Dear gods, where was she? The last thing she could remember was relaxing with Azura in their bedchambers, when Kamui had gone to investigate a noise, and then...
Something.
When she tried to think back, she recoiled into a ball, pain racing through her body, concentrating in her left hand. She placed her hands onto the floor - wait, it was now a stony cliff face.
Well, well. What have we here? A voice echoed across the void, in her mind.
"You're dead, Anankos. Get out of my head." She muttered, hands darting to her left hip, where her sword should be - and it was there! Thankfully. She took a second to check her gear - she had put on her Nohr Princess gear before stepping out, and her skills were still active which was good. She hadn't put on her full Hoshido Noble regalia, but for now it would have to do. She'd have to see if she could get into the convoy for a Master Seal. As she searched her pockets, she felt a missing heat in her back pocket - her dragonstone was gone. Not good.
What a curious thing you are. Are you a Qunari, trembling with boiling dragon's blood? Are you something more...foreign? Or are you a mage, with that strange power flowing through you? That voice rumbled again, shocking Kamui. She stood up, shaking lightly.
'You're the queen now, Kamui. You've faced worse than this.'
She turned to look at her surroundings and blanched. It was green, with floating rocks and stone, with the acrid smell of burning essence wafting through her sensitive nose. Instinctively spinning on her bare foot, she drew her sword, before noticing it was somehow back in its default form.
Well.
She thought back to what she remembered - where was Azura? Where were the servants, her families?
You're far from home, dragonkin. Far from your ocean.
"Who are you?" She called into the void.
No one important. Just someone to fill your dreams. The Nightmare.
She hears the pattering of small feet, and turns behind her to find dozens of beasts coming after her - they look strangely like a mix of Garon and her dragon form.
The Yato goes back onto her hip, and she runs.
When Cassandra and her team picked up the survivor from the wreckage of the conclave, they didn't know what to make of her. The sharp and pointed ears suggested an elf, and her bare feet suggested likewise, going by what Solas said. Her garb was even more distinctive; grey, white, and black metal and cloth, a blue cape and material that suggested acrobatic fighting. They had found a strange rock nearby that seemed hot to the touch, and when Solas brought it near the prisoner, she seemed to get better, the rock hotter. The sword was also curious, a strange golden metal that they couldn't seem to remove.
And yet. Her Most Holy was dead, and only this strange girl was alive. Who was she? What were her strange clothes and weapons?
Solas had been of some help, at least. He had ideas of what the strange green mark on her hand was, and tried to heal her, but they all knew it was a losing cause.
She would have consulted the elf again, but he had gone out when the prisoner's mark had stabilized, to keep track of a rift and its demons. He was annoying, but not totally useless. He told her lies, but she couldn't prove them yet.
Cassandra looks up from her sword and washcloth to Leliana coming in. "The prisoner's awake. I thought you might want to know."
The Seeker nods before sheathing her blade. Time to find her answer.
Kamui stared at the giant hole in the sky, and tried to calm her dragonblood. It worked a little, but her roiling emotions would turn the tide at some point.
She hears the people whisper about her pointed ears and red eyes, noting her bare feet and muttering about elves. They don't know she can hear them, as this Seeker lady leads her through the town of Haven. At least she knew where she was, here in the snow and ice.
Ah, who was she kidding. She was pretty sure she wasn't even in Valla, Hoshido, Nohr, or anywhere near home now.
She followed after Cassandra, feeling her sword bounce along her leg, noting that only she could touch the holy sword. Her hands were bound, but it would only take one activation of Dragon Fang to get them free. But she couldn't focus, not when her hand kept sparking in reaction to the Breach.
Her guard drove a hard pace, but Kamui had trained for years on the harsh walls of the Nohrian castle, able to keep up.
Then the bridge fell, some kind of spell or tome bolt flew overhead, and the Seeker told her to hide. Screw that. Cassandra ran forward on the ice and snow, boots crunching forward. After all the training, Kamui's feet were pretty tough anyway.
She watched Cassandra hack and slash with sword and shield. Kamui wondered what she was classed as - the shield suggested knight, but she had a sword and lighter armor which suggested mercenary. She didn't know. The only thing her tactical mind told her was "Warrior". Well, whatever worked.
Then one of the...things noticed her and began to float over. When Cassandra's back was turned, she pulsed her dragonblood, limbs mutating briefly to shed her rope bonds and draw her sword.
She didn't want her guard to find out about her unique biology just yet.
The spirit, which she decided to call it, flung another globule at her, which she decided to reflect with a horizontal block. It didn't work, only pushing her back slightly. She felt Aether activate, glad she had spent time in the Great Lord class. Her first vertical slice knocked the spirit back, energy drawing back to heal her drained body. Her next hit pierced through it cleanly, stabbing through in a lunge. The spirit fluttered into specks as two more things came crawling her way.
She rolled to the right on the first downward claw, before flipping forward into an overhead slice, dealing damage. She spun right into a chop, cutting deeply into the abomination. It screamed, before Kamui took its head off. She felt the crack of ice, before leaning down and jumping backward, as another monster clawed down. While it wasn't a Faceless, it still looked like it packed a punch. She wasn't expecting its next slash, and she got caught in the side. She burned blue, before launching another Aether, throwing the Yato upwards, before jumping up and catching the sword before slamming down into the beast. As it languished, she spun low, sword down, before jumping up in an upwards slash.
As the beasts faded from view, she heard Cassandra breathe lightly from behind her. Seems she didn't tire easily.
"It's finished. It seems you can use that sword."
