There's a muted flicker of a smile at Strange's correction; the idiom isn't one he'd use, but it's clear enough.
"I think some people you'd ask would say I hadn't properly left until I gave up the lyrium. The Divine's election was when I formally resigned: gave up my rank, stepped out of the chain of command. That said." He pauses, considering his words. "I think the crisis might have come sooner, if it weren't for Corypheus, at least in hindsight." The hesitation is less because he thinks Strange will be an unsympathetic listener and more that he's told this story so seldom. At least in this way.
"The attack on the Divine Conclave in 9:41. The timing was." Another pause. "The mage I mentioned, the one who defected to the Venatori. He saved my life, during the Mage-Templar War. Wasn't in it, he was an apostate hiding in the woods, but ... it would have been very easy for him to let me die. All he'd have had to do was nothing. But instead, I was recuperating in his home when the Conclave was attacked. When we got word, heard of the Inquisition ... we went to Skyhold, when I was strong enough to travel."
He looks out at nothing in particular. It feels as if it should make things easier, though it doesn't, especially. "I was still a Templar in name, but without formal leadership from the Chantry, we all had ... it felt like most people were happy enough to put the war to the side. We had Red Templars and Venatori to deal with, it meant pressing politics was mostly frowned upon, for a while."
no subject
"I think some people you'd ask would say I hadn't properly left until I gave up the lyrium. The Divine's election was when I formally resigned: gave up my rank, stepped out of the chain of command. That said." He pauses, considering his words. "I think the crisis might have come sooner, if it weren't for Corypheus, at least in hindsight." The hesitation is less because he thinks Strange will be an unsympathetic listener and more that he's told this story so seldom. At least in this way.
"The attack on the Divine Conclave in 9:41. The timing was." Another pause. "The mage I mentioned, the one who defected to the Venatori. He saved my life, during the Mage-Templar War. Wasn't in it, he was an apostate hiding in the woods, but ... it would have been very easy for him to let me die. All he'd have had to do was nothing. But instead, I was recuperating in his home when the Conclave was attacked. When we got word, heard of the Inquisition ... we went to Skyhold, when I was strong enough to travel."
He looks out at nothing in particular. It feels as if it should make things easier, though it doesn't, especially. "I was still a Templar in name, but without formal leadership from the Chantry, we all had ... it felt like most people were happy enough to put the war to the side. We had Red Templars and Venatori to deal with, it meant pressing politics was mostly frowned upon, for a while."