Suinassa's world had narrowed to the picture that she held in her right hand, which was trembling slightly. Solas had helped this strange young woman from three Ages in the future. Solas had directed her to Skyhold. To Suinassa.

"He's real? Solas is real?" Ilriane said. The words broke Suinassa's reverie and she turned a sharp look on the stranger. It must have been sharper than she intended, because the other woman's face turned pale and she started to stammer. "I mean - I'm sorry, Inquisitor, it's just that - everyone else around you has a documented history, both before and after the Inquisition. But Solas only appears in the period of the Second Inquisition's dominance over eastern Orlais and western Ferelden. An apostate who channeled previously unseen magic. Scholars have been arguing over his existence for years."

"He's real," Suinassa said coldly. "He's also Fen'Harel."

She regretted her callous manner instantly, as she watched the color that had been returning to Ilriane's face vanish all over again. "Creators," Ilriane said. "The actual Dread Wolf. And he was … part of your circle."

"You're half Dalish, aren't you?" Suinassa asked gently, trying to repair some of the damage she had just done. "Your last name is Ghilain, and you speak Elvhen better than I do."

Ilriane nodded. "Yes. My father is Dalish. He's the one that inspired me to become an expert in the language."

"Another thing I'd like to hear more about later," Suinassa said, smiling softly.

Cassandra cleared her throat. "So. Solas directed you here. For what reason?"

"And when?" Varric asked, placing one elbow on the table and leaning forward. "Was it in your present, or ours?"

Ilriane frowned. "I don't know. The first time I knew it was the past was when I saw you, Inquisitor."

"No glowing green vortex that sucked you up and then spat you out again?"

"No," Ilriane replied, chuckling softly. "Is that how the spell usually works?"

"Spell," Cassandra said. "We have been overlooking the obvious. It is a spell that was needed, and the previous instance of time travel was fueled by the Breach."

Suinassa's stomach lurched again. "Which was caused by Solas' orb. So … he has to have been the one who worked the magic to send you here." She paused. "But … why?"

"The best way to find that out is to ask him," Cullen said. "This map of the Eluvians might help us with that. We need to figure out how accurate it is. Lace Harding has been chafing at the bit for something interesting to do."

"And there's more to the map that I haven't decoded," Ilriane said. She sounded more confident, almost energetic. "If the Eluvians are the way to find him, then I'll do everything to help you. It sounds like he's the only one who can send me back."

"Good." Suinassa looked over her shoulder at the window, noting the position of the sun. "Let's see if we can get Harding on her way tomorrow morning. Cullen, bring her here. Cassandra, check with Ser Morris to see how many people we can send out for a week."

They both nodded and turned to leave. Once the door had closed, Suinassa turned her attention back to Ilriane. "Tell me more about the Reclamation," she said to the other woman. Once again, it came out more sharply than she'd intended, and she dropped her gaze. "Please," Suinassa added.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Ilriane give a small nod, and Suinassa lifted her head back up to examine the other woman as she spoke. "Normally, I'd say that it started with the actions after the Fifth Blight in the Dragon Age, but …" Ilriane's gaze turned to Leliana. "You were actually there." Her voice held a touch of awe. "You knew - you know Hareas Mahariel. You were there when King Alistair and Queen Anora granted the Dalish their own land on his request." She turned back to Suinassa. "And you were responsible for reconciling Briala and Empress Celene. And … " she trailed off, then swallowed and continued speaking. "Both of you - along with those rulers that you know and helped - will do more. And that starts to build an atmosphere of tolerance, of willingness to view the Dalish as their own nation. Slowly but surely, the Dalish gained a voice, and the last act of the Innovation Age is the joint effort of Orlais and Ferelden that returns the entirety of the Dales to the elves."

"It sounds like a dream," Suinassa said quietly, remembering her time with clan Lavellan in the Free Marches. Remembering what happened with Duke Wycome and how close her clan had been to annihilation. "To have our homeland back, to govern ourselves…"

"It's still over two hundred years away, Inquisitor, and nearly a thousand since the Exalted March began in the first place," Ilriane said, her voice equally soft. "And it was hardly a universally welcomed move. Some of the clans have not moved back to the Dales, and there are still elves that choose to live among humans."

