"They didn't like it when I tried to redecorate," he says blithely, and leaves the cryptic non-explanation at that. He can only hope Kit never gets the librarian's side of that story. Or the templar's.
He's all concern when it's clear Kit's having trouble getting this out--it seems so at odds with the breezy confidence he's seen from his new friend thus far, whether in the infirmary or at a card table with a pint in hand. And when Kit finally does make his request, Vandelin can't help but feel--crestfallen, in a way.
He knows what it means that Kit would ask him for this, after seeing him go ashen like the literal dead at the thought of it back in the Deep Roads, and knowing he's refused the well-trained attentions of every spirit healer in Kirkwall. He knows exactly what it must be costing Kit to swallow that fear and come to him now--and he can't help.
With lower stakes, he would try anyway, taking it as a personal challenge to his competence as a mage. But he won't risk botching a job on a man already terrified of magic in all its forms, a friend who's trusting him. Even Vandelin's ego has its limits. He breaks Kit's gaze, uncharacteristically apologetic.
"I wish I could," he says. "Truly, Kit, I do. But when I offered a temporary fix, I meant it would be temporary. Healing's not my field. It's...the diametric opposite of my field, to get technical. I know just enough to get someone back on their feet for a few minutes at a time when the situation needs desperate measures; it's what I learned on the fly during the war. It's not going to do you any good here and now."
no subject
He's all concern when it's clear Kit's having trouble getting this out--it seems so at odds with the breezy confidence he's seen from his new friend thus far, whether in the infirmary or at a card table with a pint in hand. And when Kit finally does make his request, Vandelin can't help but feel--crestfallen, in a way.
He knows what it means that Kit would ask him for this, after seeing him go ashen like the literal dead at the thought of it back in the Deep Roads, and knowing he's refused the well-trained attentions of every spirit healer in Kirkwall. He knows exactly what it must be costing Kit to swallow that fear and come to him now--and he can't help.
With lower stakes, he would try anyway, taking it as a personal challenge to his competence as a mage. But he won't risk botching a job on a man already terrified of magic in all its forms, a friend who's trusting him. Even Vandelin's ego has its limits. He breaks Kit's gaze, uncharacteristically apologetic.
"I wish I could," he says. "Truly, Kit, I do. But when I offered a temporary fix, I meant it would be temporary. Healing's not my field. It's...the diametric opposite of my field, to get technical. I know just enough to get someone back on their feet for a few minutes at a time when the situation needs desperate measures; it's what I learned on the fly during the war. It's not going to do you any good here and now."