OPEN: this will be a better year

[faderifting]

WHO: Everyone
WHAT: First Day
WHEN: Wintermarch 1 (forward-dated)
WHERE: Skyhold
NOTES: Scouts from both the Western Approach and Emprise du Lion are welcome (but not required) to have returned to Skyhold in time for this event.

There have been better First Day feasts, and less crowded ones, and cheerier ones. It isn't a good year for many to look back on, and this one isn't starting any better. Reports from both Eastern and Western Orlais are grim. Many in the Inquisition can't afford to take more than a few hours away from their work, if that.

But for those who can, the ambassador does her best. At lunchtime some tables, hot food, and finery are reserved for visiting nobility and wealthy pilgrims--cause for grumbling in some quarters, perhaps, but they're the people filling the Inquisition's coffers, and allowances must be made--but there's plenty of stew, bread, and ale for everyone, even with the soldiers and refugees who stay outside the fortress invited inside for the holiday. The recently repaired garden and its carefully tended plants aren't off limits, but anyone noisy and holding a drink will be stopped at the door; the battlements, with their potential for deadly falls, are blocked by Inquisition guards. But the courtyards brim with people, most of them happy despite the possibility that the world might end before another First Day arrives.

If the courtyards are too full of tipsy visitors for comfort, there's also the valley beyond the fortress, expansive, barren, and covered in snow. By the river the soldiers help the refugees make a bonfire larger than would ever be allowed inside Skyhold's walls, and some lend their shields to use as sleds down the embankments. A group of scouts start the most intense game of hide and seek Thedas has ever seen, with snowballs to the face for whoever is found first. In the camp, a refugee girl with her hand wrapped in a green scarf chases other children around the tents, shouting raaar, I'm from the rifts!

Comments

[gatheringstorm]

That pause and eyes lingering on her horns is noticed, though she doesn't take offense at his surprise. Korrin's kind aren't very numerous in the area, so they tend to stand out. If she took offense every time someone was caught by surprise, she wouldn't have time for anything else. So, she responds calmly.

"I don't know, are you still offering? Yes, I'm 'qunari'. More accurately a Vashoth. I have nothing to do with the Qun."

[middle_of_calibrating]

The surprise is not because he's never seen a Qunari - he's seen too many actually - but rather because he had been making a point of staying clear of any them. So much for that seeing as one had literally sat down next to him. The only reason he doesn't up and just leave is because he's noticed a number of them in Skyhold, though this is the first time he's seeing her.

The way she says the introduction makes it obvious that this isn't the first she's had to give it. Hearing that she isn't part of the Qun helps settle him a bit, but it doesn't stop him from keeping up his guard. Last time he had done that he had been nearly run through.

Slowly, Garris grabs one of the extra blankets and slides it towards her. It's not exactly what he was been offering before he realized what she was, but their current distance was close enough.

"What's the difference?"

[gatheringstorm]

Korrin takes the blanket, not about to push the implied earlier offer given his discomfort and wanting something to take off the chill. Trekking all over Emprise du Lion didn't give her an immunity to the cold, but it did wear down her desire to put up with it when she doesn't have to do so.

"It's simple; Tal-Vashoth are those who leave the Qun, and when they have children those are the Vashoth, who are born completely outside it. We have our own names and can choose our own path in life without it being dictated to us. Though more often than not, we're mercenaries."

[middle_of_calibrating]

That was a thing? Weren't they Qunari because... well the Qun? "So not all Qunari are in love with the philosophies of the Qun?" And here he was led to believe that was all they knew. "That's acceptable? To be a Qunari but choose to leave the Qun?"

[gatheringstorm]

That makes her snort softly as she shakes her head. "Not to the Qunari proper, no. They at least try to hunt down whoever defects and 'reeducate' them, but outside their own lands, that's an uphill battle. My parents were hardly in love with the Qun, even less so when one of their friends turned out to be a mage. So, they left and smuggled him out."

[middle_of_calibrating]

"What's wrong with being a mage? Qunari... er... ones under the Qun-" Jeez this was a lot more complicated than he thought and it was making conversation a bit rough. He knows nothing of the Qunari besides what's been said or what he's witnessed. "Is it like the Chantry where they're kept in a Circle or something?"

[gatheringstorm]

"They're called 'saarebas', which means 'dangerous thing'. That alone speaks volumes, doesn't it?"

Korrin frowns, staring at the flames of the bonfire. This isn't exactly typical celebration chatter, but he asked. And if there's one thing Korrin is always willing to do, it's educate people on the horrors of the Qun.

"They aren't seen as anything other than weapons, and they're even more tightly controlled then normal Qunari. The Circle is a horrible system, but this makes it seem tame by comparison. Being chained and masked, lips sewn shut, constantly under the supervision of a handler who can kill them if they even think they've had contact with spirits or demons...and that's only what I've been told. I'm sure there are horror stories beyond that."

