OTA | Sending Crystal

[alankazam]

FORM: Sending Crystal
SENDER: Alan
RECIPIENT: Everyone
WHAT: Maybe y'all should keep closer track of your crystals
WHEN: Waves hands vaguely
WHERE: Everywhere
NOTES: Jack away...I'm sure there's a better way to phrase that

Hello, little rock.

You ask so many questions. All day, all night, and in all voices. What's worse than dying? Who are elves? How do you kiss one?

Listen to me: I can ask questions too. What are stars made of? Who put them there? Do you think they must have been very, very tall?

And — Who do you belong to?

Comments

[gatheringstorm]

Wow, it's been a while. This is Korrin.

I never took you for a joiner. What changed your mind?

[alankazam]

Oh. The tall Korrin.

[ Wouldn't want to confuse her with a slightly less towering vashoth. At once, though, his words shift pleased. ]

I haven't joined anything, I think. If my mind changed, maybe I would think that, though. How long has it been? Three years? Why are you speaking through rocks?

[gatheringstorm]

Why not speak through rocks? It's awesomely convenient, you know.

And yeah, that sounds about right. Should I expect to have you perching on my horns again soon?

[alankazam]

[ A beat. ]

I don't know. I don't intend to die soon.

[ Clearly, that's what Korrin is. A spirit. ]

But I don't think she did either.

[gatheringstorm]

Wait, what? Who?

[alankazam]

The woman who had this before. Is that why she was talking to you?

[gatheringstorm]

...I don't know who had your sending crystal before, but it's pretty easy to communicate with just about anyone by using it. If you don't specify who you want to reach, it goes to anyone within a certain distance who also has a crystal.

What happened to her, Alan? Do you know who she was? Some scout or...?

1/2

[alankazam]

Ah.

[ A brief pause. Probably not spirits, then. At least, not all of them. ]

I'm glad you're not dead.

2/2

[alankazam]

[ With that grand affirmation of affection — ]

I don't know who she was. Most of her face was gone. Her shirt had an eye on it, stabbed through. She had another made in tin, in her bag.

It was — [ Pause. ] — A very weird symbol.

[ the art critic has spoken ]

[gatheringstorm]

I'm glad you're not dead either.

[There's amusement in her voice, though she quickly focuses.]

Was it a hairy eyeball with a sword stuck through it? That means she was of the Inquisition.

[alankazam]

Yes — A little like a Chantry sun, but spinier. Her own eyes were missing, I thought it might have to do with that. What was she Inquiring about?

[gatheringstorm]

...ugh.

Probably about the whereabouts of our enemies, especially the guy who made the Breach. We've been trying to pin him down and stop him from doing that again. Demons pouring out of everywhere is kind of distracting, you know.

[alankazam]

Very, [ He agrees. They'd certainly distracted her. ] But the colours are beautiful. She was one of yours? Like in Denerim?

[gatheringstorm]

I guess you could say that, but the Valo-Kas are a lot less numerous and a lot more tight-knit. I might have met her, but I can't say I really know her.

Where are you now, by the way? Anywhere near Skyhold?

[alankazam]

In the Wilds. South, by the water. But not so far that it gets dark. It's all water here, but there's more of it where I am.

[ But Korrin's not the only one to mention a Skyhold — ]

I don't know what that is. Is that where you've gone?

[gatheringstorm]

Yep. It's in the northern Frostbacks, north of...well, what's left of Haven. I imagine it'd be pretty easy to find, what with all the supply wagons and soldiers and the like constantly coming and going.

[alankazam]

[ There's nothing left of Haven. He hasn't heard the news of its second destruction, but Haven as it was won't ever be again. People make a place, as surely as its buildings. ]

I know the area. The soldiers — should I expect trouble?

[ Korrin, he expects, would know. War may not have come to the Korcari, but he's not the only apostate to have tried running there. Just one of the few that hasn't sunk. ]

[gatheringstorm]

Not unless you start it, no. If you work for the Inquisition, they don't care if you're an apostate or not. Hell, all mages are apostates now anyway. The Circles are gone, so what else would they be?

[alankazam]

Themselves, I suppose.

[ 'If you work for the Inquisition'. Well. That settles that. It'd be nice to spend some time out of the swamps without tripping over frightened villagers and tustling factions. ]

It's not a long flight, but the air's thin. A few days, perhaps. I'll bring the rock.

[gatheringstorm]

Good idea. Once you get here, let me know. Call out, perch on a horn, something.

[alankazam]

Caw, caw.

[ Stated flatly. Alan out. ]