TEMP PINNED POST. hi the name is herbert, almost 30, you can call me herbie or herb, (they/he) but don't call me late for dinner! i'm a veilguard apologist and davrin STAN here to roleplay best husband, best grey warden, best bestie.
there will be spoilers on this blog for davrin's companion quests as well as the end of the game. i will tag everything to do with solas memories or act three. but the companion quest is pretty unavoidable! look at your shared son assan and tell me you don't wanna know what happens to him and his bwothers and sisters! that shit gave me anxiety! anyway.
davrin haters are not welcome. i literally don't even know why you would dislike davrin for any reason besides racism. he's great and extremely likable. if you dislike davrin i don't want to be around you. and you are not worthy of the feather brigade! good day to u!!!!
ONLY RULES: no bad vibes. good things are good and bad things are bad. i trust you to know the difference. sometimes dark fic and gore is fun! such things will be tagged. i hard block whenever i feel like it. it doesn't mean you're a bad person or i don't like you, it just means we have separate equal and opposite vibes that i don't see meshing well.
anyway. in peace, vigilance. let's roleplay together!
Solas feels almost inspired by the anger that seems to seep from Davrin. Not a loud sort of anger that comes from brutes that just want to throw a tantrum about not getting their way, though. Davrin's bubbles quietly within his chest and Solas can see it building in the Warden's eyes. There is something bitter that comes from your entire world being uprooted but not only that... having it proven right that it was all pretty pointless all along just drives the nail further into that casket.
" And so that makes me the only choice? " he challenges towards the comment of being the only one left. " Because I am the one that survived I must become the root of all your problems? Do you not see how short sighted that makes you? " Of course it is all Davrin's issue, isn't it? The Warden sees convivence where Solas sees ignorance -- or is this all Solas's pride disallowing him from seeing Davrin's side at all? Is it impossible to see a man grieving before him all because of pride? (It must be.)
However, Davrin does make a comment that makes Solas's brow furrow with disappointment. " You think I care so little? " he sounds hurt, the corners of his mouth turning from smirk to frown. " I care so much I did not even want you to exist. To know the horrors of this world in the first place. We were never supposed to be as we are now, do you not understand that? The forms we took -- they twisted us into what you see now. And from that became you. The elves. People who became so lost in time that you began to worship those who would not think twice to chain you. The very 'Gods' I liberated elven people from. "
His disappointment becomes sadness, a weight heavily sitting upon his chest and shoulders as he continues. " How do you free something from a cage when the cage is all it has ever known? I offer to open the canary's gilded door but it snaps at my fingers whenever I try... how will it ever know it can fly? " a shake of the head and a heavy sigh leads him to continue. " Willful ignorance is a sharper weapon for your enemy to use against you than any blade imaginable. "
"Is that supposed to make me feel better? That I was not supposed to exist? I do! We did not ask to be born, no more than you asked the Titans to steal their skin. And that is your fault. We exist because of you, and you don't even care about as as more than---more than pets. More than animals. Are we---are we caged birds or penned rabbits."
His voice rises, rises, stresses to a crescendo, that ever-so-higher pitch like he's fighting back tears or a scream. It's so childish, it's so childish, it's so, so sad. The Dalish are children begging for their parents' parents' parents' parents' to want them enough to come home, to bless them, to guide them to some Holy City long dead. Daddy comes home from a thousand year nap he took while he was out getting cigarettes---he tells you he never wanted kids in the first place. You were an accident. Unholy, his burden, his folly. You were never supposed to exist. It would have been a greater kindness to The Dalish if Solas had died in his sleep than to say as much. Even if it's true. Especially if it's true.
Rabbit is a word he does not use lightly, a word he has been called callously, carelessly. If Solas thinks him no better than an animal---than let him speak true. What makes you different than the shemlen who call us animals overbreeding in the slums and the woods? Is that what we are to you because we were born from 'human' reproduction? Because we're not spirits?
"I've seen your regrets. I don't think our people--YOUR people---" An accusation, but one Davrin is coming to realize is so untrue he does not stop to pause as he corrects himself, "MY people are part of that, really."
"What do you think is going to happen to us when you tear down the veil? Are we supposed to turn back into spirits? Let them possess us--turn us into abominations?"
"I am myself. I am not caged. I am all that I need to be. I wanted---some kind of understanding from you. I see now that you don't even understand reality. You're too far up your own ass."
