faderift | open: something grabs ahold of me tightly

open: something grabs ahold of me tightly

WHO: Inquisition Forces
WHAT: Inquisition forces cross the mountains into Orlais to deal with Emprise du Lion
WHEN: Wintermarch 25 onward
WHERE: EMPRISE DU LION
NOTES: This is a mingle-style log for the Inquisition camps, local tavern, and general/open Inquisition work, etc.

This time they hike down to the west, but the trip through the mountains is no easier. The snow is heaped up about the road where wagons have pushed it aside, stomped into slippery pack beneath the feet and hooves that have gone before. Of the main track it is ankle deep at best and in places it drifts, waist-deep on a tall man and enough to bury a dwarf who hasn't come prepared with snowshoes. Everywhere the wind howls, biting cold, and the sky hangs low, a pale flat grey that makes it difficult to judge distances. Those who know winter weather call it a snow sky, and near-daily squalls prove them right.

They set up camp in Sahrnia, across the broad expanse of frozen river that has trapped the villagers here upstream. Tents pop up in rows and in the shells of tumbled-down buildings, fires blazing and thawing the ground to mud. When the supply wagons roll in they re-open the local tavern, brightly lit with flaking paint on the walls that might once have been colorful and patterned tiles on the floor that seems to swim like an optical illusion after too many glasses of the cheap red wine that fills the cellars.

Even deadlier reds hold the hills: Red Templar sightings have been frequent and it is said they are operating in several locations in the region in significant force. Some of these men and women have become hulking, crystalline beasts. Many others are in the earlier stages of corruption: red-veined and -eyed, aggressive and superhumanly strong, but still visibly human and coherent if spoken to. Red lyrium is even easier to find, jutting out of the ground or cliffsides, filling caves-- the Tower of Bone, a fortress that has stood for centuries, now threatens to split from the inside out. The area's wildlife was none too friendly before, but now the wolves and bears have begun to be corrupted by the lyrium and many will attack on sight, without provocation. (The snofleurs that bumble harmlessly around the river seem unaffected.)

Everywhere there are ruins: broken bridges, crumbling colosseums, and the great hulking mass of Suledin's Keep tucked between the distant hills. Scouts reported that Red Templars hold it as well.

RIFTER ARRIVAL - SAHRNIA - THE HILLS - TOWER CAMP - A HANDY MAP

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Katniss moved quietly enough that she failed to draw Galadriel's gaze--when she loosed her first arrow, though, the elf knew immediately where she was. The first shot caught a buck in the shoulder and the second quickly followed but, before it hit the snow, the rest were in motion.

The shots that spooked them came at an odd angle, Katniss's approach had changed the path that they would take to escape. The ram wouldn't flee across the ice but along the shore. They would be lost just as easily, if not moreso for the cover of the trees. Galadriel drew an arrow and loosed it, it caught a doe in the eye. Her second hit snow but startled another buck into taking pause. Two of Katniss's arrows landed in it while it searched for escape.

The other creatures dove between the trees and Galadriel moved out of hiding as she trained an arrow on them. Her bow lacked the power to shoot very far, it was a hasty thing and strung up with only a strand of her hair, limited to the force that ice and light flame could grant it. She attempted another shot but, while her aim was true, the arrow was already listing when it hit the ram. It bounced away off the creature's hide and left little more than a graze in its wake.

It was a graze that had the ram listing slightly though which was enough for Katniss to take aim, and hit the ram right through the eye. She breathed out, letting the others take flight.

She had seen the other arrows fly - amazing accuracy if not a lot of power. Hooking her bow on her back, she peered around the trees to spot a familiar, and tall, blonde figure. As always, the elegant Galadriel put Katniss in awed silence. Without words, she just lifted her hand in greeting with a quiet little smile, before she moved towards the fallen beasts. The rams looked absolutely beautiful - great hunting by the both of them. She knelt, touching the pelt of the ram, exhaling slowly.

Then she picked up her voice, so Galadriel could hear her, "These will feed a lot of hungry mouths. The skins are going to make wonderful blankets, as well."

