[ Give you a discount, he nearly says, but Vincent’s name flickers at the edge of his mind again, and Bastien shifts course with barely a hiccup of a pause. ]
—send the bill to Ferelden.
[ There are a number of benefits to having an armful of Byerly. One of them is easier access to his back, which Bastien resumes searching one-handed for lingering strain and tension. ]
It must be hard to, uh... I have thought the same of Alexandrie. The nobles, they are playing the Game for something that never stops mattering. Their names, their families. It is all one game. Every move matters. Every piece you lose stays lost for the rest of your life.
For us—the bards like I was, I mean—it is more like a tournament. We play one game, then we get a fresh board and a new opponent, so as long as we win it doesn’t matter what pieces we have left.
We had our own problems, of course, but I think that part of it must be easier for us. To not be playing one single unending game.
[ Anyway, ]
Your work seems more like that. Everything always matters. You don’t get to say that you protected your country from this or that like you were told to, so you are done and you will worry about it again when they give you something new to do.
no subject
[ Give you a discount, he nearly says, but Vincent’s name flickers at the edge of his mind again, and Bastien shifts course with barely a hiccup of a pause. ]
—send the bill to Ferelden.
[ There are a number of benefits to having an armful of Byerly. One of them is easier access to his back, which Bastien resumes searching one-handed for lingering strain and tension. ]
It must be hard to, uh... I have thought the same of Alexandrie. The nobles, they are playing the Game for something that never stops mattering. Their names, their families. It is all one game. Every move matters. Every piece you lose stays lost for the rest of your life.
For us—the bards like I was, I mean—it is more like a tournament. We play one game, then we get a fresh board and a new opponent, so as long as we win it doesn’t matter what pieces we have left.
We had our own problems, of course, but I think that part of it must be easier for us. To not be playing one single unending game.
[ Anyway, ]
Your work seems more like that. Everything always matters. You don’t get to say that you protected your country from this or that like you were told to, so you are done and you will worry about it again when they give you something new to do.