“ my soul is looking for a word from god. “ Davrin's tongue swirls in his mouth, the pink muscle of his tongue mashed against fleshy cheek insides, lolled and thrown from top to bottom of his teeth, aimless, as he continues to pound his thoughts against his words with purpose. It would be easy. To shut off the feelings---the doubts---the curiosity. But a part of him has to know, will always want to know. The words come out bitter, as such thoughts often do for Davrin. He is glad that, with Solas, he does not have to worry about offending an Elder he respected or even LIKED. There is no point in being polite. And so the words come out a sad, dull march, the sullen footsteps of a child downstairs from their bedroom, to the kitchen, to get breakfast before going off to school after failing to do their homework and getting a bad grade in Elf.
"What was Andruil like? Was she a part of your rebellion? Or was she like Elgar'nan and Ghil'inan?" It's clear enough what he means. I wear her mark, blood writing, the opposite of a mask---my flesh is stained with her spirit. What does that mean---what does my pain mean, for being so visibly different---even from my own kind. What was all of this for?
Solas gives out a light chuckle, a stark contrast against the sullen aura Davrin has brought to the conversation. This chuckle is not out of anything humorous, though. It carries a feeling of I've been waiting for this question rather than a teasing sort of emotion. " You wish to know if the markings on your face belong to someone worthy of your choice of doing so. "
Not the answer that Davrin was looking for but when does Solas ever provide such answers so easily? " I could tell you a million reasons as to why the markings you bear are poor choice... but is that something you truly wish to learn? Would you even believe me if I bothered? " there's no offence that lies within his tone at the last question. Davrin would be right not to believe or trust Solas, and he will happily admit to such as well. Even if he were to speak the truth.
" Deep down do you not already know what the answer may be? ... I will give you the answers you think you may want but not if you are simply seeking me to be your vessel of blame. "
"Deep down, huh." Davrin swallows around the hot fire coal of a cherry pit of anger. Deep down, deep down maybe he's always known. That's why he left. There was no way the Evanuris could have ever lived up to his clan's worship. No one could. Not even a God. And even the Gods were imperfect. Even in his clan's stories, the myths they told around campfire. Fen'harel was not always the only villain.
"Who am I supposed to blame then?" His words are stern, pitched low and demanding. He is lashing out. 'Da'len, da'len,' Eldrin gruffly smokes and sputters insults in an elfroot haze as Davrin chokes on his own sick and hallucinates the green clouds as The Boogeyman Dread Wolf coming to collect the Halla they're attempting to nurse back to health. 'See with your eyes, not just your heart.' Visions scatter, it's just the deer creatures that nuzzle their nose against his lips---their favorite snack thick in the sick on his breath. Earthy scent of animal, mixed with bitter, oily nausea. Gross. Gross, but not scary. Natural, like the skunky elfroot wafting off Eldrin's pipe as he bickers, or the warmth of his Mother's pale brown palms as she strokes his back until his hiccup sobs fade to sleepy snores.
Da'len always felt llike such an insult. The clans know so little of their whole language----just key phrases, important phrases. They mostly speak Trade, same as anyone else. Child, child, child. You are just a silly, stupid, child. A burden, a fool. Ignorant, naive. You will never learn, learn all our ways, the important ways, the Old ways, the forgotten ways---and, Davrin would grow to realize---they couldn't learn enough themselves to teach him enough to satisfy their own superior sense of mourning. Every word of prayer loops in on itself---apocalyptic apostrophes and paralyzed torniquet turn of phrases, bandaids on wounds about the end of the world that happened right before they were born, in and out of understanding every one around him. Conversations that aren't really conversations, just secrets and passwords and codewords for 'you're not old enough for this conversation, you're not smart enough for this conversation, we'll tell you one day---and what we tell you will just make you sad and tired and want to run away, and you will.'
Is that all it is? Is that all it means to be an Elf? To mourn? To remember that you have forgotten all that matters in this world?
And yet. He wants to know. He wants to know that his people matter. That his life matters. That he didn't mark his face for a villain, or a monster. His childhood is a mess of myths and worship and studying and Elders with tattoos he traced into the sands of Arlathan to remember, remember, remember. It can't all be lies. He wants it to mean more than that. He wants his family---the good and true and kind people in his family---to have chosen something as pure as their intentions. The Gods owe them that kindness. No prayer answered---they deserve Gods who are better than they are, or are at least worthy of their worship enough to change.
