bethen avilla ; the circle mage (bethe) wrote in thedas,
Beth remained quiet as they began to settle into the small clearing, just large enough to fit their somewhat cumbersome, but well defended, group. Her attention was immediately grabbed when Alderic introduced the woman -- the Sister Deidre Aisli? She couldn't help but smile a bit; she'd heard of the Sister, through their mutual templar friend, and had even managed to obtain a copy of one of her published works, but they had never had the opportunity to meet before. What a fine coincidence, then, to be on the same road to the same destination! They would definitely have to speak at some point. As delighted as she was, it was also a bit jarring -- the idea of people she had known most of her life having companions outside of the Tower that she had never seen was always an odd thought, but to see one in the flesh... It was like having an imaginary friend suddenly reveal themselves as being very real.
But this wasn't the time to make idle chitchat. Tired as she was, it was better to get things set up first before taking a break. Wanting to make herself useful, she moved around toward the cart that was being dragged along by their resident Tranquil. And of course, it wasn't just any Tranquil they could have assigned to this journey. It wasn't personal, but she couldn't help feeling like Terraster had a cruel sense of humor, even though she knew Irving had taken the truth to his grave. Still, she was not unfriendly toward Constans, and in fact, felt a great deal of pity and resentment at the fact that he was being used as a common pack mule. Tranquil or not, he wasn't subhuman, and should have been replaced with a proper beast of burden. Nothing she said would have changed that, though.
She smiled at him politely, even though seeing at him still made her uneasy. Sad, even. "Thank you," she said quietly to him, reaching for one of the neatly packed tents and removing it from the organized pile of items. There were only half the number of tents available as there were people -- not only for the sake of traveling lighter and more economically, but because it made it easier to keep an eye on them if they were all kept together. Like animals in a stall, and templars as guard dogs. She wondered who would be put in charge of first watch tonight. If it was Ser Trevan again, she didn't expect Lirana to be sleeping soundly in the bedroll next to her -- which wasn't exactly a problem, since sleep hadn't come easy most night, between the chirping of insects and her snoring.
As soon as the bundle was securely in her arms, she paused to look back to Constans. They hadn't spoken much at all -- not that he was a particularly verbose conversationalist these days, anyway. But old habits died hard. She couldn't help feeling concerned for his well-being. "Are you all right? It's been a very long day. Do you need anything? Water? Dehydration is a terrible thing. I can't imagine this trip has been easy on you."