The group pressed on, fighting the cold that was slowly wearing them out. Varric tried to warm his fingers; he rubbed them together while grumbling about the cold, something along the lines of missing living beneath the earth. Solas merely shook his head at Varric's disposition. They finally made it to the temple, or rather what was left of it.

"By the tits of my ancestors! Where is the Temple?" Alysia cried.

"It's… gone," Cassandra said, examining Alysia's face closely. She noted how Alysia's eyes widen at the sight of charred remains, how their bodies barely retained its shape anymore.

"… We don't know how it happened but there was an explosion. Everything in between here and Haven were destroyed. We have no idea how the Breach came to be, all we know is that it swirls directly above where the Temple once stood."

"Nug balls. Shit. Um…so how exactly did I come out of that alive?"

"According to our scouts… you just did," Cassandra said slowly.

"What do you recall last about the Conclave?" Cassandra asked.

"I don't know… like I said earlier. Eyes. Chasing me. Person on top of a mountain. Hand. Prison."

"Hold on Snowflake, you were at the Conclave?" asked Varric, his brows furrowing.

"Yeah. Weren't you?"

Everyone shook their heads simultaneously and shared glances at each other. Varric eyed Alysia suspiciously, a question forming in his head.

"So. We've got a person of rank who was allowed to be at the Conclave and no one bothered to ask why she was there?"

Solas shrugged at his question.

"Her reason for being there is besides the point. She survived that explosion where no else did," Cassandra interjected.

Varric narrowed his eyes at Cassandra, "All you care about is the Divine, Seeker."

"Don't start Varric," Solas warned.

"And why should I listen to you apostate? We know nothing about you, for all we know you could have caused this."

"If I did cause the Breach I would've ensured your death came swiftly with it, child of stone." Solas snarled.

"Solas! You're not helping," Cassandra yelled.

"Defending an apostate—"

"Knock it off! All of you," Alysia screamed, louder than she intended to.

The three of them stared at her; mouths gaping at her outburst.

Alysia hesitated for a second then began.

"Okay Varric, you want your answers. Fine. My name is Alysia Trevelyan, youngest daughter to Bann Trevelyan of the Free Marches. I was sent to the Conclave for… reasons. Now will all of you please stop fighting?" Alysia said, curtsying."Fucking hell. And Aurelia thought I was childish," she grumbled to herself while shaking her head.

Varric smirked at Alysia, "Well kid, maybe I should call you Spitfire instead?"

"Now is not the time to jest," Cassandra said tersely, continuing their journey through the rubble.

"No need to be angry Seeker, I was just trying to lighten the mood."

Alysia for one was thankful for Varric's humor. More so when the smell of sulphur and flesh started to burn her lungs. The ground made an awful crunching sound with each step they took, probably bones Alysia thought. She squirmed internally at the thought.

"Be on your guard," Cassandra said as the Breach slowly came into view.

"This day just keeps getting better and better," mumbled Varric to himself, eyeing the red lyrium around them with disgust.

The enormity of the wreckage came into full view as they got closer the center of the Temple. Just as the came around the bend of the slope, a voice rumbled from somewhere. Alysia stood frozen to her spot, feeling the voices melding into something familiar. The voice echoed, it called out in pain and begged to be saved. Her voice held some form of familiarity but Alysia could not remember why it did. The Breach now swirled directly above them, its light painted a shade of green over everyone's faces. Slightly below it was another rift, but this one was much larger than the others Alysia and her companions had came across. The voice called out again and Alysia racked her brains for answers, but alas, she found none. That was until she heard her voice and soon everything made sense to her.

"That was you," Solas said.

"She called out to you. The Divine called out to you and you did nothing," Cassandra spat and gripped Alysia by the collar.

"Hold on a minute. I am just as surprised as you are!" Alysia cried out.

"You lied to me—," bellowed Cassandra, but their dispute was cut short when the rift started to contort itself. Several green lines streamed onto the snowy ground, tall green shards emerged slowly from where the lines were, the shards sharp enough to cut through flesh.

"I hardly think this is the time," Varric called out, Bianca at the ready.

