A/N: I really hope that you enjoy this chapter!
WARNING:
There is a slight mention of cannibalism, not a large one but it's still there. Please skip over it if you do not feel comfortable.
Present Time, Haven, 9:41 Dragon
Our arrival back in Haven was met with little fanfare, as we brought our news back to the War Table. I quickly popped into Josephine's office to drop the Tranquil skull off to Minaeve, hopefully she would be able to make something of it.
(It had taken a well timed blow to the pedestal with my scythe and a blast of fire magic from Solas to actually detach the two from each other. Callon and Kaiden had been at the base of the hill, ready to catch the skull as it flew towards them.)
"Mother Giselle arrived a few days ago with a contingent of refugees, and Horsemaster Dennet has sent word that he will arrive within the next week or so."
Leliana spoke, as Josephine took notes and Cullen added markings to the map on the table. Cassandra was leaning against the wall, watching and listening to the rest of the Council.
Solas and Varric had taken Kaiden to the tavern, saying that they would save Callon and I a spot at the table for when we were finished. I was surprised that Solas wanted to go, but I supposed that he needed to eat regardless of wether or not he was an Elvhen God or as I theorised, an embodied spirit much like Cole.
(It would help to explain a little the fact that the elf didn't leave tracks in the snow, and when he noticed he made a more conscious effort. How the others hadn't noticed, I wasn't sure.)
Callon was standing over a corner of the map, playing with the chess like piece that marked out Wycome. Clan Lavellan would be in need of support sooner or later, which reminded me that I needed to send word to Zevran.
I missed him so much. It had been such a long time since the two of us had been apart from one another for this length of time.
"That is good, the support of Mother Giselle will hopefully go far with the Chantry." Josephine seemed happy to have some good news.
I snorted, "I really doubt that."
Leliana looked towards me, "You know something."
"When don't I?"
"Thorn."
I sighed, standing up from the chair in which I was slouching. "Even with the support of Mother Giselle, the Chantry is going to be a difficult ally to wrangle. Going to Val Royeaux is a good idea, but we need to remember that currently we are Undesirable Number One. We cannot be sure what would be waiting for us in Orlais' capital."
"How did you… Ah, never mind." Cullen had suddenly remembered that I claimed psychic abilities in place of telling the entire world about me not being Theodasian. "It is true that we will need the Herald to speak to the clerics in Val Royeaux, regardless of the decision is made to contact either the mages or templars."
"Neither group will talk to us at this present moment," Josephine interjected as Callon raised his head to glare at Cullen for reminding them all of his unwanted title, making the Commander look away sheepishly.
Callon had requested that amongst friends and the inner circle that titles no longer existed; he understood the need to posture around the general populace, but he would never be comfortable with it no matter the circumstance.
"Shem and their desperate need to title everyone and everything." Callon grumbled and I broke into laughter.
"Falon, you know they would feel lost without titles." I grinned at him, "It's how they keep control of their lives."
I'd often say the same thing to Kana when the Landsmeet occurred, and even when Alistair was crowned King. Leliana giggled, before putting a hand over her mouth in shock. Good, it was nice to see my friend laugh again after so long.
"Addressing the remaining clerics in Val Royeaux is our top priority for the moment, we can discuss allying ourselves with either the Mages or Templars after."
Callon groaned, "Siding with one over the other is not going to end well."
My voice was full of dread as I whispered, "No, it won't."
It would either be the Venatori and Mages or the Venatori and Red Templars, bringing about the doom of Haven. I had mentioned to Leliana, quietly, that we needed an escape route if something were to happen; supplies needed to be stockpiled, and the trebuchets needed to be aimed, loaded and ready to fire.
I did not want any more deaths on my conscious, especially not if I could forewarn them even slightly.
In the Past, The Ruins of Ostagar, 9:30 Dragon
After we had packed up the camp that morning, Bodhan and Sandal agreeing to stay hidden and out of the way by the roadside, it was decided that we needed to go to where this had all begun.
The Ruins of Ostagar and the battle that took place there. Both Kana and Alistair were wary of going back, but they both knew what was at stake. Their personal feelings about the place did not matter at the moment.
