The fencepost was solid underneath Estella's forearms; she leaned against it without second thought, almost smiling as she watched Aurora's mages at practice. They had a special guest today—Astraia was involved in the lesson as well. Though she herself had not been in the right frame of mind to have much to do with the mages in Kirkwall, Estella knew they were a good bunch, and that Aurora had become an excellent teacher, so she wasn't worried about anything going terribly awry so much as she was curious to see what Astraia would think of it.
Cy and Ves were at either side of her. She wasn't sure what had drawn her brother down to watch today, though she knew he did so occasionally. Ves, she supposed, was looking out for his friend. The taciturn Shaethra was around somewhere as well, though it didn't surprise Estella that somewhere was not anywhere near other people, that she could see.
One of the other mages launched a fireball towards a target; she tracked its motion on the way past, unsurprised when it guttered out a bit short of landing. She had the same problem basically all the time. Sometimes, she considered practicing with the rest of them, trying to bring her magic up to some standard that would make it at least reliable in a battle, but... it was probably just better that she didn't. Good teacher Aurora may be, but Estella had had many excellent instructors in such things. They hadn't been able to help her much.
“I think... Astraia might like it here," she ventured. Or at least, she seemed to like it better than her companions did. “I'm glad."
"I think you're right," Ves agreed, though the sentiment didn't seem to be as wholehearted as Estella's. "She'll certainly learn a lot. I'm quite certain she's never seen this many mages in one place before." A little smile worked its way onto his face as he watched her. He leaned on the fence from the other side as Estella, putting his back up against it and observing with arms crossed. Across the yard, Shaethra carried herself with a similar stance, though not nearly at ease as Ves was. Which, if his reactions to their presence in Crestwood were anything to go by, was something of a facade. He seemed simultaneously glad to have them visit Skyhold, and also deeply uneasy about it. It wasn't something everyone could see, but Estella had known him for long enough.
"It seems a bit cruel, almost," he said quietly. "She's doing all this with the knowledge that she's just going back to the Tirashan in a few months. Everything she learns here, just to guide a small group of her people around the woods in twenty or thirty years."
In the training yard, Astraia was working directly with Aurora at the moment. It had seemed fitting, given that the Inquisition's mage-captain was very adept with primal magic, and Astraia would hopefully able to learn a great deal from her. They seemed to be working on a rock armor spell at present, or at least a partial one. Astraia was attempting to form a sleeve of the stuff around her left arm, and having little success. It kept sliding off each time.
Aurora was patient however, as she only smiled each time it happened. Her voice never dipped into disappointment or chided, but ever carrying a encouraging tone. "You must believe you can do it," she said, gently rubbing the girl on the back to comfort her, "else you've already lost. Doubt," she said with a knowing quirk to her lips, "always makes things more difficult. A friend taught me that, some time ago." She spared a glance to the nearby Asala, who was also aiding in the mages' training. From what Estella understood, before Cyrus took her tutoring upon himself, she had learned from Aurora like the other mages. The woman smiled and nodded in agreement.
"Now, lets try it again, yes? I know you can do it, but you have to know you can do it," Aurora said, taking a step back to better watch.
"I think I'll end up doing too much of it," Astraia said. She then put her staff down on the ground, perhaps noting that Aurora practiced magic in that way, and tried again.
The primal magic swirled around her hands and formed a glove of rock, momentarily making her small right hand significantly bulkier. But then a second later, it cracked and crumbled away, falling into the ground where the other magical earth was steadily deteriorating. However, a sizable chunk of it had formed around her right foot for some reason, spreading up to the middle of her shin. This rock didn't crack, but it also seemed to have rooted her foot in place to the ground. She tugged at it, and was unfortunately stuck.
"Well, hey. That's not nothing," Aurora said with an optimistic smile, and gently prodded the stone boot with her leather one.
