open | neither snow nor rain

[nadasharillen]

WHO: Nari, Lexie, you~
WHAT: Guardian catch-all for some ladies. (Well, one Lady and one elf.)
WHEN: The Present!
WHERE: Kirkwall
NOTES: prompts I have promised people will be appearing below as I get to them!

Nari

I.

With the sleet keeping everything near-constantly coated with ice, Guardian is hardly the right month to be jaunting about between the Gallows towers and the towers that hold the massive machinery designed to raise and lower Kirkwall's immense chain net. The massive machinery that hasn't been used in two decades, ever since Viscount Threnhold had used it to strangle Orlesian trade and the Divine had ordered the city's Templars to 'convince' him to lower it. Threnhold's successors had been loathe to use it with such a tangle in the recent past, and so its mechanism is full of two decades of largely untended metal shifting, weathering, rusting in places.

The winter seas are rough enough that an assault by sea isn't likely, but the thin dark Dalish woman had shrugged and said that the Archon's Palace raising into the sky above Minrathous hadn't been all that likely either, and so here she is, on her way to the Chain tower, a pack of tools slung over her back. A pack that has been repaired several times, and by the look of it is about to need one more: something heavy looking is inching its way out of the back of it with every step she takes. Won't be long before that's lost. Hope it's not important.


II.

What Guardian is the right month for is being here near the hearth in the Hanged Man's taproom with a hot mug of mulled wine and a mallet, tapping chairs back together and listening with quiet amusement to a harper on one side and two tipsy men one-upping each other outrageously in order to try to take the same woman home on the other.

The important thing, really, is that the weather is outside, but the entertainment isn't unwelcome.

“Are you listening to this?” she asks, looking up briefly with a crooked grin spreading across her face, “The taller one has gone from fisherman to ship's captain in the space of five minutes.”


[ or something else! ]


Alexandrie

Winter here has not brought the lovely romantic fluffy pristine snow she'd dreamed of. It's desperately horrible in Kirkwall, and what work she can do from home she does from home with great relief. Unfortunately there are still meetings to be had, new correspondence to discuss, and every so often new books, scraps, and sheafs of paper arrive for the Inquisition that are in need of translation. All these things are in the Gallows, and so, begrudgingly, is Alexandrie.

She can be found now, looking far less disgruntled than she actually is, sitting at a table in the library with a letter in one hand—at which she is frowning with extreme delicacy—and a painted porcelain cup of tea in the other, her maid doing a spot of embroidery close enough at hand to refresh it when that becomes necessary.

“Ah!” she exclaims quietly, her glance warm and pleased over her painstakingly painted smile, “C'est parfait. Have you a moment to spare?”


[ ...or something else! ]

Comments

[indissection]

"Aggressively charming men, of course." Sidony says it gently, a smile on her face, nothing to betray her. Why would there be anything otherwise? She has no reason to be baring her soul to Alexandrie, not when it had taken her weeks - months, even - to admit it to the plan who had allowed her the chance to consider it, to let the idea and feeling grow in her own mind and heart. She thinks of Byerly, thinks of Jester, and frowns, making herself more comfortable in her chair.

She is careful as she sips at her drink, not allowing herself to show any sign of stress or concern. This is one of her few handfuls of secrets that she would like to keep to herself; her ideas about whom she might be interested in the future is one of the larger ones. There's no desire inside her to admit it, not now - she has to bite her tongue.

"It's not a concern of mine," she waves her hand. "I have no companion for the moment and I have no desire to acquire myself one either. I have other things to focus on."

[coquettish_trees]

"Anatomical studies, of course." Her smile twitches slightly. Quite good, except for the little frown and shift. Well, if Sidony doesn't want to speak on it, she doesn't want to speak on it, and it's certainly the sort of discussion that leads to further fortification when one presses, and so Alexandrie lets it go with a light flicker of her fingers.

"But good," she says emphatically, "a lady must certainly be able to stand on her own two feet without needing any such thing at all." (And if something has lightened a bit to have her undesired visions involving the lady across the table and one Byerly Rutyer made far less likely—although not impossible—then...

then she hardly cares.)

"But to your true focus, I have some relations at the University, if you should like me to send for some texts for you. The library there is far superior to any other."

[indissection]

"That and surgery, yes. I might be adept in some aspects, but there is still an education to be had." Her dissections are helping, of course they are, but practical experience is something she cannot get enough of. The battle had helped a little - she had learned a terrifying amount from doing the best she could with very few resources - but she's still young. Her desire to learn, to write, to dictate, to understand - that is what continued to drive her.

