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

[fleurdesel]

"Councilor seems to be the common form of address." As they were making it up as they went along, finding what worked and what did not took a little time.

While considering the field, Adelaide rolled and pinned her sleeves in place so they might not drag in the snow and pulled the loose mass of her hair over her shoulder to begin a swift braid. "Shall the signal be the first volley thrown, or something else? A whistle?"

[nofury]

The wine was carefully placed down, as the other woman prepared for battle. It would be cold by the time they got back, but it was just as well. Drinks after victory has their own charm.

"I leave it to the Councilor."

[fleurdesel]

"A whistle." There is enough snow being thrown that perhaps the initial volley would go unnoticed by either of them. Girded for battle Adelaide began her approach, lips twisted in a pleased grin. "I think they may be distracted."

[nofury]

Maria offers a quick salute. While legends may be filled with eloquent speeches and grand statements before a battle, in her experience there's usually very little time for words. See an opportunity, take it. And so she charges forth, trusting the mage to hold up her end of the battle plan.

[fleurdesel]

Adelaide dips her head in a quick bow, charging from her appropriate angle. Without having to slow by bending to gather snow for her initial volley Adelaide was able to make up some time in on her side, hurling the first snowball once she was in range with a sharp, clear whistle.

[nofury]

Cheating, really. Just summoning like that. But that she designed the fort was also a point in their advantage. And who ever said war was fair? Maria had to stick a hand down in the snow from time to time as she wove her way to the entry point, building a few snowballs to greet her new foes with as she heard the whistle sound.

[fleurdesel]

The guard (and it is a guard, and a templar, and a scout somewhere within) at the topmost tower takes a snowball to the face as they worm their way inside- Adelaide alternating between scooping snow from the ground and crafting some mid air- it lends a speed to her throws to not need to reload quite so often.