A very soft huff escaped Cyrus, audible only because he was so close to the both of them. He sat on the fence rather than leaning against it, both legs pulled up underneath him on the sturdy rail. Balance, as ever, wasn't much of an issue for him, apparently. He was smiling to himself as the practice went on, but Astraia's mishap seemed to be particularly amusing to him, for whatever reason.
“Perhaps." He demurred, clearly in response to Ves's last statement, though some time had passed. “Have you told her you believe so? She seems to lack for people who care much what she thinks."
"I tried, when we were last together," he answered. Across the yard, Shae moved a few paces to her right, to better see the process by which Aurora and Asala were able to dispell the magic around Astraia's foot, and get her moving again. "She was just a girl then, but her answer's always come from the same place: she wants to help her people. She thinks leaving them behind would be abandoning them. Just like I did." He shook his head slightly. It didn't seem to sit well with him.
"I don't think she trusts me, and I don't blame her." It was a sad admission, and one that clearly weighed on him. "I'm still the mysterious elf that wandered into her clan and told them tales of the magnificence that we could be again. Like a fool. And then when it turned out differently than I'd hoped, I ran without a word."
Estella shifted slightly, so that one of her elbows rested on the fence, and the side of her face in the same hand. She didn't feel comfortable asking intrusive questions, but at the same time, if Ves was really as troubled by this as she thought he was, perhaps she should. Her eyes swept from the field to him; she studied his profile from the corner of her eye for a moment. She still felt a little on-edge with him, for some reason, but he'd never rebuffed her attempts to talk to him about matters of importance before. Maybe it'd be all right if she asked.
“What... what went wrong? It's... only half of you are acting like anything unusual happened at all." Zethlasan sure didn't, but Estella wasn't sure he was genuine at any point. Shaethra was just difficult to read. She considered adding the you don't have to tell us caveat, but she'd used it so many times by this point that she hoped it was simply implied by her cautious tone.
He turned away from the training to better face Estella and Cy, resting his hands on the fence. "Zeth was the first person I ever told about Saraya," he explained. "I'm... not sure I can describe the sort of relief that was. To be able to talk with someone about her. And he was different then. Honest, kind, proud of the People, sure, but he cared. For the clan, for his sister, for... me. He saved my life, convinced the clan to take me in." He grimaced, glancing again to see that Shae remained where she was. Behind him, Astraia was trying again, but stopping short each time the rock began to spring up around her feet, for whatever reason.
"We were trying to learn more together, the two of us. About Saraya. Trying to learn how we could safely communicate with her, or anything, really. We came up with very little, and he began to grow frustrated. He wasn't willing to let it be. He suggested we find a way for him to carry Saraya instead. I couldn't do that, and I felt I couldn't trust him any longer. I had to leave, before he did something to put Saraya, or his clan, in danger." He glanced back, watching the mages dispell yet more earth magic from Astraia. She was fairly covered in dust from the waist down at this point.
"As for Zeth now... I'm not sure. It's been a long time. He always received preferential treatment, but I didn't think it would go to his head like this. He never treated Astraia like that before." There was a fair amount of venom in Ves's words there, easily implying just what he thought of Zethlasan's attitude.
“They do not seem to have the kind of relationship where he would consent to a stopover in Skyhold purely because she was interested." Cyrus kept his hands steady, palms over his knees. His eyes narrowed. “Do you suppose that might be something he still wants? To find a way to transfer Saraya?" He arched an eyebrow at Ves, but the voice he used to ask the question was mild rather than edged. “You have to admit at least that all of this has been rather fortuitous. Crestwood, the meeting, this visit."
"I'd like to give him the benefit of the doubt, I really would." Vesryn paused, and then shook his head. "But it's obvious that he sought me out specifically, and considering how I left things, I wouldn't be surprised if he still thinks the same way." He shrugged, looking rather more tired than he usually did. "Perhaps he'll prove me wrong. I would very much like that."
Estella certainly hoped so. More from reflex than conscious decision, she shifted the hand closer to Ves, resting it on the inside of his forearm, near his elbow. “Just don't forget you've got us, this time. If there's anything we can do." Not that she counted on being able to do much; it didn't really seem like the sort of problem solved in any clear way. If 'solving' it was even possible at all. Clearing her throat slightly, she glanced back out to the practice going on, letting her arm fall back to drape over the fence rail.