More comfortable now, Sidony settles, allowing herself to breathe out. There's no pressure now, no need to force herself to be on guard or hide anything that might betray the depth of her own mind and confusion about what she feels and what she wants. It's not a matter she wants to discuss with Alexandrie - but she does want to test the waters about something. Something that might not end well.

"I would enjoy anything that you might be able to give me. I brought some books from Nevarra, but I was not able to carry too many of them. With my wardrobe and my books and tools I found myself a little over encumbered, if I am being quite honest with you. Something new to read would be a delight."

A hesitation, a sip, and then -

"Perhaps Byerly might allow me to read in his room where I might not be bothered. He's become very much like my brother, you know. I had one in Nevarra, but we don't speak. Byerly is a suitable replacement."

[coquettish_trees]

Alexandrie's lips thin behind her cup at the mention of his name, a bank of clouds passing across the summer sky of her eyes. They do pass, however, and she breathes as if she'd only held the teacup that long before her face without drinking from it so as to enjoy the warmth of the steam rising from it.

Perhaps they are both seeking siblings lost to them now.

"I imagine he might," she replies lightly, and that is all Alexandrie has to say on the subject of Byerly. More animatedly: "I shall pen a letter to my Cousin Antoine upon my return home this evening, then. I know little of the art myself, so you must tell me if there are any areas of particular interest to you or if you should like a more general selection."

[indissection]

Sidony watches her, eyes skimming over her face before she slowly relaxes and makes herself a little more comfortable. She's not going to say anything - it's not her place. At least she has some idea of what might be going on, but it's not something she is going to ask either Lexie or Byerly about it. It's not any of her business - and she is being respectful for once - and she know it'll open the doors to questions in return.

Byerly is a replacement for Octavian, a more than suitable one. That will have to do for now.

"I suppose the most important area of study would be amputations, treatment of war wounds, that sort of thing. I can't imagine how much information there might be, but..." She lifts her shoulder, as if she doesn't care as much as she obviously does. "Anything you could pass to me would be welcome."

[coquettish_trees]

"Ah, yes. Knowledge of immediate use."

It's not a pleasant thought, that. It brings echoes of the field at Ghislain, the uncareful battlefield amputations and wounds inflicted by Corypheus's army. The aftermath, all crushed together in the keep they'd made retreat to.

It's hardly a ladylike subject for tea. Perhaps something a little less bloody.

"Have you continued interest in herb lore as well?" A momentary pause, and then her eyes light with an idea. "Have you been acquainted with Colin? He is a dear friend of mine. While he is a magical healer, is is also an accomplished herbalist. Perhaps you should enjoy putting your heads together over development of further mundane remedy."

[indissection]

"There are to be more battles ahead. Anything I can have that might aid me with that would be very worthwhile."

Ghislain is not so far away, not in Sidony's memory. She might have made jests about the nature of the battle after it had taken place but it was the only way of coping. There was simply too much on her shoulders, a weight that pressed down on her and made her feel almost panicked; she had never felt such anxiety, had so much blood on her hands. Literally.

Head tilting, she turns back to Lexie, the smile settled on her face.

"I do. Many herbs can be incredibly useful for helping treat illnesses." Blinking, she hesitates for a moment before she shakes her head. She doesn't want to wrinkle her nose, but it might twitch all the same. "I have not met him yet, no. Perhaps you can make the introductions for us?"

[coquettish_trees]

"I shall make them as soon as is convenient to the both of you," she replies with a similarly settled smile. "Perhaps I may entice him to bake something; he is a truly accomplished chef as well. I think, perhaps, Jacques believes I have invited Colin to keep residence with me in order to replace him."

Alexandrie reaches across the table to briefly touch Sidony's arm, an underscore of her sincerity. "But you must tell me if you have settled entirely in now! Have you received any irritated correspondence from your lady mother?"

[indissection]

"I don't think I've met a healer that is a baker too, but the two might cross paths at some point. Creating herbal remedies cannot be so far removed from the creation of food, I would imagine." Not that Sidony has much in the way of experience when it comes to baking her own food; she's never set foot in a kitchen.

The touch does startle her, though, and she glances at her arm before she looks over at Lexie again.

"Not yet, no. I think she has yet to discover where I am and has thus decided not to bring her wrath down upon me."

[coquettish_trees]

Seeing that glance, she'll give a slight reassuring press before withdrawing back to her tea.

"Let us hope it remains so. With luck, you shall be well established here and unable to be rooted out by the time she has found you."

[indissection]

"That is the preferred outcome, of course." Sidony lifts a shoulder in something like an idle, careless shrug. "I imagine she will catch up with me eventually, or she will send my brother on my heels, but until then I will do what I can to share my worth."

She sips her own drink before she speaks again.

"I do not think that she would imagine that I could come here."