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[ombranera]

I will write back as soon as possible.

Regards, Zevran

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[ombranera]

Hands entwined he tugs on the line to pull her closer. Carve out a little more privacy, a little more intimacy in the otherwise public view of the Tavern. Without a song that needs singing or a tale that needs spinning he can focus on the whole of her. How she moves and speaks, how she touches him. Tilting his face into her hand as long as it's there is terribly easy, expression exquisitely serene. A moment of her favor in whatever way she desires to offer it- that is all he wishes.

"My education was not so lovely a thing as you, Stella. Though if it grants me your grace and company for but a moment? It has been well worth while."

[mythalenaste]

"Flatterer." She leans down to place a kiss on his cheek, light as a butterfly's touch. "What did I do to deserve such a lovely gentleman to say such things about me every time I see him?"

It is, miraculously, an exchange of his playful flirtatiousness. Some people just inspire her that way.

[ombranera]

"Is it flattery if I find it to be true?" His smile is lighter, lacking the usual wry edge offered to most women. "Something wonderful, I am certain."

He reaches out, curling his fingers in hers, the gesture fairly innocent.

[mythalenaste]

"...So where were you educated?"

[ombranera]

"In a brothel." Several, actually, but sweet words meant for the ears of those that paid for love and affection stuck with him the most as a child. The higher the price? The sweeter the words. "As I said, not so lovely a thing."

[mythalenaste]

"What's a brothel?"

Pel's education has had a certain focus.

[ombranera]

"It is a place where people pay to have sex with whores. Sometimes massages and baths are also on offer but most often it is where one buys company for a few hours. Or a night if you've a particularly full purse."

[mythalenaste]

She looks faintly enlightened. "Sounds like a luxury. I suppose you must have met all sorts, heard many stories."

[ombranera]

"Well, growing up there was something of an adventure, so long as I kept quiet and bothered no one." Honestly there was the last place any of the young elves wanted to find attention. It wasn't that they ran the risk of someone being unkind- quite the opposite.

They would be all too kind. For a time.

[mythalenaste]

Now she looks even more enlightened. This is less good than she believed.

"They keep chil--"

They must be willing to cater to many different tastes in these places. A luxury indeed. A weight falls on her as she absorbs this, realizing how dreadful a childhood his must have been.

His hands are warm. He is warm. Is she taking advantage of him, expecting him to keep up this fantasy? Is she like those paying customers?

"I'm sorry." It's not sympathy for a rough childhood--everyone has those. It's an actual apology.

[ombranera]

"Off to the side so they are not troubled, of course. We were communally raised by those not seeing clients and taught to mind the locked doors and not to bother paying customers. It was not so bad, we were fed and had a roof over our heads and if we were well behaved? There were stories." Ah, the whores had been quite kind- at least those that had been patient.

"For what?" He blinks, puzzled. "For asking? I think perhaps you are imagining something far worse than it was. There were other brothels in Antiva City that catered to such...tastes but my home was not among them."

[mythalenaste]

Something in her chest eases then. Okay, good. She can breathe, and looks visibly relieved. The color comes back to her face.

"It does sound...charmed." She finally sits beside him, joining their hands. "I was communally raised, mostly. My parents were from a different clan."

[ombranera]

"Is that normal for the Dalish?" Mages being passed from one clan to another were there too many, that he had heard of. But anything more? He cannot say, that wasn't the subject of any of the discussions they had in the blight.

[mythalenaste]

"Only when there's too many mages in a clan. I don't even remember my old clan. Clan Ghilan. I've only ever met my parents at the Arlathvhen, the meeting of the clans every ten years."

[ombranera]

"I have always wondered at that. How many is 'too many' and who is the one that decides as such?"

[mythalenaste]

"Usually, four is too many. That's the Keeper, the First, and the Second who are enough, and if another turns up, they're sent to another clan. That's the accepted number, more or less. Fortunately the Dalish clans don't usually burst at the seams with them. Clan Ashara only had our Keeper when I first arrived. Sorrel's powers didn't manifest for years after."

Not mentioning Ellana, although Ellana hasn't exactly been discreet about being a mage. It's a habit. Ellana was their extra, the one they always had to protect.

"Anyway. Anyone who says how terrible it is for a child to go without parents never met us, did they? We turned out all right."

[ombranera]

"Mm. The Chantry makes it sound as though Mages simply come into their own in spurts like a plague. Of course they are terribly biased." He shrugs and tugs her in by their joined hands- just enough to offer that much more intimacy to the conversation. "I should like to think I turned out quite well despite being an orphan; and you certainly are the very image of a model citizen."

[mythalenaste]

"I'm not a citizen. Are you calling me an example for others to look up to?" A teasing tone.

[ombranera]

"You are a citizen of your own people, yes? What better example to be than that."

[mythalenaste]

"Flatterer." Pel gives his hands a squeeze. "Haven't you any work to be done? I thought I'd see you actually entertaining in the tavern once or twice, for an entertainer."

[ombranera]

"And I have been- between glasses of brandy. An elf cannot perform endlessly without some respite. Well. I can perform as long as my lady wishes." He lift her hands to his lips, kissing her knuckles.