"You're the only one left." It's a battle cry, an insult of his own, a challenge. You killed them. Or imprisoned them. Or they're evil now, not that you're not. Are you happy? Are you happy now that it's almost over? Are you happy that every elf suffers---from your oh-so-superior Ancient Gods to those in alienages, those in slavery. What did it all matter? What did it all accomplish?
"If you care so little about us..." What a heavy, poignant us. Elves, the Dalish, people, the modern world, me, it hangs so heavily on the precipice of Davrin's tongue, the highest ridge in Arlathan, another relic in a cavern of stained glass mysteriously revved by Solas's ritual. His brow shakes with stress, a twinge where wrinkles will form years and years from now. He is still so young. Da'len, da'len.
"If you've already killed everyone who matters...."
this is a master plotting post/call for @heartofahalla (davrin) and @throughstruggle (taash) but also the muses on my sideblog @burninglances which include the following canon characters: SOLAS, felassan, caterina, zara, spite, antoine and evka, celene, BRIALA, elgar'nan and shathaan. that's a lot of characters, i know, but STICK WITH ME. because i play so many characters i have a lot of plots in mind and i'd like to list ways in which RE-WRITING SOME ELEMENTS OF CANON, and CONTINUING SOME SPOILER-CENTRIC BITS OF CANON, could be really fun, and its what i really really wanna do! so without further ado, come on this journey with me, a super long post, about.... WHAT WE CAN DO!!!!!!!
if you're interested in any of these plots, leave a like and i'll get to ur dms asap... if ur not interested then i'm sorry for reblogging this on my two other blogs.... RIP!
CANON DIVERGENCE #1: TRAVEL.
Canon divergence numero uno is that Elgarn'an and Ghil are also blighting the South, the Veilguard is sometimes going to have to go to the South! IMO, the Inquisitor and Rook (and the Inquisitor's Team of WHOMEVER) should be working as one entity. technically rook wasn't just working with varric---they were ALREADY working under the inquisitor THROUGH varric.
anyway that is to say, the veilguard is obviously going to meet all previous characters, heroes of ferelden, hawkes, etc, and be able to go to all locations in the games. how can they do this u ask? aren't the crossroads well and truly fucked? who will guide them u ask?
BRIALA and felassan---also solas's network of spies.
after the masked empire, for a time, briala was the only one with access to the eluvians, her and her elf rebellion. she found a tranquil felassan, and with his help, mastered the crossroads, and has been using it in tandem with the veil jumpers (notably, merrill, bellara, and strife) as well as the shadow dragons (notably, the viper, fenris, dorian), and the crows (teia), and the lords of fortune (so many former slaves!!!!). ever wonder how the eluvians got to all those locations? you can thank briala's tireless efforts in trying to get rights for elves EVERYWHERE, solas and his spies sometimes working with her---and sometimes against her in her efforts, just as she did him when it suited her. (tearing down the veil is not her problem. if solas did not care for the plight of their people in the present day, nor his spies---she would ignore the dread wolf even while using his gifts. they are more amicable than you would expect---but as chess masters in their own private consequent games, a never ending winter palace labyrinth. anyway, there are so so so many eluvians everywhere---but only if you care about resistance efforts, and can make it clear to briala that you are willing to continue to help the elves. which brings us to the NEXT POINT.
CANON DIVERGENCE #2: THE ELVES AND ELGAR'NAN
Elgar'nan and Ghil quite simply are going after EVERYONE. All at once. Boom boom boom. Venatori and Antaam, of course! But also, elves---who can be convinced to cause blight for more power. This especially affects Briala's rebellion---alienages, her spies, and simply enslaved elves---are being given limitless power and freedom (and the power to grant freedom to others) in exchange for blighting their homes, friends, family, and slavers. For some that option is too good to give up.
Briala and The Shadow Dragons, The Crows, et all have made great progress over the years, but it threatens to come apart at the seams. This endangers everyone.
