It had been quite a while since either of the Inquisitors had to sit in judgement of anybody.
To Estella, it only seemed fair that the first chair on the dais had moved to the side enough that a second could fit up there as well. She and Romulus had embraced the fact that this was a job both of them had to do, and they were now both in a place where they could cooperate on these kinds of things without worrying about what would happen if they disagreed. No doubt there would be times when they did, but she was confident that it would be the productive kind that led both of them to stretch for better solutions, instead of the kind that could grind proceedings to a standstill.
She gave him a smile where he sat on her right, then turned her attention back down to where the door leading to the dungeon was creaking open. The person they were meant to judge today was Lady Poulin, of Sahrnia. They'd worked out the jurisdictional issues already; unsurprisingly, Lucien was fine allowing them to decide her punishment. While she was an Orlesian noble who had committed crimes against Orlesian citizens, her transgressions first and foremost involved the Red Templars. An Inquisition matter if ever there was one.
Lady Marceline as per usual stood at her post off to the side of the main dias, clipboard in hand. She watched the doors leading into the main chamber expectantly, and it wasn't long until those expectations were met. The doors parted and Inquisition soldiers escorted Lady Poulin toward the Inquisitors. Once she reached the edge of the dias, Lady Marceline began reading the charges.
"Lady Alban Poulin," she said, tilting her head in the woman's direction, "Accused of aiding, abetting, and collaborating with Red Templar forces in Emprise du Lion," she glanced at the Inquisitors before returning to her clipboard. "She accepted coin from the Red Templars in exchange for overseeing the town Sahrnia, and the people thereof whom were enslaved and forced to work in the nearby Quarry growing red lyrium." Lady Marceline looked up from the clipboard and glanced back at the Inquisitors.
"It should be noted too, that she procured supplies to ensure that she kept what remained of the town alive and fed." A subtle, noncommittal shrug followed. Perhaps she did not believe the gesture was altogether entirely altruistic.
Lady Poulin looked more tired than she had at Sahrnia. No doubt the last week or so had worn rather heavily on her. Estella wondered if she found it at all a relief, to have it done and her deeds exposed. She couldn't imagine that carrying the burden around had been at all easy. Surely even the most hardnosed pragmatist or or hard-hearted noble would feel some measure of guilt at her actions, even if she believed she'd had no choice. Some decisions were just like that.
"Is there anything you would say in your own defense, Lady Poulin?"
"Nothing you have not heard already, Inquisitors. My choice was to help the Red Templars, or die. I chose to live, and do what I could to keep the others in my town alive, including those prisoners that were abducted and brought there to work."
"Did you ever try to make contact with anyone?" Romulus asked. "The Red Templars operated out of Sahrnia and Suledin Fortress in secret for a very long time. We were only able to find them by tracking their army back there from Kirkwall."
"That was part of the choice, I suppose. One I had to make many times." It was easy to see that the shackles on her weighed more heavily than they had on some of their previous prisoners. No doubt a woman of her status was highly unused to them. "If the Red Templars had detected resistance, they likely would have killed me, and Maker knows how many others."
Estella recognized that the choice had been fraught. Faced with a foe she could not possibly defeat, Lady Poulin had yielded rather than died. But it still wasn't clear that the outcome had been any better for anyone but herself. Those who had been forced to work at the mines would likely never recover from the damage: red lyrium bore the Taint, after all; if they weren't ghouls already, they were well on the way, and only more pain stood between them and their eventual deaths. No few of them doubtless would have preferred a swifter version of the same fate, rather than suffering.
But at the same time... sometimes living was the only form of resistance left to a person. It was hard to know how to weigh all of it, as always seemed to happen when Estella sat this chair.
"Do you regret it?" she asked at last, genuinely interested in the answer. "Is there anything you'd do differently, faced with the choice again?"
"I do not," she answered, with some degree of certainty. "Perhaps it was a mistake to accept their terms to begin with. We can never know. I did what I thought was best at each stage. If that condemns me, then so be it."
Romulus didn't seem particularly pleased with the answer, but he was well past his days of attempting to order people to death for crimes that did not warrant it. "There needs to be some punishment for this. Work, maybe? She could wait out a setence in a cell, but it seems like a waste."
