crystal. you can't fire me, i quit.

[ipseite]

FORM: Crystals.
SENDER: Petrana de Cedoux.
RECIPIENT: Everyone with a crystal.
WHAT: An announcement.
WHEN: Shortly after this thread, broadly current.
WHERE: The Gallows, Kirkwall.
NOTES: Petrana was the source of the division head information leak leading to the mage strike. Not everyone was happy about it.

Inquisition.

( her voice is steady. her office is half-packed; she has not yet entirely decided where it will be most appropriate to move to. the nug, still unnamed all these months on, sleeps before the fire in an open box. how had she accumulated so many things to fill this space?

nevermind it. )

This is Madame de Cedoux. I have, since Kingsway of this year past, served this outpost in the capacity of ambassador, the head of the diplomacy division. I was honoured to have been entrusted with such work, and I remain exceptionally proud of what I and those nearest to my office accomplished in that time. To be given the opportunity as a woman out of her world was something that I did not take lightly or for granted, and I believe the experience has been invaluable to me. I may yet hope to hear my own work, one day, described so. For the time being—

It's with regret that I must inform you I will be, effective immediately, removing myself from this position to better serve the Inquisition by not becoming, in myself, a barrier to its best work. I shall, of course, continue to serve. I look forward to seeing the appointment of a successor, and I will gladly support their work and the work of my former colleagues in our shared goals. We cannot allow those goals or indeed our own principles to be waylaid by personal ill-feeling.

Thank you for your time.

Comments

private; some time after the initial announcement

[overharrowed]

Are you in any immediate danger of reprisal, to your knowledge?

[He doesn't know what's prompting this, but he has enough information to make an educated guess.]

∞

[ipseite]

I must confess that this is a preemptive action on my part. A most bureaucratic form of reprisal was intended.

[overharrowed]

I'm very sorry to hear it, though grateful that it's only that.

[She's a rifter and (depending on who you ask) a mage; he's sorry to see her resign, but he's grateful she hasn't been arrested.]

It seems you have ample moving assistance. Is there anything else you need?

[ipseite]

Better that I walk out than be so blatantly forced. I—

( an exhale. )

I am going to drink a great deal of wine and think about what this means. Next. It isn't as if I could leave the Inquisition entirely did I wish to.

( she doesn't wish to, but she's too human not to experience a twinge of bitterness. )

[overharrowed]

Understandably.

I don't know if anyone else has said it but... thank you. For what you did, even though it's cost you. We would have never gotten even so much as we did without your decision to act.

[ipseite]

The work was all yours, ( demurring. ) I opened a door; I should take no credit for what was done in walking through it. And I have nothing but admiration for what has been achieved, and what may yet be.

( she itches to ask him about negotiations, but perhaps she'd better not.

see if he volunteers anything. )

[overharrowed]

I think there's credit enough to share, for those who care to take it. That said... I think we've done good work, considering the circumstances.

[For a moment, it seems as if he might say more on the topic, but instead he says,]

Have you any idea who they plan to nominate in your place?

[ipseite]

I doubt that they have any idea who they plan to nominate in my place, ( wryly, ) at least for now. But I don't intend to sit idle, and ignore it.

[overharrowed]

No, I shouldn't think so. If they've any sense, they'll take your input, but unfortunately that's not a certain thing these days.

[It's more wry than frustrated, the anger of a few weeks ago no longer evident, at least.]

Still, I'd be frustrated in your place.

[ipseite]

If they cared to have my input, the office still would be mine.

( matter of fact. she loathes walking away—she does believe it was the only dignified option left to her. and she must keep working, always, but what does that look like now?

she must be smart about this. after the wine. )

It isn't what I wished for. I fear I have done quite the opposite of my intentions. But I have always—I shall play a longer game. That is all.

[overharrowed]

Given what I know of you, I have every confidence you're well-suited for a long game. You mentioned to me, before I even knew I'd be in the party going to Skyhold, that you would approach such a negotiation with options in place before you began.

[He can't imagine she'd done less, in deciding to act as she did.]

That doesn't mean you can't allow yourself a few moments of honest frustration all the same. If you run short of wine, I believe I owe you most of a bottle.

[ipseite]

( certainly, she's not lost anything she'd not considered herself prepared to lose—

if she's more doubtful about what it means next, perhaps it's weak of her, but she prefers that flattering view of her she hears reflected in his words. she says none of it. )

I fear I cannot offer such comfortable surroundings in which to drink it, any longer, but I would nevertheless be glad of your company.

[overharrowed]

I can assure you, I've almost certainly had a drink someplace less pleasant.

[It's warm but subdued; he's not sure if she's in a mood where jokes will help. On the other hand, the comment has the benefit of being true.]

At your convenience, I'll be happy to attend you.

[ipseite]

When you return from Skyhold?

( —with much to talk about? )

[overharrowed]

[He laughs.]

Yes, I suppose with that obvious caveat. I confess, as someone who was never station in Skyhold, it has been an educational visit.

[ipseite]

I've still not been, myself. I suspect I had best let that be, for a time—

( considering, )

—but how do you find it?

[overharrowed]

The fortress itself is beautiful, but it's a fortress, not a city. For both good and ill. I confess, I hope I get a chance to visit it one day after all of this.

[Corypheus; whatever happens to mages after Corypheus too, likely.]

There's a weight of history here that's compelling.

[ipseite]

It's regrettable you're not there under better circumstances, but—perhaps you may yet wring a victory from the experience.

[overharrowed]

I hope so. Given your former position, I expect you as much as anyone understand the value of compromise. We're nowhere near done yet, but... even if I think the Inquisition leadership's dedication to what they view as the status quo will handicap them in their broader aims long-term, I still have some hopes for the results.

[He's no intention of getting more specific while negotiations are ongoing, especially via sending crystal, but... with his tempered expectations factored in, it certainly seems that it could be going worse. (No one seems to be in immediate danger of rewaging the war, which he'd argue qualifies.)]

[ipseite]

A most measured outlook, but I detect just enough optimism that I might be heartened by it, ( only lightly teasing. )

No, truly; I share them. To be in the room at all is the first battle. That is not insignificant, itself.

[overharrowed]

As you say... it is not insignificant that the negotiations are happening at all. While I may have hoped for more, anything we can secure at all will be its own victory. I hope to bring you and others who are interested in the outcome good news, even if it's not unmixed.

[A pause, then, opting for a light tease of his own:]

But then, I have little doubt you will hear more of the details than I intend when I return, if you repeat the precise combination of wine and sympathy.

[He sees you there, madame.]

[ipseite]

( a pause. )

[ipseite]

I have great stores of both, Enchanter.

[overharrowed]

[A frank laugh, warm.]

I shall be on my guard, then. Though I am not enough of a strategist to deprive myself of your company entirely, so the advantage is clearly yours.

[ipseite]

Would you be so ungentlemanly as to rob me of it? I am but a woman; I've no title any longer, no consequence in this place. What danger could I possibly pose to you?

( like eighteen dangers

like at least eighteen dangers, some of them probably related to her list of reasons why she's harmless )