Imprints in Stone [AU]

[Tethras Clan]

That that he has it- suspect, witness or convict, no-one but guards (and the rare adventurer) is allowed to be armed in a guard station. Openly anyway. "Sit. Down," Bright's Champion Vallen says, voice ringing like a sword blade against a shield.  She doesn't move, doesn't push back her chair or lift her hands. She just looks at him.

[Carver Amell]

Carver realizes all at once that he's both unarmed and challenging a ranking guardsman -- enough to send a shiver through him. But then he thinks of Bethany and lifts his chin higher. "Y-y-you are n-not sending B-beth to a c-c-convent o-or a... a.. w-whatever it is! She d-d-didn't do anything wrong!"

[Tethras Clan]

"...hostels are temporary housing," Vallen says carefully. "In this case, it houses youths who can't stay with their parents for some reason, but will hopefully have a more desirable and longer duration solution after a few months or so. Convents are more or less permanent..." Among other differences that aren't important right now. "Now sit the hells down."

[Carver Amell]

"We didn't do anything!" he shouts again. "You can't-- You can't! It's not fair! None of us did anything wrong! If you take Bethany's church away! Or, or, or split us up! How is that supposed to be fair?!"

[Tethras Clan]

"I'm not Mileen, to care about balance. I care about you two being safe. And, as point of fact, you did do something," Vallen snaps. "You both ran away from home. Twice, though I'll grant you the first because you went to live with an adult family friend. Now. Sit down and talk to me. Don't shout, don't bite off begrudging concessions. I am trying to help you, trying to be generous and accommodating. But you need to met me halfway. You're not going to get to live on your own. Accept it, deal with it, move on. What are your priorities? What can you give up? What can you offer? What supports what you want happening? Use your wits and cunning, not just your temper and muscles."

[Carver Amell]

He takes a few deep breaths, still standing, still glaring, but trying to stop himself from shouting. "We didn't run away. Mother was there when we decided to live with Varric. She was going to send Bethany away and he said no way, we can live with him. I can't let Bethany go back there. She'll be sent away. And I can't let someone split us up, or, or mistreat her, or -- it'd break her heart. I-- she was-- she and Marian were closer than-- and I just can't let you break up our family. I'd die first. We're only in this because you took Varric away, and he didn't do anything wrong either. So-- so-- so you must not really care about our safety either." 

[Tethras Clan]

Vangal, give me strength. "If you don't sit down in the next ten seconds, I will force you to do so. Do you understand?"

[Carver Amell]

Carver sits, promptly, his leg twitching but his butt in the seat. 

[Tethras Clan]

"Thank you," Lt. Vallen says softly. "I never said anything about splitting the two of you up. If- if- you can't convince me to argue for better than sending you to a youth hostel, you'd be in separate buildings- it's done by gender- but they're adjacent to each other. However, I'm willing to give you a second chance to talk with me about the issue because very little of any of this is your fault and you and your sister have... coped fairly well with difficult circumstances."  I feel for you kid, I do, but this has to be done right. Tethras might not be guilty of this, but that's not up to either of us to decide. The original charge was... premature, in my book, but Missus Hawke's claim absolutely needed to be followed up on, posthaste, given the preexisting concerns with the Tethras brothers.

[Carver Amell]

"I don't know what you want," he urges. "You want me to have some, some clever argument with words and, I'm not like that, that's Marian, or Varric, I'm-- I'm better at hitting. I've told you what it's like. What am I supposed to say?" 

[Tethras Clan]

Why does it have to be clever? Just... tell me what you want but be reasonable about it. "Well... admisdt all your shouting, you seemed to give some of your hardlines- keeping Bethany safe and staying with her. Are there any other... factors or limits that are very important to you? A good rule of negotiations- provided they're being done in good faith, which-" She taps her armour pointedly, half on the tabard. "Is that you should put forth your absolutes, then compare them with the other person's absolutes. Then you can start working towards a compromise, depending on who has more to offer the other. But you can't just throw your demands in someone's face, that just puts their back up and things dissolve into shouting or blows."

[Carver Amell]

"Fine. My absolutes are, I stay with Bethany. Nobody, I don't know, no stranger who doesn't care about her gets to be in charge of her. Teachers are bad enough. She gets to keep going to the temple every day, that's important. Nobody gets told about her being a witch or anything like that. She doesn't get in any trouble for running away, it was my decision anyway." 

[Tethras Clan]

"Better, thank you. Advice for the future- it feels less hostile to phrase it as 'I need to stay with Bethany and she needs to continue to get her lessons at the temple.' Phrasing it that way makes it sound less like you're ordering the other person," Vallen suggests, remember to smile a little to make it advice instead of a scolding. 

"But most of that sounds perfectly fine and the rest can be worked on. Staying with your sister is easy- Recruit za'Frane mentioned that you'd both indicated a willingness to return to Tethras's house? He's given his permission for that as well, so that would be fine. Like as not, your minder would be a stranger- that's largely unavoidable, given the limited pool of people you know here. However, they'll be trained and inclined to be sympathetic towards those in their care. As for the temple- good. Both of you should continue your schooling, or training if you prefer. Point of fact..." Aveline tilts her head, considering. Tame more dogs with steak than clubs... maybe... "Actually- and this would need to be agreed upon by your sister- but we have people that work with the guard as healers. As such, many of them are already vetted by us. If I can find one willing to provide personal lessons, this can also serve as part of your adult supervision."

[Carver Amell]

Carver hesitates, actually seeming to consider it instead of speaking off-the-cuff for the first time this conversation. "What... what is it like, being a guard healer? I don't... we always used to just expect Beth to do things, because she's so nice. And she can't do that anymore. I don't want her locked into something and find out it's awful."

[Tethras Clan]

Aveline shrugs a little. "Like most any job, I suspect. You're expected to do things, yes, but that's because you agreed to do so in exchange for payment. Some of our healers are full-time, employed by the city directly. They work normal shifts on regular days. Most of them work at a station or clinic where they also treat guard families, others go on patrols or radids as combat healers. Many of the healers are part-time, helping the guard only once or twice a week or for just a few hours each day. Some that do this are retired or in school, others have a primary job. Some just want to contribute but can't or don't want to work full-time." 

She shrugs again. "I've never lead a healer unit and rarely have one accompany me on patrols- as a paladin, I can provide my own on-the-spot healing so it's a waste of resources. You'd be better off asking a healer directly- or I think Recruit za'Frane's wife does some work with us. I can't recall what field she does, other than 'not combat' however."