faderift | Our aspirations are wrapped up in books

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Our aspirations are wrapped up in books

WHO: Hermione Granger and Open!
WHAT: There's a new ~~witch~~ mage wandering around Skyhold. Come say hello?
WHEN: Backdated to her arrival near the end of Guardian and onward throughout Drakonis.
WHERE: ~~The library.~~ All over Skyhold. ~~But mostly its library.~~
NOTES: Feel free to run into her pretty much anywhere, or have her run into you. And be prepared for all the questions about your character and Thedas/their homeworld and everything in between.

If not for the fact that Hermione had spent so many of her formative years in Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Skyhold might have been overwhelming

As it was, the sprawling fortress was a little hard to get used to, since the academic environment that had given Hogwarts some sense of structure amidst the chaos wasn't present here. There was a library, thankfully, and she spent much of her time there, though it was so small that she was certain she'd end up reading every book in there in two weeks' time if she didn't actually go out and explore the rest of her surroundings.

And so every so often, she pried herself away from the cold little corner she'd set aside for herself and wander the rest of the area, though granted, she more often than not was carrying at least one book with her. Usually it was one of the books that had survived the trip through the Fade; anyone who might spot her in the garden or tavern or a safe distance away from the sparring going on in the training grounds might notice her engrossed in such unfamiliar titles as Hogwarts, A History or occasionally digging through Spellman's Syllabary in the vain hope of finding recognizable runes on various inscriptions throughout Skyhold.

After all, just because she was endlessly fascinated by all the new people and cultures and history and magic, it didn't mean she didn't occasionally need a bittersweet reminder of home. Especially when her other major reminder was her wand, which - despite the fact that she'd taken to finding the most solitary places she could find and practicing with it harder than she ever had the night before an exam - still wasn't behaving properly at all. Apologies to those of you who end up slipping on some wayward ice or getting sprayed with pebbles from a spell gone wrong.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"Her chest?" Hermione's hand went to her own chest at that, as though trying to fathom how that would even work. "That's-... that's awful! I'd think that it might be more prudent to figure out a way to remove these shards, particularly from people who have them somewhere so... inconvenient." That was a mild way of putting it, considering that she didn't even want the shard in her hand, never mind so close to her heart and lungs.

"What 'limits' are there, exactly? I've been starting off with simple things ever since finding out that some of my more advanced spells kept backfiring, so I wouldn't want to inadvertently cross that line." Surely a few simple Levitation Charms or basic offensive and defensive charms shouldn't be too much of a problem, right?

"No one wants it to stay there," she said, frowning a little. "But magical healing couldn't remove it. Practical removal is dangerous because of how the shards act up. They're unpredictable, which is why we need to study things first."

Hermione was asking questions that Ellana didn't have the answers to, and it wasn't a great feeling. She was on the Council in order to help the Inquisition's mages, but there was too little information right now. They were fighting this war against Corypheus to stop the spread of chaos, but between the mage-Templar war, shards and rifters, and everything else going on, it seemed like chaos would not be quickly tamped down.

"I can't say. I don't suppose you draw from the Fade to cast your spells, do you?"

"I can help you study," she says immediately. "If there are any books or... or any kind of historical research site or anything that hasn't been looked at yet because there hasn't been time or resources, I can help. Not for myself - I can deal with this in my hand, if I must - but no one should have to have a foreign object lodged in their chest with no hope of removing it."

She straightens a little, frowning at the mention of the Fade. "I'd never heard of the Fade and would have told you no if you'd asked me this when I'd first arrived. But if I came in through the Fade, and all magic here is connected to it, then I suppose the only logical conclusion is that my magic is being filtered through the Fade, if nothing else. I'd need to research it more to say for sure, but considering how muddied my spells have been, that's the only thing I'd been able to think of."

Ellana nodded at the offer of help. "Books are rare at the moment, since the rifts opening only started last year, but there have been some experiments and essays written so far." And they had someone at Skyhold who knew more about rifts than anyone else, mostly because she was the only one left alive.

"There is a mage who wanders the lower courtyard who goes by the name Your Trainer. She's studied the rifts and how to use their power for spells and it's left her... altered. Still, she's a valuable resource of information."

It was hard to imagine the nature of her spellcasting suddenly changing on her, but Ellana felt for Hermione. "My people sometimes call the Fade the 'Veil,' instead. When we die, we say the person has crossed the Veil. In that way, it's as though your magic has been shrouded."