Galadriel didn't return the gesture. Fortunately Katniss had moved on before it would have been necessary. The archer strode toward the first felled buck and inspected it. Galadriel passed her and moved to retrieve her arrows from the doe and the bank of snow. As she pulled the first free, she glanced back at Katniss.

"If that is your intent for them, we should skin them now."

It was not a glamorous suggestion but it was a practical one. The other rams would be too far to chase after and while Galadriel could carry two of the bucks, the doe and the last that Katniss had felled would likely be too much for the mortal archer. The rams were not quite the size of deer, but they were not small. If their skin was not a novelty, as the snowfleur's seemed to be, skinning and butchering what they could carry would be the wisest course.

"I can dry the hides easily enough, but I cannot assist in thawing them should they freeze."

The creatures had plush hides. Galadriel could not say if the leather would be suitable for blankets; Katniss would know far better than she. Freezing would not be impossible to reverse, but Galadriel lacked the fine control to do such things here. Flame would distort the pelts, if they used it, and would take both time and space out of the cold.

"Do you carry knives?"

"I have a sled -- " one she had borrowed as Korrin had, and she pointed to it, just beyond the trees, "But you're right, this will be easier if we do the carving right now. Although typically I use the entire beast -- but you're right, the furs will freeze if we don't treat them now."

She reached to her belt, pulling out one of her hunting knives, and handed it to Galadriel. "I'll drag the others over, and fetch my arrows. If you want to get started ... ?"

Would she want to get started? Galadriel didn't seem like the type to skin her own meat, but who was Katniss to say what high elves from different planes of existence did?

Galadriel took the knife without objection and inclined her head. A sled would certainly make the hauling easier, but it would also permit them to continue once the pelts were stripped away. She was glad for Katniss's foresight; she had planned on carrying them two by two, as they were felled, but this was much simpler.

"Very well," Galadriel agreed as she drew her bow over her head and slung it across her back. "I do not know if my last arrow survived. Reclaim it, if it did?"

With that, she turned her attention from the archer and to the rams. Their limbs were thin and delicate--for meat and marrow they had value, but the leather would be less than strips. She knelt by the doe and ran her hand along its side, tested the give of its skin, and decided how it would be best parted out. Without further pause, she drew the knife down the length of it and began cutting away the pelt.

Blood, like most things, was not of concern to Galadriel. The activity resulted in no small amount of ichor, and while it stained the snow a vivid shade of crimson, none of it managed to stick to her for very long.

"Have you come upon any wolves?" Galadriel called. The forest was very quiet and, as if in response to the question, distant barking echoed off the cliffs.

After the first day hunting with Korrin, Katniss had decided every day she went out she would either bring the hand-made sled or the one that Korrin had used. So much more came back to people this way.

She went through the arrows, carefully plucking them out, making sure which ones were hers and which ones were Galadriel's. While she did, she answered Galadriel. "Yes, some. They usually only come to attack you for the food on you, though. One or two have been possessed, so those needed to be killed."

She returned with the sled, and the last three rams, tugging them down in front of her.

To say she is startled would be something of an understatement, not at Galadriel's skill but -- "How are you not getting any blood on you?"

Galadriel glanced up, quickly, as she flipped the creature and continued to cut along its back. Once she had it settled in the snow she looked at Katniss properly. It took her a moment to process the question and then another as she attempted to again; the expression on her face was blatantly confused, as though she'd never heard that question's like and never expected to.

"What?"

Katniss was alarmed, that much was clear, but her question made no sense. The elf looked down and found her hands were well and truly red, as was the blade she used. Clearly she was bloodied--the fact that she had not a drop on her otherwise was not something that Galadriel counted as unusual.

"I don't understand; what do you mean?"

She honestly didn't think it was possible to confuse an elf older than, oh, Thedas, but apparently Katniss had managed to do it. Her lips quirked up at the corners, before she asked a little more quietly.

"I mean - how is it that you are skinning the animals without your clothes getting any blood on them. Your hands are coated, as is the blade, but there is none on your clothes."

As if it slid off, by magic, but she had never heard of magic like this before.

The question was still outlandish to her but, now that she had a handle on what was being asked, Galadriel was able to conjure some response. She regarded her armor and the beast in the snow before returning her gaze to Katniss.

