:) for Mahalla Lavellan: 🌋 VOLCANO - how bad is their temper? is it a slow boil, or a instant explosion? 🌱 SEEDLING - what is their most vivid memory from childhood?
and for Tuelartha Aldwir: 🍃 FALLING LEAF - do they enjoy being in nature? what is their favourite outdoor activity? 🍀 CLOVER - do they believe in luck? are they lucky?
Mahalla Lavellan
🌋 VOLCANO - how bad is their temper? is it a slow boil, or a instant explosion?
Mahalla has a fiery temper, for sure. There's a reason Varric's nickname for her is "Spitfire," and it's because she spent her first few weeks in Haven responding to every little annoyance by glaring and snapping at the Inquisition leadership. As quickly as her anger flares up, though, it subsides just as easily. She rarely remains angry at people for long.
Her magic reflects the nickname as well; prior to acquiring the Anchor, her specialty was fire. It isn't until she starts to feel more at ease with the Inquisition, which coincidentally coincides with her learning more spirit magic from Solas, that she mellows.
(To answer Solas' question: yes, the Anchor did change her. Most of the change comes from the choices she make as Inquisitor, but not everything can be attributed to experience. It's the Anchor that gives her that newfound affinity for spirit magic... for Solas' magic.)
🌱 SEEDLING - what is their most vivid memory from childhood?
She's a da'len, still a toddler, and she's sitting on her mamae's lap in front of the fire while the cooks make supper. They've just started; the fire is still blazing, instead of burned down to the hot coals they need for cooking, so everyone is gathered around listening to the hahrens tell stories about the history of the People. Little Mahalla keeps getting distracted from the storytelling by the darning project her mamae is working on in front of her, with her arms stretched around her daughter like a hug, and her needle zipping back and forth in a mesmerizing rhythm.
When her mamae tells the story, she says Mahalla was actually supposed to be "helping" her count stitches as a learning exercise, and she kept losing count because she was paying more attention to the story than her sewing.
Tuelartha Aldwir
🍃 FALLING LEAF - do they enjoy being in nature? what is their favourite outdoor activity?
Even after living in Starkhaven for years, this woman is still Dalish at heart; she loves being in nature. Anything that can be done outdoors, she likes to do outdoors. She liked the amenities of living in the city, but she always felt cooped up in her home during the day. She much preferred to stay out all day and only use her house for sleeping and eating, when the weather was nice.
When she and Davrin build their cottage in Arlathan, a nice, big porch is a must.
🍀 CLOVER - do they believe in luck? are they lucky?
No, not really... but it's in the same way she doesn't really believe in the Creators before she joins Varric and Harding. Luck, like the Creators, doesn't exist, but she still isn't going to do anything to jinx it, just like she still says a quick blessing to Sylaise when she builds a fire or to June when she carves into wood. It's like someone who doesn't believe in fairies but won't walk through a fairy ring anyway; it's just the way things are done.
After Mahalla's post-Tresspasser Arlathvhen, she stops giving blessings to the Creators. Just in case. It just feels wrong, what with everything Mahalla said about them.
