There, Beneath the Willow Tree

[istimaethoriel]

asomniari:

“I’m sure yours are more interesting. Few people find musty temples and elven alienages as interesting to listen to.” A shrug. “Most tended to doze off, my old student wasn’t as interested in them as I was.”

Her answer wasn’t one he was anticipating, gentle pressing to start a conversation and keep it stoked. “Is Lavellan your birth clan? Or did you come from another?”

“Ah, no,” she chuckles, inclining her head. “I was no clan elf—only the daughter of a hedge witch and the hunter who became smitten with her. My grandfather, though, he was once a Keeper. By the time my father left his clan, Old Istimaethoriel was ready to pass on his duties, and left with his son. He insisted I learn all the old knowledge as a child, clan or no clan.”

Her eyes stray to Fenesvir, spinning glinting daggers through her fingers as she regales the other hunters of a wyvern she once gutted in single combat. Elgar’nan’s vallaslin shines pale blue against her dark skin, creeping thorns that make her look twice as severe in the firelight. “I never planned to be their Keeper, but my love—she was persistent. Maybe it runs in the family. My father left the Dalish for the love of a woman, and I rejoined them for the same.”

She watches him for a moment, musing quietly. “Now, you—you wear Mythal’s vallaslin, yet you travel alone. Did you come from a clan, once?”

[istimaethoriel]

elatedwarcry:

« Well. » His voice sounds especially gravelly, harsh. Sharidan would love to clear his throat, but he doesn’t find it so advisable. He takes air in quickly and releases it without ever filling his lungs. « Now, less like something’s poking my innards. » He says it entirely without humour, though the sentence lends itself to it. « Breathing too deeply still hurts. Nothing like when I tried moving, but it hurts, continuously. » A pause and an empty swallow; he turns his head to Deshanna with matching tiredness. « As long as I can eventually recover, I can deal with limitations. »

“Aye,” she murmurs, and there’s an undercurrent of frustration at watching his chest rise and fall too quickly with breaths cut too short, “that is the goal.” She’s watched Manehn deliver fawns born too quick into the world. Their breathing felt much the same way, she thinks—short, sharp, shallow, right before they expired, lungs not yet fully formed to take in the outside air.

She can feel the Fade just out of her reach, muted, like sound filtered through water. When she plucks at it, the magic comes, though sluggishly. She presses a hand carefully to his chest, coaxing the magic to work, encouraging tissue to mend and bone to shift back into its proper place. It’s slower and less effective than she’d like, but it’s something. 

“That you're alert enough to speak with me is a good sign. I have my Second back to fill in where I cannot, and for that I am grateful, but no one is going to die for that if I have anything to say about it.”

[istimaethoriel]

asomniari:

“I travel alone.” This, he answers honestly. She could make up a story however she wished. Though he has no desire for any kind of dance. He wouldn’t know how. “I know some stories.”

No great talker, this one, but she hasn’t been Keeper for this long without learning how to coax a reluctant newcomer out of his shell. A little time, a little care, a little space in which to safely grow into the conversation...she’ll have him talking before the campfires die, if she has anything to say about it.

“I traveled alone, for a time, before I was Keeper of my clan. I’m sure you’ve seen much in your travels. I would be happy to hear one of your stories, if you’d like to share with me.”

[istimaethoriel]

Important PSA: Fenesvir calls Deshanna Isti for short when they're alone together. You're welcome

[istimaethoriel]

@elatedwarcry liked for a starter !!

“So,” she sighs as she settles next to him, fingers hovering just above his ribcage—not touching, not yet, but close enough to cast out probing slivers of magic, test the way the Veil moves around the bones. She has thin hopes she doesn’t sound as tired as she feels. “Tell me the truth. How does it feel? For your sake, don’t spare me the details. I’ve already accepted that there are...limitations to what I’ve been able to do for you, under the circumstances.”

[istimaethoriel]

@asomniari liked for a starter !!

“Did you come alone to this Arlathven?” She asks, rather than where is your clan? If he has come alone, she has no desire to make him feel singled out for it. “You ought to dance and eat, share some stories with us. We’re all one clan, here, if only for a little while.”

[istimaethoriel]

Like this if you want a starter from Deshanna!! Selective, low-commitment, probably kinda slow, but if you read the info you probably already know that.

