[Small magic like this catches her eye - she doesn't see it so often, see it when people fight, some when there were repairs or the healing she avoids but this...it makes her smile.]
Do too little, you are idle, you expect much and the whispers start. Do too much, you are too ambitious and the whispers start. The Inquisition is about setting a course for the future of Thedas, no? Many other project heads such as myself are rifters, elven, mages, Wardens, Dalish, dwarven. [Statements are being made already, this is carrying that forward.]
You've picked up what others haven't then. [Because she slipped. Maybe she wanted to. Maybe it's been familiar but her mouth pulls a little, slightly embarrassed because she can imagine Leliana's disapproval (she would, wouldn't she, for giving herself away?) Or Araceli recognised enough in her to feel comfortable doing it.]
I can go first. I have done so before for Sister Leliana, the Nightingale, when I began my bard training under her. [Such studies required honesty that Leliana had laid before them and it was only right to give that to her, if this is being extended to her, she can do this again only--
A pause, she rubs the base of her left thumb absently.] It's been a while since I spoke of it to anyone. There's a part of my life I leave out because when I came here, I came in the first group to arrive. When we were treated with suspicion. With hostility in some corners. And, I had no way to prove who or what I was. Allowing people to believe what they wish to believe serves me well in life when I need to get my work done either way.
I am a thief, a captain's daughter, a whore's daughter that is all true. But I am also a member of the queensguard to Leandra, Her Grace Above the Waves and had been for a good year before I came to Thedas. I was the first commoner to hold the position, the first Castilean due to rules and laws, a loophole was used: I went to steal her jewels, she had eyes on me and sent spies to ask after me, an exisiting assassination attempt became a test--
[You know how these things are.]
She inducted me on the spot, I was trained and began guarding my queen with all that entails. We attend her audiences, we go to the places she cannot, we are always there but can easily be part of the furniture if she wishes it and so forth. [The last time was the Outsider in a dream so the rules were different, before that...a long, long time ago, the tiny handful and she exhales a shuddering sigh through her nose. It's so much to hold in and keep safe to herself all the time.] I...I expect there are questions.
no subject
Do too little, you are idle, you expect much and the whispers start. Do too much, you are too ambitious and the whispers start. The Inquisition is about setting a course for the future of Thedas, no? Many other project heads such as myself are rifters, elven, mages, Wardens, Dalish, dwarven. [Statements are being made already, this is carrying that forward.]
You've picked up what others haven't then. [Because she slipped. Maybe she wanted to. Maybe it's been familiar but her mouth pulls a little, slightly embarrassed because she can imagine Leliana's disapproval (she would, wouldn't she, for giving herself away?) Or Araceli recognised enough in her to feel comfortable doing it.]
I can go first. I have done so before for Sister Leliana, the Nightingale, when I began my bard training under her. [Such studies required honesty that Leliana had laid before them and it was only right to give that to her, if this is being extended to her, she can do this again only--
A pause, she rubs the base of her left thumb absently.] It's been a while since I spoke of it to anyone. There's a part of my life I leave out because when I came here, I came in the first group to arrive. When we were treated with suspicion. With hostility in some corners. And, I had no way to prove who or what I was. Allowing people to believe what they wish to believe serves me well in life when I need to get my work done either way.
I am a thief, a captain's daughter, a whore's daughter that is all true. But I am also a member of the queensguard to Leandra, Her Grace Above the Waves and had been for a good year before I came to Thedas. I was the first commoner to hold the position, the first Castilean due to rules and laws, a loophole was used: I went to steal her jewels, she had eyes on me and sent spies to ask after me, an exisiting assassination attempt became a test--
[You know how these things are.]
She inducted me on the spot, I was trained and began guarding my queen with all that entails. We attend her audiences, we go to the places she cannot, we are always there but can easily be part of the furniture if she wishes it and so forth. [The last time was the Outsider in a dream so the rules were different, before that...a long, long time ago, the tiny handful and she exhales a shuddering sigh through her nose. It's so much to hold in and keep safe to herself all the time.] I...I expect there are questions.