The age-old question

[issala]

FORM: Sending Crystal
SENDER: Kas
RECIPIENT: Everyone
WHAT: More questions
WHEN: Today
WHERE: Skyhold
NOTES: Tiny teen qunari muses about not being tiny any more.

So at what age are you really an adult? I mean, not maturely but like... to other people. You say you 'come of age' and stuff like that but exactly what age is that in Ferelden? Here you can't join the army if you're under seventeen, which is fair. Does that mean you're an adult after seventeen?

I heard some rifter saying you can't drink unless you're eighteen or twenty-one or whatever. Rivain doesn't have a rule like that. I had wine when I was a kid, so I don't see the point of restricting it.

...but, like... at what age are you an adult? How old do you gotta be to marry someone without it being weird?

[Pause.]

Not that I'm marrying anyone!

Comments

[issala]

I've killed twelve people so far with the Inquisition and I don't really know if that makes me an adult or just not dead.

[He does keep count, however.]

It sounds really sketchy for nobles to marry off young people but at least they're around the same age? It's really sketchy when it's a young person and an older one.

[in_death_sacrifice]

You've kept track, hm? Interesting... but it does mean you're a survivor, of course, and that you've faced down quite a few battles... I'd say that makes you adult enough.

I have to agree. I've heard of some especially unsavory arrangements in terms of age difference, always for some political reason of some sort. It's one of many reasons why I felt it best to leave such a culture behind, in favor of the Wardens.

[issala]

Of course I keep track. [Who doesn't, he thinks.]

...how is it, being a Warden?

[in_death_sacrifice]

[He's been at this long enough to lose track... but he gets it. He used to do it for a time.]

Believe it or not, I enjoy being a Warden... being part of something so important, an order which is ancient and essential to Thedas' survival... I've become close with my companions in the order, as well. They're like family.

[Sure, there is that early death hovering over his head, and the nasty things which had happened with Clarel, and so on, but he's willing to deal with it. It's worth it to him.]

[issala]

[Kas feels like he would stop being himself if he forgot how many people he has killed. Maybe it's easier if you've been trained for it - maybe not.]

That sounds kind of nice, despite the... darkspawn stuff.

[in_death_sacrifice]

It really is. For all the sacrifices that we must make... it's worth it, to belong to such an order, to have so many companions to count on. I've trained all my life as a warrior, anyway, so it was a place for me to put my skills to good use.

[That and it meant a lot to him to follow in his fathers' footsteps.]

[issala]

Aren't you sad that you'll die early and never have a girlfriend and stuff?

[in_death_sacrifice]

Death itself doesn't frighten me. I'm a warrior, so I've always accepted it as a possibility any time I set foot into battle. I'll make the most of the life I have.

[Though he sighs.]

But... sometimes I... No, never mind. [I want to meet someone. But he doesn't want to put anyone through the inevitable loss they'll face.]

[issala]

...I think I get it.

[in_death_sacrifice]

I'm glad you do. It's hard to explain sometimes, to those not in the Order, just how important this cause is, that it's worth giving up some part of our lives. It certainly doesn't make it easy to recruit new members.

["Come have a swig of darkspawn blood and drastically reduce your lifespan" just doesn't make people eager to sign up.]