sunchime | ☆ the vorkosigan saga psl post, volume 3

His gaze lingers on Lavellan, finding her preferable to focus on than Miles at the moment.

"Because I made the wrongful assumption that you were a dwarf," he answers bluntly. "Dwarves are cut off from the Fade." Meaning they don't dream. It's how they are able to mine lyrium without ill-effects. He had tried asking Varric how the man handled being so removed from magic and been surprised how nonplussed he was. Like many in modern Thedas, it was hard to miss what you could never truly experience.

"When you dream, you are open to more possibilities including accessing the Fade. With greater magical potential comes a stronger connection that many fear due to the dangers associated with it." Only dangerous because of the lack of understanding. If Thedas put as much energy into studying the Fade as it did fearing and demonizing the realm, they might be in a very different place.

"As did I. You are the right height for one, if not as stocky." That aside: "The relationship between magic, dreaming, and the Fade is complicated. As Solas will spend hours telling you. But take away one of the three and you lose the other two, to some degree." And take away they did, amongst the Circles. Lavellan can never imagine facing down the choice to lose her magic, her emotions, and her dreams if she felt she couldn't survive temptation by demons; she's grateful for never having to have made that choice.

But she feels as if that's clear enough for the moment. Dwarves cannot access the Fade, therefore they cannot access magic and cannot dream. They cannot dream, so they cannot be mages and can't access the Fade. They cannot be mages, and therefore will never dream, never experience the Fade.

Now that explanations are actually happening, Miles is paying rapt attention, tapping his fingers along the back of the chair as he furrows his brow in thought. He's starting to get a picture here, albeit not a very clear one yet. He's vaguely aware that he's getting a little too into this hallucination, but whatever, it'll run its course or something. This is actually interesting, and -- he could use a break from the dreams about Beatrice.

"What are the dangers associated with it?"

"Possession if one lets their emotions get the better of them and attracts the attentions of a demon." Spirits tainted by those here. With the Fade separated and spirits no longer coexisting with the rest of the world, they were susceptible to outside influences that could mean the end of both them and their chosen host. It was a deadly combination and while Solas understood the inherent fear brought by interactions in the Fade, it would be unnecessary without the follies of mortals thrown into it.

"The manifestation in this realm varies depending on the emotions associated," he continues. "The spirits that live in the Fade become twisted, feelings such as rage, fear, and desire can be turned against an untrained mage and cause devastation."

The matter of spirits and demons is one that Lavellan leaves to Solas, deferring to an expert who's knowledge she's learning firsthand but can never hope to match at present. Maybe if she had a decade or two to devote to it, much like he must have. But at least Miles seems to be interested, rather than insulting them and the world by turn.

"To use magic, one must have the willpower to both pull magic through the Veil that separates the Fade from this world, and to resist the whispers of any demon bent on possessing them." It's an occupational hazard, if one will.

Well, it's certainly...inventive. Interesting stuff. Miles nods slightly along with the explanation, tapping his fingers in thought.

"Sounds like risky business, but I'm guessing the risk is well worth the reward?" He tilts his head slightly. "So can anyone who dreams do magic -- access the Fade like that -- if they've got enough willpower?"

"No, not with the Veil separating us from the Fade. Drawing magic threw it is no simple feat and it takes more than being able to dream to access it." If there was a way for others to use it, the fear of it made it impossible to foster such abilities. Solas longs for the days of old, of his own childhood where magic had been a simple feat and not feared.

"The risk is well worth the reward, as you put it."

Edited 2017-04-05 06:12 (UTC)

Lavellan nods, confirming Solas' opinion on the matter. "Many think so, but many think otherwise as well." Like humans, and for a moment her gaze is piercing before she stands, and gestures out the stained glass doors and windows of her room, out towards the sky.

"The Breach is a tear into the Fade, larger than any." She's assuming Miles can put one and one together and understand why that's a bad idea overall.

Miles follows her hand and looks at the great green gash in the sky again, and his eyes widen slightly. He glances back at Solas and Lavellan.

"Ah. I'm guessing that's what you're all trying to do -- fix that great big hole in the sky?" Miles's brow furrows. "What caused that? I mean, how do you open the Veil in the first place?"

"Large concentrations of magic can create tears. We are still searching for the source of this one." Which wasn't technically a lie. He had an idea of what happened at the Breach, of the Tevinter magister that his agents had given his foci to. But he needed to see the monstrosity to get a full read on the situation and no one else in the Inquisition knew what was happening.

"What we saw at the Conclave was an abnormality we seek to fix."

"Whoever made the Breach still has the object most likely to have caused it in his possession," Lavellan clarifies, thinking of the focus that he'd held aloft while holding her aloft. Of Solas' confession that it was elven in nature, how they needed this fortress to earn and keep the Inquisition's favor once they found out. "And we're beginning our search for it and him. But we have little to go on, and are only just recovering from the loss at Haven."

Holding out her hand, she lets the gash across the palm glow in the light of her room. "This can close rifts -- at least the smaller ones. I don't know how I got it, but I walked out of the Fade and into the remains of the Conclave. Like you did." Only he wasn't marked.

Miles glances down at both hands, and, nope, no glowy green anything. It'd have been hard to miss before, anyway. He looks up at Lavellan with a crooked smile and suggests lightly, "First come, first serve?"

But he shakes his head and chews at a hangnail on his thumb. "Right, so. The Breach is dangerous, that's clear enough, and big enough that it had to be manmade, with an object capable of generating enough magical...er...whatever to make a tear that big." He looks up, frowning. "What happened at Haven?"

The additional question of what the hell is Haven is implied.

Miles words are far more true than Solas would care to say. Elera's life had been shifted in unimaginable ways by simply being in the wrong place at the right time. All due to his mistake. He lets that topic slide past and instead focuses on Miles' question.

"A battle. We lost Haven when Corypheus revealed himself and brought his army to attack. He thought he would have us there, but we managed to regroup here," he replies motioning to the fortress around them. Once elvhen and now painfully Ferelden. It held its own importance to Solas, but that was another bit of personal history he kept to himself.

That makes her smile, a small twitch of her lips upwards. "So it would seem. I don't suppose you'd be interested in a trade?" Lavellan only partly means it, her thumb running across the mark before she withdraws her hand. Solas has answered the question about Haven reasonably well, which means it's up to her to address the unspoken part of the question.

"It was a village, close by the Breach. And served as the Inquisition's headquarters, although we were leaderless at the time." Cassandra had been hoping that Hawke, or the Warden, would finally come forth. Still, Elera can only hope she's filled the role as well as Cassandra wanted. "You are welcome in Skyhold, so long as you pose no threat to our efforts."

☆ the vorkosigan saga psl post, volume 3

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