Beautiful Madness Chapter 6
Maxwell approached Vivienne’s balcony. The Enchanter of the Imperial Court of Orlais liked her privacy, and Maxwell was certain the ability to watch Skyhold’s daily activities from a bird’s eye view was an added bonus. He found Vivienne standing out on the balcony, looking down at the courtyard. She turned to face him when she heard his approach.
“Ah Inquisitor, darling,” Vivienne said. “So good to see you.”
“Vivienne,” Maxwell inclined his head before joining her on the balcony.
“You look like a man with questions,” Vivienne said. “What can I do for you?”
“Actually, yes,” Maxwell said. “I was wondering if you could assist me. What do you know about Eluvians?”
Vivienne arched a perfectly poised eyebrow. “Not much, my dear,” she said. “It’s old knowledge, mostly lost to history. Why?”
“Lady Morrigan has suggested that Corypheus may be trying to gain access to one, in order to enter the fade in the flesh,” Maxwell said. “I was hoping that your network of mages would be able to dig up more information.”
“Firstly,” Vivienne said, frowning. “You don’t need to call her ‘Lady’ anything. The woman does not deserve that title.”
“Well actually,” Maxwell started to say, but paused.
“Actually, what?” Vivienne said.
“Never mind,” Maxwell said. “It’s not my place to say.”
Vivienne fixed Maxwell with a narrow eyed stare, trying to figure what he had meant to say. When no answers were forthcoming she leaned over the balcony railing and looked down into the courtyard. She noticed a small figure running towards the training field where Cassandra waited. “I’ve seen that child around the fortress,” Vivienne said. “Whose is he? What is he doing here? This is hardly a safe place for children.”
Leaning over to look over the balcony, Maxwell couldn’t suppress the smile on his face when he saw Cassandra running Kieran through a new drill. “Ah, that’s Kieran,” he said. “Lady Morrigan’s son.”
Vivienne’s eyes widened. “She has a child?” She suddenly remembered seeing the boy around the Orlesian court. She had paid him no mind, assuming he was the child of some unimportant family.
“That explains a lot,” Vivienne said. “What the court would have done with that information. I can see why she would have kept him a secret.”
Maxwell wondered if perhaps he should not have told Vivienne this. It had seemed innocent information, but the way Vivienne was reacting made him a bit uncomfortable.
“Well,” he said. “If your people could look into the Eluvians. I would be more comfortable with multiple opinions on the matter.”
“Of course, my dear,” Vivienne said, a thoughtful frown on her face.
After Maxwell had left Vivienne considered what she should do with her newfound information. Certainly she could use the leverage against that wretched woman and…rather not. The boy could not help his parentage, and using him to strike at his mother was far too cruel. Instead Vivienne enjoyed the rush from knowing information that had probably best been kept a secret.
Leliana found Kieran in the rookery, one of her ravens perched on his shoulder while Kieran ran his hands over the bird’s feathers. He smiled when he saw Leliana approaching, and she found herself unable to resist smiling back.
“Hello Kieran,” Leliana said. “What are you doing?”
“I’m studying your Raven,” Kieran said, as the bird leaned down and pecked at his shirt. “Mother is teaching me how to shapeshift. But I have to study each animal I want to turn into first.”
“And you want to turn into a Raven first?”
Kieran nodded. “I want to be able to fly. But I can’t figure out how it knows how to fly.”
“It’s a bird,” Leliana said. “It just knows.”
“Yes,” Kieran said. “But I’m not a bird. So how do I learn how to fly if I can’t turn into a bird because I don’t know how they know how to fly.”
“Uh,” Leliana blinked. She normally considered herself capable of following explanations of unfamiliar topics fairly well. But hearing Kieran talk was like hearing a fish describe how wet water was. To him it was just the way of the world, so why would anyone not understand what he was saying? Perhaps, she considered, in a way she could understand his dilemma with the Raven.
The aforementioned bird jumped off of Kieran’s shoulder, fluttering back to its perch. Kieran watched it fly away, then turned to look at Leliana. “If only I could get them to sit still long enough.”
Leliana laughed. Kieran stood, watching her, as if expecting something more. Leliana might have felt uncomfortable from the attention, but she noticed so many of Aedan’s feature’s in the boy that it was almost like having an adorable younger version of her friend with her.
“Tell me,” Leliana said, a sudden wistful mood striking her. “About your father.”
Kieran frowned. “But you’re his friend, you know him.”
“Yes,” Leliana said. “But I have not seen him in almost ten years. You’ve known him for longer than I have.”
“Okay,” Kieran said, accepting the strange logic. “What did you want to know?”
“Where did you live? When the three of you were together.”
“In the other place,” Kieran said.
“Other place?”
“It’s the place we reached through the mirror,” Kieran said. “Mother said it was another world. A smaller world. We had a little cabin there, next to a forest. Father would go into the forest to hunt food, while Mother taught me. Then Father would bring the food home, and while Mother cooked it he would teach me how to use a sword once I was old enough. Or he would read to me. Story books, history books. He taught me about our family’s history.”
“It sounds wonderful,” Leliana said. “Why did you leave?”
“Mother says that we could not stay there forever,” Kieran said. “That I had a destiny in the real world. So once she said I was old enough we left. And went to Orlais.”
“Was your father with you in Orlais?”
