faderift | { OPEN }

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{ OPEN }

WHO: Ellana Ashara + OPEN (with closed starters for Sabriel, Sina, and Merrick)
WHAT: Ellana returns to Skyhold from Emprise to catch up with people and settle back into life here.
WHEN: Guardian 20th through the end of the month.
WHERE: Skyhold

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After Ellana fulfills her duties in Emprise du Lion, she's allowed the opportunity to return to Skyhold or stay and wait for more assignments. But after everything that's happened while she's been away -- especially to her friends -- she wants to see Skyhold in person again. The journey back is thankfully uneventful, and as she gets through the front gate, she already has a list of people to see. But over the coming days, she settles back into a routine around the place, namely: visiting the mounts in the stables and petting those who seem agreeable to it, taking supplies down to the refugees encamped down in the valley below, reading out in the sunshine, or practicing with her new lute, which is a birthday present to herself.

[ ooc: feel free to have your character know it's Ellana's birthday from a scout if they want to give her a present. it's on Guardian 22nd! ]

{ sabriel }
Ellana is looking forward to getting back to Skyhold and flopping back into the bed she shares with Sabriel. It's not that sleeping in a bed roll is tough, seeing how she's done it her whole life, but her bed is something new and wonderful, and she's actually missed it. Coming into Skyhold, she sees not much has changed after the event with the rift. She heads to her room, drops her bag, and flops back onto the bed, sinking her head into the pillow and sighing happily. She'll unpack later. For now, she'll rest until Sabriel turns up and the two can catch up.

{ sina }
Hearing about what happened to Sina made Ellana want to return home, but she couldn't abandon her duties to the Inquisition, and she was assured Sina was recovering. Still, after resting from her journey back, she goes to find Sina to see how she's doing. There's a quick stop to the gardens first, where she picks some flowers. Her eye catches the Dalish memorial in the corner and she kneels beside it for a moment, relieved that Sina's name doesn't have to be added to her clan's stone. Then she returns to her goal of finding Sina.

{ merrick }
First Sina, then Merrick. Sam had told her what had happened to him via crystal and she had burst into tears. But Merrick was strong and Ellana had known he could beat the poison in his system. She also knows that what Merrick likes doing with Ellana more than anything else is to sit and sing, so she travels down to the merchant stalls with coins jiggling together in her purse, hoping the lutes she once saw there haven't all been bought up yet. She's been saving up to buy herself a lute for her birthday, and now the time has come. Thankfully, there are several available in her price range, and she selects one, testing it out. It will suit her, and she pays, taking the lute and adjusting the strings until it sounds as near enough to Zevran's as she can get. She still doesn't know many songs, but it's a start. And she can play for Merrick. Since the lute has no strap (she'll have to find someone to make one) she carries it in hand as she searches for her friend.

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"I don't doubt it. I'm sure horses are wonderful creatures, or they wouldn't be used as much as they are." She pats the hart's nose one last time before moving down the row towards the horses.

"Do you have a horse of your own?"

"No," he shook his head in response. "I tend to hire them, or borrow where I can if I have to. Otherwise walking it my usual way of getting around." Walking the length and breadth of Thedas gave you an appreciation of just how big it was.

"You must have traveled all over as a Warden! Do you have a favorite place you've been? Or perhaps one you think is the most beautiful?" It's a question she's asked several Wardens so far, since they're so well traveled.

"Sometimes I think I've travelled too much," Kaidan said with a small laugh. "Though I'm fond of Antiva." He did love the Antivan coastline; one of the most beautiful places he'd seen. "Antiva City is... lively, for sure."

"Lively is a good word for it! I see people like Zevran and Scipio, and that's definitely how they seem too. Perhaps if you grow up in that city -- or country -- it stays with you after you leave." Giving him a teasing look, she adds, "After all, you've visited and the city's liveliness hasn't seemed to rub off on you. You have to be born in it."

He gave a snort of laughter. "Is that your way of saying I'm dour?" he asked with a laugh. "Yes, I'm from the Marches, originally. Definitely not Antiva."

And that made Ellana laugh too. "Not dour, no! I never said that. Otherwise I'd be insulting myself, because I come from the Free Marches too." From all over the Marches, really. And yet by avoiding human settlements, she couldn't really look at a map and recall where they had lived. Unlike others in the clan, she had never been allowed to stray far from camp, because she was a mage, and never allowed to attend Arlathvhen, because she was a mage who should have been given to another clan and was being hidden away.

"What word could we use to describe ourselves?" She wracked her brain for a moment. "Friendly, maybe?"

