Tales of a Child Eternal [NSFW]

[Tethras Clan]

"But if that was... corrected, excised... it's not a phobia or imbalanced moods- it's your entire way of thinking," Varric says softly. "Would the person without your condition even be you? Be... be my friend, Zevran's lover... Alydra's oracle?"

[Helene Dakesh]

Helene looks to the Ancient One for an answer.

[NPCs]

"How many pages can one take from a book before the story cannot be read?"

[Helene Dakesh]

"One, unless it was blank," says Helene immediately. "This does not seem to be an answer."

[Tethras Clan]

"It's a yes. If taking one page from a book changes the story, then taking that part of you out would change you. But your condition is part of the very foundation- you're not be taking a page or even fifty page. More like cutting off a quarter of the book across the width."

[Helene Dakesh]

Helene flinches at the sacrilege of doing that to a book. "Understood. That said, would it work? And would this one still be able to serve?"

[NPCs]

"Even a stone may serve a purpose."

[Helene Dakesh]

Helene stares at them for a moment. "...as an Oracle," they say slowly. "Would this one still be able to serve as Alydra's oracle."

[NPCs]

Not one but two more sips of their beverage is required before the Ancient One finally replies, "even a blind man might be a scribe."

[Helene Dakesh]

Helene blinks. "So... that is... an affirmative?"

[Tethras Clan]

"It means technically yes but you'd do a hells of a lot better with your eyes still working," Varric snaps.

[NPCs]

"Sometimes the heart speaks wisdom that the head refuses to see," the elderly being says absently.

[Helene Dakesh]

Oddly enough, this causes quite a deepening of the blue on their cheeks and nose. "Understood." Helene takes a deep breath, lets it out.

"This one may lessen their symptoms using rigidity or flexibility. This one suspects flexibility is the preferred method, as quaking of the earth was spoken of. This one does not understand how to achieve this ethical flexibility."

[NPCs]

"Ethics? Were we speaking of ethics?" the original Seeker asks blandly.

[Tethras Clan]

"Not sure if that's... flexibility..." Varric frowns slightly, thinking. "Yeah, not ethics. Behavior is the issue at hand, not ethics."