When It Crumbles

[the_effect_she_has]

WHO: Character(s) Katniss and You
WHAT: Katniss returns to Skyhold briefly with reports.
WHEN: Three or four days in the middle of Haring
WHERE: Skyhold - starting out in the camps and within the hold
NOTES: Warnings for cursing, and of course, Katniss'tude. Also for possible mush.

It was the giant yellow horse that the children of the camps saw first, and that could only mean one thing. Katniss had returned. While the girl from the Hinterlands was unknown amongst the nobles, and known only to the merchants and most of the army as that surly hunter, with the common folk she was a favorite. With them, she was clearly more comfortable, and so it was no surprise that the first call of her name, she brought Haymitch to a stop and went to visit with her friends. She picked up children, swung them around, and gave them the small gifts she had crafted out of stone and bone.

To the adults, she gave them the fresh packed meat, the wolf and bear pelts, and from them she received all the local gossip. Some of it made her smirk, some of it made her go pale. She had heard of the abomination in Emprise du Lion, but to hear what happened from those who had been there ... she felt freshly chilled to the bone. Then they asked her - could she say something? She was a scout, she knew the Lead Scout. They had seen her practicing with the Mages. Was there anyone who was going to tell them what was being done, how they were going to be made safe?

She hesitated, but the fear on their face strengthened her resolve. Of course she would bring their concerns to those she knew. She would find out for them. She bid them well, and walked Haymitch up through the large stone balastrade. Something clicked in her, something that was somewhere between comfort and dread. She could not put a finger on it -- but she knew what would help relieve the dread in her stomach. Finding those she called ... friends, those she knew were not on missions at least, and making sure they were all right.

Then, to find answers, to give information to those who needed it about Emprise du Lion. Handling one horror at a time. A weary sigh escaped her lips, as she walked into the courtyard, and started to look around. One thing at a time, Everdeen. One thing at a time.

Comments

[demonicbeauty]

There were a lot of little nooks and crannies where Ariadne could hide out when she needed to. But sometimes, it wasn't so much solitude she sought as a sense of freedom. Those were the times when she'd scale the wall and sit on the edge, letting the wind blow against her face.

An advantage of such a perch, besides the peace of mind, was that it gave her a wonderful outlook, across the long stretches of land beyond Skyhold.

So she was one of the first to see it when Katniss returned.

There was no real explaining why Ariadne felt a sense of kinship with the girl. They were from different worlds, different races, and frankly, had completely different outlooks on life. All the same, Ariadne had somehow made it her personal mission to do what she could to raise Katniss' spirit.

With expert ease, she stood up and began to scale down the outside of the wall. It would have been an easy climb, if she'd used her talons. But Ariadne wasn't ready to explain everything she was--or had been--to Katniss.

Not yet.

So it was a slow, steady climb down.

[the_effect_she_has]

Katniss was about to take off in on direction in the courtyard, when she heard it. A faint scrapping noise above her head. Now, knowing that her Rivani teacher (teachers? Wasn't Zevran still on a mission?) might try to fall from above to test her reflexes -- she took a few quick steps towards the center of the courtyard. She didn't pull her bow. People tended to get nervous when she did that.

She did look up - as Gavin and Salem, and now Merrick had taught her, you always look up. Death from above was completely possible.

Instead of all of them, it was the last person Katniss would have expected, and her eyes went wide as she called out, "...Airy, please tell me you've done this a thousand times?"

[demonicbeauty]

About halfway down, Ariadne decided that she could easily stick the landing. She paused though, at Katniss' question. "No," she said. "I don't think I've climbed down this wall ever before. But I've only been here a few months."

Other walls, well. That was another story.

Pushing herself away from the wall, she fell that last few feet, landing in a perfect squat. On very rare occasions, she used to pass herself off as a tumbler back home. But she didn't pause to bow. She immediately stood up and trotted over to Katniss, like an eager puppy.

"You're back!"

[the_effect_she_has]

Katniss all but winced as the girl dropped the last, oh, five or so feet down. She made a face before she sighed and shook her head with exasperation, and a little bit of fondness as well, as she walked over to the other young woman.

"Just here to drop off intelligence, and get any messages that shouldn't be sent through the crystals. Not to mention check up on everyone." She took Airy's hands, giving her a scrutinizing look. "Are you doing all right? Were you able to hide during the attack?"

[demonicbeauty]

"I'm very good at hiding," Ariadne replied. Which was the truth, without getting into the fact that she hadn't hidden. No, Ariadne had been about, trying to help anyone she could to get out of the way. And to try to figure out what was going on. She'd been more successful with the former than the latter.

But that was always the way things seemed to be in Skyhold.

She gave Katniss' hands a little squeeze, before withdrawing. The one thing she still wasn't entirely comfortable with about humanoids was how casual they were with their hands.

"How was your journey?"

[the_effect_she_has]

"That ... I believe. I also believe you got others to safety first, but then I hope you hid." Katniss had no idea what the shards did against abominations -- she doubted anything at all.

Skyhold, Katniss would say wryly, did tend to be something of a mess like that.

She nodded her head, before she gestured for Airy to walk with her to her next destination, "Cold. And fast. It needed to be though. We have a situation developing in Emprise du Lion."