A/N:What little elvhen I use is comprised of words taken graciously from the DA Elven Language Wiki. Also, and I think most obviously, much of Solas' past and current motivations are up for major debate and there are several interpretations. This is just my head canon. There will be eventual smut. I would like to say it will all be tasteful and classy, but that depends on them. I just work here. Love me, hate me, critique me. I have a lot of unfinished business I need to resolve with these two. If you're reading this then there is a good chance that you do t0o. Maybe after all of this we can both finally get a little bit of peace.

Prologue

Cole dipped the brim of his hat against the full press of the rising sun, and stood quietly as she passed. He had been nothing if not an unlikely companion, but as she had set out to attend to this task on her own he had come to her as if summoned, his lithe form manifesting and then seeming to fade again as they cut a small path towards an island lake tower forever in the distance. He had already proven himself to be the perfect ally, his uncanny form standing over her small prone one as she paused periodically along their trek to pierce the veil and cautiously enter the fade. Though he had asked nothing of her wanderings there, nor questioned even her most basic intent, she had chosen to take comfort in his pressence and had hoped it meant that he understood her course of actions. If he did not, then perhaps he was atleast there to ensure she survived the futile task she had happlessly labored upon herself. It seemed that only time would tell, as he did not seem overly eager to share.

"Do you feel it, here?" he asked, mutedly. His voice was a melodic monotone she would never be able to explain to anyone who had not yet heard him speak. "The wolf..." he whispered," The wolf would bite but Pride would lick your hand."

She piqued her ears and suddenly became more acutely aware of the absolute silence surrounding them. Turning to scan the nearby tree line, she found nothing and cocked her head back towards him, his face pale and unreadable as she fully regarded what would appear to most as an ill placed guardian scarecrow.

"Is the tower near, Cole? Are we close?" He was nothing if not a man of riddles, and he merely gestured in response. "Well, I guess I'm still following you, then."

As they continued to move the sun progressed slowly against a darkening sky, the trees becoming more sparse as it set behind them, the light of a new moon revealing at long last the shore of a dark glassy lake.

"Battlements..." Cole announced, pointing to the crest of a small tower that stood as the lone structure on a small eroding island, "she cried herself to sleep on cold stone but his blood had sealed the door. Death magic."

"Yes, I feel it, too. Let's set up camp. I want to see what's on the other side."

The map Fairbanks had given her had depicted several surviving Dalish ruins scattered sparsely throughout the lush expanse of the Emerald Graves. She had been traveling pointedly between them all, but none of them had stricken her quite like this. The veil was almost nonexistent, here. Here, energy from the fade whispered against your skin and spoke luridly against your ear. It not only welcomed her, it wanted her. Just the pure thought of entering there made the anchor within her right hand pulse expectantly.

Flexing her fingers to dispel the gathering energy, Cole crouched silently beside her and began tending what she hoped would soon become a small fire. It would be a welcome accomplishment indeed with the thick damp moving to surround them deep within the basin. She was thankful he was so resourceful.

"Found..." He stood abruptly and instantly braced her by the shoulders, catching her offguard as he stared at her intently for a moment."Waiting. Going, but waiting. So much sadness."

"Cole, is it Solas? Is Solas the one that's been found?"

"Yes,"his face became marked with visible pain, his eyes closing as if he needed a moment to gather himself, "but he does not want to see. You called to him in whispers, tears in a dream. Lips. Skin. Fingers trailing through dust. Rivers through ruins."

She rested her hand upon his and squeezed it slightly. It was true she had become very fond of the spirit despite his otherworldly circumstances, but his sensitivity to the emotions of those around him had almost rendered him a complete cypher. No matter what she encountered with Solas when she finally crossed to meet him in the mists, there was a great possibility that Cole would be able to feel the brunt of it. Despite his willingness to help, or his almost desperate need to do so, she felt an overwhelming demand to do this alone. She would not be a source of misery for this creature. Solas' parting had already left him a slightly more enigmatic man than he had been before, his words comforting her in the necessity of his absence almost at the same time as he urged her in pleading tones to go to him. Whatever transpired now she wished to endure it at her own pace. She knew what she must do.

"Cole," she said gently, " If I asked for you to go, if I asked you not to come back for me, would you understand?"

He blinked slowly, but nodded after a fashion. She had come to realize recently that the only reason he ever blinked at all was because he found it to be polite. Otherwise, he was often prone to long silent boughts of staring that many had found to be disturbing. She had made a mental note to teach him to smile, next. His pallid forlorn expression often gave him the look of a stricken young man not long for the world. Which perhaps, in a way, was accurate enough.

"You want me to go to someone I can help," he said," but I did help. Here, spirits can dream, too. Solas likes spirits and he likes the fade. He asked for me to protect you."

"Protect me? Why?"

"He said that others would not like it. "

"Others? Like Leliana and Cassandra?"

"The others leave the past, but the past haunts and screams and beckons." He faded as he spoke, reappearing behind her as she turned towards the direction of his voice. "He almost lost the mask. The water sings to you. He asked you not to drink. He was not ready to say the words."

As though waiting for his queue, a vast den of voices,now forever whispering in the far recesses of her mind, began to rise in their cacophony, deafening in their numbers. The servants of Mythal were now in full attendance. As their long elvhen syllables lilted and swarmed, it all sounded ancient and alien and growingly familiar. One phrase was being repeated in a slow succession just outside of her comprehension."Asha dar lath el, Fen'harel."

"What words, Cole? What couldn't he tell me?"

His slim form faded once more until only his voice remained. Whatever it was he meant to say he chose not face her directly as he did it. "He wanted you to know his name."

"His name? His name is, Solas."

"Solas is his pride. His name is a curse."

She circled, seeking him in the dark though he chose to remain hidden. "I don't understand, you're not making any sense. Who is he, Cole? Tell me his name."

Though she could now only sense him in the barest terms, she felt his hand lie upon the top of her head as though he were about to comfort a small lonely child. And as he whispered the name against her ear, the voices that had almost drowned out everything else now suddenly left her stunned with their utter silence.

"Asha dar lath el, Fen'harel," Cole said, and the phrase finally took shape and formed into the words the servants of Mythal had been urgently willing her to hear.

"This woman tends to, Fen'harel."

"Fen'harel," she whispered in discord, "The Dire Wolf..."

And with that, Cole was gone.