SERAPHINA
From the writings of Seraphina Avray of Lothering.
Survivor of the Fifth Blight and refugee of the Mage-Templar War.
The First Month, The First Day; Haven
I guess now's best to write than ever.
After we got to Haven - safe and sound at that, mind you (Fendrel, that stupid bloke, found to break his knee on the way but nothing too drastic). Redcliffe's a town of hell after those magister blokes came. I don't know why they're there, really, or why the Grand Enchanter took the chance with Tevinter. Are they crazy? Well, they're a pack of people who could turn into abominations - of course they're bloody crazy! Maker preserve me, I don't know what's got into everyone. I just want to live. I thought, for the good few months, that after Lothering was over and the moving we've done over the years - Redcliffe would keep us safe. The Arl was a nice man who acted on good cause, but those damned mages always seem to get in the way and get what they want!
Queen Anora... I don't know about her, I dare not speak of her so rashly, not here. There's a choking amount of people in this place who love Loghain - ah, that quartermaster, her name escapes me - loves Loghain. My parents hate Loghain, so I think I hate Loghain too. Fendrel says that he did what he had to do, but Fendrel always says some crazy things. I wager that's why people are always weird around him, calling him a "bloody knife ear" or some sort of that. He's an elf, but he's my brother. I'm human - my parents are human, but he's my brother. I don't question family.
Haven's a weird place. A nice kind of weird. Lots of nice people (apart from them Loghain people as they get kind of scary), and all of them are mostly like me: Refugees. The Herald, they say, is a mage. A lady mage. I've got me some share of mages in Redcliffe, and the Herald as a mage is just... I don't know... Unsettling? Templars make me feel a little queasy as well, but apparently they're alright with the Herald. They say the Inquisition saved them in the temple, and the Order, the funny people that they are - they're not joining them soon. I hate this. I hate the war. I hate this bloody diary.
What's good in this diary anyway? It's frightening how much I'm writing on this page. I hate this notebook, and I've only started. Mother said I should keep a diary because of the war, some sort of relic or memoir to pass on my grandkids. My mother's a weird optimist. She said this Breach was history, and the Herald was a movement to the new change. She supposed I should write about myself and what I see, but all I feel like doing right now is to complain. The war's been hard on everyone, and I want my life back. I want to go home to Lothering, I want to play with Hawke and Carver like when I was younger. But things are different now, they're somewhere doing great things. I'm... Just me... Seraphina.
Yes, that's my name. Seraphina. It's not so pretty, isn't it? I thought so too. I don't like it so much, but Hawke's mother always thought it pretty. She said it reminded her of a garden flower, but I hate gardens and flowers don't grow in places where Darkspawn lie. Fendrel says I'm being too negative, but what is so good about this life right now? There's a hole in the sky, and the Divine is dead. The Chantry claims to do the Maker's work, but then they condemn the Inquisition. People in higher places are so confusing, really.
There's a pretty redhead who sits outside the Haven Chantry, and sometimes when I get things for mother, I see her talking to people in whispers. They say she's Sister Leliana, the Nightingale, Hand of the Divine. She's a spooky one, but I feel like she's a nice lady. A lot of people seem to respect her. The Herald was out since two nights ago, apparently had bargained with the Chantry a week before we came in at Val Royeaux after they established the Inquisition.
I find that strange. They say she doesn't believe in the Maker (a bold claim, mind you, and scary), and now she's bargaining for the Chantry. What a hypocrite! That nice dwarf with the chest hair - Varric, I think? - he said the Herald was forced by Seeker Pentaghast.
Commander Cullen of the nice troops that walked with us to Haven when we left Redcliffe, that nice handsome man, has been trying to keep Chancellor Roderick out of the gates. I wonder what they're hiding there in behind those Chantry doors? Varric says it's just loads of paper and boring talk, but Fendrel says he saw a big map on a table once when he tried to sneak. For some reason, I believe him.
Fendrel's been cheeky. There's this bald apostate elf who sits by a cottage by the apothecary, and Fendrel has been hanging out with his sort ever since we came here. Apparently, that elf mage apostate's the one the Herald's been with a lot in her adventures. Fendrel says the mage elf sleeps and talks to demons in the Fade. Mother doesn't like him hanging around with the mage elf, because all mages are dangerous. I know she's right. That's why there's templars around - right? But if mages are dangerous, then why is the Herald with the Inquisition? Because she can close that hole in the sky?
How she got it, why she got it, is creepy and beyond me. Magic is scary, and Bethany Hawke is the only mage I'll never be afraid of. I suppose I should go help mother with the soup for Varric. We have been using his campfire, and it's embarrassing not to give him some Lothering courtesy.