Chapter 1

Mi'nan sat back in her seat in the corner of the Haven tavern, swirling the mead in her mug. It was the only thing the shems served that vaguely reminded her of Dalish forest wine. She took a sip, her eyes never leaving the scene of the tavern under her hood.

She had arrived to Haven a week ago, and the Conclave was another day away. Keeper had sent her here as a punishment mission. She had stepped out of line but was too valuable to turn away. Her clan had already felt the effects of the mage and templar war, having roamed the Free Marches, and what was to be decided here would greatly impact how her clan was to survive. Even though she had done wrong, she would be useful. Tel'din'an, tel'nuvinen.

Every day she sat in the tavern and listened. She was small and unassuming in the corner and most were content to focus on their drink and warm stew. She had thought about going into the Chantry nearby for information, but more people and a variety of people came in here.

The tavern was small and crowded, smelling of stale sweat and beer, and Mi'nan found herself attempting to hold her breathe at the stench of the shems. It was also unusually quiet. She had heard taverns were loud and bustling, but the people here spoke in soft tones and whispered anxiety. There was a bard in the corner providing at least some background noise to distract from the haunting quiet.

There were some Templars here but not all were on the same side. Apparently the Knight-Captain from Kirkwall was here with his Templars, to what end Mi'nan had not heard. They were not like the other visiting Templars however. They had an angry way about them, agitated. She never saw the mages. It was to be expected, they would not go anywhere near the Templars that had hunted them.

Carta could be seen bustling about. With this many lyrium takers in one area it was to be expected. Not all the durgenlen were carta however. In fact there was one group that seemed to be independant from both mages and Templars. She saw the symbol of the flaming eye and sword embossed on armour. This group was diverse and seemed to carry no real pattern of race. Perhaps they were tied to the Chantry? A question she planned to have answered before the Conclave. She wouldn't be here long enough after to find out.

It was nearing midnight so she drained her mug and closed her tab for the night. The barmaid Flissa gave her a shaky smile eying the ears under her hood and Mi'nan left for her spot in the nearby woods.

She had lived on her own for months before she had found Clan Lavellan, so she had no problem climbing the tree and setting herself up to sleep. The tree she had picked had a branch high up with a fork in it so she had been able to strap herself to the tree. She loosely notched an arrow in her bow and laid it in her lap before leaning her head against the tree, and nodding off.


It was almost time for the Conclave. There was one day left, and late that night a curious durgenlen swung open the door of the tavern and offered to tell stories for a drink. Mi'nan had been about to get up to close her tab but thought better of it when the new durgenlen walked in. Something in her gut told her to stay and so she did.

She started to regret her decision when he strolled up to the only open seat in the bar; the one across from her.

"Is this seat taken?" he asked, a large crossbow strapped across his back.

Mi'nan almost hesitated, but this was a durgenlen not a shem, so she shook her head and took a small sip from her mug trying to nurse what was left of her drink. She may not have wanted direct contact but she still had to listen to her gut about this durgenlen.

"Varric Tethras, rouge and storyteller! Nice to meet you!" he said casually, sitting down.

"Hello." Mi'nan said politely.

"So what brings you to this frozen little hamlet?" Varric took the stein of beer that was being served to him by Flissa flashing her a friendly smile of thanks before leaning back and taking a sip.

"The Conclave." she replied simply, and took another small sip of her drink.

"Ah yes, well I suppose I should have guessed that. Still, I didn't think the Dalish cared much for the affairs of humans." he looked at her sideways as he took another drink from his mug.

"Shelmen wars have an effect everywhere." She replied. After a moment she took her hood off letting her deep green vallaslin and ears show. Most people had already guessed that she was an elf, for who else might need to cover their ears, and now that she was engaged in conversation it seemed only polite.

Varric chuckled,"Shit, ain't that the truth." he put his mug down on the table and turned in his chair to fully face her. "Well Brighteyes, I find myself still full of energy from my trip here. How 'bout I buy you a drink for a friendly game of Wicked Grace?"

"I have never played" she replied.

"Even better. I'll teach you!" He smiled warmly.

Mi'nan thought for a moment and then nodded her head. "Alright."

"Excellent! Let me just get that drink for you." And he got up and walked to the bar.

Mi'nan looked around the rest of the tavern while she waited for the dwarf to return. While she people watched she noticed one shem in particular was exceedingly drunk and had been leering and staring at one of the serving girls. When she came passed him he reached for her and she slapped him away. When he became angry Mi'nan reached behind her for her bow and pulled and arrow out of the quiver on her back.

