driftfleet | Iskaulit Mingle - Problems with Psychics

[Deep breath. Okay, she's panicking and he's... well, Fenris. Neither of which will do them any good.]

Magic is... tied to emotion, yes? As frightening and awful as this is, we need to keep calm and not let it get to us. Perhaps we should also look for one of the mages we know. [A pause.] ...let's rule out Anders, given your relationship with him. Though, if we absolutely cannot find either Hawke, it's better to go to him than no one at all.

[Anders is always a last resort. They might have created an uneasy truce between them, but it isn't exactly flowers and sunshine. They have a lot of old bitterness to work through. ]

...You are right. I would rather understand how to prevent this from harming someone than to let it run rampant. Another mage is the best way to do that.

[He wishes it would just STOP, but he doubts he's going to get that. ]

Let's go look for one of the Hawkes, then. It'll give us something else to focus on besides panicking.

[She exhales forcefully through her nose. She starts walking, hoping Fenris will follow, while pulling out her communicator to see if she could reach one of them.]

Wynne used to talk about how she taught apprentices back at the Circle. Maker, I wished I paid a bit more attention. All I really remember is magic being tied to emotions. Well, and the time of her students nearly lit up the library.

[He does follow, in that nervous, quickly footed way of his. He glances around sharply, ready for an attack at any moment- or worse, for these new powers to do something dangerous and him not being able to control it. ]

We had best steer clear of the library, then.

[A poor attempt at humour, to calm the panic rising in him. ]

[Oh, Fenris. Riona's racked with nerves, too, but she's seeing more and more how much this is affecting him. She smiles at his joke, however half-hearted.]

Most definitely. And the gardens. [And you know. Engine rooms.

BUT THE LAST THING SHE NEEDS TO DO IS ADD TO THEIR WORRIES. And Fenris clearly needs a distraction. And so does she.]

H - How about exchanging stories? Something to pass the time while we search and wait for word.

Basically anything flammable.

[So everything. ]

I- I am not as great a wordsmith as Varric, I am afraid. But I suppose I could try.

[Including the very ship they're on...]

You will not disappoint. But I can go first if you'd like. Is there anything about the Fifth Blight that you're curious about?

[He takes a moment to consider that. ]

What happened in Ostagar? I heard a lot of chatter, usually smug comments in regards to 'those barbaric Southerners' [he absolutely used finger-quotes there, quite derisively- seriously, fuck Tevinter ] but I hardly know anything of what truly happened.

[Ostagar.

Her face falls at the mention. She doesn't hold it against him for bringing it up. It's certainly not the first, nor the last, time someone's asked her about it. But it doesn't make it any less painful.]

The short of it? A disaster. King Cailan called on the lords and ladies of the kingdom to send their soldiers to Ostagar to meet the darkspawn head on and put down what they thought was only an incursion. The Grey Wardens were to assist. Cailan's army was to meet them head on. When the signal was given, Teyrn Loghain was to charge and flank them.

Alistair and I were tasked with lighting the signal fire. We... were delayed. Darkspawn broke into the tower where the beacon was, and we had to fight our way up. When we lit the fire... Loghain retreated. Cailan was killed, along with all the Wardens save Alistair and I.

[Her face bunches up in anger.] That bastard left us all for dead, and then had the audacity to say he did so to protect lives.

[Fenris notes the discomfort in her features, in her tone- he understands this isn't a good subject for her, almost feels sorry for asking. Still, he listens carefully to everything she has to say, arms folded, and when she finished, he nods gently. ]

I see. Do you think he would have made a difference? If he has taken his troops into the fray?

Would it have won us the battle? I don't know. We were outnumbered. But it may have saved Cailan's life. It may have saved more Wardens.

[How many innocent people might have been saved, if more darkspawn had been cut down?]

It doesn't matter. I fully well believe Loghain never intended to charge, well before they ever stepped foot in Ostagar.

[Fenris could understand pulling back, if Loghain thought he was going to lose men. It would make sense he would take care of his own- people he would knowingly lead into doom. But the thought he knew it was that way from the start...that was a different story. ]

So you think he willingly left Cailan to a death trap?

[Riona nods. It's not something she's ever really brought up with anyone. The wounds were still too fresh back home, in her time, and really, it would do no good but rub salt in those wounds.]

Yes. For two reasons in particular.

One - when Alistair, Wynne and I returned to Ostagar a few months later, we found Cailan's personal effects locked in a trunk. Once we got it open, we discovered letters between him and Empress Celene. They were very... familiar with each other. And they spoke of a more solidified union between Orlais and Ferelden.

[Absolute madness. Riona still wonders how Cailan thought he would get away with that.]

Loghain was notoriously anti-Orlais. You've heard me spit on them, but he put me to shame in how much he loathed them. The whole reason he turned away the Wardens that were supposed to arrive to help with the Blight was because they were from Orlais. His loathing veered into paranoia. Given how closely he worked with Cailan, I can't imagine he didn't at least have some idea what he was planning.

[She sighs.]

Not to mention that Cailan marrying Celene would mean he would toss aside his current wife... who was Loghain's only child.

[Fenris never really involves himself in political intrigue. The few times Hawke- his Hawke- got involved in that kind of thing, Fenris was there to be the muscle, nothing more. He does remember the Arcanist Hall in Minrathous, though. Listening to the whispers of people influencing one another's lives the same way some would play at chess. It's always left a bitter taste in his mouth. ]

Sounds like he wished to be the first to strike a knife into the back of his friend- before the same treatment was done to him. Not that I'm condoning his actions, they seem more...paranoia-fuelled than anything else. A paranoia that almost cost Ferelden its very existence.

