MOD PLOT ↠ The Soldiers of the Demon Charged

[faderifting]

WHO: Everyone!
WHAT: Striking closer to home.
WHEN: Justinian through Solace
WHERE: The Western/Central Free Marches
NOTES: OOC post. Please use appropriate content warnings in your comment subject lines.

WEEK ONE: THE COLLAPSE OF HASMAL

Recently in Hasmal, growing outrage from native Hasmalis over the swelling number of Tevinter refugees within and outside the city has led to a series of smaller violent incidents that went largely unanswered by local authorities, leading to additional targeting of more established Tevinter communities within the city and the makeshift fortification and arming of the camps outside. In the last week or so, after a period of simmering tensions, the situation in Hasmal has boiled over into violent riots. Reports out of the city conflict about what finally caused the rapid escalation, how bad things got, and whose fault they were. But they agree that it very quickly became a dangerous situation that the city authorities utterly failed to bring under control. Fires burned in some quarters of the city and deadly clashes between factions forced uninvolved citizens to barricade themselves in their homes. Some city leaders urged calm and peace while others encouraged supporters to seize the moment and fight for the upper hand. The Grand Vizier was nowhere to be seen. Somehow, amidst the chaos, the gates were opened and in marched the Tevinter army.

The violence, and then even more Tevinter's arrival—supposedly to help restore peace to the city, though it's unclear whether that has actually happened—has caused many to flee the city, particularly the refugee community who had fled from Tevinter once already. With nothing but the Tevinter desert of the Silent Plains to the north, most either jumped ship down the Minanter or came south across the river into Tantervale territory and Wildervale, with some now arriving in Kirkwall with their tales of chaos in the western-most March.

Also, Commander Flint and Scoutmaster Yseult are missing, having gone to meet a contact coming across the Minanter from Tevinter some days ago. They ought to be returning, but neither has been in contact since. In their absence, Ambassador Rutyer and Provost Stark will be running Riftwatch, and can direct Scouting and Forces as they see fit and delegate authority for those operations as necessary.

UNKNOWNS

This is a fast-moving situation, with events clearly already running well ahead of news. With limited resources at hand, intelligence networks in the previously quiet Free Marches have been somewhat neglected by the Inquisition and Riftwatch both. Much remains unclear, subject of wild rumor and conflicting reports from the few sources in the area:

There are stories that the Grand Vizier Rekam Antoninus, ruler of Hasmal, is either complicit in the Tevinter takeover or in league with refugees to try to bring down the city's nobility. There are rumors he has fled the city, or even that he's dead by a half-dozen different hands.

There are similarly conflicting reports about other Hasmal city leaders, with some said to have been encouraging the various factions involved in the riots, trying without success to calm the situation, or using the situation to advance their own interests in one way or another. It's likely that at least a few were cooperating to some extent with Tevinter, though exact numbers and identities can't be known right now.

The size of the Tevinter force in Hasmal isn't yet clear, as the numbers reported by those who fled the city at their arrival range from "most of the Tevinter army" to "five times the size of the entire Tevinter army."

All reports at this point are coming from people who have fled Hasmal, so there's essentially no reliable information about what the situation is like inside the city since Tevinter moved in.

RIFTWATCH'S WORK

As soon as word begins trickling in, Riftwatch will begin sending parties north to investigate the situation. Anyone with a relevant skill or two might be assigned to venture out to:

• AERIAL SURVEILLANCE: Use griffons for aerial surveillance of the region between Kirkwall and Hasmal, to watch for any further movement of the Tevinter army. Using sending crystals, they'll also be able to send back reports of the routes any large groups of refugees seem to be taking. And they'll be charged with assessing the roads and terrain between Kirkwall and Hasmal, identifying the routes an army could take to reach further South and what chokepoints—bridges, narrow passages, castles and fortresses with defenses that might hold—could be exploited to slow them down. (The distance from Kirkwall to Hasmal is too great for the griffons to be flying back and forth every day; aerial teams will be gone for several days at a time, and in the meantime staying on the property of a druffalo farmer in Wildervale or in wilderness camps of their own making.)


• ASSIST TRAVELLERS: Intercept people fleeing Hasmal—to assist them, when necessary, but also to get as much information from them as possible to try to separate rumors from first-hand accounts or find consistencies between stories that might point toward truths. Many of these people will be refugees twice over, already having fled from Tevinter in the wake of Corypheus' takeover, so some may have relevant information about Tevinter as well. And there is always the possibility that some loyal to Tevinter and the Venatori are disguised among the refugees, so they'll need to keep an eye out for anything suspicious.


• ASSIST TOWNSFOLK: Meet with the Countess of Wildervale and local leaders of smaller towns and villages. Those south of Wildervale may need to be alerted about the waves of travelers they're about to see, while those north of Wildervale will have been reached by refugees before Riftwatch and may be overwhelmed by the sudden swell of visitors and potential long-term residents. Some of those fleeing Hasmal may be settling into these villages for the long haul due to exhaustion or a lack of resources, while many others are terrified of Tevinter at their heels and want to go further south to put at least one major city between them and Hasmal. It's a valid fear, so in addition to discussing the refugee situation and how many more people the villages can viably feed and house, Riftwatch teams will need to help assess their defenses and escape routes if the invasion pushes further south, ideally without causing a panic.

