I... was fairly certain I recalled stepping in when she got heated and then she left. Without ever bothering to elaborate on any of what I'd asked, no less.
[There's still some annoyance there. He'd invited her, offered up help and support, and had needed to intervene and then she'd dismissed him completely. Mages need each other but apparently she's too good for him and he can't say he's fine with that.]
She may skip this too, maybe no one is worthy of her time. Or maybe it's simply you and me.
Exactly. Civil, mutual disagreement. Like adults. [There may be a hint of irony there. Just a smidge.]
She may do better if it really is meant for conversation without concrete plans. Or she may start criticizing everyone's fashion sense and telling everyone in robes to man up. Or, you're right, she may forgo it altogether, in which case maybe we've dodged an arrow. Still. I think we can work with any eventuality at this point. I'm not concerned. We've already got a good enough starting crowd without her.
Sorry. I've been... I've been here so long and there's never been this many mages who might take a stand for themselves, and it's so hard to understand someone who wants freedom but spends their time taking potshots rather than seeing what can be accomplished together. We've a better setup than mages have had for literally hundreds of years. And I don't want to leave anyone behind, or risk shortchanging our people.
[He's quiet a moment, considering this at length, and weighing his words as carefully as ever. Were he speaking to someone else, the response might be quicker, might have a hint of teeth, but even if he were securer and more certain in his own feelings about this endeavor, Anders would deserve better than that.]
Given its stated intent, I don't know that this is a project where we need to worry about that. By its very definition, it leaves mages behind. [Abandons them, Myr might say, runs from them, turns away from them--]
And for a meeting of the like-minded to talk about our own experience, there's no harm in that. It's as it should be. But if that's what this truly is, then we don't need to worry about pulling in people who don't want to be there, regardless of why they don't. We're not leaving them out of some grand plan that will shape all of our futures. We're just not forcing them to talk about their lives over cake and ale if they'd rather not.
[There's a pause as he processes that. When he speaks again, there's hesitation in his words.]
We're not really... doing that, are we? They have the Chantry relations group that I've heard has meetings, they've already got unity, and they can go to a Templar at any time that they want reassurances. This is meant to give something to our group that we don't have and that so many other groups do have.
I haven't wanted to go within fifty yards of a Chantry-related anything since I was eight, but it's my understanding that the mages in that project are few and far between--and one of them is Nell, whose politics I think we can safely say aren't loyalist. I don't think it's quite the same thing.
And I don't often make a habit of taking tea with loyalists, so maybe they do have their own kind of support network that I'm not privy to. But there are fewer of them in the Inquisition than there are of us. I wouldn't blame them for feeling isolated. Even if you like templars and Chantry sisters, they're a poor substitute for your own kind.
This is not a suggestion that we invite them to our parties, mind you. It's just demon's advocate.
[The Loyalists have indeed fallen dramatically in number and standing since Vivienne chose to remain in Skyhold. It's possible that they're not as established and secure as Anders thought. But at the same time, inviting them in to this event would isolate those who he sees as more vulnerable so he can't.]
A fair advocacy. Though I'll not be changing the invitations up. I want the vulnerable ones of our people to feel secure before I can worry about Loyalists. But if this does continue and succeed, we could think about running two. One for the non-Loyalists to continue to bond and grow, and one for all mages. Likely I would... not be welcome to organize that one. But it's a possible thought for the future.
That's more than fair. We're not hosting a debate club. ["We," as if Vandelin has somehow been involved in the planning of this as opposed to having learned about it ten minutes ago and needed convincing to consider coming.]
I know there's a difference between supporting them in politics we don't condone, and simply...remembering that they're mages too. The latter is all I want. We can worry about the rest of it much later.
Meanwhile, do you think we should try to appease the more radical set by instituting a dress code? Trousers only? Maybe some false beards? [No, he's never letting that go. Thanks, Nell.]
[He says it very dryly, because it's... not as much of a joke as he wishes it was. Then his voice turns purely joking:]
And I suggest we bring false beards and trousers and leave them as options. So people can try them on, see if they're ready for that particular level of rebelness. Only a select sort will.
