Hermione's sentiments for elves is unique even for the magical community in her world. House-elves are outright slaves, and to hear Ron and even some of the elves themselves tell it, they prefer it that way. It makes her heart hurt, knowing that the elves don't know any better and that the wizarding community is just taking advantage of that. "All worlds are built on cruelty," she murmurs softly. "I just would have hoped to find that that wasn't the case."
She's well aware that the only way to see any change in the world is to become that change, embody it, and hope people will be inspired by the example. It hasn't worked so far, not insofar as the house-elf business, but then, she'd been young when she'd last tried to form the Society for the Protection of Elfish Welfare. She's older now, wiser, so maybe she can reinvent it. Starting with that ghastly name.
It takes a moment for her to realize why Leliana is holding out a handkerchief to her, and when she does, she immediately wipes at her eyes, though she does take her up on the handkerchief with a murmured, "Thank you," surreptitiously dabbing at the corners of her eyes.
"Someone told me about magisters," she replies quietly. "Those magisters, specifically. There's a bit of blurriness between what's fact and what's legend, but that doesn't need to be discussed." Given that Leliana had said that this had been "taught" to her by the Chant of Light, Hermione is going to assume that this means she ascribes a religious meaning behind it all. Hermione isn't against religion, but she's going to reserve judgement whenever there's some haziness between truth and myth.
Taking a breath to try and gather herself together after her upset about the elves, she manages a small, crooked smile as she meets Leliana's gaze. "I don't really find people who do much more than entertain my passion until it becomes annoying, so thank you. I appreciate the offer, especially since I still have a lot to learn about Thedas." Her smile faltering, she glances away before remarking, "No offense, but the things I learn don't seem to paint a particularly nice picture."
NEVER APOLOGIZE ♥
She's well aware that the only way to see any change in the world is to become that change, embody it, and hope people will be inspired by the example. It hasn't worked so far, not insofar as the house-elf business, but then, she'd been young when she'd last tried to form the Society for the Protection of Elfish Welfare. She's older now, wiser, so maybe she can reinvent it. Starting with that ghastly name.
It takes a moment for her to realize why Leliana is holding out a handkerchief to her, and when she does, she immediately wipes at her eyes, though she does take her up on the handkerchief with a murmured, "Thank you," surreptitiously dabbing at the corners of her eyes.
"Someone told me about magisters," she replies quietly. "Those magisters, specifically. There's a bit of blurriness between what's fact and what's legend, but that doesn't need to be discussed." Given that Leliana had said that this had been "taught" to her by the Chant of Light, Hermione is going to assume that this means she ascribes a religious meaning behind it all. Hermione isn't against religion, but she's going to reserve judgement whenever there's some haziness between truth and myth.
Taking a breath to try and gather herself together after her upset about the elves, she manages a small, crooked smile as she meets Leliana's gaze. "I don't really find people who do much more than entertain my passion until it becomes annoying, so thank you. I appreciate the offer, especially since I still have a lot to learn about Thedas." Her smile faltering, she glances away before remarking, "No offense, but the things I learn don't seem to paint a particularly nice picture."