[ It'd be an easy thing, to dive deeply into such matters, and Marcus holds off as Julius steers the conversation along. There's time enough, Maker knows, to embark on the messy business that is the particulars, beneath the veneer of generalities.
But they're just having dinner, so. ]
She spoke a little of that, yes, and her part in it.
Mmm. It was complicated, obviously. But I was part of the group that the mages voted on, to go negotiate. And I thought at the time... it seemed to be the skeleton of something that might be built on. A group of mages — Maker knows we didn't agree on much — working out priorities and working together to try to reach an agreement everyone could live with.
The deck was stacked against us, but we were invited to the table, which was quite a first concession in itself under the circumstances.
[He wasn't sure it would happen, if the matter had come up today instead. But that was a different problem.
I'd heard a little of the mages of the Inquisition forming a council, of kinds, [ he says, absently turning his cup around in place at a fidget. ] Not long after the ceasefire. I couldn't say what they accomplished, what they wished to accomplish.
But I had heard of negotiations over the phylacteries. That the Chantry recognised a negotiation.
[ Marcus, likely, does not strike someone as a mage who is content with small concessions, and his tone is a little flat.
I heard about the council, too. Before my time, though.
[It's almost absent, largely giving himself a moment to think of how he wants to put the answer to that.]
It was a reminder, [he says, eventually.] An objective illustration of the principle that we needn't all agree entirely in order to be united enough to get something done. It was frustrating and I still think the Inquisition squandered a useful opportunity on an organizational level by being too timid. But it proved to the Inquisition's mages that we could still listen to one another. That was a valuable foundational stone.
[He exhales, leans back.]
Granted, the Divine election was happy to come along and do its best to undermine all of that tentative optimism.
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But they're just having dinner, so. ]
She spoke a little of that, yes, and her part in it.
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The deck was stacked against us, but we were invited to the table, which was quite a first concession in itself under the circumstances.
[He wasn't sure it would happen, if the matter had come up today instead. But that was a different problem.
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But I had heard of negotiations over the phylacteries. That the Chantry recognised a negotiation.
[ Marcus, likely, does not strike someone as a mage who is content with small concessions, and his tone is a little flat.
Curiousity ekes into his tone as he asks; ]
What was the best thing out of that, for you?
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[It's almost absent, largely giving himself a moment to think of how he wants to put the answer to that.]
It was a reminder, [he says, eventually.] An objective illustration of the principle that we needn't all agree entirely in order to be united enough to get something done. It was frustrating and I still think the Inquisition squandered a useful opportunity on an organizational level by being too timid. But it proved to the Inquisition's mages that we could still listen to one another. That was a valuable foundational stone.
[He exhales, leans back.]
Granted, the Divine election was happy to come along and do its best to undermine all of that tentative optimism.