Skyhold

[faderifting]

WHO: Anyone & everyone
WHAT: Open post for business as usual around Skyhold
WHEN: The first couple weeks of Harvestmere, 9:41 (aka October)
WHERE: Skyhold
NOTES: Please mark any necessary content warnings in thread subject lines. Also, make sure to check out the other log posts already made!

Far from the glamorous adventurous world-saving people signed up for, most of the hustle and bustle in Skyhold at present is cleaning. The Great Hall is a disaster, and crews are assigned to haul out the cracked and rotting planks fallen from the wide-open roof, and tear down the vines covering the walls. Ivy encrusts the main staircase outside and many of the fortress walls and is cleared in section while other groups assess or begin shoring up the stonework as it's revealed. There are scaffolding to build, materials to sort, crates to unload, tents to stitch together or set-up, and on and on and on, endless mundane chores vital to the survival of the organization.

When not hard at work, people cluster around fires across the courtyards. Many mingle freely, going about their business, running errands and messages, planning scouting missions, tallying up supplies, distributing or playing with the sending crystals that were found in a basement vault and which a group of mages have just today finished preparing for use. Once a good number have been passed around and the first Inquisition-wide transmission made messages start being broadcast; maybe you can help someone out.

The rebel mages and renegade templars mainly keep to themselves at opposite sides of the complex given the choice. Mages assist with healing and research and bicker amongst themselves about their options and their fate. Templars help train recruits in swordforms and basic combat techniques or spar with the more advanced and bicker amongst themselves about their options and their fate. Despite having all pledged themselves to the Inquisition, they still feel like separate factions and tension between them is palpable wherever they cross paths.

Like at meals, or the communal message board in the courtyard, or at the Herald's Rest. The mess hall/tavern is so new it still smells of sawdust, and its stock has been limited to one type of strong ale until today, when a shipment of West Hill brandy has finally arrived. The mood in the place is convivial in celebration of that, but there's still plenty of muttering, especially as the night drags on and the discontented get further into their cups.

Comments

[el_tybs]

'I could teach you.'

His eyes widen at the statement. There's more with it, but it's that simple phrase that gets his heart beating a bit faster. "Really?!"

Sam winces as his voice bounces off the walls. He hadn't meant to be loud, it was... he had a hard time keeping it in at times. Especially with an offer like that. "Really?" He asks softer, eyes wide with excitement. "That would be... I would appreciate that very, VERY much."

[fleurdesel]

It startles a laugh out of her- brief, bright, and rare. She hasn't had cause to laugh in some time. It feels strange to do so, and while she tucks it away quickly enough her eyes are still on him and still warm. It takes some of the tension from her, smooths some of the years from her face.

Makes her feel a little more like who she used to be.

"I teach them in the mornings after my daily meditations before we move to the healing tents. Right now most are on individual studies and drills, we would have plenty of time to go through the basics."

[el_tybs]

It's short, but it was distinctively a laugh. The sound threatens to have Sam's smile widen, but he quickly reins in some of his good mood. People are trying to sleep after all.

"I... that, sounds wonderful." He was going to be able to learn again. Without having to be behind cold stone walls and watching eyes. "Where do you usually do your lessons?"

[fleurdesel]

"The garden, after breakfast. It's quiet there and no one bothers us. The others like the chance to practice in the light." Among green things and the living energies of plants. "They already like you plenty, you'll fit right in. And it should not be so long that you will not be able to do your work in the forge, yes?"

Balancing that seems to be important to Sam- Adelaide understands well the need for something other than magic in a mage's world.

[el_tybs]

He blinks at that. Oh right, he would be learning with the other mages under her care. He gives a nervous chuckle at that. "Ah, well I hope I'm not too much of a distraction. A couple of them find it a game to see if they can climb me." He supposed it was because he was so tall. Sam found it cute, and it gave him the idea of what having younger siblings might be like.

At the mention of the forge he nods, his smile growing a bit sad again. "My father was a blacksmith and he started to teach me before I went to the Circle. Kind of keeps me connected, you know? Well.. that and I like the work."

[fleurdesel]

"I will try to keep them on their best behavior but- it is good for them to act their age when they can." To be told they were abominations in the making, monsters, dangerous-children should feel like children. Even if only for a little while. "I hope you do not mind it."

They should manage well enough, the apprentices were attentive- doubly so after what happened in the Spire. "Perhaps we might make that a point in your training. Sometimes what you know best, what resounds within you may resound within the fade as well."

