"What have we learned about our new guest?"
Ellana passes a piece from the War Table between her fingers before answering the Spymaster. "Solas tried his best to wake her and learn more on our return trip, but until she can speak to us I'm afraid we won't know much."
"Is it true she has a mark on her hand as well?" Josephine asks.
"Yes. Solas is…well, I don't think I've ever seen him so puzzled. He says it should be impossible, but it is the same power that I have."
"Two Inquisitors? As if we didn't have enough problems."
"Are you suggesting I'm a problem, Commander?"
Cullen shakes his head at her teasing smile. "It willbe a problem if word of this leaves Skyhold."
"The Commander is right, of course. We grow more powerful by the day, but our enemies would certainly try to use this to their advantage," Josephine says.
"We are taking a great risk keeping her out in the open. We should place her in the dungeons until we know more of her intentions," Cullen mentions for the second time.
"No." Ellana remembers watching as Solas tends to the woman. He suggests they do not get too close in case their anchors were to react in a negative way, but she can't keep away. There is a connection there, even at a distance, that she can't quite explain.
"No," the Inquisitor repeats. "I don't think she's an enemy and I don't want her waking up behind bars. She isguarded. I'm not incredibly naive," she adds when she notices Cullen open his mouth to protest.
He sighs. "I know. I'm only suggesting caution."
"Of course. Is there anything else? A Blight? Two Blights?" Her advisers share a laugh with varying degrees of exasperation between them and inform her there is nothing more. "Well then, would you care to take a walk with me, Commander?"
"And I suppose we are unwanted? Come then, Josie. We'll have to find entertainment on our own." Leliana says as she and Josephine sweep from the room with amusement.
"Another productive afternoon, wouldn't you say?" Ellana asks as she loops her arm through Cullen's. For a moment he stiffens under her grasp, still unaccustomed to their open affections, until Ellana gives him a smile.
"There is still much to be done. Skyhold's repairs are complete, but I should see to-"
"Cullen," Ellana groans out his name and slips out of his grasp. She turns to face him and stops before the wide open doors of the main hall, an offended pout on her lips. "I just got back after weeks of being away. Did you even miss me?"
"Of course, I-you're right, forgive me." Cullen steps closer, wrapping an arm around her waist. His voice dips lower, a tone that vibrates through her pounding heart each time he speaks. She leans forward, fingers diving into the fur about his collar. "I still can't believe…"
Ellana tilts her head back, waiting for the kiss she knows will come, when a call rings out through the hall. "Your Worship, Your Worship!"
"Dread Wolf take all the messengers in this castle," she growls as Cullen pulls away to reveal the soldier approaching. "What is it?"
"The prison-I mean the special guest has woken up. You should come immediately."
"Get out of my way!" Ellana hears as they approach the secluded quarters. A small barrier of guards bar the entrance but move aside as she and the Commander approach. The room is slightly askew, a chair crumpled before a broken mirror. Keela stands on the far side of the bed with two Inquisition soldiers keeping her from moving too far, teeth pulled back in a snarl and eyes wild with anger.
When she sees Cullen, her enraged expression somewhat melts into relief. "Cullen, what is going on?"
"Have we met?"
"Has everyone gone mad?"
"She thinks she's the Inquisitor, ser," a guard reports.
"I am the Inquisitor! How many people have this?" She holds up her marked hand. Ellana steps from Cullen's shadow and lifts her own arm in response. The anchors shimmer and pulse as if greeting one another.
"At least two," Ellana says.
"How…I do not understand."
"Neither do we. Maybe we could talk and figure this out? Please." Ellana gestures to the bed and sits down at the nearby table. Keela takes a long moment to look around the room before sitting on the very edge of the bed. Ellana turns to the soldiers. "I think I can take it from here, thank you, and make sure to keep this issue quiet. Commander, please stay."