"Do you know where they started opening? Or why? Someone can go back to where the original one first opened and see if there are any clues that might point to something." Of course, she was aware that she was likely saying something stupid or at least pointless, but it wasn't like Hermione not to at least try.

Frowning a little, she asked, "Your Trainer? That's a... peculiar name." Still, it was perhaps best to leave it at that, since this "alteration" mentioned might have had an impact on those peculiarities. "Thank you for the tip."

Though she hadn't given it much thought before, the terminology picked at something in the back of Hermione's brain. "Your people?" She'd read about the Veil before, but where did she....?

"Oh! You-... are you an elf?" She looked thoroughly surprised, finally piecing together the Vallaslin and the ears and all that sort of thing. This was definitely a far cry from Dobby and Kreacher, but at least now she knew why the physical descriptions in the books she'd read in the library here had seemed so odd.

"They opened when there was an explosion at a place called Haven. It formed a giant breach in the sky and many smaller rifts. The first person to come out of the rift was a native of this world, who was the only survivor of that explosion. She bore a shard in her hand too." Ellana shifted awkwardly against the stone wall. "She died closing the Breach."

It was shortly after her death and the move to a new base that Ellana arrived at Skyhold, and the Herald's body was recovered from the snow and laid to rest on a pyre. She knew others in the Inquisition felt a deeper connection to her than she, but she was still proud of the Herald.

"Yes, I am a Dalish elf. There are also city elves here. You'll find some like to make the distinction. We're all elves to me, however." It was unfortunate that bitterness had settled into the hearts of many on both sides when they were all elves. The Dalish pushed the past too hard, and while Ellana recognized the importance of their heritage, she wanted the People to move forward too. City elves were barely even free, and it pained her to see how it hardened them.

"I've heard about her," Hermione replied with a small nod. "They called her the Herald of... Andraste, was it?" She was reluctant to ask much more about it, since she knew religion was a touchy subject for many, even back home. That seemed to be a especially true here, since she'd been hearing mixed things about the Chantry and other such religious groups.

Focusing on something that sparked her interest much more keenly, Hermione lit up at the confirmation that she was speaking to an elf. "You're very different from the elves I know back home! But yes, I suppose at your core, you're all elves. Just like how human mages and non-mages are all still human. We're all still just people, regardless of whether we can do magic or come from this culture or that country or believe in this god or those."

"Yes, that they did." And if the humans wished to believe Andraste guided her, that was fine with Ellana. She believed in the Creators, but it was possible the Maker was real and created humans. Sending Andraste to help was a good move, if so, since otherwise their Maker had abandoned them. The Creators were taken from them, and that stung less than if she were human and knew the Maker turned his back on them.

"I suppose elves are different everywhere. There is one here -- a rifter -- that is as tall as our human men, and her ears are smaller. But she is beautiful and wise, like I imagine the ancient elves to be." Ellana offered a small smile. "I like the way you think. There are far too many prejudices here. Even I must work on my own." Because Tevinter was full of slave owners. And Orlesians stole the Dales. She was working on it.

Hermione knows little of Thedosian religions, given that it had never been an interest to her. But given how tightly religion is wound in with so much of the political and social atmosphere of this world, she might just opt to pick up a few books on the subject the next time she went up to the library.

"Elves are very small where I come from," she explains. "And their ears are much larger. And their noses, too, usually. You'll have to understand why I didn't immediately take you for an elf; I'm still learning that people don't always mean the same things that I do even when we use the same words." Looking down for a moment, she adds, "Prejudices exist everywhere, and it seems that there are always people who have something to say about me whether for my magic or for the fact that my parents aren't magical, so I'm the last person to cast aspersions. Just so long as everyone is treated fairly, that's all that matters."

"I wonder if the same can be said for the other races," she mused. "Elves in one place are taller than us with smaller ears, and you say the ones in your world are smaller than us with larger ears. What of humans, dwarves, and qunari? It can't just be elves."

And it was odd but not unpleasant that those other elves had never faced what the elves in Thedas had. Surely they had troubles of their own, as Galadriel's tales of ages long ago could attest to, but they didn't have the same history as her ancestors.

"I wish I could tell you that you won't be subject to that here, but it wouldn't be true. You're human, so that works in your favor, but having magic and being a rifter does not. But you'll never have to worry about me treating you unfairly just because of who you are."