[el_tybs]

"No. I don't have any siblings and I was pretty different then the other mages at Ostwick... it feels nice to have some fun. Even if I'm just supposed to be a mountain or something."

He hums thoughtfully at the idea of combining his passion of the forge with his magic. How did that even work. "I suppose. A happy medium between the two would be interesting to see."

[fleurdesel]

"A giant." She offers. "Henri, our youngest-" A little redhair'd elf roughly twelve years old "Read stories about Giant hunters and wanted to know why they didn't simply try to befriend them. He'll adore you."

Everything is giant to Henri. It makes Adele fear for what might come should anyone force a round of Harrowings. "Each mage that I know of starts with the primal or elemental schools as they are the most distinct- from there understanding helps them find their specialty in the other schools. I started with the Cold, Ice. It helped me find the clarity to hear what the Spirits were trying to say. If you are most comfortable in a forge, pehaps there is something to that."

[el_tybs]

"Well... then I shall try to be the best giant I can be." Course he's never seen a giant so it'll be strictly up to his imagination. Maybe a friendly one?

There's a grin starting to spread on Sam's face as Lady LeBlanc starts to give him some tips about where to start. He knows where she is going with this, but he knows better than to interrupt. She has a point to make. "You can say that. I started using fire at an early age; kind of set the shed at home on fire once. I learning that particular element until they found that I was better withe Spirit magic. They kind of focused on that after that. I did dabble in some Ice as well when I could." He chuckles. "I think my entire person is based on extremes, honestly."

[fleurdesel]

"Mm. That may be a part of why you are having trouble. Compassion is Compassion. Justice is Justice. To us there are many shades of what is just and what is kind, but in the fade? It is a single, pure thing coalesced into an entity. They can be something else for a short while but it isn't comfortable. Nuance isn't lost on them but they have no use for it. Finding one, pure, certain point for yourself? Hammer on that, project that, and you may find they speak clearer." It is different for everyone, truly, but Sam has potential if he can hear spirits whispering.

The trick then is learning how to whisper back.

[el_tybs]

Sam nods and lets out a breath of air, bringing up his hands to rub at his face. It was a lot to take in at the moment, even if he wasn't tired. "Ah... well this is going to be most difficult." He sounds a bit frustrated, but not distressed by the challenge. It was just going to take some time.

[fleurdesel]

"There is a reason there are so few of us. But you hear them without having to reach out, you've studied the Spirit school of magic- you are halfway there." It's a tentative thing, the way her hand reaches out to rest on his shoulder. There and gone, alight and slipping away like a bird on it's perch. "I am certain that with guidance and patience? You will manage."

[el_tybs]

He feels it, soft, warm, comforting, but it is a light and fleeting thing. He doesn't comment on it. He's already asking her for too much already; he cannot ask for more. "Thank you."

Pulling his hands away he looks at Lady LeBlanc tiredly. "It feels good to know I will have direction again."

[fleurdesel]

"I am glad there is someone here I may teach. None of the others I've brought with me hear them and we've lost so many- it's a rare talent. I'd given up hope of finding someone else that could learn." Hope is so small and fragile a thing- yet here it is. Small and glimmering, but something.

"...If you are tired there is an extra bedroll inside." Sleep might come easier with the warmth and breath of other mages curled close.

[el_tybs]

There is genuine shock at the offer, his head turning just a bit to look at the door once more. He's been meeting a lot of people lately, but there is still a certainly loneliness that plagues him regardless how many surround him. The offer makes his chest feel a little tight and he blinks when he feels a slight sting to his eyes.

He pressed it back. For now.

Turning to look at the woman next to him he shakes his head kindly. "I can't ask more from you tonight. It also might startle the others." He gives a short laugh. "I have a place to sleep. I'll return to it soon. Or perhaps once you trade shifts."

[fleurdesel]

"It is no burden, Sam, and it is a standing offer." Growing up in circles made social creatures of Mages. There wasn't always room for them to sleep privately- having one for her charges to share, one for her to curl in come the predawn knowing that everyone is accounted for, safe, and rested? It's done wonders for what little sleep she's managed to hold for herself.

Sam may not have come from their circle, may not have lived what they lived- but he was a mage. And that made him one of hers by default. "It will be an hour or so yet. If you wish to sit up we could work on a focus drill? Something to get you started."

[el_tybs]

Sam is prepared to decline again if she presses, but she doesn't - it's a standing offer. She does press him for something else though, and this one is harder to even consider declining. A drill, huh?

