Fade Rift: Inbox

[keenly]

you know what to do

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[sulahnan]

[ She looks up at him with innocent doe eyes. ]

I only know slaps?

[keenly]

[Riiiight.]

Given I was a Circle apprentice, I can teach you almost any card game. What would you like to get up to?

[sulahnan]

Nothing much, really. Maybe getting high in the memorial gardens.

[ She really didn't have anything in mind. ]

We can just get high on the balcony.

[keenly]

I'd love to get high on the balcony, [Colin says as if that particular activity in that particular location scratches an itch he's had all along.] Come on.

[Once home and enjoying the dubious night air of Kirkwall, they relax in chairs on the balcony with their elfroot.]

So. Still feeling good about it?

[sulahnan]

[ Athessa lays on the deck chair the wrong way around, with her feet on the head rest and her head on the angled footrest. She's on her way to proper toasted, holding her left hand above her face and not-quite-touching the bandage. More like hovering her fingers over it to feel the radiating warmth. ]

Definitely. [ But now for a left turn: ] What's the difference between a spirit healer and other mage healers?

[keenly]

[Oh. Another of those mage questions that could make her scared of him.]

Well, um. Regular healing magic, it comes from the mage. So it's only as powerful as the mage is. Spirit healing is...different. And controversial. It's where you've found a spirit in the Fade who is willing to lend their healing magic. You've got to be careful and be sure that spirit isn't actually a demon trying to possess you, but the spirit is also making sure you're not going to corrupt it and turn it into a demon, so it's not unlike making a friend. You build that trust, and because of the spirit's intrinsic values, it chooses to help you. So when you heal someone, it's really the spirit's magic--you're just channeling it. And it's very powerful.

[sulahnan]

[ She hums, thinking about that. Is it scary to think that someone she cares so much about is potentially at higher risk of possession? Sure. But just as she'd told Derrica, she's seen the good that magic can do far more than the bad. And the Seers in Rivain were always spoken of highly, though she never met one in person. ]

Does it drain you the same way? Or is it draining the spirit, because it's their magic?

[keenly]

Both. It takes magic to channel magic. I don't know precisely why. There's not a lot of spirit healers out there, and the Chantry doesn't really like it much, so there hasn't been a lot of study done into it. And after what happened at my Circle, they were really, really careful about who got to hear about it at all. I don't actually know if it's more dangerous than any other form of magic if you just...take common sense precautions, but people get scared when you mention spirits. So.

[A shrug.]

[sulahnan]

[ Athessa mirrors the shrug. Without the manic adrenaline of post-Abomination chaos, it's a far easier topic to hear about, even if it's not the easiest for Colin to talk about. Athessa doesn't appear scared or nervous or troubled by it, just calm and curious. ]

The Chantry probably doesn't want more people to know anything about it that'd make them less scared. Same reason they do that shit to elves. They're served better by the cautionary bedtime stories that comes of not knowing more.

[keenly]

Well, yes. They're also served by spirit healers, but they don't want to demystify them because mages ought to be afraid and ashamed of their gifts so they'll submit to Chantry control. All I know is I don't hear demons or spirits any more often than I did before, but working with Compassion...

I mean, it's not as though we have long conversations, but I understand spirits better now, I think. If I'm channeling Compassion's magic, I must never turn it toward any harm. At best, it's a violation of trust and Compassion might leave me for a good long while. At worst, it could turn it into a demon. And that sort of...lets you know something of why spirits turn into demons, and how none of them actually want to become demons. They all can, but none want to.

[sulahnan]

So... an Abomination has two deaths at its center. The mage, and the Spirit.

[ It wouldn't be too out of place to put a far out, dude next. ]

[keenly]

[Colin’s eyes widen.]

You’re right. Huh. Sort of. Usually I think the demon’s already a demon by then. Still a death. There needs to be a lot more research on spirits. See how to keep it from happening.

[sulahnan]

[ Athessa nods the entire time that he speaks. ]

Yep, yep, that's what I'm saying! We gotta learn more, because I bet the Chantry is suppressing information that mages are "allowed" to know. Just like they're limiting what non-mages know about mages and magic to keep 'em scared. There should be new discoveries and theories all the time.

[keenly]

There are. The Chantry just suppresses the ones they don't want getting out. Like when we found out there was a cure for Tranquility and the Seekers tried to kill everyone who knew.

[sulahnan]

[ All Chantries Are Bastards! ]

Ugh! It's not fair. [ That ugh is punctuated by a little impotent flail of her limbs, after which she settles and frowns at the sky. ]

[keenly]

It isn't, [he agrees.] It's stupid. I understand why they do it with mages, but why do they do it with elves?

[sulahnan]

'Cos we don't believe in the Maker, I guess, and that puts us outside of their control. It's like they don't give a shit that Andraste loved Shartan like a brother.

[keenly]

...Who's Shartan?

[sulahnan]

Are you—

[ Athessa struggles to right herself with some more flailing limbs, eventually pushing herself to sit cross-legged but still backwards on the deck chair. ]

—Are you serious? They don't even teach you about Shartan? The Liberator? He was burned at the stake alongside Andraste, and they don't even teach anybody about him?

[keenly]

Um.

[Colin looks very uncomfortable now.]

He might have got mentioned. But he also might not. They say all sorts about how all mages are equal in the Circle, but...no. Don't want any elves getting any ideas.

[sulahnan]

Ffffffucking Chantry fucks.

[ Where the heck is that joint? Wherever it is, she gets it and takes in a lungful before explaining. Way more calmly. Sorry, Col. ]

Shartan rose up and led a small army of elven slaves in rebellion against Tevinter, around the same time as Andraste. They joined forces and fought together, and Andraste named Shartan her champion. He and his army tried to save her when she was betrayed and tied to the stake, but they were all killed and he was burned with her.

[keenly]

...So an elf did the exact same thing as Andraste and suffered the exact same punishment. It's no wonder I'd never heard of him.

[sulahnan]

Yeah. Andraste promised the freed elven slaves the Dales as their new homeland, and her sons upheld the bargain, but then the Chantry started sending missionaries. Templars, too, when the missionaries were turned away.

[ She tosses her hands in the air, fed-up with this shit, the gesture says.]

[keenly]

And then the Exalted March. Which. Only the Orlesian chantries participated in that, but once it was part of history, the rest of the Chantry had to pretend it was holy instead of just...a land grab.

[sulahnan]

[ She compresses her lips into a straight line and nods. ]

And so the only good elves are city elves because they assimilated, and the ones who didn't surrender are the wild elves that eat children and hang people from the treetops by their ears.