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FORM: Sending Crystal
SENDER: Adelaide LeBlanc
RECIPIENT: Everyone
WHAT: Questions for Shardbearers
WHEN: Guardian 22
WHERE: Emprise Du Lion, heard by all
NOTES: Research Questionnaire for people that have shiny things on/in their person.

This message is for anyone that has a shard in their hand, their chest, or otherwise on their person; Rifter or Thedosian or otherwise. If you are so fortunate or unfortunate depending upon your view of the shard as to have one I've questions for you in the interest of better understanding that which you have and what it means for your health, the world around you, and how likely it is you might attract demons in your sleep. At my current best estimate the odds are high in on last but I tend to err on assuming the worst and being pleasantly surprised when the world doesn't rain down fire, death, and the undead.

If you would rather speak in person and are in Emprise du Lion- I can be found in my healing tent. If not? I will return to Skyhold at the end of Guardian if you would prefer to wait to speak face to face or am available at all hours on the crystals.

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Say that you do not wish to discuss them and I will move on. Evade and I will be obligated to keep prying.

I don't want to discuss them.

Fair enough.

[ That wasn't so hard now, was it? ]

Have you used it to close any rifts since you've arrived?

Can't say I've gotten the opportunity yet, heard about folks being able to though.

[ She takes a few more notes- N/A on dreams, N on closing rifts before extending a hand to him. ]

May I see the shard?

Sure.

[He extends it out for her to look at. Not much has changed though, still there, and still glowing as bright as ever.]

[ Gently, she takes his hand in hers, running her thumb over the glowing mark. It feels normal, no heat, no radiating power- nothing that a non-mage's awareness might grant.

There's a sound she cannot place, magic she cannot quite grasp that connects to it like a thread. The bit that slips through the Veil, she supposes. ]

Have you noticed any loss or change in sensation or grip strength?"

Indeed. [The sentiment is warming, nearly as much as the tea, and while she doesn't smile, her expression becomes less severe. She would mull over what might be done for Sina, but her ability to focus has been lessened sharply by the Emprise.]

Have you learned much about the shards? Do they ail others as they do Sina?

Right. I understand, given what I've been told so far about the world… they're important questions to ask. [He’d rather know if something were wrong, if being here has done something irreversible to him.] I haven’t noticed anything amiss with dreams that I can tell though. Is there any direct way to know whether or not that connection to the Fade is there? Any sort of dreams I should be wary of?

[He’s guessing it's not so easy, hence the questions, but it’s still worth asking, he figures.]

From what little I have gathered thusfar? It varies. Some feel pins and needles, some feel nothing, no one as of yet that is not of this world has spoken to changes in their dreams. Aside from Sina the only other that has a shard not in their hand is a young Orlesian elf- it is on the back of her arm, closer to the wrist than the elbow.

[ Adelaide flips through her notes, peering down at the encoded shorthand. ]

But none have had it quite so long as Sina. Her shard she gained when the breach was sealed. The group that has theirs the second longest would be the rifters that fell through at Haven.

[A long moment of silence.]

...Not that I can recall. Nothing out of the ordinary.

Would it help to tell you that where I come from there's no such thing as magic? I'm about as far from what you called as mage as one can be.

( Good smells. The kind of smells that make her think of Belle when she's pouring over an old manuscript she's found buried in the library, and the lavender Granny always tucks into her laundry. Smells feel more useful to her than sight, sometimes, like they could pull her back in time and she could live a moment over again. The scents set her a little more at ease, this time, and Ruby undoes the clasp that holds her cloak about her throat, letting it slide from her shoulders and bundling it up to rest in her lap as she sits. )

Tea would be great, actually. Thank you.

( Ruby sits with her hands bracing on the chair on either side of herself, shoulders and back curled forwards just a little as she watches Adelaide. ) I'm Ruby. Lucas. Ruby Lucas. How can I help?

( Or how can you help me help my friend and how can I help with that? but, you know, baby steps. )

[Well she sure just cracked her knee off something.]

Wait! Wait, wait, wait - what do you mean by that? I know enough to know that this is a very rare and strange sort of thing, are you saying we could all have the potential to do as Sina did? Consciously or otherwise?

That is the current theory. I am trying to prove you cannot. Sina was pulling from the fade with her magic when the rift opened- she has a connection that you and the others lack. If there is no connection it might be impossible or merely difficult- but you must will it to be so. Pull from the fade to make it so. That is not something one does on accident.

Figures offering power or influence in return for an agreement- a lucidity to those interactions your normal dreams lack. Anything where your wildest desires are on offer as Desire demons are the most commonly encountered.