I've never managed to grow trousers. And Vivienne...
[Anders sighs.]
She's very politically adept. It's a shame she uses it in hopes of returning the Circles to exactly as they were, and it's worse than a shame that she killed mages in White Spire as they tried to flee when everything went down there. I realize it's incredibly hypocritical to say that anyone else has crossed the line, but for me, she has. If you can murder your own as they run in terror, then you're no kin of mine.
[A long and thoughtful pause, broken only by a faint noise of acknowledgment.]
The line is different for everyone, I suppose.
[How many of the Hasmali defenders, templars or mages, would have been willing to cut him down if he'd let them? He doubts Clarence would have hesitated, for all his simpering faux-civility in the years they'd shared a room. He can imagine Philomela running him through with a remorseless spirit blade, with that same you were never anything but a hindrance look he always imagined in her eyes when she would come to forcibly detach Myr from his side and whisk him off for training.
And yet every one of them now, everyone left behind in that tower, if that drunken conversation on Satinalia is to be believed, thinks of him as the Vivienne. Monsieur de Fer, cruel enough to cripple his own flesh and blood and flee into the night without ever looking back. He is the bogeyman of Hasmal now. Who is he to judge?]
I don't know if that's where the hypocrisy lies. But what's done is done, for all of us.
Sometimes I forget that isn't actually what the Inquisition's for.
[It sounds like a joke, paired as it is with the closest thing to a self-deprecating laugh as he's willing to get. It isn't. Not really.]
I'm not suggesting we leave Corypheus alone to do as he pleases. But it's so easy for people who aren't mages to take for granted what the Inquisition offers us. And for the rest of us, it feels almost too good to be true. Like bait.
[Demon's advocate again, speaking for the dead now, the ones who insisted on throwing their lives away with self-professed integrity rather than surrender themselves to one more institution with the power to betray them. It is not a position Vandelin wants to give a platform. But perhaps he owes it to their memory to present it as if it's worth refuting.]
I want to help build things. And I want to do it before we have any more ashes to build on top of. But I recognize that what I want and what we may need are not necessarily the same thing.
It's too comfortable, and it's lead by a Seeker and a Templar and a sister, along with a diplomat, and one of the leaders here is a Templar. I agree with your concerns. And I think your want here is parallel with the need of mages.
[It's absolutely bait. Chantry-inspired bait, no less.]
The cause is important. But we have to look toward our future because once Corypheus is dealt with the power void left by the Divine will be obvious once more, and how better to solidify one's power than... dealing with the mage issue?
Now is vitally important, because I don't want more ashes either.
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[There's still some annoyance there. He'd invited her, offered up help and support, and had needed to intervene and then she'd dismissed him completely. Mages need each other but apparently she's too good for him and he can't say he's fine with that.]
She may skip this too, maybe no one is worthy of her time. Or maybe it's simply you and me.
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She may do better if it really is meant for conversation without concrete plans. Or she may start criticizing everyone's fashion sense and telling everyone in robes to man up. Or, you're right, she may forgo it altogether, in which case maybe we've dodged an arrow. Still. I think we can work with any eventuality at this point. I'm not concerned. We've already got a good enough starting crowd without her.
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Sorry. I've been... I've been here so long and there's never been this many mages who might take a stand for themselves, and it's so hard to understand someone who wants freedom but spends their time taking potshots rather than seeing what can be accomplished together. We've a better setup than mages have had for literally hundreds of years. And I don't want to leave anyone behind, or risk shortchanging our people.
no subject
Given its stated intent, I don't know that this is a project where we need to worry about that. By its very definition, it leaves mages behind. [Abandons them, Myr might say, runs from them, turns away from them--]
And for a meeting of the like-minded to talk about our own experience, there's no harm in that. It's as it should be. But if that's what this truly is, then we don't need to worry about pulling in people who don't want to be there, regardless of why they don't. We're not leaving them out of some grand plan that will shape all of our futures. We're just not forcing them to talk about their lives over cake and ale if they'd rather not.
no subject
We're not really... doing that, are we? They have the Chantry relations group that I've heard has meetings, they've already got unity, and they can go to a Templar at any time that they want reassurances. This is meant to give something to our group that we don't have and that so many other groups do have.
