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[byblow]

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[byblow]

I'm sorry to hear that, Ser Cade.

[ He's going to be pissily fake-formal for at least five minutes, sorry. ]

[onlyhymns]

Alistair... [His facepalm is almost audible.]

[byblow]

Ser Alistair. [ Thank you very much. ] Is it darkspawn trouble?

[onlyhymns]

[Miserably,] No.

[Someday he'll learn that contacting Alistair is rarely worth it, but he can't exactly talk to Beleth about this, and that more or less exhausts his friend supply.]

[byblow]

Well, that's the only trouble I'm any good for, I'm afraid, especially for people who aren't my darling.

[ But he only lets that sit there a couple of seconds. ]

Are you going to tell me what's wrong or not?

[onlyhymns]

[Cade didn't think it possible for his outlook to get any worse, but he has been well and truly corrected. He nearly makes an incredulous noise when the time-wasting Alistair prods him, but he saves it, because he has to have someone on his side. ...such that it is.]

...I said something stupid. Um. To an elf.

[byblow]

[ Less said than inhaled in astonishment: ] No. What?

[onlyhymns]

[At this point, Cade genuinely can't tell if Alistair is mocking him or not, so he just forges on ahead.]

Cyril, [he murmurs,] he came up to me. Outside the healing tents. And asked why I don't like him. [A pause as he relives the awkwardness.] I don't... I don't not like him, but he's... you know.

[byblow]

An... elf?

[onlyhymns]

[Great, this again. Cade steels himself.]

He's... interested in... [his voice lowers, as if he's afraid someone will hear him,] other men.

[He sounds more worried than disgusted, though the latter is definitely there. He's been sitting on this for most of the day, turning it over in his head and not finding any peace with it.]

[byblow]

Ah. [ It's a good thing Alistair hasn't wasted any of his capacity for sensitivity on the earlier parts of this conversation, because he needs most of it now to draw a very vague and sketchy line from Cade's behavior now to Cade's childhood and

not start chewing him out immediately, at least. ]

Well. Some men are.

[onlyhymns]

[Though Cade isn't in tune with Alistair's thought process, on a cosmic and unconscious level he appreciates his restraint.
His friend's words aren't comforting, exactly, but it means something that they aren't condemnatory either.]

But it's... [It's so difficult to talk about, sometimes even when he finds the words he doesn't want to say them.] ...unnatural. Isn't it?

[byblow]

Hmmm. No. I don't think so.

[onlyhymns]

[A long pause. It still seems wrong.]

But it's... [he tries,] ...people who... [He trails off again in another pause. He knows Alistair knows, and somehow that makes him want to bring it up even less.]

Sorry. Never mind.

[byblow]

No, don't—it's all right. Better to talk to me instead of someone whose feelings might get hurt, isn't it?

[onlyhymns]

I suppose.

[He falls silent again, thinking.]

I don't want to talk about it over a crystal.

[byblow]

All right. Do you want to come down here? [ A beat. ] Are you and Beleth still getting along?

[ Because if not he will go Up There. ]

[onlyhymns]

I mean, I think so. But um. I can't. I'm still with the healers.

[His voice is always quiet, but it has been especially so for this exchange, since there are people trying to sleep around him.]

I can... meet you at the gate, if they let me walk around.

[byblow]

[ There's some shifting and clanking while he sets aside whatever he's been working on. ] I'll head that way. Give me half an hour.

[ It's a long walk. Uphill. Cade is welcome. ]=

[onlyhymns]

[Cade and his bandaged leg are waiting up at the top, sitting on the stairs that lead into the arch of the portcullis and wrapped up in a nice warm winter coat. He smiles a little when he sees Alistair, because he can't be aggravated 100% of the time. And he came all this way!]

[byblow]

[ He came all this way, he came all this way, TAKE A BREAK— ]

Ser Cade.

[ But he smiles back a bit. ]

[onlyhymns]

[Alistair, I have so much on my plate]

...Ser Alistair.

[He returns the joke almost sheepishly, like he isn't sure if he's allowed to use it. But he smiles when he says it, clearly hoping it's all right.]

[byblow]

[ He's allowed, it's all fine. Alistair doesn't even notice the sheepishness and therefore feels no need to do anything more reassuring than continuing to smile while he looks around the area. ]

Are we talking here?

[onlyhymns]

Maybe. [Cade looks around, and is pleased to find that the area is mostly empty, save for a guard here and there doing what they do.]

Or... I don't know. Somewhere warmer. [Up on a mountain in the middle of Guardian isn't exactly a comfortable place and time to be spending a lot of time outside.]

...the kitchen? [Ascending too many stairs in his present state would be a mistake.]

[byblow]

[ Alistair brightens up -- food! he loves food! -- and then briefly looks eyebrow-creasingly thoughtful, mouth and gaze both twisted to one side, before he remembers Sabine doesn't really work in the kitchens anymore and brightens again. Not that he doesn't like to see her. He just would prefer not to see her while he's talking to Cade about this particular thing. And he would prefer for Cade not to see Alistair seeing her, with how dopey his face probably gets.

Anyway. ]

Sure. [ He starts that way, at a slow shuffling pace meant to allow Cade to keep up. ] I haven't eaten in at least an hour... How's your leg? Or whatever it is you hurt.