The soft sound a feathers as bird to flight, a twang of a bow string, weight crashing through the forests canopy, and a smile, Ava slowly wants over to quarry. She grabbed the pheasant by it feet, appraising the animal, it was a good size, but her hunt was not over yet, this was not enough for her Clan.

"Andruil guide me," Glancing at the pheasant in her hand. "May you find your way to Ghilan'nain." With her simple pray she moved on to continue her hunt. She placed the pheasant in a leather bag at her hip, moving through the forest like a ghost. Ava knew this area well, she was one of her clan's hunters, it was her job to know the forest. She always hoped that her clan's love for her family would grow if she brought back enough from her hunts. So far, this hope had proved to be in vain.

Ava had been born in Clan Lavellan, but her mother was a city elf, and her father had always had, more than a passing interest in the shemlen cities. That was how they met, she thought it romantic, but the rest of the clan thought her mother not worthy of their ways, they called her flat-ear, and for all Ava did for the clan, she was still called flat-ear too, as if her mother's blood flowed stronger in her. Ava shook her head, now was not the time to think about her family's problems, she needed to focus.

Pushing her light orange hair back and out of her face she held still and listened, hoping to her some hint of which way she should head to find more pray. Her grey/blue eyes scanning the trees as she held her breath, then a snap of a branch and Ava was on the move. She flew to the trees as natural in the forest as any animal. Once she reached he source of the noise she was disappointed to find no pray, just a small group of shemlen.

"We needed hid!" One of the younger humans spoke up to who seemed to be their leader. "Everything will be sorted with the mages at the concave! The war will end soon!" The young shem seemed to happy, so hopeful, but the grave look on the leader's face told Ava that this was naïve.

"And if the concave fails? If the mages attack and the Templars can't control the situation? What then?" The leader let out a long sigh. "No it is best we are as far from the concave as possible."

Ava couldn't help her curiosity, mages? Templars? She knew these words, knew that the shemlen treated magic different then her people, but she didn't understand what was happening, why did these humans seem so scared, so worried? She followed, not sure what to do, the human's had stopped speaking but Ava wanted to know more. It might have been foolish but she decided to stop them, darting out ahead of the small group.

"Why are you hear Shem?" She asked, arrow in bow and pointed at the one she knew to be the leader. They all stopped, clearly fearful.

"We are simply passing through, the roads prove dangerous now." The leader said, calm as he could be, his brown eyes darting around, trying to see if there were more elves, they're weren't but Ava knew she would be safer if they thought there where. She lifted her head and nodded to the trees, acting as if she was giving orders. She then look back at the shem.

"Why are the roads dangerous?" She asked, all she wanted was more information. The leader sighed.

"The mages have rebelled, there is war across Thedas, as the Templars try to bring them back in line. How lucky you are to not know this, to not have experienced this." Ava listened and nodded.

"Go on, how did this come to be? What is the concave I hear you speak of?" It was then that the shemlen left his arms drop to his side, looked back at his group and then to Ava.

"Will you let us pass if I tell you?" he was a good leader, she could tell he cared for the people he traveled with. So she nodded, she saw no threat in the refugees and simply wanted to know what troubles the humans suffered, for they may affect her clan. She gave a curt nod and the shemlen leader nodded in return and started to explain. He explain about a religious building being destroyed by a mage in Kirkwall, and how this lead to the mages breaking away from the 'circles' seeking freedom, and now war as the Templars tried to return things to the status quo. When he finished his story Ava nodded, and thanked him darting back into the forest in a blink.

Ava was running through the forest now, she was returning to the clan. Her hunt didn't seem important now. Now the Keeper needed to know what she had learned. It did not take her long to return to her clan's camp, she dropped her leather bag, still holding the pheasant she had managed to kill with the rest of the quarry from the other hunters as she ran through the camp to find the Keeper.

"Ava! What is it Da'len?" Ava was panting, but the choice of his words still hit her hard, her clan though her control by her whims and many still treated her as a child.

"Shemlen, fleeing shemlen!" she said, the keeper gave her a confused look, and she started to explain. She told him how she had found the humans, over heard them and then confronted them, learning about the troubles of the human world. The Keeper grew grim as she spoke.

"You let them see you? You spoke to them? Oh Da'len." He shook his head and sighed. He waved another of the hunters over. "We need to pack the camp." He told the other hunter, the hunter was Vulas, of the clan's best hunters. He was a proud man with dirty blonde hair and hard grey eyes, eyes Ava knew too well. She looked away from Vulas, clearly uncomfortable, thought that didn't seem to matter to the Keeper or hunter.

"Yes Keeper Almar." He did not question why, Ava knew he had likely been listening to them. Vulas head off and started barking orders to the clan to pack up.

"Please Keeper, we can't run from this!" she begged, she hadn't had the nerve to be this bold with her clan's leader in a long time, but she felt in her heart that this needed to be dealt with, they couldn't hid in the forest. The Keeper looked at Ava coldly, he was angry at her choice to reveal herself (and therefore the clan) the humans.

"We are not running, we are moving as we always have." He said, his words slow, calculated, he needed to deal with Ava, she was a stubborn one and now that she had heard this story she would not let it go, she was a danger to the clan now, in his eyes. "We will move, and you will head south." He said at last. Ava was taken aback by this. "South?" Keeper Almar smilled.

"Yes, south. Since you worry so about this Concave, you will go and see if for yourself. You will be our eyes in this human war. We cannot trust the words of these shem, one of our own will have to go."

Ava's heart was racing, she was scared to leave her clan, she knew this for what it was, punishment. He hoped the clan would be saver without her around. She nodded, knowing she could not argue with her Keeper. She left him to go and tell her parents and pack.