Summary: Wandering the winter landscape, Nira happens across a warm and inviting surprise.
a/n: Written for raynnromantica as part of the 2017 Santa Age event. They requested something about their Lavellan (Nira) for the prompts: jingle bells, Santa hat, or halla. Nira romanced Solas. Thusly, I attempted to incorporate all those touches as subtly as possible. I truly hope you have a wonderful holiday season raynnromantica, and a joyous new year.
Winter Wonderland
The sun streaked the horizon in an orgy of bright colors as the sun chased the moon and darkness away. Nira took in the view around her. Thin streaky clouds blanketed the southern sky which remained a deep blue; she could even pick out a familiar twinkling star here and there before they faded from view with the coming of day. Fluffy clumps of snow decorated the fanning branches of the evergreens, which dotted snow-blanketed mountain side surrounding the plateau. The frosty dusting glittered as if the scene were sprinkled with clear jewels. Flakes glinted with and reflected the early light.
A biting cold wind nipped at her nose, cheeks, and the tips of her ears, sending a shiver through the inquisitor's body. With a dexterous flick of her wrist, she raised her hood, pulling it low over her eyes in an attempt to shield her face from the chilly breeze that whipped up at that altitude. There was a scent in the air she could not put her finger on, a smoky spice that lingered alongside the prominence of pine. She pulled the fur-lined leather garment more tightly around her shoulders as her feet crunched in the snow.
She made her way toward the tree line before a tinkling sound, entirely out of place in the mountains caught her ear. Nira stopped, her keen senses guiding her to study the copse of trees to her left, then to her right as the sound got louder. Surely it was a trick of the ear, but the source seemed to surround her rather than approach from a single, discrete direction. Turning this way and that, she finally caught sight of something.
A halla.
Upon further scrutiny, she noticed that something hung over its back.
Fresh snow slushed and crackled around her every step as she moved to intercept the beast. Upon their meeting, its sleek head tipped to the side, then shook; the long, entwined antlers made the motion look far more exaggerated. A gentle smile crossed her face, comforted by such a familiar sight, and one which reminded her of home. The stag slowed to a halt and when Nira approached it. The halla stretched its muscular neck, jutting its long thin nose toward her. When she raised her hand, it nuzzled her palm. The familiarity surprised her more than it did the animal, which snorted at her once and gave a low whinny.
"You're certainly a long way from home, friend," she said, speaking to it softly in elven.
"As are you," a voice answered in her native tongue.
Nira sidestepped, remaining in the halla's sight line so as not to spook it, and peeked over its shoulder. Her brow creased deeply as she stared.
Reins in hand, Solas simply smiled at her. "Perhaps you'd like to join us."
Her eyes tracked from him to the halla trussed to the low and simple sled. The stag gave her shoulder a nudge, as if adding its own insistence to Solas' request. She should say no, return to Skyhold, she thought. Her gaze flitted about the woods. And for a moment she wasn't sure which direction would take her back to the Inquisition's fortress.
"I …" Her voice trailed off, her words losing their way somewhere between her brain and her tongue. Solas flipped back the blanket covering his long legs and slid to one side of the sled in order to allow her ample room beside him. Her resolve seemed to melt in the warmth of his smile.
Nira hated her weakness, hated how her heart beat to that iambic cadence he sometimes spoke in. And at that moment, she hated every step she took toward him. Hated the warmth of the blanket as he pulled it over her. Hated the sparkling hint of smoke and mint that swirled around him before he pulled away and called out to the halla in elven.
The bells on the harness jangled with every step the majestic creature took. Watching it walk, it's head high and proud, almost haughty, she would not have thought it was dragging any weight behind it. The halla moved through the snow and over the rolling hills with graceful ease, weaving between trees to make its own trail.
"What are you doing out here?" Nira asked, finally tearing her gaze from the shimmering snow-covered terrain.
"The Frostbacks are fascinating. Do you know their history?" he asked.
