Dragon Age: Smoke and Shadows

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Music, its a soft sound the reaches him as he comes up to the door, the door that most often is left at least partically open. No real words, more a softly sung melody, soft and sweet at the same time, hauntingly elven and stops as soon as the knock comes. A soft rustle inside the room, not that there is much space to move around, before Maceyana's soft. "You can come in."

Seren peeks in to show his face. "Maceyana, I've brought you something." That something is, of course, tea and the plums which he sets down within reaching distance once he's inside. "I wanted to see how you were feeling. I would have been in sooner, but I lost track of time. It's good to hear music coming from here, especially something so familiar. If you want, I could carve you a whistle or a flute. …I haven't in a long, long time, but it shouldn't be hard to remember how."

Crosslegged in the bed in her worn underdress, the robes pulled again too her lap, the heavy material covering her legs and held against her stomach with one arm. Maceyana was in middle of rebraiding her hair as he arrived the moonlit mass falling free now around her shoulders as eyes meet his, then drop away with a slight warming of her skin when he mentions the singing. "Its a song I had forgotten about until last night. It's been playing in my ears since then." Looking to the tray he set down, then up at him again in suprise. "Where did you get plums?" there is warmth there behind her lashes but also concern one what he may have had to do to get the fruit.

"I asked for them, da'len. Not everything here comes at a high price." Seren sits in his usual spot. "You learn who to ask and who to avoid. I asked someone usually willing to part with fruit when asked politely."

Maceyana bites into her lip and nods. "Thank you." it's a small thing but something she had perhaps said more in the last few days than she had in years. Looking back at the tray then scoots back so her back is against the wall, robes and tray pulled with her but leaving half the bed open. "Are you really going to sit on the floor and eat?"

Seren laughs softly. "They are both for you, and you are welcome. I sit on the floor most of the time unless it would be rude to do so. It's much easier for me than chairs. Besides. Here it's easier to give you the space you need. I won't intrude uninvited."

Hand fall away from the tray, the girl tipping her head, to look back at him, there in those clear eyes is something he had not really seen there, maybe wasn't sure that he would, pure stubborn. "I am not going to sit here in ate in front of you and before you suggest it, I don't want you to go." then pushes a cup of tea to the other side of the tray as if it is for a guest sitting there on the end of the bed.

Seren's laugh isn't quite as soft this time. "Oh, da'len. First tell me how you feel and then we'll discuss my resistance to stubborn and whether or not you'll have your way," he suggests. "But your wish for my company… It's not a gift I thought I would have so soon. If at all."

Hands folding in her lap then, idly playing with the edge of the robes, pulling at loose threads, snapping little bits off without any real thought. "How I feel? I don't really know. One moment I am curled in bed crying, the next humming lulabyes from my childhood." looking back at him, there is a small pull at her lips as if a smile is trying to bloom. "I am used to being a lone, it's safe and I am not good at…. peopleing. I don't know what to say.. but that doesn't mean I like being alone. And yes, I like having you here, even if I think that maybe you see more than there is there in people."

"I'm not quite sure. To tell you the truth, I've only just started to trust the people who have become my clan here. Lieutenant Garou last of all, in fact, because of his accent. I've since learned that there is no group that is completely untrustworthy." Seren admits. "And there are still days when I can barely drag myself from my bed because doing so means facing what I will see in the mirror. It's slow, this learning to stand again. The walking is harder. So if it will make you happy, then I'll have tea while you have the plums. I've had one already."

"How did you know I was speaking if the Lieutenant?" more curious about what Seren had heard then anything else. "It tried, not…. I tried because you were so adamant about them. I even said thank you and tried to help when Mor upset Tytos but it was clear that he doesn't have any wish to have anything from me. Which I guess I can count as a blessing because there is always worse than being avoided." her tone soft, with maybe a touch of sadness but otherwise the girl seems to have accepted the situation for what it was. Pouring his tea, then looking back over with a small smile. "I am glad you have found people you care for, I do not wish to belittle your relationships at all."

Seren gives a somewhat guilty smile. "Maceyana. I… Have a habit of being very direct. Having been taken without being able to say goodbye to all I loved has made it important that those I love know I love them. The lieutenant doesn't… He has trouble with emotions, so I'm afraid that uncomfortableness is not entirely your fault." His cheeks color a little and he tests the tea. "You must understand that he's a good man, despite this. He's made sure that you have space to recover."

"You do but that is okay. And I do beleive that you do care about him and that there is every likelihood that he cares about you. And for that I am grateful because that caring has granted me this time and I can be thankful for that. But it is also clear… he wouldn't even look at me, he turned his back and kept it that way." she frowns a bit then nods. "Which is also okay, I can stay out of his way, both for my sake and yours. I care about you.." that causes a sudden stop.. all words just die on her tongue and in her brain as those ones ring in her ears. "… I.. umm for your sake, I can make sure.. that he doesn't have to deal with me."