“What does Saraya think? Or... feel, as the case may be?"
"Wary," he said, nearly grumbling, though he'd offered a subtle smile in return for her touch. "Not particularly helpful, I know. She was never as fond of Zeth as I was, regardless. Honestly, I think she likes Shae the most out of all of them." He seemed a bit amused by that. "Must be her protectiveness. She hasn't changed a bit. And Shae took the longest to believe Zeth, when he told her. Had to beat her in a spar for... at least ten days in a row, it must've been. She refused to believe some Fereldan flat-ear could best her."
He smiled a bit wistfully at the memory, then turned back around to watch Astraia's practice. "Thank you for listening, and for the concern. Both of you. I hope we can work out whatever needs it without anyone getting hurt."
“Well, that would be ideal, but I never count on it." Cyrus sighed, though, and offered nothing further beyond a small nod. If he'd noticed the subtle exchange there, he didn't mention it.
Estella resisted the urge to roll her eyes at him. Things were a bit too serious for it, but the sentiment was still there, beneath her neutral expression. “What he means, I think, is that you're welcome."
In front of them, Astraia tried one more time, this time ending up with flat slabs of earth that clung to the bottoms of her moccasins. She let out a loud groan of disapproval, trying to shake them off. The rock armor pieces along her arm certainly fell away easy enough. "Ugh, why is it doing that?"
Aurora nodded and accepted her grievances easily, remaining as patient as ever. "You're letting your emotions cloud your mind," she said easily and dropping to a knee. She gestured for Astraia to stop kicking before she reached over and began to peel the slab away with her fingers and a liberal application of dispelling magic. "You're trying to force it, and though, admittedly, it's doing something," she said, prying away half of the slab of earth from her foot, "It's not something that you want." Finally she managed to pull the rest of the slab off.
Instead of rising back to her feet, Aurora remained crouched so that Astraia had to look down at her. "A calm mind will prevail in all things, magic included. Don't force it, but... guide it, nurture it. Do not worry about making it happen all at once, progress happens in small measures." She grew thoughtful for a moment before she continued, "I found that taking a phrase, one that means something to you, and repeating it to the exclusion of all else helps with the focus. Mine was my mother's name," Aurora revealed.
She nodded, the part about a phrase seeming to catch her by surprise. She took a few steps away from Aurora, always seeming to prefer having space to cast spells, but she left her staff on the ground as before. This time she took several deep breaths, even going as far as to close her eyes. She was saying... something, but at this distance Estella couldn't hear what, and her lips were barely moving, meaning that whatever it was was mostly being repeated in her head. Little shards of primal magic in the form of earth swirled around her hands and forearms, and a few of the old pieces lifted ever so slightly off the ground.
Some of them began to shift and move around her forearms, widening as they touched bare skin. In her concentration, she'd stopped repeating whatever it was she had been saying to herself, and the primal magic began to swirl a little more swiftly. She extended her palms out slowly, attempting a slow sort of release as Cyrus had instructed her before, and...
Rock surrounded her on all sides, springing into place over every piece of her body, covering her entirely save her for head and locking her thoroughly in place. The spell came together with a loud crack of earth strong enough to draw the attention of several of the other training mages, and Astraia's eyes went wide in shock. She couldn't move her arms, her legs, anything, only capable of looking around and failing to form any words at first. "Oh no, oh no," she began to repeat. "Help, I'm stuck."
Cyrus chuckled softly, enough that it was probably only audible to Estella and Vesryn. Raising a hand to one side of his mouth, he called down the field at moderate volume. “But not crushed! That was a lovely petrify, Astraia." It took a moment for that to sink in for her, but once it did, Astraia began to laugh earnestly. Her smile spread across most of her face, her giggle high pitched and for once not at all self-conscious. Cyrus sent a dispel over the distance with his free hand; it hit cleanly at the center mass of the stone.
