The Inquisition's stronghold is not, Eldy reflects, a particularly easy place to get to. Its ambassador and merchant-partners must have been blessed by Andraste Herself to get so many caravans plodding along to the fortress, and she isn't complaining. Regular traffic means some designated rest areas on the way through the mountains, regular and expensive caravans mean the path has to be at least decently maintained. But it's still up in the mountains - way, way up - and Eldy hadn't made it easier on herself, she knows.
She'd had to go via Haven.
Partly, it's just because there's been no sense in reinventing the wheel, and the mountain-entry via the old Haven road on the Orlais side is easiest, safest, and Eldy has to keep her own caravan with its research and personnel safe. But she'd waved the main party to go on ahead, and with Zevran she'd turned down the fork in the road and headed towards the village and then the temple. The ruins of them.
She had to see.
So Eldy is late getting into Skyhold, too late for any formal greetings from the Inquisitor to the Newly Returned Warden-Commander of Ferelden and Hero of the Same. Which means by the same token, the very early morning is also too early for any formality. Leaving her husband in the (very) comfortable bed in the quarters assigned to her party, she finds her way to the beautiful central garden. There's a book in her hand, and purpose in her step. It would be rude to run all over the complex trying to study the magic she can feel in the very walls, the same magic which she presumes is the reason why it is warmer in Skyhold than its surrounds, warm enough to grow trees and grass and all the herbs and flowers she can - very rude. She can hear Zevran and Leliana both clucking at her in dismay at the idea of it, running around so openly without an alibi. The book is distraction. But more than that...
It would be pleasant, to take a moment to sit down with bare feet in the grass and read. She isn't home, not yet. But she's somewhere safe enough where she can leave her uniform in her room for the moment, wear hose and a full tunic, wear slippers instead of boots and then be able to take those slippers off. Her clothes are still warden-blue and white and grey, and she knows that 'tiny elven woman with black braids, carrying a poleaxe for a mage's staff' screams Warden-Commander Eldiana Surana (her jewelled earring, dangling as always from her left earlobe, is another give-away), but there's at least a vague air of anonymity. Vague. Very... vague. But it's there, and she wants to get the lay of the land before dealing with the wardens she's seen around. She really needs to say hello to the Inquisitor.
Once she's read a few pages.
Maybe a few more.
... Maybe she can finish the chapter. Except, except she hasn't survived to see her thirtieth birthday without developing a sense of when she's being watched, and she looks up. Then, smoothly, stands up and inclines her head respectfully.
"Lady Inquisitor."
(Of course Eldy is shorter than the other woman. Of course. One would think she'd be used to it by now, but alas.)
Choose Your Own Timing
She'd had to go via Haven.
Partly, it's just because there's been no sense in reinventing the wheel, and the mountain-entry via the old Haven road on the Orlais side is easiest, safest, and Eldy has to keep her own caravan with its research and personnel safe. But she'd waved the main party to go on ahead, and with Zevran she'd turned down the fork in the road and headed towards the village and then the temple. The ruins of them.
She had to see.
So Eldy is late getting into Skyhold, too late for any formal greetings from the Inquisitor to the Newly Returned Warden-Commander of Ferelden and Hero of the Same. Which means by the same token, the very early morning is also too early for any formality. Leaving her husband in the (very) comfortable bed in the quarters assigned to her party, she finds her way to the beautiful central garden. There's a book in her hand, and purpose in her step. It would be rude to run all over the complex trying to study the magic she can feel in the very walls, the same magic which she presumes is the reason why it is warmer in Skyhold than its surrounds, warm enough to grow trees and grass and all the herbs and flowers she can - very rude. She can hear Zevran and Leliana both clucking at her in dismay at the idea of it, running around so openly without an alibi. The book is distraction. But more than that...
It would be pleasant, to take a moment to sit down with bare feet in the grass and read. She isn't home, not yet. But she's somewhere safe enough where she can leave her uniform in her room for the moment, wear hose and a full tunic, wear slippers instead of boots and then be able to take those slippers off. Her clothes are still warden-blue and white and grey, and she knows that 'tiny elven woman with black braids, carrying a poleaxe for a mage's staff' screams Warden-Commander Eldiana Surana (her jewelled earring, dangling as always from her left earlobe, is another give-away), but there's at least a vague air of anonymity. Vague. Very... vague. But it's there, and she wants to get the lay of the land before dealing with the wardens she's seen around. She really needs to say hello to the Inquisitor.
Once she's read a few pages.
Maybe a few more.
... Maybe she can finish the chapter. Except, except she hasn't survived to see her thirtieth birthday without developing a sense of when she's being watched, and she looks up. Then, smoothly, stands up and inclines her head respectfully.
"Lady Inquisitor."
(Of course Eldy is shorter than the other woman. Of course. One would think she'd be used to it by now, but alas.)