@arrowhailed // starter from GAEL
When Gael first arrived in the Storm Coast, after making a choice that literally changed his life, he thought that would be the sweet ending for his story and Lyrel’s, that everything would work out from then on so long as they had each other. He had not counted on his father, and how relentless and stubborn and severe he could be. After a particular discussion during which the Rivaini got much too liberal with his romantic side, he was put through a kind of hardship he had never felt before. Training to fight and wield weapons with Dareth was one of the most trying experiences of his life, and the cost, should he fail, was much too high. He wasn’t willing to lose Lyrel after everything they had been through and everything he had sacrificed.
But stars, it was so difficult. Gael was used to going hungry, to overwork his magic for coin, to put himself in dangerous situations for work in the docks. Those things were easy. When he was down on the ground, bruised and bloody, day after day, struggling to learn how to defend himself, too many times it was too much for someone like him, yet he had to find the strength to get up and endure, even when there was none. He wanted to think that Lyrel made it all worth it (and he did, he always knew it deep in his heart), but it was getting to a point when he would rather be dead than get out of bed in the morning. This wasn’t the life he had imagined for the two of them. Having to lie in his love’s face and say he wanted to keep training no matter how tough and brutal it got didn’t help, either.
He knew he would miss his brother and sisters in Afsaana, he knew he would miss his beloved Rivain, with her turquoise sea water and colorful buildings and the heavy smell of spices in the air, and the sun. There was no sun in northern Ferelden. The hell he was being put through made him miss it all ten times worse. Some nights -- most nights -- he found himself having to sneak out of the house to go hide in the edge of the woodland and have a moment alone. He was tired, body and soul. He didn’t know how much longer he could take Dareth’s training and that scared him to death. And he couldn’t even speak of it with anyone, not even Lyrel.