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And I don't often make a habit of taking tea with loyalists, so maybe they do have their own kind of support network that I'm not privy to. But there are fewer of them in the Inquisition than there are of us. I wouldn't blame them for feeling isolated. Even if you like templars and Chantry sisters, they're a poor substitute for your own kind.
This is not a suggestion that we invite them to our parties, mind you. It's just demon's advocate.
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[The Loyalists have indeed fallen dramatically in number and standing since Vivienne chose to remain in Skyhold. It's possible that they're not as established and secure as Anders thought. But at the same time, inviting them in to this event would isolate those who he sees as more vulnerable so he can't.]
A fair advocacy. Though I'll not be changing the invitations up. I want the vulnerable ones of our people to feel secure before I can worry about Loyalists. But if this does continue and succeed, we could think about running two. One for the non-Loyalists to continue to bond and grow, and one for all mages. Likely I would... not be welcome to organize that one. But it's a possible thought for the future.
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I know there's a difference between supporting them in politics we don't condone, and simply...remembering that they're mages too. The latter is all I want. We can worry about the rest of it much later.
Meanwhile, do you think we should try to appease the more radical set by instituting a dress code? Trousers only? Maybe some false beards? [No, he's never letting that go. Thanks, Nell.]
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[He says it very dryly, because it's... not as much of a joke as he wishes it was. Then his voice turns purely joking:]
And I suggest we bring false beards and trousers and leave them as options. So people can try them on, see if they're ready for that particular level of rebelness. Only a select sort will.
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I never did meet Madame de Fer. She's just achieved this sort of mythical bogeyman status, like the Dread Wolf to the Dalish.
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[Anders sighs.]
She's very politically adept. It's a shame she uses it in hopes of returning the Circles to exactly as they were, and it's worse than a shame that she killed mages in White Spire as they tried to flee when everything went down there. I realize it's incredibly hypocritical to say that anyone else has crossed the line, but for me, she has. If you can murder your own as they run in terror, then you're no kin of mine.
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The line is different for everyone, I suppose.
[How many of the Hasmali defenders, templars or mages, would have been willing to cut him down if he'd let them? He doubts Clarence would have hesitated, for all his simpering faux-civility in the years they'd shared a room. He can imagine Philomela running him through with a remorseless spirit blade, with that same you were never anything but a hindrance look he always imagined in her eyes when she would come to forcibly detach Myr from his side and whisk him off for training.
And yet every one of them now, everyone left behind in that tower, if that drunken conversation on Satinalia is to be believed, thinks of him as the Vivienne. Monsieur de Fer, cruel enough to cripple his own flesh and blood and flee into the night without ever looking back. He is the bogeyman of Hasmal now. Who is he to judge?]
I don't know if that's where the hypocrisy lies. But what's done is done, for all of us.
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[One day he'll not lead conversations to a gloomy place. And one day mage freedom won't be endangered.]
What matters is building our future, now, with those of us who would build toward freedom and independence. And with those who would build with us.
[And those who would work with him in particular.]
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[It sounds like a joke, paired as it is with the closest thing to a self-deprecating laugh as he's willing to get. It isn't. Not really.]
I'm not suggesting we leave Corypheus alone to do as he pleases. But it's so easy for people who aren't mages to take for granted what the Inquisition offers us. And for the rest of us, it feels almost too good to be true. Like bait.
[Demon's advocate again, speaking for the dead now, the ones who insisted on throwing their lives away with self-professed integrity rather than surrender themselves to one more institution with the power to betray them. It is not a position Vandelin wants to give a platform. But perhaps he owes it to their memory to present it as if it's worth refuting.]
I want to help build things. And I want to do it before we have any more ashes to build on top of. But I recognize that what I want and what we may need are not necessarily the same thing.
no subject
[It's absolutely bait. Chantry-inspired bait, no less.]
The cause is important. But we have to look toward our future because once Corypheus is dealt with the power void left by the Divine will be obvious once more, and how better to solidify one's power than... dealing with the mage issue?
Now is vitally important, because I don't want more ashes either.