The shem stood up shakily and tried to grab the girl again but his shirt collar was suddenly pinned to the wall. Varric stood, crossbow balanced on his hip, and said,"I think that means she's not interested, buddy. Drunk and ugly probably isn't her type."

This only made the man angrier and he pulled out a knife on his belt. Before Varic could aim his crossbow, an arrow stuck the shem's sleeve to the wall and he dropped the knife. Mi'nan had already notched another arrow in her bow and aimed it low.

"The next arrow goes into your knee." She said in a low calm voice that somehow boomed in the now silent tavern.

The man stared in fear at both the dwarf and the elf before raising his other arm in defeat.

Mi'nan stalked over and picked up the man's knife. Cutting slits in the man's clothing freeing him from the bolt and arrow, making him wince. She twisted the knife so that the handle was offered to him and with a steady gaze she said one word.

"Leave."

It was a command, one that said she expected no resistance. Shaking the man took his knife and walked past her and out the door into the cold.

As though a spell had been cast and suddenly released the tavern went back to its low murmur of chatter, though slightly more excited. Varric laughed and walked up to Mi'nan.

"That was great! You didn't even say 10 words and the guy was pissing himself in fear. You could command armies with that voice! General Brighteyes!" and he laughed again.

Mi'nan turned to the serving girl who looked a little flushed from all the attention.

"Are you hurt?"

"Wuh-? Oh I uh well no ma'am, uh thank ye ma'am, nah he's a regular ma'am an' well sometim's he can be a bit handsy ya know? But thank ye ma'am anyways." The girl stuttered, face now fully red.

"If he is a problem do not let him in here." Mi'nan replied,"But I am glad you are unharmed." and she pulled both arrow and bolt out of the wall and turned and walked back to her seat placing the crossbow bolt on the table and the arrow in her quiver.

Varric followed her back to the table and pulled a deck of cards out of his pocket and began shuffling.

"You aren't one to waste words are you General Brighteyes? I think that was the most words I have ever heard you say in one response yet."

"I suppose not. I do not feel the need to overcomplicate things." Mi'nan stated.

Varric chuckled,"Well that much is apparent. Let's see how well that stoic face serves you in cards then." and he dealt their hands.


She lost the first game and the second and then stopped losing entirely. It was after 6 consecutive wins that Varric finally tried to call her bluff.

"There is no way you haven't played this before Brighteyes. I haven't lost this bad since I made the mistake of playing an Antivan! Damn, I'm glad this is a friendly game or I'd be down to my smalls and Bianca!"

"Who is Bianca?" Mi'nan asked, without lifting her eyes from her cards.

Varric grinned,"Oh you met her before, though that drunkard is more familiar with her that you probably."

Mi'nan nodded,"Pretty name."

Varric sighed and looked longingly and his crossbow,"Isn't she?"

Mi'nan smiled slightly at his remark.

Varric scoffed,"Is that a smile I see? Oh Bianca what am I going to do with you, you little heartbreaker! Sorry General, her heart belongs only to me." and he sent a wink her way.

Mi'nan's smile went wider and then laid her cards down.

Varric stared first at her, then her cards, then threw his hand down.

"Damn and I thought I had you this hand! No fair using your wicked smiles to sway your hand."

"The cards were already in my hand when I smiled." she paused and then looked Varric in the eye,"Besides I thought you said Bianca was your vhenan?"

Varric laughed outright,"Oh the General makes a joke too! Maybe it's Bianca who should be worried."

Mi'nan turned herself slightly as though facing the crossbow, "Bianca I would never go after another's vhenan, you have nothing to fear."

Chuckling Varric responded,"I don't know if I should be insulted or relieved!" Then he yawned and began to gather his cards. "Well General Brighteyes it was a pleasure meeting you, and losing to you, but I need to get some beauty sleep. I'm sure the Seeker will want to drag me out of bed as soon as possible to see the Divine."

"Seeker?" Mi'nan asked.

"Ah yes, Seeker Cassandra, Right Hand of the Divine, and royal book stabber!" Varric said with a flair,"Technically I am her prisoner, but I convinced her that she owed me after stabbing my book. Thus I am here in a tavern, instead of a cell."

"You are a prisoner?" she paused,"Why did she stab a book?"

Varric scoffed,"Not just any book, my book! I told you I am a storyteller right? Well, some of those stories I print. Most are complete fiction. But my newest and probably best selling is 'The Tale Of The Champion'" he reached up and gestured with his hands like he was displaying the title in midair.

"And to answer your other question, she thinks I have information on someone she wants to join her little group. So she stabbed my book. In front of me I should add." and for the first time that night he frowned.

