(I'm a bit rusty with the writing so please go easy! I hope you enjoy this story! There will be more chapters :) )
This war/crisis, whatever you wanted to call it, certainly sucked. Ghost must have spent a good week crossing the Waking Sea and she certainly hated it. She never liked being stuck on ships as it made her antsy but she was grateful one could go on deck for fresh air and not have to be stuck in some confined space down below. The Waking Sea was calm for the most part so the journey wasn't too bad, still with the flood of refugees trying to escape Ferelden to Orlais because of the templars and mages fighting, the ship was pretty crowded and it made for a wild ride.
After a week the ship finally landed in Val Royeaux and Ghost decided she would stay a bit in order order to find safe haven and stock up on supplies. Before the conflict between the Chantry and the Mages broke out, she wandered all over Thedas under the pseudonym "Ghost" in hopes to avoid unnecessary attention, and for the most part, it worked as people would just disregard her presence, calling her a vagabond, or some useless wanderer. Regardless she loved her lifestyle and the freedom it gave her. She originally came from a small village in the Free Marches in the territory of House Trevelyan, but when her parents succumbed to sickness, she decided to leave and make her way in the world. Val Royeaux was certainly different to the Free Marches, with citizens walking around in masks and frilly outfits, but of course like most nobility, no one paid mind to her presence which was great.
Soon enough she decided to make her way to the Exalted Plains, hearing about some fort in need of aid so she thought about going there to help out any way she could. The trip was grueling and the fact more and more bandits started popping up, using the fear and helplessness of the refugees to their benefit, traveling became even more dangerous. Still Ghost was not without wit, early on in life her father had taught her self defense and how to fight like a soldier. He had once served in the House of King Cailan before the Blight broke out, but after with the destruction of the archdemon he managed to find his way to the Free Marches with her and her mother and found a new home. Now with the death of them both, she was on her own and she realized early on no one would really help a "useless vagabond" much, so she had to resort to various means of survival, taking certain jobs here and there between stable hand, kitchen maid, courier to a noble Fereldan lady, and many others. She never stayed in one place for too long though, as things quickly got boring and the winds called her name to continue on.
Another week of traveling and Ghost successfully managed to avoid getting killed by raiding bandits, red templars, raging bears, demonic entities, and other nasty creatures finally making her way to the Exalted Plains. Feeling tired she found some refuge underneath a few ruins and decided to make camp, hoping and praying to whatever deity listening to her would protect her for the night. Ghost wasn't religious, she felt maybe there was a higher power, but she never really prayed to it. Her father had lost his faith early on and her Mother never pressed the matter nor pushed for the existence of faith within her home. So "The Maker" or whatever never truly mattered. Yet today she found herself hoping He could hear her this time.
Shaking her canteen, Ghost discovered it was nearly empty, she would need to find a stream or river to refill it, so she decided to take a walk and explore her surroundings. As she crossed a few elven altars and walked through a passageway in the cliffs she heard the sound of rushing water and became relieved she wouldn't have to go far. Getting closer to the river, she spotted something moving, or rather struggling, from the corner of her eye and decided to check it out hoping it wasn't some scary beast. As she carefully neared the edge, she came across a baby Halla struggling in some trap around its left leg. It was bleeding and crying out, making Ghost feel bad for the animal and gently creeping near to cut the wire. However, the baby struggled even more as she approached,"shhhh...it's fine little guy, let me just-" snip and the Halla was free. At first it tried to get up and flee but realized it was in too much pain to do so, so it plopped onto its right side looked back at her with fear in its eyes. Ghost approached it again and gently laid a hand on its white fur, petting it to reassure she meant no harm. It was a small thing, roughly the size of a medium sized dog with the blackest eyes she had ever seen. On its head looked to be little tiny horns protruding out of its skull like that on a goat. After a few minutes, she quickly refilled her canteen, swung it over her shoulder, and then gently picked up the Halla taking it back to her camp.
Throughout the night the Halla got comfortable and even started cuddling up to her, refusing to leave her side, it even laid its head on her lap and started to doze off. She smirked and thought about a cat comfortable in its owner's lap, "hmm what's a name I can call you?" Petting the top of its head, "Gilain...yeah, I'll call you Gilain. Not sure why, but I figured that sounded elvish enough, right?" Soon she heard the sound of mild snoring and looked down to see the Halla was asleep and Ghost found herself dozing off too.
The next morning, after a quick meal of berries and oats she managed to save during her travels, she decided she would make an attempt to return Gilain back to its herd. Surely there had to be a herd grazing somewhere out on the plains. Sure enough after a few minutes following the river she came across a whole array of adult Halla. Putting Gilain down she motioned for it to head off towards the herd but Gilain wouldn't budge, "c'mon...shoo, there's your family." She pointed at the herd but Gilain did nothing but stare up at her and the herd didn't seem to acknowledge them either. "Aren't you supposed to have some connections to each other? Isn't that was the elf legends hold?" Soon ten minutes went by and Gilain still wouldn't budge, instead it just grazed the grass. She started to slowly step away thinking if she left it be, an adult would approach the baby and call it back to them, but instead Gilain simply followed her, "no no, you're supposed to go off with your herd!" Gilain limped up to her and started to nudge her knee, "you're really like a majestic feline aren't you? Aaaand...I'm stuck with you aren't I?" As if it understood, it looked up at her. Sighing heavily she picked up Gilain and gently stuffed him into her rucksack allowing his head to poke out and continued on making her way towards Orlais or wherever creepy things wouldn't try to eat her.