Sulana adjusted the shield. It was a bit heavier than the one she'd used previously, and designed more like the one the templars wielded. Her armor was still clearly elven in design, but used heavier materials that made it far stronger than the lighter design she'd had earlier. She tapped the sword against the shield, and then countered the blow Cullen sent in her direction.

A minute later the former templar was on the ground, Sulana's sword leveled at him. She saluted. "You're good."

He rose. "And you are considerably stronger than you look." He gave her an appraising look. "I imagine that serves you quite advantageously."

She grinned. "They all think they can just brush the little elf girl aside. Come in with an overhand or side-swipe, and then I knock their blade out and take their leg off at the knee." She demonstrated the motion. "Humans are used to steel. They don't know what to do with ironbark."

"It shouldn't be that unexpected for me." Cullen shrugged. "One of the finest warriors I ever met was an elven man who carried a blade taller than he was."

"Fenris?" Sulana raised an eyebrow, and smiled. "Did he really rip a guy's heart out and smack somebody else in the face with it?"

"Varric..." Cullen sighed. "May have taken some poetic license."

"So you didn't really cut the leg off a giant bronze spider with a single swing?" She tilted her head.

"Well, I did, but..."

"Oh, that must have been awesome." She stared up at him. "How big was it? Did it have teeth? Did it really breath fire?"

#

"Chief?"

Iron Bull blinked, and glanced down at Krem. "What?"

"Rocky got the rest of his supplies in. Chargers are set to go as soon as we get a mission."

"Good. Sounds like we'll have one soon." He waited for Krem to walk off, then turned his attention back to the training grounds again. He hadn't had much of a chance to see the elven woman in action back on the beach, but apparently the little he had seen was no fluke. The lithe redhead was batting any soldier willing to climb in the ring with her around like they were ragdolls. It was rather tempting to head down there and try her out himself.

#

"And this Aberforth -"

"Abernache." Vivienne corrected with a slight nod.

"Abernache." Sulana nodded. "I take it I'm about to do a lot of smiling and nodding while he talks?"

"That would likely be best, darling. Agree to nothing, but hint at amiability."

"It's a hunt. Got to lure the prey in." Sulana grinned.

"Precisely." Vivienne smiled.

"Alright, Madam de Fer." Sulana leaned forward. "Let's talk bait."

#

"The Herald of Andraste." The man approached, smiling broadly behind his mask. "Lord Esmeral Abernache. Honored to participate. It is not unlike the second dispersal of the reclaimed Dales." He nodded to the woman next to her. "Ah, Lady Vivienne. We met at last summer's ball. The Duke introduced us."

"Indeed. I could not possibly forget the occasion." Vivienne inclined her head before walking forward to join Varric.

Lord Abernache turned back to her. "The Lord Seeker is willing to hear out petition about closing the Breach. A credit to our alliance with the Inquisition." He gestured grandly. "Care to mark the moment? Ten Orlesian houses walk with you."

#

"The Lord Seeker changed his mind about us rather quickly. Is he known for that?" Sulana glanced over her shoulder.

"The Lord Seeker isn't reputed to be fickle." Vivienne tapped her manicured fingers on her staff. "Something must have changed."

Sulana sighed. "What are the odds that something isn't going to have a poisonous bite?"

"Slim, my dear."

#

She played nice with the nobles and templars, as Vivienne had coached her on the way there. More than a few were surprised at her appearance, though they were somewhat more accepting that she would have expected. And all of them were polite. A rather nice change. For a moment, her eyes were drawn to a somewhat raggedy looking young man perched atop some scaffolding. He was watching them from underneath an oversize hat.

Lord Abernache gestured for her to join him. She noted he appeared to be talking to a templar she recognized from the debacle in Val Royeaux. The one who had been angry over the Mother being struck. "I present Knight-Templar Ser Delrin Barris, second son of Bann Jevrin Barris of Ferelden." The speaker gestured. "Ser Barris, may I be so honored as to present Lord Esmeral Abernache...?"

Ser Barris ignored the speaker and the Lord, and walked towards her. "I'm the one who sent word to Cullen. He said the Inquisition works to close this Breach in the Veil." He looked around. "I didn't think you'd bring such lofty company."

