trans_9 | [open] Beaten and broken and chased from the land;

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[open] Beaten and broken and chased from the land;

There wasn't much on the ship that wasn't new and unusual to Yve. It was slightly overwhelming, and more than a little unsettling, to be completely out of one's own element. She'd blessedly managed to find her way to the armory, and found a suit of heavy mail to wear over the pulsing plant suit, but even with the small addition of armor she still felt largely out of sorts.

Anyone seeing her wandering the halls wouldn't notice, of course, she had gotten fairly good at keeping whenever she was unsure or even a little afraid clear from her face, and only the mabari warhound at her side constantly would be able to sniff out his mistress's discontent.

She'd situated herself in her own room in the crew quarters, but it was yet another strange and unusual place, so when she had the opportunity she found her way into the city. Many of the buildings were foreign and of a construct she'd never seen before, though the addition of stone and mortar was a little more comforting to her than the living flesh of the ship. In her exploration, she didn't expect to come across anything familiar.

But how surprised she was to find, in one corner of the city, Castle Cousland. She recognized it immediately, though she hadn't seen it in over a year. After all, she'd grown up in the castle, and as it was the unmistakable laurel wreath heraldry still hung above the front gates. She moved slowly into the remains of the castle, still partially destroyed from Howe's attack, it seemed. The memories were sharp and clear, finding Oren and Oriana's bodies, leaving her mother and father and so many others to certain death...

She entered the main hall, and moved to sit down on the edge of the dais, covering her face with her hands for a moment. Boulder whined softly and circled around her, before resting at her feet, and she absently reached out to stroke a hand over his broad head.

"Looks like it truly is just you and me now, boy."

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"A castle!" said a rather excited voice from somewhere outside -- and above.

Attracted to conventional stone-and-mortar as well, and intrigued by the damage and the differences in architecture and development, an elf now floated over the courtyard, looking down over the castle curiously.

She sensed the presence of another, though it was hard to pinpoint where, exactly, it was coming from. When she heard the voice, she frowned a little, pulling herself to her feet and carefully drawing one of her swords from its sheathe on her back. She ducked out the door and turned, not seeing anyone, until, of course, she looked up.

She had seen plenty of creatures fly before, but never an elf. So, it was only natural for her to squint, trying to make sense of what she was seeing.

"Oi! What're you doing up there?!"

"Oh, pardon me... are you associated with this castle?" He offered a friendly smile up from that height. She might have just a little bit of confusion given that this elf was carrying the wands, staffs, and robes of a mage, not working as a servant or living in an alienage. Also, flying. "I was comparing architectural styles and choices to what I knew back home. This is the closest I've seen to a familiar castle since I arrived here."

Yve was a friend to the Dalish, she was no stranger to mage elves, or free elves in general, really. However, the flying was definitely new.

She frowned up at him, sheathing her sword again and crossing her arms.

"This is a castle from my home of Ferelden, yes," she replied, leaving out it was, in fact her home.

The elf descended a respectful distance away, then offered a sincere and razor-sharp bow. "I'm afraid I've offended you, or at least aggravated you. I apologize. I let my curiosity get the best of my courtesy much more often than is proper."

She looked warily at the elf, before she realized she had probably been overly snappy, and she exhaled, forcing herself to relax her stance, slightly. Her people skills were not entirely deplorable, she was a Cousland, and brought up to behave herself in court, but... she was also a Cousland. There was a reason they were respected on the battlefield.

"No harm done," she replied, arching an eyebrow slightly. "I was more startled by the flying, honestly."

"Ah, yes, I can see how that might be a bit off-putting," Aibghalien said, his smile turning apologetic. "The spell to allow that is simple to cast and last so long that I've grown terribly accustomed to it. Considering the sheer... size, of this..." He waved a hand at their surroundings, meaning to encompass the entire City and perhaps the ship by extension, "I almost feel like I have to, if I want to get anywhere."

A corner of her mouth lifted, and she tilted her head slightly to the side.

"Not a fan of long walks, I take it?" She had spent an entire year trekking from one end of Ferelden to the other and back again on foot. The City, while large, wasn't much to her.

"Flying is certainly faster, at the very least." He lowered his head slightly with a sheepish smile. "And I fly so much, I'm in a habit. I know that speaks poorly of me... in my defense, all I can say is that by nature and profession, the exercise of my mind is far higher a priority than the exercise of my body."

Not that he didn't look reasonably fit, mind.

