Dinner that evening saw everyone around the table in relatively good spirits, foregoing planning and current events for a round of exchanged stories -- specifically folk tales. All of them being from different corners of Thedas, it was fascinating to see which ones seemed universal and how they changed with time and location. There was always a commoner who was unusually valiant -- sometimes the occupation changed but more than one person at the table had heard of a brave little seamstress. Trickster spirits that might be likened to the Dread Wolf in Elvish tales, a demon in Tevinter, a Fox spirit in parts of Orlais. Occasionally even the fish or the halla that granted wishes to avoid losing their life to a hunter or fisherman.
While everyone took part and listened, by the end of the evening, when everyone dispersed, Rook was the only one that had not offered a tale in exchange. He wasn't being especially avoidant; no one had been asked, each just volunteered in turn. The man had just never taken one, though he was just as involved and attentive as everyone else.
It was the evening when everyone finally emerged, the Fade's echo of a daytime sky giving way to an Aurora of colors bolting across darkness, the sort of display that made one all the more mindful of where they stepped, when some parts of the stairs had nothing holding them up underneath. Bellara and Taash remained behind with Lucanis to clean up, the others splitting off to their various residences on the compound. Varric, to Rook's recollection, had been the first to retire, but much of the atmosphere felt so much like him that it did not even feel like he had gone at all. But emerging now, the lantern floating just outside the dining hall door casting his visage white against the cool blue of the dark, his absence felt more pronounced. A certainty that he must be asleep by now.
Still recovering, he thinks. Stronger. And it wouldn't be long before --
Something.
Assan played chase with a few wisps in his nook. The Wolf Statue ahead, its back to the dining hall, was a looming shadow over the courtyard beyond.
For spiriteddiscussion
While everyone took part and listened, by the end of the evening, when everyone dispersed, Rook was the only one that had not offered a tale in exchange. He wasn't being especially avoidant; no one had been asked, each just volunteered in turn. The man had just never taken one, though he was just as involved and attentive as everyone else.
It was the evening when everyone finally emerged, the Fade's echo of a daytime sky giving way to an Aurora of colors bolting across darkness, the sort of display that made one all the more mindful of where they stepped, when some parts of the stairs had nothing holding them up underneath. Bellara and Taash remained behind with Lucanis to clean up, the others splitting off to their various residences on the compound. Varric, to Rook's recollection, had been the first to retire, but much of the atmosphere felt so much like him that it did not even feel like he had gone at all. But emerging now, the lantern floating just outside the dining hall door casting his visage white against the cool blue of the dark, his absence felt more pronounced. A certainty that he must be asleep by now.
Still recovering, he thinks. Stronger. And it wouldn't be long before --
Something.
Assan played chase with a few wisps in his nook. The Wolf Statue ahead, its back to the dining hall, was a looming shadow over the courtyard beyond.
The mage sighed.