[ OPEN ]

[rowancrowned]

FORM: Sending crystal.
SENDER: Thranduil
RECIPIENT: Kirkwall Inquisition
WHAT: Field trip to finally go to Solasan
WHEN: Present
WHERE: Kirkwall
NOTES: Anyone who was involved originally gets first dibs.

It has not escaped my notice, despite all recent events, that I have been in Thedas for one year. [ he lets that sit for a moment. ] Thanks are in order; first to the Inquisition as a whole for their continued hospitality and second, to my own people, for their kindness. Ma serannas. I am pleased that there are elves in worlds other than Arda.

[ his tone switches as he gets into the meat of the announcement. ]

Several months ago, the Seeker and I came into possession of a key. With the events in Orlais as well as the move, we did not have a chance to use it until recently. I am seeking volunteers to travel west. The area, under Inquisition control, presents no dangers beyond local wildlife and the standard dangers of the desert, but I would advise that only those confident enough to handle themselves in combat come forward.

And, ah-- [ styled as an afterthought, but far too deliberate. ] I would like someone confident with written Elven.

Comments

[ipseite]

( There's a pause. Her feelings on the subject are complicated, already; his clarification pushed to the foreground something she might prefer not to yet examine.

So she doesn't. It can wait. )

Is it so obvious? I don't wish to expect anything - I claim no titles here.

( That she's a lady, she means. )

[rowancrowned]

[ he gives his reasons. if she's looking to avoid an assumption with the next person she speaks to, he won't judge. few know of his background in thedas. who could tell any of these elves they were a king, once, and not expect to be laughed out or thought mad? ]

Your speech is refined. You consider your words; you know you will be heard. I would rather be overly polite than lacking. If you had admitted only a background in, perhaps, education, or as a lady's maid, I would have believed you.

It is an intelligent position to take.

[ipseite]

It is the only position that makes any sense to me.

( and the question of what she is when she's at home is no simple one to answer, either. )

I don't intend to lie, sir, ( except by ommission, ) it simply seems to me a great foolishness to imagine I will gain from clinging to a foreign past.

[rowancrowned]

[ he thinks of thingol, laying claim to his title and history without shame. that is partly thranduil's own fault, having not expected to see his lord again, and carelessly spreading the story of luthien whilst thinking no one could call him to account on it. ]

You have naught to gain with it. I understand.

[ those are the easiest sorts of lies. ]

You think of your future instead, I assume?

[ipseite]

I think this moment of my present.

( one foot in front of the other. decide later what she makes of her future - what she wants. )

[rowancrowned]

You sound as though you are a thoroughly sensible woman.

Have they settled you into a room? Provided you with a chance to eat and sleep?

[ipseite]

I try.

( - wryly. )

Yes, in - the Gallows? ( A dreadful name for a place, but hardly hers to say so. ) I have been able to clean my clothes.

[rowancrowned]

The Gallows, [ he agrees. he turned down a larger room than his current one, displeased and unsettled by the aura of it. the name suits. ] Settling yourself make take some time. Where is your shard? In your hand?

[ipseite]

In my hand, ( agreeing. )

It is all a great deal. I am trying to adjust.

[rowancrowned]

Perhaps a thick pair of gloves, Madame de Cedoux.

It will take time. But all becomes routine, eventually.

[ipseite]

They do.

( Maybe it has something to do with her calm approach now, how deeply familiar she sounds with that concept. )

The world shifts, it shifts, it shifts again. We steady.

[rowancrowned]

This is, perhaps, the largest shift one might need to acclimate oneself to in a lifetime. To be unsteady for longer than usually would not be unreasonable.

I am, in truth, surprised to admit that none upon arrival here and explanation of the situation has gone mad.

[ipseite]

Perhaps.

( It sounds like she thinks she should agree, which is different from sounding as if she does. Or as if she thinks it's the largest she's dealt with.

It should be, by rights. It just has so much else to compete with, and she has little left to give to find it shocking. )

Well, it's for the best they haven't. It would not be, I think, in their best interests.

[rowancrowned]

No, I think not.

[ thedas, he thinks, could have been even less sympathetic to him. he will summon up some gratefulness. ]

Do feel free to ask questions, as they come to you. Perhaps with time, you will learn how to pass.

[ipseite]

If it is needful, of course.

( she isn't sure how she feels about the sound of that. or rather, she is, and she doesn't like it. )