She stumbled out of the petrify spell as it shattered, coughing a bit in the dust, but it cleared up soon enough, and she collected her staff.
"Okay... what's next?"
Cy and Ves were at either side of her. She wasn't sure what had drawn her brother down to watch today, though she knew he did so occasionally. Ves, she supposed, was looking out for his friend. The taciturn Shaethra was around somewhere as well, though it didn't surprise Estella that somewhere was not anywhere near other people, that she could see.
One of the other mages launched a fireball towards a target; she tracked its motion on the way past, unsurprised when it guttered out a bit short of landing. She had the same problem basically all the time. Sometimes, she considered practicing with the rest of them, trying to bring her magic up to some standard that would make it at least reliable in a battle, but... it was probably just better that she didn't. Good teacher Aurora may be, but Estella had had many excellent instructors in such things. They hadn't been able to help her much.
“I think... Astraia might like it here," she ventured. Or at least, she seemed to like it better than her companions did. “I'm glad."
"I think you're right," Ves agreed, though the sentiment didn't seem to be as wholehearted as Estella's. "She'll certainly learn a lot. I'm quite certain she's never seen this many mages in one place before." A little smile worked its way onto his face as he watched her. He leaned on the fence from the other side as Estella, putting his back up against it and observing with arms crossed. Across the yard, Shaethra carried herself with a similar stance, though not nearly at ease as Ves was. Which, if his reactions to their presence in Crestwood were anything to go by, was something of a facade. He seemed simultaneously glad to have them visit Skyhold, and also deeply uneasy about it. It wasn't something everyone could see, but Estella had known him for long enough.
"It seems a bit cruel, almost," he said quietly. "She's doing all this with the knowledge that she's just going back to the Tirashan in a few months. Everything she learns here, just to guide a small group of her people around the woods in twenty or thirty years."
In the training yard, Astraia was working directly with Aurora at the moment. It had seemed fitting, given that the Inquisition's mage-captain was very adept with primal magic, and Astraia would hopefully able to learn a great deal from her. They seemed to be working on a rock armor spell at present, or at least a partial one. Astraia was attempting to form a sleeve of the stuff around her left arm, and having little success. It kept sliding off each time.
Aurora was patient however, as she only smiled each time it happened. Her voice never dipped into disappointment or chided, but ever carrying a encouraging tone. "You must believe you can do it," she said, gently rubbing the girl on the back to comfort her, "else you've already lost. Doubt," she said with a knowing quirk to her lips, "always makes things more difficult. A friend taught me that, some time ago." She spared a glance to the nearby Asala, who was also aiding in the mages' training. From what Estella understood, before Cyrus took her tutoring upon himself, she had learned from Aurora like the other mages. The woman smiled and nodded in agreement.
"Now, lets try it again, yes? I know you can do it, but you have to know you can do it," Aurora said, taking a step back to better watch.
"I think I'll end up doing too much of it," Astraia said. She then put her staff down on the ground, perhaps noting that Aurora practiced magic in that way, and tried again.
The primal magic swirled around her hands and formed a glove of rock, momentarily making her small right hand significantly bulkier. But then a second later, it cracked and crumbled away, falling into the ground where the other magical earth was steadily deteriorating. However, a sizable chunk of it had formed around her right foot for some reason, spreading up to the middle of her shin. This rock didn't crack, but it also seemed to have rooted her foot in place to the ground. She tugged at it, and was unfortunately stuck.
"Well, hey. That's not nothing," Aurora said with an optimistic smile, and gently prodded the stone boot with her leather one.
A very soft huff escaped Cyrus, audible only because he was so close to the both of them. He sat on the fence rather than leaning against it, both legs pulled up underneath him on the sturdy rail. Balance, as ever, wasn't much of an issue for him, apparently. He was smiling to himself as the practice went on, but Astraia's mishap seemed to be particularly amusing to him, for whatever reason.
