Tell me a story long and true

[lettersfromhome]

WHO: Mia Rutherford and OPEN
WHAT: So much to do, so little time. Bustling around Skyhold.
WHEN: Wintermarch. Feel free to fudge the dates as needed.
WHERE: All over the bloody keep.
NOTES: n/a

The weeks press on. The world looks to the Inquisition to see what happens next, the mages and templars struggle to prove their independence and their willingness to work towards the greater good, and a calm finally seems to have settled over the keep in the wake of the abomination attack. Personal trials seem almost trivial in comparison.

Almost. She's still noticeably avoiding Pel, and stiffly departing if the woman ever comes around.

But there's more to be dealt with than one sour encounter. She drops in on Cullen from time to time now, a little less concerned with keeping her distance than she is with how well he's dealing with the lyrium-induced headaches. She visits Katniss soon after hearing about the unfortunate scuffle with one of the soldiers, though part of her is pleased that she's holding her own. There are care packages to be made up and delivered to various families and individuals within Skyhold -- herbs for the healers from the travelers and scouts, and sometimes cookies for the children -- and all in all life is as busy as it should be.

Better than sitting at home in South Reach and fretting, with no one to tend to. Though what must it say about her that she only feels at ease when she's seeing to someone else's needs? Likely nothing she wants to hear, admittedly.

Comments

[lettersfromhome]

"Is that so surprising?"

Mia smirks faintly at that, gesturing off in some vague direction with a flutter of her hand.

"So far from their own families, perhaps they long for another. Who better than those they risk their lives alongside every day?"

It wasn't as if she hadn't been adopting every other person she'd come across in Skyhold as someone to look after, herself.

[lacere]

"It's not something I accounted for when I signed on," Harding admits, sheepishly. She was all about seeing the world and making a difference but the wound up with larger responsibilities than sheep herding. "Scouts? Far less easier to herd than what I was used to. Keeps us more like people, though, the family thing."

[lettersfromhome]

"Perhaps it's easier when you come from a large family. It seems natural that everything else should fall into that same sphere of reference." Of course, she'd been trying to adopt a half-dozen people since she arrived, too used to swooping down and being the mother-figure for those in need of it.

Though it occurs to her that she doesn't actually know much about the charming young scout. That should be rectified. There's a curious tilt to her head after a moment. "Did you grow up with siblings?"

[lacere]

Harding furrows her brow, thoughtful. If that's the case - falling into the familiarity of a large family - it would explain why it hadn't occurred to her. The question gains another slanted smile. "Only child," she admits. "Just me and my parents and a lot of sheep, because our neighbours were farmers. We were close to Redcliffe, but not close enough to go there without a reason. Mother was a seamstress - still is, actually. There weren't that many kids around that were my age." Most often the children her age were not dwarves, and many of them were boys, which likely hadn't helped because she was small and stocky and could throw them over a table and they weren't happy about it. No, Katniss was the only one she really grew close to, and she only saw her a few times a year when her father came down from his cabin, at best.

"I'm guessing Cullen's not your only sibling?"