@mahclani @solium
There is a problem.
(There are a few problems, but the others are Cole’s, and so they aren’t very important. The largest - the tugging, burning need to follow both Inquisitors at once, even when they are apart and others are hurting - is, at least, not one now he’s gathered them both.)
The problem is that Elaria is hurting. The problem is that Rowen may hurt, in the same way, if this place does not keep him stuck in time. The problem is that Cole knows what they do not, and he won’t - he can’t -
The Mark will not consume them. That is easy to decide on: the rest is not.
“You should learn about each other,” he’s told them, and he does mean it - it’s just that it’s not the thing that needs most to happen now, but that thing isn’t something he knows how to say yet.
What will hurt them the least? What will stop future bruises from blossoming? They will be hurt, to learn about Solas - and what if he comes? When will he come from? Will he be hurt, to know Cole has betrayed him? Will it snuff out the ember of guilt that had been growing, that had made Cole think he would turn his back on his plans?
He isn’t meant to make choices. That’s what they do, strong and bright and quick in thoughts and battle, and he follows, unless it feels wrong. But he can’t tell them without making a decision in the doing, and no one else will understand what’s at stake.
The whirling-swirling of his thoughts would show up somehow in his movements, he knows, and distract them from what’s important - so he’s guided them to a room to talk where others can’t hear, and found a cabinet outside to perch upon once they’re inside. He tucks himself into the space between the wood and the ceiling and chases worries around and around, rocking back and forth.