My Warden (COMPLETED)

An Olive Branch

Skyhold's great hall bustled as Josephine directed a stack of crates originally bound for the stables, but someone got their missives crossed and the linens meant for the dining tables wound up being fed to horses. It was a mark of her grace that the ambassador maintained her cool instead of strangling the shrugging carter with her half digested tablecloth. Lana'd been watching the display for awhile waiting for the ambassador to snap. A few people tried to intercede on Josephine's behalf, but most were moving further and further away from the merchant all sending the blood about to be shed. Lana hovered in the corner while clinging tighter to her staff. Devoid of its blade, it blended in as a walking stick but she hated having it out in the open, having her out in the open.

Sure, other mages waltzed through Skyhold as if it was a circle's courtyard but even they left their staves in the armory. No one wanted to be the errant flame loosed in a barrel of powder.

"Ah, Warden," the Inquisitor's pinched voice called from a door. Varric's head swooped away from the ambassador waving the hay in people's faces and calmly explaining how it was not linen. The dwarf's eyes danced from Inquisitor to Warden, but whatever the Inquisitor wanted couldn't compete with a man trying to press the hay to the wall and pretend it was sticking.

"You asked for me," Lana dipped her head to the Inquisitor.

"Forgive me, I was speaking with...um," and that steely resolve snapped for a moment. She knew exactly who he was speaking with, though it was doubtful much speaking was involved. Not that she was going to call him to task for it. "I see you brought your staff. Excellent."

Her fingers rolled through the deeper indentations pricking against old names she feared to forget. "Yes?" Her 'as you asked' went unsaid.

"As I understand it, your early tour of Skyhold was less than satisfactory." The elf's grey eyes brightened to an almost pale blue in the light from his stained glass windows. He shook off that glumness that plagued his sinew like knocking dust off the hay linens during spring.

"It has been confined more or less to my room and the dining hall," Lana admitted. After returning from Halamshiral, she ventured out with Hawke a few times under the pretense of exploring and yet with each trip they wound up in the tavern. Hawke seemed to be under the illusion she could drink the qunari under the table once she discovered his weakness. Lana suspected his only weakness was sneaking in on his blindside and redheads.

The Inquisitor bobbed his head, "I thought, given your performance at the Winter Palace, that it should be rectified. Please, follow me." He guided her deeper into the great hall and past his throne.

"My performance?" Lana asked. As far as she knew it'd ranked somewhere around satisfactory. Well, as far as the Inquisitor was concerned. The commander gave a hearty endorsement.

"I heard about your initiative to rescue my people, and your endeavors in the ballroom saved even more lives," he threw open a side door on his right and stepped down a giving staircase. Lana followed after and the sight knocked a breath from her. She leaned upon her staff to find her balance. Blacksmithing tools sang throughout the undercroft, furnaces buffeting out smoke while whet stones honed blades for the next mission. That wasn't surprising to the old Warden Commander who didn't start the day without a trip through an armory. What gave her pause was the missing back wall revealing a bright blue sky broken up by the jagged teeth of the white mountain. And below them all was the eternal rush of a waterfall pounding through the crevices to thunder miles deep. She wanted to scamper over and hang her head off the edge, reach towards it and feel the force of every drop against her hand. Why was Skyhold perched over top such power? Was the waterfall used for some hidden devices in the Keep, ancient elven devices? She hadn't seen any mills in the area, though it would make sense to implement one with the growing army. They'd mentioned elves having created Skyhold before humans even came to thedas. Would they have needed the waterfall to...? Lana shook away her eternal questions; if there was an answer someone else in the hold was probably working on it right now.