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[dissono]

for private scenes and correspondence.
non-urgent crystal messages will be responded to by letter at his earliest convenience.

Comments

[rowancrowned]

[ there's no reason to prod further, he leaves the matter of gwenaelle well enough alone. there's no reason to prod, and he doubts this man has any knowledge of it all. he did start that rumor all those months ago about the two of them, long before he knew himself enough to realize it was true, but even that...

their odd little relationship has been, so far, oddly left alone and not speculated on; no reason to encourage it.

and thranduil gives up too, on trying to shape his questions a certain way for gervais' sake. ]

I understand you focused on childbirth, [ he hesitates away from midwifery. ]when you were last, ah, employed. Do you intend to take patients in Kirkwall? We have no expectant mothers in the Inquisition.

[dissono]

( gervais gives little away because he has always given little away, but it's worth noting that that particular question asked by this particular man earns thranduil a very long, measuring look.

do we not. how comforting. )

Em-em-employed, ( he repeats. what a curious choice of words. if he has an opinion on it, that's all the indication he gives, moving on with a tilt of his hand; ) A, a, a common, ah, common misconception.

( if you'll pardon the pun. look at him, stonefaced, that can't have been intentional. surely. )

M-m-m-my focus, ah...my focus w-w-was the, the nature of interbreeding. M-m-midwifery is, ah, an incidental, ah, a happily useful accident. I w-w-wuh, I will be working in, in research m-m-matters. If other, ah, if other skills become necessary, then, ah, then I have them.

[rowancrowned]

[ thranduil gazes back, thinking no, surely not, but then: he is his lady's uncle. more than likely. ]

For the sake of politeness, employed. Imprisoned, enslaved, if you would prefer alternatives. Protected, perhaps. Cloistered.

[ all suitable alternatives. ]

Indeed. We will be glad of the standard healing, I suspect. [ i if only for an alternative of 'not anders', in kirkwall of all places.

kerian is hardly underfoot, and children charm thranduil in general, but priorities can be strained when there is someone you love that much right there, small and vulnerable and everything to you. ] The 'nature' of inbreeding?

[dissono]

( the expression does not shift in its mildness as thranduil offers him alternatives. he does not feel the need to comment on any of them. or on what he might consider to be polite. )

I am, ah, I am—I am not a, a, a healer in the, the sense of...you, ah, you will be glad of me in emergencies. B-b-but I don't foresee, ah, foresee it being my primary. Work.

( healers are very necessary in wartime and he's sure he will do that work when the time comes, but gervais has seen a little of the kirkwall outpost so far; people's guts are not on the floor every day. he will be able to turn to more academic pursuits, and all things considered, he prefers that. )

As to, to—to what has been. ( his primary work. ) Th-th-there must be, ah, be a reason for the, the, the, the nature of the elfblooded. Gigi is, she is, ah, she is human. H-h-her children will be. Why?

( he spreads his hands. )

Cl-cl-closer to home than, ah, than I knew.

[rowancrowned]

No, no, forgive me if you thought I was implying as much. [ a graceful enough dismissal in the wave of his hand. ]

Has this not been looked into before? [ he asks, and then thinks of elven women, with mannish children. how inclined they would be to flee from that. how often such a thing would occur in, say, tevinter. he feels something twist inside him, and leaves it be.

he does not think it will come to pass with gervais. still. attentiveness with not hurt. ]

A shame you were not here perhaps a month ago. We had some of my kin here, from the side that took Mannish spouses.

[dissono]

( gervais considers his options.

after an only slight pause, )

And th-th-this is, ah, this is, this is different. T-t-t-to what, ah, you. Have done.

( there's a question in that, for all it does not lilt, his expression steady as ever. a prompt, an opening. come now, we both know what's up. )

[rowancrowned]

[ this, thranduil thinks, is preferable to all the fussing. ]

No. She cannot marry me here, even now.

[ the chantry still would not allow it, he objects to the publicity (at the moment), he promised emeric he would not. ]

[dissono]

( not for the first time, gervais wonders if he'll ever find someone prepared to marry himself and wren; if perhaps they'll simply be engaged til they die. if he'll call her his wife and the maker can go hang if he objects. )

L-l-less, less, ah, less danger she'll be, be obliged to anyone else. Now.