"Well, the humans look about the same. I... haven't met any dwarves here, and don't know many at home. They're also small, about child-sized, but everything else about them looks like a full-grown human adult. If we have qunari at home, I've never seen them; I'd thought Bull was a Minotaur when I'd first met him, and they're creatures of legend." She hesitated for a moment before asking, "What about goblins? Or giants? Do you have any of those?" Not that she had anything against goblins or giants, but every time she heard of a new race of beings in Thedas, something awful was happening to them. Except the non-magical humans. Imagine that.

Somehow, Hermione didn't think it was the best of ideas to talk about how the magical community has largely used elves as slaves in her world. Even if she hadn't yet read up on Tevinter and its practices, she certainly didn't want Ellana thinking the worst of her, or of any other witch or wizard that might find their way here.

Though she didn't find the matter particularly amusing, Hermione grinned a bit and dryly remarked, "I could always take to wearing a glove over my shard hand and keep my wand out of sight. Then I could pass for 'normal'." Incredible, that there could be so many different kinds of people in this world, and base human was still considered the norm. "If you're going to treat me any particular way, I'd much rather it be because you simply didn't like me than because I'm whatever this world's equivalent of a Mudblood is. If nothing else, I'd been getting enough of that sort of treatment at home until recently, so at least I've developed a thick skin."

"Dwarves are like that here too." She looked intrigued by the word 'minotaur,' but brushed past it to answer Hermione's question.

"There are giants, yes. I heard there were a few in Emprise, in fact, being experimented on by the Red Templars to be their muscle. Even without that happening to them, they aren't to be trifled with. They have huge tusks and one eye in the center of their forehead. They'll eat anything, including people, so it's best to keep away if you see one or else you'll have to fight it. Not an easy task because they are, as the name suggests, giant."

Ellana nodded. "That's how I feel. Not everyone will like me, but if it's for a good reason instead of just my ears, I would understand."

Hermione blinked at the explanation of giants. "That... sounds more like a cyclops," she murmured uncertainly. "No, our giants look just like people, just... well, giant. They're thought to be a bit savage, but they can really quite reasonable if you'd just sit down and talk to them. Why, the groundskeeper at my school is even half-giant, though I have no idea how his parents quite managed that. It boggles the mind to think about that sort of thing, really."

Cracking a small smile, she told Ellana, "Then it seems as though we'll get along just fine. And for what it's worth, you have lovely ears." She was pretty certain that wasn't what she'd meant, but Hermione decided to throw it in there anyway.

"I'm pretty sure you can't talk to giants here. Anyone who tried probably didn't live to say they tried." But she left it at that, because she too was rather mystified as to how someone could be half-giant. The races in Thedas did intermingle, because they weren't so far off in size from one another, but it was rare and a sign of shame for many based on the community in which they were raised. A half-giant just seemed... well, Hermione put it best: it boggled the mind.

"Oh, thank you." Her pale face took on a rosy look, because compliments made her blush, and she shifted a little, standing up straighter and tucking a stray piece of hair behind her ear.

"Humans' ears are so little. They're cute, really."

"That's... sad," Hermione noted softly. "Hagrid - the groundskeeper - introduced me to his half-brother, who's rather small for a full-blooded giant. He gets picked on an awful lot for his comparatively small size, and he's a little intimidating for a human to look at, but he's really quite sweet and usually listens if you tell him to put you down." Usually.

She couldn't help sheepishly grinning at the way they seemed to be batting compliments back and forth, and Hermione found herself mirroring Ellana's movements, tucking a bit of hair behind her own ear. "It's just a superficial difference," she said, trying to shrug it off. "I mean, it is, isn't it? Or do elves have better hearing than humans do? I'd never really thought about it."

"You know," she began, looking thoughtful, "I've never noticed if I've heard things better than the humans with me. But I do know we can see better in the dark than the other races. That's easy enough to see at night when their eyes reflect no light and the elves' eyes do."

It made her wonder how these differences came to be when the Creators set about how the People would look. Why did they need them to be able to see so clearly in the dark? Were they meant to hunt prey at night? Or was it for their safety, so predators couldn't attack them? A curious thing.

"Like a cat?" Hermione asked, grinning a bit before sheepishly adding, "I don't mean that in any disrespectful way. I like cats. That's just the first comparison I thought of."

Unlike most people from her world - and from Thedas, for that matter - Hermione was hypersensitive to the possibility of insulting people, particularly elves. They had enough to deal with, after all.

"I suppose so. And I took no offense, but other elves might. We're unfortunately called 'rabbits' by some small-minded Orlesians. Because of the ears." Ellana sighed and gave her shoulders a shrug.

