[semi-open] though all before me is shadow

[cicatrices]

WHO: Cassandra Pentaghast + others tbd
WHAT: A catch-all post for logs in January
WHEN: Late Haring, early Wintermarch
WHERE: Skyhold
NOTES: This isn't an actual open post because I'm terrible at writing open post prompts and can't keep up with many logs at once, but if you'd like to do something let me know on plurk or by PM and we can make up a starter!

Comments

[fleurdesel]

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normally- and as accustomed as she's become to hearing 'councilor' or 'lady', the sudden use of her Circle title, now outdated, has her falling back on habit in her response.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.

[cicatrices]

[ 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.

[fleurdesel]

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. ]

[cicatrices]

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?

[fleurdesel]

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.

[cicatrices]

[ 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.

[fleurdesel]

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.

[cicatrices]

[ 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.

[fleurdesel]

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.

[cicatrices]

[ 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?

[fleurdesel]

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.