Say Hello To Goodbye | Openish

[writteninblood]

WHO: Sorrel and anyone who wants to say hello, or indeed goodbye, to him
WHAT: Sorrel leaving Kirkwall, spending some time in the forest, then coming back to Kirkwall like a week or two later, in disgrace
WHEN: The first few weeks of Drakonis
WHERE: Kirkwall, Clans Ashara/Dahlasanor
NOTES: The craziest of crazies. Kirkwall, girls, dancing, naked, Mom!? Argument, exile, fleeing the scene, hiding in a dumpster, crashing on your couch for a week because technically I’m ho~omeless!

No, I am lost
My wounded heart
Resides back home in
Pieces strewn about
The graveyard of my lost love
For only...

The Road between Kirkwall and anyplace at all is hard and muddy by turns, this time of year, melted by sun and unexpected balmy wind, frozen again each night into ruts and fissures, as is the nature of roads in winters. The road too, is fraught with danger, the sides of the path lined with opportunities for those with less scruples than most-- and the forests, known to beasts and magic and the Dalish themselves, are not safer, for the unwary traveler. Times are lean, in this stretch of the year, and what generosity there is has stretched with the weeks until it's leaner still.

That's the road Sorrel has to walk, there and back again.

But on the other end, whether to Kirkwall or away from it, there burns a warm fire, a hearth with friendly faces, and family, of one sort or another.

[ Feel free to respond to the subthreads as appropriate ]

Comments

[arlathvhen]

"Well, you're the worst brother, so we deserve each other." She grumbles into his robes with no animosity. "I'm glad that you were here, for everything that...happened. I don't know if I could have gotten through these last few months without having you so close." And it's terrifying, knowing that she'll have to go back to not being able to have that emotional crutch to lean on, when the future is so unknown. When there's no guarantee that the next few months won't be even worse.

But she's being selfish. It was selfish to be glad he came, and selfish to be upset that he's leaving.

"I suppose it's only fair. I left you last time, after all." It was harder then, off to some shemlen fortress she never heard of, no idea what to expect, or how long she'd be gone. "Send everyone at home my best, alright?"

[writteninblood]

"I'll tell them you secretly murder piles of shemlen whenever they annoy you, and no one the wiser," He teases, though it's true enough, given the circumstances, "That ought to please the Dahlasanor, at least. And you know I--"

He has to stop, voice caught on a choke, clogged up with his own tears.

"I don't care about fairness. I just..." He wants to stay, he wants her to go with him, he wants everything to not be so far away, he wants some magic that will always make them near to one another, just a room away, a voice in the night, comforting and close, "...I'll still have the crystal. Though you know how it is."

Always busy, and never a moment of privacy, not for someone who cannot justify sneaking away.

[arlathvhen]

"You know, you should probably have to return the crystal, since you're not working here anymore." She points out to him dryly, with no intention of attempting to enforce it. Even if Sorrel is away, the fact that now they can at least talk whenever is a great comfort. "And I'll miss having you as my secretary. Now I'll have to do my own writing."

She pulls away from his shoulder, so she can rest her forehead against his.

"This is important, Sorrel. You going back home. The clan needs you. One day you're going to be our leader, and you need to be prepared for that." She's not sure if she's saying it to him or herself.

[writteninblood]

"You're important too," He whispers, though he knows it makes no difference. Important or not, he has to leave, "And you can always hire someone to replace me you know. Lazy."

He doesn't pull away, only presses harder for a moment, closes his eyes and breathes. Don't cry. Don't... don't cry, dammit. In through the nose, and hold it.

"I'll be back in the spring, I promised to be."

[arlathvhen]

"I'm not as important as you, not to the Clan." She whispers back. That's why she's been allowed to stay in the Inquisition so long, why Sorrel has only been allowed to visit. But that's okay, what she's doing here is important, in its own way. And...she's important, here.

They both have places they need to be. It doesn't make it any easier.

"You'd better, or I'll come kidnap you, and your arrival to the Gallows will thrown across a hart."

[writteninblood]

Sorrel lets her have that moment, lets it exhale between them. No, no this won't do-- he pulls back, cups her face in his hands and plants a kiss at the center of her forehead. He can't argue with her words, so he'll win some other way.

"Well, so long as it's a hart and not a horse," Sorrel teases, an unveiled effort to win a smile from her. The joke is somewhat spoiled by the choked, teary tone, but he is doing his best for her, "I do have my dignity to think of."

He does, really! Probably. Somewhere around here.

"I have to go now, ma sa'asha."