"At least they took the time to think up an animal. Fereldans just call us knife-ears."

Frowning at the mention of the derogatory nicknames, Hermione asked, "Orlesians are those from... Orlais, am I right? That's awful. Both of them. I could understand if it was a teasing sort of thing between friends - Heaven knows I call my friends all sorts of things when they grate on me - but I'm under the impression that that isn't the case."

Inter-racial friendships seem rare here, though it did gladden her to hear that elves and humans could procreate; it at least meant that some humans were bright enough to get past their prejudices.

"Yes, Orlais. Have you heard of a place called the Dales? It is in Orlais, but it was gifted to my people long ago. We left slavery in Tevinter to claim it, and rebuild our lives there. Then the Orlesians became greedy, and resented us for not worshiping the Maker, and they marched on us. We lost the war, and were told to either worship the Maker or leave. Those who submitted became city elves, and those who refused became nomads, with no permanent home. That is why we are called Dalish elves, as a reminder of what was taken from us."

Ellana may be an optimist who tries to give everyone the benefit of the doubt, but she has a natural prejudice against Orlesians as a whole.

"But... I'm sorry, I don't mean to speak out against any religion, but I've never understood this. This happens in my world, too: if someone's beliefs clash with my own, why should it matter to me so long as they aren't actively harming me and mine? You could worship your gods and the Orlesians could worship their Maker; who can say one or the other of you is right or wrong?"

Hermione's big on empirical evidence, and most religions aren't. Treating a person differently because of dogma that may or may not be the least bit valid irked her beyond words.

"So did the city elves actually convert, or do they just pay lip service to the maker so they can stay there? Or does it depend on the individual?" She couldn't imagine any forced conversions being genuine, but someone who was born into that sort of life might genuinely believe in this Maker.

Ellana smiles gently at Hermione's question. "It doesn't make any sense, does it? But I think -- at least, what I've heard -- is that in the Andrastian religion, they believe the Maker won't return to them until the Chant of Light is sung from the four corners of the world. To them, everyone should convert or they'll never get their Maker to return. Personally, I don't see why they need him. Our elven gods were locked away from us long ago where we can't reach them, and we don't suggest everyone convert and maybe they'll be freed."

Now Ellana moves to the other side of the battlements, looking down at the lower courtyard and stables below.

"I say that would depend. The city elves remember less of our culture, but they keep some words and traditions alive. The loss of the Dales was over seven hundred years ago, so I suspect many city elves turned to worshiping the Maker simply because they forgot the old ways."

"The... Chant of Light?" She'd read a bit about it, and may have come across a few instances of it actually being quoted, but that didn't make sense. "The same Chant of Light that was written by man?" She can draw more and more parallels between this and religions she already knows from home, but she's sure she sounds like enough of a skeptic as it is.

That's especially true when she learns that many city elves likely worship the Maker simply because that's what they'd learned while growing up, rather than for any genuine belief. While not as awful as the plight of mages and elves, it's still sad to think that people will live their entire lives according to rules set aside by a Chantry that hasn't sounded particularly trustworthy over the years, at least according to Hermione.

"Maybe people will be free when they realize they're allowed to learn about the ways of the world on their own, rather than follow a strict code their parents passed down to them. I have nothing against most religious beliefs, you understand, so long as a person really believes and isn't just using it to justify their own complacency or bad choices."

"Yes." Ellana only knew the parts of the Chant she couldn't help but overhear constantly being recited around Skyhold. She supposed it brought people comfort, and therefore wasn't all bad. Other elves might think it was recited for more spiteful reasons, especially in their presence.

"Then you have a clear view of what religion should be, while knowing what it becomes." She smiled sadly, giving Hermione her full attention. "Please be careful how you express such views to others. I don't need to tell you how some people will react. You can guess that on your own."

Hermione had come across various examples of the Chant in her reading, but with no context or personal affirmation to back it up, they were just words to her. Words that were likely written by human hands, much like many of the religious texts and songs of her own world.

At Ellana's warning, Hermione frowned and asked, "Would I be thrown in an... alienage?" No, alienages were for elves, weren't they? Mages were put in Circles, and not as punishment so much as simply a way of life. "I can be tactful. But if the conversation turns towards something that I have very strong opinions on, it might be a little difficult to stay completely silent. Even so, I'll make it a point to at least disengage from the conversation rather than steer it towards something unfortunate."

Our aspirations are wrapped up in books

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