faderift | [semi-open] though all before me is shadow

[ Cassandra is just exiting the War Room as Adelaide makes her way in that direction this evening. The great doors shut behind her, their exteriors currently brushed with snow blown in through the great gap in the wall on the chill breeze that comes as the sky darkens. (The builders claim the hole has no effect on structural integrity and so its repair has been pushed far down the list.) The wind rustles the papers in her grasp, and ruffles short dark hair where it is not pinned down.

They have crossed paths like this before, in the halls between Josephine's office. It is a well-traveled path, and Cassandra one of the most frequent occupants of the room with the giant table wherein the Inquisition's fate is plotted. Which sounds more sinister than it is, but the weight of the responsibility is real, something she carries in the set of her shoulders and jaw whenever she exits. It's hard to tell; to the untrained eye she always looks like this. The Seeker's greeting is usually spare-- not impolite, but naturally brusque and often distracted-- a shallow nod before she continues on her way. But tonight she makes eye contact earlier and more directly, and halts before Adelaide instead of continuing. She tugs at the cuff of a sleeve. ]

Enchanter LeBlanc. I had hoped I might have a word.

Edited 2015-12-31 22:52 (UTC)

Ser?

[ They pass along without a word, normally- and as accustomed as she's become to hearing 'councilor' or 'lady', the sudden use of her Circle title, now outdated, has her falling back on habit in her response. She hasn't heard it since- well. Since the Council was founded.

Considering how busy Cassandra was with minding the entirety of the Inquisition in some manner or another, this is no mere social request. Adelaide pulls on the role with which she is growing more and more familiar, one of some semblance of authority and competence, before nodding. ]

Of course.

[ It is habit for Cassandra as well, one she does not immediately realize she has returned to. The duties of a Seeker have given her more experience of mages than most of Thedas but much of it has been at the end of a sword. For so long the title of Enchanter has been not just polite or respectful but a crucial distinction, the thing that separates those to be protected from those to be hunted. This sort of day-to-day contact with mages in Skyhold, the casual proximity, the new order of things, is a state of affairs she has no more experience with than anyone else. And she makes less effort to change that than some, too busy and too reserved to have made new friends. That isn't what she is out for today, either. Not exactly. ]

I wish to speak of the Mages Council. What is next, after this first resolution. It would be-- valuable-- to hear your perspective.

Immediately? The mandatory training. What happened was- [ She shakes her head; it is off topic. Not irrelevant but not what Cassandra asked, not that she needs to be told. Any abomination is awful; that it happened and there was so much death? It does not need to be said again. ] Informing as many mages as we can to means of protecting themselves from demons is vital. With so many here and so many afraid? We are ripe for the taking if we are not prepared. Education comes first...and more than that, educating non-mages as well. Fear is often bred from ignorance.

[ She's taken steps on her own to answer questions asked of her but the articles are dry and hardly entertaining. Informative? Certainly. But what one would write in academia to prove a theory is not what one should write when informing the common man. ]

Indeed. [ Cassandra's default expression is somewhere between irritated and grave, and it leans toward the latter now. ] Ignorance and inexperience. Or ill experience. Many of those who have come to us fled the fighting in the Hinterlands between mages and templars. They have little reason to trust those who forced them from their homes. Such opinions, once formed, can be difficult to overcome. [ Something she knows from personal experience. Not that she is likely to volunteer it, but there is a note in her voice that hints at it, something rueful and self-deprecating. ]

Do you believe two weeks training sufficient for the apprentices?

I have been attempting to write informative articles and essays on magic and mages but-I can write until I have no paper left; without the means to make what I write interesting? I do not know how much good it will do. [ She has some thoughts on how to rectify that, the question is of whether or not Varric will agree.

That note doesn't go noticed- but she does not feel as though it is her place to ask. This is The Seeker, rather than A Seeker. ]

To be frank? No. It is a bandage over a gutwound rather than a proper set of sutures. But it is a start while we draft something more formal for an ongoing set of lessons on much the same. I've been doing it with my students to some degree or another since The Spire fell but taking what I do informally and drafting it into a proper curriculum? Takes time and insight. With but the two weeks to do it and submit it for approval, I see many late nights in my future.

[ Cassandra always prefers a straight answer, and Adelaide's measures up, not to mention aligns with her own beliefs on the subject. She gives a nod, a quick jerk of her chin. ] Good. It will reassure some to know this is meant as a temporary measure and not a final solution.

But words will only bring you so far. [ Clean segues and artful circling back to encompass topics is not Cassandra's way, but it comes together neatly enough here anyway. ] It is one thing to read of a mage doing good and another to see it with your own eyes. If the mages truly wish to change the way people here think of them-- how all of Thedas thinks of them-- it must be done through action.

Yes, because breaking our backs in the healing tents for every burn, sniffle, and scrape isn't near helpful enough. [ She mutters before she can think better of it and immediately freezes.

That.

