He smiled, withdrawing the pipe, and kicked up his heels, swinging them over to a nearby stool. Her note on the Imperium's men made his brows furrow thoughtfully; and in companionable silence while he mulled over this, he pressed a small end of darkly fragrant dried leaves into the bowl of a small clay pipe.
"Speaking only personally..." He spoke while he picked a small stem from the leaves in a pouch on his belt, every motion calm and leisurely. It made him seem like an aging barncat, so relaxed in his own skin and comfortable in his surroundings that he could fall asleep in them. "I appreciate the divide."
He leaned toward a small lantern hung on a hook on a thick wooden post supporting the roof, and with his fingertips nudged the door of the lantern open, stealing some of its light with the stem. He used this to light his pipe. Took a steady drink of his ale and inhaled a quiet puff.
"I'll take you at your word. It is... difficult, even, to conceive of such a place as the Imperium." He said it a little haltingly, a polite admission of his own ignorance about the world. Like most peasants, he had a healthy, fearful respect of magic and mages, and had only had small occasion to ever meet many of that ilk himself.
"I think we'll both see enough of politics and strife in the coming seasons, if so much is already plentiful in Skyhold. Tell me a story about yourself, instead. I won't mind if it's not true."
no subject
"Speaking only personally..." He spoke while he picked a small stem from the leaves in a pouch on his belt, every motion calm and leisurely. It made him seem like an aging barncat, so relaxed in his own skin and comfortable in his surroundings that he could fall asleep in them. "I appreciate the divide."
He leaned toward a small lantern hung on a hook on a thick wooden post supporting the roof, and with his fingertips nudged the door of the lantern open, stealing some of its light with the stem. He used this to light his pipe. Took a steady drink of his ale and inhaled a quiet puff.
"I'll take you at your word. It is... difficult, even, to conceive of such a place as the Imperium." He said it a little haltingly, a polite admission of his own ignorance about the world. Like most peasants, he had a healthy, fearful respect of magic and mages, and had only had small occasion to ever meet many of that ilk himself.
"I think we'll both see enough of politics and strife in the coming seasons, if so much is already plentiful in Skyhold. Tell me a story about yourself, instead. I won't mind if it's not true."