Give Harriman some space. Inform me if he seems a danger to himself. Do not show outrage around Darton, speak cautiously around Reed —
— And conduct yourself with utmost care until the dust settles.
Ideally, we will get this out of Seeker hands. The question of jurisdiction is complicated. If we do not... Your tenure at the Gallows, however brief, may be of value in an appeal to Inquisition leadership.
[ a beat, ]
There is a room on the third floor of the mage tower. Furniture to be made firewood. I believe I left the axe in there, if you are so inclined.
[He's quiet a moment. Some of those requests are easier than others, but he can manage them all with effort.]
I can do that much. Darton's never acknowledged that I exist before; I doubt he'll start now, but I can handle it if he does.
[He can't help the pang of regret at finding himself in potential opposition to Reed, but there's nothing for it. And the prospect of mounting any such appeal to Inquisition leadership is a terrifying one, but he's already given Cade his word that he'll do what he can if an opportunity arises. He can make the same promise to Wren.]
...Someday, you'll have to find other ways of getting your scut work done than appealing to my sense of injustice.
By then I will be an old woman, and I may appeal to your respect for the aged —
[ the room's already pretty thoroughly trashed, and evidently recently, have fun bud ]
Do not hesitate to contact me, if you require it. The crystal will be the easier means. Hold fast — we will see this through.
[ like, the two of them, definitely. she's less certain about cade. it doesn't matter how foolishly tone-deaf the move would be, or how much confidence she'd like to project.
when given the opportunity to do something stupid, people tend to take it — and with guilt eating at him, with the anger of feeling backed into a corner, well.
darton doesn't trust her. it's now extremely fucking mutual. ]
[At another time, he might joke about the 'by then;' now, he knows better. There's too much to agonize over at the moment. He'd like to trust that Wren and her noble contacts have this in hand, but when the forces stacked against them seem both implacable and unpredictable, it's all uncertain.]
I'll check on him in a bit, and I'll keep you posted, but--
[He doesn't know quite how to phrase this. He pauses.]
Is this really all there is to it, Ser Coupe? I know it's not his first offense, and I've heard it was quite a bit worse before, but--how can what he's done now possibly be a capital crime when nobody's been killed? You don't hang a man for a shoving match.
[You don't hang a templar for keeping a mage in line, is the subtext, though he's still just a little uncomfortable with himself for how quickly it comes to mind.]
[ it's a little sharper than intended, and that's not for simon. she reigns it in. quietly, ]
Seekers investigate malfeasance, mismanagement. Too — madness. I am told that when he believes there is a threat, Harriman has previously been... difficult to stop.
[ that's a polite way of putting it. ]
That was not the case this time. He followed Darton's orders, and those did not come quickly enough. Too slowly by far if he had true concerns of Harriman's state. [ there it is again, the edge of that idiot ] Darton is choking upon his own shame for Meredith, and an overblown concern for his wife. Easier to have done with Harriman, than risk future blame, no?
[ that's not the most accurate way to put it. easier to have done with harriman than risk dead mages on inquisition watch; she's well-aware of the dangers, and were this skyhold she might agree. were this two years ago and they'd any knights to spare, were this all not so bloody personal.
but she hasn't precisely missed simon's implications, and,
and if that's a conversation they're going to need to have, better to channel that carefully. ashlock can be cowed, and generally seems to keep his shit together — harriman only manages one of the two. ]
Do we templars really mean so little to the rest of the world now?
[Darton is one thing, could be dismissed as just one inept fool trying to cover his own ass and sweep his failures under the rug, but for this to be seen as some self-evidently better PR move--what does that say about public opinion?]
Never mind that this mage wife of his should disqualify him from having the final word on anything like this. You think "future blame" would be severe enough to make preemptively killing a good man worth it? The mages started a fucking war over it when they thought the shoe was on the other foot.
[Strong words, for a man who says 'oh, fudge' without irony in less heated circumstances.]
Might as well just brand his forehead and call it case closed, if that's where we are--or does that only work on their mad disasters waiting to happen?
That fury you feel now, it would be shared by every templar in the Inquisition. Every knight we need yet court in Kirkwall. How many do you believe would join with us after such a thing? How many would stay?
It is not in the Inquisition's interest to execute him. They yet need us. What they do not need is the appearance of old trouble brewing on the Viscount's doorstep.