Estella pursed her lips. "I think the most important thing is doing what can be done for Sahrnia and the people left there. With the quarry unusable for the foreseeable future, most anyone left won't be able to make a living." The elimination of the town's key economic asset would desolate it eventually, more or less destroying everything left. "I think whatever else we do, we should be seizing the assets she received from the Red Templars and paying reparations to the village with it. Maybe rebuilding?"
She was less sure about the punitive angle, but something ought to be done on that front as well. So many lives had been lost, and even if Lady Poulin's share of the blame for that was small, it was not nothing.
Romulus didn't seem to have thought of that. Perhaps he'd thought the town lost beyond repair. "Do we have anyone that can lead a rebuilding?" It wasn't the Inquisition's normal work, it was true. Most of the places they moved into were already built. They had more experts in taking and occupying towns than they did in repairing and restoring them.
"If I may," Poulin offered softly, "I know the town and its people. I would be willing to oversee reconstruction on the Inquisition's behalf. With the funds given to me belonging to the Inquisition now, of course." It went without saying that she would be closely supervised by the garrison they left behind in Suledin Fortress.
Estella figured that was about the right way to do things. After a moment of quiet confirmation with Romulus, she nodded slightly. "Very well. You'll oversee and participate in the reconstruction of Sahrnia, using the Red Templar funds. If the cost runs over, though, the responsibility of financing it will be yours." As far as penalties went, it was a light one, but the important part was that it fit the crime, and she thought it did.
The penalty announced, Lady Poulin was escorted away. No doubt Leon would have her on the first caravan back to Emprise du Lion, which was probably for the best. With their only official work for the day done, Estella descended the dais. She had a visit she really needed to make, and Lia was probably already waiting outside to meet her.
Spring precluded the need for a cloak today, so it was a simple matter to meet her friend just outside the keep and make the short trek to the infirmary. Hissrad had been providing her with daily updates, but it seemed that Cor was finally well enough to receive visitors, so the both of them were intent on stopping in.
No sooner had Estella stepped inside, holding the door for Lia, than her eyes were seeking Asala. The qunari woman seemed to be in the process of bundling herbs or something similar, so hopefully she wouldn't mind the interruption. "Asala? We've come to see Cor. That's okay now, right?"
Asala turned to greet them with a warm smile and incline of her head. It gave the both of them a good sight at her now asymmetrical horns, though apparently she had been trying to file down the rough edges on the broken one. It looked... Better, at least. "He is. One moment please, and I will join you. It is nearly time for me to check on him anyway," she said, tying a length of twine around the bundle of herbs and placing them with others of its kind. Preportioned bundles apparently. With her current task done she gestured toward them to follow and led them through the infirmary and to a door, which she opened to allow them to enter first.
Cor was awake, clearly, sitting up with his back against the headboard. His arms and chest would have been bare, except for the fact that everything from his waist to his neck was swathed in a thick layer of white bandages, including his shoulders and upper arms. It was hard to tell how bad the damage was underneath them, but he wasn't holding himself with particular discomfort, legs stretched out in front of him and crossed at the ankle. He'd been reading, it seemed, though upon their entrance, he glanced up, giving his visitors a lopsided grin. "Well, look who it is. Day one of visitation and the big names are already checking on me." With one hand, he pulled some errant strands of hair out of his face, raking them back against his crown. "Lady Inquisitor. Scout-Captain." His tone was utterly flippant—they'd all known each other much too long to use those things seriously.
Estella was relieved to see him in good spirits, but she could tell the time since his injury hadn't been as easy as he was making it seem. His face looked more gaunt than usual, the hollows of his cheeks too prominent and all the angles sharpened too finely. There were shadows around his eyes, too, but at least he was the furthest thing from listless. "Bit of a big name yourself," she observed, returning the smile with a smaller one. "Your people are asking after you. I'm sure you'll have more visitors than you know what to do with eventually."
He sobered a little at that, shaking his head slightly. "I'm flattered, but I have to admit this is a little embarrassing. Bad enough for you two to see me looking like this. Not exactly the picture of inspiring leadership at the moment, am I?" He shifted a little, swinging his legs over the edge of the bed with what seemed to be relative ease and moving to sit at the end with a wink for Asala. "Anytime you want to poke me, doc. I can take it."
"I promise I will be gentle," Asala answered with a kindly smile. She took a seat bedside and began to inspect the bandages wrapping around most of his frame, most likely judging if they needed changing yet or not.