[And, oh, how Tevinter would have been so very pleased with that. ]

[A wise choice on his part. Politics suck.]

It's rather sad. He fought so hard to help free Ferelden and keep it that way... so much that his drive almost destroyed what he loved most.

[A tragedy. He was a hero, the one who bore the title she now has. And look what it did to him. She wonders, sometimes, if the same won't happen to her someday.]

His paranoia nearly destroyed my home. I'd almost feel sorry for him, if his paranoia hadn't cost me almost all of my family.

[Her face hardens.]

Reason number two I know he planned this, he-

[Ice builds up over her fingers and hands. She swallows forcefully, trying to keep her emotions from going haywire.]

I don't suppose up in Tevinter or in Kirkwall it's been told what happened to the Couslands?

Sometimes, we are blind to the damage we are truly causing to everything and everyone around us.

[His eyes fall immediately to the half-formed magic, and he instinctively steps back a little. Distance. Safety. It's nothing against her, just a natural reaction hard formed. ]

I...do not know, I am afraid. Chances are nobles know of them more than I. I...do not exactly fall into the sort of circles that would hear of such things.

All too true. I wish he had listened to reason at the Landsmeet and realized what he had done. Perhaps things may have turned out differently. [She'd always feel awful about Anora watching her father die in front of her. That isn't at all how she had hoped it would go, but Loghain forced their hand.

She murmurs an apology to him, clasping her hands tightly against her.]

It's all right. I merely wanted to know so I didn't make you hear it twice.

[Of course, she also hoped he knew so she didn't have to tell it, but luck was not on her side today. She inhales deeply; it never gets easier, telling it.]

My family rules over the teyrn of Highever. The Arling of Amaranthine was a part of that teyrnir. Arl Rendon Howe of Amaranthine... he betrayed my family. When my father called all his bannermen to Highever to prepare to answer Cailan's call for troops, Howe had his men attack the castle. He killed my parents, my brother's wife and child, and most - if not all - the servants and guards.

[It was an utter bloodbath.]

I only escaped because a Grey Warden named Duncan was there to help me out. The one who recruited me, as you can imagine. We fled Highever, and Howe took over.

[Her body is rigid, stiff as a board. She tries to force herself to relax.]

A rather ballsy move, don't you think? Especially since, when I told Cailan, he was outraged and swore to see him to justice when the battle was finished at Ostagar. Howe was... many things, but he wasn't that stupid. He must have known Cailan would not just let him forcibly take over the teyrnir. [She glances over at Fenris.] Not unless he knew Cailan, somehow, wouldn't be able to do anything about it.

[Fenris listens, patiently. He can't say he's surprised by the tale, the nobility are horribly good at turning on one another for more power. Absolute power corrupts absolutely, after all. ]

That...would suggest some implication on their part, yes. I am sorry it happened to you, to your family. It was undeserved.

[And he means that, truly. Riona is Good People. ]

...I have heard that name before. Howe. Someone Anders knew.

[She wonders if it'll ever stop hurting so much, one day. But then, she reminds herself that it used to hurt much worse.]

Thank you. I still have my brother, at least. It could have been worse.

[Her brow briefly raises in surprise at the mention of Howe.]

Ah, that would be Nathaniel Howe, Rendon's son. Looks like him. [She pauses, frowning thoughtfully.] Thankfully, that's where a lot of the similarity ends. But yes, he and Anders served under me in Amaranthine.

That is, at least, something. Family is important.

[He says that in a detached kind of way because well, things with his sibling didn't exactly go swimmingly. ]

Hm. I met him in the Deep Roads. His sister had asked us to seek him out, afraid for him. There were some troubles with darkspawn. He seemed a decent enough man.

[By Fenris' standards. ]

Delilah came all the way to Kirkwall? Then she must have been quite worried. Maker, how long was he gone for? Or... will be gone for, I suppose.

[She shakes her head. Anders mentioned that Nathaniel had been sent away, and the others scattered. Had she known? Or had she been left in the dark once she returned to Denerim? Her mind turns over the possibilities, but there's little point in wondering. Right now, no one can answer that.]

I do believe it's your turn to tell a story, though.

Some months, I think? Long enough for her to be concerned. He was fine though, at the end of it all.

[Because Grey Wardens are plucky little fuckers like that. He gives a soft, amused huff. ]

Most of my stories are not pleasant ones.

[Of course he was. Riona smiles a bit; Nathaniel was the most level-headed one of that bunch. He survived breaking into and trying to rob Vigil's Keep, and frankly, he survived her. A bunch of darkspawn weren't going to down him.]

Hmmm. I don't know how pleasant this will be, but I'm curious. How did Hawke wind up Champion of Kirkwall? If it's anything like the title of Hero of Ferelden, they don't hand that out to just anyone.

[Oh, okay, this story he can tell. He smiles a little. ]

There was a...settlement of Qunari in the city. They were wrecked for...complicated reasons [he's not about to drop Isabela in it. He can omit her part for now. ] and had to take refuge in Kirkwall. They did not like what they saw. They are not really shy when it comes to their views on Southerners, and Kirkwall was no exception.

No, they are not shy. I traveled with one. I cannot imagine how an entire settlement handled living in a non-Qun city.

[And frankly, Sten was more... open-minded about culture outside the Qun than most Qunari were.]

I take it things escalated to a breaking point?

Iskaulit Mingle - Problems with Psychics

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