Arriving at the ruins, I spotted a statue of a wolf out of the corner of my eye. Of course there was a statue of the Dread Wolf here. I couldn't remember if there was one in the game or not, but at this point whatever I knew was probably going to change anyway, if it hadn't already. I supposed that I could have a look at the statue when we left the place, I had never seen one up close before.
It was just a desolate and abandoned as I thought it would be; Ostagar was in an even worse state than what the game had ever pictured.
Bodies had been piled up high, darkspawn and the untainted alike, many of the corpses had been scavenged for meat. Did it count as cannibalism if the darkspawn were no longer human, elven, vashoth or dwarven?
I wasn't sure if I wanted to find out.
"We must be careful, there are darkspawn still here."
Alistair was quiet, grim. He likely didn't want to spook any of us that hadn't previously been to Ostagar before, or at least I hoped that was his intention.
This place was creeping me out, the silence and crackling of the fire was normally a comfort, but it was not in this place haunted by the fallen. I had a feeling of what we were going to stumble across next would haunt me, and I knew that I was right.
"Wait!"
The urgency in Kana's voice caused us all to stop in our tracks; she pointed upwards at the body that had been brutalised and stripped naked, leaving the deceased without their dignity. King Cailan was almost unrecognisable, only that the darkspawn had left his face unblemished. They clearly knew that this would hurt any of the remaining Grey Wardens, and for creatures without individual thought they did psychological torture incredibly well.
"No!" Alistair dropped to the ground, both his legs giving way as he stared up at the face of his elder brother. "No!"
He knew that his half-brother had died, had to have died for Loghain to announce the Grey Wardens as traitors to the crown, but to see his corpse. I couldn't even imagine what he was going through.
"Alistair, we have to keep going!"
Kana had knelt beside him, trying to get him to move along. Leliana had covered her mouth in shock as she stared up at the body, Sten and Morrigan had politely distanced themselves from the group, knowing that nothing they could say would help. Their acerbic wit would be of no service here.
"We need to take his body down, ready him for burial."
"And we will," I spoke up, as quietly as I could manage and in the most gentle way I could. "But first we need to get rid of the darkspawn lurking about."
He took in a shuddering breath, tears leaking from his eyes as we looked away from him to give him the illusion of privacy.
"Okay, okay."
We each avoided looking at the King's body, walking towards the almost collapsed entrance to the fort knowing that darkspawn were waiting for us just around the corner.
Present Time, Haven, 9:41 Dragon
Callon was not ashamed to admit it, but he desperately needed a nap. And an extremely long one at that. It wasn't likely that he was going to get one at the moment, as he tuned the Inquisition Council out in favour for reading the letter from his Keeper that had been handed to him by Leliana.
He noticed that the letter did not mention neither him, nor Kaiden by name and only that two members of the extended clan had been present.
Extended clan. That was what he was now, or had been since he had found Kaiden wounded and bleeding, fending off slavers surrounded by other mercenaries that had presumably been his friends and family. Just because he had brought back the Tal-Vashoth out of common decency and a mutual hatred for slavery, he had been practically ostracised by members of his own family and clan.
Though that had been happening since he did not manifest magic like both his parents, he had been slowly pushed aside as he grew and got older. Even if Clan Lavellan was considered to be one of the more progressive clans, the child of the First and Second who didn't have magic was considered to be the greatest of scandal.
He was the shame of his parents, who couldn't have anymore children after he was born and the shame of his clan because he had bought in a shem mage.
"Callon, are you alright?"
The rogue shook his head, not noticing the others worried looks as they left the room, "No, sorry."
Josephine looked at him in concern, "If there is anything that I can do? That we can do?"
He gave her a sad smile, "No unfortunately, just thinking heavy thoughts."
"Perhaps we should convene the rest of this conversation to a later time? At least before you leave for Orlais in a few days time?"
He nodded towards the Ambassador, only just realising that it was only him and her left in the room.
"Where did the others go?"
She smiled at him, "Cassandra and Cullen are training the troops, Leliana is off doing something and Mallorn said to tell you to join them in the tavern for a bit."