Lia pulled a chair around to the end of his bed and sat down in it, propping one foot on the edge of the seat and the other up on the end railing of Cor's bed. "You're not serious, right? About being inspiring?" She shook her head, a little disbelieving. "You're the guy who threw himself on a bomb to save everyone else and somehow lived through it. The fact that you're even breathing still is inspirational." She spared a glance for Asala. "Thanks for that, by the way."
Asala brushed her off with a wave of her hand, "No thanks necessary." After her inspection of his bandages, she rose from his bedside and made her way toward a nearby counter, where she proceeded to place a pair of scissors and bandages ontop a tray and returned with it to his side. She set it onto the nightstand beside them, and took the scissors first, intending to cut off the old bandages and replace them with the new ones. Estella had seen her work enough to know the process by now.
"How are you feeling?" she asked as she worked. "Any sharp pains? Unexplained soreness?"
"Erm." Cor's face scrunched; he shot a look at Lia, then Estella in turn. "Actually, would you two mind, uh..." He motioned one index finger in a circle, probably because Asala was cutting away his bandages. He didn't explain, but the discomfort on his face meant that she wasn't going to ask. She'd never known him to be particularly modest, but then after injuries like that... Estella's scars were comparatively minor and she still didn't like the idea of anyone seeing them.
So she turned around without protest. When Cor spoke next, it was with a bit of relief in his tone. "This is going to sound weird, but I feel great. Like I could get up and run all the way to Val Royeaux. It's... kind of disturbing, honestly. I should be in a lot more pain than this, right?"
There was a quiet thoughtfulness from Asala after that. Estella could just imagine her pursed lips. "Some pain would be expected, or even slight discomfort. An excess of energy would not be however," she stated. She was quiet again as she thought about it more, and then continued. "It should be noted that we were not able to extract all of the lyrium from your body. In fact, most still remains from the blast you suffered. We could not take it out without risking you bleeding even more, though your tissue has managed to heal and scar around it." She was quiet for another moment.
"It is something that I had planned on watching carefully," she noted gently.
There was a moment of silence, but when Cor spoke again, he didn't sound particularly alarmed. "Huh. Can't say I figured I'd ever end up a lyrium pincushion, but I guess that's just how life goes around here." There was a rustling, probably of his bandages; it sounded like a shrug. "At least I'm not dead."
To Estella, it only seemed fair that the first chair on the dais had moved to the side enough that a second could fit up there as well. She and Romulus had embraced the fact that this was a job both of them had to do, and they were now both in a place where they could cooperate on these kinds of things without worrying about what would happen if they disagreed. No doubt there would be times when they did, but she was confident that it would be the productive kind that led both of them to stretch for better solutions, instead of the kind that could grind proceedings to a standstill.
She gave him a smile where he sat on her right, then turned her attention back down to where the door leading to the dungeon was creaking open. The person they were meant to judge today was Lady Poulin, of Sahrnia. They'd worked out the jurisdictional issues already; unsurprisingly, Lucien was fine allowing them to decide her punishment. While she was an Orlesian noble who had committed crimes against Orlesian citizens, her transgressions first and foremost involved the Red Templars. An Inquisition matter if ever there was one.
Lady Marceline as per usual stood at her post off to the side of the main dias, clipboard in hand. She watched the doors leading into the main chamber expectantly, and it wasn't long until those expectations were met. The doors parted and Inquisition soldiers escorted Lady Poulin toward the Inquisitors. Once she reached the edge of the dias, Lady Marceline began reading the charges.
"Lady Alban Poulin," she said, tilting her head in the woman's direction, "Accused of aiding, abetting, and collaborating with Red Templar forces in Emprise du Lion," she glanced at the Inquisitors before returning to her clipboard. "She accepted coin from the Red Templars in exchange for overseeing the town Sahrnia, and the people thereof whom were enslaved and forced to work in the nearby Quarry growing red lyrium." Lady Marceline looked up from the clipboard and glanced back at the Inquisitors.
"It should be noted too, that she procured supplies to ensure that she kept what remained of the town alive and fed." A subtle, noncommittal shrug followed. Perhaps she did not believe the gesture was altogether entirely altruistic.
Lady Poulin looked more tired than she had at Sahrnia. No doubt the last week or so had worn rather heavily on her. Estella wondered if she found it at all a relief, to have it done and her deeds exposed. She couldn't imagine that carrying the burden around had been at all easy. Surely even the most hardnosed pragmatist or or hard-hearted noble would feel some measure of guilt at her actions, even if she believed she'd had no choice. Some decisions were just like that.
