(no subject)

[rowancrowned]

FORM: Sending Crystal
SENDER: Thranduil
RECIPIENT: Everyone in Kirkwall
WHAT: Thranduil graciously eats humble pie.
WHEN: Today! (12th Wintermarch)
WHERE: Kirkwall
NOTES: Following the fire.

This past Friday, there was a small fire in the section of the tower reserved for the Division heads, specifically my own office and private quarters. Thanks to the efforts of several, including Ser Coupe, no one was injured, and our greatest losses were a few pieces of furniture.

The blaze was my fault. I failed twice, in not properly banking the fire and checking the new wood for dampness caused by the logs being outside during a freeze, and also in not informing the staff that I would be out for the week.

Given the recent cold and what measures we take to remedy it, I politely request that no one repeat my foolishness, stay attentive, and review Gallows evacuation plans in case of a fire. Those that wish to speak with me will find me in the library until my office is cleaned, likely by the middle of next week.

Comments

sorry this is late!

[rowancrowned]

What would you prefer? An apology, or silence and a dislike of questions despite the burn marks, the smell of smoke?

Must one only take accountability when someone is killed?

np!

[thunderproof]

Not only when one is killed, but when significant damage has been done, surely. Can the Inquisition's superiors afford to appear so absent-minded they forget to bank fires in their own rooms?

Not saying anything about your competence or lack thereof, goodsir, I don't know you enough to say one way or the other what kind of sense you have. I'm just a little confused, is all. I suppose transparency is good, if nothing else...

[rowancrowned]

Hardly significant, [ he's firm about this. ]

I do not know. Have you lost all trust in me now, my lady? How great must an error be to knock someone from their perch? I ask this honestly. How fallible are we allowed to be before you would see us removed?

[thunderproof]

Oh, I wouldn't presume to say, I've only been here two and a half months. As far as I'm concerned you can be as fallible as you like! My concern isn't really whether you're fit to be in your position, just confusion over why this had to be made public at all. There was no significant damage, no loss of life... it could have been a mystery and with so many more important things to take care of, no one would bat an eyelash, they'd be too busy batting eyelashes at other things.

At least, that would be my assumption. Probably why I'm not a division head, hm?

[rowancrowned]

Presume away. Public criticism does very well to clear away any cobwebs lingering in corners, and how easily they tend to be spun around Rifters. I am not inclined to create further secrets and suspicions when we are already in a nest of whispering around my motives and the motives of my fellows.

In the future, when people complain they smell smoke, I shall make a point of denying the existence of fire at all, for the sake of comfort.

[thunderproof]

( rifter... dude... division head... he's gotta be the elf guy, right, there's nobody else for him to be. )

So you'd rather transparency than the appearance of infallibility? I can see the merits of both, I suppose. We seem to be so untrustworthy to the world — Rifters, that is — that transparency could be a good way of going about these sorts of things. But there could also be people who call us as a whole incompetent just because of this one mistake — or worse, I guess, if they're determined to think the worst of us. I don't envy your having to make these calls!

( she laughs at that comment about fire, though she... can't really tell if she's supposed to, or if it's supposed to be insulting somehow. )

"Fire what? Never heard of it." Probably not the best way to go about things, but funny all the same.

[rowancrowned]

I needn't acquaint you with all my failures, though it is not as if we are seeking to make the office entirely divine or endowed with the air of anointment. If I am to be named incompetent, let my detractors need to point to specific incidents; let me then be able to present evidence of how they were handled. Those who live in glass houses should not throw stones-- I doubt any in the whole of the world has not made some foolish mistake.

[ dryly, for he has seen his share of idiotic tyrants: ]

If one has power enough, they may say any fool thing that comes to mind until it becomes truth.

[thunderproof]

True enough.

❰ she still thinks this was bullshit made up for some reason, but without any real reason to think so other than "this is a weird moral stance to be taking over a fire that hurt nothing but furniture" she's not about to make any kind of deal of it. maybe he's trying to cover for somebody else, who knows. it's not really her business either way. ❱

Also true enough. You seem to have enough of a head on your shoulders to avoid that particular pitfall, goodsir — it's Thranduil, isn't it? At least, Thranduil is the only male division head I know of. Is there a title you'd prefer I call you by?

[rowancrowned]

Indeed. I am a weed among flowers, [ stoically. ]

Enough height, I hope, to simply step out of any pit I find myself in. I have no title. Elves cannot hold them but in Orlais, and we are, alas, not in Orlais, and there is also the Rift matter. I am only Thranduil.