[OPEN] Dance of the Herbal Tea Fairy

[eolasemah]

WHO: Sina and you!
WHAT: Deliveries of herbal concoctions, helpfully plucked and dried from our very own Skyhold gardens. Need a tea blend, a potion, a poultice, a pinch of a rare herb for your nefarious research? Surely you've sent word down to the gardens, and the delivery is on its way.
WHEN: Throughout Haring
WHERE: All over Skyhold
NOTES: Just assume you've made the request and say where you are in your reply! Also please feel free to run into her somewhere even if you're not waiting on herbs.

Sina, dressed warmly in her cloak and scarves, with boots too large and gloves with holes for the fingers, traverses Skyhold with a basket of small herbal packets for wherever in the Keep they're needed.

She's too shy to meet eyes with most passersby, and could likely be mistaken as a servant by some if not for her vallaslin and the green glow emanating from her sternum, even beneath the scarves. But now is the time to be brave and make herself useful, with a hopeful side-effect of meeting more of Skyhold's populace.

Comments

[dalishious]

[ Ugh, talking. Merrick's voice is very hoarse when he speaks. Creators his throat hurts. ]

I want the herbs I asked for.

[eolasemah]

Sina paused, then straightened. "...oh." She left him to go back to her work table, where she had set aside a packet for this particular order. When she brought it back, she offered him a small smile. "What are your symptoms?" she asked softly, "in case I missed anything."

[fleurdesel]

Blue light bloomed in Adelaide's palm as she extended her hand, resting her fingertips lightly on the skin surrounding the shard. As before and every time since a wash of cool mist flowed from her to Sina, soothing the ache. Lightening the burden for a short while. "That should make the remainder of your deliveries a bit easier, yes?"

[eolasemah]

Sina grimaced, her face contorting in perhaps a bit more pain than she was letting on, but then it relaxed. She sighed, and let her forehead fall onto her hand. "Thank you," she said wearily, instinctively bringing her own hand back to the shard.
"I don't... suppose anyone's found out what these are yet?" She knew better than to be overtly hopeful, but it never hurt to stay optimistic in the general sense.

[fleurdesel]

"Something in them resonates with the veil and in turn, the fade. That is why rifts and veilfire cause it to ache so. More than that...I do not know. I am still looking into it, I assure you." One day she will have an answer. One day she might have a cure.

[eolasemah]

Sina nodded, a bit glumly. She had learned that when helping Pel investigate the veilfire, but it seemed no one had been able to glean much beyond it. "If there's any way I can help," she offered, lifting her eyes to meet Adelaide's with a small but earnest smile. "Pel knows. She's sharing her research with me."

[foxsays]

Well, next task: figure out what Sina enjoyed so she could leave her a small token at some point, hopefully whenever she next got to leave Skyhold for an assignment of some description. Besides, her attention was definitely on the other matter of sailing, frowning at the conditions described.

“What sort of captain wouldn’t let you on the deck?” She cursed, shaking her head. “Getting up on the deck and getting some fresh air usually helps with the sickness if the seas aren’t too rough and the air is more clear than down below, I can’t believe-- your captains must be very rude, none of ours would do such a thing unless you were a prisoner and you haven’t the look of such. Sailing takes time to adjust to for those who have forgotten that it’s in their blood.”

[fleurdesel]

"Perhaps- as they are so closely connected to the fade you might keep a journal of your dreams? To see if they are any better or worse on days that it troubles you- or if they are any different from the dreams you had before." As a mage she was already at risk enough, but perhaps what they could not find on this side? Sina might find on the other.

[eolasemah]

Sina smiled at Araceli's rant, a faint blush coloring her cheeks as she lowered her head. "Well, ah... a lot of humans don't trust the Dalish, and vice versa," she explained, "they probably thought we would curse them." Which, to be fair, she wanted to several times. "We were lucky we found a boat that would take us at all."

[eolasemah]

After considering this a moment, Sina nodded, her expression pensive. "I will try," she said, her smile widening slightly.

[fleurdesel]

"Taking note of what is happening whenever it flares up, even if there are no rifts or veilfire around at the time, would also be of great help not only to us, but to you you as well." She squeezed Sina's hand lightly before withdrawing it. "We will find answers."