Ah, someone who knew home. Like her, he'd walked all over the Marches, though his travels tended to take him to all the human settlements.

"Marchers are always friendly!" he said with a laugh. "We do tend to stick together, I've noticed." Elf. Human. Dwarf. All were brought together in that loose grouping.

"Maybe it has something to do with the nature of the Marches themselves. All independent cities and places. People are friendly because their home is smaller and they need allies instead of foes." At least that's her very uneducated guess. "Of course, that doesn't really take into account human and elf relations in the Marches, but that goes without saying, really."

He pulled a face. "Yeah, it seems everywhere is a little backward in their relations there." He was a Warden, with an attitude of 'if you're going to give your life for something, everyone is cool'. Elves... they were the same as anyone else. Good and bad in one small package. "Still. I live in hope things might change."

"So do I. Coming together as one in this war against Corypheus is the first step. But it will take many, many steps to accomplish anything." History had proven time and time again that elves and humans together in a small area led to a volatile situation.

"I think about it a lot, actually. The future, I mean. Probably too much. My head is there when it should be in the here and now."

"You never thought this would have happened in such a short space of time." The Blight hadn't managed it, but the Inquisition might have managed where they hadn't. "But it's a promising start here."

He gave a small laugh. "That's not a bad thing to think about, though." He was too invested in the present, because he knew what his future would lead to. No point in worrying about it in advance.

"No? Well, I'm pleased you think so. I'm used to my people looking to the past, or living for the day. Not what lies ahead of us." She gave a shrug and paused to stroke her fingers down a horse's mane.

"But then again, I don't think like most Dalish do."

"Really? Why is that?" A progressive Dalish - more of those, and it could be easier for elves and humans to integrate in general. At least, that's what he could hope for. "It's often easier to live for the day, though."

She should have expected such a follow up question, but it leaves her silent for a moment in thought. What was it about her that made her different?

"Well, I wasn't very content living with the clan. We were so isolated. And I always wanted to go out and see the world and all sorts of people. I've been curious about humans for a long time." She peeked up at him through her lashes before looking back to the horse.

"I'd hoped there were some who weren't terrible to elves. I've found some, and I'm glad for their friendship."

"To be honest, I think most people just want to live and let live," he pointed out with a sigh. "They have so much to do to survive each and every day, why worry about anyone else?" A selfish point of view, but one you see over and over again. "The average people, no matter who they are, have that constant fight - that's the same for everyone. You'll find it's just one or two people who stir things up and make it worse." The ones who shouted the loudest - they were too easy to believe, after all.

Ellana has to admit he has a point. It's reminiscent of those two drunk men in the tavern who started shouting that she was a blood mage and calling her knife-ear. Yes, it was just two men, but her fear was that they could stir everyone up into believing the same thing. Drinking alcohol does not lead to a clear mind.

"That's very true." Sad, but true. "Here is far better than in the heart of Orlais, I'm sure. But I still would dearly love to see the Dales, and all the elven ruins it contains."

It was unfortunate, but true. Everyone had the same chance of being an utter pain in the backside, no matter which race.

"The Dales? I have passed through there, but not paid it much attention," Kaidan admitted. "I was on my way to... somewhere else." He'd been so many places, he'd rather lost track of those he'd visited, and why. Too much going on, too many other things to focus on.

"I wouldn't have expected you to take notice," she said. "The Dales have more significance to me than they would to you."

He gave her a wry smile in return. "But I should be taking notice of the land I'm walking through," he pointed out. "But after a while, everywhere starts to look similar, you tend not to notice."

"I hope it never gets that way for me! There's so much to see. If it all becomes the same, I'll have to find a new passion." Not that such a thing was unusual for her. She wanted to try many things.

Patting the horse one last time, she finally moved away from the stall.

"Do people often ask you for stories from your travels?"

"Enjoy it while you can," he agreed. "There are too few good days, they are worth grabbing while you can." It was refreshing, actually, to see someone like that, who loved life.

"Sometimes. I'm often never in one place long enough for people to ask." It was a lonely life, the life of a Warden, but he was reconciled to that. He enjoyed company where he could get it.

"I'll be sure to do that." Especially now, life seemed so fleeting.

"But now you are. I should be going, but another time I'd like to hear some of your stories, if you're willing to share them."

"I'd like that," he said with a smile. "And I'm sorry I've taken up so much of your time."

"It was spent having a good conversation," she replied. "That's hardly time wasted." But with that said, she gave him a parting smile before she went on her way.

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