Kieran shook his head. “Mother and I lived in Orlais at first, but Father went back to Ferelden. He had business to attend to. From when he was living with us. He came back, in disguise, later. Mother said I couldn’t tell anyone who my parents were, that it wasn’t safe. He lived with us, in secret, in Orlais. Then he had to leave again.”
Leliana’s heart broke at the look in Kieran’s eyes. The poor boy was barely ten years old, all he wanted was for his Father to be there. And yet it could not be, not for now.
“Did your father say why he had to leave?” Leliana asked.
“Mother explained it, afterwards,” Kieran said. “She told me that Father would die in twenty years, unless he found a cure for the taint.” There was fear in his eyes. Leliana could tell that Kieran took an oddly logical approach to the world for one so young. But he was still a boy, afraid for his father, missing him dearly.
Kieran cocked his head at Leliana. “You don’t like my mother.”
“Uh,” Leliana stammered. “What makes you say that?”
“It’s obvious,” Kieran said. “To anyone watching. Why don’t you like her?”
“Well,” Leliana said. “It’s complicated. I like her well enough now, but when we both knew your father we did not get along. But I can see that she is not the same person she was back then. You’ve helped her become a better person.”
Kieran frowned, as if to say he did not see how he made his mother a better person. To him she was always a good person. She was his mother, what else could she be but good?
“Father said you know a lot of stories,” Kieran said. “Could you tell me a story?”
Leliana wanted to refuse, she had put that part of her life behind herself. But the look in Kieran’s eyes, so much like his father’s—Aedan had been a champion at the puppy dog look. Whenever his silver tongue failed him and he did not need to preserve his dignity he could get his way with that look. And he seemed to have passed it along to his son.
More than that though, Leliana could see what Kieran was really asking. He wanted to hear her stories about his Father. Leliana could not refuse him.
“Very well,” she said. “Sit down and I’ll tell you a story.”
Kieran sat down at Leliana’s table, as the former bard began to tell the tale of her journey at the side of the Hero of Ferelden. Certain details, particularly the more licentious details of his parents’…courtship, were left unsaid. After a while Leliana noticed that some of her agents were lingering, listening to her story. She was not surprised, many of these people knew her as well as anyone knew her nowadays, and they had all heard about her stories. It was a rare opportunity for them indeed. Leliana continued the story and she felt happier than she had in a long time.
Dorian was heading to the library after waking up somewhat later than usual. To his surprise he found his usual spot occupied. He had not yet met Kieran, though he had seen the lad wandering the fortress, and was aware who the boy’s parents were. Kieran was reading a heavy bound book that looked comically large in his lap.
“Dragon Cults of Tevinter,” Dorian read aloud. “Heavy reading for a boy your age.”
Kieran looked up. “He…I wanted to know about Tevinter history,” Kieran said. “I was curious. So much has been lost and misunderstood.”
“Well,” Dorian said, taking a seat in the chair across from Kieran. “I happen to be somewhat of an expert on Tevinter history. Though, I suppose, recent discoveries have cast my supposed expertise into doubt. I could still answer any questions you may have, young man.”
“Your country used to worship dragons,” Kieran said, looking up from his book. “Why don’t you anymore? Some of them still exist. They were real.”
“Well, the fact that they currently slumber, awaiting the time when they will ravage the world as archdemons does put a damper on most would be worshippers.” Dorian sighed. “Though that hasn’t stopped some. The official reason why dragon worship died out in most of the Imperium has to do with Archon Hessarian’s conversion to Andrastianism. When the ruler of your country changes faith, and instates it as the state religion, making it his life’s work to wipe out the old cults, that tends to change one’s views over the course of several generations.”
“But what if the old gods came back? What if one of them returned, not as an archdemon, but as it once was, purified of the taint? Would people worship it?”
Dorian felt somewhat uncomfortable with the questions. The boy was not asking questions a ten year old would. He seemed to have an odd amount of foreknowledge on the topic. More than he would have expected a boy of his age to have at least.
“Well,” Dorian hummed. “I suppose some might. But I say more fool they. The old gods were nothing but dragons. Powerful dragons to be sure, but not beings particularly deserving of worship.”
Kieran nodded and turned back to his book. It did not seem like he was going to ask any more questions, so Dorian picked out the book he had been reading from the shelves and set to his own study.
Some hours passed, and the two still sat reading. Dorian could finally take it no more. He had to ask the question that had been itching the back of his brain.
“So why the interest in the old gods?” He asked Kieran.
Kieran looked up, seemed to consider the question for a minute. “The world is different from what he remembers. So much has changed. It confuses him.”
“I…see?” Dorian had no clue what the boy was talking about. “And who is this ‘he’?”
“He is the last age,” was all Kieran would say. He looked back at his book, read a couple lines, and then closed it. Kieran left without saying anything else.
“What was that all about?”
Dorian looked over his shoulder. Vivienne was standing at the corner of the bookshelf, looking down the stairs where Kieran had just left.
“Oh, nothing much,” Dorian said. “Lad had some questions about the old Tevinter gods.”
“And what was he talking about at the end there?”
“I haven’t the slightest idea,” Dorian said. “Children say strange things sometimes. You should have heard half the things that came out of my mouth when I was his age.”
“Indeed,” Vivienne frowned down the stairs. Her brow creased in confusion and curiosity.
“Is everything all right?” Dorian asked.
“Oh perfectly fine, dear,” Vivienne said, before turning and heading back to her balcony.
Dorian shrugged and turned back to his reading.