driftfleet | SS Pathstone Mingle

[It's a good thing Cole doesn't get hold of this letter. The emotions would probably be too much.]

I don't know a lot. I haven't been on this side of the veil very long. Only... a few years. And the things I know aren't always very nice and Cullen would yell at me if I told you about them.

After I was released from the laboratory and the shack in Hamil, I've only been traveling the world with my friends for a little less than a year. I don't know a lot either... but I'm always learning something new! We can learn new things together and tell each other about it.

[ She frowns, then sticks her nose up in the air with a bit of haughtiness. She can be sassy at Cullen if she wants... ]

I'll keep the bad things a secret from him. I can handle it. I won't let Daddy yell at you.

[Nothing will make Cole divulge the horrors of Thedas. The children of Thedas have to grow up too hard and fast. And some things.... there are things no child needs to know.]

Did they tell you about the Blight?

[That she will need to know about and maybe it will make her feel like he's sharing the darkness.]

[ Cullen was overprotective of her. He would get uncomfortable whenever she grew curious about the darker side of Thedas, like the treatment of mages and the circles. ]

No... this is the first time I've ever heard of it.

[ Already she's suspecting it's nothing good, but she's bracing herself to hear whatever it is. ]

[He takes her to her personnel room and sits her down.]

Wait, I'll be back and explain then.

[He dropped his paints. And the other presents in the bag. He flickers to go and grab them first before coming back.]

[ When he returns, she's sitting on her couch, hands propped on her lap. Quiet and patient. ]

[Cole sets down the bag and paints and starts sorting things out. He doesn't have money, but he's never really needed money for things.]

The Blight is dark, sick, sweet song, squirming in the soul. It squashes hope and wholeness. It spreads underground, in the Old Roads, tirelessly calling and chanting to the old, sleeping dragon gods until it finds one. Then it wakes it and they swarm the surface, screaming and celebrating.

It spreads until the Grey Wardens kill the Archdemon. The infected dragon. Then they fall back, underground, and start looking for the next dragon to lead them.

Blights, when that happens, don't happen often. There's hundreds of years between them. But the Blight, the sickness, is still in the Old Roads. Still comes up. That's why you don't go into caves unless they've been explored.

[ She watches him, listening carefully and trying to understand. What he describes sounds terrifying and she'd never been fond of dragons. Obviously this is something that Cullen wouldn't dare ever tell her about. ]

"Them"? So they're like monsters that find dragon gods? And the sickness, what is that like?

Yes. Monsters.

[Birthed from monsters, birthed from horror. He doesn't tell her that.]

Blight sickness... The tainted. Um, you get pale and cough, and feel unwell and it just slowly... makes you sicken away.

Is there anything that can cure the sickness? Magic?

[ Not that she ever plans on going near any caves on her own, if or when she shows up in Thedas. She can heal though. Maybe she can help people. ]

No. There's no cure for Blight and Taint. You can treat the symptoms, that's all.

[They have powerful healing magics in Thedas. They don't even buy time from the sickness.]

It gets into the land and water and spreads. But, if you get rid of all the plants and animals, the land does recover eventually. The Blight fades away, eventually.

Oh...

[ Eventually. It sounds like a process that would take awhile. She rocks her legs uneasily, back and forth off the edge of the couch. ]

So you have to... kill all the plants and animals?

[Cole nods.]

Once they have the sickness, you can't stop them dying. You can just stop them suffering. But a lot of animals and people flee ahead of the Blight.

[Thedas has a dark side. Thedas is mostly dark sides, but this one is unavoidable and dark without being terrifying.]

And they keep fleeing until the Blight fades away?

[ Elize is really better off staying in Rieze Maxia, despite its problems. What keeps her shying from Thedas, no matter what darkness it holds, are the people that she knows that come from there. And she's completely bent on seeing Cullen again. ]

Well, they leave the area and settle in other areas. Sometimes they move back. Sometimes they have new lives in new areas.

I see. They start over.

And what about the other Blight, the song... [ She backtracks a bit. ] Who are the Grey Wardens? Are they the only ones that can kill the dragon?

Same Blight.

I don't think mortals hear the song... But I do. The Darkspawn do. I don't like it like they do.

Grey Wardens... The face the taint, draw blade and staff and march against the swell of darkness.

Only they can kill the Dragon. Swallow and sink, swim until they sing.

[He knows what he's saying, but he can't quite stop. Knows it doesn't make sense, won't explain it. Can't.]

[ That obviously leaves Elize looking puzzled and concerned. ]

Cole? I don't understand...

[He sighs and gives her a helpless look and shrug.]

Grey Wardens kill the Archdemon. No one else can. I don't really understand why. But they do.

Oh, you don't? Hm...

[ Her expression softens, then she simply nods her head. She can settle without a full blown explanation. ]

That's fine. Thank you for telling me about the Blight.

[ Which isn't exactly the nicest thing for her to learn about, but it makes her feel like a little grown up with him telling her something as dark as this. ]

[It was a balance between telling her some of the dark things to make her feel better, but not telling her things that will really scare her, things that are personally frightening.

No Circles. Not for Elize. And he might start talking and be able to stop and that would frighten her badly.]

It's something you'll need to know about. It's a big part of life in Thedas, even if the Blight events don't happen very often.

[ Being held in captivity is something she never wants to experience again. A Circle is a place she doesn't believe she'll ever wind up in. Cullen will protect her. Jove will protect her.

She nods her head. ]

I understand. I'll remember what you told me.

[ Like a lot of the other things he tells her. And she won't tell Cullen. She'll be careful in what she writes to her letters to him.

She moves to join him by his side, looking over some of the paints and other things that he's sorting out. ]

If you want, you can ask me some questions too.

[They will, and Cole's grateful for that. Because a Circle, to him, is a monstrous thing to most mages.]

About what?

[ She shrugs her shoulders, not having anything specific in mind. But she has been always asking him a lot of questions. ]

Anything, really.

[He sits near her and pulls out his knife, laying out a square of paper and starting to cut it carefully. Neatly.]

It's nice being asked questions I can answer. Usually people ask me what I am, or why I'm here. Or I have to ask lots of questions, because I don't understand mortal things.

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