“Perhaps." He demurred, clearly in response to Ves's last statement, though some time had passed. “Have you told her you believe so? She seems to lack for people who care much what she thinks."
"I tried, when we were last together," he answered. Across the yard, Shae moved a few paces to her right, to better see the process by which Aurora and Asala were able to dispell the magic around Astraia's foot, and get her moving again. "She was just a girl then, but her answer's always come from the same place: she wants to help her people. She thinks leaving them behind would be abandoning them. Just like I did." He shook his head slightly. It didn't seem to sit well with him.
"I don't think she trusts me, and I don't blame her." It was a sad admission, and one that clearly weighed on him. "I'm still the mysterious elf that wandered into her clan and told them tales of the magnificence that we could be again. Like a fool. And then when it turned out differently than I'd hoped, I ran without a word."
Estella shifted slightly, so that one of her elbows rested on the fence, and the side of her face in the same hand. She didn't feel comfortable asking intrusive questions, but at the same time, if Ves was really as troubled by this as she thought he was, perhaps she should. Her eyes swept from the field to him; she studied his profile from the corner of her eye for a moment. She still felt a little on-edge with him, for some reason, but he'd never rebuffed her attempts to talk to him about matters of importance before. Maybe it'd be all right if she asked.
“What... what went wrong? It's... only half of you are acting like anything unusual happened at all." Zethlasan sure didn't, but Estella wasn't sure he was genuine at any point. Shaethra was just difficult to read. She considered adding the you don't have to tell us caveat, but she'd used it so many times by this point that she hoped it was simply implied by her cautious tone.
He turned away from the training to better face Estella and Cy, resting his hands on the fence. "Zeth was the first person I ever told about Saraya," he explained. "I'm... not sure I can describe the sort of relief that was. To be able to talk with someone about her. And he was different then. Honest, kind, proud of the People, sure, but he cared. For the clan, for his sister, for... me. He saved my life, convinced the clan to take me in." He grimaced, glancing again to see that Shae remained where she was. Behind him, Astraia was trying again, but stopping short each time the rock began to spring up around her feet, for whatever reason.
"We were trying to learn more together, the two of us. About Saraya. Trying to learn how we could safely communicate with her, or anything, really. We came up with very little, and he began to grow frustrated. He wasn't willing to let it be. He suggested we find a way for him to carry Saraya instead. I couldn't do that, and I felt I couldn't trust him any longer. I had to leave, before he did something to put Saraya, or his clan, in danger." He glanced back, watching the mages dispell yet more earth magic from Astraia. She was fairly covered in dust from the waist down at this point.
"As for Zeth now... I'm not sure. It's been a long time. He always received preferential treatment, but I didn't think it would go to his head like this. He never treated Astraia like that before." There was a fair amount of venom in Ves's words there, easily implying just what he thought of Zethlasan's attitude.
“They do not seem to have the kind of relationship where he would consent to a stopover in Skyhold purely because she was interested." Cyrus kept his hands steady, palms over his knees. His eyes narrowed. “Do you suppose that might be something he still wants? To find a way to transfer Saraya?" He arched an eyebrow at Ves, but the voice he used to ask the question was mild rather than edged. “You have to admit at least that all of this has been rather fortuitous. Crestwood, the meeting, this visit."
"I'd like to give him the benefit of the doubt, I really would." Vesryn paused, and then shook his head. "But it's obvious that he sought me out specifically, and considering how I left things, I wouldn't be surprised if he still thinks the same way." He shrugged, looking rather more tired than he usually did. "Perhaps he'll prove me wrong. I would very much like that."
Estella certainly hoped so. More from reflex than conscious decision, she shifted the hand closer to Ves, resting it on the inside of his forearm, near his elbow. “Just don't forget you've got us, this time. If there's anything we can do." Not that she counted on being able to do much; it didn't really seem like the sort of problem solved in any clear way. If 'solving' it was even possible at all. Clearing her throat slightly, she glanced back out to the practice going on, letting her arm fall back to drape over the fence rail.
