therookery | [ OPEN ]

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.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[Galadriel takes the cup and nearly sighs as it warms her fingers. She hadn't realized how cold they'd gone and that, in and of itself, is somewhat jarring. She spares her hands a long glance as she listens to Adelaide explain and then returns her gaze to the human.]

I imagine they are far less, but that is no surprise. I am much harder to strike down than my Dalish kin.

[A sobering thought. She hadn't yet taught Sina any of the Tengwar. But there was no use lingering in dark thoughts.]

There is an ache to this mark, but it is difficult to describe.

It is not like a wound, but something else. I feel as if my hand is the only piece of me that is...solid. It is a sensation that ends as it moves up my arm, replaced by a strange, cloying discomfort that spreads across the rest of me.

The mark is disturbing, and the power it commands is painful and disorienting--[She is not saying "pain lasers" again. Ever.] But I've had no trouble using it after closing the rifts.

If it draws demons to me or pushes them away, I cannot say, but dreams are new to me. I do not know what dreams are meant to be so I would not know if mine are strange.

[ Adelaide bends to her notes, writing out word for word what Galadriel says and offering some room to the side or below for her own thoughts and commentary. The bit about her hand being the only thing that feels real- that may be unique to Galadriel alone as no one else has described it. Considering what she knows of her friend's magic, her rough grasp of it-

That makes some sense, but that she can vaguely understand the theoretical why does not make it any less concerning. ]

You do not dream, in your world? [ Explaining what might be normal as compared to what might be a trap set by demons to someone that has never before experienced the like-

She's done it before, with a dwarf. It hadn't gone well. ]

No. We do not sleep, not as men do.

[Galadriel confirmed and lifted the cup of tea to take a sip of it. The hot beverage was soothing in a very pleasant way.]

I had never attempted it before Thedas demanded it of me. It is...a strange experience.

...I suppose that would make gauging whether or not the shard influences your dreams difficult to say the least. [ She makes a note off to one side, frowning at the paper. ] I do not know that I could explain it.

I doubt I would truly understand, even if you attempted to.

[She doesn't often make concessions like that, but Adelaide is not a threat. Her answers will be as true as she can make them, despite all that she doesn't know. She regards her cup as Adelaide makes her notes; the frown that settles on her face is the same one that she has worn for weeks now, it is the only expression the Emprise can draw out of her.]

I did not know Sina carried a shard in her chest; nor that she was struck so gravely by it. Has she recovered? I can only hope the danger passed once the rift was closed?

The best I might say is to mind whether or not you are given offers of power or influence by beings that seem too good to be true- but as demons are shaped by expectation and interpretation what I may see as one may not be what you see- and that is if you dream with the Fade at all.

[ Too many questions, not enough answers- and the potential for trouble here...

She sets such thoughts aside in favor of answering Galadriel's questions. This much she knows. ]

The rift opening and attempts to close it nearly killed her. Compassion and I managed to prevent it but- barely. I do not know if she will ever quite recover entirely. When I left Skyhold she was still spending more time than not sleeping.

[Demons offered power? It was an absurd thought, and so outlandish that Galadriel very nearly laughed. If it hadn't been for the grim nature of Sina's plight, she may have done just that, but the account regarding the young elf was enough to stay her. Galadriel shifted her hands against the cup and there was a soft sound as Nenya contacted the ceramic.]

She is very young; it is a pity that the shard ails her so, and that your Compassion was so burdened...

[Her tone is a little less certain than usual, but the offer that springs to mind is not one she has attempted in Thedas. She has no way of knowing if she is capable of grander skills than what she has already employed, but she cannot refrain from considering what assistance she could provide.

After a long pause, she returns her attention to Adelaide.]

I am no healer, and I have lost that which would best serve her, but I can, perhaps...restore what was.

If the strain of the shard is great, I cannot save her from it, but I can see her health returned.

If it will not harm you to do so, I cannot see how it will hurt to make an attempt. The shard twists magic- not even Compassion and I are able to restore her to how she'd been before. Perhaps you might be better able to see it done.

[ There is only so much they might do- but Galadriel's skills and power are fundamentally different. Perhaps it would be enough to see Sina restored. ]

It was no burden. It is Compassion's purpose, to ease pain, to mend. Sina...is a friend. To do nothing- that would have been a burden.

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?

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.

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