Nira stared at him. A thick scarf curled around his long thin neck. He paired it with a heavy coat that seemed far too big for him. But what stood out to her most was the hat; it was pointed and floppy. The rust-colored fur of it rustled in the breeze created by the sled's movement, and there was a ball of what she assumed might be rabbit fur hanging over his shoulder from the tip of the hat. It looked warm, but … something more fitting for a child than him.
She reached out and flicked the ball. "No." Her answer was not entirely truthful she knew and understood some of the legends of the place. Nira sensed their time together was fleeting, and so chose to discourage him from filling it with nonsense that meant little to either of them—well, little to her. When his mouth opened, she held up her hand. She didn't want him to enlighten her with another mere distraction. "I don't want a history lesson right now, Solas."
His gaze darted to hers, and she could see it there. That tenderness she remembered, even now it still swirled with a mix of pity and pain. "I understand."
Nira hated that look, despite the comfort she felt finding her own distress mirrored back at her. It was clear that the reality of their situation left them both reeling, and in some ways, it helped to know that she was not the only one suffering from the separation that he imposed upon them.
"Would you prefer silence?" he asked, his voice far gentler, almost as if trying to cradle her with a sense of tenderness.
"That might be better," she agreed. When he nodded, Nira relaxed a bit, leaning back into the pillows and furs that lined the short, curved walls of the sled.
As their voices faded away, the bells upon the halla's tack became the most prominent sound betwixt the crunching of its footsteps and the whoosh of the sled's runners atop the blanketed mountainside. The scene held a strange beauty with the snowy trees and mountain valley opening up below them. She could see one shore of a lake—the ice a pale gray and dusted with snow. The wind still retained its bite, and as new flakes started to fall, Nira shifted closer to Solas. At first, she slipped her arm around his, but after a bone rattling shiver racked her frame, he draped his arm over her shoulders and pulled her closer; Nira didn't pull away, but sank into the familiar, satisfying comfort of his embrace.
The reins hung loose in one of his long-fingered hands, as if the halla just knew where to go, where to take them. To the erratic tune of tinkling bells and the whistle of the wind, the sled moved through the Frostbacks with ease.
Feeling warmer than she had been in sometime, despite the falling snow, Nira glanced up at the one she loved more than she ever wanted to. "Solas …?"
His chin dropped, his gaze finding hers and holding it. "Nira," he replied. But that short word was anything but simple. His voice held so much when he said her name—affection, concern, perhaps even a hint of derision.
She did not reply. Nor did he speak again. They just stared into one another's eyes, like everything they needed to say could pass between them in that lingering look. After some time, his bare fingertips brushed the edge of her jaw. The feel of his skin on hers left a burning trail across her cold flesh—it felt like fire to her numbed nerves. It proved only the beginning. With a dip of his head, that same open flame threatened to consume her whole when his lips brushed hers. The kiss deepened, from the chaste brush of flesh to a dizzying open-mouthed frenzy of teeth and tongue.
When it finally broke, and Nira opened her eyes with a breathless gasp, darkness surrounded her, but the burning remained. However, the sensation no longer centered on her lips, but in her left arm. She reached over to soothe it, only to find sheets cooled by the night air that swirled through her room. Reality stumbled back in toddling steps. She leaned up and cradled the bandaged limb to her chest, massaging at the upper arm in hopes that it might ease some of the phantom pain she felt below her stump.
Reality's return soured the fluttering feeling she'd felt when she startled away. The lightness sank like a stone in her chest.
Once fully back in her own body, her own head, Nira slid off the edge of the mattress and planted her feet upon the thick rug that surrounded her bed. She'd dreamt of Solas before, but whenever she reached out for him before, he would disappear. Her mind drifted back to their sleigh ride and she couldn't keep the smile off her lips. Absently, her fingers rose to her mouth, brushing across her bottom lip. And for a moment, a fleeting moment, she could still feel the warmth of his mouth on hers, the weight of his thin arm around her shoulders.