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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Korrin's brow furrows as she takes all this in, unable to see it as anything but a prison for herself, but that Adelaide thought of it as a home...it gives her pause. She focuses on the disappearances and murders, crossing her arms as her frown returns.

"But it that wasn't enough, or you wouldn't be here. Did they find the one responsible?" Did it even matter, or did everything just explode beforehand? Now Korrin's wishing she had bothered to ask more about such things earlier, so she wouldn't need Adelaide to access painful memories.

"No. Accusations were made, an investigation- in the middle of all this rumors of a possessed Tranquil came to light but most of us did not know what to make of it. Calls for a meeting of the College of Magi were made- Lord Seeker Lambert insisted only First Enchanters attend. This is where the vote to disband the circles was passed, I found later. The rest of us were kept to our rooms during the meeting. All was well- we listened, we did not complain, we followed the rules as set out for us even in making use of our right to convene and vote." Adelaide takes a moment to sip her tea, steady herself somewhat. It becomes easier when she does not look Korrin in the eye, saying all this.

"Then sounds of fighting. Chaos. Violence. I took what students I could- in the Circles we are told from a very early age that we must trust the templars should we have fears about ourselves or our fellows. If something seems strange. How much weight is put to this varies from person to person but- I did not know what was happening. Many of us did not. With the handfull of Students I had been minding I went to a Templar I knew well. One that I had known since my harrowing, almost twenty years. I tried to ask what was happening- if there was an attack, an abomination, something. He-" Her voice goes thick, she swallows. "He took me by the throat before I could form the words and pinned me to the wall."

A possessed Tranquil? Isn't that supposed to be impossible? Korrin raises an eyebrow, but stops herself from interrupting with question after question, or Adelaide will never get to tell her story. She listens and sips her tea, though that avoidance of her gaze doesn't go unnoticed and she frowns in concern.

Trusting in Templars is something the Vashoth mage can't quite wrap her mind around, but from a Circle mage's point of view, she can grudgingly see how it would make a certain amount of sense. At least until Adelaide speaks of that Templar's sudden attack and she goes rigid as her eyes widen, naturally horrified and outraged on her friend's behalf. She sets down that tea before there's a chance that she'll spill it, ignoring it completely afterward. "What the fuck? I've heard of them abusing mages before, who hasn't, but this...." No reason, no prelude, just suddenly grabbing her as though all that time in the Circle together meant nothing...it makes her blood run cold.

"Lambert made the order to Annul the Spire. I was the first mage in the hall to approach." THe first unlucky mage. "I thought he was holding me to cut me down but- he meant to strangle me. Against the stone wall, in front of my students. Roul-"

Maker, even now she can smell the ozone and blood, the rendering of fat and burning of hair. But she pushes through, hands trembling, voice thick and soft but steady. Small mercies. "Roul saved me with lightening. Killed Unger. There was a commotion at the far end of the hall and more Templars- I did not have time to think. I gathered as many as I could and we ran."

"Oh, Adelaide...." An annulment. Korrin has only heard about such things and that second or third-hand, never like this. Those trembling hands tear at her heart and she reaches out without thinking, to envelop them in her own larger, steady ones. "That was so brave of Roul." She'd seen him at work, learned from his technique as well as shared her own. That he'd honed his talent during the war went without saying, but she hadn't imagine he'd been forced to use it in that horrifying fashion.

"But how could you run? They had all your blood in vials, didn't they? That's how they hunt people who try to leave."

"Sometime between the order of Annulment and our arrival at Andoral's reach a group of mages destroyed them. And with all the Circles dissolved- with the war at a fever pitch? Hunting us was less important than containing us. Not everyone made it out. Many of my peers didn't." Her mentors, her friends. She'd been lucky. Her eyes slip from their entwined hands to Korrin's eyes, her own sheening with tears unshed. "I had spent the past few years insisting on expanding our instructional courses to focus on magic outside of combat. Insisted we wouldn't need it- there wasn't a war, there wasn't a blight. We were in a time of peace; why make soldiers when we could make architects, or doctors, or artists? I left my students woefully unprepared."

Those tears in Adelaide's eyes are enough to make Korrin's own suspiciously bright, hit hard by the pain and horror the Spirit Healer had endured. She herself was used to a life of battle, but that? That was a massacre. Not the same at all. And before she realizes, Korrin is already shaking her head, unable to listen to Adelaide blame herself. Shoving down that forming lump in her throat, Korrin speaks gently. "You didn't know what would happen, Adelaide. No one did. The Circles have existed for age upon age; it seemed like they were going to stick around forever. Who really thought it would all fall apart?"

Mages had always talked about desiring freedom all the time, of course. And after the attempted annulment Kirkwall, Korrin had heard about increased unrest all over. Still, no one really seemed to believe that talk would go anywhere, that there would be true, full-scale rebellion. Even as she approved, it caught Korrin by surprise as much as anyone.

"Kinloch Hold, Kirkwall- there were signs. We ignored them." Of course the Marcher and the Fereldan circles fell. Of course they would falter- what did they know of discipline, of order? What did they know of the risks that might come of mages truly being free? They did not spend half as much time dealing with the aftermath of the Imperium's grasp. The Spire would hold. That's what they all thought- The Spire would hold. "We met again- what was left of us in Andoral's reach. Argued and debated about going back. Turning ourselves in or standing firm. The loyalists- well. They argued their side. The Isolationists wished to be left be. The rest wished for freedom. I- only wished that the apprentices and those too young that had survived the one battle would not have to endure a third. Do you know why I was so reluctant to be on the Council, Korrin? I had a chance, then, to speak. To say something, to do something. It was my right as an Enchanter. One voice among many but- a voice none the less."

