Once the cheers died down a good fifteen minutes later, the crowd began to disperse, chattering excitedly, and Fae slipped away, hoping to lose herself in healing and busywork once more, but no such luck; the same agent as before caught up to inform her that she was required in the war room for a small council meeting. She knew they'd picked a room in the main keep as their war room, but there were dozens of rooms in that keep. Maybe she'd be able to find them by following the sound of constant arguing. One step at a time.
The throne room was still throne-less, and full of rubble, but at least now all the rubble had been pushed to the room's boundaries, leaving a dusty but otherwise safe walking path. "I'm looking for the Heral—Inquisitor?" she asked one of the soldiers, who pointed her towards the second door on the left. Fae still felt eyes on her when she got to the door, looking back to check. The soldier quickly averted his gaze, suddenly very invested in the wall carvings. Fae walked through and shut the door behind her. That was weird.
No one was in this room, which was a shame; apart from the neatly organised desk in the corner, the rest of the set-up looked very cosy, with its cushy chairs and thick rug surrounding a crackling fireplace. Fae could hear an animated discussion filtering through the door at the far end of the room. That would be the council meeting. She waited until the discussion sounded amicable enough, and then entered.
"Ah! There you are," Josephine greeted her with a polite smile.
"Here I am. Whoa," Fae said, eyes on the table before them. It was the stump of what must have been an enormous tree, the top polished to a shine. It dwarfed the maps of Orlais and Ferelden currently placed side by side on it.
"It's an impressive piece," Cassandra agreed. "We plan to have a map drawn up to fit which includes both Orlais and Ferelden, seeing as we are situated on the border."
Fae crouched down. "This was a vhenadahl, once. A tree of the People," she said, running her fingers over the painted carvings.
"I haven't heard that term before," Ellethir admitted.
The corner of Fae's mouth twitched briefly. "You wouldn't. Whatever they were before, nowadays there's one in almost every alienage. They're supposed to symbolise Arlathan, or elven unity, or something."
"How sad then, that it was cut down."
Fae shrugged, standing back up. "Maybe. Trees die. Perhaps this was the only way of preserving it. So, what's on the agenda? Hopefully something to do with defeating an original darkspawn Tevinter magister?"
"Quite," Josephine confirmed. "Right now, we have two leads: first, Varric is sending word to a friend he claims has pertinent information on Corypheus. We will know more once they arrive. And second, we have the information based on what the Herald—My apologies, what the Inquisitor saw in that dark future. If Corypheus succeeded in part due to Empress Celene's assassination and the taking over of Orlais, then we must prevent that outcome."
"How?"
"Orlais is in the throes of civil war, which makes it vulnerable," Leliana explained. "Empress Celene is aware of that already, at the very least. She has arranged for peace talks with her opponent, her cousin the Grand Duke Gaspard, in the guise of a Grand Masquerade ball at the end of the year. It is the only ball the Winter Palace will have hosted this year, which means it must be the same one from that dark future where the Empress Celene was assassinated by Corypheus' agents. We will ensure that the Inquisition is in attendance at this ball, and prevent it ourselves."
"It will take a great deal of preparation, but it will be done," Josephine confirmed, sounding more like she needed to convince herself than anyone else.
"If the ball is not for another few months, and we are waiting on the arrival of Varric's friend, what should we be focusing on in the meantime?" Ellethir asked.
Cullen pointed to two marked spots on the maps. "Here, and here. This is the Fallow Mire, an area of marshland in southern Ferelden. We'd sent a group of soldiers there to investigate an apostate who has apparently been conducting some strange experiments, we're not sure what for exactly but it has something to do with the Fade. However, we just received a report that our men have been captured by an Avvar tribe based in Hargrave Keep. These Avvar are effectively holding our men for ransom. They want to meet the famous Inquisitor to," Cullen sighed irritably, "'negotiate.'"
Ellethir felt a rush of guilt for the Inquisition soldiers that had been captured under their watch. "I see. And the other place?"
"Crestwood," Cullen said, pointing to a region to the north of Lake Calenhad on the Ferelden map. "The original village was hit hard during the Blight, and then what remained was washed away entirely by a freak flood."
"Merciful Andraste," Josephine breathed.
Cullen nodded in solemn agreement. "The new Crestwood village is now struggling with its own problems, and we've had several letters from villagers begging the Inquisition to help; bandits on the roads, a dragon victimising the farmlands, a Fade rift in the middle of a lake; they'll need all the help they can get."
"We should focus on getting our own out of the Fallow Mire first, but we could send scouts to Crestwood in the meantime?"
"I would suggest…"
Fae found herself zoning out for much of the meeting. She tried to refocus several times, but Ellethir's other advisors seemed to know what they were talking about, whereas she was way out of her depth. Her opinion was asked for once or twice, for which she nodded or shrugged. Cullen wisely acted as if Fae wasn't there, and vice versa, but it wasn't enough to stop her from scratching and picking nervously at her bottom lip. When the meeting was officially adjourned, Fae was already itching to leave, but Josephine held her back.
"If you have a moment, Faellathi, I have something to show you," Josephine said eagerly, quill tapping on her clipboard excitedly as she led the way.
