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[justice_is_blond]

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[ipseite]

Quite. Were it as we might hope, you would have been informed from the beginning, not merely expected to wait for their deliberation to be done with and find yourself presented a decision fait accompli.

[justice_is_blond]

They want time to prepare for the reaction to their decision, and to see what they may be up against.

[He's quiet again, contemplating what she's said. 'Running around,' it can't mean just the letter, but it's also not like she's an opponent. If someone has told her more of the upcoming details, it's not a betrayal.]

Do you think the running around will have any effect?

[ipseite]

Quite. I am most unpopular in our tower, presently. ( wry. )

I hope that it may. It may be that the effect is simply to make clear what the situation is, in truth.

( if they're to be treated like prisoners; if alliance was lie told to appease, that they believe themselves secure enough to abandon. )

[justice_is_blond]

And that it may have been naive, if understandably naive, to think the situation was ever one of us being accepted as equals.

[Now his voice is sad. He had wanted so badly to see mages treated as equals this quickly, to see actual, healthy results from the chaos he'd helped seed. The last time he'd been in Kirkwall he'd expected it to take fifty or a hundred years, but he wants to see it. He wants to live to see the day they're recognized as people.]

Why are you unpopular in your tower?

[ipseite]

( her pause is surprised. When she answers, it's gentler: )

You weren't to know.

[justice_is_blond]

You brought it up.

[Weren't to know? He's trying to reserve judgment until there's an explanation.]

[ipseite]

Yes. And I passed the information that was not intended for mages in the first place. If I am any judge of the atmosphere, my colleagues are now quite aware.

[justice_is_blond]

...Not me personally wasn't to know. The mages. That makes... far more sense than what I'd feared. And I'd assumed Nell had been persistent in asking about it, not that we had been granted unexpected information.

Thank you for the advanced warning. They'll not hear us or heed us, but at least there should be some awareness of the fact they'll have a growing issue on their hands.

[ipseite]

I couldn't have allowed my hands to be tied in such a manner in good conscience. Obviously you've my full support, for all that presently means; I suspect it would serve you not at all for me to speak loudly.

( considering how impressed with her skyhold probably isn't. thranduil and wren definitely aren't. a rifter now somewhat precariously in position; some people don't need to be too visibly on side, lest their presence be detrimental. )

Julius hadn't realised, either. I think in itself that speaks to-

Well. A few years ago, would either of you have taken for granted that such information would be granted to you? Does it not speak to how far you've come it seemed plausible?

[justice_is_blond]

It's more that Nell is... resourceful. We do not fully see eye-to-eye, but I had faith in her being able to find out what was going on.

[His voice is a little wry.]

I've no doubt Skyhold would prefer the mages ask no questions, shut up, and dutifully move about their business. Which means I greatly appreciate the support, and I hope it does not cost you in the long run. We need that, and that a Dalish and another Rifter do not see the need to help a group looked down on by the Chantry says a great deal, none of it positive.

[Wren is no surprise.]

[ipseite]

In your case, but I think that was not his rationale, ( thoughtfully. )

In any event. I may find myself seeking new occupations before long, but I would not change my own actions.

[justice_is_blond]

Julius, as dear as he is, happens to be a Loyalist. He has faith in the system that I cannot have after all I've seen and experienced.

But yes, in any event. I hope you do not lose your position, and not simply because this has proven that we need allies in high places. The position seems suited to you, and you to it.

[ipseite]

( her surprise is more muted this time, still contemplative; ) I suppose that—well, if it is a system that he could expect to give him that much information and autonomy on the matter of the phylacteries, I suppose it's easier to understand why one might become a loyalist. I hadn't thought. I suppose the change must be particular to the war.

( the phylacteries being obvious leverage when hostilities do, eventually, resume. as it seems they are almost certain to do. )

[justice_is_blond]

He...

[Anders pauses, resumes with a quieter voice.]

There were some who were not targeted by the Templars, who were not directly hurt by them. Who didn't suffer the way others did. They find it easier to have faith in the Chantry and the Circles. Some even had difficult lives before the Circles and so they'd incentive to not see below the surface.

He's a good man, Julius. He cares and I trust him. But he has never had the darker depths of the Circle suffocate him, so it is harder for him to understand the doubts of those of us who did.

...He has also never had his phylactery used against him until the recent matter, unlike some of us.

[ipseite]

( she considers that—considers, also, what julius had said to her, his positions as she knows them, and while their politics do not and indeed may never entirely align... )

I think him less naive than you fear. And that is what may make all the difference, in matters of persuasion.

( there is potential there.

possibly, potential for her to give julius a fucking headache, but nevermind that. )