"Like your father," Leliana said, one hand resting thoughtfully on her chin as she looked at Ilriane.

"He's still Dalish at heart," Ilriane replied. "He's happy living in Denerim and working at the University, but he doesn't feel like he has anything in common with the elves that live in alienages. And he made sure that we - my brother and I - were exposed to the Dalish culture from an early age. We always visited Ghilain in the summer."

"How is it, exactly, that the clans are governed?" Suinassa asked. "Is it a council of Keepers?"

Ilriane shook her head. "The Keepers still govern each individual clan. For the nation of the Dales, there's a Council, made up of two representatives from each clan. Any Council member can Speak for the clans when necessary. When dealing with other nations, for example."

"Which clans live in the Dales?"

"Ghilain, obviously. Lavellan, too." Ilriane smiled at Suinassa, who returned the smile without hesitation. "Alerion, Ralaferin, Tillahnnen, and Vimehn. Other clans have expressed their intention to return to the Dales. It will probably be another generation or so before it's all sorted out. Before the Council becomes a larger government that can handle the same things as Ferelden and Orlais."

"Larger governments aren't always better," Varric commented.

"Says the man who constantly complains about his responsibilities as Viscount of Kirkwall," Suinassa countered dryly.

"Exactly my point! It's much better to have one person making the decisions, and one person carrying them out."

"I notice you put some separation between the person making them and the person carrying them out," Leliana noted, shaking her head at Varric. "I pity your Seneschal."

"He asked for it," Varric said. "Besides, he enjoys harassing me."

Suinassa traded an amused grin with Leliana before she turned her attention back to Ilriane. "What are the other consequences of what we've done - the Inquisition, and Leliana as Divine?"

"Well, as you can imagine, there's a lot that you influence," Ilriane said. "The mages are allowed to remain free, although not all of them choose that - your friend Vivienne leads those that wish for a return to the Circles. Melothari - the mage I mentioned before - chose to leave her clan and be trained at one of the Mage Colleges. I think it was so she could learn more than she would have among the Dalish, although she never said as much to me. The fact that she had that choice, and that she was able to return to the Dales later - that is your doing, Your Perfection."

"Good." Leliana was clearly pleased by this news. "And the rest? Easing restrictions on priests? Being more welcoming?"

"They stick," Ilriane confirmed. "Not without some resistance, though."

"Naturally," Leliana said. "I did not expect it to be easy."

Ilriane looked down at her hands, and then back up at Suinassa. "I know that you have plenty of questions, and I do intend to answer them. But - there's some things that I don't understand. Not just academic things that everyone's been discussing, but things that seem to be relevant now."

"Let me guess - about Solas?" Varric grinned. "I'm more than a little confused about Chuckles myself."

"You said that he's really the Dread Wolf. And that he built the Eluvians. History says that he - that you and he -" Ilriane trailed off, cheeks flushing.

"Yes. I love him." Suinassa looked away. "Even knowing the truth - knowing who he is, and what he did - I still love him."

Ilriane waited a few minutes before she spoke again. "What is he trying to do now? Something drastic. Something you need to stop."

"He's trying to tear down the Veil and remake Arlathan," Suinassa said. "Which will free the other Creators - which is why he built the Veil in the first place."

Ilriane blinked. "What?"

"Told you it's confusing," Varric commented.

"What - but - won't that destroy - uh, everything?" Ilriane asked, looking between the three of them.

Suinassa sighed. "He wants his world back. At any cost."

"I - okay. I mean, I always knew the Creators played by their own rules." Ilriane ran a hand over her book. "And I understand the desire to get your world back. This is fascinating, and exciting - but - no offense, Inquisitor, I don't really want to stay here permanently."

"No offense taken, asa'var'lin," Suinassa said warmly. "I do not believe I would care to find myself stuck three hundred years in the past. I'll help you get home."

The door opened, and they turned to see Cullen leading Lace Harding inside. "You should get some rest," Suinassa said to Ilriane. "Varric, could you show her to a room, and then come back here?"

"Sure thing," Varric replied, starting towards the door.

Ilriane grabbed her bag from where it rested on the floor and moved to follow him. Before she got to the door, she paused and looked back over her shoulder. "Thank you, Inquisitor. For believing me."

