It's Not A Pretty Thing To See [Closed]

[overharrowed]

WHO: Julius, Petrana, Colin, Marisol, and Finch
WHAT: Winning hearts and minds
WHEN: Solace, pre-Tevinter expedition
WHERE: Ferelden
NOTES: Link to OOC post

With Orlais at war, things in Ferelden appear relatively quiet, apart from the seemingly never-ending stream of suitors attempting to catch Queen Anora’s eye. But the Inquisition has heard grumbling, low but persistent, about the news that the Inquisition will support mages’ legal right to inherit and hold titles. Sources have traced much of that grumbling to Bann Selwyn. He is not a particularly influential figure in his own right, but he has friends and allies who are inclined to take his point.

The Inquisition has managed to secure an invitation for a small group to visit Selwyn, along with his wife and his heir. (Thomas has only been the heir since the Fifth Blight; his older brother fell defending Ferelden from Darkspawn.) The information available is mainly that Bann Selwyn is a fairly ordinary Fereldan noble, with aspirations above his station, but hopefully a man to be reasoned with. The situation is not yet a problem; the Inquisition wants to ensure it does not become one.

Comments

For Colin

[overharrowed]

Dinner the night of their arrival had been awkward, but at least not outright disastrous. Lady Selwyn was polite, if careful with her words. Thomas Selwyn, the current heir, had the look of man who was torn between pressing the guests for news of the wider world and attempting to escape to somewhere quieter at any given moment. Bann Selwyn's temper was short beneath an almost aggressive veneer of hospitality.

Other than the sense that the servants had been instructed to keep an eye on them, the Inquisition representatives found themselves with more or less run of their host's home. Julius dutifully spent a lot of that time working on various Selwyns, sometimes with Marisol or Petrana, sometimes on his own.

But he can't work all of the time, and he's aware he's not the only person who might feel strange being back in Ferelden, for all they are not especially near Lake Calenhad. It's a few hours after supper one night when he goes looking for Colin.

[keenly]

The other Fereldan has kept quiet for most of the trip. Quiet is how Colin tends to keep most of the time, and isn't a sign of a good or bad mood. His preference, especially around nobles, is to wait till he's been spoken to and weigh his options then. That doesn't mean he doesn't have opinions once Julius gets him alone.

And alone he is, having been dragged off by an upset groom after a wet-behind-the-ears stableboy managed to get kicked in the ribs by a gelding. And after Colin confirmed that the boy's ribs had not hurt the horse's hoof, he saw to the boy while the groom saw to the horse. He's on his way back, holding a lantern and wading through the damp grass when Julius approaches. The opinion he'd kept to himself all day now shows in the crook of his eyebrow and the tic of one corner of his mouth.

"So. You're a nob."

It's not a bad thing, necessarily. It's very nearly funny, in fact. Not because Julius deserves or does not deserve it, but because despite what people said, there was some remnant of classism in the Circle. And usually, those mages born with silver spoons in their mouths were easy to spot, but this one had escaped Colin. But more than that, there's a note of admiration in what he says. Julius was a highborn brat all along, and he hadn't treated Colin any differently.

[overharrowed]

Julius doesn't make a face, though if Colin wants to speculate that he would like to, he may.

"Technically, I suppose. It's not as if I was here long enough for it to have made much of a difference."

He knows what Colin means, but Julius came to the Circle young enough to plausibly claim he didn't even remember where he'd come from. It was a falsehood that would not have taken if he'd been 10 or 12 -- but at 6, he could stick to it without straining credulity too much.

"I didn't see that it was ever going to matter. Though there are a lot of things I didn't see coming, I suppose. There was a time it seemed easier not to complicate what people thought of me unnecessarily." Sort of bleakly funny, now.