[istimaethoriel]

@thesxmmersword

“Judging by the state in which we found you, I’d say you’re fortunate to be alive,” she muses, as she settles on the woodblock set out adjacent to Cauthrien’s bedroll. She deposits a steaming wooden bowl on the ground and then sits back, threading her fingers together in front of her—head tilted downward, arching an eyebrow at the woman she can only call her guest at this point, at least now that the clan has stopped throwing mutinous looks toward this tent in particular when they think she’s not looking.

“That being the case, neither a stiff upper lip nor all the magic in the world will keep you that way if you don’t eat something. It’s mushroom stew. Eat it. Or don’t. Your choice. I would not presume to tell an old warrior not of my own what to do.”

[istimaethoriel]

p.s. I love “Clan Lavellan has always dealt fairly with all” because it’s kinda like “all due respect”

like we’re a nice buncha Dalish but if you deserve an ass-kicking, then we will do what’s fair and Fenesvir will the clan will give you an ass-kicking

[istimaethoriel]

archontem replied to your post “On “Contact Clan Lavellan”, and Deshanna’s Letter Clan Lavellan...”

I agree and Rad would probs make a "not bad" face at that letter

I feel like “not bad” constitutes high praise coming from Rad so she’ll take it

[istimaethoriel]

On “Contact Clan Lavellan”, and Deshanna’s Letter

Clan Lavellan offers greetings to the Inquisition and wishes it well in sealing the Breach that has opened in the sky. While some Dalish clans hate humans and wish nothing to do with them, Clan Lavellan has always dealt fairly with all and wished only for peace. That said, we have on occasion been forced to defend ourselves from those who saw us only as potential victims.

It has come to our attention that a member of our clan is being held captive by your Inquisition. She went to the Conclave only to observe the peace talks between your mages and templars, and we find it highly unlikely that she intentionally violated your customs. If she has been charged with a crime, we would appreciate hearing of it. If not, it would ease our concerns to hear from her to know that she remains with the Inquisition of her own will.

We await your reply, Keeper Istimaethorial Lavellan

So like, off the top: I don’t buy this as a polite, friendly letter of inquiry at all. 

To me, this reads like it was very carefully crafted to send a very specific message. Deshanna’s being polite only on a surface level, to be diplomatic and try and achieve a desired outcome, but she’s not fucking around, and this letter’s full of politician-style double talk (and perhaps thinly veiled threats) that’d give even Josephine Montilyet pause. This is the type of letter I’d expect to be sent by Trevelyan’s family of nobility, if Trevelyan’s family could’ve been arsed to inquire about their well-being instead of scrambling for a little slice of that sweet Herald of Andraste spotlight like a bunch of parasites.

First, compare this to the letters sent to Adaar and Cadash by their close associates. Both Adaar and Cadash’s letters are addressed directly to the individuals in question. Meanwhile Lavellan’s letter - even though it’s clear Deshanna wants it to reach Lavellan, directly, just like Adaar’s and Cadash’s - is instead addressed to the Inquisition, to the people in charge, which indicates to me a certain level of mistrust. Deshanna doesn’t seem to think, if she addressed her letter directly to Lavellan, that the Inquisition would actually deliver it to her. I mean, literally:

It has come to our attention that a member of our clan is being held captive by your Inquisition.

Deshanna wrote this letter under the premise that Lavellan is being held prisoner. Neither the Valo-Kas nor Lantos seem to assume the same in their respective letters to Adaar or Cadash. In short, while Clan Lavellan may trade with and attempt friendly relations with humans, they don’t really trust them any more than any other Dalish clan would.  Deshanna is doing exactly what any Keeper would likely do in this situation. However, she’s doing so in a very carefully diplomatic fashion, instead of sending her people in making demands and pointing weapons (like, you know, Clan Borahnen did in Knight Errant. Which got them killed). 

This seems to me to be what the text really means when it says that Clan Lavellan ‘respects and deals fairly with humans’. And to me, I feel like that’s Deshanna influence, because she makes references later to the fact that it’d be too easy for the hunters to argue with the humans if the clan joined the Inquisition, and anyway if you approach them with soldiers, they immediately think you’re attacking them and bloodshed assumes. So I take this to mean that it’s Deshanna who’s the politician, the diplomat, and the rest of her clan has mixed feelings about it/isn’t used to this but she’s trying to guide them in what she sees as the right direction.

(which leads to me spinning Deshanna’s backstory as an outsider who took on the role of the clan’s keeper at Fenesvir’s insistence, but more on that another time)

Back to the first paragraph:

Clan Lavellan offers greetings to the Inquisition and wishes it well in sealing the Breach that has opened in the sky. While some Dalish clans hate humans and wish nothing to do with them, Clan Lavellan has always dealt fairly with all and wished only for peace. That said, we have on occasion been forced to defend ourselves from those who saw us only as potential victims.