Cassandra removed her grip over Alysia's collar and unsheathed her sword. Aggravated by the Seeker, Alysia cursed under her breath and cautiously approached the rift, drawing her daggers out. Her heels pressed deep into the ground, and her hands shook from fear. The soldiers that had followed them into the ruin readied themselves at Cassandra's orders.

"…Anytime now," Solas whispered under his breath.

As soon as Solas muttered those words, a huge Pride demon popped out from the rift. It's large body covered with dark scales, its teeth bared.

"Seal the rift and break its guard," Solas cried out to Alysia while freezing the demon's upper body.

She nodded at his instruction and tried to make her way towards it, but she found herself unpleasantly blocked by the demon who suddenly lunged towards her. She jumped backwards and sprinted the other way around; Alysia let out a steady breath while looking for a way to get to the rift. Finding her point of exit, she readied herself and slid in between the Pride demon's feet and ran towards the rift. Noting her actions, Cassandra called out the demon, in an attempt to distract it from Alysia. Varric ran as quickly as he could and shot a myriad of arrows at the demon, and praised Bianca for her aim.

This isn't magic, Alysia chanted in her head .

Believing some truth in her words, she extended her arm and used her mark to seal the rift; with each second the demon seemed to take damage from it. Alysia felt her arm shaking from pain but begged herself to endure. She saw the demon fall to its knees from the corner of her eyes just as she successfully sealed the rift.

She felt the itch in her palm decreasing, slowly feeling exhaustion taking over her. Her knees buckled, without warning and she fell face first onto the ground. She awoke to fire crackling beside her, her head pounded steadily as she tried to open her eyes. She held her head in her heads, and wondered if it had all been a dreadful dream; but the dull ache from her left arm dashed all hopes of it ever being one.

The room smelt of wood smoke and elfroot, the smell eased her perturbed mind. She lay motionless in bed for a few seconds and decided that she had to get up. She swung herself off the bed and gripped the headboard of the bed to steady her feet on to the wooden floor. The cool surface sent chills down her spine, just then she heard a clank—an elf dropped the bucket she was holding in fright at the end of Alysia's bed.

"I-I did not know that you were awake! Are you hurt?" she asked, as she rushed to Alysia side, examining her wounds.

Alysia tried to reassure the girl that she was unduly worried. But the girl kept on rambling about this being a miracle. "I have to inform Lady Cassandra about your condition, Herald," the elf said, rushing out of the room.

Needless to say, Alysia's face was the definition of confused.

Herald? She wondered.

Alysia shook her head, puzzled at the elf's reaction. She searched about the room for her belongings and found her new dagger on top of a table along with a log detailing the stages of her recovery. On the chair lay a set of leather armor and below it were her boots. She wondered where her old armor was, but the thought soon left her mind when she smelt fresh baked bread from a distance. Her stomach rumbled loudly at the smell, her hunger evident.

She opened her door in hopes to find this appetizing smell but instead she was greeted by quite the spectacle.

Dozens of people lined up before her, the crowd to give way to her. Whispers escaped their lips, but everyone fell silent as she passed through them. Then she heard someone call out to her, calling her Herald.

Again with the Herald, she thought to herself, puzzled.

"Sent by Andraste herself," another spoke.

Her stomach dropped. Her day was not looking up.


She cursed herself for her continuous bad luck. In a short span of an hour, she found herself right in the middle of Cassandra declaring the reestablishment of the Inquisition. She caught Chancellor Roderick glaring at her during this announcement, most probably wanting her head on a stick quicker than she could say 'I'm innocent'.

She decided to escape her misfortune by getting to know Haven's people but that turned out to be a horrible idea. The shopkeeper turned out to be a bleeding swindler. The quartermaster supported Loghain and still does. Haven was short on supply, no horses, not enough food to go around and the forces' morale was low. After meeting Adan and mentally noting that he was slowly turning into a mad man, Alysia found Solas right outside of a hut. He was sitting on the ground, inspecting a tattered book he found at the Temple of Sacred Ashes. Alysia crept behind him and wondered what that book was about.

"It's rude to stare, Herald," Solas said, surprising her.

She placed a two fingers in front of him , "One, I'm not called Herald, it's Alysia. Two, I was not staring, I was just curious. Am I not allowed to be?" Alyisa challenged.