"Don't thank me just yet," Suinassa said. "You'll be here for a week - and there's so much more I want to ask you."

"I could say the same thing," Ilriane replied. "Remember, I'm an archaeologist. I try to piece together the past. Now I have a chance to actually observe it." She grinned. "Even if I can never tell anyone what I find … well, I'll know."

Suinassa laughed softly. "I believe I know exactly what you mean."

As Ilriane and Varric left the room, Suinassa turned to Lace Harding. "I hear you're looking for an adventure. I believe I have one for you."

Harding grinned. "Good. Where am I heading?"

Suinassa beckoned her over and began to explain.

One week for Harding and her fellow scouts to explore the Crossroads and verify part of Ilriane's map. One week for Ilriane to work at decoding the rest of it, along with Suinassa Lavellan, Varric Tethras, and a handful of other people at Skyhold that Ilriane couldn't immediately place. Sometimes she felt guilty at not knowing their names, as though the fact that none of them made it into the history books about this time period was somehow her fault.

One week spent holed up in a quiet room, papers strewn across the table and books stacked in corners, the hours passing with little notice – an environment that reminded her strongly of her days as a student at Denerim University, with the main difference being the servants who brought them food and then removed the empty plates, lit the candles when the sun started to set and then replaced them when they had burned down hours later.

One week that Varric insisted not be spent completely holed up in that room. Where he took her around Skyhold and introduced her to still more people whose names Ilriane had never heard. She walked the battlements and stopped to look out at the mountains, inhaling the cold air and feeling exhilarated at the natural beauty around her. She sat and sketched those views, knowing that she would never have this opportunity again. She went to the stables and met the odd beasts that the Inquisitor had tamed and brought back to Skyhold.

One week to get to know the Inquisitor, to stop feeling awed by her. To start calling her Suinassa instead of 'Inquisitor Lavellan'. To trade stories about the Dalish during the breaks – comparing knowledge, noting similarities, discussing differences. To start treating her with familiarity and warmth, as though she were one of Ilriane's cousins from clan Ghilain. To see that warmth returned, to hear Suinassa exclaim how good it was to have another Dalish around her.

One week – that passed both too quickly, and not quickly enough.

"Here's what we were able to verify," Harding said, pointing to a light line on the map of the Eluvians. "Everything inside this circle." She stood next to the table that Ilriane had been using all week. Cullen Rutherford and Cassandra Pentaghast were on either side of her, and Ilriane stood next to Suinassa on the opposite side of the table. Varric was at the end of the table closest to the door, with Divine Victoria and Ambassador Josephine Montilyet at the other. Unlike when Ilriane had arrived, Harding had been permitted to eat before coming in to debrief the senior Inquisition members. "You'll notice that it also connects to the portion of the network you explored from Halamshiral, Inquisitor."

"And we've decoded much of the rest in the week you've been out," Suinassa said, nodding approvingly at Harding. "Did you see any signs of patrols?"

Harding shook her head. "Nothing. It's likely we didn't get close enough to wherever Solas has his base of operations."

"That narrows it down," Cullen said. "It means he's likely somewhere in this area." He pointed to a cluster of Eluvians in the top right corner of the map. "Though that's still a fair bit of ground to cover, and we don't have the manpower we did even a few months ago."

"Inquisitor, I must ask – what is our goal here?" Cassandra's voice was even, but her expression showed worry.

"We stop Solas," Suinassa said. Ilriane saw the tightness in her face, the tension in how she gripped the wooden table.

"Yes, but –" Cassandra sighed. "I do not wish to be the one to say it, but it appears I must. If he cannot be reasoned with, then it may be that killing him will be the only way to stop him."

"We might not even find him," Cullen added. "It's entirely possible that we'll encounter a patrol, and one of them will run back to tell Solas – who will move his base of operations."

"If he has to run from us, that's time he's not spending trying to tear down the Veil," Suinassa said, her voice still tight with anxiety. "If we show that we've figured out the Eluvians, he might be less willing to use them. This will disrupt his operation even if we don't find him." She straightened up and looked Cassandra in the eyes. "But I think we will find him. I think that once he learns I am there, he won't be able to resist showing himself. I know I couldn't resist that temptation, even knowing that we – that we oppose each other now."

