Shepard
Rannoch was a surprisingly beautiful planet, given that the majority of it was covered in desert. Tali was happy to be home, Liara was ecstatic to be researching something new, and I'm just good to be alive, really. Given everything that's happened, I should have been dead long ago. Seems the world had different plans. Call it fate, destiny, divine providence, whatever- I guess it wasn't time for death yet.
Now that the Quarian have at least a portion of their homeworld back, next step was to try and reclaim a seat on the council. They were every bit strong willed and technologically advanced enough to make it happen, that was for sure. For now though, they were focused on re-discovering what they had lost. Somewhere along the line this ruin was discovered, and here we are.
It really was unlike anything I'd ever seen before. There wasn't even much like it in old histories, so naturally Liara couldn't keep her hands off of any of it. Any number of things could pop up in these old ruins, and that's why I was here.
Most everything was pretty harmless at first sight, the omni-tool scanned mostly stones and wood, attempted to recognize the elaborate carvings in the walls of the ruin. Nowhere to be found, in any data. There were strange languages carved into the stone, not even Liara could recognize them. It seemed we had another ancient civilization on our hands, probably wiped out centuries ago by the reapers.
More history is all it was.
Lazily almost, I just wandered through them. There was nothing so far that indicated any danger, so when I got restless I explored. Deep in one of the chambers stood this large, ominous mirror. So much dust caked the surface that it was impossible to even see my own scarred reflection. I swiped through it, leaving behind a shimmering streak of glass. It was…. Intoxicating, I suppose. Something about it pulled me in ever so slightly.
"Shepard?" The Asari was too damn sneaky for her own good.
"Just checking the perimeter." She smiled back at me.
"You don't have to spend all day here, Shepard. I don't imagine anything will pop out at me."
"I know, Li. But I don't really wanna take that chance, you know? We've been through a lot. Seems like the best route from here is avoidance, not repair."
I stole a last glance at the inch or so of my face reflected between the panels of dust, and followed Liara back out to the ruin.
***
Lavellan
No matter where we looked, he was gone. Not the slightest trace left, even by accident. Of course, there wouldn't be. He was too mindful of everything, connected to the mark he left on the waking world around him... the mark he left on me.
I could think of no place he may have gone, save for the fade and ruins it held within. Cassandra swore to use her power and connections as Divine to help me locate him, but even she had come up empty handed. Finally, I retreated to the one place that still held the history he might desire- the Arbor Wilds.
It was Morrigan who actually suggested it.
Leliana scouted out the wilds ahead, and Dorian insisted upon accompanying me. 'Three days, Ellana, that's I can give you. After that I cannot delay the summit longer.' Varric and Leliana had set up a meeting with Hawke and the Cousland girl in an attempt to pool connections and help 'recreate the world', as she so passionately phrased it. So, three days would have to be enough.
Dorian and I took to the Wilds to meet Leliana, and brandish the last hope I had of finding Solas.
A vague familiarity befell the ruin, the memory of the battle there still fresh in my mind. Even in disarray as it was, it was still foreboding at a minimum.
"Ir abelas, ma vhenan" The air was clean and smelled of embrium, sweetly floral as it floats through the sun. I spoke to emptiness, to ears that could not hear me.
There was nothing within the ruins to suggest he had been there, if even for a moment. At the end of the crumbling path, we came once again upon the Eluvian that stole us from the grasp of Corypheus that fateful day.
"It seems as though this place were untouched by anyone"
"Save for the lack of anciently stoic guards, you mean?" Dorian and Leliana had been quipping at one another the entire trip, and I neglected their presence until now.
"She's right. Other than the pool being empty, you'd never know we'd been here." It was sad, almost. Lonely.
"Well, I for one am not keen on re-living the experience that pool gave us. Perhaps we should try further along, hmm? Maybe back in the arid dryness that is Skyhold?"
"What's the matter, Dorian? Your hair not standing up to the heat?" Leli giggled slightly afterwards, her way of letting him know she wasn't actually making fun of him.
"No no no, dear Nightingale. Simply wishing to return to a place where you do not wound me so."
Without my vallaslin, I barely recognized myself in the Eluvians reflection, looking past my own eyes and on to my contented companions. No one seemed effected by his leaving, save myself. With a flick of my wrist, I wiped away a trail of dust from the mirror; it was slightly above eye level, so I didn't notice it prior. For a moment I thought it looked like someone had wiped it there, but then here we were, in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by silence and deserted wilds. A trick my mind was playing on me.
For a moment, a strange figure appeared in the face of the mirror, then dissipated before I'd had a chance to realize what I had seen. Suddenly and with all of my being, I was drawn to the artifact from my history.