Darton has power, but not so much of it as he thinks, not so far from the Lady Seeker as we are. The context about him has shifted, and he is slow to adapt. We need be faster. We need tread carefully, and we need to consider appearances, because that is the axis of pragmatism upon which our presence here turns.
And therefore, I need you to hear me when I tell you, that what Harriman did cannot happen again.
[However little of the old trouble Simon was actually present for, he remembers it well enough to know that she's right. He quiets when he's told, and listens when he's told, and sets his jaw with seething but obedient discontent.]
And the rest of us can keep our mouths shut and be perfect models of chivalry, for what little good it does. All right. I'll try to keep him calm where I can.
[He has not historically been the best at doing that with Cade, for all his promises to be watchful. They're not friends, and he knows all too well what Cade tends to think of him, and it's only for his own peace in their shared quarters that Simon's lately stopped needling him on purpose just for fun. But nobody's life was ever at stake before.]
They talk about him like he's a rabid dog. We'd be better off if he was. Maybe then Reed would take our part.
Do not go Ferelden on me, [ a joke, because what she's about to say isn't: ] Harriman is your brother, and mine, and there are not so many of us left.
I would — sooner not lose that.
[ silence a moment, then, ]
Reed has needed to navigate politics before. Time will tell where he lands.
The rest, these others outside, we cannot blame them for not understanding. They are used to Circles as distant, hidden things. The war has eroded their trust. The Reds have. We need work harder and smarter than ever before to regain it. It is not fair; it never was. But it is necessary, and it is right.
We still have a duty by the people. Let us see it done.
[It is not fair; it never was. Simon has never needed to hear anything quite so much as he needs to hear that, and frequently. He's been adrift for too long without a mentor who can speak from hard life experience, and his naivete is stubbornly entrenched. No, it's not fair--but it won't be made fair with mere kicking and screaming and pettiness.]
It's not as if we were ever doing it for the thanks, anyway.
[ there was a time when wren wasn't angry, she knows. there had to have been something before this. she just doesn't remember it.
you learn to hold it in. to shove it down for a cause. and it works, mostly, if you try hard enough and long enough — mostly, it works. but sooner or later, you always have to shout. sooner or later, it always busts free. you kick. you scream. you get petty and mean.
and then you get back to the job. ]
Return the axe when you are finished.
[ this is the thing about simon, the thing that's unfair itself, she knows — that she need worry less of him. these concerns she keeps delaying. the questions she doesn't need to press: why do you do this? who would you be, were you not a knight? how do you see this ending?
dependability means, too often, being shunted to the bottom of one's priorities.
first things first. put out this fire. and then... then attend to the rest. ]
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
no subject
— And conduct yourself with utmost care until the dust settles.
Ideally, we will get this out of Seeker hands. The question of jurisdiction is complicated. If we do not... Your tenure at the Gallows, however brief, may be of value in an appeal to Inquisition leadership.
[ a beat, ]
There is a room on the third floor of the mage tower. Furniture to be made firewood. I believe I left the axe in there, if you are so inclined.
no subject
I can do that much. Darton's never acknowledged that I exist before; I doubt he'll start now, but I can handle it if he does.
[He can't help the pang of regret at finding himself in potential opposition to Reed, but there's nothing for it. And the prospect of mounting any such appeal to Inquisition leadership is a terrifying one, but he's already given Cade his word that he'll do what he can if an opportunity arises. He can make the same promise to Wren.]
...Someday, you'll have to find other ways of getting your scut work done than appealing to my sense of injustice.
[Probably not today, though.]
no subject
[ the room's already pretty thoroughly trashed, and evidently recently, have fun bud ]
Do not hesitate to contact me, if you require it. The crystal will be the easier means. Hold fast — we will see this through.
[ like, the two of them, definitely. she's less certain about cade. it doesn't matter how foolishly tone-deaf the move would be, or how much confidence she'd like to project.
when given the opportunity to do something stupid, people tend to take it — and with guilt eating at him, with the anger of feeling backed into a corner, well.
darton doesn't trust her. it's now extremely fucking mutual. ]
no subject
I'll check on him in a bit, and I'll keep you posted, but--
[He doesn't know quite how to phrase this. He pauses.]
Is this really all there is to it, Ser Coupe? I know it's not his first offense, and I've heard it was quite a bit worse before, but--how can what he's done now possibly be a capital crime when nobody's been killed? You don't hang a man for a shoving match.
