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WHO: Eirlys and YOU
WHAT: Eirlys arrives back in Skyhold
WHEN: End of Drakonis
WHERE: Skyhold's courtyard and throne room
NOTES: No warnings. Prose and brackets both welcome. So yeah, Eirlys is back, I have a CR meme comment for her here!

a) Courtyard
At first glance, it's not obvious that Eirlys has been away. She gets back into the routine of life at Skyhold easily enough, if for no other reason that she excels under the sort of pressure that the healers there - and everyone else, for that matter - are under. She's brought a fresh supply of herbs and poultices, and she's kneeling in the midst of the sick and wounded, attending to them as best she can. On looking closely, however, she's very pale and tired, and she's far thinner than she was when she left Skyhold, after months of scarce food over the winter in the alienage. While she remains the pinnacle of compassion with her patients, she doesn't seem too pleased to be back overall.

b) Throne Room
It takes her a few days to pluck up the courage to make herself heard. She dislikes being the centre of attention, preferring to focus her efforts on the wellbeing of others instead, but she knows that in the long term nothing will change unless she speaks up.

She makes her way over to anyone who looks important - or at least, anyone who looks like they belong to the Inquisition more than she feels she does herself. Clearing her throat, she asks quietly, "Excuse me, but I need to speak to those in charge."

c) Wild card
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"I am sorry to hear that," she answers, a small frown coming to her lips. It's a reminder that there will always be people in the world in need of help, and sometimes no matter what, they will suffer.

Eirlys on the other hand forces herself to smile, even if it's one that doesn't quite reach her eyes. She'd arrived too late to save her sister, but she knew that her presence had done good for so many others, just as she hoped it would for even more here. "In some ways returning to the Inquisition feels like a welcome relief. Injury and disease are very different to have to handle, after all."

"That's very true," she answers. "And I'll admit, I'm still hopeless at knowing how to treat most injuries. I don't even know any healing magic." She keeps telling herself to approach a healer mage to learn, but something always comes up and she puts the thought aside for later.

"Did you hear of our mission to Emprise du Lion?" She's said the name a hundred times now, and she still can't pronounce it right. Orlesians.

She shakes her head, the name unfamiliar to her, beyond it sounding very Orlesian. "I've heard precious little since returning to Gwaren, most of it distorted from being third or fourth hand."

"It was pretty eventful. Rescuing villagers, closing fade rifts, stopping Red Templars, and fighting dragons." Though here she lets out a sigh. "Sadly, I didn't get to fight a dragon. I came back to Skyhold a little early." But there are still dragons left in the world. This is, after all, the Dragon Age. She'll get her turn someday.

"For which I'm very glad," Eirlys says firmly, thinking she may have to do the worrying for both of them if Ellana was so eager to leap into the path of a dragon. "I couldn't stand to hear you'd been burned to a crisp trying to fight a dragon." She shudders a little at the thought.

"And I couldn't stand being burnt to a crisp either. Don't worry; I already told Korrin I wouldn't go rushing after any, especially without her by my side. She was one of those who actually fought one of them. There were three! Can you imagine?"

It was strange to her that three female dragons had taken up residence with their dragonlings so close to each other. Weren't they usually more territorial than a simple hot spring?

"Three? I can't even imagine one." And she felt blissful in her ignorance. "I daresay we'll have to tackle many more before we end all this madness, though."

"It's very likely. And you'll be standing back ready to provide healing if I need it, right?" Ellana hopes she doesn't need it, but if she does, Eirlys is a good choice.

"I'll be there," she promises, desperately hoping it's one she can keep. "I'll have to speak to some of the other healers and learn all about the injuries from those sort of creatures - it's not a big hazard in an alienage, after all."

"I should hope not!" she replies, a smile touching her lips. She doesn't outright laugh, because she's sure life in an alienage is full of dangers of its own.

"Should I let you return to your healer's duties?"

"Aye, I should probably get back to work." She gives Ellana another smile before she turns back to her charges, though. "It truly is good to see you. The children back home couldn't believe I knew a real life Dalish elf. I hope I'll see a lot more of you, now I'm back."

"Really? It's good to know the next generation aren't... averse to meeting a Dalish elf. I know how there can be tensions between elves in the city and those raised as I was, but we're all elves to me."

"Most of us can't even imagine the Dalish. When my sister and I were young, we used to play pretend, that we were living out in the forests like you." She smiles sadly, Keren's death still to raw for her to be able to think fondly on their childhood together. "I know if you ever come to Gwaren, you'll get as fine a welcome as we can offer."

"I've heard stories," Ellana begins, a slight frown coming to her face, "Of city elves escaping to join a clan and the Dalish pushing them away. It sounds so cruel, and I don't understand why the People would turn away one of their own just because they were raised somewhere else. And, you know, I used to dream of being in a city, with a roof over my head. This was before I heard about what alienages are like."

She's a bit amazed at that offer, but she dips her head a little. "I want to travel all over someday. I would enjoy meeting the elves there."