He tilts his head like he often does when curious, drawing up his legs so that he can rotate on his spot. Crossing his legs and leaning forward, he smiles. "That sounds well enough. Hopefully I'm not that out of practice."

[fleurdesel]

"It speaks nothing ill of you if that is the case. We are all of us a little out of practice." A lack of somewhere safe to teach, to learn- that would make such lessons and drills difficult. Combine that with the rifts and the war and the demons...

She sets it aside and turns to face him properly, snapping her fingers. Ice is what she knows best and uses the most, but any mage might summon a small flame. It hovers over her fingertips as though from the edge of a candle. "Create a barrier around the flame to snuff it out."

[el_tybs]

Sam watches with interest to see what kind of lesson this is going to be. At seeing the flame he's half expecting that the other mage is going to ask him to copy her. She doesn't.

Put a barrier around the flame? Well that he's been practicing on.

For a moment he shifts around to get more comfortable, suddenly feeling nervous. He's done this hundreds of times, but with knowing he's being tested? He doesn't feel like Lady LeBlanc will be harsh on him nor judgmental, but it's been a while since he's felt the need to impress a mentor.

Raising a hand, his fingers spread wide, he concentrates on the flame. He sighs. The flame flickers for a moment as the air shifts around it, a faint blue sphere forming. The flame dances as it uses up the rest of the air in the sphere before disappearing into smoke.

[fleurdesel]

Her expression betrays nothing, no impatience, no indication as to how she expects it to be done, merely that it should be done and Sam may do it in his own time. That it's done swiftly and neatly brings a slight smile to her face, though they are not finished just yet.

"Hold the smoke. When you release it, attempt to relight the flame." Ash and cinder should catch as easily as they would from relighting a wick, the thin filament she'd held would serve well. Ice has ever been her stongest element, fire needs...a little help. Thus is how she and her mentor began, passing and catching and killing the flame, bringing it back.

[el_tybs]

Sam nods, keeping his eyes on the barrier as LeBlanc gives him instructions. Hold the smoke. Alright. Release it - okay - and relight the flame. O-wait. What?

Sam falters at that and closes up the barrier again. Looking now he raises his brows at the other mage. Alright that was new. "So this is a practice of... using two elements at once... or switching them in the blink of an eye?"

[fleurdesel]

"Multitasking. Handling two elements at once and being able to swap as needed requires focus and precision. So too shall healing while you channel a spirit's power as your own, for what you can do with your own energy and what should be done with the spirit's may vary. Use too much of yourself and it's been inefficient. Use too much of the spirit's and you can do less for having exhausted them. Knowing when and how to switch is vital- the best approximation is playing with elements. Precision. Timing." At least that is how she was taught. "Would you like to try again?"

[el_tybs]

That made... sense. It was a different way of learning, but he supposed that without his own spirit companion to test it with, this was the closest her would get. "I'd like to try again," he says with determination.

He still has the smoke trapped in the barrier, and for a moment he simply watches it swirl around. Sam looks to his other hand, flexes it, then holds it up next to his other hand. Slowly he can feel the barrier thin.

He is more used to putting up passive barriers rather than controlling them once they are put up. It opens up possibilities. It takes a bit more concentration to peel a hole into the barrier, but eventually smoke soon starts to leave through the top.

But as soon as he lights the wick the barrier disappears. Sam gives a huff at that, with a thoughtful frown. "Much harder than I thought."

[fleurdesel]

"Good. Go ahead." It is a subtle thing to manage- one that comes with practice. But the skill is there, she can see. Different techniques than she herself had been taught but that came from being raised in a different circle. Perhaps there are some tricks he knew that might help her students as well.

Thinning the barrier as much as he had, as quickly? Has her smiling in genuine pleasure- in pride. A difficult task that he grasps the nuances of early. His teachers in his Circle would be proud.

"It is, to quote Roul, a bit of a bitch." But in time with repetition, feeling out his own magics for the barrier? He would get it. She's confident. "A way to make it easier at the start is to have a larger barrier around the flame."

[el_tybs]

"Ha-!" Sam slaps a hand over his mouth before his laughter could fill the hall, but his shoulders shake all the same. He had not been expecting the refined woman to suddenly swear.

It takes a little time before he feels comfortable to pull his hand away, his bottom lip hiding in his mouth as he tried to contain himself. Probably best to just move on. "L-larger - heh - barrier... hm... alright."

Giving his knuckles a crack, Sam holds his hands up again to repeat the exercise. As suggested he makes a larger barrier and waits for the flame to go out.