[You don't hang a templar for keeping a mage in line, is the subtext, though he's still just a little uncomfortable with himself for how quickly it comes to mind.]
no subject
[ it's a little sharper than intended, and that's not for simon. she reigns it in. quietly, ]
Seekers investigate malfeasance, mismanagement. Too — madness. I am told that when he believes there is a threat, Harriman has previously been... difficult to stop.
[ that's a polite way of putting it. ]
That was not the case this time. He followed Darton's orders, and those did not come quickly enough. Too slowly by far if he had true concerns of Harriman's state. [ there it is again, the edge of that idiot ] Darton is choking upon his own shame for Meredith, and an overblown concern for his wife. Easier to have done with Harriman, than risk future blame, no?
[ that's not the most accurate way to put it. easier to have done with harriman than risk dead mages on inquisition watch; she's well-aware of the dangers, and were this skyhold she might agree. were this two years ago and they'd any knights to spare, were this all not so bloody personal.
but she hasn't precisely missed simon's implications, and,
and if that's a conversation they're going to need to have, better to channel that carefully. ashlock can be cowed, and generally seems to keep his shit together — harriman only manages one of the two. ]
no subject
[Darton is one thing, could be dismissed as just one inept fool trying to cover his own ass and sweep his failures under the rug, but for this to be seen as some self-evidently better PR move--what does that say about public opinion?]
Never mind that this mage wife of his should disqualify him from having the final word on anything like this. You think "future blame" would be severe enough to make preemptively killing a good man worth it? The mages started a fucking war over it when they thought the shoe was on the other foot.
[Strong words, for a man who says 'oh, fudge' without irony in less heated circumstances.]
Might as well just brand his forehead and call it case closed, if that's where we are--or does that only work on their mad disasters waiting to happen?
no subject
[ count one, two, three, ]
I need you to listen to me, and to listen well.
That fury you feel now, it would be shared by every templar in the Inquisition. Every knight we need yet court in Kirkwall. How many do you believe would join with us after such a thing? How many would stay?
It is not in the Inquisition's interest to execute him. They yet need us. What they do not need is the appearance of old trouble brewing on the Viscount's doorstep.
Darton has power, but not so much of it as he thinks, not so far from the Lady Seeker as we are. The context about him has shifted, and he is slow to adapt. We need be faster. We need tread carefully, and we need to consider appearances, because that is the axis of pragmatism upon which our presence here turns.
And therefore, I need you to hear me when I tell you, that what Harriman did cannot happen again.
no subject
And the rest of us can keep our mouths shut and be perfect models of chivalry, for what little good it does. All right. I'll try to keep him calm where I can.
[He has not historically been the best at doing that with Cade, for all his promises to be watchful. They're not friends, and he knows all too well what Cade tends to think of him, and it's only for his own peace in their shared quarters that Simon's lately stopped needling him on purpose just for fun. But nobody's life was ever at stake before.]
They talk about him like he's a rabid dog. We'd be better off if he was. Maybe then Reed would take our part.
no subject
I would — sooner not lose that.
[ silence a moment, then, ]
Reed has needed to navigate politics before. Time will tell where he lands.
The rest, these others outside, we cannot blame them for not understanding. They are used to Circles as distant, hidden things. The war has eroded their trust. The Reds have. We need work harder and smarter than ever before to regain it. It is not fair; it never was. But it is necessary, and it is right.
We still have a duty by the people. Let us see it done.
no subject
It's not as if we were ever doing it for the thanks, anyway.
no subject
[ there was a time when wren wasn't angry, she knows. there had to have been something before this. she just doesn't remember it.
you learn to hold it in. to shove it down for a cause. and it works, mostly, if you try hard enough and long enough — mostly, it works. but sooner or later, you always have to shout. sooner or later, it always busts free. you kick. you scream. you get petty and mean.
and then you get back to the job. ]
Return the axe when you are finished.
[ this is the thing about simon, the thing that's unfair itself, she knows — that she need worry less of him. these concerns she keeps delaying. the questions she doesn't need to press: why do you do this? who would you be, were you not a knight? how do you see this ending?
dependability means, too often, being shunted to the bottom of one's priorities.
first things first. put out this fire. and then... then attend to the rest. ]