when they tell you you are made of stars, tell them you know.

[elegiaque]

WHO: Gwenaëlle Vauquelin, Petrana de Cedoux, Benevenuta Thevenet & Galatea Lourdes + SPECIAL GUEST: YOU.
WHAT: A Wintermarch catch-all.
WHEN: Wintermarch.
WHERE: Kirkwall.
NOTES: Somewhere for me to put planned, closed threads! Hit me up on keanuleaves or libbitybibbit#8828 if you desire one.

Comments

[overharrowed]

Julius seems as if he might ask, or at least offer something comforting -- he doesn't hide a flicker of concern at the nature of her ring nor her reaction to his story -- but instead, he simply shakes his head.

"I cannot know his mind; I was not one he ever targeted for recruitment, though whether that was because of my politics or my skill set I've no idea. But if I had to guess, I'd say it was a combination of a sincere belief the Circle should be self-governing combined with a taste for power. Someone would have to be First Enchanter in a newly liberated Circle, or even Grand Enchanter, and it wouldn't be someone who'd been previously loyal to the Chantry."

Julius doesn't blame him, precisely, for either motivation, but it's a very vivid example of why the ends don't always justify the means, especially where magic is concerned.

[ipseite]

“It never would have worked,” she observes, after a moment, “pursued thus. He was undone already by his own methods—even had he succeeded. Such methods would not be secret long, and such a Circle—such a mage—could naught but expect to be a target. A symbol, in being put down.”

Whether that might have galvanized a different sort of rebellion or put paid to it entirely, they can only guess. Done is done, and none of that happened.

Still.

What it puts her in mind of doesn't bear thinking about too closely.

“One Circle. No, that would not have stood.”

[overharrowed]

"No," he agrees, "it wouldn't have. Even if he'd not turned to blood magic, even if he'd convinced the other enchanters... I can't imagine that the Chantry would have sat by and allowed Ferelden's mages independence, regardless of what Ferelden's crown had to say about it. But I suppose that evaluation is also much easier to make in hindsight."

Julius isn't entirely sure he would have seen the templars' decision to split off coming, either. Perhaps it was easier to imagine a bloodless sea change with powerful enough allies, years ago.

"It is a complex affair, as you surely know. For years, the Chantry assumed most if not all apostates used blood magic; it was a convenient excuse for putting them down on sight. That, clearly, I cannot excuse either. It is just difficult for me to be cavalier about warnings against blood magic when I saw firsthand the damage it can do to a man's character, even before the rebellion's violent end. Uldred was not always power-mad, I am reasonably sure."