Valoll awoke with a scream bursting from her mouth, the dam holding back her tears breaking under the pressure.

The sorrow. The pain.

Her halla companion lifted its head from the dewy grass, snorting at her for making such a sudden nose, before it rested again and slowly slumbered away.

The elf quickly wiped at her cheeks, rubbing the skin raw with friction as she erased any sign of her distress. Another morning ruined by waking from her awful dreams.

"Your dreams are more than just your imagination. You dream in the Fade and see the memories left behind by those that came before."

Valoll sighed as the Keeper's words echoed in her head. The explanation did not help her one bit. She could never remember what it was that awoke her, but the emotions were enough of an answer. Her belly ached and nausea washed over her.

Eyes. Red eyes. She could remember them, and that was the first she ever remembered from her dreams, from the Fade and its memories.

It stalked her like she was prey and it would eat her alive with a bloody grin. It stalked her for entertainment, the punchline of a joke, the one forced to run and hope they would escape its claws to win its game.

She looked up, eyes finding the distinct change of leafy green forest that turned into flatland and then shifted into sharp, snowy mountains. They had been walking for days now, four if she counted correctly, and this would be their fifth. They would be at the Conclave by the end of the sixth.

There had been others making the pilgrimage into the Frostback Mountains. A group of clerics, each dressed in clean white and red robes with gold accents, had their hands clasped together as they walked solemnly down the roads. The halla had kept to the trees, but Valoll watched them keenly, as well as looked out for bandits.

It was the night before that she had first seen the Soldiers of the Chantry. The Templars, she remembered hearing from afar.

They were dressed in thick leathers and steel armor, their emblem bright on their chest plates and swords tight on their hip. She made sure to not run into them. The clerics had been kind, waving sweetly to Valoll and offering her company on the journey, but she disappeared back into the trees with one tilt of her heels into the halla's side.

Her head tilted back until it landed softly on the cold marble that she had slept against all night. The soft gray was a smooth contrast compared to the greens around her. Her eyes found the smooth cut of the statue, the smallest accent nicks to show the ruffle of fur, the curve of an ear, the blunt eyes that held more than she knew about.

The wolf had watched the forest for her that night, protected her, but never saw her.

"May the Dread Wolf never hear your steps," she whispered, tongue rolling with the accents of her mother tongue, before switching to the King's language, the one she slowly remembered over the year since she first awoke.

It flowed with the breeze that tousled her hair over her shoulder.

The Keeper had retold the story of the Evanuris, the elvhen gods that they invoked during a hunt and during Arlathvhen, when the clans met to retell the story of the People, and during the midst of battle and during death.

Valoll and the halla had a late start that day. After they shared the last of her sweet bun, and drank heavily from the small stream near the road, the elf filled her water skin full with the cool water and they set out again.

There was a tiny village just before the land started to shift into an incline. Four buildings clustered fairly close with almost endless farmland behind the largest one. There was a woman, dressed in once-fine robes, at one of the doors begging for food. The door was slammed in her face.

When she turned, Valoll noticed the sharpness of her ears, but her face was bare of the markings she had seen on the other elves. She had not seen another elf like her, without their 'blood-writing' as they called it.

The woman slowly slumped down the small walkway, her arms wrapped around her middle to ease the pain of hunger. Valoll looked down at the halla for a moment, before sliding off (the blisters for their ride now scabbed and callouses around showing on the rubbed skin from the friction of the leather and the halla's back) as she dug into her bag for the last of the bird she had from the Arbor Wilds.

The other elf stopped near the gate, watching as Valoll dug around for the grease paper. When she found it, Valoll pulled it out and unwrapped it, the moisture of the night before leaving a sticky residue behind. She held it out for the hungry elf, and the woman gapped at her in surprise.

"Eat," she said firmly, holding it out.

The elf just stared at it. Valoll frowned. "It won't kill you. I just hunted it a few days ago."

The words felt awkward, and she was tempted to use the elvhen language instead, but this elf did not hold the same vallas'lin as the others.

The elf then stared at her, her mouth trying to form words and when Valoll grew impatient, she took the remaining step, grabbed the woman's hand, and clasp it around the grease paper.

"Eat," Valoll repeated, before turning to walk back to the halla. It snorted at her cooly but waited for her to raise her leg and throw it over its back again.

"Wait!" The woman shouted, causing Valoll to pause with her leg half-raised. She lowered it and looked at the elf woman in the nice robes. Her face was flushed with embarrassment. "T-thank you. You didn't have to do that."

"You're hungry," Valoll says, with a slight shrug. "I know what it is like to be hungry for days on end. No thanks needed."

With a nod to herself, she continues the leap onto the halla and it slowly begins to walk again.

"W-wait! I'm sorry, wait!"

Valoll sighs, and the halla complains when they pause again. The elf jogs to catch up, one hand grasping the meat to her chest while the other pulls up the hem from her dress.

"A-are you going to the Conclave?"