Meanwhile, in Kirkwall, those who aren't suited to fieldwork or who are between trips out of the city will:

• ATTEND MEETINGS: The Viscount, Kirkwall's nobility, and City Guard representatives in Viscount's Keep will be meeting for long hours to discuss whether or not Kirkwall will be able to accept refugees (and to what extent) and the city's defenses and fortifications. Riftwatch won't have any formal say in these decisions, but its representatives may be able to provide information as it becomes available and maybe sneak some opinions in there as well.


• READY LOOKOUT TOWERS: Assist the city with transporting supplies to and chasing bandits out of rarely-used guard towers in the Vinmarks.


• ORGANIZE RIFTWATCH'S EFFORTS: Amass, organize, and disseminate the information being relayed back from the teams in the field—for example, making sure the Riftwatch teams advising refugees on which villages and cities will be able to take them in aren't directing them all to the same place and causing it to become overwhelmed.

There are also a few specific missions that will be assigned to those with suitable skills at the end of the week. Based on the available information, teams will be sent to Hasmal and to Tantervale to accomplish the following:

• HASMAL AERIAL SURVEILLANCE: The Hasmal team will travel by griffon to conduct fly-over surveillance of the city and the territory to the north and west, to try to gather information about the Tevinter forces. From griffonback, the team may occasionally spot Tevinter scouting parties or small clusters of soldiers that can be picked off or harassed, whether from the air or by landing to confront them.


• HASMAL GROUND SURVEILLANCE: The griffon team will also be carrying passengers, a small team who they will have to stealthily drop into Hasmal so that they can spend two days gathering information about the situation in the city itself before they're picked up by the griffons once again.


• TANTERVALE OUTREACH: The Tantervale team will try to meet with Tantervale's leadership to coordinate defense and relief efforts. They'll travel by horseback (griffons would only remind folks how weird Riftwatch is) and work through diplomatic channels and court backchannels to try to gain an audience with the Lady Chancellor and/or her ministers and persuade them of the benefits of working together.

These missions will be interrupted by the red lyrium dragon, which will first arrive over Hasmal just as the griffon riders are collecting their spy passengers for departure. The dragon will chase the griffons off before continuing on to Tantervale, where the team in the city will be forced to flee its attack and escape from the city.



WEEKS TWO & THREE: THE RUIN OF TANTERVALE

After the news of Tevinter's takeover of Hasmal, its closest neighbor, Tantervale, is calling a muster of whatever fighting-age men are left in its territory. Most of Tantervale's soldiers have previously joined the Exalted March, leaving the city-state only lightly defended. Whoever remains is ordered to arm themselves and meet outside the city within the week to protect against the threat of Tevinter incursion, or possibly even to threaten to join any supposed 'peacekeeping' force in Hasmal. The exact plan is unknown, but the citizens of Tantervale—known across Thedas for their religious zeal—appear eager to answer the call to defend their home and any fellow devotees of the Chantry from the dangerous northern heretics.

But in the end, how many they manage to attract to this makeshift defensive force hardly matters. The gathered host is powerless to stop the sudden, devastating attack of the corrupted high dragon. The huge, red-lyrium-infected beast—known to be under the command of Corypheus for some years now, but rarely seen since it perched triumphant atop the Archon's palace in Minrathous 3 years ago—emerges above Hasmal before flying the short distance east to Tantervale and laying waste to that city.

Simultaneously, confused reports are reaching Riftwatch from both Orlais and Ferelden, indicating an array of calamities: scattered across both countries, several small villages and their fields were recently set aflame, an important bridge over the Drakon River destroyed in Ferelden, a noble family and their entire staff found hanging evenly spaced from rafters in their estate not far from Halamshiral.

UNKNOWNS

Riftwatch agents present at Hasmal and Tantervale during the early stages of the dragon attack witness its beginning, but as they have to run for their lives, little is immediately known about its outcome. Given the destruction they did see, it's believed that Tantervale was a massacre, resulting in many, many deaths and much of the city destroyed by fire and corruption. A wave of people have now joined the stragglers from Hasmal fleeing south, but how many of them actually managed to escape the city of Tantervale itself as opposed to its surrounding countryside is unknown, and among those who survived, many begin to show signs of darkspawn corruption on the road.

Per the reports coming from the South, the leaders in both Ferelden and Orlais initially respond as if being invaded before realizing that the incidents were not the beginning of a larger military push. It will take some time for it to become clear that all of these events happened on the same day as the assault on Tantervale, mostly by individual actors.

RIFTWATCH'S WORK

Most of the work Riftwatch was doing in Week 1 will continue in Weeks 2 and 3, while pivoting or expanding to include dealing with the situation in Tantervale as well:

• ASSIST TRAVELERS & TOWNSFOLK: The attack on Tantervale will essentially double the number of new refugees fleeing south, testing the work Riftwatch did in Week 1 and greatly increasing the strain on communities in Wildervale. Some they may be able to persuade to make do and accommodate more fellow Marchers, while others will reach the end of either their supplies or their patience or both, and Riftwatch agents will need to help calm tensions and find alternatives.


