Casting down bad memories

[arlathvhen]

FORM: Sending crystal
SENDER: Beleth Ashara
RECIPIENT: Everyone who's part of the first group to Kirkwall
WHAT: Discussing what's to be done about the statues
WHEN: Sometime between Cloudreach 14th and 20th
WHERE: Kirkwall
NOTES: This isn't an Official Poll that's going to decide things but it's a good way for people to throw out suggestions for voting on and discuss ideas

Good day, to every member of the Inquisition currently helping take care of the Gallows. We've been making some amazing progress, and I'm sure that our contributions will give this place the overhaul that it desperately needs. With time, the Gallows will become a symbol of hope, rather than despair.

If I may, I'd like to take time to discuss ideas for one of those symbols. Specifically, those horrid statues that are strewn about. Now that they will...probably no longer attempt to kill us.

I've been informed that there are artisans willing to melt down the statues and create new ones to be put in their place. Additionally, our group has been given permission to choose what kind of statues would be put up there. Suffice to say, whatever we go with will make a statement about our goals here. The Inquisition is trusting us to make sure that statement is positive.

So, I would like to discuss possibilities with everyone, and see if we can get some good ideas going.

To start the ball rolling, if it's alright, I'd like to share my own proposal. Of course, this is only a suggestion, and I welcome any other voices.

I propose that we have the statues remade to represent the diverse groups within the Inquisition. Have a statue of a dwarf, another of a Dalish, another of a mage, etc, etc. It would send a message of cooperation and coexistence, and hopefully promote such in our new home.

The floor is open for further suggestions.

Comments

[aventuriere]

That might please the Chantry, [ she says it very brightly ] A living demonstration of the wages of sin, literally bludgeoned to death by our own frivolous vanity.

[limier]

The metaphor alone seems a hazard on that count.

[aventuriere]

Of course, as we're meant to be representatives of the Chantry to some extent, they might not appreciate the message quite so much.

[limier]

[ there are a number of things she could say about what the chantry appreciates, and alas, so very few of them involve keeping her job ]

Is that why you have come to the Inquisition, Madame — ?

[ what's your name again, loud-probably-noble-academic ]

[aventuriere]

[ lololol ]

Oh yes, [ says an exceedingly serious voice ] I have come as a pilgrim, to follow the Inquisition on my knees in supplication for the sins of all Thedas, in hopes that our poor deeds may play some small role in redeeming us and bringing the world once more into the Maker's sight.

[limier]

[ the university of orlais is an invaluable institution of progress and learning, a jewel of the empire, a wonder of the south.

the second wonder is that no one's burned it to the ground ]

Very pious, [ steadily — but she's not so good at this, and there's an air of faint exasperation beneath the words. your trophy, freddie ] Did you swim here on your knees, as well?

[aventuriere]

[ freddie's thought about it once or twice. well, not the whole place. just the dean's office. and perhaps one or two others. ]

Of course not [ she scoffs, terribly offended ] that's absurd.

[ wait for it ]

But I was keelhauled at regular intervals, to be sure that my journey, like any proper pilgrim's path, was filled with a small measure of the suffering our Lady endured in her brief life as the Maker's bride.

[limier]

I feel holier by the minute of your presence.

[ there's. more than one way to take that. ]

How long do you intend to repent of our sins? Has there been a schedule devised, which we ought follow?

[aventuriere]

I am always pleased to provide an example of proper devotion.

[ which is to say very little devotion at all. she's sorry, jehan. ]

I know some people prefer the schedule based on Grand Cleric Eleutheria's reconstruction of Andraste's final week, but I've always found her interpretation of Andraste chapter 5 verses 20 to 32 to be a poor interpretation that fails to capture the true measure of our Lady's devotion. Instead I follow the schedule constructed by the late Revered Mother Syndallia. I'd be happy to lend you a copy. Have you a hair shirt?

[limier]

[ does this conversation count as a hair shirt ]

I fear my stipend does not permit to keep me in such fashions. But I should be interested to review the work, so as to reserve my sinning to the proper hours.

