bethen avilla ; the circle mage (bethe) wrote in thedas,
His smile made it easier for Beth to have her own. She didn't want to be morose, anyway, if it was possible to prolong their apparent cheer, even though it was partially born out of denial. Aurin's request was an easy one to grant. She would agree to it, though that had no intention of letting that be the end of their gift exchange, something she could give him much sooner. There was no chance of failure to see the plan through if she could find him a token before they left. "If I can manage to send something back, I will. I don't think they have great postal service in Ostagar, though," she joked, trying to inject some levity into the subject. The mage cracked the knuckles of the fingers on her free hand, the other still clutching the wrapped parcel. "Seems I have a great deal of writing to do on the road. I've already said I would keep record for Coan, and he would do the same for me."
At the thought of the nobleman, her expression visibly brightened, as it had tended to do over the past few days when it came to discussing her new friend. In a short period of time, Beth had become rather fond of him, her positive impression of him only heightened by the letters he'd written. His enthusiasm for the world's wonders rivaled her own, and he'd still even seen more of it than she had, yet he appeared not to be a cynic and his verbose chronicles of his experiences were delightful to read. She was quite pleased he had been so open-minded about sharing what he'd seen with her, and had more fascination toward her status as a mage than fear of it. It was so...different, to be admired and respected, rather than shunned. "Have you met him? Coan Bryland's the son of the Teyrna of Gwaren. And he's a Warden, too. I guess that's the most important thing now, since we can't hold titles or be involved in politics." She neglected to mention that his cousin had been one of the recruits, as well, but felt no need to bog down her upbeat tone by adding in that Brannan had perished. It reminded her that she ought to look for him later, as well, to see how he was handling the loss of a family member. She couldn't even begin to imagine how hard that must have been.
Instead of lamenting, however, Beth decided to explain a little more of how she even came to know the young man, as it must have seemed rather abrupt to bring him up. "We've been corresponding since we first met, when the Warden-Commander came to the Tower. Coan is very kind and considerate, not at all haughty like you might think someone born of such high status might be, and he has a gorgeous Mabari named Noa. I wonder if he'd be off to Redcliffe, as well? He's of noble stock, surely he knows the Arl. I imagine Alistair would want to take advantage of that connection." Her face fell as she realized she was going off on one of her tangents again. It wasn't the first time that she had wound up gushing over him, like a child showing off their shiny new toy. She shook her head at herself, "But I'm rambling. I hope you get to know him at some point. He's a good man.
"Anyway," Beth began again, trying to steer the conversation back toward what Aurin had asked, "I'll do what I can. But I should hope that I will be able to tell you these things in person when we both return." Her voice sounded more earnestly optimistic than she really felt, but she wasn't ready to give into reality just yet. The woman put one hand on her hip, a challenging pose as she stood in the middle of the corridor and angled her head in the direction of the kitchens, "Come on, then. I still want a snack."