My snippet needs a little bit of context, because I'm writing an FFXII/Dragon Age crossover, wherein the darkspawn horde comes to Ivalice, and the Grey Wardens come to help fight. This bit comes part way through a speech that the Warden-Commander (f!Cousland, for anyone who knows DA) is giving to Ashe and other assembled leaders of Ivalice, in a desperate bid to convince them how serious this threat actually is.
--- Before Ashe could reply, a noise came from the other end of the room; Cousland had pushed her chair back from the table to stand, her hands resting flat on the table. "Hear this now," she said, voice raised, sharp and clear. "I do not know your nations or your peoples. I do not know your histories, or what grudges you may hold with one another. And to be blunt, I do not care. Fighting the darkspawn, keeping your lands from suffering a Blight, is more important than holding on to any past slights you may bear, no matter how deep you think they cut to the bone. My homeland almost destroyed itself because too many leaders put politics before the Blight. Do not let the same thing happen to you." She shook her head, dropped her chin. "You cannot know how terrible a Blight is. Whole mountains and valleys, uninhabitable for generations. Cities and towns wiped out. The land poisoned, the waters undrinkable, entire populations either dead or transformed into horrors worse than death. It is a fate I would not wish on my worst enemies. Do not wish it on one another."
Silence fell; no one spoke the word, but the name hung in the air as surely as it was on the tip of Ashe's tongue, and doubtless in the forefront of every thought in the room:
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Date: 2011-09-10 07:27 am (UTC)---
Before Ashe could reply, a noise came from the other end of the room; Cousland had pushed her chair back from the table to stand, her hands resting flat on the table. "Hear this now," she said, voice raised, sharp and clear. "I do not know your nations or your peoples. I do not know your histories, or what grudges you may hold with one another. And to be blunt, I do not care. Fighting the darkspawn, keeping your lands from suffering a Blight, is more important than holding on to any past slights you may bear, no matter how deep you think they cut to the bone. My homeland almost destroyed itself because too many leaders put politics before the Blight. Do not let the same thing happen to you." She shook her head, dropped her chin. "You cannot know how terrible a Blight is. Whole mountains and valleys, uninhabitable for generations. Cities and towns wiped out. The land poisoned, the waters undrinkable, entire populations either dead or transformed into horrors worse than death. It is a fate I would not wish on my worst enemies. Do not wish it on one another."
Silence fell; no one spoke the word, but the name hung in the air as surely as it was on the tip of Ashe's tongue, and doubtless in the forefront of every thought in the room:
Nabudis.