"Is that the group with the flaming eye and sword symbol?"

"Ah, so you've seen them. Yep, that would be them. No official name yet, but since the Seeker and The Left Hand are both involved, not to mention Captain Curly from Kirkwall and his shiny Templars, I think it's safe to assume that they are with the Chantry." Then he looked over at Mi'nan,"Be sure to tell your clan to be safe. I know the Chantry and elves don't have a, well, clean history. I've only met a couple Dalish in my life but you folks don't deserve the hand you've been dealt."

At that last line, Mi'nan put something together."You stacked the deck in my favor. Let me win." It was a statement, not a question.

Varric chuckled,"Nothing gets past you, huh General?"

"Why?"

"Why not?" he replied and picked up Bianca. "Well, it's been fun General Brighteyes. Maybe after this whole thing blows over we can play another game!"

Mi'nan stood as well and shouldered her bow,"Ma serannas Varric. Thank you for the company."

"See ya around General!" and with that, the dwarf left.

Mi'nan went out at the other exit and began to climb the mountain. She wanted to spend the night closer to the Temple so she could be right there in the morning.

As she climbed she heard the slight howl of wolves and immediately reached for her bow. It was older than she was, made of ironbark and passed from generation down in the Lavellan clan to the best hunter in the clan, the one destined to lead their warriors and hunters. Her position was comparable to that of a First or Second for while the Keeper lead, and remembered, it was up to the hunters to feed them all and warriors to protect them.

Her fingers passed over the elvish designs she had carved into the handle, her mark on the legacy of this bow. That she, an outsider to the Lavellan clan, was allowed to carry it made her swell with honor and pride. She hoped that all the information she had collected on her trip would be enough to appease the clan for her transgression.

The howls seemed to be coming closer and Mi'nan notched and arrow loosely and said a silent prayer.

Fen'harel las'ma Mythal'enaste la ghilani'ma arla'astisha.

If any of her clanspeople knew that she regularly prayed to the Dread Wolf they would immediately throw her out for drawing him close to them. They would not understand.

The Dread Wolf and Mythal were the only ones to ever answer her prayers.

Mi'nan had learned how to run while prepared to shoot and continued up the mountain. When she saw the spires of the temple through the trees, she climbed up one and strapped herself to a branch.

As she drifted to sleep, the pack of black wolves ran under her tree and past her.


She woke up to the sounds of screams.

Like her head had been dunked in ice water she was awake and quickly unstrapped herself and jumped from the tree. She landed with a roll and began running towards the sounds of the screams, of people in pain, people terrified.

She had to shake away thoughts of the last time she heard screams like those and as she ran up to the entrance she realized she was afraid for the first time since her clan-

~.~.~.~.~.~.~

Screams, voices crying out, a flash of light and then-

~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~

She woke to nothing. She stumbled tried to see. See things. They were coming.

Running she was running and then a hand? She screamed.

~.~.~.~.~.~.~


Elven Translations:

Elvish is a hard language to make conform to English rules of grammar but since most of it relies heavily on context it means you can usually mold the few words we have available to us into the phrases you need or want them to be. It's the reason we've seen ir abelas used as both a common "I'm sorry" and "I am filled with sorrow for your loss". A language that has words dedicated to entire concepts is going to be tricky to translate. And since the ancient elves had magic with a breath and eternal lifespans is it no wonder that their language relies heavily on vague meanings and more understanding of the person than the words? Anyway, I am using both the wiki page and the lexicon developed by FenxShiral on Archive of our own (Bless you, you beautiful human being you.) as a reference for my elvhen sentences.

Ghi'myelan I Fen: The Hunter And The Wolf. (It's in elvhen cuz I'm an asshole)

Tel'din'an, tel'nuvinen: Waste not, want not. (This was a little tricky to translate but the literal translation is " no end, no want/need". But yay for context!)

Fen'harel las'ma Mythal'enaste la ghilani'ma arla'astisha: Dread Wolf grant me Mythal's favor and guide me safely home. (Mi'nan is a rebel)


Hello there! So I had planned to finish this before I posted it but my brain kinda went 'Fuck it!' and here we are. I have 7 chapters already written and various out of order scenes partially written but I can not promise any kind of update schedule. The thing about this story is it is practice for me to get better at writing dialogue and developing a story for an original book I'm writing.

I will say that I could totally be down for writing some one-shots and I'll probs end up creating another story just to put them in.

Reviews always help the creative process!

Thanks, Lovelies!

~Amythyrst

P.S. If anyone has any cover art they would like to make for this story I can not tell you how much I would love you!