He nodded, before whining like a small child that was slightly ruined by his manic grin.
"But I'm tired!"
"How does a Tal-Vashoth mercenary, especially a former sarebaas form a friendship with a Dalish rogue?"
Varric knew a good tale when he saw one, and he could tell that this one would be brilliant.
"Over a mutual hatred of slavers for a start."
"Oh? That's something that I think all of us here can agree on."
Solas had joined them, bringing drinks and somehow levitating four plates onto the table as Mallorn had ducked out to write a quick letter to her husband.. Varric couldn't help but be impressed by that simple, but definitely tricky bit of magic. Luckily for them there wasn't anyone else in the Tavern, otherwise he knew that Solas wouldn't have done something like that.
People were scared, and most had good reason to be so.
"Cal and I met when I was on the verge of death."
There was the sound of the door being opened, light footsteps and a thud as the elf in question sat down
"You were not on the verge of death, ma falon."
The Tal-Vashoth grinned at their friend, "Yes I was. I was bleeding out and you swooped in and killed the remaining slavers. Just like my very own rogue in plated armor!"
Kaiden pretended to swoon onto the elf, even as Callon palmed his face, pushing the larger of the two off of him. Or at least he tried to, but Kaiden did not move, going as far as to rest their head in their friends lap, pretending to faint.
"Get off you big lug!"
"But you're my lethallin reth, Callon, my lethallin reth!"
Mallorn had returned, casting a look at the other blond elf and his mage friend before rolling her eyes, apparently used to that sort of behaviour. Varric thought that that was fair, she had lived with the Hawke siblings and their Mother when Mallorn was younger.
The siblings were trouble as adults, as children Varric did not want to even imagine.
"Did you use three languages there Kaiden?"
They grinned up at her, "Si! Well, sort of."
"And a fourth. Nice!" She gave him a thumbs up, grabbing an extra plate from Flissa before coming to sit down at the now crowded table.
"What were we talking about?"
Solas interjected before anyone else could.
"I believe that we were discussing how these two met, where Callon saved Kaiden's life when he was bleeding out from slavers."
"Alright! I saved him, but he wasn't dying and he wasn't bleeding out!"
Callon threw his arms up in frustration, but there was a gleam in his eyes that screamed of mischief.
"I was bleeding, a lot."
"I still don't know how I managed to drag you back to the clan."
Varric laughed at the mental image that it gave him. Callon Lavellan was not a little guy, at least for an elf, but Kaiden Adaar was a Vashoth and more than twice their friends height and probably quadruple the weight.
Perhaps he had dragged the other away by the horns? Varric quickly dispelled the thought as he was reminded that sarebaas had their horns cut off to show that they were dangerous for having magic, mouths sewn shut.
The way the Qun treated their mages always forcibly reminded Varric of the Tranquil in Kirkwall and then the Mage Underground, which inevitably led to remembering Anders.
He didn't need to go down that path, not at the moment when the world was at stake.
In the Past, The Ruins of Ostagar, 9:30 Dragon
The darkspawn left behind were relentless, each one seeming to be more powerful than the last. Considering that the group of us was more than just three people, we made short work of the grunts but the emissaries were an entirely other breed.
"I need a little help here!"
Kana had been surrounded on all sides by darkspawn, as they tried to rush her with greater stength to their numbers.
I was closest to her, but was struggling a little with the emissary myself. I had not yet revealed my magic, not entirely sure if it would be a good idea or not, but I didn't have much of a choice.
"Duck!"
My scythe, much like the Staff of Parlathan, was built for more than one purpose. Runes decorated the blade and grip. Fire magic was a particular branch that came very easy to me, so that's what I called upon.
Swinging the scythe around me, decapitating the emissary in front of me with the fire coming from the scythe burning the Hurlock alphas behind Kana to a crisp. Swinging the scythe again, this time to use the blade to cut down another that had turned around to face me snarling.
"Thanks!"
"No problems!"