Fae followed Josephine through the main hall and to the first door on the right, which led to the outdoor area designated as the herb gardens. They took the sheltered pathway surrounding the garden to a staircase that wrapped its way around and up to one of the lower battlements, overlooking the garden, or more accurately, the courtyard assigned to become the garden. There was a single door embedded in the castle wall here, and Josephine paused with her hand on the door-handle.
"I've been looking forward to showing you this," she grinned, bouncing slightly on the balls of her feet. "Do tell me if I've got anything wrong, if there's anything you want to change, or add, Leliana and Varric helped me make some educated guesses as to your preferences, but, oh, I'm babbling quite a bit, aren't I? I'll just show you. Voilà!" She opened the door with a flourish, ushering Fae inside.
To the left was a polished wooden desk, flanked by two narrow bookcases. To the right, a circular tea table with leaf motifs carved into the base matched those on the backs of the chairs placed on either side, the entire ensemble set up a safe distance away from the fireplace at the front of the room. Even further to the right was an arched window, set into an alcove low enough and wide enough to fit several velvet cushions. In one corner, there was a large claw-foot bathtub, partially obscured by an embroidered folding screen. Much of the room's stone floor was covered in a similarly elaborate rug, on which sat the chamber's crowning glory; a generously-sized four-poster bed.
Fae's mouth hung open a little. "…Wow."
Josephine panicked. "It's not completely finished yet. We have Inquisition tapestries being made, and there will be candles of course, although we are struggling to keep up with demand at present. But as it is so far, do you like it?"
Fae was lost for words. "I…Yes, of course, I like it. It's so…much, I just—why go to all this trouble?"
"This is nothing. You should see the Inquisitor's quarters," Josephine said, a little smugly as she sat down at the tea table, gesturing for Fae to do the same. "You are the Inquisitor's right hand, the Seer of the Inquisition. Naturally, your personal quarters should reflect that status, as a high-ranking member. As neither you nor the Inquisitor seemed inclined to choose rooms for yourself, it fell to me to organise them for you, and as the Inquisition's ambassador, it is my job to ensure that this fortress, both inside and out, reflects the dignity of our cause."
"And I appreciate that, really. But all that stuff about being the 'Seer of the Inquisition,' that was just a title Leliana gave me so that I could stay close to Ellethir, and to give me a voice at the table. I'm not actually second-in-command… right?" Fae's voice faltered at Josephine's slightly guilty expression.
"There may be times where the Inquisitor may…delegate certain responsibilities, or defer judgement to you, when she is unavailable. She can only be in one place at a time; that is where you come in, to act on her behalf, and with her authority, of course."
Fae bit her lip. "Wouldn't someone like Cassandra be better for that? She's someone people know, they already respect her. And she's human. With me, people will just see an elf, one that isn't the Herald of Andraste."
"Now that, you need not worry about," Josephine dismissed with a wave of her hand. "Leliana and I have been working in tandem on curating your reputation, although I will admit the…quarrel, you had with Commander Cullen in the chantry at Haven did complicate matters a little," Josephine shifted in her seat. "There are a few who still think of you as either frightening, or impertinent, mostly depending on their views of mages, or elves, I'm sorry to say."
"That figures," Fae said sulkily, resting her face in her hands. "But in my defense, I've been perfectly civil since then."
"Because you don't speak to each other."
"Exactly."
Josephine sighed. "Well, as I said, in spite of that incident, your renown is developing well alongside the Inquisitor's. People have already begun to recognise you by what you've done."
"What I've done?"
"Seeker Cassandra had already made inquiries with the First Enchanter of the Ferelden Circle of Magi. Enchanter Irving verified that you were indeed Harrowed at age ten— the youngest in history, I might add. Quite a feat. And he was also pleasantly surprised to learn that you lived; apparently, he was under the impression that you passed away during Uldred's rebellion shortly afterward."
Fae gave Josephine an odd look. "So, my claim to fame is a near-death experience? The Inquisitor and I have that in common, I guess."
"There is also the matter of your cousin being the Hero of Ferelden, and your actions in Kirkwall when the mad knight-commander declared the right of annulment. You saved many lives, I hear."
"I ran away. I helped other people run away too, but I ran away. I didn't stand and fight like the Champion and the others," Fae mumbled, absently braiding one of the tassels hanging off the tablecloth.
Josephine wasn't having any of it. "And in so doing, saved many lives. Your humility is admirable, Faellathi, but do not discredit yourself. Especially when it goes against our common goal; to aid the Inquisition."
Fae glanced up briefly. "Sorry. I mean nothing you've said so far is untrue, exactly, except…I've heard some of the rumours about my Seeing. Especially how I got my ability by the grace of Andraste, which we both know isn't true."
"I would argue that we cannot know for certain, but you are right. We had to embellish the facts in such a way that our followers would see your ability as a boon, rather than a threat. Your assistance in identifying the belongings of the conclave victims was a great help, in that regard."
"Yeah, well, I'm here to help," Fae said awkwardly. She knew in the back of her mind that Leliana's fame campaign would mean more eyes on her, but having an account of her life story recounted back to her by Josephine really forced that realisation to set in. People would know who she was. She wouldn't be able to rely on blending into crowds to disappear. They would decide who she was and how they felt about her before they even met. Just like the Inquisitor. She felt a newfound pang of compassion for Ellethir's circumstances. At least we both have fancy new rooms to hide out in, Fae figured, trying feebly to put a positive spin on the situation.
She smiled weakly. "Thanks for this, Josephine."