• SHORE UP DEFENSES: Efforts to shore up defenses in the region will ratchet up, and Riftwatch agents will be called on to do things like help train emergency village militias, build makeshift defenses, and provide advice on what to do in case of dragon attack.

For those in Kirkwall:

• ASSIST ARRIVING REFUGEES: Pressure on Kirkwall itself will increase as the first refugees arrive at the city and an even greater number look likely to do so in the near future. Kirkwall has a fairly fraught recent history with refugees from a crisis—the influx of Blight refugees from Ferelden caused a nativist backlash that went on for years. In this case, the locals will be somewhat more friendly because the refugees are their fellow Marchers, as well as slightly more frightened because this crisis isn't happening across a sea. But there will still be a fairly tepidly charitable response to the needs of incoming people, and those escaping Hasmal who are clearly of Tevinter origin will have an especially difficult time. Riftwatch's help will be needed in connecting the new arrivals with those who are willing to help them and aiding in the construction of some temporary structures and camps for those without other means of housing themselves.


• PREPARE FOR THE WORST: Riftwatch will be called upon by the Viscount's office to work with the City Guard to review Kirkwall's defenses, work on emergency upgrades, help man observation posts further afield to provide early warning of any imminent attack. For the time being, a regular rotation of Riftwatch members will be sent to keep watch at some of the further towers, since their sending crystals will allow them to pass along more information more quickly than the warning fires. There will also be a lot of discussion about how to handle a dragon attack--with the expectation that Riftwatch will take a lead role in defending against any such attack.

Elsewhere, Riftwatch will send teams to:

• STARKHAVEN: Believed to be the most likely next target for assault other than Kirkwall. Riftwatch will send a team to meet with current leadership to offer to provide mage support against a potential dragon attack, coordination of defensive efforts, and to learn how Starkhaven plans to handle Tantervale refugees.


• OSTWICK, MARKHAM, HERCINIA, ANSBURG, & WYCOME: Too far to have been directly affected yet. Riftwatch will send representatives to court to try to meet with leaders to discuss coordinating efforts across the region for mutual defense against Tevinter, encouraging them to raise soldiers, shore up defenses, and take in refugees.


• FERELDEN & ORLAIS: By the end of Week 3 it will be clear that what happened in Orlais and Ferelden is likely a diversionary tactic, meant to compel them to keep their attention at home rather than throwing too much of their weight behind assisting the Free Marches, but a few people will be sent to investigate the sites of some attacks for any evidence of how they were coordinated and to be sure further attacks aren't impending.

(OOC Note: For attacks in Ferelden and Orlais and for small villages around Hasmal and Tantervale, you're welcome to invent the names of these places and invent details of what exactly happened without checking in with us. If your character is from one of these areas, you're also welcome to say their hometowns or places they're familiar with were affected, as long as: (1) it isn't a place big enough to be on the canon map of Thedas and (2) if someone else's character is coincidentally from the same place, you check with them first.)



WEEKS FOUR & FIVE: THE MARCH ON STARKHAVEN

The situation in the Free Marches continues to deteriorate rapidly. With Tantervale now more rubble than city, nothing substantial stands between the Tevinter force in Hasmal and either Kirkwall, home of Riftwatch, or Starkhaven, the cultural and financial heart of the Marches. An advance on one or both of those cities is believed to be the next logical step, but nobody knows for sure which it's going to be or whether it's going to come in the form of an attack by dragon or just ("just") an army.

Reports from the Riftwatch teams in and over Hasmal at the end of Week 1 spotted signs of that army readying to move, and further griffon reconnaissance during Weeks 2 and 3 confirmed that with Tantervale out of the way the army is now moving quickly. Their path is clearly pointed east toward Starkhaven. Like Tantervale, Starkhaven is lightly-defended, much of its forces—along with its ruler, Prince Sebastian Vael—in Orlais with the Exalted March.

Help from elsewhere is unlikely to arrive in time. Those Marches who might have been best positioned to support Starkhaven in its time of need find themselves with problems of their own, as coastal communities in Ostwick and Hercinia suffer a rash of brutal and unusually well-organized pirate attacks. The port towns of Torbay and Ogwell near Ostwick and Noli near Hercinia take the brunt of it, sacked and burned by marauders. There are several attacks on shipping reported as well, with prizes taken from normally safe waters where the Waking Sea meets the Amaranthine. Both city-states have increased naval patrols and are now on alert, but they're looking outwards, not inland.

UNKNOWNS

How quickly reinforcements will arrive. Agents and Inquisition contacts in Orlais report that the Exalted March is now aware, and that there are urgent debates among the commanders about how to react. Prince Sebastian Vael is thought to be planning to return imminently, but precisely how long that will take—and how many men he will bring with him—remains unknown.

