Thanks for the reviews and as always, new reviews, criticism and ideas are always appreciated and welcomed!

As always, I do not have any legal rights to these characters, or the original work....blah blah blah... and I am doing this only for my own appeasement and fun and not for profit.


Chapter 2

Souls Apart

The small house seemed very inviting and cozy, a large change from the harsh conditions of the outside world. Everything was immaculate, from the polished hardwood boarders that raced around the ceiling and doorways, to the carefully placed books and scrolls that seemed to be hidden in every nook and cranny that was available. Although none of it was exceptionally impressive, it was just nice and quaint, something that Solona had always noticed about the way that Wynne seemed to live, even when they had been camping in the middle of field or in the deepest part of the Brecilian Forest.

"Well, I am very glad that you are here," Wynne said, after letting the other mage into her home. "I was a bit surprised that you had come some rapidly, seeing that I had not sent my letter to you not that long ago, and that nobody had heard from you in such a long time..." Her voice softening on the last note. "I'm glad to see, however, that you are no worse for wear, considering the weather that we are having."

"I'm not here to discuss with you about the weather of Ferelden," Solona said abruptly. "Let me know what this urgent business is so that I may be on my way." She was still standing in the doorway, melting snow dripping off her cloak and onto the floor.

"And this is how you treat your friends?" Wynne inquired, raising an eyebrow. "I had at least thought that we may catch up a bit before getting down to that. Also," she said with a smirk, as she started walking into another adjacent room, "I have no intention of saying anything if you continue to make a mess of my entryway."

"I'm...I'm sorry," Solona said, almost sheepishly, as if she was a child that had just been scolded by her mother. She took off her cloak, allowing her hair to fall past her shoulders in waves. She also removed her hiking boots and placed them beside the door, as she decided that tracking snow and mud all over Wynne's home would not make her a very welcomed guest.

"Come, sit with me by the fire," she could here Wynne's voice coming from the next room.

After adjusting her robes to be a bit more presentable, she made her way toward where the mage had gone off to. As she walked through the threshold and looked briefly around the room, she stopped dead in her tracks at what she saw. This was obviously Wynne's study, the entire walls were filled with bookshelves, filled to the very top with tomes and scrolls, all intricately placed and neatly arranged. Close to the hearth were two chairs, in one, Wynne already sat, and between them, a small table that contained two glasses of red wine. An impressive sight for a studious mage, none of these things were what caught her attention, it was the sword that adorned the top of the mantle.

She recognized it instantly. The clean shape of the hilt, the intricate design on the pommel and the way that the fire played off the perfectly shined blade. Yes, there was no mistaking it, this was his. The one that he had used to slay the archdemon.

Solona stood there for a moment, staring at it, almost as if entranced by some spell that it held over her.

"Never thought that it would be found, did you?" Wynne asked, snapping Solona out of her trance. A sad smile appeared on her face as she continued. "A few months after you had left, Queen Anora finally authorized a complete cleanup and rehabilitation of Fort Drakon. Even still, it wasn't until the masonry team was called in that they found it amongst some rubble at the top of the tower."

The other mage had a difficult time finding words, at first, and then spoke with an even tone that even surprised herself. "I'm glad that they were able to find it."

Wynne could easily see right through the facade and made a gesture toward the chair that was next to her. "Sit down and let us talk a bit. That is why you are here, correct?" The tone that she was was almost matronly, but firm.

"I would rather not impose," Solona stated, shaking her head.

"Not at all. Come look, I've even poured you a glass of wine," she lifted up one of the two glasses that sat upon the table next to her, attempting to make the offer look inviting. "Although, I'm sure your not wanting to impose has very little to do with why you don't wish to be here."

Of course, she was right, Solona mused to herself. The elder mage always had a way with figuring things out without ever needing to be told all, or any, of the story. It was just a gift that she had, to be able to see directly to the heart of the problem, and most of the time, perceive the solution.

"I am here because you said that it was urgent. So, bound by duty, I came." She replied.

"Bound by duty?" the other mage chuckled. "What kind of duty do you owe me? Now for the urgent part, there really isn't anything more urgent than that of a dying old woman."

Solona sighed, making her way over to the chair and sitting down, deciding that she would have to play along with her if she wanted to get anything out of her. As she sat down, she felt the fabric of the chair cradle her. It had been many a moon since she had been given the chance a nice place to rest, as it was normally next to a log or on the banks of a river, that she made her bed.

This was also the first time that Solona actually took the time to look at her companion. Her facial features were much the same as she had remember them when they were travelling together, but the lines on her face were much deeper now, and her skin more ashen in tone. Her hands seemed to be much frailer than before, almost as if a small tome fell on them they would shatter instantly. Even her eyes, although full of wisdom as they danced with the fire, were sunken more now, saddened and hardened from her time.

"I assumed that there were important and pressing matters that came from the royal court," Solona finally replied, after taking a sip of the wine that had been offered. "And, although I may not exactly like Anora, that doesn't mean that I can just cast off direction from the court."

"You are a Grey Warden, child," Wynne stated, "you are not bound by any noble or court, only that of your oath to the Grey Wardens. That is your duty, not the whim of a queen. You know this of course." She paused for a moment, choosing her words as carefully as she could. "There was a reason that you left this place. You left everything, even that," she pointed up to the sword, "and I'm interested in knowing why you actually returned, not the reason that you told to convince yourself."