Testing for a connection like that- it may require an attempt at fade meditation but without knowing for certain? It is not something I would wish to attempt with a rifter. For if there is that connection to the fade but you have never before encountered it? There is danger. If you do not- nothing might happen or you might dream as you would in your own world and that is somewhere I cannot follow to guide you back.

It would, thank you. [ An additional note is made- Magic: None. ] This must all be terribly strange for you.

Someone, and forgive me but I cannot recall his name at all, tried to explain about how the shards are connected. About the song. [Please Adelaide, be kind and ignore the way her voice isn't nearly as confident as it was upon meeting, or any time Araceli has been waiting for Korrin. At least Adelaide can't see the faces she's pulling as she struggles to remember her conversation with Cole that seems hazier the harder she tries to reach for it.] Are we connected to it the way humans and elves are here? Or is it just one part of us that might be?

I...do not know. There is a resonance in them I can feel as I would magic; and the shards themselves are connected to the veil and the Fade. Whether that connection extends into you properly- I cannot say. [ Her voice gentles somewhat. ] but I mean to find the truth of it.

[ Hot from the kettle at this time of day- not that she often left it to steep and cool into a bitter brew on purpose; preoccupation did that work for her. But this pot is fresh and she has, even, a few sweet rolls sliced for her lunch. More than enough to share. Adelaide pours Ruby a cup and prepares a plate without asking, offering over both. There's a weary efficiency to her motions- someone that has done much the same for a fair while; enough to do so quickly and simply. ] I am Councilor LeBlanc- or Adelaide if you are more comfortable with given names.

I have questions about the shard in your hand and your world, if you are comfortable answering them.

Well, ( and she grins, a little, ) I don't have a problem with titles, but I'm kind of used to associating them with the less friendly people in my world. The Queen. The Dark One. Although that last one pertained to Emma, now, but she could see herself calling Emma 'The Dark One' even less than she'd see her calling her 'Your Majesty' outside of teasing.

It could be worth mentioning that she was on the War Council for a King and Queen back home, but that was so many years ago that she's not sure it's worth touching on. As it is, Ruby tugs the red leather glove off her left hand, revealing the glowing shard that cuts from just above her thumb down to her wrist. )

I'll do my best. The world part could get sort of... complicated. Just as a warning. Magic's kinda, uh, well. Let's just say that 'curse' is sort of a buzz word, back home.

The learning curve is quite sharp, but I'm managing, so far.

[What choice did she have?]

Can I ask... is there anything new about how or when we might be able to return home?

[Kain feels an inner sense of dread at the very thought of it all. It reminds him too much of the mind control that Golbez and Zemus had used on him, the manipulation that tricked him into thinking he'd be stronger, better than ever. False promises, all of it. He fears what would happen if he ever faced this world's demons. He's not so sure he has it in him to resist, given his past.]

[It takes him a moment to reply, all of these thoughts running though his mind.]

I've not encountered anything like that in any dreams, and certainly nothing like that here. I'll remain on guard all the same. It seems that's the most that can be done... All of it sounds as if it's something best not tampered with if we don't have to.

Och, I don't know about that.

[A different sort of day, perhaps, but they've shared a tent while out in the field before. He hasn't forgotten how much she can fit into a day. And unless he misses his guess she's got a lot more to do yet, so even though he appreciates the chance to eat first, once he settles down he winds up making short work of the cake. The tea he can go slower on, however, and it'll give him something to sip at inbetween questions.]

Mmm, that hit the spot. Adelaide, has anyone told you lately you're the best? I'm ready for those questions, though, if you are.

Oh.

[None of this is Adelaide’s fault but the disappointment slips out anyway.]

Could it be outside of us? The rifts, or what I have heard of them, they're already there and the demons come from that other side, different again to where any of us came through. [A soft curse follows, it's hard to explain thoughts when you don't fully understand it all.] I don't know what help I can be, there is a very good chance I will be a hindrance more than anything else but if I can, you can call on me.

Would-- [She needs a moment to breathe so she can ask this, that horrible thought that's been sitting in her head since Korrin told her of Sina] would exposure to the rifts and using our marks make them...stronger is not the right word but I don't know how else to phrase it.

Simply Adelaide should suit, then. I am less a Councilor in this than I am a researcher and healer.

[ Whatever she learns will be of use to the council, yes, but more than anything else she wishes to ensure these shards will not harm those that carry them. Any and all answers will be of use in determining this. Gentle as possible she reaches out to cradle Ruby's hand, thumb resting light against the skin just where the shard begins to glow. ]

Then we shall save the world questions for last, yes? Has this caused you much pain since you arrived?

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