"And if there is a shot at him?" Cassandra asked. "If there is a chance to kill him? Will you give that order, Inquisitor?"

Suinassa looked down at the floor, her body trembling. "I can't," she said after a few long moments of silence. "I can't give that order."

"I don't think we should, anyway," Varric said. "Chuckles is practically a god now, as terrifying as that is. Don't you remember those statues we saw, Seeker? The qunari that he turned to stone?"

Cassandra made a disgusted noise, one that she made more frequently around Varric than anyone else. "Then how do you suggest we stop him?"

"We use the most potent weapon there is," Varric replied.

"Out with it, dwarf!"

"Words, Seeker," Varric said, folding his arms across his chest. "We use words."

Cassandra threw her hands up in the air and turned away from him. "Why am I not surprised?"

Varric sighed. "Hear me out. Chuckles wants his world back. A world where the elves are masters of their own destiny, right?" He turned to look at Ilriane. "Which sounds an awful lot like this Reclamation of yours."

"He also wishes to tear down the Veil," Cassandra replied tartly. "I do not think that has happened in Ilriane's time."

Ilriane chuckled softly. "Definitely not."

"Still, Varric may have a point," Divine Victoria said. Ilriane couldn't think of her as anything else, despite the fact that Suinassa still called her 'Leliana'. "If he tears down the Veil, he will have to deal with the other Evanuris, who have every reason to hate him. He does not truly wish to destroy us – he merely sees it as an unavoidable consequence of returning his people to their former glory."

"Come on, Seeker, we have to at least try." Varric reached for Cassandra's arm, but pulled back before he actually touched her. "You know it will break the Inquisitor's heart if we have to kill him. And you can't tell me that you wouldn't regret it. He was our friend."

"Was, Varric." Cassandra's shoulders heaved as she sighed. "But I suppose you are right. We have to try."

Suinassa straightened herself up. "Then this is the plan." She pulled the map of the Eluvians towards her and pointed to one of them. "We all go through to this point. When we meet with resistance, Cullen will lead our forces in engaging them. I'll lead a smaller group deeper into the Eluvians to find Solas if he isn't with the main group." She looked up from the map. "Ilriane, Varric, and Cassandra will be with me, and we should have at least one mage. Cullen, who do we have?"

Cullen ran a hand through his hair in thought, a gesture Ilriane had seen him use before. "I'd suggest either Rion or Sidony."

"Rion," Suinassa said decisively. "He can throw up a wall of fire to slow or stop enemies if necessary."

"I'll let him know he'll be reporting directly to you," Cullen said, nodding.

Suinassa returned the nod and looked back down at the map. "If you start to get overrun, retreat. This isn't an all-out assault. Make sure you have multiple copies of the Eluvian map and the keys, in case you need to split further." She bit her lip. "I'd like to leave as soon as possible. Is two days enough time for you, Cullen?"

Cullen let out a breath. "Cutting it close, but I understand your desire to move quickly. I'll make it happen."

"I will help you," Cassandra said. "It might be good for you to work with Ilriane on the maps, so that you can be sure you understand it."

Ilriane looked at the man across the table from her, Commander of the Inquisition's forces, and tried not to fidget under his unexpectedly intense gaze. Besides Harding, he was the person in this room that Ilriane had interacted least with. Josephine Montilyet had come to visit them multiple times during the past week – ostensibly to see if there was anything she needed to procure for their work. But she had been just as eager as all the others to ask questions about Ilriane's life – to hear more about the future.

Cullen had visited too, but infrequently, and mostly to give reports to Suinassa Lavellan – and while he'd heard some of her stories, he hadn't asked any questions himself. Ilriane wondered why, but hadn't wanted to ask anyone about it.

"If Ilriane is willing," Cullen said, still meeting her eyes.

"Of course," Ilriane said quickly, not wanting to show her discomfort. "That sounds like an excellent idea."

"Then we all know what we have to do," Suinassa said. She lifted her head up and looked at each of them in turn. "But there's no point in getting started tonight. Take this chance to get a good night's sleep. In a few days, you won't have that option."