[Open] No boom today. Boom tomorrow.

[justice_is_blond]

WHO: Anders and anyone! Or, well, almost anyone. Sorry, Fenris and Cullen...
WHAT: Anders arrives at Skyhold, takes a new fake name, and tries to get a measure of the Inquisition while keeping a low profile. Starting in prose, but will switch to brackets to match if that's preferred!
WHEN: Mid-haring
WHERE: All over Skyhold, choose your location?
NOTES: Warning for Anders? I can't think of any real ones atm, I'll update if that changes.

He's tired, but that's nothing new. The road's been long. It shows in the way he leans a little on his staff, a fairly generic-looking thing that's far from his old appreciation of things flashy, just as it shows in the state of his rather ragged-looking robes and the scruff of a beard that he doesn't exactly like. At least he's not dead on his feet - the company of a few refugees more than willing to bear the brunt of conversation on the way up had made the last couple of days more bearable than usual.

Now he's here, and the strain is back on his shoulders. Skyhold holds more than the usual level of danger but there's no getting around the fact that he has to at least visit this place. The Inquisition is likely to be a player in the future of mages, and Anders will not see the little bit of progress made be undone out of fear, or laziness, or naivete, or any other number of things that could cut down freedom for his people.

But that doesn't mean he knows how to go about working toward that, just yet. And that means he's slowly going around the fortress, gathering information by listening and asking simple, short questions. They have to be short. The second-to-last thing he can afford is to slip up and let Justice get too accusatory, which could lead to the last thing he can afford - to be recognized by someone who would turn him over to the 'authorities,' such as they are.

"Have you been with the inquisition long?" is one of the most frequent questions, along with a follow up if the answer is yes: "Do you think they treat mages well here?" It's not like he's hiding the staff, after all. But there are more simple questions mixed in as well, questions about the need for herbalists or healers, about where one might find a warm enough corner to sleep in, or where one can lose what few coppers they have over a game of cards. They're general. Careful. They have to be. He's no longer ready to die.

Comments

[justice_is_blond]

He sees the entirely unexpected smile. There's no use in pursuing, in actually offering to waylay Templars to bears and saying that what Alayre's colleagues don't know won't hurt anyone, but he'll remember that smile. It's... shocking. What if Alayre had been Knight-Commander in Kinloch hold instead of Greagoir? His whole life would be-- and that's not really worth dwelling on. The past has happened as it has happened. Karl might be alive, certainly, but every Kirkwall mage would have died without a chance to fight for their freedom.

"Change has to come." It's more a prayer than anything. So many mages are afraid and will bend their necks if the Templars try to force them back into the Circle, and others, the Loyalists, will encourage it. The remainder would die. He can't let that happen.

"But Thedas being whole... That's an entire different set of issues. The Qunari want to expand, the Dalish are mistreated and hunted, the underground has Darkspawn even without an ongoing Blight, and then there's the tiny, ever-so-insignificant detail of Corypheus wandering about. With, if rumors are true, a dragon." And then there's Starkhaven threatening Kirkwall, too, but he's not going to list that.

"You've certainly set your goals low. An admirable trait." It's the gentlest of teases, because he can hear how tired that sigh is. He can feel that tiredness, considering.

[equanimiti]

Once Detlef starts listing all of the issues he'll face in the future to save Thedas, Alayre actually starts to feel even more overwhelmed. "One step at a time." He mutters more to himself than to the healer. If he truly means to save Thedas, Alayre must first unite Skyhold and end the war while working hard to end the strife between Mage and Templar. Then he can focus on possibly aiding the Grey Wardens against the ongoing Blight and possibly defend Thedas from Qun invaders. As for the Dalish and the injustice they face, Alayre doesn't know how to handle it but he'll try to assist. Now as for Corypheus and the dragon, only a unified Inquisition can handle all of that.

He certainly has his work cut out for him.

"Oh, haha~!" Alayre shakes his head. "You must think of me as an idealistic fool but watch me achieve the impossible. I don't plan on stopping my crusade to save this world as long as the Maker guides me." He states with a strange bit of confidence in his tone.

"Thedas will be saved from itself."

[justice_is_blond]

One step at a time. It's all anyone can do, and Anders nods in silent agreement. Certainly there are larger steps and smaller steps - freeing a mage through his network in Kirkwall was a smaller step, blowing up the Chantry was larger - but it's still one step at a time.

Anders leans forward and rests his elbows on his knees, his chin on his palms, and stares into the horizon for a few moments before talking again.

"And I've never stopped seeking freedom. Not since the day they first put ropes around my wrists and took me toward the Circle. There's a need in this world for idealism, for people who will save others, who will right wrongs. They're few and far in between."

He sighs and straightens as he continues. "The question is more how far you'll go. How far anyone with ideals will go. Because it will take a great deal to save this world from itself and put an end to all the injustices in Thedas, and yet there are lines whose crossing..." There's a shake of his head. "I'd think there would be no coming back from that. Those who have called for the Rite of Annulment, for instance. And other, more memorable actions."

Like his. He has as many lives on his hands as any who have performed the Rite, and as much blame as any who has called for it. But at least his aim and motivations were pure and blameless, unlike theirs.