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Maybe it's because he called it a personal matter. Maybe her weeks of captivity have resulted in some sort of personality-altering brain injury. Maybe she's also just being polite. Whyever, Yseult joins him a moment later with two cups of tea in small stoneware mugs. There is already a matching tray on the side table with sugar and lemons. She smooths her skirt over her knees and takes a sip before nodding.
"Go ahead."
"Go ahead."
Even with prompting there is still a moment of quiet.
Not hesitation. Ellis gathers his thoughts as he considers the mug in his hand.
"I know you and the Provost have targeted scholars studying the gates," is where he settles. "And I believe I'm able to access one place where you'll not be able to get another member of Riftwatch, to see what can be found there."
Not hesitation. Ellis gathers his thoughts as he considers the mug in his hand.
"I know you and the Provost have targeted scholars studying the gates," is where he settles. "And I believe I'm able to access one place where you'll not be able to get another member of Riftwatch, to see what can be found there."
"I might be."
Without any particular inflection to the admission. Speculation.
Who can say who is still alive in Weisshaupt? Who can say who would remember Ellis, after all this time?
"It would only serve me. I left quietly. If anyone remains there who would know my face, they'd remember I did my part for our cause."
An admission, whether she knows what he refers to or not. (She might. Yseult has never struck him as a woman who did her work in half-measures.)
Without any particular inflection to the admission. Speculation.
Who can say who is still alive in Weisshaupt? Who can say who would remember Ellis, after all this time?
"It would only serve me. I left quietly. If anyone remains there who would know my face, they'd remember I did my part for our cause."
An admission, whether she knows what he refers to or not. (She might. Yseult has never struck him as a woman who did her work in half-measures.)
"Aye."
A minor shift of his hands on the cup, a pause to sip the tea. He'd asked for it, he should at least attempt to drink it.
"Thedas is large. A man can be lost for a very long time."
A specific kind of lost. He spilled so much blood. He broke. He returned, at long last, penitent. That's very nearly how it had gone, two years ago.
"Unless you have a better suggestion as to where I spent my time."
A minor shift of his hands on the cup, a pause to sip the tea. He'd asked for it, he should at least attempt to drink it.
"Thedas is large. A man can be lost for a very long time."
A specific kind of lost. He spilled so much blood. He broke. He returned, at long last, penitent. That's very nearly how it had gone, two years ago.
"Unless you have a better suggestion as to where I spent my time."
More than not, [she reports, unruffled by the assumption.] Which is the only reason I'd risk showing my face in this neighborhood. Otherwise, it's secure behind a sturdy Gallows wall a ferry away for me. Creditors.
[Like 'Maferath'.]
I trust this [—Yseult's presence in Kirkwall, the simple indulgence of a shopping trip, the fact that the younger woman is not trapped in her office under a stack of papers generated by a month long absence in the hands of the Venatori—] means you've been fully caught up.
[Like 'Maferath'.]
I trust this [—Yseult's presence in Kirkwall, the simple indulgence of a shopping trip, the fact that the younger woman is not trapped in her office under a stack of papers generated by a month long absence in the hands of the Venatori—] means you've been fully caught up.
[ One day, in the Scouting office, while Byerly and Yseult are working on some joint problem, and there's been a few minutes of silent thought - Byerly takes a breath, and sits back, and says: ]
I have a crass question for you. [ And then, because he knows she'll probably balk at his cutesy turn of phrase: ] I have an inelegant question for you.
I have a crass question for you. [ And then, because he knows she'll probably balk at his cutesy turn of phrase: ] I have an inelegant question for you.
"I've spent time there before. But there will be differences, depending on the damage, and what was able to be restored and what might have been newly added."
A beat, then, in the interest of being transparent: "I am not a scholar. But I follow instruction well."
Tony and Yseult would know what they were looking for. Tony could instruct him in that, has instructed him on other matters in the course of their friendship. And what Ellis wanted, well—
He would have a better sense of it, perhaps, after having visited Skyhold and Ansburg.
A beat, then, in the interest of being transparent: "I am not a scholar. But I follow instruction well."
Tony and Yseult would know what they were looking for. Tony could instruct him in that, has instructed him on other matters in the course of their friendship. And what Ellis wanted, well—
He would have a better sense of it, perhaps, after having visited Skyhold and Ansburg.
[ He doesn't respond to that question directly. Instead, he just sighs in a rather resigned fashion, and shrugs, and says: ]
Trust breeds trust, Scoutmaster. The secrets you keep will always make me hesitate. If you judge that keeping them matters more than us working together as effectively as we can, then I'm sure I don't have the words to budge you from that belief.
[ And he looks back to his work - not mad, just disappointed. ]
Trust breeds trust, Scoutmaster. The secrets you keep will always make me hesitate. If you judge that keeping them matters more than us working together as effectively as we can, then I'm sure I don't have the words to budge you from that belief.
