A/N: This was written for a prompt ("Seasons") by Dragon Age Ocs Galore on tumblr. Just four individual moments throughout a year with my Inquisitor, Venara Lavellan. This takes place between the main game and Trespasser and is linked to a larger story, The Tempest's Shadow (you don't need to read that to understand this one).

Elven Words and Phrases
(these are all unofficial/non-canon)

Dunathe ghi'mytha — Creature of the hunt
Ise'melana — Summer
Souver'melana — Autumn
Eir'melana — Winter
Enalas'melana — Spring

Thanks for reading!

I. Ise'melana

The ram lowered its head, its tail whisking back and forth as it grazed peacefully. Its silver-blue coat was dappled grey from the shadows of the leafy canopy above, where golden sunlight broke through in the gaps between the leaves. If Venara hadn't known better, she would have mistaken the creature for a halla. More than once she had caught vendors around Skyhold unknowingly selling August ram leather as halla leather. There was a time in her life when she may have chided the vendors and corrected the hunters who had made the mistake, but now she was happy to keep her knowledge to herself. Many of the Keepers she had spoken to in her travels had told her of their struggles to keep others from poaching their herds. The last thing Venara wanted to see was the hall eradicated from southern Thedas.

Not knowing it was prey, the ram continued to graze. Venara raised her bow and knocked back an arrow. It had been years since she had hunted this way, but the warm, sunny summer days had a habit of making her think of her clan. Of her hahrens and the master hunters and the wisdom they had insisted on imparting to her, despite her abilities as a mage. Clan Lavellan was gone, but she would never forget. They lived on in her memory, and this was part of it. She would never make a decent archer for combat, but a hunter? That she could do.

Venara took careful aim, breathed, and—

Twang!

With a pitiful noise, the ram keeled over, an arrow in its neck. Too late, Venara released her arrow. It flew uselessly through the glade and struck a tree beyond the fallen ram.

"Did you see that? DID YOU SEE THAT?!"

Sera swung into view, quiver jostling on her back as she slipped down out of a tree. Venara lowered her bow.

"Show off."

"Nah nah, you're just jealous." Sera stuck out her tongue at Venara, then pranced through the grass to the dead ram. She plopped down beside it and yanked her arrow out. "That's three to me, and one to you!" She stuffed the arrow back into her quiver and stretched out her arms. "I win."

Venara smiled. "I didn't know we were playing a game."

Sera snorted. "'Life's a game'… or some shit like that. I dunno, ask Josephine, she knows about that kind of stuff."

Venara tried not to laugh as she knelt next to the ram and laid a hand on its side. Composing herself, she spoke a prayer—something she had not done in a very long time. "We give thanks to you, dunathe ghi'mytha, and the sacrifice you make so we may stay clothed and fed. We give thanks to Andruil, she who guided our hunt and made our arrows swift. Ma serannas."

Sera pulled one of her knees into her chest and rested her chin on top. "I thought you didn't believe anymore."

Venara eyed her. "I don't."

"Then why go to all the trouble of saying all—" Sera waved a hand in the air. "—that?"

Venara crossed her legs and folded her hands in her lap. "I may no longer worship the Evanuris, but that does not mean that there are not value in those words. They are the words that have been spoken by my clan during the hunt for centuries. I will not forget."

"Oh…" Sera bit her lower lip. "Yeah. I suppose you're right. But…" She shook her head. "I am never really going to understand you."

"You don't have to. Am I ever really going to understand your thing about pranks?"

Sera crinkled her nose. "Probably not." She grinned. "But guess what? I still win."

"I don't know about that."

Venara cocked her head to the side. Sera turned around and saw a trio of August rams that had trotted into the glade. She slowly got to her feet, raising her bow and drawing out a series of arrows from her quiver. She knocked the first arrow and drew back the string.

Still seated cross-legged on the ground, Venara lazily raised a hand. It glowed white-blue.

Sera released the arrow.

Thud.

The arrow slammed uselessly into a crystalline ram that had been frozen into place. In fact, all three rams were frozen. A moment later, there was a loud crack and the spell dissipated. As ice fell away, the rams toppled over, dead.

Sera's jaw dropped. She spun around and glared at Venara through narrowed eyes. "You cheat."

Venara grinned. "I win."