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

[el_tybs]

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."

[salvatore_underfoot]

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

[el_tybs]

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."

[salvatore_underfoot]

"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.

[el_tybs]

"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.

[salvatore_underfoot]

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.

[el_tybs]

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."