[ And he looks back to his work - not mad, just disappointed. ]
A fair question. Ellis doesn't bristle in response to it.
"Isn't it personal? If I'm volunteering myself for work like this, entirely outside of my division?"
These aren't orders that would have come to him. Ellis is aware of his strengths, and of the way they don't quite fit. Research of this nature doesn't come naturally. He is not a spy. Neither Yseult nor Tony would have thought of him for this work.
That he's undertaken work like this on his own is an aberration, born out of necessity.
"Isn't it personal? If I'm volunteering myself for work like this, entirely outside of my division?"
These aren't orders that would have come to him. Ellis is aware of his strengths, and of the way they don't quite fit. Research of this nature doesn't come naturally. He is not a spy. Neither Yseult nor Tony would have thought of him for this work.
That he's undertaken work like this on his own is an aberration, born out of necessity.
A moment, darling.
Or none moment, if you can’t spare the time, I suppose, busy as you are.
I just thought I’d let you know— well, what you might know already, just in sharper detail: you see, he trusts me, our local Ascian. Creature of— whatever. Trouble, ruin. I can’t be bothered to remember.
The point is, he turned to me. Came figuratively and literally limping into my arms in search of safe harbor. Even confessed the full magnitude of his, shall we say, missteps.
Just consider this my way of saying that I’m keeping a watchful eye on him. Free of charge, free of fuss.
It’s my neck too, after all, if he decides Corypheus has the better deal.
Or none moment, if you can’t spare the time, I suppose, busy as you are.
I just thought I’d let you know— well, what you might know already, just in sharper detail: you see, he trusts me, our local Ascian. Creature of— whatever. Trouble, ruin. I can’t be bothered to remember.
The point is, he turned to me. Came figuratively and literally limping into my arms in search of safe harbor. Even confessed the full magnitude of his, shall we say, missteps.
Just consider this my way of saying that I’m keeping a watchful eye on him. Free of charge, free of fuss.
It’s my neck too, after all, if he decides Corypheus has the better deal.
Oh, the usual, given these sorts of scenarios: they have it all wrong, I don’t serve the same cause, blablablah.
The thing is, he’s already told me his story once before. A while ago, in fact. And don’t hold it against me that I didn’t run screaming into the streets that a world-destroying cultist was in our midst; I didn’t quite grasp the magnitude at the time. He’s got such a cryptic way of speaking. Makes everything seem all the more elusive. Even poetic.
Tamer, I suppose.
All I knew was that his world— his original world— was destroyed completely. That they created a god to try and save it, which didn’t work, and that they later went to war to try and put everything to rights. Restore the world as it was.
He says now he’s given up on that dream. Admittedly he’s very old, and very tired, and I don’t think there’s much here for him to cling to regardless.
He’s right, after all: helping Corypheus won’t bring back his home.
Well— I don’t think it will, anyway.
[Consider his middling scoff a verbal shrug.]
All this lovely chatter aside, know that I’m firmly on your side in this: if you want me to poison him, or charm him into the closest of friendships, or— I don’t know, just keep watch, I’ll gladly lean into it without complaint.
Still, the fact that he’s searching for a lifeline in this mess that isn’t on our enemy’s side might not be a bad sign. My opinion, of course. Could be mistaken.
The thing is, he’s already told me his story once before. A while ago, in fact. And don’t hold it against me that I didn’t run screaming into the streets that a world-destroying cultist was in our midst; I didn’t quite grasp the magnitude at the time. He’s got such a cryptic way of speaking. Makes everything seem all the more elusive. Even poetic.
Tamer, I suppose.
All I knew was that his world— his original world— was destroyed completely. That they created a god to try and save it, which didn’t work, and that they later went to war to try and put everything to rights. Restore the world as it was.
He says now he’s given up on that dream. Admittedly he’s very old, and very tired, and I don’t think there’s much here for him to cling to regardless.
He’s right, after all: helping Corypheus won’t bring back his home.
Well— I don’t think it will, anyway.
[Consider his middling scoff a verbal shrug.]
All this lovely chatter aside, know that I’m firmly on your side in this: if you want me to poison him, or charm him into the closest of friendships, or— I don’t know, just keep watch, I’ll gladly lean into it without complaint.
Still, the fact that he’s searching for a lifeline in this mess that isn’t on our enemy’s side might not be a bad sign. My opinion, of course. Could be mistaken.
[ Speaking of old and tired, somewhere in there Yseult gives up attempting to take notes and instead presses a thumb into the ridge of her brow. Perhaps something of that vibe comes through in the pause that stretches between his words and hers, but her tone is even and politely matter-of-fact as ever. ]
Did he admit Gabranth's allegations and contest some misunderstanding of the context, or does he claim he is not a cultist nor responsible for "loss of life on a planetary scale"?
Did he admit Gabranth's allegations and contest some misunderstanding of the context, or does he claim he is not a cultist nor responsible for "loss of life on a planetary scale"?
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