therookery | open; Speaking words of grace while spellwork delights

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open; Speaking words of grace while spellwork delights

FORM: Sending crystal
SENDER: Morrigan
RECIPIENT: Open
WHAT: Summary of content
WHEN: Early Wintermarch
WHERE: Skyhold
NOTES: A post will be linked on Morrigan's journal for research things and she has an ic/ooc contact post if further plotting is wanted, currently it'll be mostly what she would know pre-Temple of Mythal

[A message to the board was tempting but some things are best done with a more personal touch and short of visiting each and every possibility in person - and she has far more to do with her time whilst being unwilling to entrust such a thing to a messenger - and so the sending crystal it is. A new year and, once the weather clears, a new delivery for Skyhold though that can be addressed much later.]

Since the arrival of those who came through the rifts, tis more certain now than ever that much more knowledge is needed. To that end, I seek those of like minds to aid in research I have brought with me to Skyhold. Much of it is on magic so I would seek mages over any others, though so long as certain parties can keep civil tongues in their heads, I will not turn away whatever aid can be rendered. [Templars aren't strictly forbidden in the rare spirit of cooperation but well she knows Templars and ancient forbidden things.] The research I seek to carry out has a focus on elven magic and lore, as well as my own knowledge being that which is untouched by Chantry teachings. As such, my own supplies have been brought from Orlais and my former post, though if you wish to avail yourself of them, I ask that you do not remove them, they were...difficult to acquire. Some will have to wait until better weather allows safer travel up the mountain with more delicate items. Whatever tale, whatever scrap of knowledge you might hold no matter how small or foolish it may seem, it will always be valuable and I have spent a long time indeed delving into such matters.

If you wish to discuss this in person rather than a crystal, you will find me in the gardens of Skyhold, you are seeking Morrigan, if introductions are still to be made.

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On hearing the words "elven magic and lore," Ellana's heart leaps. She absolutely wants to be involved. But as soon as she thinks it over, that leaping heart then sinks, realizing she'll be of little use. A mage untrained as a Keeper has little knowledge of these things. She wants to contribute, but doesn't know if she holds any information this woman does not.

Still, this is an opportunity she can't waste, so she heads into the gardens to find this Morrigan. Once directed to her, Ellana has to blink in surprise that she's human. It seems strange that a human would be so interested in the magic of her people. But Morrigan must have her reasons, and as long as Ellana doesn't reveal anything the Dalish truly hold close to the chest away from humans, she sees no harm in it.

"Hello," she greets. "I'm Ellana. I'm not sure I know any tales that will help, but I'll tell you what I know. All I ask is to be allowed to read your research too. The elves have lost so much; there are probably things you've learned that hasn't yet reached my ears."

I am rather curious as to what you hope to discover by talking to someone about old stories and speculations.

[He pauses, then says:] But I would, as always, be happy to talk to you, Morrigan. If I somehow have any knowledge to share, I'll provide it.

With Dalish clans differing so much from one another, with their own traditions that they've kept and the chance that they have come across different artefacts mean that someone else, assembling all these pieces can come closer to the whole. I have spent a great deal of time studying this, poring over what I have. I would not squander an opportunity such as this.

[Not when she left Orlais for this though it's easy enough to claim an official capacity and the ability to work in relative peace here.] I would be glad to hear whatever tales you would have to offer, I'm sure one such as yourself must have heard many an odd thing.

[It'd be disappointing if not, when Twisted Fate is so very different and unexpected.]

...Pel Ashara is our clan First, and I'm pretty sure that she's the most knowledgeable person in Skyhold, when it concerns the magic of the Elvhen. I'd recommend talking to her.

[ She thinks that Pel is far smarter than any of the shemlen concerning anything, really, but humans get so persnickety when you call them dumb. ]

She's a part of the mage council. Silver hair, freckles, Mythal's vallaslin.

Then I wonder what puzzle you hope to solve.

Very well, then. We can speak here, or in person. Whichever suits you best, madame.

Pel Ashara and I have met prior to this, she was good enough to mention her speciality in relation to the Inquisition, beyond her work with the mage council.

[The mage council is a black mark against any name, another little circle that they've all made for themselves, thinking that they're somehow doing themselves a favour.]

Do you have no tales to tell yourself? A Clan is more than just their Keeper and the Keeper's First after all.

Is it not enough to wish the world to not lose the last wonders it has? Even if there are few to miss them, I would not allow such things to be lost for good if I can prevent it.

We are speaking now, I find the sending crystal agreeable enough unless you wish to have the decrepit Mothers in the garden gawk at you.

In truth, she hadn't known how her invitation would work. Even if they're part of the Inquisition, she's new, a stranger in their midst and she knows well enough to be prepared for the questions she'd prefer not to have to answer.

With Kieran off at his lessons with the few other children in Skyhold, and with the weather doing little to put her off, she's outside as promised, a book in her lap that she sets aside when Ellana approaches, making room on the narrow bench.

