#castelesswhelp

Inara most definitely owes the most in her life to Ulrich, the bandit who took her in when she was young. Without him, she would have died, or perhaps become a slave, or perhaps worse -- in any case, she would never have been able to defend herself from anything that happened to her later in life without him, would never have grown up with the determination of spirit and willingness of heart that she did if she had not first seen it in him. 

There are others that might believe they deserve that title - Eamon, of course, believes she owes him more than she would ever admit or believe. And Alistair is a close second, as she owes him her life, her soundness of mind, and her quality of heart. 

Inara does not keep track of debts. When her life is ending, she does not lose sleep over what she might owe someone, nor does her heart skip a beat when she thinks of what may be owed to her.

Inara is decisive enough, quick and willing to act whenever she must be, and it is both an asset and a curse to her and those around her.

Inara does not do well with deliberation. She tends to argue with herself in her head a bit too much for her own comfort, as she much prefers surety and action. When there is someone else that she trusts the judgement of, she does ask them for input and try to make decisions based on what they tell her, and this can take time. But mostly, she makes decisions based on whatever she has available to her at that time - most often only her gut feelings about certain things - and she sticks to them even when questioned.

Once set in her course, no matter her reasoning, it is nearly impossible to deter Inara from the path that she has chosen to take. With the right arguments and reasoning, she can be swayed with time, but it can be a hard battle. The best way to control her course - and often the only way - is to insert doubt into her (often very short and limited) initial deliberations. 

Inara lives the happiest moment of her life a midst some of the most tense and heartbreaking.

The happiest moment in Inara's life takes place just after the Landsmeet, after Alistair has sworn away any possible claim to the throne. When he comes out to meet her in the quiet of Eamon's Estate after taking quite the tongue-lashing from Eamon, when he looks surprised to see her there but still takes her hands in his and still kisses her lips just like they've not been arguing with such force it nearly brings their entire world down around them for the last week, and tells her that he loves her, tells her that he will never want anyone or anything more than he wants her.

Inara does thrive in conflict, but it has not always been this way. Her fondest memories are not of the struggle, not of the pain and the mud and the blood and the dirt, but of the calm. The deep breathing and the smiles and the laughter that came regardless of all the turmoil, regardless of all the blood and sweat and tears that had to be shed to get to that point - those were her favorite moments, those are her dearest memories. 

Inara relishes the quiet little moments, be they at camp during the Blight, or in Amaranthine after. She enjoys the quiet of the halls, the silence that lingers and lets her know that there is no fighting to rush to, no panic to poison the hearts and minds of those around her, no death coming to touch those she cares about at least for that day. 

As the Hero of Ferelden she is brave and brash and bold. She takes on the challenges laid at her feet as the ocean tide overtakes the shore, shapes it to its will. But as the Warden-Commander, she plays the part better of the moon, controlling the tides and reigning them in when they would rather crash and swallow up all the little castles in the sand.

This has been in my inbox FOREVER. D: I'm so sorry. I skipped a couple because I couldn't think of things I hadn't already talked about, but this is most of them.

Health headcanon: She’s pretty hardy and she rarely gets sick, but if she does, it’s often a sinus thing, nose or ears. She’d probably just try to ignore it, and snap at people a lot because she won’t admit to feeling gross or hurting.

Childhood headcanon: She was best friends with Radha. They competed with each other over lots of things, especially hunting skills, but it was almost always in good fun.

Happiness headcanon: Even in difficult times, very simple things make her happy. Walking among trees, stepping through cool running water, focusing on the act of shooting a bow or drilling with her shield and a good partner. She might be grumpy, but her pleasures are simple.

Anger headcanon: Anger has become a substitute for a handful of other negative emotions--fear, embarrassment, shame to name a few--and her anger is slightly different based on which one it is. If you know enough about her body language, you can tell which.

Mental state headcanon: As the taint progresses, very near the end of her life, the dreams and the voices and all the connections to the darkspawn hive-mind become so vivid that it gets hard to distinguish them from reality. She sometimes gets disoriented or loses track of where she is, but she doesn't want to leave her work unfinished if she doesn't have to, so she keeps pushing herself. When it gets hard to remember who she is, she finally knows it's time. (This is if she doesn't go with Alistair for whatever reason--his Calling comes just earlier enough than hers that she avoids the worst of it if she does.)

Love/sexuality headcanon: I suspect that long-term same-sex relationships are fairly uncommon among the Dalish given significant social pressure to reproduce and maintain a family. Lyna herself is quite open-minded when it comes to gender/romantic/sexual minorities, but it's the context of a Dalish clan that is the problem--for her, the question "does this serve the greater good?" is almost always more important than "does this make me happy?", and this leads to an awful lot of (very uncharacteristic, very conflicted) introspection on the subject of her younger brother's sexual orientation.

Plus, LBR voice can make up for a lot of things in BW.

Hmm.... I'd say my initial reaction based solely on looks would be:

Not My Type | Alright | Cute | Adorable | Pretty | Gorgeous | LORD MERCY

The weather is wonderful.