RIFTWATCH'S WORK

• SLOWING THE ADVANCE: Riftwatch will do its best to slow the enemy advance and buy Starkhaven time to prepare. Without the numbers to engage the host directly, teams will instead be tasked with making the journey as difficult as possible by creating obstacles along the way: think rockslides, blown bridges, washed out roads, felled trees clogging the river, sabotaged boats and wagons, and so forth. Traps or small guerrilla-style attacks may be laid at some of these points, but with strict orders not to risk it unless conditions allow Riftwatch the advantage to attack swiftly and then escape again. The goal is to harass and pick off low-hanging fruit, not get caught up in an unwinnable battle.


• PREPARING STARKHAVEN: Preventing an attack on Starkhaven seems impossible, but Riftwatch can at least help the city prepare for it. At this point a siege is the best option, but it will mean being (or at least looking) strong enough to withstand an initial assault. Top priorities are:
  
  • Reinforcing city defenses. These efforts were already underway by Week 2, but will become far more urgent, and leaders will be much more eager to hear from Riftwatch anything they know about the enemy forces.
  
  
  • Stocking the city. This includes bringing in supplies to prepare for the siege they now hope comes, whether by wagon or boat or griffon, and Riftwatch may even be asked to help negotiate with merchants and farmers to get deals done and goods delivered faster if possible.
  
  
  • Bolstering numbers. They need all the fighting manpower they can get, so Riftwatch will be helping recruit by explaining the situation, the context of the war, and encouraging anyone able to fight to help, and then transporting them from the countryside to the city walls as fast as possible. Bringing in fighting men means more mouths to feed, so Riftwatch will also be asked to help ferry vulnerable people out of the city to safety in other Marches. At first this effort will focus on the young and old with political importance, but it will be expanded (if Riftwatch pushes and also if they work fast enough to make it feasible) to include young and old of all classes.
  
  
  • Helping keep the peace and avoid a panic. Between the news of the on-coming army, the rash of high-profile assassinations (see below) and the horrific fate of Tantervale, the people of Starkhaven are understandably on edge. The mood in the city is one of barely suppressed terror, and city officials are anxious to avoid any incidents that might light a spark and distract from necessary preparations. Riftwatch will be asked to assist the guard in patrolling public areas where people tend to gather and help defuse situations, from breaking up brawls and preventing theft and hoarding of supplies to chasing off an obnoxious crier who won't stop stirring up fears with his vivid tales of how he received his scar at the hands of the vicious, unstoppable Tevinters.


• PROTECTING THE COUNTRYSIDE: The enemy journey through the Marches isn't as orderly as it was in Orlais. Parties of enemy soldiers and mages are veering south (occasionally north, into the strip of Marches before the Antivan border, but mostly south) across the river to attack travelers, sack villages, burn farms, and generally cause chaos. This will also involve periodic dragon attacks in the regions between Hasmal, Wildervale, and Starkhaven. These attacks are sudden and brief, hitting random locations, causing death and damage, and leaving as quickly as they arrived. Riftwatch agents traveling through the region for any purpose will need to be on guard, and teams will also be tasked to help patrol the countryside and major roads to protect against enemy attacks. Some teams may be stationed in towns and villages for days at a time, ready to respond to any reports of enemy attacks nearby and coordinate via crystal.

And in the midst of this work, there will be some additional specific missions:

• STARKHAVEN ASSASSIN: An assassin is stalking the streets of Starkhaven. Four prominent citizens have been murdered in the past two weeks, including two high-ranking guard captains, a celebrated knight who won the Grand Tourney not long ago, and Lord Kennech, a frontrunner to replace Lord Greer as regent. The murders have been brazen and bloody, not identical but each marked with the sigil of a prominent family drawn in blood, the first (over Lord Kennech) being the symbol of House Harimann, now most famous for having arranged the murders of Prince Sebastian Vael's family in a coup attempt in 9:31. The other houses referenced similarly have prominent betrayals and power-grabs in their history. No one is quite sure what any of it means, but it has certainly set the city even further on edge and has suspicions between members of the ruling class nearing a high. As a neutral party, Riftwatch will be asked to help provide security for potential targets.


• DRAGON TRACKING: Corypheus' dragon has rarely been sighted very far from him, and its presence in the Free Marches raises the possibility that he's somewhere nearby. A few different small teams on griffon- and horseback will attempt to track it to where it's resting between its excursions to terrorize the countryside, with the hope that Corypheus is there and this may present an opportunity to confront him directly with fewer fortifications.


• FIREBOMBING THE ARMY: As the army nears Starkhaven, another griffon-based team will make one last push to slow them down. The evening before they inevitably reach the city, the team will fly over their camp with mages, Antivan Fire grenades and breakable flasks of oil, and anything else they can come up with to rain literal fire on the Tevinter camps.

WEEK SIX: FALLING ACTION

The Tevinter force finally arrives at Starkhaven. After all the work to delay the enemy and speed preparations, the city is ready to hold fast against them at least until Prince Sebastian can return from Orlais with the army and (they hope) the Exalted March in tow. The Tevinter force, clearly still hoping to take the city before those reinforcements arrive, sets up camp as if for a siege but then launches a pre-dawn attack in hope of breaching the gates. This is repelled, but periodic assault (mostly magical) on the city walls continues—thus far with little effect.