"You thought I carried it just for show?" Kamui retorted, always ready to stand up to jailers. "I cannot protect you, when you can protect yourself." Cassandra offered a small, rare smile. "Shall we be off?"
Kamui pursed her lips, before sheathing her sword and marching up the hill.
Varric had the general view that things were, well, shit. What with the demons pouring out of the Fade's ass, the general chaos of the Mage-Templar war, and trying to keep up the lie that he had certainly no idea where Hawke and her girlfriend were, no ser.
"Quickly, now! Before more come through!" He heard Solas say to the confused girl, before shoving the girl's hand into the mass of green that signified a rift.
There was a shudder, a bang, like a mage harnessing lightning, before the rift was gone. Just. Gone.
Varric took a second to look at the new girl, placing Bianca on his back and placing a hand under his chin, supporting his right arm with his left. She was short and small, putting her at around eighteen. She has short, chin-length, white hair, open red eyes and pointy ears. Was she an elf, he asked himself. Her armor was like nothing he'd ever seen before, and he's been around Anders's feathered coats before. It was some strange, flexible metal and material, probably meant to help her perform all those acrobatic maneuvers she had done earlier. She also had a bright golden sword that glowed every now and then.
Of course she also had a cape. For some reason or another. And not like Hawke's tailcoats, but an actual, Maker-forsaken cape; blue and fluttering in the wind.
His writing style kicked, trying to imagine her in a better situation. Maybe she looked better in all white or black armor, sword glowing brightly. She probably needed some sleep and a bath, but she had the look in her eyes of someone who had seen some shit. She could be the leader, the hero that the Seeker needed.
He slides himself into the conversation, "Varric Tethras, at your service," but like everyone else, he's looking at her hand. She smiles down at him, but worry, no, concern crosses her eyes.
Oh, Maker. Another tragedy. He's seen that look before, of both novice and veteran soldiers when they don't know when they'll see their loved ones again.
After the business with Hawke, he was hoping for a more humorous story. Well, he had been a bit more pessimistic lately. But he needed to stick through this. He had a feeling Princess would need some help. She did look the name, after all.
Kamui listened to the man yap like a dog about how she was going to be chained back in some Val-whatsit. But she has had enough of chains, and decides to go with the more sneaky method.
She notices Varric give her a small nod, while Cassandra makes a disgusted noise. She's had enough experience with people being disappointed in her, what with all not choosing a side in the first conflict.
Kamui stood with everyone in the crater under the rift, feeling something slide across her skin. It was Pride. She had felt it from Anthony when he "betrayed" her, from Anankos until his dying breath, but it had never felt so pure and unbridled as it did now.
But it seemed almost calm compared to the raging storm that was the rift in front of her, behind what her companions had called "demons".
She looked down at the mark on her hand as it beat, along with her heart, along with the rift. All connected.
Smiling masks. Dragons and hearts. She looks up.
"Seal the breach!" Kamui hears someone shout, before everyone converges on the beast. "I...I..."
"I CHOOSE MY OWN PATH!" Kamui shouts, before Dragon Fang activates. Her head mutates first before her arm transforms into a talon. She rolls forward, ignoring the fighters' shocked sounds as she goes under the demon before coming up and digging her talon deep into its right calf, through its armor, striking bone. It yells, falling to its knees. Her body shifts back as she darts forward, lifting her hand to the breach, the Yato glowing brightly, a deep red of the Fire Emblem.
Her blood sings as everything goes white.
"Are we really going to do this?" Cassandra asks broadly, to the rest of the war table. She grinds
her eyes with her fingers before continuing.
"Can we really let people think that she is the Herald of Andraste?"
Leliana starts first, "It will help the Inquisition. It will bolster our purpose. Portray the Herald as a well-meaning, dutiful woman. Kind."
Cullen retorts, "But we don't even know who she is. Or what she is, or where she came from." He shudders when he recalls what Cassandra told him of the beastly appearance she had taken.
"She is young, and the young are easily told what to do by those in charge." Leliana says again, stepping out from the shadows, "It's not like she has experience leading armies before."
"But surely trust would build better bridges than lies?" Josephine asks, penning unknowable things on her board.
"And what if she runs!" Leliana spits. "Deserters are not uncommon with demons, and there were few enough when the Blight was happening. When this is happening...?"
"She promised to help us," Cassandra replies, "and while she seemed unfamiliar with demons, she faced them down with skill and power. I agree, trust will help us this time."
"Seeker?" A voice interrupted. The four turned to see a small girl poking her head into the war room. "The Herald is awake. You wanted me to let you know when she awoke."
"Thank you," Cassandra nodded. "Can you bring her here? We have much to discuss."
"Yes, Seeker," the girl nodded before stepping aside and allowing the Herald into the room. In just a tunic and pants without boots, she looked more suited for her environment.
"Herald...Kamui, was it?" Cassandra began. "That is your name, correct?"
Kamui nodded, "That's right. Do you have my clothes and sword? I don't feel very comfortable without my gear." She sounded like a noblewoman to the group in front of her. With her voice and her tone, she fit the perfect image of an Andrastian, perfect for the image they wanted to present. Except if the rumors and ears suggested, that she was an elf. Ah, well.
Leliana started a phrase, drawing out the sword they had somehow managed to wrest from her hands before they brought the Herald back to Haven.
The sword flew into Kamui's outstretched arm, as Cassandra and Cullen started to draw their swords from their sheaths.
"My full name and title," Kamui said. "Is Queen Kamui of Valla, Heir of Anankos and Mikoto, Daughter of the Dragon, and the chosen wielder of the holy sword, the Yato."
She smiled brightly, lowering her sword, eyes closing lightly. "And it's very nice to meet you all!"