Valoll raised a brow. What exactly was going on at this gathering? She had heard, in passing and from Flemeth, of hundreds of people would be there. About what, however, she was unaware. She nodded and the elf sighed in relief.

"May I w-walk with you? I don't feel s-safe with bandits in the overpasses and I have someone that will pay you for your trouble when we arrive!" She said quickly, making it slightly difficult for Valoll to understand, but once the words fell in order, the rogue elf sat for a moment, contemplating. Payment meant gold, and she would surely need it after delivering Flemeth's package.

With a sigh, Valoll fell to her feet on the ground again. With a soft nod toward the trees to the halla, a snort in return as a reply, it turned and walked back into the treeline. Valoll pulled her small notebook from her satchel and made a quick, uneasy mark at the bottom of the page. They were replaced immediately after.

"Come, we have far to go," Valoll said, waving toward the other elf. She rushed the last couple steps to catch up and then they fell in a silent walk.

When they reached the path that led up the mountain, the woman spoke softly.

"My name is Shae. 'Ma serannas, falon."

Valoll looked at her from the corner of her eye. "No need to be so formal, da'len."

Shae's eyes brightened considerably. Her tongue poked out between her teeth as she smiled. Her bare cheeks grew rosy.

"I am Valoll."

Shae repeated the name, letting it roll off her tongue and tried to move around her thick accent, but the hard vowels and the roll of 'oh' and 'l' made her pause.

"You don't have a simpler version of it, no?"

Valoll shook her head. "The name the man told me when I woke up."

Shae's brows shut up to her hairline. "When you woke up?"

Valoll nodded, hand going up to reposition the string of her bow. It was cutting into the side of her neck. "I woke up about a year ago with no memory. This man, gave me my bow and my notebook, before he told me my name was Valoll and set me off. I've been in the, ah, Arbor Wilds, is it? I've been there ever since."

"So you're... not Dalish?"

Valoll nods, again. "As far as I'm aware. I came across a few clans. They were not very friendly, but I stayed with one for some time before they traveled further west. I was heading east."

Shae was a small noise in her throat. "I was Dalish. On my tenth summer, my magic came. There were already three others... my clan couldn't handle any more and sent me off. I found the Circle and they taught me how to use my magic. I am grateful for them."

Was Dalish.

Valoll gave the other elf a solemn look, but interest took over. "The Circle?" She questioned.

Shae hummed, before explaining. "You probably wouldn't remember, or even know. It is a school, I suppose you could call it, led by the Chantry to help those learn to control their magic."

The dark haired elf nodded to her companion, adjusting her bow again.

They walked in a comfortable silence from there, only speaking when Shae offered a soft thanks as Valoll helped her over some fallen boulders and steep rocks. As night fell, they camped under a small alcove in the mountain, Shae's magic keeping them warm. At the sound of bandits, however, they sat in the cool air, Valoll ready for them to attack with a nocked arrow. The bandits never found them. They slept in shifts.

As the sun rose, they started their journey again. They would reach the Conclave by nightfall, should the snow not slow them down any more than they were already walking.

Shae shared with Valoll the last of the bird in the grease paper, and they both prayed that there would be more food at the Conclave. The snow only slowed them slightly.

"Valoll, what do you remember? I mean, from before you woke up and the man told you your name."

She was silent for a moment, trying to cipher through what she had learned during her past year and what she remembered on her own before the man informed her.

"How to shoot an arrow," she answered, almost automatically. Her hand subconsciously came up to position the string across her chest at a different angle. It had been cutting into her neck. "He said I was the best of my faction, only second to him."

Valoll looked to her companion. "He was like you. The magic, I mean. A... mage, is it? He said he healed me, but the damage had already been done.

"All you remembered was how to shoot an arrow?"

Valoll gave a loud snort of laughter, shaking her head.

"Muscle memory, da'len." Valoll chided, and the mage felt her cheeks flush in the cold brush. "I do remember more with each passing day, but it is very faint."

"Such as?"

Valoll looked at Shae from the corner of her eye. "You're a very nosy one, aren't you?" The girl's cheeks grew brighter, and Valoll chuckled.

"I apologize, falon, I did not mean to overstep your kindness."

The elder of the two shook her head. "No overstepping to be seen. I just find it odd that you're so interested in me."

"You're an interesting woman, Valoll." Shae's accent made the rolling of her tongue odd, and she pulled a rather odd look as well. "Valoll… such a strange name. I've never heard something like it before."

The elf could only shrug before speaking. "I remember my… mother. Or, I think she was my mother. Very kind. Beautiful hair the same shade of the moon reflecting on smooth waters. But she was firm, as well. Punished only when there was no other options. There were others like me, although we were not siblings."

Shae watched the changing emotions on Valoll's face. Curiosity reshaped into nostalgia, and from there it warped into sorrow. Remorse. Regret for memories she could not remember and when she tried it made her head pound in frustration.

"She wounds wonderful," Shae said softly. Valoll finally smiles.