Now that the enemy has arrived at Starkhaven, there isn't much more Riftwatch can do to help directly. The force is still too large for them to take on, and while they can get away with some limited griffon stealth missions in and out of the city, the large-scale operations of previous weeks are no longer possible. Prince Sebastian and the fastest part of his forces will arrive by the end of the week, and he will then take the lead in determining how to defend Starkhaven. He'll be happy to talk to Riftwatch about what they've seen and done in the interim and will be grateful for their efforts on behalf of his city. But there's a lot for him to figure out at present, and coordinating the type of smaller-scale work Riftwatch is best suited for isn't top of his agenda at the moment. Essentially, he'll be in touch.

RIFTWATCH'S WORK

All agents in and around Starkhaven are pulled back just ahead of the Tevinter force's arrival, along with any last group of vulnerable citizens they're able to get out. Riftwatch will continue to put more focus than it previously had on the Free Marches, with increased patrols and surveillance, and will keep an eye on the refugee situation as things develop. The enemy presence in the Marches will continue to cause trouble, with occasional parties of soldiers and mages marauding, posing new hazards closer to home than before that will periodically require Riftwatch's attention. And the situation in Starkhaven will continue to develop and may require more assistance in the future. But otherwise, it's more or less back to business as usual for now, just with a new set of issues added to the pile.

Comments

adrasteia. a little picnic.

[indissection]

[ A picnic seems simple enough.

There was a promise of dinner at one point, a discussion, of 'doing this again', and Sidony had wondered about it for a little while. She's not sure of what Adrasteia wants, of what might actually happen between them, but there had been the hope. The promise. Byerly had been looking into it for her but she's so on edge that the idea of giving into her wants was something that still frightened her.

Athessa hadn't been romantic, really, but it had been enlightening. She knows what she wants now, even if she can't quite voice it.

Setting up the picnic is easy enough - she does none of the cooking herself, of course, but she obtains it, she puts down the blanket, she organises the glasses, and she waits. It's a brief reprise from everything that's happening and she can only hope that Adrasteia feels the same way - that she wants this to be the same sort of thing that they had before. The same happiness, the same companionship, all the same.

But she's also a little afraid.

Settling down, she tucks her legs under herself and waits, breathing out gently. ]

Oh, I am truly becoming a fool.

[kantikoy]

[ Adrasteia, for her part, is both excited and nervous about this outing. For one, Asterion had clarified something for her: namely, that she's been in a courtship with Sidony, that the exchange of embroidered handkerchiefs sealed it like a childhood blood pact (at least, that's the impact it's had in her mind... she has very little to compare a proper courtship with, after all). She's more than flattered that Sidony would see her in such a light, is continually worried that her responding handkerchiefs were not good enough, and brought flowers because what does one bring to a picnic if all the food is already being provided for?

Flowers seem like a good bet. If there's any luck on her side, Sidony isn't allergic.

She hears Sidony say... something but doesn't catch what it is exactly. ] Hello, [ comes from behind Sidony, and Adrasteia waves before she crosses the grass and sits down opposite the other woman. ]

I brought flowers, I hope that's all right.

[indissection]

[ Sidony is absolutely startled by the flowers, and for a moment all she can do is stare at them. She's been given them before, of course - by suitors, from her father, her brother, people who want to be in her good graces - but never from someone she wanted flowers from. She falters, if only for a brief few seconds, before she reaches up to take them, bringing them to her face to smell them.

If it also hides the slight red tint to her cheeks then all the better.

Gathering herself, Sidony sits up with a bright, warm smile, motioning to the space on the blanket beside her, urging Adrasteia to sit. Then she can worry about things like the wine, the food. ]

It is more than alright, darling, I assure you, and most kind. Please make yourself comfortable - and I assure you that I did not make any of this food myself.

[kantikoy]

[ Adrasteia sits next to Sidony, tucking short legs beneath her as to keep her boots off of the blanket that's been provided. She blushes, as per usual, at being called 'darling'; armed with the new (to her) knowledge that this is more than just a friendship, that the door has already been opened, in a way, to encourage more than that, everything that's been said between them takes on a new color.

But there's food to think about too, and Adrasteia loves food and good company in tandem enough to let her mind set aside its anxieties at the nature of... all of this in favor of smiling earnest and wide. ]

I wouldn't judge you if you had. I, personally, am terrible at thinking up interesting things to cook. Baking, on the other hand... [ A wink. ] I'm fairly good at that.

Thank you, by the way. For the handkerchiefs but also. [ She gestures at the picnic between them. ]

[indissection]

[ Sidony is being desperately careful with everything that she does at the moment, somewhat afraid of how her advances and how her words might be taken. Relationships between men and between women are not exactly unheard of in Riftwatch, nor she's sure in the rest of the world, but she is still married, she is still uncertain, still shy. She has to be careful not to ruin whatever it is that has built between them.

Her expression is gentle, though, and soft, and she begins to pick out some of the foot, placing it in front of Adrasteia carefully. Even if nothing happens, even if they never become more, they can have this. A delicate, wonderful friendship. ]

I've not the knack for either, I'm afraid. My skills lie entirely with surgery and healing. One might imagine cooking is similar enough to making potions and poultices, but my skills remain lacking.