I would also like to see Elf!Rooks and Elf!Lavellans and Elf!Wardens (elves of all kinds!) and all the companions to sort of. Get Elgar'nan AND/OR Solas stuck in their head? For Elgar'nan because he senses power---for Solas because like. People are connected to Rook and he can kind of get his hooks in there. I would especially like to play DAVRIN with Elgar'nan in his head, I think that would be really fun to interact with, because I do believe he would keep it a secret / not believe it was happening to him. (It's the calling / blight, it's nothing to worry about, etc)
CANON DIVERGENCE #3: ZARA AND EMOTIONAL DEMONS
I thought this character was so fucking wasted. She's so interesting! Her army of emotional demons! Just in general I think I want to experiment with the different kinds of demons Zara unleashed and what they could do in the world. Like she had to have unleashed so many kinds of desire. Not all the demons are just going to attack people. Some of them are going to plot and control and do all kinds of origins desiredemon esque type shit and that sounds cool as fuck lets doooo something with that! also in general... she unleashed a lot of spirits that AREN'T demons, but also.... aren't human either... but they're not ghosts. they're learning and dealing with people and maybe possessing them and maybe taking on deals like desire demons. there is much to think about.....
CANON DIVERGENCE #4: THE ANTAAM
I would like to see Taash take a more proactive stance with the Antaam, who are in-game religious extremists who are stranding people that Taash and Shathaan then have to take care of. But also, by the end of Taash's quest, they are apparently??? Reforming more people???? IDK I just want to do Taash helping Sten/The Arishok with Qunari politics. And possibly reforming the whole nation, lol. If Dorian can do it.... why not Taash.... LOL
SPOILERS / PLOT FORWARD
I WANT TO DO STUFF WITH TAASH LEADING REFORMED QUNARI TOWARDS THE OCEAN!!!!!!!!!!! i would like to do something where, across the sea, there are dragons and griffons and all kinds of mysterious beast and blight (and things worse than the blight. something alive---like with ghil and elgy's blight, something that is life overgrown and uncut and dangerous and suffocating, a curse of undeath, of spirits unbidden, of something so un-understandable to our heroes they might as well be cartoons staring at a real person for the first time, a four dimensional cancerworld to use something from guardians of galaxy mythos lol)
You're terrible, Neve tells herself even as she indulges in teasing Taash so. The younger qunari is so eager to please, to even hear her speak, hanging off every low word. Taash preens and struts and blusters under the attention. They have little skill in hiding their reactions, that which they do manage with strangled little half sentences that only trigger that detective instinct within Neve to dig a little deeper. Amusing as much as it is intriguing. Neve's hardly surprised she took the bait; Taash is a riddle, the force of their regard exciting.
She is a little wrong-footed to have been called out on it. Perhaps she hadn't been as subtle as she'd thought.
Neve's always had a penchant for people watching. Her father and her used to make a game of it. In her youth she'd thought it good fun, but now she treasures the keenness of eye the habit had honed in her. She does it now without conscious thought. Behavior, gesture, tone, all neatly filed away and noted.
Davrin's goading has her eyes sliding towards him. There's good humor in his questioning, relaxation in his easy pose. He means to be friendly then, rather than mocking. The griffon regards her too, though in a way that suggests she might be hiding truffles in her pockets. Not magnificent beast yet. Assan has to grow into this awfully long limbs of his and trip over them less before he is living up to any legends of old.
"Can't decide which one it is, can you Davrin?" Neve's not sure either, truth be told. They have a lot more to handle right now than any entanglements. There's nothing serious enough at the moment for Neve to label anything. Maybe there shouldn't be.
"Well, I can tell you with certainty that I am entirely too much trouble for the likes of Templar Rana. She likes to pretend to keep her nose cleaner than I do," she thinks guiltily of Brom. Maybe Rana was right to always have caution where Neve had little of it. She was good enough not to hate Neve for that bloody day. Neve supposes she can blame herself enough for both of them. "No, that's ungenerous of me. She's a good sort. We would have driven each other mad, mark my words.
"The most popular detective in Tevinter? Maybe Minrathous, if I'm lucky," an indelicate snort. "As sad as I am to discourage any scandalous views of my love life, the sleepless nights of prowling the streets and my busy schedule kept my dance card quite empty. What of you? You're a handsome man. I'm sure a Warden as dashing as you found suitors in the ranks."
