faderift | Divine Intervention

“Goodwill is not a resource the—” here he nearly says Inquisition; it had settled on his tongue over the years. He amends smoothly and continues, “Riftwatch has in abundance yet, I would that we should cultivate it.”

Most of the loudest voices against integration have disappeared. There are a handful of rifters left in total. No, this is not the sword he’ll throw himself on. Recent upsets have both shortened and lengthened his reach, in a bothersome paradox.

“What will raise the most ire when we discuss these terms with the Gallows?” New things or simply things that have not been mentioned in a month or two and as such have been forgotten. And—he clearly means with the mages.

"The right to marry and inherit."

A touch wintery could just as easily describe Ilias's demeanour since leaving the Gallows -- consummately gracious as ever, not unfocused on the task at hand, but maintaining as much seems the extent of his present capacity for warmth. It's been something of a relief, that their meeting has thusfar required little.

"Better that we continue to volunteer information, I agree," Better they choose what to volunteer; it's why he sought a position between Riftwatch and the Chantry at all, "And I am confident we can communicate that, but there are a number for whom a reversal of the Inquisition's position on marriage will be difficult to accept."

Edited (getting my facts right ig) 2019-07-10 03:08 (UTC)

"Are there?"

Marisol is gone. Julius keeps his plans to himself. Kostos seems unlikely to have wanted it. Alexandrie is a problem for another time. Nell will see the use it might have been in pushing farther, Nell will be angrier about the rest of the news.

Ilias,

"Anders may fuss," The sky is blue. "One or two with him."

Colin. He means Colin, but they're in mixed company. He's still messing with the stupid fork. He still isn't looking at Ilias.

"I think the future of the Circles themselves more distracting."

And the most difficult to shift upon their own time and ends. Isaac hasn't been brought into any discussions of ownership; he'd be a fool to imagine they haven't been happening. Their invitation to Markham proved the difference between those properties the Chantry claims, and those that it can hold.

(Meredith Stannard: A lesson in how quickly that might reverse. If they're bringing the Order under wing --)

"The Gallows wants commitment." To parrot a different, anonymous voice: "What will Rifwatch's values be?"

One might hold them without presenting them. Not a reversal, not pressuring Armin. It's weak, but it isn't as though most of them are going anywhere. If Isaac's thought of doing so, well.

That's his own affair.

Edited (ugh SORRY) 2019-07-10 23:09 (UTC)

“Mm,” Thranduil says, his fingertips tapping against the table’s surface, which means ‘I, too, have a stake in that, and several other rifters may well also before this is over’. He reaches for his glass, all the better to wash the fish down. One fork of this path has the mages whole cloth turning on the rifters for allowing themselves to be considered mage-adjacent.

“Order,” he offers. “Determination. Innovation.”

Which are all just nicer ways to frame some of their faults. He exhales. “On the subject of Brother Armin,” he begins, “if he is placed in Val Royeaux, that is very far indeed from Kirkwall, let alone the Marches. How long will messages to him take. A week? Two?”

A slight incline of the head; the Provost had been among his considerations, as had the Lady De La Fontaine (pronunciation as precise now in his mind as it had become on his tongue, difficult to unlearn). The line of his eyes strays to fork and fish bones. He nudges his own plate a few millimeters away with the plane of a thumb. He hadn't much appetite to begin with.

"I assume so." Ilias has no idea, had never set eyes on the Sun Gates before yesterday afternoon, and declines to consult any actual Orlesians he might have previously considered traveling to this city with who may be present. "Unfortunate, if either party should have need of the other, but distance too is a value one might espouse."

If one were so inclined. Convenient, that the Provost is significantly more engaging to look at than a plate of fish.

"That is why we voted to establish Riftwatch, is it not?" 'We.' Himself, he assumes Thranduil, some majority of others. "Separation. An opportunity for independent thinking. For as long as the Divine declines to commit to a path, perhaps there is room for that."

Not that he expects to convince, say, Anders of anything of the sort, but. It's an angle, anyway.

"That distance will close." Ilias is right, so he can't just say that. Independent thinking. "Through the Chantry, and our own people. Order, determination, innovation is fit for a banner. It won't hold ground."

It isn't the loud voices they should be entirely worried about. The barking matters, so do the teeth; too often, two different dogs.

"Our separation makes certain, unsanctioned action more —" A gesture. "— Definitive. And messages will travel by more than raven."

Justinia used Circle sendings before the Inquisition. With the Inquisition now, what are the odds the Chantry have no crystals between them?

"Having a position lets you disavow those who move outside it."

He itches to set himself to the work that will only be possible after Corypheus' death. How odd impatience feels on him, but he is no longer what he was, and it has become more comfortable with time.

Thranduil takes his glass and settles back in his chair, crossing one leg over the other.

"Do we even have banners yet?" Surely it is a task to which his own wife and de la Fontaine might be set.

So which is the bigger threat? Their own people, or the Chantry? The Inquisition was, perhaps, right to allow them the chance to cut themselves off. He twists the stem between his fingers. There is no point in speaking when he has little to add, wary of ears or of his own thoughts.

Carefully, "And we are not yet disavowed."

They could have been proposed much harsher terms, or none at all.

"The war is the Divine's priority," is sighed. Or she surely would have no reason to hesitate. This is not, by Ilias's estimation, a sign of any real hope for the dissolution of Circles; only that the Divine recognizes the necessity of avoiding making unnecessary enemies, Riftwatch among them. A stayed sentence, not clemency. Time. (A shame to waste it.)

But the Provost's slight withdrawal leaves him unanchored. Lacking in convenient opportunities for transference. Fingers drum.

"If we were to take a position in favor of Circles," Cast in Isaac's direction, a hook on new ice, "We lose -- what, a third of our number? More?"

Which leaves the opposite. The arch of a brow is more direct. Is that what you want?

Edited 2019-07-17 22:23 (UTC)

"More." This time, he holds the glance. "Those who would remain already have incentive."

Those who favour the Chantry (those who don't care). Ears can travel, too.

"There will be assumptions made," To Thranduil now. "About your stance. They cannot be avoided, least when they become a matter of law. I would sooner have them said for myself."

Divine Intervention | CLOSED

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