arcaneadvisor | ooc: inbox/plot with me

I put my hands up, but I don't know that if I were thinking about it very consciously I'd have thought that would do anything useful against a horse.

( so -

yes and no. )

I think it startled it, more than anything, it ran in another direction.

When many young mages first come into their magic, or so I have heard it said, such a circumstance would cause it to reveal itself. Healing a grievous wound. Something bursting into flames in a fit of rage. I wonder if such a thing is possible with the shards.

[She will need to see it in person to know what it is truly like, and to actually see how she's reacting since it's never so easy to tell over the crystals.]

Horses have always struck me as flighty beasts, I have never liked them. [There's a short pause - by Morrigan standards - before she continues.] Does it trouble you? The shard itself is still very new all things considered.

( it is a perturbing thought, that she might start doing magic with her shard. or might have already done. maybe it was for the best she waited a few glasses in to have this conversation, a gentle wine-haze cushioning her from her own edges. )

It pains me less, since I saw that elf. Solas. My maid -

My former maid. Kicked me to the ground and it stopped.

( the careful neutrality of that delivery is only, only because she has no desire for morrigan to hear her sullenness. )

[Clearly a visit is called for the first chance she gets to actually get a real look at Gwen, maybe to offer a little hangover cure too if it's needed.]

Then I am glad he finally arrived at long last. [Since he certainly took his sweet time getting back to Skyhold from wherever he'd been.]

Former maid?

[Morrigan matches her tone, surprised and yet not. There are plenty here who would gladly take an elf away from an Orlesian noble and give them another life, she could probably name a dozen in half as many minutes.]

A redhead. Loud.

( gwen remembers her name perfectly well. )

She served some time ago, I didn't think to see her in Skyhold, it isn't -

In any case, it stopped.

[There are plenty of redheads but well, she has the feeling she knows the one Gwen's talking about already. What a terrible thing. The person, most likely, not the feeling.]

There are many who joined in search of something or other; to save the world, to restore order, to see change the world though the reasons for some being here are not so clearly defined.

[Wardens your ears should be burning. Anders your ears should be on fire.]

Do you wish for me to visit? There is little I can do, this is not my realm of expertise, but I will come nonetheless.

( her first thought is to say no - there is nothing morrigan can do, so why should she? )

Yes.

( abrupt enough to be awkward; she catches herself, modulates-- )

If it isn't a bother. I would - like that.

You are not a bother Gwenaelle, I would not offer if you were. [She wouldn't even have introduced Kieran if she were.

And in far too short a time for her to have walked - because why walk when you can have wings - Morrigan is outside her chambers, knocking on the door softly with a small smile and look of concern, a slim volume held in her hands.]

( katell has long since been dismissed for the night, gwenaëlle not requiring her attentive service while drinking wine, damply, and engaging in competitive sexual ruthlessness via the crystals - so the door is opened by the lady herself, a small thing made smaller by her loose, wet hair and the fact she is wearing what appears to be a man's shirt made for a much larger frame than hers.

one foot tucks behind the other ankle; she holds onto the doorframe, wobbles, then steps back to let her past. she is a tidy thing even in her apparent disarray, the only real sign of how she's spent her evening being that cushions from her chaise and bed have been deposited unceremoniously in a pile by the fireside, where a mostly-empty decanter of wine and half-empty glass have been left, too, where she presumably was a moment ago with the crystal she'd spoken on. her metal tub is out on the small balcony (she likes the cool air and the hot water), and has been emptied already, quite possibly just by tipping it over the edge. )

Thank you. For coming.

( she wants company more than she wants to protect her dignity, she supposes. she hasn't done very well at that, anyway. )

[Long ago, if someone had told her that she would worry about a young Orlesian woman of noble birth, Morrigan would have laughed in their face after a suitably scathing remark fit to strip several layers of flesh from them yet here she is, at Gwenaelle's door.

But then there are so few who know what it is to be the extension of another person, to want to be themselves though Morrigan had her plan in place when she left so she cannot mask her surprise at the sight before her, and why would she? She's remarkably open around the young lady in question as she steps inside, setting a hand on her arm.]

Of course, tis a strange time. [A worrying time, another person might say but they are both proud creatures and that much must still be allowed.] I had been meaning to thank you as well for Kieran, your name is said a great deal in our chambers of late.

( pride is much of everything she isn't going to say, all the small things that shouldn't upset her because she is so much bigger than they are -

like a little kitten convinced it can fight a mabari. the brittleness of her softens a little under morrigan's hand and the mention of kieran warms her further; he is so bright and unexpected, and she is terribly fond of him. if she had a son, she'd want a son like kieran, odd little thing that he is - she understands that, she thinks. there's more that she doesn't, but enough that she does to give him her hand and think nothing of it. )

He's some of the best company in Skyhold, you should tell him so, ( a more interesting topic than her awful hand or the awful people around it.

she nudges a cushion with her foot, sits down on the edge of the chaise instead of back on the floor. )

[Two Wardens, one of them a complete buffoon twirling a pike and wheedling a possessed old woman to darn his socks for him still managed to muster an army and defeat a Blight faster than any other Blight in recorded history, all the while with the threat of a civil war looming. Small things can accomplish much when they do it the right way, and the world takes notice.

Notice enough that it might like to pretend that it never happened but that in itself is enough to have plenty of others clinging tooth and nail to the truth of the matter.

Kieran is of course the brightest spot in Morrigan's life, no matter how dark the rest might become. Bright enough that she will always smile, always laugh, settling herself comfortably.]

Perhaps you might care to tell him yourself though I would worry that his face might set aflame if you did. I did not wish to worry him with all that has been going on of late, including my absences, there are very few who would show him such kindness without… [The pause is to sigh; the hour is late and Gwen knows that even children aren't free from being used against people or as part of plots and games and schemes.]

( what was gwenaëlle as a little girl if not a game-piece to be pushed and pulled into this place or that? she knows it better than she cares to and her lips tighten, gaze cutting away. she isn't so special or good or kind, she just - )

He's a very good boy, I thought - he needed. Someone. For a bit.

( maybe not her, particularly, she wouldn't presume, but someone. not that morrigan isn't a great many things, all of them enough, she just - maybe she shouldn't have to be everything, either.

gwenaëlle becomes aware that she is fidgeting, and flattens her hands against her thigh, looking up, mustering a crooked smile. she feels off-balance in ways she does not feel entirely safe to be, but what does it matter. what does it matter. if morrigan isn't her friend, then she hasn't got any, apparently, so

she doesn't want to be alone. she's so tired. )

Not that you wouldn't - I mean, I don't -

( an unsteady little laugh. ) I'm sorry; I'm not at my best.

He did. And will.

[Watching is something Morrigan has always done. She was alone so often as a girl with only Flemeth or the creatures of the wilds for company, left to peer out into civilisation, and such habits have never left her for long.

How did this girl last so long, she wonders, watching her now, when the Court is a relentless vicious thing with teeth and claws that is never ever sated. But then there is much to be said for someone that makes all around them hold their breath, waiting for the reaction. And for a woman that guards her smile well? Men will do incredible things, ridiculous things.

Morrigan knows what it's like to be spectacularly alone, and she is careful when she reaches out. The way one extends a hand to a wolf; it might back away, it might snap. But she reaches out all the same.]

I am sure the day has been long and trying. Change is not easy, not when it comes to something such as this. Your entire world has tilted, and tilted again. But you have come through one fire already have you not? And quite literally at that.

ooc: inbox/plot with me

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