"Is there anything you would say in your own defense, Lady Poulin?"
"Nothing you have not heard already, Inquisitors. My choice was to help the Red Templars, or die. I chose to live, and do what I could to keep the others in my town alive, including those prisoners that were abducted and brought there to work."
"Did you ever try to make contact with anyone?" Romulus asked. "The Red Templars operated out of Sahrnia and Suledin Fortress in secret for a very long time. We were only able to find them by tracking their army back there from Kirkwall."
"That was part of the choice, I suppose. One I had to make many times." It was easy to see that the shackles on her weighed more heavily than they had on some of their previous prisoners. No doubt a woman of her status was highly unused to them. "If the Red Templars had detected resistance, they likely would have killed me, and Maker knows how many others."
Estella recognized that the choice had been fraught. Faced with a foe she could not possibly defeat, Lady Poulin had yielded rather than died. But it still wasn't clear that the outcome had been any better for anyone but herself. Those who had been forced to work at the mines would likely never recover from the damage: red lyrium bore the Taint, after all; if they weren't ghouls already, they were well on the way, and only more pain stood between them and their eventual deaths. No few of them doubtless would have preferred a swifter version of the same fate, rather than suffering.
But at the same time... sometimes living was the only form of resistance left to a person. It was hard to know how to weigh all of it, as always seemed to happen when Estella sat this chair.
"Do you regret it?" she asked at last, genuinely interested in the answer. "Is there anything you'd do differently, faced with the choice again?"
"I do not," she answered, with some degree of certainty. "Perhaps it was a mistake to accept their terms to begin with. We can never know. I did what I thought was best at each stage. If that condemns me, then so be it."
Romulus didn't seem particularly pleased with the answer, but he was well past his days of attempting to order people to death for crimes that did not warrant it. "There needs to be some punishment for this. Work, maybe? She could wait out a setence in a cell, but it seems like a waste."
Estella pursed her lips. "I think the most important thing is doing what can be done for Sahrnia and the people left there. With the quarry unusable for the foreseeable future, most anyone left won't be able to make a living." The elimination of the town's key economic asset would desolate it eventually, more or less destroying everything left. "I think whatever else we do, we should be seizing the assets she received from the Red Templars and paying reparations to the village with it. Maybe rebuilding?"
She was less sure about the punitive angle, but something ought to be done on that front as well. So many lives had been lost, and even if Lady Poulin's share of the blame for that was small, it was not nothing.
Romulus didn't seem to have thought of that. Perhaps he'd thought the town lost beyond repair. "Do we have anyone that can lead a rebuilding?" It wasn't the Inquisition's normal work, it was true. Most of the places they moved into were already built. They had more experts in taking and occupying towns than they did in repairing and restoring them.
"If I may," Poulin offered softly, "I know the town and its people. I would be willing to oversee reconstruction on the Inquisition's behalf. With the funds given to me belonging to the Inquisition now, of course." It went without saying that she would be closely supervised by the garrison they left behind in Suledin Fortress.
Estella figured that was about the right way to do things. After a moment of quiet confirmation with Romulus, she nodded slightly. "Very well. You'll oversee and participate in the reconstruction of Sahrnia, using the Red Templar funds. If the cost runs over, though, the responsibility of financing it will be yours." As far as penalties went, it was a light one, but the important part was that it fit the crime, and she thought it did.
The penalty announced, Lady Poulin was escorted away. No doubt Leon would have her on the first caravan back to Emprise du Lion, which was probably for the best. With their only official work for the day done, Estella descended the dais. She had a visit she really needed to make, and Lia was probably already waiting outside to meet her.
Spring precluded the need for a cloak today, so it was a simple matter to meet her friend just outside the keep and make the short trek to the infirmary. Hissrad had been providing her with daily updates, but it seemed that Cor was finally well enough to receive visitors, so the both of them were intent on stopping in.
No sooner had Estella stepped inside, holding the door for Lia, than her eyes were seeking Asala. The qunari woman seemed to be in the process of bundling herbs or something similar, so hopefully she wouldn't mind the interruption. "Asala? We've come to see Cor. That's okay now, right?"
