faderift | I'm one of few who's left [OPEN]

WHO: Velanna and you!
WHAT: Day in the life of a Warden elf-mage
WHEN: End of Drakonis through Cloudreach
WHERE: Skyhold, Warden camp, forests beyond
NOTES: You can check her info post for stuff or hit me up via PM or plurk if you want to hash out anything, OR if you'd like your own personal starter let me know and I'd be happy to do one for you!

⓵ Warden Camp
Velanna isn't a "group mentality" kind of person, so while most of the Warden camp is open season, her tent is pitched deliberately a little further away from the others, and she has her own fire and fortifications that she's built up herself with magic. The tent itself is fairly unremarkable from other Warden tents, but there is an impressive wall of earth and short tree growth keeping the elements at bay.

If someone were to wander close enough they'd find Velanna sitting outside the tent cross-legged with a book in her lap and a few more nearby. Stop at your own risk.

⓶ Warden Camp (outskirts)
The only way to keep your skills sharp is by practicing them, and while Velanna is perfectly aware there's a training ring in Skyhold, there is something unsettling to her about using her magic in a courtyard surrounded by templars and other shemlen. Mostly the templars though.

So instead she finds an unpopulated and semi-secluded spot on the edge of the Warden Camp. She goes through general motions followed by cycling through her spells and even physically beating on a broken tree with her staff to make sure that her abilities don't dull while sitting on her hands waiting for something interesting to happen. It's also a good way to channel some of her frustrations, which are nearly constantly bubbling just under her surface.

⓷ Forests surrounding camp
Walking in the forest is a time of peace for Velanna. She's long felt more comfortable among the trees, and she finds her mind wanders less when she's alone and focused on a task. Normally, she's hunting. Her technique is a little different than most hunters, she doesn't waste her time with a bow and arrow, instead she lets the forest do her work for her. Sometimes a rabbit will get thickly ensnared in roots that it didn't see as it darts away from the sound of a predator, or a bird is crushed under a surprise falling branch.

These may not be the forests she grew up in, but all forests connected to the earth and that is a connection Velanna spent her formative years learning how to adapt and use. Every once in a while she'll take a more direct approach and set up real traps or use offensive magic to quickly take something down, but the smaller game she can carry is easy enough to trick into tiny manipulations.

⓸ Library
The only place in Skyhold Velanna regularly visits is the library. She has always loved books, and her studious nature as a child had only grown as an adult and she gained more access to larger libraries. The selection of books on subjects Velanna is only passingly familiar with in the Skyhold libraries means she spends a surprising amount of time there, tucked in a corner or browsing the shelves, her eyes wide from the possibilities. Even the human stories are interesting to her, because it's new information.

She'll likely avoid talking to anyone, but if approached just right she might be amiable to talking about what she's reading (or sometimes writing, in a well-worn book.)

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"Oh, I wouldn't say that ... but kindness is always something that ought to be shared as well." One corner of Bethany's mouth twitches, before she looks out to the refugee camp. She sighs in memory, before she says quietly.

"Most haven't lost everything, except the clothes on their backs. You learn to appreciate the simple things, when you don't have them anymore. Like blankets and scarves."

"Not always. Sometimes people become harder after they lose everything," she replies, somewhat hollowly. Of course, even Velanna can appreciate a warm blanket.

"That you choose to share these things with others is good. Do not discount yourself." It's a little unusual, for Velanna to offer support so openly to a Warden she barely knows, especially a human, but there's just something about Bethany that reminds her so much of Seranni. Even someone considered as generally abrasive as Velanna can't be cruel to someone with a surprisingly good heart.

"Mmm, that's true. But I think that's only because they never think they'll have anything again that won't be taken away from them. It's the fear of loss that makes them harder." She looks over at Velanna, giving her a lopsided smile, "Not the person themselves."

A slight flush to her cheeks, and she dipped down slightly, "Thank you. I appreciate the compliment." Searching around for another subject, she looks around at the camp, "This is all very impressive - I've got force magic and I can't get my walls that solid. Are you freezing the ground into place?"