“What does Saraya think? Or... feel, as the case may be?"
"Wary," he said, nearly grumbling, though he'd offered a subtle smile in return for her touch. "Not particularly helpful, I know. She was never as fond of Zeth as I was, regardless. Honestly, I think she likes Shae the most out of all of them." He seemed a bit amused by that. "Must be her protectiveness. She hasn't changed a bit. And Shae took the longest to believe Zeth, when he told her. Had to beat her in a spar for... at least ten days in a row, it must've been. She refused to believe some Fereldan flat-ear could best her."
He smiled a bit wistfully at the memory, then turned back around to watch Astraia's practice. "Thank you for listening, and for the concern. Both of you. I hope we can work out whatever needs it without anyone getting hurt."
“Well, that would be ideal, but I never count on it." Cyrus sighed, though, and offered nothing further beyond a small nod. If he'd noticed the subtle exchange there, he didn't mention it.
Estella resisted the urge to roll her eyes at him. Things were a bit too serious for it, but the sentiment was still there, beneath her neutral expression. “What he means, I think, is that you're welcome."
In front of them, Astraia tried one more time, this time ending up with flat slabs of earth that clung to the bottoms of her moccasins. She let out a loud groan of disapproval, trying to shake them off. The rock armor pieces along her arm certainly fell away easy enough. "Ugh, why is it doing that?"
Aurora nodded and accepted her grievances easily, remaining as patient as ever. "You're letting your emotions cloud your mind," she said easily and dropping to a knee. She gestured for Astraia to stop kicking before she reached over and began to peel the slab away with her fingers and a liberal application of dispelling magic. "You're trying to force it, and though, admittedly, it's doing something," she said, prying away half of the slab of earth from her foot, "It's not something that you want." Finally she managed to pull the rest of the slab off.
Instead of rising back to her feet, Aurora remained crouched so that Astraia had to look down at her. "A calm mind will prevail in all things, magic included. Don't force it, but... guide it, nurture it. Do not worry about making it happen all at once, progress happens in small measures." She grew thoughtful for a moment before she continued, "I found that taking a phrase, one that means something to you, and repeating it to the exclusion of all else helps with the focus. Mine was my mother's name," Aurora revealed.
She nodded, the part about a phrase seeming to catch her by surprise. She took a few steps away from Aurora, always seeming to prefer having space to cast spells, but she left her staff on the ground as before. This time she took several deep breaths, even going as far as to close her eyes. She was saying... something, but at this distance Estella couldn't hear what, and her lips were barely moving, meaning that whatever it was was mostly being repeated in her head. Little shards of primal magic in the form of earth swirled around her hands and forearms, and a few of the old pieces lifted ever so slightly off the ground.
Some of them began to shift and move around her forearms, widening as they touched bare skin. In her concentration, she'd stopped repeating whatever it was she had been saying to herself, and the primal magic began to swirl a little more swiftly. She extended her palms out slowly, attempting a slow sort of release as Cyrus had instructed her before, and...
Rock surrounded her on all sides, springing into place over every piece of her body, covering her entirely save her for head and locking her thoroughly in place. The spell came together with a loud crack of earth strong enough to draw the attention of several of the other training mages, and Astraia's eyes went wide in shock. She couldn't move her arms, her legs, anything, only capable of looking around and failing to form any words at first. "Oh no, oh no," she began to repeat. "Help, I'm stuck."
Cyrus chuckled softly, enough that it was probably only audible to Estella and Vesryn. Raising a hand to one side of his mouth, he called down the field at moderate volume. “But not crushed! That was a lovely petrify, Astraia." It took a moment for that to sink in for her, but once it did, Astraia began to laugh earnestly. Her smile spread across most of her face, her giggle high pitched and for once not at all self-conscious. Cyrus sent a dispel over the distance with his free hand; it hit cleanly at the center mass of the stone.
She stumbled out of the petrify spell as it shattered, coughing a bit in the dust, but it cleared up soon enough, and she collected her staff.
"Okay... what's next?"