[ The wink makes her smile, red on her cheeks, and she shakes her head - her hand reaching, almost instinctively, to touch the other woman's. ]

The pleasure was mine, I assure you. Now, please, tell me. How have you been since we last met?

[kantikoy]

[ For all the ways Adrasteia's brain would love to yell at her about a lack of knowing just what in the hell she's even doing in this scenario, Sidony's smile goes quite the distance towards calming her down. If she just... is careful, if they talk and are kind to one another, it should be good. Right?

Right. ]

Ah.

[ Adrasteia takes a breath, attempting to arrange her thoughts into some useful pattern in order to answer the question. How has she been? It's asked rarely enough that she has no prepared statement to follow. ]

Well, I suppose. I lost my voice after Tantervale; I overdid it on healing others and ice magic, which I'm terrible at, and probably some caused by the smoke as well. But I'm fine, now. [ More or less; her voice is quiet but not actively strained. ] I've been doing griffon rider trainings for the interested. [ She tucks some loose strands of hair behind her ear before picking up a piece of... is it cake? A sandwich? If it's the latter, it is the neatest sandwich she's ever laid eyes on, because it's layered like a cake. ] Also I'm not even a little sorry to say I may have bullied your husband into eating real food at some point.

What of you?

[indissection]

[ It shouldn't be difficult, should it? They've not even discussed what might be happening between them - or if Adrasteia's even aware of what Sidony's intentions are. While she might have heard from Byerly about her interests (thank you, darling husband) that doesn't mean that she's interested in Sidony. She has made a point to do her best, though.

She has one of the hairpins in her hair. Is that enough of a signal? ]

My life has hardly been much more of an adventure, I'm afraid.

[ Sidony leans forward, watching with an expression of gentle fondness. She likes to hear this woman talk, likes to hear the softness of her tone and the lilts here and there. It's endearing. Attractive.

But back on topic. ]

Oh, thank goodness someone is taking care of him. He's started to ignore me when I try to harass him into eating or sleeping since he's more than accustomed to it. Soon we shall have a team of people to take care of my dearest of friends.

[ Friends. Not lover! Please take notes. ]

I've had my hands in guts, of course. People always need healing.

[kantikoy]

[ Adrasteia managed to eat half of her sandwich (it's definitely a sandwich just much fancier fare than she's used to) and tried not to blush too hard as Sidony leaned in. ]

Benedict is trying, I think, poor soul; I found him sleeping on the fourth floor of the tower in one of the empty rooms, the one with the hookah? Which is understandable, really, but I don't think Byerly listens to him very much.

[ Which! Adrasteia has feelings about. Mostly they are 'why have an assistant if you don't listen to the assistant' but that's just her viewpoint. She knows the man is under a lot of stress. ]

But I promise I will do my best to ensure that he's alright, your husband. Even if it means I have to bring food to his office every time I go up there. Or put sleeping draughts in his coffee.

[ She takes a sip of her drink and then looks down at her hands. ]

I'm glad you like the hair sticks. [ It's been noticed. ] I'll admit, I didn't know what to get you at all, other than a handkerchief in kind, and I didn't... know, or realize its importance. [ She looks at Sidony now. It's best if she just... speaks it into existence, this small thing between the that takes up so much space in her mind, in her chest. ] I don't know what happens next, in a courtship, but I want you to know I am interested, and that if I seem hesitant it's just because it's been so long. Since I've done anything with anyone else, or even admitted I've had feelings.

[indissection]

[ Sidony is about to make a general comment on the rest of it - the griffon riding, the magic (as much as her face might twist) and all the other things that come to mind, but she's caught entirely off guard by how... Open and honest Adrasteia is, taking her by surprise and making her hand stop in its journey to pick up a little piece of food for herself.

Going from discussing her husband to a very real and obvious mention of her fumbled attempt at courtship is something a little akin to being struck and she has to take a moment to reign herself in, to let her thoughts settle before she takes a deep breath. She truly did not imagine that she would get even half this far.

Her hand stops. ]

Allow me a moment, please.

[ It's said with a gentle smile - and Sidony takes a deep breath. She has no desire to make this woman feel anything like nerves, or discomfort, or to doubt her intentions... Because she does have intentions.

Reaching out, she offers her hand. ]

I do not know either. You may have noted by now that my marriage to Byerly is not one born out of romantic love, nor anything remotely intimate. He and I are siblings more than anything else, and his hand was given to me as protection, not for true matrimony. My affections lie entirely with the fairer. [ Best to get that out of the way first, surely? But her smile settles, her eyes earnest - she wants this, more than she was willing to express even a year before now. She wants to embrace Adrasteia, wants to hold her hands in her own, wants to lie down on this blanket beside her and look at the clouds in the sky.

It's painful how silly she feels, wanting something so... Childlike. ]

I have never wanted to court someone before. I have some experience, I have no reason to hide it from you, but romance? Affection? For it to risk developing into love? I fear you are the first to have my heart yearn so.