Asala turned to greet them with a warm smile and incline of her head. It gave the both of them a good sight at her now asymmetrical horns, though apparently she had been trying to file down the rough edges on the broken one. It looked... Better, at least. "He is. One moment please, and I will join you. It is nearly time for me to check on him anyway," she said, tying a length of twine around the bundle of herbs and placing them with others of its kind. Preportioned bundles apparently. With her current task done she gestured toward them to follow and led them through the infirmary and to a door, which she opened to allow them to enter first.
Cor was awake, clearly, sitting up with his back against the headboard. His arms and chest would have been bare, except for the fact that everything from his waist to his neck was swathed in a thick layer of white bandages, including his shoulders and upper arms. It was hard to tell how bad the damage was underneath them, but he wasn't holding himself with particular discomfort, legs stretched out in front of him and crossed at the ankle. He'd been reading, it seemed, though upon their entrance, he glanced up, giving his visitors a lopsided grin. "Well, look who it is. Day one of visitation and the big names are already checking on me." With one hand, he pulled some errant strands of hair out of his face, raking them back against his crown. "Lady Inquisitor. Scout-Captain." His tone was utterly flippant—they'd all known each other much too long to use those things seriously.
Estella was relieved to see him in good spirits, but she could tell the time since his injury hadn't been as easy as he was making it seem. His face looked more gaunt than usual, the hollows of his cheeks too prominent and all the angles sharpened too finely. There were shadows around his eyes, too, but at least he was the furthest thing from listless. "Bit of a big name yourself," she observed, returning the smile with a smaller one. "Your people are asking after you. I'm sure you'll have more visitors than you know what to do with eventually."
He sobered a little at that, shaking his head slightly. "I'm flattered, but I have to admit this is a little embarrassing. Bad enough for you two to see me looking like this. Not exactly the picture of inspiring leadership at the moment, am I?" He shifted a little, swinging his legs over the edge of the bed with what seemed to be relative ease and moving to sit at the end with a wink for Asala. "Anytime you want to poke me, doc. I can take it."
"I promise I will be gentle," Asala answered with a kindly smile. She took a seat bedside and began to inspect the bandages wrapping around most of his frame, most likely judging if they needed changing yet or not.
Lia pulled a chair around to the end of his bed and sat down in it, propping one foot on the edge of the seat and the other up on the end railing of Cor's bed. "You're not serious, right? About being inspiring?" She shook her head, a little disbelieving. "You're the guy who threw himself on a bomb to save everyone else and somehow lived through it. The fact that you're even breathing still is inspirational." She spared a glance for Asala. "Thanks for that, by the way."
Asala brushed her off with a wave of her hand, "No thanks necessary." After her inspection of his bandages, she rose from his bedside and made her way toward a nearby counter, where she proceeded to place a pair of scissors and bandages ontop a tray and returned with it to his side. She set it onto the nightstand beside them, and took the scissors first, intending to cut off the old bandages and replace them with the new ones. Estella had seen her work enough to know the process by now.
"How are you feeling?" she asked as she worked. "Any sharp pains? Unexplained soreness?"
"Erm." Cor's face scrunched; he shot a look at Lia, then Estella in turn. "Actually, would you two mind, uh..." He motioned one index finger in a circle, probably because Asala was cutting away his bandages. He didn't explain, but the discomfort on his face meant that she wasn't going to ask. She'd never known him to be particularly modest, but then after injuries like that... Estella's scars were comparatively minor and she still didn't like the idea of anyone seeing them.
So she turned around without protest. When Cor spoke next, it was with a bit of relief in his tone. "This is going to sound weird, but I feel great. Like I could get up and run all the way to Val Royeaux. It's... kind of disturbing, honestly. I should be in a lot more pain than this, right?"
There was a quiet thoughtfulness from Asala after that. Estella could just imagine her pursed lips. "Some pain would be expected, or even slight discomfort. An excess of energy would not be however," she stated. She was quiet again as she thought about it more, and then continued. "It should be noted that we were not able to extract all of the lyrium from your body. In fact, most still remains from the blast you suffered. We could not take it out without risking you bleeding even more, though your tissue has managed to heal and scar around it." She was quiet for another moment.
"It is something that I had planned on watching carefully," she noted gently.
There was a moment of silence, but when Cor spoke again, he didn't sound particularly alarmed. "Huh. Can't say I figured I'd ever end up a lyrium pincushion, but I guess that's just how life goes around here." There was a rustling, probably of his bandages; it sounded like a shrug. "At least I'm not dead."