If you’re being friendly and assuming the best, why include that last throwaway line at all? It seems only tangentially related to the rest of the letter. But Deshanna ends her opening paragraph with this, and then jumps straight into “we noticed you’re holding our first/hunter prisoner!”

Which makes it seem, to me, that Deshanna is lowkey threatening the Inquisition.

Did I mention this woman has balls of steel? Because yeah.

This, to me, sets the tone of the rest of the letter as she goes on:

She went to the Conclave only to observe the peace talks between your mages and templars, and we find it highly unlikely that she intentionally violated your customs. If she has been charged with a crime, we would appreciate hearing of it.

Translation: I’m making passing pretense at respecting your shemlen laws, because diplomacy, but I don’t actually give a shit and I think you’re holding my First prisoner unjustly. Refer back to aforementioned thinly veiled threat.

If she has been charged with a crime, we would appreciate hearing of it. If not, it would ease our concerns to hear from her to know that she remains with the Inquisition of her own will.

Translation: I’d appreciate it if you didn’t try to bullshit me, so I’m not going to believe any reassurances unless I get the letter directly from Lavellan. I would’ve liked to just contact Lavellan directly in the first place, actually, but I didn’t think you were going to give her the letter, so here I am politely listing my demands that you give me back my First or have her respond to this so I know she’s ok.

tl;dr Deshanna will fuck you up, but she’ll fuck you up while smiling sweetly and pouring you a cup of warm tea. If you’re not nice back then she’ll probably, idk, get tired of your shit and shapeshift into something mean to eat you.

[istimaethoriel]

deshanna, on the other hand, is no great mystery of a person

[istimaethoriel]

Anyway it's late and I'm going to bed but most of Deshanna's basic characterization (which I haven't yielded a ton of information about yet) consists of assloads of personal extrapolation on like 2-3 letters we get from her and minute tidbits from codex entries - stuff that doesn't really give a picture without basically assigning explanations for why she wrote this thing here or why clan lavellan is x way about y thing, so expect some line-by-line examinations of war table missions and story elements and my take on them to explain why I decided Deshanna is who she is.

[nihonhime]

ÐA-Inquisitioη: ✢ Royal Sιхтeen & Lavellan ✢

[veilpierced]

Tell me about Rhiall's favorite memory of Deshanna.

She has many, many favorite memories of Deshanna, and it would be hard to pick just one. Still, one of her favorites doesn’t involve her at all.

It was one of those rare occasions when the clan made camp by the ocean. She doesn’t remember what started the fight, exactly—Deshanna insisting on gathering as much of some particular type of lotus while they were there, and Fenesvir insisting they needed to fish, not gather toxic plants, or at least she thinks that’s what happened—and then it’d turned into an argument, and pretty soon Fenesvir had gotten loud enough the whole camp wandered in from their duties to see what the noise was for.

In the end, Fenesvir had stormed off, Deshanna watching her go with her hands folded and an air of detached calm that Rhiall knew by now meant upset. 

She watched as they found each other again a few hours later, down at the edge of where the waves broke against the shore—Deshanna with her hands around Fenesvir’s waist, murmuring into her shoulder, and Fenesvir with her head resting on top of Deshanna’s, the both of them holding each other with the waves foaming around their ankles.

“It’s ‘cause they love each other,” Ashiril had told her, joining her from the vantage point atop an enormous piece of bleached driftwood where she sat watching. “Same reason she still braided your hair and made you a cup of tea after you nearly set th’whole camp ablaze that one time. Doesn’t make things simple, or easy, but it makes it so you still have something in common at the end of the day, no matter who’s mad at who.”

She glances at Ashiril, a shock of red hair and laugh lines at the corner of pale eyes that makes something in her chest do a double-turn. “You think so?”

She feels Ash’s fingertips brush hers across the knotted surface of the log, sees the smile at the edge of her lips. “I know so.”

[veilpierced]

Anyway Fenesvir and Deshanna met when Fenesvir decided 2 fistfight a bear and almost DIED and Deshanna had 2 appear out of the woods like some weird savior hermit 2 save her ass and then Fenesvir pestered her forever and ever to come be Clan Lavellan’s Keeper because theirs died and they didn’t have anybody to take his place. And then Fenesvir and Deshanna fell in lesbians the end

[istimaethoriel]

p.s. this is fenesvir!!! a.k.a. deshanna’s wife