Neve is a beautiful woman. And a good woman, good person. She talks of being trouble---but what trouble is she, really? Just a good heart, a good head, kindness to her core that she pretends to hide with an aura of mischief---the sparkle in her eye only matched by the curiosity wisps that float around her like Heavenly blue matching halos. She's built her life around the Shadow Dragons, and to making her city a better place. (And the Shadow Dragons aren't LIKE the Wardens. The Wardens are about redemption. The Shadow Dragons are simply about being good-hearted people who see a wrong, and work hard to change it. If the Elvhen Gods weren't evil assholes---some kind of patron saint of the Dalish has to bless the Viper one of these days. And bless Neve, too.) She's a proper hero, and has the scars to prove it. And she's smart.
Can you blame Davrin himself for being a bit curious? Neve thinks of people as riddles; Davrin watches her eyes drink Taash in as she pushes their buttons one by one. But Davrin thinks of Neve as an already completed puzzle. Each piece properly its place, pushed together, crisp cardboard in another world, firm, soft-paper clicked together in a perhaps dusty box, proper wood tile in this one, carved in perfect curves, mini mosaic Masterworks of the tug of her lips---her silly hats, the lilt in her voice, and the depths of its purr. There is no tug in him to finish her. She knows who she is. The most popular detective in Minrathous. But there is, of course, a little boy pull in him to shake up the box, just to see if anything falls loose. A sense of play he can't shake.
He smiles, bright, his own kind of mischief, fists on his hips. He listens to the gossip---always one for gossip and teasing---something's gotta warm Weisshaupt, and it's not the food, so it better be the company.
"If not Minrathous---definitely Docktown."
"Would you believe Evka used to have a crush on me? It's true. Turned her down. Not that I wasn't sorely tempted. Then Antoine stepped into our lives and I was promptly delegated to chopped liver."
"Not that I blame him. Or mind, really. Antoine and Evka non-withstanding... Most Wardens know not to get too attached."
UPDATE. so i've decided to make an extremely low activity super mutuals/trusted people only sideblog for a couple of my favorite veilguard side characters.... including: caterina (we are not apologizing for caterina's abuse, but this IS for the lucanis and rook girlies to call her out on her shit!!!! #CATHARSIS. also bring me illario... illario honey come home.....), viago, antoine and evka (the two greatest characters of all time), shathaan (i cant be the only taash in this fandom!!!!!) VORGOTH....
and SOLAS. who i will be extremely extremely picky with using!!!! bc i do view him as a dark and tragic character, but also. definitely a villain, and definitely one i romanticize the shit out of despite being a truly complex and also Bad Person, manipulator (tm).
@burninglances there will be no fancy aesthetics. u either vibe or u dont vibe. get on the vibe train or do not follow
alright so actually who is going to make blogs for all the faction leaders bc i Need Them so desperately. with the exception of isabela and strife and irelin they were all so good LOL
hold your tongue or lose it. / luc dav toxic yaoi xoxoxo
"Bold words coming from someone who has to steal back control of his own mouth." If Lucanis is trying to shut Davrin up---he's doing a pisspoor job at it. Davrin leans in as his eyes narrow, full lips parted as he scoffs out hot breath in Lucanis' direction. He turns down his chin to meet his eyes as he sneers.
Lucanis is one of the shortest human men Davrin's ever met---and he's got to admit, he likes feeling tall, likes feeling bigger---especially because it's not a feeling he's used to. It's macho bullshit he hasn't earned---nor that he wants to, but it feels good, instinctual, like the bloodrush of killing something twice your size, the purr that comes from accepting compliments and adoration from warden recruits and damsels (of all genders and one particular orientation towards himself) in distress. He feels much the hero---the bigger man---when he bothers Lucanis like this. Antagonistic as he may be, often unprompted---crows are ruthless killers, so they're worse.
"I'm starting to like Spite. Better than you, at least. Not that that's saying much."
Part one where I wrote down all the banter about Davrin's Dalish past is here!
I wanted to put all codex (I could find) in order, divided by topic! (Also I wanted to say I will post more Davrin stuff on my personal blog @lucrezianoin haha to not fill this one with just Davrin!)
This is divided in:
Davrin's past and his feelings of guilt for the Dalish clan
Weisshaupt being the only home he has
Meeting Assan and the griffons (and naming Assan)
The Warden vs Nature choice for the griffons
Other (stuff on the Gloom Howler etc.)
Davrin's past and Dalish clan
Just a bit more here on Davrin's guilt for leaving his clan and we do get the confirmation that Davrin has not seen Eldrin since his kids days, and contacted him thanks to a chat with Rook.