Solona glared at the woman that sat across from her. "You're interested in why I cam back?" Her voice rose in pitch. "Is it not enough that based on your behest that I have returned to your side? That I did not first ask why you requested me? I trust that your pressing issue is more than you finding a sword." Her words came out bitterly, almost a hiss.

Wynne only shook her head at the reply. "I expected as much," her voice as calm as ever, "you don't really know why you came back. If you would like the sword, you are more than welcome to it, for I have no use for it. But no," her tone became more stern, "that is not why I asked you to come."

"Then why did you?" Solona cried angrily. "If it was only for these mind games, then I would have gladly continued travelling....alone!"

"I will tell you in good time why I called you here, there is no need to rushing into things. Perhaps 'Urgent' was too strong of wording in the letter..." her voice trailed off. "At any event, if you do not wish to discuss why you came back at the moment, perhaps you will be more willing to disclose why you are travelling with such a large quantity of processed lyrium? The mineral is not light and I would imagine such an amount would slow down your travels considerably."

"How did you-" Solona was taken aback by the question, and of course realized that as mages, one could easily sense the substance, especially in high quantities. "I make lyrium potions with it of course, to keep my mana reserves up during travel," she replied, as a matter of fact.

"That much lyrium could easily make two thousand potions. I know why you have it, I can see it in your eyes. Although I'm not exactly sure of what magic you employ to allow yourself to go into the Fade without other mages, but I must let you know how dangerous and unsafe it is. Why do you do this?"

Solona was surprised at how quickly Wynne was able to see right through her. She wasn't exactly sure to what the woman was getting at she decided to answer anyway. "I'm doing research," she stated bluntly.

"On what, exactly? The long term exposure risks of lyrium? Go ask the dwarves if that is what you really wished to know. Not to mention, that the more that you go into the Fade this way, the more demons and abominations are drawn to you. Alistair would have been so upset-"

"How dare you say anything of him!" Solona cut Wynne off. Long buried emotions, now coming alive within her, burning from a pit that she had tried to seal off. She had striven so hard to suppress them, to now have it all coming back in a rush, she didn't know how to deal with it. "You didn't know him like I did! I loved him!" She went off on the elder mage. "Maybe he wouldn't have always agreed with what I did, but he never, never would have judged me so. Please, do not speak of him like you knew him so."

Wynne didn't answer right away, starring into the flames that jovially bounded within the fireplace before her. Solona didn't take her eyes off of her, the steel blue orbs seeming to bore into the other mage's temple.

"And now we finally get to the root of it..." Wynne finally answered, not looking away from the hearth, not turning to look at her companion. "Is that the reason why you left? Why you didn't come back? The reason that you have been wandering for the past five years and why none of us have seen you?"

"I-," Solona stammered for a moment, trying to hold back her emotions, "I left because I was angry. Angry with everyone. Angry with you, with Leliana, with all of you!" She moved her arms in an exacerbated flourish. "Not one of you said a Maker's damn word about him to me after it was all done. How did you expect for me to react? To calmly go on as if nothing happened? Is that what everybody expected of me?" Her voice became calm and weak. "It was like, all of you were saying, that it was my fault that it had happened, that I should have expected it anyway. That, regardless of how it would have turned out, we never belonged together in the first place..."

"We didn't expect anything out of you," Wynne said softly, placing her left hand on Solona's shoulder. "And, to say something, anything about what you had lost would have only seemed to cheapen it. And, even though none of us saw it as, conventional, none of us believed that it wasn't real, or that it wasn't important."

Solona was looking away from Wynne by now, staring at the sword that hung above the mantle. Hearing all the words that she had spoken, and course Solona knew them to be true. Still, a deep bitterness and anger ran through her, like a vein of fire that coursed through her body. She wanted to stand up, to walk away from all of this. To take the trinket sword that was sitting there, mocking her, off the wall and smash it on the ground or melt it down with the touch of her hands. But all she could do was tremble.

For the longest time, she had been lying, even to herself, about the real reason why she left, and why she was angry. Now that Wynne had called her out on it, there was no denying it anymore. She could feel tears starting to form around the corner's of her eyes. She fought them back as she never liked other people to see her emotional, or weak.

"I suppose that it was always easier to be angry with you instead of the real culprit," Solona said, after a few more moments of silence. "I don't wish to speak of this any further. I'm, just...tired."

"We'll talk more in the morning then and about why I called you here," Wynne replied. "Down that hallway," she pointed to her right, "is a spare bedroom, please make yourself at home."

Solona quickly got up from her chair and made her way in the direction that she was given, making one quick glance to the sword before walking out of the room and leaving the elder mage alone with her thoughts.

As Wynne heard the sound of the bedroom door closed she let out a sigh. 'So that is the real reason for her pain,' she mused to herself, as much to the spirit that was harbored inside of her. 'We need to help her, for all that she us done for us, we cannot turn our back away now'. The spirit only replied with a shiver within her. 'I know, but I am almost gone anyway' she thought, understanding its feeling almost as if they were words. 'And I'm not afraid of what it will mean to me.'

The spirit answered only be filling her with a feeling of a warm embrace, one that she knew she would be giving up for this. 'Come, let us do this then, for this is the least that I can do...'