Several pages in this battered book have been marked with ribbons.
The page marked with one in lyrium blue reads:
The Hero's Hero (9:30 Dragon)
It is not known whether Gwyneth Surana had extensive contact with the mabari that would be known as Hero prior to the Battle of Ostagar. When asked, His Majesty King Alistair stated that the only interaction (to his knowledge) was a treatment for the dog's Blight-sickness, requested by the kennel-keeper.* If this is true, how powerful the love of a mabari is, to have imprinted on the elven mage so quickly, even after having had imprinted once before! After the notorious battle, the mabari appears to have tracked the Warden's party out of the Korcari Wilds to the Imperial Highway, possibly surviving only on skinny rabbits and the brackish swamp water.
It is said Hero the mabari received his name when, after helping defeat a small offshoot of the darkspawn horde, Gwyneth flung herself to her knees to hug the dog, crying, "My hero!"
The mabari was at the Warden and future King's side through everything that followed, including the saving of Kinloch Hold. Contemporary reports indicate that the Hero of Ferelden was furious with the Templars allegedly guarding the tower, famously stating she had 'cleared the Hold in a day with naught but two Warden recruits, a grandmother, a singing laysister, and a dog'. To this day, mage children brought to the tower to see how the Warden lived for the first part of her life scratch her words into the mouldering brickwork, many with mabari of their own at their side.
After the Battle of Denerim, Hero and Gwyneth were separated for a time so he could sire litters for the royal kennels, which had been particularly devastated by the Blight and the civil unrest caused by the Traitor Teyrn, Loghain. Queen Elissa Cousland's own mabari, Honey, was mother to a full half of the litters sired. The future Queen Moira's mabari, Smoke, was born of one such litter, as was Teyrn Duncan Surana's Kimber. When the Warden left for the west, searching for a cure for the Warden Taint with which to save her beloved King, Her-
A large water stain has blurred the rest of the text, except for a footnote:
It is to be noted that said flower was brought to the attention of the kennel-keeper by the Ash Warriors. As Hero had no ill after-effects from either the Blight or the Taint, extensive searches were made in the Wilds for more of the flower after the 5th Blight to see if the mendicant that the mabari was given would prove effective for humans suffering from Blight sickness. Extant texts indicate that the search took well on five years, with Warden assistance from Vigil's Peak. Unfortunately, it appears that the darkspawn horde destroyed all of the flowers, and the species no longer exists.
The next ribbon is a deep red most often associated with Kirkwall, and the city's Champion.
On Valor, Love, and Loyalty (9:24 Dragon)
It appears that Lady Marian Hawke, the future Champion of Kirkwall, was gifted with the mabari Valor for a Nameday present. Of added benefit, the young pup learned how to herd the family's druffalo, and was able to assist young Hawke with the farm chores. When Malcolm Hawke passed in 9:27, the well-trained dog is apparently one of the few reasons the family was not immediately cast into penury. He hunted rabbits and other small game for the Hawke family, as well as continuing to accompany Lady Marian on the farm rounds, chasing off wolves and thieves alike.
Valor was the one who notified the Champion's family that Ser Carver Hawke was approaching, and was key in helping the Hawke siblings usher Lady Leandra out of their home prior to the darkspawn horde of the 5th Blight arriving at Lothering. Sadly, even the brave mabari could not prevent the death of Lady Bethany Hawke. It is said that she was laid to rest in a cairn with Ser Wesley Vallen, with one of Valor's leather collars wrapped about her fingers in the hope that she would have mabari accompaniment at the Maker's side.
Valor comforted Lady Marian on the ship from the Port of Gwaren to Kirkwall, and earned his keep by mousing in the ship's hold. The logbook for the ship's captain has been found, and Valor's mousing appears to be the only reason the mabari was allowed on the ship, as the Marcher captain did not have the attachment to the breed that a Fereldan captain would.
While Lady Marian and Ser Carver were working as smugglers for Athenril the Knife*, Valor was tasked with keeping Lady Leandra safe. Gamlen Amell was not entirely happy about having the mabari live with them until he discovered that they are considered signs of wealth and status in Ferelden, lending him an air of respectability.
Tasked thus, he did not accompany the Champion into the Deep Roads, nor is there any extant evidence that he travelled to Chateu Haine or the Vimmark Mountains to the Grey Warden prison that held Corypheus. However, there are Qunari texts from the First Battle of Kirkwall that speak of the 'Demon on Four Legs', where it appears that Valor was key in helping quell the Qunari's uprising. He is also known to have been present at the fall of the Gallows from Knight-Captain Rutherford's accounts, where the dog fought again at his mistress's side against the crazed Knight-Commander.
He disappears from history at this point, only to appear once in the journal of Lady Maureva Hawke-Surana, in the line: "Mumma's sweet Valor is gone. He breathed his last in her arms with Papa, Leto, Leander, and I present." - dated 9:4- The ink here is smeared and blurry from being grasped to turn the page.
So named for her habit of using a small, dull knife on anyone foolish enough to call her 'knife-ear' to her face to cut their ears into 'points'.
The final ribbon, of a bright Fade-green, marks this page.
A Fine Little Friend (9:45 Dragon)
Shortly after the birth of her children, Fenrevas and Fenenasalin Lavellan, Inquisitor Fen'lath Lavellan found a small ginger kitten snuggled in between the babes, with a note saying, "To help you remember." It appears that the kitten was born of one of Skyhold's barn cats, and was placed in the cradle by the Spirit of Compassion known to history as 'Cole'. The kitten ended the day still snuggled between the children, dubbed with the name 'Da'Falon', or 'Little Friend' in Elvhen.
As the Inquisitor's twins grew, the little ginger cat became a mainstay in their nursery, sleeping between the two in their cradle, and eventually spending the nights on either of the children's beds. Letters from members of the Inquisition tell of the cat crawling across the floor with the two children in demonstration, and the young toddlers dragging a tolerant, resigned cat up and down the stairs to their nursery.
As time passed, it was not unusual to observe Da'Falon accompanying Fen'lath as she made the rounds in Skyhold. She would either follow behind a few paces, taking the opportunity to wind between Fen'lath's legs when she paused to speak to people, or draped across the Inquisitor's shoulders.
There are rumors that Da'Falon once stopped a House of Repose assassination attempt while riding on Fen'lath's shoulders. The cat appeared to be asleep, and when the assassin moved behind the Inquisitor to strike the fatal blow, she leapt from her perch and clawed at the assassin's eyes through their mask. The attempt itself is known to have happened, as both the paper archives of Empress Celene and Divine Victoria contain confirmations of her right to sit in judgement over the assassin.
It was rare for Fen'lath to hold Judgements after the Corypheus crisis, however, when she sat in judgement over the assassin, Da'Falon was seated in her lap during the proceedings. There may be truth to the cat having stopped the attempt, as it is noted in Lady Josephine Montilyet's papers that Da'Falon growled and hissed when the man was brought to the dais. She also made note of marks on his eyelids that could be cat-scratches, and the fever he was afflicted with during his judgement.
It seems that Da'Falon even drew the attention of the Dread Wolf, as a mural in one of his holdouts in the Arlathan Forest shows.
A carefully replicated illustration of the mural takes up the rest of the page, showing the figure of an elven woman sitting on a bench. An orange cat sits in her lap, with the figures of two small children at her sides. Her left hand is raised, emerald light glowing in the palm.
The following page either fell out or was torn out.
An old book in the University library, titled "At the Side of History: From Andraste's Mabari Onward", by Professor Johanna Kenrick