Also interesting that the way Davrin was treated by Eldrin is very similar to the way Davrin treats Assan at the start. In the quest we also find out Eldrin was quite harsh (making him eat Halla food as a way to learn, which led to hours of hallucinations and sickness, and kicking his butt when he felt Davrin was wrong).
We don't really get that deep into it, but I like that while Davrin firmly believes in "Throw yourself at it, if you don't learn you get hurt" for himself, he squanders that idea pretty easily when it comes to Assan, even going so far as to start wonder if there is a "non fighting" future for Assan.
I will put this codex later on but I also wanted to show it here for Davrin's past, in "The Nature of Griffons" Davrin says: "Talking to Rook about Assan's insticts got me thinking. Can you change something you're born with? Or are we blank slates who can make our own way? Was I born a monster hunter, destined to do this job, or did I have a choice?" which makes me scream because I need to know what happened in his clan.
From the banter and his personal quests we know that Davrin hunted everything, and then started going to Eldrin's during the summers and he learnt to hurt darkness (monsters) and things that threatened the forest. Did he have a drive to hunt that Eldrin needed to re-direct, where were his parents? Were they the ones sending him to Eldrin? And why is it that a talk of nature vs nurture and his Dalish clan makes him think only of Eldrin and not his parents? (We realistically can imagine Davrin's mother is alive, given that during the gym scene Taash insults her and Davrin says "She can take it" when Taash apologize).
Weisshaupt (and the fall of Weisshaupt)
Davrin often talks about Weissaupt with affection and jokingly but the code really expresses that Weissaupt was his only home.
When Davrin leaves to follow Rook we find out that he knows the First Warden would not take him back. He describes the fortress in detail (loved the "libraries of books I'll never read, getting bruised and battered while sparring etc." as some nostalgic positive thing - miserable and exhilarating). And of course "It's the only home I got", which is telling knowing how he feels about his clan never taking him back if he asked.
And then the heartbreaking entry for Weisshaupt fall.
There are a few other entries:
Which also has a bit about Assan: "I have been thinking of Assan as an assignment: something I need to protect until he finishes his training. But we're in this together now, and it's time to lick our wounds and move on. I'm all he's got, and in some ways, he's all I've got."
How Davrin got to work with Griffons and meeting Assan
My favorite entries are about how Davrin got his assignement and how sweet he was on Assan (unknowingly!!) since the start!
We find out it was the First Warden (from Weisshaupt) that sent him to the assignment. I am still unsure how it works for a Warden who is a Monster Hunter, but we know from the entries that Davrin lived at Weisshaupt and considered it his home, so I supposed he was just sent here and there? Like a specialized Warden?
He also mentions he was sent as a bodyguard, basically, and he seems both fascinated and a bit skeptical (they poop a lot haha, and he admires Lancit's patience).
And then he meets Assan. "There's one griffon, this little guy." From Endril's words we know Davrin used to be small and scrawny as a kid, so I wonder if he saw himself in Assan. "He's a little slow on the uptake, but he's fast in the air." And so Davrin suggests the name Assan for him. And my favorite part "If I do nothing else in this life, at least I can say I got to name a griffon".
We also have these late entries about the nature of griffons and Davrin's realization that they are not "made" for fighting by nature, but taught so. "Can griffons do anything else? Would they want to? I wonder". Also he is such a dad, writing about Assan's first taste of an apple.
About Assan and the halla, Davrin writes "the instincts of a dog herding sheep", and I personally think it is about learning. There is a moment in the dialogue at the start of Davrin's recruital where we find out that griffons learn better in groups, they clearly are very social animals. I fully believe Assan fed the Halla simply because he saw Davrin doing that, he learnt from watching, he sees Davrin taking care of Halla so he learns that is the thing to do and how it is done.
Then we have some notes on Griffon's extinctions, and a note about Assan's love for gingerwort truffles (which Davrin tried and did not like.. we also find out Davrin hates broccoli... please Davrin... I love broccoli...)
Warden Griffons vs Arlathan Griffons
These are the two different notes:
Interesting the "Warden" choice starts with "Deciding where the griffons should go wasn't easy" which is not present in the Arlathan choice. I do not think there is a right/wrong choice, but after reading this I will always lean more towards Arlathan.
"it's time they got a chance to explore nature instead. The griffons are going to love Arlathan"
Other codex
Interesting that he says he does feel sympathy for Isseya.