[aventuriere]

[ what are you talking about this is making her day ]

Oh no, I am afraid you have misunderstood. There are no hours for sinning, only hours of active penitence and passive repentance. And once a day, we are permitted to express our gratitude to the Maker through song.

[limier]

Ah, quite. How nostalgic of youth.

I find that I repent most passively while at rest. Perhaps these hours, and those of sleep might be consolidated. Efficiency is ever a virtue.

[aventuriere]

That is to be expected, in one of an advanced age. The Maker understands the natural infirmities of the body; aging is, after all, His work as well, bringing us nearer to the time when we will join Him. [ you can hear the capitalization in her tone ]

I believe it would be acceptable to combine those hours, so long as one was certain to pursue penitence in the Fade as well. Dreams are no excuse for us to decrease our vigilance against impious thoughts.

[limier]

[ oh, how she’d love to imply that time might be shortened — no. set a good example. okay, well. set a... set a not completely shitty example.

( a pillowcase full of weevils. no one would blame her. ) ]

Are you often impious of dreams, Madame? Where does this arrangement leave the Dwarven faithful?

[degenere]

I pray you: do not ask her of her impious dreams, madame. There might be tender souls listening. Children. You cannot imagine what it is that you ask.

It is in fact for her dreams that the mademoiselle must seek regular absolution. It is the hope of all the faithful in Orlais that she finds purity on her pilgrimage.

[limier]

[ why are there two of them

what scholarly crimes is she atoning for

is this because she dog-eared the library books ]

Monsieur, do not all journeys of redemption begin with confession?

[degenere]

[this is for sure some penance]

They do, yes. And she did confess, publicly, in great detail, as is tradition. Stood high upon a platform in the square, for all to hear. The chaos, madame. I fear the village may never recover.

[aventuriere]

I can still hear the weeping... Or perhaps that is my own, as my very soul cries out in anguish at the mere recollection of the sin once harbored in my breast. And yet at the same time there is an ecstasy in confession the unshriven cannot imagine. So perhaps the weeping is the children's, after all.

[limier]

Tragic. Am I to understand that silence shall be restorative of your respective virtues? As it may dry the tears of Kirkwall's young multitudes.

[degenere]

To the contrary! The mademoiselle was given the charge of virtuous speaking for her penance. She must speak, and speak, and speak. Never a moment of silence, for in the silence, there is the sin of thoughts. The more silence is filled with the virtuous speech, the less opportunity there is for the tears of the children--and the less opportunity for sin.

For the sinful breast, you see, is always tempted to sin once more. And the mademoiselle has breasts that are most sinful. Believe me.

[aventuriere]

[ there is a faint hollow thwack in the background of someone getting slapped upside the head, but not especially hard ]

Was it not, after all, silence that the heathen Tevinters worshipped in their false idol Dumat? We must reject all attempts to return to those days of blood and sin before the blessed Andraste brought the word of the Maker back into the ears of all and cast out silence itself from our lives lest we allow Dumat to creep in.

[limier]

[ a hallowed day, for dumat is vanquished by the soft, soothing sounds of the sea.

which is to say: amid the gentle lapping of the waves are the screeches of gulls, the curses of dockworkers, the barking of mabari, and at least one deeply nsfw conversation about the champion's statue between two hired hands.

the noise continues, more or less unabated, until she returns to collect the crystal in a few hours. yw ]

[aventuriere]

[ several hours after that, once the danger appears to have passed, wren receives a message. it is not noises of the sea, though there is the unmistakable creaking of rigging and hulls, and the faintest lapping in the background. but in the foreground, is a recitation of the deeply nsfw conversation about the champion's statue, with the parts of both hired hands played by freddie, complete with accents, which are only a little spoiled by the obvious joy she takes in relating this story in such excruciating detail that one can only assume she took notes as it happened. ]

No need for thanks; it is my pleasure only to be of service in seeing that you received this most important and urgent message from the gentlemen at the docks. Bonsoir, madame.

[limier]

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