Adelaide swallows back a knot of outdated self disgust. "Faith in the system shattered the Spire. My faith that the College of Magi a Andoral's reach left me silent. I did not expect there to be a second battle. And yet there was, and I did nothing more than hide with what apprentices I could find that were too young to have an opinion, too young to be asked what they might want or to understand why this was happening."

There's only so much distress and self-disgust Korrin can hear before she forgets -no, ignores- decorum and she moves to draw the Enchanter in for an embrace that won't leave her ribs aching. The Vashoth mage can be gentle when need be. She'll also back off without question if Adelaide demonstrates any resistance, only wanting to comfort as she can, not add to her distress.

"Don't, Adelaide. You were in shock; your entire world just went to hell, and I really doubt you were the only one in that state. You didn't have it in you to speak up then, but you're speaking up now, and that counts for a hell of a lot. I know I haven't made those council meetings any easier to bear at times, but I'm there because I still believe in it, and that's partly because of you. Without your presence, I know there were times when we would have devolved into usesless infighting, but you kept us focused. I admired that even before knowing all this, but now that I do...I'm in awe, Adelaide. And I don't kiss ass for the hell of it, so keep that in mind."

She's tense for all of a moment before leaning in, resting her forehead against Korrin's shoulder. Borrowing some of that stability and indomitable strength she's ever admired in her friend. Stealing shades of it for herself when her own will fails- as she fears it might in the time to come. "I- Thank you, Korrin."

She tries, she knows she tries. To hear the truth of it from someone else- someone with no patience for the game? Does well to settle her mind.

"But this. All of this I have and yet endure- for it is not over for all that the templar in question is dead. There are days when I still feel his hand about my throat and I still- I attempt to put such things aside. For what we do has weight beyond our own choices and comfort." It'd sound more official, she supposes, if she were not clinging to Korrin just a bit. "We must be better. We must do better than what came before."

Adelaide can lean against Korrin for as long as she needs; the Vashoth woman holds her without any thought spared to herself. Sometimes it's an advantage, being taller and sturdier than most of around her; now is definitely one of those times, for her friend's sake. She can be the eye of the storm, instead of the one contributing to it. (As happens rather often, she's well aware.)

Sighing deeply, she nods. Adelaide has a point, and one that she can't dismiss. How can she, in light of such revelations? "You're not wrong about that. The last thing any mage needs is a renewal of the war, not when many of them have been through so much already. I can't take the burden of those memories from you, but for those days when they're even more intrusive, if you need the company, you have but to ask."

She'll be leaning for a little while longer, scraping together her composure bit by bit until her hands and voice no longer shake. Until she is settled in her skin and the present once more. "I am grateful for your voice and your friendship Korrin. Truly."

She lost so many at the Spire. She hadn't hoped to make new connections in the Inquisition, to have a voice worth sharing. And yet here they were, attempting to build something new. Something better. "I ask for your patience with the templars and their issues- when they are brought up. I know you have no desire to work with them and you have been vehement on this point- but I am making an attempt to work around them if not with them, despite my reservations, despite my fears. I would thank you to make a similar attempt."

Korrin nods her head against Adelaide's; gently, so her horns don't get in the way. "Working around them...that, I can do or try to support. Patience and compromise is not my strong point, but I'm not going to use that as an excuse any longer. I'll try not to make matters more trying for you than they need to be. Your friendship matters to me, too, Adelaide."

She sighs, trying to sort out her own thoughts. "I just...I'm afraid. I've lived all my life as a free mage, and the thought of having that freedom stripped away is terrifying. Before the Circles fell, I felt like I had to be looking over my own shoulder every time we entered civilization. We hadn't heard of any Vashoth Circle mages, but I sure as hell didn't want to be the first."

"Thank you." It is no small thing to ask- she knows this. It is no easy promise to make, to even promise to try. That Korrin offers is more than she'd hoped for, truly. It will not be managed overnight and likely they will argue the point again in the future- but for now? She will take it in the grace it is offered, sitting back slowly.

"While I do not know what will come after the Inquisition- whether what we've built or not will last; I promise that I will not let you be taken to a Circle." Much as the system had been a comfortable home for her- Korrin would wither in such a place.

Korrin's temper will no doubt fray again when the Templars overstep their bounds, because of course that's what they do best. However, this conversation will stick with her. While her opinions will never be hidden, it's a solid reminder that they're better off not renewing the war when there's a bigger threat to face. Afterward....

A small but genuine smile forms at Adelaide's promise. "And I promise that if it's within my ability to do so, I won't have you subjected to Templar madness again. Whatever comes next, it must be better than that."

"If we save the world and the order is made that we should return to the circles- is there room in your family for a healer?" She does not wish to think so far ahead, to plan for such a failing of the Council- but it seems prudent.

While there are so many variables and all of them could change before the end of the Inquisition, Korrin doesn't fault Adelaide at all for her mind straying to that scenario. Her expression softens and she nods without hesitation. "Of course, Adelaide. You would always have a place there, if you want it."

"I could ask for nowhere better." Well- she could; a tower, a library, a home- but living on the road with a friend, making certain they and their family is safe and well tended to? She would not trade such a certain future for anything.

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open: something grabs ahold of me tightly

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