For the next three weeks, Solona found her efforts to get out of the house futile. No matter what she did, Leliana found a way to counter it; she tried to sneak out during the night, Leliana set traps for her to stumble into; she tried to sneak out during the day, Leliana hired someone to stand outside the door and stop her in her tracks. Even the windows, which Leliana refused to let Solona open until she agreed to talk, were barred from the outside.
She was even more agitated than usual as Leliana had recently returned from an errand-run with news that irked her to the core. Morrigan was back. How that bitch had the nerve to show her face, Solona didn't know. She'd been debating whether or not to track her down and was currently sat in her room, contemplating and playing with Ares's ears when she heard Leliana's voice from below, summoning her.
"Solona, you might want to take a look at this." Whatever 'this' was, Solona had a feeling she did not want to take a look at it. Knowing Leliana, it was probably a new dress or pair of shoes or something Orlesian. She dejectedly rolled off the edge of the bed and onto her feet and headed down the stairs to find Leliana standing by the door with an unopened cream envelope in her hands which she held towards Solona as she descended the stairs. As she took the paper from her and read Teagan's familiar handwriting, she didn't know whether to feel relieved... or angry. She skimmed the letter, looking for anything that interested her. In any normal situation, a letter from Teagan would've meant more to her but this was no normal situation. She was still angry over his defiance and even angrier that, judging by the contents of his letter, he'd clearly forgotten about it. She hastily scanned through the rest of the letter but felt her eyes falter she reached those three words.
I found him.
Over and over she read them, willing them to sink in.
"Is everything okay?" Leliana anxiously enquired. Solona's eves darted over the rest of the paper but Teagan had gone into no more detail than that of which he already had. Was he trying to spite her? Yes, she was relieved that Alistair was alive, but in what condition?
"It's from Teagan." She looked up from the letter towards Leliana whose expression was one of worry. Solona found herself smiling for the first time in months as she spoke, "He found Alistair." All plans to look for, possibly even kill, Morrigan vanished from her mind in that moment. She knew what her next move was.
Leliana's anxiousness, however, didn't vanish as she spoke.
"Solona, do you really think Alistair wants finding? Surely, he would've written to someone if he needed help."
Solona felt her anger rising and took a deep breath to compose herself before speaking calmly.
"Leliana please. If you do this with me, I swear to you, I won't cause you any more trouble. I realise I've put you through a lot in the past and I'm sorry for that. I never meant to screw up your life so much. When I walked into that Tavern, how was I supposed to know I was gonna meet a rogue sister?"
"But didn't I insist I come along? If I didn't want to be here, I wouldn't be." She smiled softly towards Solona. "I'm just trying to protect you. You don't know how Alistair's going to react." Solona saw in Leliana's eyes that she was deliberating something. "But, if this is what you really want... who am I to stop you?"
As she pulled Leliana into a tight hug, Solona couldn't work out if the tears that streamed from her eyes were that of joy or panic.
She had her destination.
Now it was just getting to it.