Solas narrowed his eyes at her, "No... but curious people do wind up dead. We don't want that now, do we?"

Alysia gulped. Surely he must be joking, she thought.

"So, what in Maker's name are you doing Solas?", she asked, her eyes boring into his.

"Reading," he said curtly.

Oh seriously? I thought you were making patchwork, she thought to herself bitterly.

"I know that! But what are you reading?" she asked, eagerly.

"It's about the Fade,"

"Oh... the Fade... Charming," Alysia said, propping herself to the ground next to him.

Solas smiled pleasantly at her presence, "Do you not like the idea of the Fade, Herald?". The title dripping with sarcasm.

It's Alysia, you twat.

"No it's not that... I've always wondered what it was. I heard mages in the Circle of Ostwick entering the Fade for their Harrowing. But... I never really understood any of it."

He slammed his book shut and turned to her.

"So, what would you like to know about the Fade?"

"Well.. what is it actually?" she asked.

"Rather than wondering what the Fade is, one should wander what can it actually do?"

"What do you mean?" Alysia asked, her face inching closer to Solas.

He could feel her breath against him, steady; his eyes shot up to her face, he noted how her hair truly matched the snow, his gaze fell lower, to her full lips, wondering if they were as soft as it looked. He slowly felt himself losing himself in her presence and found it to be unnerving; he heard Alysia calling his name out several times interrupting his gaze on her. He cleared his throat, pushing whatever thought he had about her and begun telling her about the first time he encountered the Fade.


Alysia sat there for a long time listening intently to Solas explaining about the Fade. He told her of his stories during the Fade and his spirit friends, Wisdom and Purpose. She couldn't help but notice the lines at the side of his eyes crinkle every time he smiled. His eyes was the most gorgeous blue she had ever seen in her life, it reminded her of the sea, beautiful but darker when you got deeper into it. She snapped up from her thoughts when she realised that Solas had been waiting for her response.

"So... you speak to demons?" she asked.

Solas' face contorted in to displeasure. "They were not demons when I encountered them. The Fade reflects you, all that you are appears in the Fade with you. With proper understanding and knowledge, Spirits can be life long friends."

"That's amazing!" Alysia exclaimed, grinning.

Solas approved of her enthusiasm, smiling at her. The lines that Alysia started to adore appeared on the sides of his eyes.

"You look at the world in a wonderful way, Solas. I've never met anyone like you," she said, feeling a little embarrassed at what she just said.

Intrigued, Solas lifted his eyebrow, "I'm glad you think so."

Alysia could definitely feel herself blushing, she bit her lower lip and cast her glance towards the ground.

"Could we... possibly be friends then?" she asked, her gaze still on the ground.

"That... well..." he paused when he saw Alysia slowly glancing at him, her eyes peeking at him from below her lashes.

He gulped.

Afraid of his rejection, Alysia got up suddenly.

"... I should be on my way now. Attending to Herald matters," she said, walking off.

Herald matters, he chuckled to himself.

What an intriguing human, he thought while waving good-bye to her and returning to his book.


Alysia found herself wandering outside of Haven, somewhat thankful that she could finally find some peace and quiet, away from people who kept calling her Herald or whatever divine Chantry bullshit they could come up with. She buried her face in her hands and grumbled. Her long hair completely washing over her body.

She bent her back backwards, lifting her head towards the still sky, taking a lungful of the crisp cold air. She felt a pang of sadness hit her; reality slowly seeped into her when she realized that she was truly the only person who survived the Conclave.

She clenched her fingers into a ball, and hit the rock that she was sitting on. She cried not from the pain on her sore knuckles but rather because she had nothing and no one. She dearly missed her sister, for whatever it was worth- her father and the help, the smell of home, the long strips of crop fields, and the busy marketplace, mostly during the Grand Tourney. She and Aurelia attended it for as long as she could remember, watching people from all walks of life show their valour and martial prowess during the games.

Sighing, she turned her hands over, gazing at her palms. She noted the difference between her left and right palm. Staring at them made her heart ache.

She missed the things that made her Alysia. Just Alysia.