"Hm—maybe one day he'll learn to preen himself." She jokingly scoffs, shaking her head wistfully. She props herself carefully at the edge of the basin, unbothered by Assan's romping and splashing. Admittedly, she'd jump in as well and enjoy the cool water—he's growing so fast, and they'll likely need a larger basin. She reaches to scratch behind an ear, cooing as she does so. "Aw, ara da’ean!"
This singular griffon is an entire legacy. A beacon shining through hundreds of years of hardship and failure. He has to be strong and clever—if not for the Wardens, then for his brothers and sisters. This little life knows nothing of how he will eventually become a symbol to end all others. A light shining in darkness.
"I might be right there with you, stomping into the Deep Roads. I'll bring some party hats and explosives. Go out with a BANG. But I want to collect my hazard pay first." It is very plausible that the two could go down side by side. How fatalistic. While she'd undergone the Joining just a few years after Davrin had, their ages mirrored one another (give or take a few months). "We can really only estimate how long they live, and even that'd be a shot in the dark. What do we base it on? A lion? An eagle? Wild or captive? There are so many factors—"
Her train of thought wanders to every single possibility she could conjure. The Wardens had presumably destroyed or LOST every single piece of scientific literature relating to griffons. Presumably.
"Wait. Lethal'lin—in the Cauldron. Do you remember that room? The one with the urns?" Her bones QUAKE at the mention. She lurches forward, leaning in close, whispering as though she is spilling the controversy of the year. "Those niches go so far down, I couldn't see an end. What is down there?"
For all she knows, there could be naught more than heaps of bones. But she has to know. She has to be certain there isn't more beneath the ruins. A single textbook could launch them YEARS ahead in their venture into griffon husbandry. There was hope. They'd have to find a way to secure whatever dangerous weapons and artifacts were left behind, anyhow. What's the harm in poking further down?
There's something special about his relationship with Andy. Being called lethal'lin so casually---along with the feeling they're family as wardens, comrades in arms, hearts connected through the Blight pumping through their veins. There are, of course, people of all backgrounds in the Wardens. But hearing the terms his "cousins" in his clan called him---it's special, in its own way. Weisshaupt is his home, now, or it was (who is he kidding? It always will be)----Andy was a home within that home, a voice and a companionship he could crawl into instead of simply ignoring his old life. He doesn't use the terms himself---perhaps that's selfish, to deny her so. But one look in her fierce, playful eyes and he feels both comforted---and ready for action.
He smiles at her joke, polite and casual more than actually amused---there's only so many things about the Calling you can really say. And yet... "What would you spend the money on? I want a new sword. What's our hazard pay HERE? I want a bonus for taking on Ancient Elvhen Gods."
He's ready to commiserate as they always do, gallows talk about the Calling. The bell tolls, Davrin's "dreams" of two Archdemons terrify him in a way only Andy, Antoine, Evka and Tulinen can understand. Tulinen especially has talked often and hard about how he's going to go down 'punching his Calling in the face' before he ends up in the Deep Roads. Davrin has often not-so-secretly hoped he's lucky enough that their group of recruits all go down there at once---that he can sacrifice himself nobly for them first, give them just a bit more time, a blaze of glory.
There's a dread and guilt that comes up hard, swishing around his gut like cold water when parched from a fight that's gone much too long, a sick sense that he's drank it down too fast---that it's going to come right back up in spittle and sick. He's lucky he has friends like Andy---people who are ready to joke about this kind of thing with him instead of letting bitter, stern acceptance of duty drown him. Of course he's proud to be a warden. Of course he wants to die for what matters. A hero. But...
Davrin's eyes flicker away in thought---only blurring back into focus at Andy's mention of the Cauldro and the rough shake of his arm. At first, he doesn't even want to think about it. Wants to push down his own disgust at the organization he's given his life to. A painful history, a twist of that dread and guilt in his gut like a knife puncture wound.
Davrin never expected anything good could come out of the Cauldron. He still doesn't. His nose wrinkles, his brow pinches. He shakes his head.
"It's probably just more tragic, terrible history about the wardens... About the griffons---" Realization dawns on him. "About the griffons. There could be whole libraries down there about the griffons! How to take care of them---how long they live, maybe even---books on how to breed them..." Davrin's mind begins to race.
"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" They have to go down there. They have to go back.