"I am glad to know that my invitation did not fall upon deaf ears," she replies, half-smiling because one can never tell in Skyhold, she's learned that much already. "There are things we can be told half a hundred times and take them all for granted, but someone else from another life might see a glint of something that sparks another thought. And unlike a Dalish clan, I have the ability to settle in one place to conduct my research." It goes unsaid that she also has an easier time accessing what she needs and wants, it would be rude to say that when she only knows the name of this woman.

"More of my research is still to come, I carried what I could with me but the roads have grown lawless. So long as none of it disappears, I am sure you can imagine the cost in much more than simple coin it took to procure and gather much of it, then my knowledge is for the Inquisition."

[He holds his tongue. Often, he feels that the Dalish are too wrapped up in the past enough as it is, but Morrigan isn't Dalish, obviously. Her curiosity and interest won't necessarily be harmful, as far as he can conclude.] I suppose that's reason enough.

Maybe my face will brighten their day. [It's spoken wryly, but he doesn't particularly care either way.] So what shall I share? Old songs? Stories? Games, perhaps? Fen'Harel's teeth was a favorite among the hunters.

Ellana nods, because while sad, it's true. Her people are nomads, unwelcome in or near human settlements if they're in large numbers, and rather unwelcome even on their own. She's had no opportunity to research before now, and while she's fine with looking through books in the library, she wants to go out and see elven ruins with her own eyes.

"I am glad to hear it. Would you like to ask me about certain things I might know?"

Oh--! Good. I'm sure she'll be very helpful, she knows all kinds of things.

[ The thought occurs to suggest Sina, but Morrigan is a stranger, and Beleth would like to know someone better before she offers up the other mage, lest Morrigan give her a heart attack. There's still pride in her voice when she talks about Pel--something that fades when the subject turns to herself. ]

Oh, no. I don't know anything interesting, really. I just hunted. And traded. I guess if you ever want a deer, or to know how much a deer costs in different villages?

[ She knows more than that, but most of it boils down to gossip and intrigue--not anything that seems like it'd help Morrigan, unless the fact that Zevran and Alistair apparently share a bed would somehow contribute to magical knowledge. ]

[Despite Beleth's caution, a breathy voice breaks in.]

What sort of equipment did you bring? Pel and I have been studying the rifts and runes! I'm in the garden every day, I'll find you.

I cannot say there are many outside the Dalish who can claim to know of Dalish games, I would hear of this Fen’Harel’s teeth first, if you will oblige me.

[There are of course many lurid tales of Dalish hunts, of humans in particular, many stretching back to simply demonise an enemy but some clans can be just as wild and vicious as the Avvar.]

Books for the most part, they are the easiest to transport and such things are rarer than one might think. [Perhaps not the Dalish but elven books are astonishingly hard to get hold of.] Small trinkets here and there, something...larger I shall have to wait for unfortunately. I shall await your arrival then.

[She shouldn’t be hard to find, not when she’s on the lookout for Dalish elves and when the women of the Chantry like to glare at her.]

Of course, madame.

[He sighs a little.] First, I don't know how much you know about Fen'Harel, but I'll summarize. The common belief on Fen'Harel, the Dread Wolf, was a traitor to the elven pantheon and sealed them away so they could never interact with the People.

[Twisted Fate pauses, then continues.] So, Fen'Harel's teeth; common game that the hunters in my clan liked when they found prisoners. They'd goad the prisoners into begging to be let go, and the hunters would agree to give them a chance to run. You take the man's clothing off, and tie his hands together. He's given tight leggings that he can't remove with nails driven into the insides, hence the teeth. The prisoners are allowed a head start run, but the hunters would always catch them.

There are, of course, less brutal games. But there you have it.

And hunters have no tales? Andruil is the patron goddess of the hunt is she not, and the legends that one can find of her can paint her as something else entirely. [Not that she would say that yet, not when she's asking for aid because saying 'goddess of sacrifice' could be very much like slapping someone in the face. It's like Celene again only here she has more of an even footing than she did in the court because the scandal had been growing even then.]

Hunters must talk, I am sure, the road is long for anyone, I know that well enough and so are night watches by the fire. Whatever you have to tell, I would value.

[But please, do not ever tell her about Alistair and anyone in a bed, one was enough thank you very much.]

"Your position within your clan would help, as would where your clan has been over the last few years. I had dealings with a couple of clans in Ferelden many years ago now, venturing into ruins, 'twould be helpful to know who comes from where." If any elves have come from the clans she met, she would still be known by sight but the clans can range so far and wide anyway that even had she the means she would have been unable to keep track. At least this can help her to narrow some points down, what this one would know, what old relics her clan might have come across as they journeyed.

[What does one say to a story like that? Silence after is to be expected and she takes a quiet breath, glad that Kieran is not lingering. She would not have her son hearing such things.]

I have heard the stories of the Dread Wolf, much as I have seen the statues. And I would never hear a word of this story near my son. [It's not harsh enough to be a warning, just a gentle reminder. Boys are boys but that...that is too grisly for her liking.]

