eachdraidh | video; open to both courts

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video; open to both courts

[The video feed shows Bethany in, what some might recognize, as Cothromach, though there are still effects of the previous attack and it's damn cold for anyone to be out and about.

However, it appears she's not alone. There's a small group organized to provide hot soup to people who are in need of something warm, as well as any blankets they managed to gather up for those who are lacking.]

I hope everyone is managing to keep warm. My name is Bethany Hawke, if we haven't met. I've been helping however I can here in Cothromach. If you're in trouble, please let me know so I or another can find you and help you. It doesn't take long for this weather to have an effect.

[A slight smile.]

Luckily, some of my magic has been returned to me, including a fire spell. It should come in handy if anyone needs to be warmed up quickly. Not to be cast on you, of course, but I think we could all do with a little thawing right about now.

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-- Bethany. [ she stumbles on the name. ought she not call her something more -- respectful? some title or another. hmm. it will have to be sorted at a later date. ]

Do many come in from the cold? I've ordered parties to search any surrounding settlements for any who might prefer to weather winter's blow from beneath the mountain. I can only pray that most will opt for safety. Security.

[ warmth. ]

[She has no problem being addressed without a title.]

The longer the storm continues, the more that appear for help, Lady Sansa.

There are some whose houses were damaged during the attack and cannot manage to keep their families warm. Thankfully, many here are charitable enough to take them in.

In short, we make do. I hope you don't mind what I've done here, but I felt like I had to do something, even if it only aids a few.

Mind? By the Seven, Bethany, I mind not at all. Your work does you credit. And does the city credit in turn.

[She smiles warmly.]

Thank you, my lady. I'm not really accustomed to standing about when there's something I could be doing. That's all.

If there's anything else you think might help, I'd be glad to hear of it.

-- Do you know if those arriving are being adequately fed?

[ she worries about the city coffers. and yet -- the need cannot be ignored. ]

I can't say for certain. With those making their way here, it's difficult to get an accurate assessment.

We still have food to go around here. I just hope it will last.

It would be tragedy to see them brought in from the cold only to starve on our steps.

You're quite right. I'll send some of the people here to search the city for any who have succumbed to the elements.

It would be appreciated. [ ... ] From where do you ply your aid and trade, Bethany?

[ she wonders if it's far from the keep's steps. ]

I've set up a little make-shift place in the central area of the city. I thought it would be more accessible that way.

Lady Lia de Beaumont volunteered to help and is searching for anyone who can't get to us.

As for means, I've been offering healing services in exchange for whatever people might spare, if they can spare something to help others. If not, I can't very well deny them, but it's working out so far.

[ a soft intake of breath. sansa would find the idea charming under any other circumstance -- but now? when such dangers gather on her front step? ]

Bartering for better help. By the Gods, how ingenious.

Oh.. [She's blushing now.]

I grew up with limited means, my lady. Bartering was always a common practice. Not for magical skill, though. Back home, these gifts would have me jailed or worse.

Jailed? [ confusion; concern.

magic is not something she meets with delight, but she cannot imagine it being so rank an offence. ]

Well, they don't call it jailed, but it's illegal for a mage to roam freely. They're considered dangerous, so all mages are sent to a Circle. It's a place where mages might study magic, but they are not permitted to leave.

Those who do not turn themselves in or evade Templar capture are called apostates.

Templars.

[ -- and she knows (by now) that bethany is from that same strange land of thedas. with a curious lilt in her voice, she adds: ] Commander Cullen spoke to me of templars, once.

[There's a soft knit of her brow.]

Yes. He was a Templar, once, but no more.

[She hesitates to tell Sansa how she met Cullen and the brief history she has with him. After all, it did not happen in his world.]

We come from the same world, but different versions of it.

[ -- oh, she is quick to frown. ]

Different versions? How can that be possible?

Well, strange as it may sound, where I come from, I've met him before.

[She doesn't elaborate, but mage.. templar.. maybe Sansa can figure it out.]

But when I arrived here, he said he never met me. He said he met my brother, Carver. Where I come from, my brother was killed when my family escaped our home and moved to Kirkwall.

I've thought much about this. I suspect the reason Carver may have lived where Ser Cullen is from is because I was the one who died instead, protecting our mother as Carver did where I come from.

I have not asked Ser Cullen what I think to be true, though I'm not sure it really matters either way.

I never thought such differences could ever be...

[ possible. and now she wonders -- is there ever a place where her father lives, still? and her mother. her brother... ]

It seems bewildering.

It certainly is bewildering to me. I suppose the universe is a strange place. I can't really begin to understand it, though I studied magic for many years in the Circle.

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