[kantikoy]

[ Adrasteia fears she's gone too far, been too forward, judging by the look on Sidony's face when she stops speaking; as such, she holds her peace and folds her hands in her lap while she gives the other woman the moment she's requested.

Oh, but wouldn't it be terrible if Sidony told her it was just a misunderstanding, that Adrasteia has misread the situation terribly?

Then Sidony speaks, offering her hand, and she lets loose a breath she hadn't been aware she'd been holding. Gives her hand in return, and breathes.

Wishes, too, that she'd had the opportunity to go to Orlais before this, but. Well. There is time for gifts, still. ]

I've never courted anyone either, so I think we're well-matched, there. [ A small laugh. The tips of her ears are warm, as is her face, but she has no shame in it. Instead of troubling herself with that, she squeezes the hand in her own and moves her fingers until they're laced in between Sidony's. ] And I am glad to hear I am not ruining your marriage; you spoke so kindly of Byerly, I wasn't certain.

[ It occurs to her that perhaps they should speak more of each other, and less of husbands. ]

Tell me of courtship. Of what you'd like from it. [ She shakes her head, once. ] Other than gifts, I know nothing, I'm afraid, but I enjoy your company greatly.

[indissection]

[ All of this is a quite foreign engagement for Sidony, and she lets her eyes search Adrasteia's face before she breathes out and shakes her head. Being so honest - honest about emotions, at least - is incredibly difficult for her and she finds it quite an issue, but she has to do her best. If she doesn't then she is going to lose the thing she wants.

Their fingers link and her shoulders relax, some of the awkwardness and tension fading away from her shoulders, making her feel a little less panicked and afraid.

Adrasteia wants this as well. They want each other, and that seems to be rather a gift at the moment. ]

Byerly married me to ensure that my family did not kidnap me back to Nevarra. They wanted to take me back and wed me to someone or another, so he married me first to make sure that it didn't happen. We're more akin to siblings than we are anything else.

[ She shakes her head, though, moving a touch closer, almost with an awkward wiggle. ]

I don't need gifts. [ That makes a chance. ] I'm hardly the sort to ask for anything traditional now. All I wish for is the chance to know you better, and to please you in any way that I might be able to.

[kantikoy]

[ To hear that Sidony and Byerly are akin to siblings settles the last of Adrasteia's doubts in her chest; the Ambassador surely would be happy for them and this embarkment, yes? Especially if Sidony is happy. ]

Very few need gifts, but I enjoying giving them; hopefully, you will tolerate at least one more. [ She wants to put Asterion's suggestion to the test, but she hasn't had the opportunity quite yet. ] I don't have it now, but. [ A small shrug. They have time, don't they?

Now it's Adrasteia's turn to scoot over, in order to place her cheek on Sidony's shoulder. Their interlaced fingers get a small squeeze. ]

What would you like to know, to know me better?

[indissection]

[ Perhaps it is something she ought to have said before, but the notion of baring herself before she was ready, of risking what herself and Byerly have together becoming public knowledge... It was too dangerous. Sidony realising she can trust Adrasteia is a heady thing indeed.

Their hands are still being held, and she feels her heart going a little too fast in her chest. Oh, lord, she is truly becoming one of those women. How novel. ]

I shall think on it, then. [ She leans close, head tilted, eyes never leaving the other woman's face. ] And I would welcome anything that you might offer me, any sort of token, and wear it with pride.

[ But she lets one arm move, to wrap around the other woman's body, holding her gently. It feels right. ]

Tell me about where you grew up, then.

[kantikoy]

[ Fortunately, mostly by virtue of being a Warden, Adrasteia is good with secrets. As much as she normally hates to be. But this, with Sidony, is well worth being the keeper of one more.

Being held like this is nice. Sweet, in a way that precious few things in Adrasteia's life have been. She sighs a little and smiles at Sidony. ]

I grew up in the Alienage outside of Amaranthine. Alienages are not... nice places, in general, but Amaranthine is a beautiful city on the eastern coast of Ferelden, where the Waking Sea and the Amaranthine Ocean meet. I spent a lot of my childhood swimming, diving, and boating off the rocky coastline there. It's withstood a lot, historically; it's where Andraste revealed the Chant of Light and Orlais invaded it at one point.

[indissection]

[ Few people have ever dared to move close to Sidony, to be close to her either in body or in word - she has kept them adrift, pushed them away, because it seemed much easier when there were so many things that she had to tie away and hide. Being herself was harder because no one had ever wanted for her to be herself before; not until she had come here.

One hand lifts, brushing some hair from Adrasteia's face, listening with a careful nod of her head. There's no way she can understand what it could be like, living in an Alienage, not when she had been raised as a noble with a silver spoon, but she can be here to listen.

She also chooses not to dwell too hard on the notion of Andraste; her thoughts on that are confusing enough to say the least. ]

I've heard of how handsome the ocean is. I've had little reason to go there myself, but perhaps I'll entertain the notion one day. [ She hums softly. ] What brought you to the Wardens?

[kantikoy]

I haven't been back since I left, but if you do go... I would like to go with you.

