"You know, before you and Athessa, I don't think I've ever had anyone ask me something like that. At the Circle it was sort of...after Uldred, absolutely everyone was a mess, and it's hard to accommodate about two hundred peoples' simultaneous and completely unique messes. So I kind of just had to make do."
Which isn’t really untrue. Being helpful is a pastime. But happy might be overstating things a little, at the moment, given that maintaining his good face is already taking more effort than usual, and he feels like he’s carrying this conversation on his back through a swamp full of traumatic sinkholes, and he still isn’t sure Colin doesn’t want something.
But that’s why they left his room. They’re walking past a few fish stalls, now, and one of the vendors has a large conch set next to the fish. Bastien stops in his tracks and secures permission to pick it up with a look and a gesture. He rubs the pearly interior and then holds it to his ear for a moment, listening to the resonance—the sea, they say.
It’s not meant as a permanent interruption or subject change. It just cheers him up, a sustaining little bit.
He holds it out to Colin in case he’d like a try.
“That was during the Blight, wasn’t it? You must not have been very old.”
A little smile spreads over Colin's face. He spends a moment longer listening before taking it away from his ear to admire the natural beauty of the shell--something it wouldn't have occurred to him to do, without Bastien.
"Athessa told me about the tree seeds. It's such a beautiful thing to say to someone. You have a gift. Oh! She told me to ask you about the Black Fox."
"From scratch! Oh," a little despairing, "I have a decent amount of respect for Ferelden—don't tell anyone—but these gaps in your education. It is unforgivable. Let me see..."
And he launches into an animated explanation of Lord Remi Vascal, emphasizing the anti-establishment traits that made him a hero to commoners, that's still in its early stages when they reach the Lowtown market.
"—and Servana de Montfort was a Circle mage—" Supposedly; perhaps it's a myth. "—but there are different explanations for how they managed that. I like the ones with daring rescues, but the De Montforts have been influential since the Exalted Age. Perhaps it did not take that much work for her to be able to run around with him. Perhaps someone just asked nicely."
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
no subject
"You know, before you and Athessa, I don't think I've ever had anyone ask me something like that. At the Circle it was sort of...after Uldred, absolutely everyone was a mess, and it's hard to accommodate about two hundred peoples' simultaneous and completely unique messes. So I kind of just had to make do."
no subject
Which isn’t really untrue. Being helpful is a pastime. But happy might be overstating things a little, at the moment, given that maintaining his good face is already taking more effort than usual, and he feels like he’s carrying this conversation on his back through a swamp full of traumatic sinkholes, and he still isn’t sure Colin doesn’t want something.
But that’s why they left his room. They’re walking past a few fish stalls, now, and one of the vendors has a large conch set next to the fish. Bastien stops in his tracks and secures permission to pick it up with a look and a gesture. He rubs the pearly interior and then holds it to his ear for a moment, listening to the resonance—the sea, they say.
It’s not meant as a permanent interruption or subject change. It just cheers him up, a sustaining little bit.
He holds it out to Colin in case he’d like a try.
“That was during the Blight, wasn’t it? You must not have been very old.”
no subject
"It sounds...like air?"
no subject
no subject
"Athessa told me about the tree seeds. It's such a beautiful thing to say to someone. You have a gift. Oh! She told me to ask you about the Black Fox."
no subject
But he’s smiling, while he takes the conch back and returns it to its owner.
“Do you know anything about the Black Fox already, or are we starting from scratch?”
no subject
link included for cia spies not because i think you need it
And he launches into an animated explanation of Lord Remi Vascal, emphasizing the anti-establishment traits that made him a hero to commoners, that's still in its early stages when they reach the Lowtown market.
"—and Servana de Montfort was a Circle mage—" Supposedly; perhaps it's a myth. "—but there are different explanations for how they managed that. I like the ones with daring rescues, but the De Montforts have been influential since the Exalted Age. Perhaps it did not take that much work for her to be able to run around with him. Perhaps someone just asked nicely."