Field trips and sinking ships

[freedom_is_grey]

It's cold and snowy on the lakeshore, but Ysalwen is walking there anyway. The cold is bracing, she has exercises to do, and it's a good place to think.

The number of Warden recruits is increasing, and while she refuses to offer the Joining to some of them, there's still been a doubling of her numbers in a relatively short time. It's time to start thinking how to turn a ragtag band of friends into something a little more --

Structured.

And that's something with which she has too much of the wrong experience.

Hence thinking.

Or maybe brooding.

A little.

Comments

[howtoactfereldan]

It does. Cullen elects not to mention it, instead turning back toward the bar. "We'd rather like a record of what we're about to do, anyhow, and the snow won't work very well."

[freedom_is_grey]

"I don't know, I could probably freeze it solid, though hauling it back to Amaranthine would be difficult. Maybe if I lived closer to the actual Frostbacks -- the dwarves might think it was funny, anyway. I'm not sure about the Avvar."

She's still going inside, however, trotting along next to him.

(Okay, Ysalwen herself is just walking, but Liranan is definitely trotting. Prancing, even. Good job, Cullen! She is going inside!)

[howtoactfereldan]

"...or we could use paper," Cullen says, amused, holding the door open. "Start thinking about every person at your keep with a specific responsibility. We'll be writing them down."

[freedom_is_grey]

"Official and unofficial?"

That's -- well.

It's probably a good thing that Ysalwen is on friendly terms with a lot of the Keep's staff.

Though since he's so insistent on paper, she'll stop by Bar and get some, first. And a few pens.

And an oxtail for Liranan.

[howtoactfereldan]

When they're settled:

"Official is most important. I suspect that what might help more than anything right now is to establish clear chains of command -- beyond Nathaniel and Sigrun. Everyone should have a commanding officer, or the equivalent."

[freedom_is_grey]

"Mmmmrph."

She makes a faint grumbling sound, oddly reminiscent of Liranan.

"I'll start top-down, then switch to bottom-up, and if Andraste is kind they'll meet in the middle."

(Andraste is not going to be kind.)

"So first, there's me. Then there's Varel as Seneschal, Mistress Woolsey in the treasury, and Captain Garevel for the guard. Nathaniel for the Wardens is there, too, just -- a little separate from arling business. He shouldn't be, should he."

It's not actually much of a question, though she flicks a glance at Cullen as she says it.

"Garevel has three lieutenants -- no, four now, a recent promotion -- and then I think six squad leaders underneath them. The squads are where the watches are drawn from, unless something goes pear-shaped."

Hmm.

[howtoactfereldan]

He nods a little, when Ysalwen looks at him, but otherwise makes no comment until she's done.

"Is that everyone?"

[freedom_is_grey]

She purses her lips, then shakes her head.

"No. The housemaids report to . . . . "

And there she goes building up from the servants with more basic duties -- who they report to and the like, but misses at least two levels of responsibility between them and the three advisors immediately below herself.

There's not much duty overlap with the Grey Wardens at all, save briefly, at the top of the guard hierarchy.

Hmm.

[howtoactfereldan]

Cullen gives her a crooked smile. "And now that you've done all that... what do you think, when you look at it?"

[freedom_is_grey]

She rubs her forehead, smiling ruefully.

"I think I need to figure out who my -- oh, what's that term I see in books -- middle-managers are, learn their names, and determine whether we need more of them to make things more efficient. Just to begin."

The look she gives Cullen almost immediately afterward is an okay, what did I miss? look more than anything else.

Progress?

[howtoactfereldan]

Middle-managers is at least self-explanatory.

Cullen nods. "That wouldn't be my first move, but it would certainly be my second or third. I might also consider whether I need less of them, rather than more. If everyone leads, no one can follow."

He leans back in his chair, gives her a slightly beady look. "My first move would be to separate all Wardens from responsibilities that require them to maintain a permanent presence in the arling. Any responsibilities that might affect the arling must be shared, if not outright duplicated, by people who live there."

[freedom_is_grey]

She meets his beady look with slightly raised eyebrows.

