closed.

[heorte]

WHO: Ellis + Holden
WHAT: local men attempt to locate missing division heads
WHEN: August
WHERE: North-west of Hasmal
NOTES: ooc info

All the information they've been given, and what they're able to gather from the locals and a cobbled assembly of maps, leads them to what was once a stables and is now hosting a fair number of soldiers.

Shadowed in a copse of trees alongside the river, Ellis turns his attention from the passage of a clanking assembly of troops back to Holden.

"We'll need to take a closer look, aye?" Ellis asks, shifting in the saddle as his horse prances a few restless steps sideways.

They could certainly take this much back to Riftwatch, but without any clear idea as to whether or not it's the place holding Yseult and Flint it would be difficult to decide how to proceed. Speculation would only waste more time, and Ellis didn't think they'd be able to afford it. If they could even get an idea as to whether or not they were or had been held here—

Comments

[acreage]

The right kind of man is a key part of Ellis's plan — and it's a good one, Holden thinks, fairly low-risk and high reward — but he says, dubiously,

"With a stranger they just met on the road?"

Security would have to be pretty lax for that kind of gossip, wouldn't it? But maybe Ellis has a plan for securing their trust; and this as much a prompt for him to explain the details of his strategy, as it is a concern.

[heorte]

His hand lifts, taps at the griffon crest gleaming across his breastplate.

"A Warden they met on the road."

Not that Ellis likes to think of it, but there are Wardens following Corypheus. Or bound to him. (Optimistic, to hope for hte latter.) At a glance, no one would know that Ellis' loyalties lay anywhere else.

"If I can find whether or not they've any help, common people they trade with, we'll know who you should be talking to."

Ellis has no illusions that between them, Holden is potentially better at wheedling information from people. He's disarming. That achieves thing Ellis can't, not in a situation like this.

[acreage]

Oh, right.

There's no need to assume Ellis is a member of Riftwatch at all, with no tell-tale anchor. Wardens might be affiliated with Riftwatch or, as Ellis has considered, Corypheus, or no one at all. And there's weight to what he does, moreso than any random person who may happen to be around this compound. Less question of what he's doing in the area, for that matter.

"It makes sense," he agrees, nodding slowly. "And there's a good chance of getting intel we won't be able to see for ourselves."

[heorte]

"Aye. And we can use whatever we can get our hands on."

Any information is going to be of use. Or at least, Ellis believes it is. He'd like to think Yseult has a similar philosophy, but they won't know until she's retrieved.

Or maybe never, but no one is saying that aloud.

Instead, as Ellis checks over his horse, he slants a look at Holden. Maybe there's enough common ground between them that Ellis feels compelled to warn—

"If something goes sideways, you run," is the stipulation, because even without the full knowledge of what happened in that dream, Ellis had gleaned a good amount of information from Wysteria and Tony's glancing mentions. "They won't fight nearly as hard to keep hold of me as they would to keep hold of you."

[acreage]

There are two distinct warring impulses in his head.

And maybe that's apparent, because there's no immediate verbal response, just a sharp look in return. Ellis has a point, of course. There's a cold flash of terror at the mere thought of what a wrong move could cost — and not just him, but, worse, Thedas and Riftwatch. Which is what wins out, ultimately; because as much as he hates the idea of theoretically running and leaving Ellis in peril,

and he does,

there are things that matter more. So it's not disagreement when he says, dry, "Did you forget that until just now?"

That, with a glance towards his shard hand, safely hidden in one of a pair of riding gloves. Not too incongruous with the work, even if the press of humid heat makes him wish he didn't need them.

[heorte]

"No."

But there's a short list of people within Riftwatch Ellis deems competent. The trouble is many of them tend to be Rifters, which may say more about Ellis' social circles than anything else. He'd gone to Holden for a reason, just like he'd given Holden's name to Wysteria to test her prototype for a reason. He's someone easy to depend on.

"Would you rather I asked someone else?"

Something that won't help either of them now, but would inform the choices he made in the future.

[acreage]

"If I did," he says with amusement that isn't unkind, "I would've said no. I want to be here."

Here, in something of a general sense. Nearer the front lines, doing things, potentially finding information that could help their Division Heads or some other poor captured souls. Making a direct impact on the war, in some sense.

But it just seems a little funny to request (1) James Holden come along, and then to ask that he does not James Holden if a situation arises.

"I don't intend to get captured, or to let that happen to you." Much as Ellis isn't wrong about the odds of one being more likely than the other, should they be discovered. "And you're right that we have to be careful."

But. There's a beat, makes it questionable if he'll articulate the part that bothers him.

"There's risk to being here at all. There's risk to leaving the Gallows, or Kirkwall. I've accepted that. That doesn't mean I like the idea of cutting and running as a contingency plan."

Specifically, with the potential intent of leaving someone behind. Still, he adds,

"I'm not saying I won't do it. We can hope it doesn't come to that."