"Do the elves of Thedas lack this ability?" she asked, still relatively dumbfounded by the very idea. "It is...not a skill, I did not learn it, it is simply...to be Elven?"

It was, perhaps, the least eloquent answer she had ever given to any question. Something in that was deeply appropriate, considering the circumstances.

Well Galadriel, don't worry. You've managed to baffle her in turn. Both eyebrows raise at that statement, as she lets that one soak in for a moment. She starts taking the skins, lying them flat on the sled to stretch them out so they won't freeze in a way that will make the leather worthless.

After a moment, she speaks, "... So, I'm half-elf, but many of my friends are full elven blood and mages besides, and no, they don't have this ability. Maybe ... maybe it's something we lost, with our ability to live a long time."

It had been so long since Galadriel had been confronted with someone who did not know that the Eldar were...unlike men and dwarves in this way, that even the simplest answer eluded her. It wasn't until Katniss replied, when she suggested it was something lost alongside longevity, that Galadriel's confusion cleared. Her expression shifted and a strange sort of nostalgic delight dawned over her features.

Grim as their activities were, as the Emprise was, the few times she'd been called upon to explain this--those were wonderful memories.

"Oh! Yes, it is," Galadriel answered a bit thoughtlessly and shook her head. "That is to say, it is something that comes with age."

It was a vague description and one that had been unacceptable to each of the children she'd given it to. Celebrian had been irritated, Elladan and Elrohir had launched into a litany of complaints, and Arwen had actually rebuked her for her failure to answer. She didn't expect Katniss would be so frustrated, nor so boldly inclined, so she continued without delay.

"There are many things you are skilled at? And you have learned to do them efficiently, cleanly and quickly, have you not? With great age such efficiency can become a part of you, an aspect of what you are, and then it becomes a part of the world as it reflects you."

She drew a cloth from her equipment and wiped her hands clean.

"For three centuries my granddaughter was deeply grieved that she could not keep the hem of her gowns clean. On several occasions she wept to find her favorite dresses frayed and soiled. Now, I expect she could wade through marshes and not a drop of water would dare cling to her once she stepped out of them."

Instead of looking annoyed, or even vexed, Katniss's expression melted into a quiet sort of wonder. To live that long, to have an ability that you could train for three hundred years. Well, that was almost as impressive as getting no blood on your fancy clothes.

"So .. the longer you are alive, the more attuned it becomes to you. Like magic, or archery. Some movements just become second nature, like your clothes cleaning themselves is of no surprise to you, but surprise everyone else."

Herself included, and she smiles a little in awe. "Creators, if we only had the ability to live that long ... imagine what we could do as a people again."

"The arts our people honed were without match, but age and skill do not always travel hand in hand. Even the very young can become truly masterful, but I find it is often difficult to convince mortals of this." Or the very young.

Her smile maintained but took on a wry edge. "Elf magic, they would call it."

To walk on snow, to stand tall, to remain clean, there was no end to what men would ascribe to 'Elf Magic'. It had baffled her for Ages, the very idea that their skills were limited to elves alone was baffling, but the term was rarely said in malice.

"It was not until I came to Thedas that I was forced to learn what mortal men mean when they say 'magic'. I am still not entirely certain what the term entails--it encompasses so much."

Galadriel cleaned and sheathed her knife before turning her attention to the skins before them. Katniss wore a familiar expression of hope and awe and, despite the cost of it, Galadriel was nearly excited about demonstrating skill for her. This, truly, would qualify as magic, but even a child of Thedas was likely to find some interest in it.

"If you stand aside, I can draw the water from the pelts."

Katniss nodded her head, soaking it all in like a sponge. She arched an eyebrow at the other woman's statement of 'elf magic', her lips twisting at the edges.

"It's ... very different, I would imagine. I'm sorry, I can't explain it any better than anyone else. I have no experience with it." She stated simply, before her eyebrows lifted again.

"Can you? Really?" She stepped back, so Galadriel could use her magic.

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open: something grabs ahold of me tightly

Archery!

Re: Archery!

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