She was. She was the best of them all.

Before Valoll can question her new friend on her own past, Shae goes rushing past, stumbling over loss rocks on their path. She made a sound that surprised the archer, and quickened her steps as well to follow. Shae stopped at the crest of the hill and stared.

The snow was a reflection of oranges and pinks from the waning sun, but in the distance, Valoll could just barely make out two lines, one coming from the west and the other from the east, marching in almost perfect sync with one another. They still had much of the day to travel, but finally seeing their goal renewed hope into the duo.

"The Conclave," Shae whispers, almost in awe, her pale blue eyes following the line coming from the west. The others of the Mage rebellion, both apostates and Circle mages alike that looked to find compromise in the battle that had been waging for endless times. "We're so close, Valoll…"

The archer stood behind the mage, eyes flipping between the two groups. Which side would this Morrigan be on? Or would she be a neutral third party meant to keep the peace?

"Come, falon, we're almost there!" Shae exclaimed, grabbing Valoll's free hand and the two went rushing down the hill, arriving back onto a path. Other soon followed, many dressed in the same robes as Shae. Valoll awkwardly walked beside the mage, glancing around. She felt out of place in her leathers and bare feet. The snow soaked through Shae's soles, setting a chill in her toes, but Valoll walked confidently with bare feet, however she was slightly hesitant when they grew closer and closer to the two lines.

Shae seemed to be gravitating toward the line coming from the west.

The line of armored men coming from the east held dirty eyes in the two women's direction. Valoll kept her eyes down, toward the snow and picking out each specific piece of snow she would step on so no to make eye contact.

"Shae! Shae!" A small voice shouted across the never-ending snowscape, before a woman with skin the same color as freshly turned soil appeared against the bright back drop. Her robes were the same deep blue of Shae's, and her curly hair puffed out from her head like a cloud that followed to try and smother the sun of her smile.

"Odette!" the elf cheered at a volume that should not be known to this realm, and the two clashed somewhere in the middle, falling in the snow and laughing as two children would. Valoll smiled as she watched on, and stood a few feet away, giving the two girls a moment to each other.

The dark skinned girl pressed happy kisses to the elf's face, speaking quickly in a language Valoll was not familiar with. Shae answered back fluently, she could suppose, and the two rolled for a moment before they sat up.

"Odette, mon cherie, let me introduce you to someone," Shae says, pressing a kiss to Odette's cheek before smothering it with a grin. "This is Valoll. She helped me here."

Odette looked up, pushing her hair from her eyes. Valoll was surprised at the tears that watered in the corner of her brown eyes.

"Merci! Merci beaucoup!" Odette said, and Valoll could only assume it was something similar to giving thanks. The elf nodded to the woman. She looked away as the two kissed a lover's chaste kiss. The two held the moment timidly between each other, to the best of their ability. Others looked on with small disgust, but the mages were not fazed.

Valoll walked away from them, but kept between the two marching lines, searching for a better view of the Conclave.

This was it.

This was where Valoll would learn of who she was before she awoke with nothing but darkness to remember. The man had told her to look east, following where the sun rose every day, and continue until it fell behind her when the moon took its place. He had spoken softly but urgently, kissed her temple much like a father to a young child, and sent her on her way with a bow and a notebook.

Her notebook.

Valoll pulled the bound parchment from her satchel and made another mark on the page with the charcoal ember. Once it was closed, she could only look on solemnly. Replacing them back into her bag, packed neatly against her blanket, her fingers brushed against the silk pouch.

This was it.

Shae tugged on Valoll's elbow, pulling her through the snow as Odette took the lead.

"Where are we going?" Valoll asked her, stumbling over a boulder buried under the soft fluff covering the ground.

"I want you to meet the rest of my Circle! They will simply adore you, Val!"

The elf could not comment on the shortening of her name before her hand came loose from Shae's own and they separated in the thick of the crowd near the entrance of the Conclave. Valoll did her best to keep up, stepping on toes and shoving through the people to keep close to the two mages who were giggling to each other in their native tongue.

She lost them in the winding hallways.

Valoll kept near the wall, out of the way of the many servants – elves, they were elves, just like she and Shae; some had their cheeks and foreheads brilliantly covered in vallaslin while others were bare and held short looks with her. When the hall became thick with people again, many of them excitingly murmuring of 'the Divine' and 'something to finally end the war', Valoll turned into a quiet hall and took some moments to herself.

Now to find Morrigan and deliver her end of the bargain.

Making her way to the other end of the hall in hopes to go around the crowd, Valoll stopped short outside a pair of doors. It had been the strangest sound… She took two steps before a very distinct voice cried out for help.

Was someone being attacked?

Valoll took a deep breath and looked to both ends of the hall. There was no one to the left and to the right was nothing but a crowd that she could not hear herself think over.

She opened the doors quickly, looking at the scene with surprise.

"What's going on here?"

And then there was a bright flash of light.