"What was that?" The Herald, Mia Trevelyan, asked.
"I think we could have done without these things getting any weirder," Varric answered.
"The veil is weaker here than in Haven, and not merely weak but altered in a way I have not seen," Solas added.
"We need to find out what is going on, but be on your guard. Wait, what is that?" She pointed to an odd shaped pile, and moved closer to it.
"Careful sister, no telling what might have fallen out of that rift," Maxwell said.
"Solas, it's an elf and she hurt!" Mia cried excitedly. She was dramatic sometimes, but she seemed to genuinely care about the well-being of others.
"Well, Shit, was she there the whole time? Or did she fall out of the rift as well?" Varric asked.
He didn't hesitate to kneel beside the girl. He ran a hand over her to know her injuries before moving her. Along with a broken arm and rib there was a deep gash along her side and she had lost a lot of blood. She was also very cold. "A restorative potion please, in my bag." He handed it to her and she dug through it while he stopped the bleeding. Until he set her broken bones the only help he could give her was something to help with regaining her strength. "I'll lift her head you give her the potion, slowly, she is very weak."
"Is she going to be okay?" Mia whispered. "Maker, she so small, there is no tattoo, but is it possible she is Dalish?"
"She is very weak and her breathing is very shallow, but I do not think we are too late. Hopefully the cold has worked in her favor to slow the blood loss. " Mia wasn't wrong, the girl was small even for an elf, though she was no child. Full breasts pressed against the thin cotton shirt, and a narrow waist flared just at her hips. He held her head while she gave her the potion, just a few drops at a time. He let out the breath he was holding when she began to swallow it. He continued to send healing magic into her wound, closing the deepest of it and working his way out. He could feel the Fade on her. Another survivor of the Breach? Could it be possible there were more? Were some of them trapped physically in the Fade? He shuddered at the thought. Once the wound was sealed he covered her in a barrier of heat to warm her.
"Did she come out of the rift Solas?" Mia kept her voice low and glanced over her shoulder.
Varric and Maxwell were talking with the guard at the gate. Cassandra was talking with one of the Inquisition scouts.
"I am uncertain, but I can feel the Fade on her, perhaps she was too close to the rift. Or pulled through from another opening up near her. There is still much we do not know about these rifts. If she wakes and remembers, perhaps she can tell us more." He moved on to the rib and the girl groaned as he put it back in place. He could feel the sweat on his brow. "Lyrium please." Mia opened the vial and put it to his lips tipping it as he tipped his head back. "Thank you." The rush of lyrium coursed through his veins and for just a moment sent his senses reeling from the rush of sudden power. He hated needing to resort to lyrium, but until his orb was returned he would have to make due. "Lord Trevelyan, I require your assistance. I need to set her arm. Would you please hold her still."
"Of course." Mia's brother, Maxwell, knelt at the girls head and gripped her shoulders. He looked past Solas into the woods and narrowed his eyes.
"What do you see?" he asked him.
"I'm not sure. It was big and for a moment I thought it was watching the girl, but it's moved out of sight," he said.
"Whatever it is, it can't do her harm now."
"It's not her I'm worried about," Maxwell said.
Varric watched the trees with Bianca ready in case something attacked.
Solas gripped the girl's arm above the break and just below it. "Hold her still." He pulled the arm and set the bones together. "It is a clean break and should heal fully." Though he doubted anyone cared but him. After knitting the bone he ran his hands over the small cuts along her arms and face. Her bruises could wait, he needed to conserve his mana in case they found themselves in a fight later.
"She sure is pretty." Maxwell said as he stood. Solas was offended instantly by his comment. Humans were happy enough to sleep with an elf one minute but treated them like animals the next.
"Herald, a healing potion please. Now that her bones are set she can have one." She pulled one from his bag and took the cork from it. He cradled the girl's head, lifting her up to drink it. As soon as she swallowed it he felt the soft pulse of energy crawl across her skin. A mage. Perhaps she had been turned out of her clan because there were too many mages. It happened more often than the Dalish cared to admit. Especially to those with weak abilities. It would explain the lack of Vallaslin. He thought it the most likely but as the potions began to work, her magical energy increased. Perhaps she was a city elf who had escaped notice. He doubted she was with the Rebel Mages or she would be wearing a mages robe. Her clothing, if it could be called such, was unlike anything he'd seen before. Her shirt was of thin cotton, similar to something worn under clothing. He wouldn't call those breeches either. They stopped mid-thigh. She had no real protection from the elements and there were no weapons nearby. "She is stable for now, but she has lost a lot of blood."
Some of the scouts joined them and offered to take the girl back to the main camp and have the surgeon watch over her. "Also, I want someone to ask about her in Redcliffe, find out if anyone knows her. If not, we will take her back to Haven with us. When she recovers we will help her get home," Mia said. She gave his shoulder a squeeze. "Thank you, Solas."
He grabbed his pack and his staff and stood. He moved away from the girl to let the scouts move her onto a stretcher. Mia was grinning at him. "Something amusing, Herald?"
"I was just thinking how the rift like to send us gifts, some good, and some bad," she said.
"Most of them try to kill us, Rosie. I'm not sure I see the humor in this one," Varric said.
"I think you will in time, Varric," she said.
"She isn't going to have a tag along is she, Chuckles?" Varric asked.
With her being below an active rift or coming through the Fade was she possessed? "No, any spirit or demon would have healed her, or altered her form from her pain, she is 'tag along' free." Though he was beginning to think she wasn't a simple elf.
"Good, now let's go meet with Fiona," Mia said.