[ To show Sidony the marketplace and hidden coves, to point out the historical fortresses. To share that part of her knowledge with someone she's quickly growing to care about. ]

The Pilgrim's Path connects Denerim to Amaranthine; it's well-traveled but Darkspawn attacks are still common. I had been traveling with my husband Helec when we were attacked.

He didn't survive and I... I'd seen my mother die from exposure to Darkspawn blood during the Blight. I didn't want that waiting, wasting death and I knew that if I didn't pass the Warden's Joining I would be granted a quick death, at the very least.

Besides which, Wardens were everywhere during my childhood. I'd never considered Joining before but it made sense then. It's... more than I would have expected, being a Warden. Bittersweet too. But worth it in the end.

[indissection]

I would like to go. With you, not alone. I think I must need an expert to truly appreciate it.

[ It feels like such a promise, like something to reach for, to yearn for, and Sidony has to take a breath before she turns her head a little. Adrasteia is here, in her arms, and it feels... Unbelievable. It feels as if she is in some kind of dream.

She feels like a silly teen all over again.

Turning her head, she risks leaving a little kiss against the skin of Adrasteia's cheek. ]

I'm sorry that you had to suffer that. I am glad, however, that you have found a path, something that you feel is worth it. I understand that it can be a difficult thing to discover for yourself in this world of ours.

[kantikoy]

Then we will.

[ When the war is over, most likely, unless some Riftwatch business appears that leads them towards Amaranthine. If the war ends. She sighs, a little, banishing that train of thought. This? Is a better thing than the war or considering when it might finally cease to be.

She blushes when Sidony kisses her cheek. Turns her face to look at the other woman and smiles. ]

Can I kiss you?

[ It seems like a possibly silly ask, but. She wants to be sure its alright, first. ]

[indissection]

A promise I intend to keep, then.

[ It's difficult to make vows of forever, of eternity, or even something beyond the next few months, but they can have this. They can cling to the desire of having something to look forward to, because if they don't then surely they'll fall into despair at the height of their pain.

War does that to all; not just the soldiers, but all.

Looking down, she hesitates for a moment, a red colouring her own cheeks. She's not used to boldness for herself, but she is growing accustomed to her wants, to her wishes, and she shifts herself as close to the other woman as she might get. ]

You may do anything you like to me, darling.

[kantikoy]

[ Adrasteia smiles again, lifting her hand to rest against Sidony's cheek. For a while she just sits there like that, looking at the other woman, uncertain of what to say (if anything needs saying at this point; it's hard for her to tell).

In the end, she decides to remain silent, opting instead to lean forward and press her lips to Sidony's. A soft, but lingering, sort of kiss.

She laughs through her nose, loathe to pull away once they've started kissing. ]

I find myself quite enjoying the way you call me 'darling'.

[indissection]

[ This is the sort of thing that was in her mother's books when she was a child, the odd little stories about moments of joy and warmth and bliss, as if it was all so simple to work out and decide. Of course, in her mother's books it had been a woman with her husband and Sidony had little want for that.

Leaning into the kiss with Adrasteia is easy, as if it was something she was meant to do, and the way that her chest floods with warmth is something she is certain is reflected on her cheeks - and her lips do twist down, just a little, when the woman leans back.

Sidony feels a little like she ends up chasing that kiss, her head tilted for a moment before she laughs softly. ]

I shall keep it up, then. Is there anything more you would wish me call you? [ She leans, pressing another kiss against her cheek, her jaw, gentle and careful. ]

[kantikoy]

[ Adrasteia smiles, cheeks warming again and eyes sliding shut as Sidony kisses her face. She feels a bit drunk on her heated emotions and the intrinsic magic of being kissed by someone she's attracted to for the first time, biting her lower lip and blushing hard as if she were in her youth. ]

I, hm... [ Taking a moment to recollect her thoughts beyond 'more kissing, please and thank you' doesn't leave her with many ideas in terms of endearments. ] I don't know, [ she admits with a chuckle, ] but honestly I don't think there's anything you'd be inclined to call me that I wouldn't like.

[indissection]

[ Is this what she had imagined when she had asked for the picnic? Not in the least, but she has no desire whatsoever to complain. The joy she feels inside of her feels like a flame in her stomach, and all she can do is lean closer to the other woman and enjoy the moment. Why shouldn't she, after all? Hadn't the two of them earned this?

Laughing softly, she leans close so their noses nudge, just a little. ] I shall have to make a concentrated effort, then, to ensure that I surprise you in future.

[kantikoy]

Surprising me is not difficult in the least, [ she promises, indulging in the brush of their noses together before she leans in for another kiss. Because she can, because she wants to, because Sidony is wonderful. ] But I still look forward to seeing how you will.

[ A breath, and she pulls away to glance at the food on the blanket around them ]. We should eat, before we completely forget ourselves; I'd hate for the food to go to waste, as much as I enjoy kissing you.

[indissection]

Something to keep in mind. You are offering me too many opportunities, Adrasteia. [ Especially if those chances come with kisses, which is the sort of thing Sidony thinks she ought to mind a little more - but she doesn't, which is thrilling enough on its own.

Looking at the food she had prepared, Sidony laughs quietly. ] I suppose we must. If I don't eat properly I know I will be fit for a scolding.