faderift | OPEN: this will be a better year

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!

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"Wandering about in the dead of night all on your own- without the watchful eye of your men?" Adelaide watched Roul take aim and swing- hitting his friend in much the same way he'd struck Norrington. "I must say I am surprised to see you without them."

Norrington paused, before a sheepish look came over his face. "They all enjoy a good party - I did not want them to fret over me anymore 'not enjoying myself'. Let them have a good time, with good people and good wine. They've earned it."

"And there is nothing in either the finery of the courtyard nor the more humble celebrations of the bonfire that you might enjoy?" Even she has stepped out of her usual contemplative solitude to make merry.

"I have never been a man for finery, and while the bonfire looks welcoming ... well, I did not want to worry the people. Too many templars in one place these days makes people nervous." He shrugged, looking around, "Besides, I like it out here. It's peaceful."

"So long as you've no intention to smite anyone, I think they will not mind your attendance. They certainly have not begrudged me mine." Gestures and invitations made- appearances matter. It is an invitation she is fairly certain he will decline- but in having made it? She has fulfilled her obligations.

"I do rather think everyone should be safe from my smiting. At least during a party." He stated dryly, before he shook his head. "Perhaps ... in a little while. I thank you for extending the invitation, however."

One corner of his mouth lifts. "I would not think they would begrudge you regardless, Lady LeBlanc. At least if you keep them from being pelted with snowballs."

"I do try at that." A proper series of forts from which to do their warfare spared the rest similar indignities more or less. None have come to pelt those by the fire- at least none with any shred of sense.

"So I have see ... if those ice forts were in fact, yours." He nodded to the path he had been walking along. He looked back at her, lifting an eyebrow, "I am rather surprised you are not in the courtyard yourself, Lady LeBlanc."

"I spent some time there." But too many bodies, too many voices made remaining...difficult. Out here it is more open, the press not quite so claustrophobic. "I wanted to give my students time to run and dance as they pleased."

"Well, there is certainly more than enough space for that out here." He smiled after where the students were pummeling each other with snowballs. He wanted to ask how they were holding up - losing their friend - but all things considered it would probably not be looked upon kindly.

So, he kept the conversation where it was. "Are you enjoying the evening?"

Maker, he hated small talk. But honestly nothing else was safe.

"Well enough; Knight-Commander. I shall leave you to your walk, but mind you do not wander too far north. There are scouts in the trees and any movement earns a blizzard for how they take aim." She does not dip into a curtsy, but she does give him a brief dip of her head.

Norrington's eyebrows rose at that before he nodded his head, "Thank you for the warning, Lady LeBlanc ... I'll keep an eye out. For arrows and for snowballs. A good evening, to you, and happy First Night."

OPEN: this will be a better year

Valley

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