(no subject)

[degenere]

FORM: sending crystal
SENDER: Val de Foncé
RECIPIENT: Riftwatch
NOTES: unrelated to anything

A question of great importance: who is the most interesting person in Riftwatch?

I am composing a list, which I very easily could make alone. But that is not amusing. So, the winner of the list will of course receive a prize. An extra point will be awarded to a Rifter, quite obviously. Points deducted for, hm, [totally at random here,] let us say.... Wardens. I have nothing against them. Once I admired them! Then I had my sixth birthday, and I grew bored with them.

All suggestions will be considered.

Comments

[esquive]

Does Averesch speak horse, or does that matter less once a thing is dead?

[positioning]

Gentlemen, let's not sell Enchanter Averesch short. Perhaps he is fluent in both the language of the dead and the language of a horse.

[windyvoice]

Y'all gonna be rude about it, you're not allowed to come to the Spirit Horse Chat.

[esquive]

[They're coming to the Spirit Horse Chat you can't stop them.]

[windyvoice]

[ ur talkin a lot of shit for someone with two feet just the right size for hoof stompin. ]

[positioning]

But we must come. There must be witnesses.

[windyvoice]

You can send an impartial representative.

[positioning]

What if we observe from ten feet away and our representative stands beside you and boorish Enchanter Averesch?

[windyvoice]

Fifteen feet.

[positioning]

Fifteen feet! That is too far. Besides, all of us have already been within fifteen feet of the creature.

[windyvoice]

Then what do you need to get closer for?

[positioning]

Because we are interested! It would be cruel to deprive us completely of the chance to see Enchanter Averesch work, and hear your dead horse's answers.

[fripon]

But he asks a good question. Does the spirit of a horse speak horse or spirit? Or both?

[esquive]

Both seems a shade generous. [Horses.... are dumb.] We'll have to hope either that it speaks spirit or else rely on Averesch's fluency.

[fripon]

Can Averesch contact the horse's spirit as well? Is it blasphemous to suggest horses have spirits? I seem to recall a Sister slapping my wrist for that as a boy.

[degenere]

Of course horses have spirits. I know that you have met a horse, Hugo, and looked a horse in its eye. So this you know to be true.

[esquive]

Just so.

I imagine a horse's spirit must be not dissimilar to the ones the Enchanter keeps for company. Happily then, he should have no trouble.

[fripon]

Of course, de Foncé, but you and I know that what we know and our unnamed friend here knows may not be what the good sisters of the Chantry know.

I'm thinking on it now and I'm quite certain that Sister Adalberta left my palm raw for asking whether a horse's spirit might rest at the Maker's side. Perhaps no Divine has ever looked a horse in the eye. Andraste did walk to Tevinter, after all.

[esquive]

De Ricart [—is supplied helpfully.]

Perhaps the Avvar have different opinions. Sigfrost is a great bear, yes?

[positioning]

[ introductions stalled in favor of— ]

Yes. [ decisively. tone suddenly less jokey ] And he has been seated at the Mountain Father's throne since the beginning.

[ that's The Beginning, fyi. ]

But I cannot speak for the displaced spirit of this horse. Perhaps your Maker would have taken him in, or perhaps he is still dwelling alongside Jenny Lou and Ilias' felled warrior.

[degenere]

Allergies, perhaps. To horses. It is a sad thing but it does happen. But that should not damn a horse's spirit to an eternity of wandering. I cannot imagine Andraste would have forsaken horses even if she were deeply allergic. She was so good. Horses are very good. It follows naturally.

[wythersake]

Are you asking if the Enchanter can gnash his teeth and bray?

[ hi kostos ]

[positioning]

Well [ yes ] I assume there is no other way to carry on a conversation with a horse.

Are you here to tell me if he can?

[wythersake]

I have seen him kick and bite.

[positioning]

That is good. I imagine those skills will be crucial for making the beast feel at home.