( no; a shade enough self-aware that she knows it to be a poor measure of her intimacies. telling how long it had felt unnecessary, even preferable to leave aside in something so comfortable.
she is not very good at being friends with anyone. long out of the habit, and with few enough in riftwatch over the years to never need both hands to count those present. )
Marcus described us as friends, you and I. I find myself contemplating what that has meant to me, here.
[Were this conversation occuring face to face, in a room with a closed door rather than across the sending crystals, she might see something in his face flicker closed at that. A door on a lantern drawing shut against the sting of weather.
But they are not, and very little in his timbre alters in asking:]
That I had ought be grateful for the patience that I have been shown here over the years, as I am ill-equipped and out of practise. Beyond that,
( an inhalation. a sort of verbal shrug: )
Well, we have established in this conversation one should not be unwarily presumptuous. ( that she should not be, ) So perhaps that it would grieve me to lose is enough.
[Silence isn't a very generous reply. He knows this. But the impulse sticks for a moment regardless as he carefully measures the shape of that thing like a coin felt blindly in the pocket—trying to blindly determine its exact dimensions and anticipate the result of bringing it out into the light.
(Obviously, it would be of some benefit to reassure her on this point. And if that were his concern, he might have done so easily—off the cuff, without so much as a shred of consideration for any alternative.)]
Tell me something. [It's been a long time since last they spoke Tevene. His occupation has been erratic and difficult, and John Silver has some fluency. By her own account, that man is a considerably more easy companion.] Have you made arrangements for where you all mean to go when this is finished?
[It is not a broad question. It is not asking her to make an assessment of the state of the world. It is not a philosophical inquiry.]
( her tevene is good, still. silver has some fluency; they had practised a great deal. she practises, still. it still carries an accent — unlike any other, truly, the way the accent she already speaks with does not perfectly map to any particular part of thedas. the shape of the words comes with less hesitation than the words themselves,
deciding to answer him, deciding that this is a well enough tangent to allow. that she will learn something from it, in turn. )
Arrangements, ( she says, )no. Not so...
Julius is the eldest surviving son of Bann Selwyn. That is a consideration, and no small one, where the benefits offered by aligning more directly with the Rowntrees would be... perhaps more accessible from one side, if not necessarily the other, and not insignificant. When this is finished, other work will begin and we will need as sturdy a place to stand.
I suppose I might argue that all I do is in service of such arrangements, but there you have it.
The cause of mages, certainly. It will lead to more and stranger bedfellows, the more successful it becomes in acclimating both them and the world to their participation in it.
I suppose 'begin' is not the word. Such work continues. It will look different, of necessity, when Corypheus does not keep us from each other's throats by his enormity.
I think it not the only possibility,( is measured, )but I have not heard yet a resolution to what drove the bloodshed, nor, in truth, have I seen much evidence the Chantry entertains much willingness to negotiate one meaningfully.
Do you really imagine the Chantry would be required to do so much? It would seem to me that we're ten years removed from what started that war and all of the South fatigued with fighting. The Divine would need only to make the barest of concessions to win a wide margin of support from the free mages.
If the idea hasn't occurred to her already, someone will eventually think to suggest it.
I think the Divine could easily win support if she were to make certain concessions, but I wonder at the appetite for it. The same argument might be made in the other direction; the south is tired of fighting, so why not hold fast and expect that fatigue to weaken resistance? And what benefit will she see in relinquishing Circles, versus what she might lose?
Each concession the Chantry has made thus far has been reluctant, at knife-point, and because they saw no ready alternative. A bloodless end to it would be preferable, even ideal; I think it would be shortsighted to presume it would be so simply because it would be preferred. I would rather be prepared for the worse outcome and pleasantly surprised than caught off-guard that I took my better day for granted.
In the years that I have been with the Inquisition and with Riftwatch, the most commonly held presumption outside of mage company has always been that the Chantry will insist upon Circles— that mages, one way or another, will be returned to them. Perhaps that it would be sad; but that it will be. There is more than one way to view the fatigue of war.
( in the inquisition, she remembers the way it was spoken of as nearly a foregone conclusion that mages had had their moment, but surely, they would meekly return when all was said and done. )
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I suppose you're telling me this now so I might note that you and I have never had much trouble with that part.
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( no; a shade enough self-aware that she knows it to be a poor measure of her intimacies. telling how long it had felt unnecessary, even preferable to leave aside in something so comfortable.
she is not very good at being friends with anyone. long out of the habit, and with few enough in riftwatch over the years to never need both hands to count those present. )
Marcus described us as friends, you and I. I find myself contemplating what that has meant to me, here.
( friendship, generally. his, hypothetically. )
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But they are not, and very little in his timbre alters in asking:]
Have you arrived at any conclusions yet?
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( an inhalation. a sort of verbal shrug: )
Well, we have established in this conversation one should not be unwarily presumptuous. ( that she should not be, ) So perhaps that it would grieve me to lose is enough.
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(Obviously, it would be of some benefit to reassure her on this point. And if that were his concern, he might have done so easily—off the cuff, without so much as a shred of consideration for any alternative.)]
Tell me something. [It's been a long time since last they spoke Tevene. His occupation has been erratic and difficult, and John Silver has some fluency. By her own account, that man is a considerably more easy companion.] Have you made arrangements for where you all mean to go when this is finished?
[It is not a broad question. It is not asking her to make an assessment of the state of the world. It is not a philosophical inquiry.]
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deciding to answer him, deciding that this is a well enough tangent to allow. that she will learn something from it, in turn. )
Arrangements, ( she says, ) no. Not so...
Julius is the eldest surviving son of Bann Selwyn. That is a consideration, and no small one, where the benefits offered by aligning more directly with the Rowntrees would be... perhaps more accessible from one side, if not necessarily the other, and not insignificant. When this is finished, other work will begin and we will need as sturdy a place to stand.
I suppose I might argue that all I do is in service of such arrangements, but there you have it.
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[There are obvious answers to this. He knows some of them. But so long as they're making an effort to avoid presumption—]
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The cause of mages, certainly. It will lead to more and stranger bedfellows, the more successful it becomes in acclimating both them and the world to their participation in it.
I suppose 'begin' is not the word. Such work continues. It will look different, of necessity, when Corypheus does not keep us from each other's throats by his enormity.
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[Must be a question, though it hardly scratches sounding like one.]
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I would be glad to be wrong.
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If the idea hasn't occurred to her already, someone will eventually think to suggest it.
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Each concession the Chantry has made thus far has been reluctant, at knife-point, and because they saw no ready alternative. A bloodless end to it would be preferable, even ideal; I think it would be shortsighted to presume it would be so simply because it would be preferred. I would rather be prepared for the worse outcome and pleasantly surprised than caught off-guard that I took my better day for granted.
In the years that I have been with the Inquisition and with Riftwatch, the most commonly held presumption outside of mage company has always been that the Chantry will insist upon Circles— that mages, one way or another, will be returned to them. Perhaps that it would be sad; but that it will be. There is more than one way to view the fatigue of war.
( in the inquisition, she remembers the way it was spoken of as nearly a foregone conclusion that mages had had their moment, but surely, they would meekly return when all was said and done. )