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

Sal frowns. Why did they get involved? Or, wait. The other part. "It's better this way." Said as if he'd only just convinced himself it was true. "I... He's head of their order now. It wouldn't look good if he were with someone like me. It's not just that I'm a mage. I'm far younger, and a nobody. It ... it just wouldn't look good."

"Someone like you," he repeats, the frown deepening as Sal tells him the reasons. "Is the issue that you're younger or just young?" True he had to admit that the age difference was... large and he wasn't sure if he himself would be comfortable with it, but the fact that the two of them had become involved despite that?

"So what? You're just not being judged for being a mage but for your age and your status?"

"Younger. ...Young." She'd kept using apprentices in her example, even though he wasn't one. Hadn't been in a whole couple of years.

His eyes narrow at the fire and he nods. "People will think he's taking advantage. It was never like that. I don't want anyone thinking of him that way."

"People as in people of Skyhold?" Did they really have nothing else to worry about? Sam gives a frustrated sigh then, looking back at the fire then at Sal. "Would the whole age and statues stuff be different if you weren't a mage?" He hates to ask that, it's obvious it how his lips thin out a bit when he says it, but it's important to know. Would any of this have come up if Sal wasn't a mage or if Alayre had not been a Templar or at least not one in his position?

He draws a breath, ready to answer, but reconsiders a moment. Alayre seemed to think their being Templar and mage played some role in it, though he couldn’t recall Adelaide mentioning it during their talk. They must have had a different kind of talk.

He shakes his head. “I don’t know, Sam. I think if I were a Templar of the same age and no rank, it would matter just as much.” Though he doesn’t know if she would have bothered to say anything. “She was worried about coercion and power dynamics and appearances… And when I brought it up with Alayre, he … He agreed.”

She? The fact that Sal isn't mentioning who it is by name probably means he doesn't want to disclose that information, so he decides to not press that. From what he could tell though it sounded like a noble if appearances was a big deal, and a mage for the issue of power dynamics.

And he thought he felt down. He wasn't spending tonight with Krem, but he could spend any day with him when he got back. Sal though... "And what do you think about it? Forget whatever she had said. Do you actually want to break it off?"

It's more that his head is full and his thoughts are running all over the place, and his mouth is spitting out whatever it thinks is important, even if the details aren't complete. "I think it's ridiculous. I think people should mind their own business. I think I don't understand politics and, and these games and why it matters so much. No, I didn't want to break it off. I really like him, Sam. I was happy."

So Sal hadn't wanted to break it off, even though he had brought it up? Sam gives a small sigh at that, nodding at the other mage's words. "Did you tell Alayre that?" That's not to say that there wouldn't be difficulties, but if it was something Sal wanted, shouldn't he not give it up so easily?

It needed to be brought up, no matter what the outcome.

He bites his lip, wincing, hands wringing together. "Well ... no. It didn't come up. Besides, I wouldn't want to influence ... The Inquisition needs him more than I do." Distressed, he covers his mouth. "Should I have said something? I should have told him. It's too late now."

"Why is it too late? Unless the two of you also agreed to not speak to one another, I don't see why you can't go back and make that known. Even if the two of you decide that not being together now is a wise idea... you can make sure he knows that it's something you two can start up again later?"

Alayre was not going to hold that position forever necessarily, and it really only mattered because they were in the Inquisition.

He nods slowly. Then shakes his head. "We made no agreements, but..." He sighs and rubs a hand over his face with a groan, dragging it back through his hair and leaving it there. "I shouldn't do anything else tonight. I need to sleep. And think."

Sam gives a sigh and reaches over to pat Sal on the shoulder before giving it a firm squeeze. "That sounds like a good course of action." He pauses lightly then, looking down a bit before turning back to the other mage. "I'm sorry that things turned out like that."

"...Thank you." He looks at Sam, grateful, but also guilty. "Sorry for ruining your night."

He gives Sal a look in return and shakes his head. "You didn't ruin anything for me. Course hearing bout that doesn't make me happier either."

"You were unhappy when I came here." He hates to see unhappy people, but he doubts he'd have the energy now to do anything about it.

"No- well, a bit yes. It's just a silly thing, nothing compared to what you're going through." Honestly it paled in comparison to Sal's situation by a whole lot.

He hates making comparisons. It's not fair to say who has it worse, one or the other. "It's not silly if it's made you upset. Do you want to talk about it?" He could at least return the favor.

Sam sighs. It certainly does feel silly to be sad about his situation after hearing about Sal's evening and the beginning of his new year. "I'm not sure if upset is quite the word... honestly if today had been like any other day, no celebration, I'd probably be fine."

He rubs the back of his head then, and considers if talking about his situation would get Sal's mind off his own. Not really, but it did seem like he wanted to talk about something else. "I just spent an entire month with Krem on a mission and right before we got back to Skyhold he said he needed to go do something. I shouldn't be missing him since it's only been a day, but... would've been nice to bring in the new year with him."

OPEN: this will be a better year

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