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[A brief message in a spidery but well-practiced hand has found its way into the hands of everyone in the newly-rechristened Hostile Powers project. None of this newfangled magical book business.]
In light of recent events abroad, their ongoing implications, and the necessary narrowing of our focus as a project, your input is requested at a project-wide conference that will be held via crystal at eight o'clock Tuesday evening.
Please let me know if you are unable to listen in. Minutes will be made available to those who cannot.
--Enchanter Vandelin, Assistant Project Leader
In light of recent events abroad, their ongoing implications, and the necessary narrowing of our focus as a project, your input is requested at a project-wide conference that will be held via crystal at eight o'clock Tuesday evening.
Please let me know if you are unable to listen in. Minutes will be made available to those who cannot.
--Enchanter Vandelin, Assistant Project Leader
So--
[In the background, there's seagulls, the noise of other people. The wind, loud the way it gets out on the water, or when you're down at a quay with the sea standing like an open hall before you.]
I swam beneath a ship. In the dark. And I've made it back safely, if that's not clear. Yourself?
[In the background, there's seagulls, the noise of other people. The wind, loud the way it gets out on the water, or when you're down at a quay with the sea standing like an open hall before you.]
I swam beneath a ship. In the dark. And I've made it back safely, if that's not clear. Yourself?
[ In her background, quieter voices--lower and further off as she finishes moving away--dry grass beneath her feet, and a different sort of wind than his, sharp and thin and fast, nothing to catch against. ]
Still on my way. We'll be over the Minanter tomorrow and it's an easy journey from there.
[ A beat, as if she might leave it there. He's back safe; she's close. That's all the information they ought to need. But it's been a long trip, nervy and frustrating, and it's nice to hear his voice. ]
Why did you swim beneath the ship in the dark?
Still on my way. We'll be over the Minanter tomorrow and it's an easy journey from there.
[ A beat, as if she might leave it there. He's back safe; she's close. That's all the information they ought to need. But it's been a long trip, nervy and frustrating, and it's nice to hear his voice. ]
Why did you swim beneath the ship in the dark?
[Her journey could quickly become less easy. But that's true of any journey, of course, and nothing that can be at all controlled, so Darras lets it pass by. Good enough for know that he knows where she is. If they'd had these crystals, before--
Not worth thinking about, he tells himself, before that thought has time to flourish.]
I swam beneath the ship in the dark 'cos it's what was required of me by the Inquisition, of course. [Too soon, maybe, to tease about that. He can't help it, and he goes on to soften it a little for her:] That's only partly true. I did it 'cos it sounded the most interesting in a sea battle. As nearly everything in a sea battle is interesting, you can imagine how keen I was to give a swim like that a go.
Not worth thinking about, he tells himself, before that thought has time to flourish.]
I swam beneath the ship in the dark 'cos it's what was required of me by the Inquisition, of course. [Too soon, maybe, to tease about that. He can't help it, and he goes on to soften it a little for her:] That's only partly true. I did it 'cos it sounded the most interesting in a sea battle. As nearly everything in a sea battle is interesting, you can imagine how keen I was to give a swim like that a go.
[ His comment comes and goes while she's finding a spot to sit, more grass crunching, the whisper of fabric, the wind whistling differently as it eddies around the rocks she's taken refuge behind. No trees here, on the edge of the Silent Plains, but this will do, the sound of the rest of the group (more than a dozen of them) out of earshot now. She heard what he said, but he moved on, and she tries to let him. ]
I can. [ It sounds right up his alley, carved straight out of one of his stories. ] So you did have to fight the Venatori after all?
I can. [ It sounds right up his alley, carved straight out of one of his stories. ] So you did have to fight the Venatori after all?
Single-handed. Advantages of sneaking aboard.
[That, too, sounds like one of his stories. And Darras lets it, at least for a moment, without trying to sound any more legitimate. He knows that he can't win her stronger affections by talking with her the way he's used to--or not even to win them, he's got them, somewhere, buried but still alive. Unearthing them is the trick. Teasing won't do it. It's a habit hard to break.
After a beat, he walks it back:]
There were a few more than just me. Can't swim beneath a ship in the dark alone, no matter how good of a tale it'd make. And we did take the Venatori and their crew by surprise, considering the Antivan ship stood between theirs and the Walrus.
[That, too, sounds like one of his stories. And Darras lets it, at least for a moment, without trying to sound any more legitimate. He knows that he can't win her stronger affections by talking with her the way he's used to--or not even to win them, he's got them, somewhere, buried but still alive. Unearthing them is the trick. Teasing won't do it. It's a habit hard to break.
After a beat, he walks it back:]
There were a few more than just me. Can't swim beneath a ship in the dark alone, no matter how good of a tale it'd make. And we did take the Venatori and their crew by surprise, considering the Antivan ship stood between theirs and the Walrus.
[ She might not mind one of his stories just now, truth be told, but it's just as well Darras switches gears. Talking about his mission reminds her of her own, still very much in progress despite her effort to put some distance between herself and the rest of the party for a few minutes. She can't afford to turn complacent now. ]
It sounds like a dramatic rescue. Did you fight any mages?