That brings a smile to Seren's face that is so unexpected that he doesn't have time to temper it. "Ma serannas, da'len. That makes me happier than I can tell you, because I've come to care a great deal about you. …as for his turning his back on you…" He lets out a sigh, giving himself time to formulate the concept he has into words. "The truth is, he knows that his presence makes you uncomfortable. Templars are the cause of a great deal of your pain and he is a Templar. He won't want to cause you to think of those things when you see him. You will find that he and Cenn are exactly what Templars should be. They are not the wolves at your heals, da'len, they're the lions guarding you."

Color rises up to warm Maceyana's cheeks at Seren's reaction to her admission, a plum, that she had not intentions on eating just yet, snatched up from the tray, fingers soothing over the waxy surface. "It is frightening more than your Templars in fact.. because it means there is something to loose and I don't know that I could do that again." looking up at him then. "But I decided something, I decided that I will not lie to you. So… there we are." another sigh. "As far as your Templars, they can not control what makes me think of what. I …. a sound in middle of the night.. the turn of someone head, in just the right light.. the smell of the fruit trees when they bloom… these all have been reasons that I have slipped away."

"That's comforting. Thank you," Seren replies, not voicing the laugh that's present in the humor in his eyes at th snatching of the plumb. "It is frightening. …yet having nothing to lose is its own frightening place. I didn't think so, but it was like standing on the edge of a pit with no end. Da'len, it doesn't matter if he can control it or not. He feels it and I think that the idea that Templars could be responsible," he shakes his head. "It shakes him at the foundation, I think. …my Templars? I'm not really sure how well they'd take that title." But it amuses.

The plum held in her hand, Maceyana, frowns at the laughter in his eyes then well, sticks her tongue at him for it. "Your Templars because I make no claim on them and this conversation is between you and me. He may feel it, which as hard as my heart was pounding, I would be suprised that it didn't wake people up. But I can't help that. But I tried, that is all I am saying, for you I tried and if what needs to be done is I keep myself out of his way. That is alright. I can do that for you as well. It is not hard to do."

Seren can't help himself this time, but the laughter is soft and carries no taunt or derision. Finally, he sighs. "I understand and thank you, da'len. I hope one day that you can trust him as much as I do. The fact is that I trust him with my… have trusted him with my life, and he stood guard over me when he could have easily used it as an excuse to kill me. So thank you for trying. I know this may take a great deal of time, but …he is a man that is worth learning to understand. That is all I can tell you."

Well that did it, when he laughs, that dimple of hers deepens as a smile pulls at her lips, eye rolling with exsasperation. "Drink your tea." given with a soft chuckle before she shakes her head. "I know the want, Seren. It is in everyone, the want for those we love or care for, to love or care for each other as well. Please don't be disappointed, that is not always something that can happen. Sometimes pain is too much to get past. Especially when it is not just one person's pain."

Seren hides his laughter in the drinking of the tea. "Da'len, as long as you are trying, I can never be disappointed. The truth is that he will continue to guard you regardless of your ability to let him close. I know this much. Eat the plum, it won't become any tastier in your hands. Don't worry. The people I love will still be the people I love, even if their paths don't all overlap."

"He would bring them to me, then sit beside me and sing when we were young and I was afraid or upset." her eyes lifting to him with a small smile. "He couldn't sing, he tried, but he was simply horrible at it. But for some reason that made it …. more." glancing down at fruit, then lifting to to take a bite, her eyes closing as the spills over her fingers to drip onto the thin underdress." looking back at him, catching the juice stains off her lips, another small smile. "Thank you."

"You're welcome, da'len, and thank you," Seren replies, finishing the tea. "I should go finish the last of my herb sorting. Creators know they'll have a mess again tomorrow, but I offered and I shouldn't let it go undone. I'll bring fruit with your breakfast tomorrow. I'm not certain what there will be but I've requested and, in these cases, they usually listen to the healers. I'll see you tomorrow, Macenaya. Sleep well and, if you need me, you know where I am. You don't need to worry about waking me."

"If I did that, you would never get sleep." Maceyana wrinkles her nose but nods. "Sleep well Seren, I will see you with breakfast." moving to pick up the tray since he has risen to leave and move to the small night table.

"You forget I'm a father. I'm used to sleepless nights." Seren stands, placing the cup on the tray. "They're used to my naps in the courtyard by now." Which means all of those 'absorb sun' sessions are probably just really good excuses for napping in the sun. But now? He's going off to finish his list before he can fall asleep.

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