Chapter One: Welcome To Haven
Fields flashed by as the train disturbed the usual quietness of the countryside. Two elves sat together. Tristan Lavellan, a 23 year old male with almost shoulder length blonde hair, and Medii Lavellan, a 22 year old female with long ginger hair tied into a ponytail. Tristan stared out of the window, staring at the passing colours. Medii would occasionally look up from her laptop and ask if he was okay and he'd grunt in return.
"I really don't like this coffee" Tristan complained as he swirled the drink with a spoon. Medii looked up.
"Not up to your standards, Mr. Barista?" She teased and smirked, looking back at her laptop. Tristan let out a sarcastic laugh before smiling as he turned back to the passing countryside.
They were cousins. Both moving out of their Dalish clan home. The Lavellan Clan was a large group of elves who lived far from the cities and villages of humans. While some of the clan were related, they would happily adopt city elves and those from other clans, in hopes of giving them a better life as racism was still at large in Thedas. Medii and Tristan had left together but for different reasons. Medii left because of her enthusiastic love for human culture that she had became interested in due to the Keeper's unusual kindness for humans. She wished to a world that other elves saw as tainted and corrupted. Tristan had left due to a very different reason. After discovering he was gay, a majority of the clan showed immediate disapproval. "You're meant to continue this clan!" They would say, and while the Keeper of the clan assured him that his parents would not be disappointed if they were alive, it did nothing to stop pain from the hate. So he left.
The train began to slow down and pulled into a small town station. The two elves grabbed their bags and headed off the train. The station was nestled just on the outskirts and a sign next to the ticket booth read "Welcome To Haven".
"It's far away from home isn't it?" Medii smiled, shielding her green eyes from the sun as she looked at the sign. Tristan followed her.
"That wasn't home" He muttered as they made their way out of the station and towards The Cathedral of Andraste, walking through small cute streets lined with shops and passing through the town square. They reached the Cathedral after walking for a while and gazed upon the tall, beautiful structure. The Cathedral was large and it's intricate oak doors were wide open revealing the stunning beauty inside. Each wall was graced with bright stain glass windows that depicted the life of Andraste through a filtered sea of rainbow light. At the far end of the cathedral, bathed in a plethora of vivid colours, was Divine Justinia.
Both elves stood in awe as they made their way inside. They were searched by security as they passed through the door and headed towards a crowd of people, all eager to see the Divine.
Tristan slowed down, hearing a loud feud behind him. He turned around and as he did, screams were heard and guns went off. Medii called out to him, trying to find him amongst the crowd but that's when she saw the fire and her breathing almost stopped. A memory flashed vividly and violently in her mind and then something blunt hit her on the head. She fell to the ground, unconscious.
Medii woke up, her vision was blurry and her head throbbed with pain. "Tristan?" She wheezed. "Tristan!" She attempted, louder this time. She attempted to stand and saw the fires that blazed throughout the building, she closed her eyes as she tried to stop herself from hyperventilating.
"Medii!?" Tristan croaked. He saw her hunched over and he crawled over to her. "Come...come on." He breathed helping his quivering cousin up. He looked around for some sort of exit, spotting a flash of green above a door at the back. He helped Medii towards the it, dodging fires and rubble. Bodies were scattered among the rubble and Tristan instantly looked away from any he spotted. Bursting out of the fire exit, both of them gasped for clean air as they limped away from the fiery colours of the burning building before collapsing onto the ground, the distant sound of sirens ringing in their ears.
"Over here! Two more!" A voice shouted and thudding footsteps headed towards the cousins. "They're elven!" The voice was closer this time. Tristan groaned and lifted his head up to see the scarred face of a policewoman crouched down by him and Medii. The woman noticed him and her eyes widened. "Their alive! Bring the paramedics!" She ordered to a dwarven officer, who ran off towards the bright, painful lights of the ambulance. "It's going to be fine, we'll sort you out." She spoke quietly. Tristan sat up, wincing as a harsh, sharp pain ran through his left leg. He looked down at it and instantly turned away as he noticed the slight unnatural curve in the lower leg. Medii lay next to him, unmoving. Blood had mixed with her ginger hair. Panic began to surge violently through Tristan as the paramedics made their way towards them. Even as he was lifted up and carried towards the ambulance, his eyes did not leave the motionless form of his cousin until she was lifted into another ambulance. The voices of the paramedics were drowned out by the crippling fear that had began to suffocate the Dalish elf's heart and sobs began to shake his body.