I didn't think that I would face any prejudice from Kana based on my magic, but I could never be certain. Either that or she hadn't noticed I had used magic. For some reason most people never noticed when I used magic around them, even if it were something like I had just done. It was as if my magic was invisible to everyone but me and the denizens of the Fade.
Or if you had the name surname Hawke for some reason.
The remaining darkspawn had attempted to flee, but Sten and Alistair were waiting for them as they ran. Morrigan and Leliana stood guard as Kana and I caught our breath.
"Nice use of magic there."
So she had seen the magic I used. Good to know.
"I suppose though it's safer to hide as a warrior?"
"Uh, yes it is. Most folk don't particularly like it when an elf can wield magic in a primarily human town, but for some reason a massive scythe is okay."
She snorted, "Shemlen are strange. How is magic any different from a sword, or something enchanted?"
Morrigan added her own thoughts as she wondered over.
"It is not. The Circles of Magi are prisons, more so than they are meant to be schools of learning."
"Call it what it truly is, segregation." I spat the words out as if they were poison.
"'Tis true, much like the alienates for the elves."
Leliana stood by, watching almost uncomfortably. She was a Sister of the Chantry and saw daily how both elves and those with magic were treated, especially if they were both. Even the mention of Shartan was considered blasphemous, despite his triumph for Andraste.
"Chantry propaganda does not help with human superstition."
Leliana was clearly deep in thought over this, still silent as both Alistair and Sten rejoined us.
It was time to continue onwards.
We were searching for a key to a chest containing something important to the King, and something that he apparently wanted for both Alistair and the Grey Wardens as a whole. The statue was within the inner sanctum of the ruins as told to us by a solider who had run into us on the Imperial Highway.
"Why are there so many darkspawn wearing pieces of the King's armour?"
So far we were only missing a single piece, the chest plate.
"They're using the armour as a trophy and to taunt the Grey Wardens."
Leliana's voice was soft, but direct.
"They're saying 'ha ha we're winning', is that right?" Kana was looking dangerously towards the pile of darkspawn corpses, and if she had magic they would have been dead ten times over.
"It seems so."
"Fucking darkspawn!"
Kana kicked the closest object to her, which happened to be a decapitated genlock head. It went flying into the air as a blur came flying at it, catching it in its gaping mouth, before chucking it off in another direction.
It was a marbari, or at least it looked like a marbari. The features of the canine were more wolffish than just pure marbari. For a start, the fur covering the animal was shaggier, more like the fur of a wolf and was covered in giant splotches of grey and black, it's eyes gleaming a victorious but somewhat playful ice blue.
"I've got this." Morrigan raised her staff to finish the wolfdog off, but I jumped in the way.
"Wait! I want to try something first."
Leliana seemed to know what my intentions were, as she put a hand on my arm in warning.
"Be careful."
"I will try."
I inched slowly and carefully towards the animal, making sure that it could see both my hands and hoping that it would realise that I was not trying to threaten it or harm it.
It raised its hackles, so I stopped moving. The hackles lowered, and slower than before I walked closer. It hadn't taken its eyes off of me, but made no movement to come any closer, as if it were waiting for me to come to that decision.
I was close enough to each out and touch the animal when it lunged towards me.
I could here the other behind me shout out in worry, but the wolfdog was more interested in covering my face with its slobber. It was larger than I thought, now that I had gotten up close and personal.
"Get off!" I was laughing even as I pushed the wolfdog off of me; it gave very little resistance, which I was thankful for. It definitely wasn't light by any means, pretty much made of pure muscle.
I was sitting on the ground, with an over enthusiastic wolfdog resting its head on my lap, with genlock head laying a few metres away.
"Is it safe to come over?"
Leliana's voice was concerned.
"Carefully, I don't think it means any harm."
As if to prove my point, the wolfdog lifted it head from my lap and stuck its tongue out at the approaching group.
"We're not taking it with us"
Morrigan had been quite firm in her opinion.
"We already have Warbari, another dog wouldn't hurt."
Alistair seemed thrilled at the prospect of having another dog on the journey.
"Alistair, I don't think that you've noticed, but that's not a marbari."
