faderift | {Open} Extending an Olive Branch

WHO: Aveline and You!
WHAT: Now that the quarantine is over, Aveline parked herself in the Gallows hoping to talk to/be helpful to members of the Inquisition. So, if you're in need of help from a 5'10 walking tank, come on over. Boy, does she have time for you.
WHEN: Late Guardian into Drakonis
WHERE: The Gallows
NOTES: Feel free to PM me here or on discord (Nurfhurrdurr#4899) if you'd like to do anything fun to do. I'm open.

With the quarantine lifted, Aveline knew it will take time for the affected persons to get back into fighting shape. She stopped by the gallows, looking to be useful to those who were still recovering, and just help in general.

She walked around the gallows, hoping to be as personable as she can. The Inquisition has helped Kirkwall a great deal, and she hopes not only to help in kind, but to also foster some strong relationships with the Inquisition's members. She walked around, making an active effort not to glare at anyone, and hoped others would feel comfortable coming up to her.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

It isn't so much that Loghain approaches Aveline as it is that he is nearby when she rounds a particular corner. He is seated on a bench near the training grounds with his Grey Warden blues nearby, tending to the work of maintaining his armour.

If anyone had asked Aveline if she had come to terms with the events that lead to their departure from Fereldon, she would have said yes immediately. It had been so long ago, she had time to process her grief for those she lost, and for the life with Wesley she never got to live. She had moved on, often clawing and crawling her way forward, but it had happened.

But any and all progress she thought she had made fell to the wayside once she turned the corner and saw him....just sitting. Waves of emotions and memories flooded her heart, and she felt tears well in her eyes, and she balled her fists with rage.

She remembered the stories her father told her growing up of his hard work and loyalty to King Maric, and to Fereldon. She remembered seeing him with Cailin as they adressed his army and swelling with pride in serving someone so dedicated to his country and king. Her despair and hopelessness when they were overrun by darkspawn when Cailin fell, her comrades broken without the help he had promised. The sound of Wesley's last breath after she plunged the dagger through is heart. And she was left with rage. So much rage she would boil over from it. How could he be here, sitting, relaxing, breathing, when so many people she loved were not?

"This is where you have hidden yourself then, is it, Teyrn Logain Mac Tir?" she seethed out through grit teeth as she stalked over to him.

This is not the first time a veteran of Ostagar has approached him thusly, and Loghain doubts very much that it will ever be the last.

Which probably explains the expression of careful neutrality that greets Aveline as he looks up from his task to consider her approach. He's grown still; he isn't ignoring her, she has his complete attention, but her clear upset has him taking careful inventory of his own situation. Would this altercation become violent? He hopes, privately, desperately, that it does not.

"Officer Vallen," he greets her quietly by name--he always did have a good memory for those who served under his command, in any capacity. He leaves her assertions about where he's been 'hiding' alone; rage, resentment, pain, are deeply personal things. He's learned not to question them, especially when he knows he is their root cause.

He remembered her. He remembered her, but doesn't acknowledge any more than that.After hearing his voice she felt like a young inexperience officer again, and she had to resist the habit of coming to attention and saluting the man. That made her blood boil even more. She had trusted him. Believed in him. They all had. And he sold them out to further his own ambitions and his own legacy.

"I was, once a long time ago. Last time I was Officer Vallen was at Ostagar. You took that away from me, along with everything else I was. Along with everything else I loved. My king, my husband, my country. Because of you I lost everything!"

Her words are not unfamiliar to him. Loghain has long since stopped offering up justifications for the choices that he made, even the ones that now, a decade later, he continues to stand by--like his decision to retreat at Ostagar. For him, and for the soldiers whose lives were saved by that choice, the wisdom of the order seemed without question. Yet for those who the choice to retreat left behind in the valley... yes. They did lose everything.

As he told Wynne a decade ago, he can still remember their names.

He sits still in the face of her rage, her anguish, and doesn't question her. When she is finished, he says the only thing that he can say: "I'm sorry." No defence. No protestation. No justification. The sentiment won't be enough to stand on its own, but it is also all he has to offer.

The training grounds are less crowded than they might be as she walks by, but a few people are still out and about. Fingon is one of them, a blunt practice sword in hand, aiming blow upon blow at a particularly unfortunate training dummy.

He looks up as Aveline approaches, noting her armor and blade with a nod. "Here to practice?"

She looked at the fine weapon, and then to the wielder. He was by far the tallest elf she's ever seen in her life, and from what she can tell, they are a competent warrior. It had been a few days since she had moved her body. As much as she liked not having to chase down gang members in the undercity, she wouldn't allow herself to become soft in her new role. A little exercise to get the blood flowing would be refreshing really.

"I hadn't planned on it, but if you are in need of a sparing partner, I'd be happy to fill in." She walked closer to him, and extended out a hand to him. "Aveline Vallen."

Benedict makes no such effort not to glare, and feels so comfortable coming up to Aveline that he actually shoulders past her in his haste to get from one point to another. It's not really that crowded; she just happened to be in the way, and he's not in any sort of mood to pay attention.

Aveline reeled back a bit, more from shock than from the very small force the young man had used to shoulder check her. If it had been crowded, she would have probably let it go, but there were relatively few people in the area. It seemed like he had done it on purpose, and rudeness was something that riled her up quickly. She turned around, eyes blazing, and grabbed his arm.

"Oi! When you run into someone, it's customary to apologize."

Though there's a flash of fear in the boy's eyes when he's grabbed by the arm, old habits die hard, and he wrenches it away if she lets him. "Perhaps in your custom," he sighs, almost in a drawl, "though in mine it's considered impolite to grab passersby."

Adasse is, as always, moving around the courtyard with all due speed. Why walk if you can run, and right now he's running to fetch some documents for one official to take to another official and then snooping about to see if he finds anything interesting. He doesn't run into Guard Captain Aveline as he is moving to side-step her and then -

He recognizes her.

Brown eyes go wide, and his smile turns On, "Guard Captain Aveline!"

Another pause, "I didn't do it."

{Open} Extending an Olive Branch

this will go well, I'm sure

Oh dear.... this is gonna be interesting

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