[...that doesn't really help. In fact, it makes him feel very uncomfortable.]
He wrote that he hoped one day mages will find forgiveness, as if all needed it. As if we are indeed the stains and sins from birth that the Chantry treats us as, and teaches all we are.
[That times have changed, as if that's the reason mages should have freedom and rights, not simply that it's the right thing to do. But Anders takes a breath instead of speaking the rest of his mind.]
He is your friend. I will give him another chance.
Oh. Sometimes he says things like that. Chantry rhetoric, it must be second-nature. Just tell him why that's offensive and he'll stop. It hasn't been that long since he was sort of by-the-book, he can't beat it all out on his own.
I'm not... I'm not questioning you. I'd simply be surprised to run into a Templar who is fine with being called out on Templar rhetoric. I've challenged it in my return letter, but I wasn't certain that it would go well.
Well, don't preach it at him. Just tell him it's offensive to mages. He means well, but he also learns. He's not one of those that thinks it's good enough to just mean well and we oppressed folk had best be grateful for what we've got. James listens. And anyone who doesn't isn't worth your time.
That's rare. I don't mean that in a sarcastic way. It's very rare, in my experience, for a Templar to accept a challenge to something that's been drilled into them.
...And I know those who don't listen and don't care aren't worth my time. But they're the loudest.
And the most annoying. I can't tell you how many times I've been called "unharrowed" as if it means anything. I'm at least as tested as any Circle mage.
Unharrowed means only that you've never been hauled out of your bed in the middle of the night and terrified as you faced a challenge meant to kill you. It's worthless. It's no true test of anything other than frantic reaction.
When I was on the Mage Council, I suggested and passed Fade Training. It's a bit like a Harrowing, but the apprentice is fully informed and educated, and can even have someone go with them. Less a test and more...training. It was the only way to get the other Councilors to let go of the Harrowing question.
That's the way to approach it. Teach them the dangers, rather than fling them head-on, after startling them, after disorienting them. Harrowing is designed to kill as many mages as possible. Fade Training instructs and prepares.
That was exactly the idea! [Finally, someone who gets it instead of poking holes in it.] Because that's supposed to be the point, isn't it? Fewer incidents? Educating and strengthening is supposed to be better than barbarically weeding out the weak-willed. I hope the Council sticks to it.
That is exactly the point. We've no reason to harm our children the way Templars did. Just because we had it harder, and apologies, I mean within the Circles, not to say anything about your experience, but just because that was harder than it is now does not mean we need to make them suffer.
We will teach and we will learn, and we will look after our own.
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Sending stone
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Thank me for what?
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You're welcome.
[She hesitates again, because this is sort of a dangerous thing to say.]
We're sort of...friends, aren't we?
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[He is who he is, after all.]
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I will try to give him another chance.
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He wrote that he hoped one day mages will find forgiveness, as if all needed it. As if we are indeed the stains and sins from birth that the Chantry treats us as, and teaches all we are.
[That times have changed, as if that's the reason mages should have freedom and rights, not simply that it's the right thing to do. But Anders takes a breath instead of speaking the rest of his mind.]
He is your friend. I will give him another chance.
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[He sounds surprised.]
I'm not... I'm not questioning you. I'd simply be surprised to run into a Templar who is fine with being called out on Templar rhetoric. I've challenged it in my return letter, but I wasn't certain that it would go well.
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...And I know those who don't listen and don't care aren't worth my time. But they're the loudest.
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It must end.
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We will teach and we will learn, and we will look after our own.
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