She knows they're speaking in hypotheticals, but the comment about the fear of loss strikes Velanna quite close to home, and she almost snaps at Bethany for it. She keeps her mouth closed, although for a moment her gaze lowers with her eyebrows.

When the conversation turns to magic she's able to let it go, looking over at the wall she's built up instead.

"It's Dalish magic," she replies, her gaze softening a little. "I have been learning to work with the earth since I started showing signs of magic."

Bethany doesn't really know anything about Velanna so she couldn't know what she had losses of her own. She looks up to see the other woman looking down, frowning a little. Then Velanna goes to the next topic, and her eyes light up at that.

"Dalish magic ... I've heard of it, but never really seen it." She said admiringly. "My father told me that the Dalish mastered all plant magic there was, knew things that no Circle could ever teach me."

Velanna looks a little curiously at Bethany, as if trying to gauge exactly how much this woman knew of old magic.

"That is true. Even things commonly studied in your Circles, we approach differently. I have regularly noticed that my fire spells burn brighter and hotter than many Circle-trained mages." Which could just have something to do with her temper, but she's going pretend like her magic isn't affected by her mood.

Well, clearly not as much as a Dalish Keeper -- but her father was able to teach more about different kinds of magic outside of the Circle.

Which ... she should probably clear up. "Oh, ah, I wasn't - uhm - trained in a Circle. My father taught me." A sheepish look passed her face. "I was an apostate, before I became a Warden."

"Ah well, so was I, technically." Velanna gives Bethany a slight smile at that, before shaking her head. "It matters little what you were, provided you had education. How much did your father know of Dalish magic?"

She's fairly confident that Bethany isn't elf-blooded, but then again it's fairly difficult to tell when a human is.

"Well, hello there, fellow apostate." Bethany gave a little curtsy, before she looked thoughtful, "Not a great deal, I'm afraid. He wasn't Dalish himself, and he only knew one or two elves who had come from Dalish clans while he was in the Circle. Still, he always told me to respect the old ways, because ... well. It was how we were able to learn magic now."

All things, Malcolm had said, born from magic had been born from the Ancestors of the Elves.

"He sounds like a wise man," which is a little surprising. That her father had been in a Circle and still learned to respect the old ways...

"Not many of those raised in the Circle appreciate how their magic began." She knows at least part of it is because of Andrastian beliefs, since becoming a Warden she could practically recite passages of the Chant about how magic was made to serve man, not rule over him, from the sheer frequency that they were quoted at her. Like the power of the Maker would compel her to suddenly not be a heathen.

"He was a wise man. I was lucky to have him as a teacher and a mentor." Bethany inhaled deeply, feeling the loss of her father like that soft ache. At least it wasn't sharp like a knife any more.

"Father left the Circle so he could be with my mother ... but I sometimes wonder if he left because he knew there was more to magic than just in the Circle. That was more to being responsible to magic - than just ... " She trailed off, before she quietly murmured, "My magic will serve what is best in me, not what is most base."

"I have met very few mages who think that way outside of the Dalish, Circle or otherwise," Velanna replies with a soft smile. She values her magic, and the Dalish teachings, but it does pain her to see how the Circles teach and restrict magic. Mages are almost as much her people as elves.

"Magic is always a gift, not the curse the shemlen priestesses claim it to be."

Edited 2016-04-22 04:25 (UTC)

"I agree. It's how you use that gift that should matter, not whether or not you have it." She sighed heavily, looking over at Velanna. "People talk about it as if we are children with matches - but if you train a child how to responsibly use that fire ... well. Then they can do amazing things with it."

She held her hands wide. "Perhaps things will finally begin to change - but it will take time. Time that we need to grab back. I sort of feel like going out to find that bloody pompous darkspawn and shaking it out of him."

Velanna lets out a slight laugh, shaking her head.

"From what I have heard of Corypheus that isn't... entirely wise. I understand the sentiment, however."

"No ... no it is not." She sighed softly, her lips pressing together, before he smiled again. "But the statement is totally understood."

I'm one of few who's left [OPEN]

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