bethen avilla ; the circle mage (bethe) wrote in thedas,
In no time at all, the situation had gone from uncomfortable to downright miserable. Bethen's mood had been soured enough by her own experiences, and as soon as Alderic had extended the slightest amount of comfort, the alleviation was crushed by the Enchanter's approach. Her frown had not lightened when the other Warden spoke, but it was certainly deepened when the woman opened her mouth. To be chastised for no apparent reason, other than that the woman possessed an ego greater than her authority, was more than an irritation. Beth had no reason to hold Thais' opinions above her own; they were no longer of equal standing. In fact, she was now even the woman's superior when it came to rank within their party. Thais had nerve to talk to her that way, and Beth almost had an equal amount to snap back at her.
Anger replaced sorrow quickly. Her teeth ground against each other as she clamped her jaw shut, reluctantly allowing Alderic to address Thais, though she hated the feeling of being some kind of damsel in need of rescuing. He meant well, to pacify everyone, but she'd had her fill of templars rushing in to defend her honor. It would have been much more satisfying to put the woman down herself; better yet, it would have been satisfactory if no one had followed her, at all. Moments like these were a reminder of why she had secluded herself in the depths of the library. People were a hassle to deal with, complicating situations far more than they needed to.
While a greater part of her wanted to snarl back at Thais, the wiser part of her kept quiet. It was a frustrating move, as Beth had no desire to appear a coward, but she had even less of a desire to overreact and start yet another flurry of spells -- in front of the Chantry, no less. The only way to ease her temper was to extract herself from the scene; she turned away and attempted to step briskly past the Enchanter, barely registering the wolf's movement flanking the woman's other side. But she figured it out at the same moment as Alderic, stopping dead in her tracks to shout at the very bad beast, "Hey, no--"
For as much as Thais was deserving, it was of no help to give the woman yet another reason to complain. She had instinctively stretched out a rather useless hand to stop him, the wolf out of her reach, while the ex-templar was closer and quicker. However, that seemed like a poor idea. Even armored, Beth was afraid he'd get his hand bitten off, barely able to blurt out a warning to him before he was already within grasping distance of the feral creature, "Rick, don't--"