The two Inquisitors stare at one another in silence as the guards filter from the room. The quiet lingers, their eyes taking measure of one another in earnest for the first time. Ellana wonders where the elf is from, wearing the clothes of a Keeper, but no vallaslin. It is possible the garments were stolen and she would be inclined to believe it with the venom now rolling in those strange eyes. Yet Ellana remembers the look of agony Keela gave in the ruin. There is pain and confusion fueling this anger.
"My name is Ellana Lavellan, and you?"
Keela shakes her head. "Impossible. I am from clan Lavellan. I would know you."
"You're Dalish? But you have no vallaslin."
"I…" Keela lets out a long sigh, fingers coming up to trace lines no longer there. "I am called Keela and it is a long story."
When it is obvious she has no intention of telling it, Ellana presses on. "What were doing before you ended up here? Anything might be important."
"I was closing a rift we discovered after finding elven artifacts."
"Perhaps that is what caused this, whatever this is," Cullen says. "Weren't you closing the same one?"
"So I've traveled through time again? A time where I do not exist and you do?" Keela narrows her gaze. "Or this is some elaborate demon's trick to weaken me."
"If you've experienced anything like I have, I think you can tell the difference between the Fade and reality," Ellana says and the suspicion in Keela's eyes disintegrates.
"You are right. But I do not-"
It is then that Solas walks through the door and Keela's reaction is immediate. She jumps from the bed, fingers digging deep into her palms with surprise and rage warring across her features. Solas stops a few paces inside the door and glances between Ellana and their new acquiantance.
"I can assure you, I mean you no harm," he says and Keela lets out a dark laugh.
"I cannot say the same." She takes a threatening step forward as heat radiates from her fists. "You have much to answer for, hahren."
"Wait!" Ellana stands and places herself between them. "If this is not your time then he is not who you think he is. He is not your Solas."
The pressure growing inside the room snaps out of existence. Keela takes a step back as if she has been struck and turns away, but not before Ellana can see her features crumple. They fall silent, waiting, wondering what might happen next. Keela's voice is quiet, empty of malice and everything else, when she speaks again. "He must hold you in very high regard then if he did not abandon you after the final battle."
"What do you mean the final battle? You mean you've-you've defeated Corypheus?" Ellana asks, disbelief and excitement causing her heart to race.
Keela faces them again, her worried brows arching. "You haven't?"
"As much as I'd like to, I'm not really sure where he is. After the Winter Palace a couple months ago, we haven't-"
"The Winter Palace? It's been more than a year since then."
"You fought Corypheus and won?" Cullen says.
Ellana bounces on her heels. "You could tell us where to find him, how to defeat him. What ha-"
Solas steps to her side, stilling her words with the expression on his face. "Inquisitor, may I speak with you outside?"
"What? She can help us ends this!" Ellana shouts once they are in the hallway.
"It would appear, however fantastical, that she is indeed a person out of place, not only of a different world but time as well. I do believe we already know of the dangers of time traveling, but there is more to consider. By being here, she may already have altered our future, and to mettle with it further may cause unforeseen and dire consequences."
"You think if she tells us and we change time, something worse than Corypheus swallowing the world in darkness might happen?"
"It is possible, can you truly deny it? Will you risk all of Thedas on the idea that it would succeed for the better?"
Ellana lets out a frustrated sigh. "I suppose you're right, as usual. What do you think we should do?"
"I believe the rift could be the key. Perhaps if you were to open it again, she may be able to return to her own world. I suggest haste towards any solution. The longer she is here, the more irreparable damage may be caused."
"Then we'll return to the Hinterlands as soon as possible. And here I was hoping we'd get to lounge around Skyhold for at least a few days," she grumbles, her eyes seeking out Cullen's form in the room beyond. "I had plans."
"I am sorry."
"Hardly any of this is your fault, Solas. Although I'd be very interested to hear what you did in her world to cause such a reaction. She does not seem to like you one bit."
"Yes," Solas says and focuses his curious attention back towards their newest addition. Keela is already watching him with fire dancing in her yellow eyes. "So it would seem."