A part of me finds such a tale difficult to believe though clans are said to vary much depending on where they hail from but such talk sounds not unlike the lurid stories some humans have painted of the Dalish, the sacrificing babies to demons sort of stories. It seems some of them may yet be true. What sort of prisoner would be subjected to this sort of punishment?

Nor would I ever share it with him. We both can agree to that.

It doesn't matter. [He sighs, then answers with:] I realize not many clans follow this kind of... behavior. You certainly won't with Clan Ashara, for example. But as you know, not all clans are willing to help and several will look for reasons to punish humans. The most common prisoners were slave traders, but sometimes they were hunters who ventured too deep in the woods and found the river. Other times, more rarely, were people simply lost.

Ellana supresses a sigh when asked her position. The easiest answer would be It's complicated. "I was Hearthmistress, though obviously someone else has taken over since I left. I'm also a mage, but wasn't trained as the First or Second was." And moving right along... "I come from Clan Ashara, which has roamed the Free Marches for ages." She goes on to say where the clan is currently living, because they aren't the only Dalish clan in that region.

"Then you would be the Morrigan who fought in the Fifth Blight?" she asks, having heard the story of the Hero of Ferelden from someone in the clan, but only recently hearing it told again with names attached. Stories filter down until characters accomplish impossible feats, and their names are lost in the retelling. Morrigan was simply the Witch of the Wilds until Ellana heard someone in Skyhold tell the story in the tavern one night. It's also how she came to realize that Alistair and Zevran were part of the tales too.

Slavers deserve what they get, I have met their ilk and the world shall shed no tears for them. [Denerim's alienage certainly did not.] Some of what I have learned paints the elven gods, if that is what they were, as somewhat more...vicious than they seem to be remembered by clans themselves. Andruil in particular has bloody tales, something I would understand for a lady of a hunt, but still they seemed more than that. Though ancient elven can be annoyingly vague when it comes wading through what they said and what they actually meant. [Plus there's the issue of most of the written language having been lost and that helps absolutely no one.]

Were your clan far to the north then?

"Did you ever pass through Kirkwall, close to Sundermount? The legends speak of the battle between the Imperium and the ancient elves, horrors that still prowl the hills to this very day." And honestly, Kirkwall has such a reputation that it's probably true. "I had thought that most Dalish clans had only three mages if they had that many to begin with, though it seems a great deal of Clan Ashara are represented from hearing the talk - I've spoken with your First and one of your hunters." To find Dalish at all at first had been something of a surprise; one expected some former city elves who had been in the Circles from childhood, others who had come perhaps as servants at first or who had left to seek out something more but so many Dalish had surprised her and the number from a single clan...The Inquisition truly had the scope to change a great deal, if it ever secured the backing.

"I am indeed, I confess, it has been some time since so many would know me as her." Orlais had been the scandal of an apostate openly flouting their customs without a care after so many years of only herself and Kieran. To be back on more familiar ground where people remember that the Blight is no longer a story but something some lived through? That might take some adjustment. "Tis the time I first encountered a Dalish clan though as someone else raised far from the reach of the Chantry, there is much they have forgotten that we have likely been taught."

I don't disagree, but I probably would have been more agreeable to the game if they cared at all about what happened to the slaves. Killing the slavers felt like an excuse, even if I didn't particularly care for them, for obvious reasons.

So you know of her. My clan follow her tales closely, even named themselves after her. Clan Frandruil; followers of the hunt. [It's the first time he's openly named his clan, but Morrigan's interest does not make him uncomfortable. He feels more uncertain when he speaks to fellow Dalish, frankly.]

Yes. They were. Primarily, they followed the banks of the Serpentine River.

"No, we didn't. I have wanted to see it, though." But Kirkwall being... well, Kirkwall, they never went that way. Besides, the Sabrae clan lived near the Sundermount for years. They couldn't come near without angering the humans.

"Oh, well you'll learn more from Pel than you will from me. She was taught more of our history than I was." Maybe Ellana shouldn't have bothered volunteering. Pel will be able to give a more well-rounded look at their lore.

"That's true. The Chantry hides things; suppresses them. And utterly wipes out pieces of knowledge that should never have been forgotten." Her voice is sad as she says this. Resigned. She doesn't have a bitter or angry tone to her voice. Getting angry won't magically bring it all back, now will it?

At a certain point, any punishment will say far more about the one dirtying their hands than the one on the receiving end.

I have studied as much as I could on the Creators though I am sure that while there is something shared at the core, much will change based on where a clan is, where it has gone, what it has encountered, particular with the rather more hungry of them. [Gods or elves, maybe both. At least her interest is always honest and she's far more likely to pass judgement on something other than the individual.] Did your clan stick to the hunt or were these games close to some tales painting her as a goddess of sacrifice too?

I am not familiar I am afraid, Orlais and Ferelden I know better, I have had little reason to travel too far. [The Crossroads were more important than current maps.]

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