faderift | (no subject)

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(no subject)

WHO: Cole & Several (includes OPEN THREAD for Rifters)
WHAT: Compassion returns to Skyhold.
WHEN: Early-Mid Haring
WHERE: Skyhold
NOTES: Cole works best with individualized threads rather than completely open ones. Please don't be afraid to contact me (Plurk or PM) if you'd like to set something up! Prompts will be posted in comments.

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It'll take some observing, some meditation on things she'd rather not recall for it to come to her. For now he's an innocent that was caught up in a mess larger than anything the Spire had ever seen. For now he has her concern. Hesitant as the gesture had been, tentative as his grip is- she holds fast to his hand. An anchor. Something grounding, rough memory and emotional pain are still pain, albeit pain that she cannot soothe easily.

"Red Templars. Why am I not surprised that they had some hand in the aftermath?" Just as much as the Venatori had a hand in Redcliffe, in twisting the hopes of her peers into service of a being they did not understand. "Did you know her well?"

"I don't know." What does it take to know someone well, he wonders? He doesn't think he can say. Still, what comes next is more of a lament than an excuse:

"She wasn't here very long."

"No. She wasn't." Adelaide reaches out with her other hand, cradling Cole's between. "But she did great things for those that knew her."

Yes. She did. With that in mind, Cole turns his head to look across the courtyard, at all the people working, walking and talking.

"The Inquisition is still an idea. People still want it to mean something. The Seeker started it, but She held it together."

When he turns back to Adelaide, he's smiling, his hand still in hers. "We're still growing. Vines stretching, roots reaching, seeking the sun. It's a good thing we have teachers."

"Commander Cullen and the others are doing what they can to hold it in her absence. I would like to think that some o the rest of us help." Organizing. Minding. Mending.

A death is a wound like any other without any of the usual ease in healing. Time, coping, rebuilding- moving forward can do much. Dwelling offers little comfort though she does wonder, for a moment, what it might have been like to know the Herald. If there would have been any advice she might offer.

"And all the better to have others with which we grow."

His smile brightens a little further, his hand giving hers a squeeze — and then he's gone, just as a cool breeze sweeps through the garden.

Adelaide will still feel the pressure against her hand. A gentle reminder, in case the memory of him starts to slip away.

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