"Currently the only overlap is with Warden recruits that I don't think would make it through the Joining. I'm hoping they'll find fulfillment in the arling itself and be content with that."

It may be a futile hope, but -- if even just one . . .

"But I'll keep that in mind for the future. Though that probably means -- "

Wait.

" -- does that mean I should work on limiting the tethers that keep the Wardens tied to the arling? I trust Ferelden more than I do Weisshaupt, but I don't know -- I don't know over how many lifetimes that will remain true."

Or if that is relevant at this precise moment.

[howtoactfereldan]

"That's part of it," Cullen says, quiet. "The other -- you remember Orlais was prepared to answer, in the Blight, only Loghain didn't let them? What happens to the arling if Weisshaupt sends word that the Wardens of Ferelden are all called away for an indeterminate amount of time? Warden business is larger than Amaranthine, but will your farmers see it that way when their lives are disrupted?"

[freedom_is_grey]

"Likely no. But I wonder, too, how resentful they'll grow when an occupying force that does them no direct benefit takes their grain and their men and women, yet gives nothing back."

She exhales.

"A life guarded is worth something, but the living itself is worth something, too. And if Wardens see everything as only a grim burden leading toward inevitable death -- "

Ysalwen's mouth curves in a slight, self-mocking smile.

"Or maybe I just want to give Weisshaupt one in the eye."

[howtoactfereldan]

"Both very important," Cullen says, light. "Let me be clear -- I'm not saying that the Wardens should have nothing to do with the arling. Just that if Weisshaupt comes calling, or some other crisis emerges, it should be possible for the Wardens to perform their duty without disruptions for everyone else. And this -- "

He taps the paper.

" -- can be organized in such a way as to allow that to happen."

[freedom_is_grey]

"Do I have to be delicate about it?"

Her smile remains crooked.

"I might be terrible at being delicate."

She turns back to the list he is tapping, regardless, scanning down names and thinking about which personnel shifts might not be a total disaster.

(Other people's drama is exhausting.)

"Hmm."

[howtoactfereldan]

Quiet:

"A military leader doesn't have to be delicate, no. But you need a second -- Warden and not -- who is, in that case. Who are willing to stand up to you."

Not that Cullen has any experience with that.

[freedom_is_grey]

She keeps her slight, crooked smile, eyes creased at the corners just the slightest bit.

Sadness isn't what he wants. It isn't what she wants to give, either.

"There's a reason I don't surround myself with the shy and retiring type, on the whole. It doesn't serve."

Her, the Wardens, the kingdom, the world -- Ysalwen trusts herself, but not that far. And she's wrong a lot.

[howtoactfereldan]

"And what of delicacy?"

[freedom_is_grey]

"Well."

She huffs out a quiet breath.

"I can play-act with -- not the best of them, but well enough. Leliana was a fine teacher, and Morrigan, too, for all that she tended toward the blunt. It's a useful distraction in games of power. Those who are too subtle for their own good distrust and dismiss it."

Ysalwen shakes her head slightly.

"I should probably never go to Orlais."

Anyway.

"But Nathaniel was raised to be an arl's son, and when he's not vowing to kill his father's murderer, he's very good at keeping people sweet. Varel, too, is quite skilled. Garevel less so, but one of his lieutenants does well enough."

[howtoactfereldan]

Warden and seneschal. "Good. Varel and Nathaniel will form the core of your cadre of senior officers. I assume they work well together?"

Pause.

"I thought... didn't you kill his father?"

[freedom_is_grey]

"Oh. Yes! They do! And I -- we met after he infiltrated the Vigil in order to kill me? The guards got him and put him in the dungeon. Um."

Hi Cullen!

Ysalwen meets a surprising amount of people this way.

"He doesn't vow to kill me anymore. Just -- it's the first memory I have of him, so."

[howtoactfereldan]

"...and now he's your second?"

[freedom_is_grey]

Well, the last person who tried to kill her before Nathaniel is now her husband, so --

Um.




"I think you'd feel better about this if you met him. And Varel. And -- everyone?"

[howtoactfereldan]

Hastily: "I -- don't mean to give offense. Of course you know what you're about."