Kana was wary, wolves didn't just come out of nowhere and she was Dalish first and foremost.
Alistair has crouched down, reaching out a hand to scratch beneath the wolfdogs chin. The animal in question gave out a pathetic whine, nudging closer to the Wardens hand.
"Please Kana?"
"Oh for the love of Mythal! Seriously?"
"Please?"
Alistair, the wolfdog and myself stared up at the Warden trying to give her the saddest puppy eyes that we could attempt. Kana looked at the others who had turned away, they obviously were not going to give her any support which didn't bode well for her.
"Fine!" She threw her hands up in the air when Alistair and I had grinned at each other in a moment of victory.
"But if Warbari doesn't get along with this one, they're gone."
That was a fair enough statement to make.
"What are you going to call them?"
"I'll wait to see what Warbari thinks, wouldn't want to get too attached now would I?"
Kana muttered under her breath, "It's a bit late for that now, isn't it?"
"Well, is the wolf dog a boy or a girl?"
Sten picked the animal up with in a swift motion that it wasn't quite expecting, but it didn't fight back.
"It's a boy."
I thanked him as he placed the dog back down. I was going to have to think on a name, something from home.
Present Time, On a Ship to Orlais, 9:41 Dragon
Out of the seven of us, four had seasickness. Awful seasickness that had also taken half the ships crew out of commission, so it must not have just been the general sort. There was a bug going around.
"How can you handle this?"
"Easy, I've got a stomach of steel."
Kaiden couldn't help but taunt their friend, who was hanging his head over a bucket. Varric and Cassandra had left to go to their beds earlier after each took an elfroot potion to settle their stomachs. Callon was much more stubborn than that it seemed.
"Have you tried taking an elfroot potion?"
He glared weakly up at me, before heaving into his bucket again.
"I do not believe a potion would help the Herald at this moment."
Solas couldn't help but grin, a small thing that was gone as soon as it arrived on his face.
"Go to bed, Callon. Sleep the sickness off."
He grumbled but did as he was told, slumped like a scolded teenager being grounded by his parent.
Val Royeaux was just as extravagant, just as opulent as the last time I had visited. Perfume filled flowers greeted us at the docks, a complete change from the steam and smoke at the docks at the Fereldan port. The streets were lined with gold leaf, whilst beggars huddled in corners hidden from view, wanting little more than small change or food. The amount of food wastage was obscene, as those with the wealth threw out buckets of food into the sea.
I hated it here.
I was constantly reminded by what my year twelve history teacher said about Versailles. Pretty it may be, but built on the blood of the common folk.
Upon entering the gates to the city, there were loud shocked gasps and small screams as a group of locals scattered upon seeing members of the Inquisition enter. Either that or the strange group of mostly elves, a single dwarf and Vashoth, with one human amongst the group.
"I think they know who we are, Seeker."
Varric couldn't help but chuckle.
"Your skills of observation never fail to impress me, Varric."
A scout walked up to us silently bowing to Cassandra and Callon, nodding towards me as a few Orlesians fled from us in horror.
"The chantry mothers await you, but so do a great many Templars."
I interrupted the scout before she could say much more.
"I'm going to head on through, see if I can talk to Ser Barris before the fake shows up."
"The fake?"
I turned to Cassandra, my eyes going slightly glassy. I had to pretend in some form or another about my so-called abilities, and visions seemed to be a way around that.
"The Lord Seeker is not who he appears to be. I want to see if I can get as many Templars away from his grasp as possible, Seekers too."
I walked away before anyone could ask me what I meant.
A/N: I honestly love the theory that the Ancient Elvhen, or at least those of the People were spirits that inhabited bodies of their own making rather than those of possession.
Undesirable Number One is a Harry Potter reference.
shem means quick, short for shemlen or quickling (Elvhen)
lethalln means friend, but is considered to be akin to cousin or even clansman. (Elvhen)
ma falon means my friend (Elvhen)
reth means protection/safety (Qunlat/Elvhen)
si means yes (Spanish)
sarebaas Mages under the rule of the Qun; Vashoth mages have their horns cut and their mouths sewn shut.
