"Still, it's very good of you to help with them. Have you ever wanted to be a healer with your magic?" There are several here who do that, but even more who rely on science. Ellana doesn't have the head for that sort of thing at all, but she wishes she did. It would certainly help out in the field.
Sina finds the question a bit puzzling, since she was first drawn to the healing tents and the herb garden because of her existing interest and proclivity for healing magic. Is she not already a healer? "I do some healing," she says, a bit tentatively, "although I also attend to the requirements of a First."
"Of course. That must take up a great deal of time. Hopefully you make time to have some fun." Skyhold has plenty of distractions to amuse a person when their work is done. Ellana appreciates that about the place. There's a real community here, and they aren't just working themselves silly.
"All kinds. I want to see what others will be teaching at the first training session, and I can bring those to you. But to start: just a refresher course on Dalish techniques to resist demons. There is talk of Fade training too, where we go into the Fade, but have the assistance of a friendly spirit, like the kind the Spirit Healers work with. But I'm not sure how everyone as a whole will react to that, and for you especially." There's a small frown on her lips as she considers. "We're not sure what your shard will do if you send your consciousness into the Fade."
Sina nods her understanding-- it has been a while since she's done anything with demons and the preventing of such. Her pleasant expression becomes more worried when Ellana brings up the Fade, even moreso when the shard comes into it.
"..I... yes," she agrees, looking down self-consciously, beginning to blush. She's not afraid, it's true, but she is embarrassed about being such a potential liability, not only to herself. "Going into the Fade... that's what they do in the Harrowing, isn't it?" She's never seen a reason to do such a thing.
"It is, but we don't want to let Harrowings continue. Those Circle mages were thrown in with no warning and had no help. This training is meant to get mages used to what they'll face in the Fade, if they aren't already. Personally, I don't think it's necessary, but Pel volunteered herself to do it, so my vote had to go with hers."
It's not that Ellana thinks it's a bad thing, as long as the spirit agrees to help them, but she would prefer other means of learning to resist demons.
"I remember," Sina says-- the discussion on the Harrowings, at least in the one meeting she attended, was kind of a mess. She can't imagine what it's taken for them to reach this level of compromise. "I'd be lying if I said... that I'm not worried," she confesses, her gaze darting to meet Ellana's, "though I haven't been approached by any spirits since receiving the shard, I understand the rifters use theirs to interact with the veil directly." She purses her lips uncertainly. "I think that's why mine reacted to the abom... to Lauren. When he changed."
"I think that could be because spirits are happy to stay in the Fade. Approaching you and your shard might make them believe they'll fall out. But demons want out, which is why we should make sure you have all the training you can get to stay safe." Ellana could never forgive herself if something happened to Sina.
"Yes," Sina confirms, simply enough, her eyes going a bit distant. "Keeper Thalia trained me against demons as any First would be, but that was before I had the shard. ...things are different now."
"They are," she answers gently. "But we'll work out lessons that work for you. And people at Skyhold are still trying to understand the shards. Maybe they'll discover something. Maybe they can figure out soon how to remove them."
Sina smiles, but a bit uncertainly. Thus far everyone has proven relatively clueless about the shards, whether how to deal with them or how to extract them, and she's too pragmatic to let herself become excited over the possibility for their removal. Even so, it's difficult enough removing anything from a person's chest without killing them, regardless of whether it's magical or not.
"...ma serannas," she says after a pause, angling her head to smile at Ellana again. She and Pel have gone out of their way to do right by Sina, and it's something she won't forget. "I don't know where I'd be now, if Clan Ashara weren't here."
Ellana is an eternal optimist, and so she believes there has to be a way. She's not so naive that she believes the world to be a fair place filled with happy endings for all, but to believe anything less than Sina getting her shard removed and surviving just feels like giving up.
"You would still have Nahariel," Ellana points out. "She would do anything for you."
Sina smiles sheepishly. "Of course," she agrees, "and I would do anything for her. It's just... it's nice to meet other mages who aren't the Keeper. But who still understand."
"It's been really nice for me to meet other mages too," Ellana replies with a smile. For a long time she felt that she wasn't a good enough mage because Keeper Deheune never trained her the same way she did Pel or Sorrel. And that's led to feeling lost and a bit jealous. But here things are starting to change for the better. She has a voice on the mage council and she can contribute her ideas. She can feel like a mage who matters; who has her own path.
"As well as everyone else. I've been getting to meet so many people and learn about so many different places."
"The world is much bigger than I ever imagined," Sina agrees, emptying the crushed herbs into another bowl and beginning to work at a new dose with her mortar and pestle. "...sometimes that's a good thing and sometimes it isn't." She laughs a little, uncertainly.
"It can feel overwhelming at times," Ellana admits slowly. "So many voices; there's always chatter here. And always something going on. But even here there are places to slip away to where you can find some peace and quiet. A little of that works for me and then I can go back into the noise."
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
no subject
no subject
"I do some healing," she says, a bit tentatively, "although I also attend to the requirements of a First."
no subject
She don't know yo life, gurl."Of course. That must take up a great deal of time. Hopefully you make time to have some fun." Skyhold has plenty of distractions to amuse a person when their work is done. Ellana appreciates that about the place. There's a real community here, and they aren't just working themselves silly.
no subject
no subject
no subject
"..I... yes," she agrees, looking down self-consciously, beginning to blush. She's not afraid, it's true, but she is embarrassed about being such a potential liability, not only to herself.
"Going into the Fade... that's what they do in the Harrowing, isn't it?" She's never seen a reason to do such a thing.
no subject
It's not that Ellana thinks it's a bad thing, as long as the spirit agrees to help them, but she would prefer other means of learning to resist demons.
no subject
"I'd be lying if I said... that I'm not worried," she confesses, her gaze darting to meet Ellana's, "though I haven't been approached by any spirits since receiving the shard, I understand the rifters use theirs to interact with the veil directly." She purses her lips uncertainly. "I think that's why mine reacted to the abom... to Lauren. When he changed."
no subject
no subject
no subject
no subject
"...ma serannas," she says after a pause, angling her head to smile at Ellana again. She and Pel have gone out of their way to do right by Sina, and it's something she won't forget. "I don't know where I'd be now, if Clan Ashara weren't here."
no subject
"You would still have Nahariel," Ellana points out. "She would do anything for you."
no subject
no subject
"As well as everyone else. I've been getting to meet so many people and learn about so many different places."
no subject
no subject