drive a wedge, though it was scarcely necessary. Even if we prove this, the fact remains that the rest of what you have stated us quite true. We have an uphill battle before us."

She sighs and shakes her head. "...I apologize, this is rather weighty talk for a birthday celebration. I suppose discarding work at the door is easier said than done."

[dashing]

“I was there as well. I cannot… there was no other way, and yet I feel that the necessity does not justify or heal the wounds inflicted to Nevarra, nor our ties with them.” She sighs gently.

“I specialise in weighty conversation,” Herian adds, a little wryly. When have they ever had a wholly light-hearted conversation, even? She is not sure there is a time, with the possible exception of Franklin.

[circleprodigy]

"And I specialize in encouraging it, I suppose." Inessa sighs and takes a sip of her wine. "If we could find proof of what really happened, it would be a start. It might still be out there, if we're fortunate. Otherwise...I don't know what it would take to make amends." Whatever the price, it would likely be steep, if they could even afford it.