No one in Redcliffe knew who the girl was, but then he hadn't expected anyone to. They stopped at the main camp to check on her injuries and to find if any of the scouts had found anything different about the girl.
"Nothing? No one has seen her? What about the guard outside of Redcliffe? The one that wouldn't let us through the last time," Mia asked.
"No one has spoken to an elf of her description, in or around the city. It is possible she arrived just before you did, or in the night and was ambushed. Though her clothes weren't splattered with just blood, but demon filth. Whatever she fought wasn't human. Before you go, you should know the surgeon holds little hope for the girl. She's broken out in a fever and she's had little luck cooling her." Solas' jaw twitched at the news - they understood little of healing. How half of their injured survived surprised him.
"I would like to check on the girl, Herald," he said.
She followed him into the surgeon's tent, where they found the girl stripped of her clothes and wet rags covering most of her skin. "Herald, I'm not sure what more I can do for her. There is an herb that reduces fevers but we are out. The field, where I know to gather some, burned during the fighting last month and I've been unable to get anymore."
"Solas will see to the girl, would you give us a moment?" Mia asked.
The woman eyed him warily. "Aye. Your healing skills are incredible, ser. She shouldn't even be alive after her injury."
"Had we found her any later, I doubt I would have been able to save her." The woman left and he sat next to the girl, and began removing the rags from her body. "Herald, would you find her a blanket please. Her 'fever' is her own magic taking over the healing process and not a fever." He began to wonder just who the young elf was. Few elves in this age had the ability to heal themselves while they slept.
She brought one near. "This is the softest I could find. So she is a mage? Then she could be a First, or even a Second for her clan?"
"You know much about the Dalish. Few humans care to learn anything about them. Though, I'm not certain she is Dalish." Her knowledge surprised him. If the girl had walked among the Dalish she had left intentionally. She looked young, but her power and the control over her magic led him to believe she had at least been formally trained. Her small size would add to the deception and she could probably live with a clan for a number of years before they questioned her lack of aging.
"There is a clan in the Free Marches between Ostwick and Wycome. They are friendlier than most and trade freely with towns along the coast. When I was very young, my mother and I were returning from visiting my father's Aunt when we were attacked by bandits. Dalish hunters came to our rescue and their Keeper tried to save my mother. She lived only long enough for them to find my father and bring him to their camp. While I was with them I learned a lot about them. I'm sure it was to distract me from worrying about my mother. One of them taught me to shoot a bow. Anytime they were trading near Ostwick he would visit and check on my progress."
"Interesting. Both that they saved you from bandits as well as cared to teach you," he said.
"He said it was no accident that our paths had crossed. Of course, I was certain he simply said it to make me notice him. He was a bit of a flirt and only a few years older than I was, but now I wonder if there was more to it." She brushed away a tear.
"Forgive me I didn't mean to bring up unpleasant memories. I was simply curious," he told her.
"No, it's not that. Mahanon had become a good friend and was at Haven before the Breach. He said his Keeper sent their First to find out more about the Mage/Templar conflict. He came to accompany her because they were going to be married. They were both lost to the explosion as well as the family members I accompanied. Simply another time in my life where I survive and those I care about do not." She took a deep breath and let it out. "Her color is looking better." She placed a hand on her forehead. "She isn't as warm as she was earlier."
He wouldn't press her further. The loss of life at the Conclave was uncalled for. He'd not expected the Magister to choose such a public place. Another time he'd foolishly underestimated the people in this world.
He took the elf's wrist and felt her pulse. "Her pulse is stronger and her breathing isn't as shallow. I think the worse is over." She was drawing strength from the Fade, another reason he was certain she was no modern elf.
"Is she well enough to move? We need to get to Master Dennett's again but we can do that tomorrow on our return to Haven, " she said.
"She is. She only needs rest. You still intend to take her to Haven with us?" He had questions for the girl, but was surprised the Herald was so eager to help her. At least he was until he heard her experience with the Dalish. If only his own had gone so well.
"No one here knows her. She has no weapons, no armor, no provisions and will still need days to recover. What she wore before couldn't be called clothes but now thanks to the surgeon she has no clothes at all. It would be irresponsible to leave her for those reasons alone. What if she was at the Conclave? Even if not I have questions about how she got here and who she is. I don't want her interrogated by Leliana's scouts, she is not our enemy and I would not have them insult her by treating her like one. We know Alexius is messing with Time Magic is it possible that she was somehow pulled to this time? It's a crazy theory, but what if she was there and was drug into the Fade with me, but somehow her timeline was messed with, and instead of being trapped in there for a month - to her it was a day."
"It is a fantastic idea, but improbable. I am, however, impressed that you thought of such a theory."
"Why? Because I'm young? Or not a mage?" she asked.
"I - Forgive me, I meant no offense. You simply continue to surprise me."
"Your opinion of people must be really low then."
"Not entirely, but few care to seek a deeper meaning and prefer to simply take things at face value. They are swayed by popular opinion rather than seek any information on their own."
"I suppose that's a fair assessment of some, but even those that seem shallow and vapid are scheming. One does not deal with nobility without knowing how the game is played. Sometimes you make an outward appearance of going with the masses while subtly planning to turn them all on their asses. You don't stay single at 22, without taking a hit to your reputation, unless you can expertly turn attention elsewhere."
He laughed at the imagery. "You surprise me again."
This time she laughed. "Good! If nothing else it temporarily wipes that constant scowl off your face."
"It is not a scowl," he said.
"Right, and I'm the Herald of Andraste."