That she did not intend to say out loud. Merde. When in doubt? Move on as though it hasn't been said- that is what her mother tried to teach her but she was eight and this isn't the time to try politicking. ]

A proposal has been put forth by Altus Pavus and Knight-Captain Hill regarding the training of the Inquisition's mages and templars in facing our enemies; likewise mages have been assisting in the Fallow Mire as best they are able and will likely continue to take part in Inquisition operations. I am uncertain as to how much more active it is you would like us to be, Ser.

[ For a moment Cassandra seems-- not taken aback, precisely, but uncertain. Eyes a little wide, she blinks once at Adelaide, and then her gaze returns to its usual narrowness and she blinks again. ]

I was not attacking your efforts thus far, Lady LeBlanc. [ Who needs consistency in titles, anyway. ] My point is that it is not so simple as reading a paper, even an interesting one. It will take time. The fight against Corypheus must continue to be all our focus but there are concerns that these councils will become a distraction we cannot afford.

No, you weren't it- simply has been a stressful time. That was unworthy of me, I apologize.

[ Cassandra certainly has the greater weight to bear and organization to mind. She does not need Adelaide being waspish at her. ] It is an unfortunate fact that without the Circles we are disorganized. The Council was formed in order to have an authority to go to should mages act out as they had the night of the Herald's wake. More than that we are encouraging and forming classes and initiatives to train the mages of the Inquisition so they might be more valuable in that fight.

[ It would not have been the first time Cassandra had found her words heard more harshly than she meant them. It is, she is beginning to realize, a frequent occurrence. ]

Their readiness in battle is our highest priority, [ she agrees(?) ] Second only to their safety. How does the Council intend to deal with those who endanger others?

If we could agree on anything, I would have an answer for you. Too many opinions, not enough compromise. [ She can see easily why there are concerns the council is more a hindrance to the fight than a help. ] Currently, and this may change as it is not something we have resolved entirely just yet, the tentative solution is that if a mage is a danger to themselves and the Inquisition they are to be submitted to the authority of the advisors for judgement or shown the gate. It is not the best solution but we cannot afford to keep them here.

[Things have been busy since Vivienne's return. She's seen Cassandra in passing, heard others talking about her even, but as yet has not had the time to visit. Which sounds unusual but it's a smart move to stay in touch with the Seeker for any multitude of reasons. And the First Enchanter actually appreciates, even likes, Cassandra. Being Navarran royalty helps naturally, but beyond that, there is some genuine admiration for the woman.

They really should talk, however. About the Abomination and the Council, about the direction the Inquisition will take as an organization, about this marvelous book which is the newest fad in the Imperial Court. It is a smutty bodice ripper and it's boldly sitting right on top of a stack of books Vivienne's keeping stocked on the balcony.

Thus, the Iron Lady sends a messenger to Cassandra to join her for tea. It'll do the Seeker good to take an hour off from glaring at recruits and smacking training dummies.]

[ Invitations to tea are not the sort of thing Cassandra entertains often. (She doesn't entertain anything often, in any sense of the word.) At first upon receiving the message she is nonplussed, calling up memories of stuffy drawing rooms and courtly manners long since escaped. But it is just the balcony above the half-ruined hall in a drafty fortress, and it is past time she spoke with the lady now she is returned.

So she arrives at the appointed time, as stiffly out of place as ever as she seats herself on the edge of a richly-upholstered chair. ]

Vivienne. You are well, I trust?

[ She has not yet noticed the book, attention fixed on the mage. ]

[Where Cassandra is stiff, Vivienne is quite relaxed, lounging on her chaise as she pours out the tea. The Seeker can be blunt, even harsh, but Madame de Fer can appreciate a woman who takes action.]

As well as can be expected, darling. That dreadful business with the Abomination has created complications. Nothing we cannot address for the future, but it's too late for those we lost.

[Those were young mages. And it bothers her.]

[ It bothers Cassandra, too. Likely it was inevitable, with so many mages in such difficult conditions, but that does not mean measures should not be-- should not have been-- taken. One more failure, one more tragedy not averted in time. As a Seeker and as a leader of the Inquisition surely the responsibility falls, in the end, on her shoulders. But it is not for her alone to act now that the Mage Council exists. Despite growing up in the strict hierarchy of the Chantry, she has no love for bureaucracy. ]

And how does the Council intend to address it? You know as well as I that two weeks of training will make no difference to anyone.

[ Approaching her in the training yard isn't the least clever thing Alistair has ever done: there are witnesses, there's room to run, and if she kills him she at least won't be able to cover it up.

On the other hand, she has a sword.

But it's too late. He's already interrupted her and shuffled his way through as much introductory small talk as seems necessary when talking to a woman-shaped bird of prey with a very large army and, also, a sword. Which is not much. He doesn't even tell any jokes. Anyone who really knows him might recognize that he's still sulking, maybe a little resentful, but with the worst of his temper faded, he wears it more like a normal and appropriate degree of respect for the seriousness of the situation. ]

I don't think it will help, or I'd have said something sooner— [ which roughly translates into please don't put us in the dungeon ] —but Corypheus was, ah. We had him, before all of this. For hundreds of years.

[semi-open] though all before me is shadow

for Adelaide

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what if I don't ask on plurk or PM first