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

[foxsays]

“Please do, I’m in good with all the cooks except the head cook but I get a shot at doing things if I help out with what has to be done for the day. A shame we’re not somewhere we can get everything I would like to get but perhaps the Inquisition will head somewhere with big markets soon.”

If she can convince a mage with ice magic to keep things fresh for the journey back though…

“I think that would only be fair when I made her one of my favourites, don’t you?”

[issala]

"You're good with the cooks?" Gasp! "Lucky. I think I overstayed my welcome with the kitchens." He was doing good for a while, but he's pretty sure they were super annoyed with him popping in all the time looking for scraps and snacks. Maybe he should try doing some dishes or something to help out and get back on their good side.

At her next words, he nods a bit. It sounded totally fair, to him. "What's your favorite?"

Look at them, bonding!

[foxsays]

"All but one and she's a harridan, heaven forbid you drop a spoon, she acts as though you slapped her mother clean across the face, ridiculous!" Not that Araceli drops anything and if she's able to, she tries to catch what she can just to spare others the scolding whenever she's working there, always glad when the woman leaves to take care of something else so they can all relax.

At least with all the leftovers from this she can do a bit more cooking herself with minimal fuss. "Fish stew; chili, tomatoes, white wine, preferably with prawns and clams with some fish but fish was all we had here. You serve it in a bread bowl and when it's done you break the roll apart to enjoy the sauce that soaked in. When she was going somewhere so cold, the least I could do was give her a good last meal."

Korrin will be so proud when she tells her they've found a topic to agree on.

[issala]

"Oooh, the one with the hair bun that looks like she fastened it with tacks? She always gives me the weirdest looks!" He's not sure if she's constantly annoyed with him, worried that he'll shank her in her sleep or just waiting to catch him doing something he shouldn't. "She yelled at the scullery maid the other day and made her cry." All for a dropped plate.

Ara's description of her favorite food makes Kas' stomach growl loudly, and he flushes a bit. "Aside form the fish part, that sound great. Bread bowl soups are amazing! There's one with potato and onions and bacon..."

Okay he needs to find some food now, this was getting silly.