bethen avilla ; the circle mage (bethe) wrote in thedas,
That Rhocanth was impressed by her position as a librarian endeared him even more to Bethen than he already was, just from his display of courage in the face of an open sky and a relatively long drop to the ground. It caused her normally porcelain pale cheeks to color to a slight rosy hue; few people were ever as interested in literature as she was, and even fewer people had ever looked at her with respect for it. Her attachment to her books and organizational system was usually a subject of ridicule within the Tower, but now she was with someone who appeared to enjoy reading just as much as she did. Her heart swelled with joy and pride, though she restrained herself from exhibiting too much of the latter. Arrogance was not only unbecoming, but taught to be a quality shared with demons, and no good mage wanted to have anything in common with malevolent spirits.
Appearing to be modest about something she had invested so much of her time and effort in was difficult, but she managed to keep her tone even and her smile warm, "The Tower Library actually houses the largest collection of books in all of Ferelden, I believe. There are quite a few other libraries and private collections around, but even if they managed to combine all of them, they still wouldn't be able to match the quantity or quality of reading materials available in the Hold." Did she sound too haughty? She couldn't tell, and it was a challenge to decide what was a proper tone to take with someone of noble status. Just being able to speak to him was stunning enough, nevermind their display of awe and admiration of traits she had often considered either unimportant, embarrassing, or even shameful.
Not to prattle on too much about her own life, she offered to speak of what she knew of his, recognition lighting her eyes. "I've heard about the Shaparate before. Well, read about it, mostly. I've always imagined that if I had the opportunity to travel to your city, I'd love to spend days there. Or even months and years, if allowed. The Tower has many records, but so little about your culture and history in particular, save for second-hand stories transcribed by Chantry scholars," the mage shrugged, hoping that the admission would allow her some lenience if she said anything incorrect or inadvertently offensive due to sheer ignorance. But she hoped she wouldn't have the misfortune of sticking her foot in her mouth around Rhocanth; she liked his company, and looked forward to being able to spend further time in it, provided they both managed to overcome whatever trial awaited them.
His inquiry about her life in the Tower was broad and gave her pause, especially that someone had already told him something of it. By his focus on the detail of how magi came to reside in the ancient building, Beth didn't think that whomever had informed him had a particularly positive take on it. Then again, few people ever had anything positive to say about the Circle, in general, and she found herself being one of its defenders, even though she held no love for the way it was managed. Still, there was some part of her that was stubbornly protective over her home, especially when it came to outsiders' opinions of it. She was slow to answer, not wanting to lie to make it sound better than it truly was, but not wanting him to think poorly of her upbringing, and in turn, think poorly of her. "It's true, we don't really...choose to live there, but for what it is, it's not so terrible. From what I've been told, it's far better than the slums of a city." Not that she even knew what a city was like until seeing Amaranthine; elven mages, like Lirana and Emrys, had described their alienage to her, though, and just having room and board was a step up from where they'd come from.
"Primarily, I like to think of it as a learning institution, though it's also a residence. Hmm, I suppose a lot of things on the surface will be new experiences to the both of us, won't they?" Beth admitted, pleased to find another way in which they were alike, in spite such vastly different backgrounds. "Until coming here, I hadn't left Kinloch Hold in seventeen years. The only other place I've ever lived was a small town east of Lake Calenhad, called Lothering. The rest of the world is rather unknown to me."