( a philosophical sort of position to take on current events in and out of thranduil's bedroom. )

[rowancrowned]

[ this is a much better reaction than sending an assassin after him. he prefers this. ]

I gave your brother my word. I must not ruin her life. She must be able to walk away at any time with nothing of me clinging to her. [ he recalls the words easily, nearly mimicking Emeric's intonation. ] Though the situation has changed, your brother has not indicated to me that he intends to release me from that promise.

[dissono]

( pride would never let him, gervais thinks, but he says, )

M-m-more pressing, ah, problems.

( thranduil is certainly a problem, but one that will keep when the girl's prospects otherwise are hardly rosy. )

He, he, ah, he...

Em is, ah. Orlais is.

( finally, he simply spreads his hands. )

[rowancrowned]

Gwenaëlle has said as much. [ wryly. ]

I gave my word. I do not think that will save me from your brother should he seek redress, [ he admits. he glances at preudame, crosses one leg over the other. ]

He has told you everything?

[dissono]

( his hands coming together in his lap, loose- )

His version.

( gervais imagines thranduil or even gigi might tell it different. )

[rowancrowned]

I will not dispute it.

[ what do the details matter? he doubts emeric has painted him as a monster. cleverer men laid the groundwork for that seven hundred years ago. ]

Do you wish for assurances?

[dissono]

( what for, when thranduil can give him all the assurances in the world and it's abundantly clear that, like her father (and uncle, and grandmother), young mlle baudin will do exactly what the fuck she likes.

he doesn't think his face is quite gullible enough to merit that, but maybe all humans look alike to an elf like this. )

Of, of, ah, of what?

[rowancrowned]

That I have no ill-intent towards her.

[ he is well aware he has as much ability to control gwenaëlle’s actions short of binding her as he does galadriel. which is to say: none.]

That I am not conspiring with her to vex her family.

[ in another world, he would have been professing his love for her, his intends for the future. here? he can barely promise her safety. at least the eyes of the court may fall from them eventually. ]

[dissono]

( neither of those are things gervais has particularly worried about; thranduil's word means little to him when he knows him so little, cannot judge for himself yet its worth and therefore sees no particular value in demanding promises of him. what would thranduil feel gervais is owed? what would he think, in his place?

after a moment, )

Imagine I, ah, I, I will see. For, for, for myself.

( besides, it had been immediately evident that whether or not gigi conspires to vex her father, that he is vexed pleases her so immensely it's irrelevant. )

[rowancrowned]

[ thranduil inclines his head; gervais will hopefully see very little of it, no one will be seeing very much of it until he and emeric have another conversation.

he does not give his word lightly.

but to speak of what one sees, well: ]

That is Ser Coupe's hound.

[dissono]

Th-th-these are, ah, are, are Wren's rooms.

( what of it, fancy boy. )

[rowancrowned]

Are they? [ thranduil says pleasantly. ] For our friendship, I have not been invited inside until today. I understood her to be a private woman.

[dissono]

Th-th-th, ( an exhale, ) the ring w-was my, ah, my. Our, that, that is, mine and, ah, and Em's. Our mother's ring.

( gwenaëlle had poorly hidden her displeasure, but he'd been mildly touched that she'd felt him worth trying to hide it from. )

[rowancrowned]

[ a moment for him to recall thedas marriage customs-- ]

[rowancrowned]

[ ah. ]

May you and Ser Coupe have an easier time of it than Gwenaëlle and I. Do you intend to let it be known?

[dissono]

Sh-sh-she's wearing it.

( and here he is, living in her quarters, making no secret. they're not taking out advertisements, but it isn't going to be a mystery for very long, he's sure. )

It, ah. It. We will—not, I am sure.

( have an easier time. )

But, ah... ( his shrug is easy, an elegant roll of his shoulders, always so very deliberate in the way that he moves. ) We, we, we, we are—nor young nor, nor, nor long-lived.

( they don't have thranduil and gwenaëlle's kind of time. take the good while it's good. )

[rowancrowned]

Perhaps the gossips will catch on.

[ or perhaps they won't. what is and is not noticed around here is as varied as the people who work for the inquisition. mayhap no one will notice or issue a challenge and good ser coupe and enchanter vauquelin will avoid notice and the history books.

what he says is sad. they have little time, and thranduil more but not enough. he'd bless them in the way of the elves if it would mean anything or they'd take it, but he knows the answer already. ]