Her expression fades and she looks down at her hands, fidgeting awkwardly with them. "I didn't know that. We just assumed they'd take everyone with open arms, knowing what it was like to want freedom. But then, you were little more than a myth anyway. Yet here we are, both of us simply elves after all, and not so different."

"The thing about the clans is that we aren't as united as you think. The reason the Arlathvhen is only every ten years is because so much arguing occurs there between clans when they hear how another does things. I was never allowed to attend, because keeping me in Clan Ashara when I should have been traded to another would have been seen as incredibly rude, and a slight to smaller clans who really needed a First. There are clans that trade with humans, and there are clans who murder them and string them up from trees." Her frown deepens for a moment, before she reaches out and gently wraps her fingers around Eirlys's hand, pulling it away from the other and squeezing fondly. Her expression smooths out.

"Not so different at all. How we were raised, what we were taught to believe -- perhaps -- but our branches that extend far all came from the same roots. From Elvhenan."

"They'd trade you?" The word feels sordid on her tongue. "Just like you were common goods or--" or a slave, she finishes mentally, unable to bring herself to say it. She really hopes she's wrong in her interpretation there, otherwise her image of the Dalish would be damaged irreparably.

She perks up a little as Ellana's hand wraps round her own. She needs such gestures of solidarity more than anything right now. "Elvhenan?" She says it slowly, clumsily. "Is that why we're called 'elves'?" She feels stupid asking, it's so obvious, but she hates not knowing such a basic thing about herself and her people.

"Oh, not like that, no," Ellana says, realizing now that she can't simple say these things without explanation. "Mages are treasured in Dalish clans. We're meant to become their leaders -- their Keepers. A Keeper should have an apprentice to train and teach all our collected elven lore to. Some clans are very small, and if they have no mages, one should be given to them so the clan will always have a leader. Keeper Deheune had Pel and Sorrel, and I was the third. Keeping me was selfish, when other clans might need a mage. I could have been a Keeper someday, but instead I was left not knowing where I belonged." If she sounds a little bitter... it's because she is. In discussing this with others, she's always been quick to add that keeping her was a kindness. She was a recent orphan allowed to stay with the familiar instead of given to strangers. And had she been given away, she probably wouldn't be here now: right where she wants to be. But the more time passes, the more she feels disappointed and angry in her Keeper.

"Yes. Elvhenan means 'place of our people' and elvhen means 'people.' Sometimes you'll hear Dalish say 'the People' instead of elves. I do it too." Squeezing her hand again, she asks, "Would you like to learn the elven language? I would be happy to teach you."

That's a far more reassuring explanation than the conclusion she'd jumped to, and she feels herself relax a little. "I hadn't realised it was like that. I'd thought a clan was sort of like a big extended family." She'd also assumed that Pel and Beleth and the rest of them were all Ellana's siblings or cousins. "Though it makes sense to trade mages, in that case - it's refreshing to find one place where they're seen as important."

"Would you really? I'd love to learn. To feel some connection to what we were."

"Well," she says, the corner of her lips lifting in amusement, "We cannot marry and have children with those who share too much of our blood. That would lead to sickly children. Sometimes non-mages switch clans too, to keep bloodlines diluted." She pauses, gaze shifting. "You'll hear some Dalish think of their clan that way, but I don't. When I lost my parents, I lost my entire family. I have no siblings." Sometimes she thinks of Gavin as an older brother, but then he pulls another stunt and the feeling fades for awhile.

"Of course! You have always been curious about our culture and I want to give you answers."

"We have a similar problem in the alienage, sometimes our Hahrens arrange for eligible bachelors to move from one city to another." She'd always hated the idea, even though she knew the health benefits, because she'd been so afraid that without parents to speak up for them, herself or her sister would be among those asked to move. "...I'm sorry, I didn't realise you didn't have any family at all." She'd thought herself a little jealous, actually, assuming her to be surrounded by family. Now she just feels guilty.

"I hope you don't mind if some of the questions I might have sound silly to you, in that case. So little has remained. I'm excited to have the opportunity to learn."

"It's all right. Really. I think... I'm probably an oddity among my fellow Dalish. I wouldn't want them to think I don't hold them close in my heart, but to me, a clan is different than a family." Maybe that's why she's always struggled to find her place in the clan. Instead of thinking of them as her family, she put up a barrier to keep them separate in her mind. But that's a deep thought and one she doesn't want to examine closer right now.

"I won't find them silly. I need to realize that what I know as easy as breathing hasn't been taught to you, and shouldn't assume anything. Please, let me know if I assume wrongly?"

"I shall. And I'll answer any questions you might have about the cities in return - although none of it's too pleasant - or about healing." Those are the only subjects she considers herself even a little of an expert on to be able to share.

"Well, I wouldn't want to make you talk of upsetting things," she says cautiously. Ellana is curious, but maybe she should wait for Eirlys to bring up the subject instead, to talk about what she wants to talk about.