01. || crystal

[fairforce]

FORM: sending crystal
SENDER: Theophania Hart
RECIPIENT: Riftwach
NOTES: nah

Hello, Riftwatch. I can't tell from observation if it's the custom to give an introduction--I think it's not--but I prefer this to waiting to catching everyone one-by-one in the hallway or training yard. I'm Lady Seeker Theophania Hart. [Well.] Tiffany. I do the title first so there's no surprise later.

I'm among the newest of your company, permanently, but here to investigate the recent abomination. I'll be requesting records and following up on the leads that I have throughout the course of my work, but if anyone has anything additional that should be said, please, let me know.

For the record, I'm finding the Gallows to be surprisingly comfortable, but maybe that's because I've been on the road for what feels like an actual Age, and the weather is terrible, and I'm suffering what I believe to be a mild case of trench foot. Given the time you've all been having, I'll stop my complaining there.

I suppose that's it, unless anyone has any advice to offer to a new recruit. And you can skip any hazing, I'm much too old for it.

Comments

[fairforce]

You trained as a healer here?

[keenly]

[he nods.]

I knew some herbalism before that. Sorry—I knew a lot of herbalism before that. [unused to tooting his own horn, he still has to instill confidence in the Riftwatch healers.]. And some other things. Enough to form a foundation.

[fairforce]

[Even without knowing the mental work behind that quick revision, Tiffany gives it a little smile.]

Finding that you had a talent for it must have been wonderful. I've always thought knowing how to heal someone must be very rewarding--like mending something that's been broken but on such a larger scale. Or being able to see pieces of a puzzle and fitting them back together, backwards.

[keenly]

I like taking care of people. Making them feel safe. Some people, it's the only care and comfort they get in their lives.

[He sets the mug aside, still waiting for the water to boil. At last, he gears up for the big question:]

Were you at the White Spire?

[fairforce]

[Tiffany has a good sense of the pattern of a conversation. There are people who need to fill in any empty spaces. She isn't one of them. She understands silence and she can sense--not always in a way that she could explain--when something larger will follow.]

I wasn't.

[She doesn't stare. She does look at Colin, careful, thoughtful.]

[keenly]

[A small nod. He seems to relax minutely. At least she doesn't appear to be someone who murdered mages. Her personal views on it don't have to be sussed out yet.]

Sorry, I...sorry. [That was definitely counter to the speech he just gave about why he loves healing. He blows out a breath and his cheeks flush a little.] I shouldn't have asked.

[He'd been afraid, is still sort of afraid, but it wasn't professional to bring a personal matter into this.]

[fairforce]

You've nothing to be sorry for.

[She takes a small pause--almost a hesitation--before she hazards her guess:]

You are a mage, yes?

[keenly]

[He'd been thinking of never telling her, but asking about the White Spire was always going to be a dead giveaway. He nods again, glancing up to her after, uncertain what he'll find in her face.]

Lake Calenhad.

[Considering how young she was when chosen for the Seekers, he isn't sure if she'd have come to Kinloch Hold after the Blight to investigate Uldred's rebellion, but since she looks to be around his age, he's thinking it's unlikely.]

[fairforce]

[A slight shadow passes over Tiffany's face. She doesn't look away from him. Her small nod should say part of what she is thinking. She knows the Circle. Even if she wasn't there, she's heard of it.]

I'm glad that you came to be here. And thank you, for telling me. I know you didn't have to.

[keenly]

[Slight confusion.]

That I'm a mage? It's hard to hide when it's part of my job. [He gestures to her feet.] Not in this case, though. They'll be fine without magic.

[fairforce]

[She smiles.]

Very underrated to be able to heal on good advice and company alone. I partly meant the mage part, yes. You could have kept it to yourself. I know Riftwatch is small enough that I would have learned, eventually--it being part of your job especially--but being trusted with the knowledge is still something worth saying thanks for. As is telling me of yourself at all.

Many people--mages, templars both--don't have a lot of trust for Seekers. So I appreciate even a small piece.

[keenly]

[His eyes widen slightly as he takes that in. What is it she's saying? Thanking him for telling him his Circle is like thanking him for telling her his hometown--only when he told her his hometown, she didn't know he was a mage. So that changed something. Now she's thanking him.

Because, in spite of what he'd assumed about her, she's telling him she expects nothing from him. She's not digging for anything. She's only asking to hear what he wants her to hear. People who want more than that start asking gentle questions, getting people to open up, relying on the fact that most people love to talk about themselves. She's recognizing the lack of trust that exists--not just to herself, but out loud, instead of denying it or blaming him for it. Acting like they can start afresh the way the Chantry wants.

This makes him relax more than he has since entering the room, and he smiles, a natural softness coming to his eyes.]

Thank you.

[fairforce]

[Her hands are clasped around the ends of the blanket, holding it close to her shoulders. It probably makes her look more childish than she'd want, but that's better than looking terribly intimidating, if she really thinks of it.

She smiles back at him.]

Of course.

Though-- [She shifts in her chair a little, pushes her feet closer to the fire.] I'll admit, it's not exactly altruistic. I'm hoping to make friends.