It sounds like a dramatic rescue. Did you fight any mages?
Edited 2018-09-16 19:24 (UTC)
Oh, a fair few. It was a ship full of Venatori, y'know. Couldn't avoid them. But I heeded your advice and kept well clear of them as often as I could. Cut at least one in half, just as I'd said I would.
[So lightly he might not mean it at all, or else it's already become a part of his stories.]
I couldn't be called a coward, after all. Hiding from mages.
[So lightly he might not mean it at all, or else it's already become a part of his stories.]
I couldn't be called a coward, after all. Hiding from mages.
Good, they need cutting in half. Carefully. [ Mostly joking, from the sound of it. At least about the 'carefully' part. ]
We haven't met any yet, and I hope we won't. Almost my entire team is rifters, and we picked up more a few days ago. Those escaping the city are in no shape for a fight either.
We haven't met any yet, and I hope we won't. Almost my entire team is rifters, and we picked up more a few days ago. Those escaping the city are in no shape for a fight either.
Almost two dozen [ she says, emphasis on the number, the absurd enormity of it ] trying to travel unnoticed, or pass as missionaries when two-thirds of that number are Rifters with glowing hands who've never heard a word of the Chant.
Edited 2018-09-18 04:25 (UTC)
Nothing kills the confidence like someone taking the time to say everything's fine.
[However lightly he says it, the moment she'd taken time for that aside, Darras had felt the tightening of apprehension. But what is he going to do, out on the ocean as he is? What can he do but trust that Yseult will take care of herself, the way that she always has? If there is one thing that he has believed in, it is that.]
I'll be seeing you, then?
[Like, really.]
[However lightly he says it, the moment she'd taken time for that aside, Darras had felt the tightening of apprehension. But what is he going to do, out on the ocean as he is? What can he do but trust that Yseult will take care of herself, the way that she always has? If there is one thing that he has believed in, it is that.]
I'll be seeing you, then?
[Like, really.]
It's likely nothing, we're just being careful.
[ There's no fear in her voice, which doesn't necessarily mean anything, but she does sound a little bit annoyed. Maybe that's comforting. Whatever's going on it's clearly got her attention, not really processing his choice of words, confirming more vaguely: ] I'll let you know when I'm back [ before cutting off the message. ]
[ There's no fear in her voice, which doesn't necessarily mean anything, but she does sound a little bit annoyed. Maybe that's comforting. Whatever's going on it's clearly got her attention, not really processing his choice of words, confirming more vaguely: ] I'll let you know when I'm back [ before cutting off the message. ]
Saw you on the ferry.
[And had the brief impulse to jump in and swim after it, though he was on the dock and playing errand boy, carrying a message into Kirkwall and planning to waste the afternoon in a tavern after that work was complete. Expecting news of the Fancy, but now he's spent the whole of his time thinking of Yseult only, like a foolish boy.
He does not tell her about it. He doesn't tell her in detail, either, about how he had concluded that he had better not swim after her, or jump onto the next ferry and follow her back to the Gallows, that he was better off leaving her to settle back in, and how half of that was a kind of apprehension that he had no real name for, except thinking on their last arguments, and the last times they'd spoken, conversation snatched between Inquisition missions.
Instead--]
Was the rescue a success, then?
[And had the brief impulse to jump in and swim after it, though he was on the dock and playing errand boy, carrying a message into Kirkwall and planning to waste the afternoon in a tavern after that work was complete. Expecting news of the Fancy, but now he's spent the whole of his time thinking of Yseult only, like a foolish boy.
He does not tell her about it. He doesn't tell her in detail, either, about how he had concluded that he had better not swim after her, or jump onto the next ferry and follow her back to the Gallows, that he was better off leaving her to settle back in, and how half of that was a kind of apprehension that he had no real name for, except thinking on their last arguments, and the last times they'd spoken, conversation snatched between Inquisition missions.
Instead--]
Was the rescue a success, then?
Darras. [ She sounds like she's just woken, the faint fumbly husk in her voice, but the background noise is a chair's creak, a shuffle of papers. A hand wiped across her face and a yawn stifled. ]
Yes. It was a near thing but we brought all the prisoners back safely.
Yes. It was a near thing but we brought all the prisoners back safely.
Yeah? Good.
[Objectively good. Good for the Inquisition, good that lives weren't lost, unnecessarily, to a country that Darras has no love for--
He hesitates. Debates not saying this bit as well. But he's got to ask, especially after hearing her--]
You all right, then?
[Objectively good. Good for the Inquisition, good that lives weren't lost, unnecessarily, to a country that Darras has no love for--
He hesitates. Debates not saying this bit as well. But he's got to ask, especially after hearing her--]
You all right, then?
[ She'd be pleased to hear him acknowledge that objective good-ness. ]
I'm fine, just tired. I caught a bit of a cold on the way back. Do you remember when we went diving for oysters off the point? And you taught me that trick to holding your breath so long?
I'm fine, just tired. I caught a bit of a cold on the way back. Do you remember when we went diving for oysters off the point? And you taught me that trick to holding your breath so long?
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