[middle_of_calibrating]

'Dangerous thing'. That didn't sound too different than how most people saw Mages in general. Though before he could comment on that, Garris finds himself finding out a bit more then he had bargained for. By the end of it all, Garris is frowning, one side of his nose scrunched up in disgust.

"Well that's... lovely." He's being sarcastic, not really able to come up with anything better to say about that. "I can see why you wouldn't want to live under the Qun."

[gatheringstorm]

That brings out a wry smile as Korrin's glad that someone gets it. "I know, such a lovely topic for First Day bonfires, isn't it? I don't care if you forget the more accurate term and call me a qunari; most people do. Just as long as you don't mistake me for one of them."

[middle_of_calibrating]

"Lovely topic for any day really, don't see why First Day has to be any different. Starting the year off knowing something new." Well he's certainly going to reconsider some things, but it was still going to take a while before he was comfortable being around anyone with horns.

"Well so long as things don't end up like they did in Kirkwall, think I can differentiate Vashoth from Qun-ari."

[gatheringstorm]

Mention of Kirkwall has Korrin rolling her eyes, disgusted at the actions of those infamous Qunari. "What a bunch of assholes, ruining it for the rest of us. I still don't dare go anywhere near that city, just in case they think another invasion is happening. So, no, I don't think that history's going to repeat itself here."

Probably. Given that they have an actual Qunari around, she can't promise anything.

[middle_of_calibrating]

Yeah, it was probably best if she stayed out of Kirkwall. There would be quite the noise at that. "Yeah, they were a bunch of fuckers. Kind of ruined my day," he grumbles. "Pardon if I've been... an arse. I've been keeping clear of anyone with horns since then. Fighting anyone of your kind? isn't exactly fun. No offense."

[gatheringstorm]

Korrin just shrugs, neither bragging nor ashamed but matter-of-fact. "None taken. It's simple truth. Why do you think so many Vashoth and Tal-Vashoth make it as mercenaries? Aside from not being accepted in most other roles, that is. I can understand Kirkwall, but as far as I'm aware, none of my kind here had anything to do with that."

[middle_of_calibrating]

"Maybe not but it only takes one to ruin the party for everyone else, as you've said, right?" Even if none of them had been there the damage had already been done. Course he was always known for making exceptions if the moments presented themselves.

Surprisingly enough, though she was Qunari, she didn't feel like... a Qunari. Or at least what he had been made to believe what Qunari were like, both by word and experience. Guess that was wrong. "Garris."

[gatheringstorm]

Not feeling like a Qunari would be regarded as a huge compliment to Korrin. She doesn't want anyone mistaking her for a follower of the Qun, not that anyone knowledgeable would. That she could correct him now is time well-spent, so she nods agreeably. "Korrin Ataash, of the Valo-Kas company. We're based in the Free Marches, but go just about anywhere."

[middle_of_calibrating]

That certainly catches his attention. "You're from the Free Marches?" Some reason he had not been expecting that. He's not familiar with the company name either.

[gatheringstorm]

Korrin nods, smiling proudly. "Oh, yeah. Marcher, born and raised. Getting more specific than that would be difficult, except to say that Starkhaven was never a huge influence." If it was, he'd hear it in her accent.

[middle_of_calibrating]

Apparently they had more in common then he might have thought. Well the new year was certainly starting off in an interesting way. "I'm from the Wildervale area myself."

[gatheringstorm]

"Wildervale...." Her brow furrows, as the name sounds familiar. "I'm sure I've been there, but it must have been years ago, before I joined up with the Valo-Kas. Wherever I haven't gone, my parents probably brought me there at some point."

[middle_of_calibrating]

"It's a decently large area, right between Starkhaven and Kirkwall, so more than likely you have been. Lived closer to the rivers though. So what exactly is the Valo-Kas if I might ask?"

[gatheringstorm]

"It's a mercenary company, going wherever we're needed. Sometimes, we guard merchant caravans or accompany some rich noble who fancies himself a scholar and wants to study ruins. In Haven, some provided security at the Conclave. I was busy in Redcliffe at the time, hired to prevent battling mages and Templars from spilling over into private property."

[middle_of_calibrating]

"So you're a mercenary as well?" He was finding more similarities as the conversation went on. Course it kind of made sense for a Qunari to be a mercenary. Just look at them.

[gatheringstorm]

Korrin nods, an amused smile forming. "You don't need to be a warrior to know how to fight. The Valo-Kas has plenty of those, of course, but Shokrakar supports variety. After all, having lightning and barriers and whatever else on your side definitely can't hurt."

[middle_of_calibrating]

"Didn't say you had to be a warrior. Not exactly a front line guy myself. What's... Sho-cracker?" Did he say that right? Though there were similarities he was going to have to get used to these terminologies.

[gatheringstorm]

"Not 'what'--'who'. Shokrakar is the leader of the Valo-Kas. She spent her entire life constantly rebelling against the Qun, despite all their attempts to reeducate her, and finally escaped. She was too aggressive and opinionated to fit in; a woman after my own heart. I couldn't ask for a better leader or friend."