Namira had entered Castle Cousland with some trepidation. After all, where Yve had gone immediately exploring their new home ("home" a relative word for Namira), she had buried herself up to the chin in information from the media library - once she'd stopped flailing about at the alien newness of it.

She'd picked up on Yve's presence as she'd walked Hakkar around the City. Her staff clacked softly against the stone as they walked. Namira hung back for a moment when they entered the main hall and watched Yve. Hakkar made a sort of low, curious noise in his throat, and looked up at Namira for guidance. The mage shifted and raised her voice.

"Yve? May I enter?"

She wasn't surprised by Namira's presence, she'd felt the other Warden as well, after all, though she hadn't acknowledged it until the mage spoke. Yve looked up from Boulder across the hall at the other woman, before inclining her head slightly.

"I don't see why not."

"You don't exactly look as though you're preparing for a ball," Namira answered as she entered with Hakkar trailing at her feet. "Is this where I think it is?" And if that was the case, how terrible for Yve. It certainly looked like typical Ferelden architecture, despite the damage to the building here and there.

Yve gave Namira a half smile, pulling herself to her feet and gesturing at the shield mounted on the wall behind her.

"Surely even a mage of the Circle is familiar with the heraldry of the different noble houses." She shook her head a little, looking off to the side. "It doesn't seem like they've done much repair work since Howe invaded."

Namira wrinkled her nose in distaste at the name. As soon as they were able to return home, she'd give that man a piece of her mind. Perhaps in the literal form of a fireball.

Perhaps two.

"We're quite familiar; it's makes it easier for us to genuflect appropriately." She returned the half smile with one of her own, and looked around. "You know, the damage is not so extensive that you could not have help in repairing it. If you would wish that, of course." Namira offered. She wasn't sure where they'd get the materials, but most of the crew she'd encountered had been helpful. Surely they could think of something.

"No, I suppose he wanted as little structural damage as possible," she replied, pacing along the dais and looking up at one of the paintings still hanging on the wall. "Howe liked moving himself in and sitting on things that didn't belong to him." She shook her head slightly, before turning back towards Namira.

"I haven't seen anything else from our world, here, so if nothing else we could use it as a base of operations. All two of us."

"Three of us, actually." Namira corrected, and waited for that to sink in before dropping the second shoe. "Alistair is here as well." And Maker's breath, they were letting him run about the ship willy-nilly with no supervision.

Yve had glanced away from Namira down at Boulder who was pressing his side against her hip, but when the mage mentioned Alistair her head snapped back up and she looked directly at the other woman.

"What?" She held that expression a moment, trying to force herself not to hope that there may be someone from her Ferelden here on this ship. She had never been that lucky. She pressed her lips together after a moment, trying to figure out how to best phrase what she was thinking.

"Is he... yours?" ...Not really the best, but it'd do.

Namira smiled ruefully and shook her head, "Had no idea who I was, unfortunately." ~~-100 approval.~~ "Much to my embarrassment. And when I mentioned you... he said you were equally unfamiliar." What a painful predicament.

She ran her fingers over Hakkar's velvety ear and looked at the ground. "What a set we are, hmm?"

"It's almost like we're being toyed with," Yve responded bitterly, rolling her eyes up towards the ceiling. Three Grey Wardens, all from different versions of Ferelden. What kind of ridiculousness was that?

"Never let it be said the Maker doesn't have a black sense of humor," Namira replied. "As strange and alien as the whole situation is, we must adapt appropriately."

"Yes, well. That's what I was doing." She stared up at the ceiling for a beat longer before looking back at the mage, cocking her head to the side in an indicative manner.

"Getting a feel for this place, adapting. Though it's a great deal less disturbing on this level than it is on some of the others."

"Oh my, yes. Some of the... decor here leaves something to be desired." Like how everything looked like some sort of abomination's art project. "There is so much information in their media library that I didn't even know where to begin. And... and these?" Namira reached into her aron and removed the omnicom they'd been given upon awakening.

"This little device is a marvel! Not that I've figured everything quite out on it, but..." she smiled at Yve slightly. "It makes me feel phenomenally foolish to not know what everything is."

"Well it's all sort've..." She waved her hand, wrinkling her nose a little. "Weird. I haven't even figured out how that stupid thing works, yet." She'd get it working, in time, but for now it was just sitting in one of the pockets on her pack, unused. She also hadn't actually even set foot in the media library beyond a brief glance at what it was. She had never really been a big fan of lots and lots of reading. She was educated enough, being of noble blood demanded it, but she was more of a 'making history' than a 'studying it' kind of person.

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[open] Beaten and broken and chased from the land;

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