[foxsays]

"A lot of humans here must be bastards if I'm being honest. I know people are afraid of mages but why would they be afraid of that? Even afraid, sailors want to earn coin, they shouldn't turn away business because they believe anything so stupid." Even though sailors were a superstitious sort of breed, it sounded so wrong, so backwards to her ears. She knew some bastards herself but if you had the coin and behaved, you were free to board and travel and if you didn't behave you were locked up or tossed off and well, Sina hardly seemed the type to go around cursing people.

[dalishious]

[ Now the other elf wants him to talk even more, and frankly, Merrick has half a mind to just snatch the basket out of her hands and disappear again. He doesn't. Instead he just lets out a low groan, rubbing his aching forehead. ]

Sore throat. Headache. Body hurts.

[eolasemah]

Sina squeezed back, and withdrew her own hand uncertainly. "I'll do my best," she said, with a definitive nod. "In the interest of knowledge, if nothing else." She smiled softly.

[eolasemah]

Sina shrugged self-consciously. "I mean," she continued, "...I'm also a mage." It was a bad combination, when going up against the superstitious. "But it's all right. It's over now. And the only other time I'll have to sail will be when I go back home." There was a wistful note to her words-- she tried to sound as though she knew she would return, when in truth she could only hope.

[eolasemah]

Sina nodded and looked into the small bundle she held, sorting through it to make sure she had everything. "I hope this helps," she finally said, with a conclusive air, and handed it to him with a smile.

"If you need more or something else, I'm Sina. You can usually find me here." She angled her head, catching a glance of his face beneath the hood. "Are you Clan Ashara?"

[fleurdesel]

"In the interest of your own health as well, I hope. Ah- Roul." Adelaide waves over a slim young man, taking the tray as he dips a quick bow to both her and Sina before heading back out. Someone must mind the younger apprentices.

"Tea, shortbread, and jam." Blackcurrant Jam, wherever he'd found this? Adelaide can't say.

[eolasemah]

"Of course," Sina agreed, but seemed a bit more tired when she said it. She was tempted by the treats laid out for them, however, and it seemed to bring her spirits back up. "..may I?"

[foxsays]

"There is mistrust where I come from, I don't think people can live without such things, after all how else are we to stay alive but the way some here are treated. The mages, the elves I am discovering, the Vashoth or Tal-Vashoth all lumped together. The judgement though, it shocks me. It shames me to be a human at times here and I never thought such a thing would ever happen," she admitted, raking her hair back from her face with a muttered curse under her breath at the end. "Ah but there is only sea for you, no? Some of us will have to attack demons to find our way back and without a map to aid us."

[fleurdesel]

"Yes, of course." Adelaide stirred a bit of the jam into her tea, but left the first selection of the other snacks for Sina to choose. Doing otherwise would make a poor hostess of her indeed.

[eolasemah]

"Don't be ashamed," Sina said quietly, "I'd never met a human before I came here, and... on the whole, you're quiet different from what I was taught to believe." She smiled, a bit uncertainly. "From what I can see, most of you, at least here at Skyhold, have nothing to be ashamed of."

Araceli's reminder made her blush and lower her head. "Oh-- ir abelas," she said, cupping a hand over her mouth, "I was being selfish. Please forgive me."

[eolasemah]

Sina helped herself to a piece of shortbread, on which she spread the jam. It wasn't something she was used to eating, but she had acquired a taste for the sort of sweets humans enjoyed and was now certain she could never go back to the way things were.

"Ma serannas," she said with a bashful smile.

[fleurdesel]

"You are most welcome, Sina." She offered a smile, content to sip her tea in quiet, calm company. It would give Sina time to rest and them both a short while where they are not worrying after herbs, the garden, or mages.

[foxsays]

"I think you were smart to not have been around them if they're as described, it's a very ugly attitude that seems to creep through the masses. Maybe wanting to help means we know the strengths others have or maybe we're simply not selfish. It's hard to speak for the rest when I'm not exactly from around these parts."

Alarmed, because she hadn't meant to upset her, she set a hand on her arm, smiling warmly as Lux circled around Sina's legs. "Sina, no no no, no apologies are needed, I was only joking. It will be a grand adventure though I plan to stay and help so long as I am needed."

[eolasemah]

Sina wasn't too upset, just a bit embarrassed, and Araceli quickly convinced her not to be. Unable to resist Lux's attention, she stooped again, setting down the basket well away from the fox's snout and putting both her arms around him in an affectionate squeeze.

"I know it must happen eventually, but I'd be sorry to see you go," she confessed, smiling up at Araceli and still blushing a little. "Even if it means the world is fixed and everyone is safe again."