"Barris..." Abernache folded his arms. "Moderate holdings, your family. And the second son?" He scoffed.

"This..." Barris shot only a small glare at Abernache. "Promise of status has garnered interest from the Lord Seeker. Beyond sense. The sky burns with magic, but he ignores all calls to action until your friends arrive."

She conversed briefly with Cassandra, and the words 'holy mandate' were uttered. Sulana made a mental note to learn more about how the Chantry infrastructure actually worked. Ser Barris sighed, and continued. "Templars should know their duty, even when held from it."

"A templar who remembers his responsibilities?" Vivienne's voice spoke from behind her. "I am reassured."

"Win over the Lord Seeker, and every able-bodied knight will help the Inquisition seal the Breach." Barris nodded to her.

"That's why the Inquisition came, Ser Barris." She nodded to him.

#

"Flags?" She looked at the contraption. Asking her to do this made little sense. Especially asking her in particular. The idea that he was fixated on her wasn't exactly a comfortable notion. Hopefully, she'd get through this without having to break any wandering hands.

Sulana put up the people first, then Andraste. When Barris asked her why, she just shrugged. "This was a question of what I believe. I let faith guide my answers." Fortunately, he didn't ask the nature of her faith. Which was probably good.

Right now, she wasn't so sure either.

#

And they were arguing again. She should have brought a bucket of spiders to dump on them. Barris was glaring at Abernache. "Without faith, you've no knights. You've..." He trailed off when another man entered. "Knight-Captain?"

Sulana looked up. Oh. That was going to be a problem now, wasn't it? A wolf in dog's clothing. The man strode towards them. "You were expecting the Lord Seeker. He sent me to die for you."

Lord Abernache immediately began... what was that word Vivienne had used? Toadying up to the man. Sulana glanced at the templar near her. "Ser Barris, the knight-captain's had better mornings, yes?"

Barris nodded. She made an effort to get Abernache out of the way, but the man was less than inclined to take a hint. Denim raised his voice. "The Lord Seeker had a plan, but the Herald ruined it by arriving with purpose. It sowed too much dissent."

"Knight-Captain, I must know what is going on." Barris stepped towards him. She could hear sounds of fighting. Not good. Very not good.

"You were all supposed to be changed. Now we must purge the questioning knights."

#

She leaped the table and brought her sword to ring against the knight-captain's helmet. The man dropped, and then she was lunging at the next in line. He made the usual mistake, and she knocked his sword out of the way before taking his leg off at the knee. Then she took an archer's head off his shoulders. Iron Bull moved in next to her, his massive axe cleaving one of the red-infested templars nearly in half.

Sulana looked around. Abernache was dead. Several of the templars that had entered with them were dead, and from the sounds of it, more were dying. "Vivienne, make sure the knight-captain doesn't die. We're going to have questions for him." She hefted her shield. "Ser Barris, let's go save your friends." She headed for the door.

#

They gathered other templars as they fought their way through. Cassandra and Barris remained near her, and the three of them formed a wall of shield and blade as they moved through the halls. Iron Bull used his massive size to sweep a doorway clear, disrupting the enemy ranks as he charged. It was rather impressive.

The fighting was brutal. Clan fighting clan. Somebody needed to answer. An arrow grazed Vivienne, and Sulana slammed her shield into the archer, sending him flying. One of her templars finished the man off, and then took up a defensive position near the grand enchanter. Sulana gave him an approving nod, and then kept moving in.

Another group of templars was fighting, fighting men and women they'd apparently once known. Despite their attempts to reason, the enemy templars fought like men possessed. A chill went down her spine as she realized that may well be exactly what they were.

A door led to the Knight-Captain's office. There was a corpse on the floor. Ser Barris's eyes widened. "That's the Knight-Vigilant. The Lord Seeker told us he died at the Conclave."

Cassandra shook her head. "The Lord Seeker lied. Maker help us."

Sulana gathered the papers on the desk, and handed them to Varric. He ducked them away in his belt pouch. "The Lord Seeker is begging to have his ass kicked" She took a deep breath. "Let's go oblige him."

#

The Lord Seeker stood at the top of the stairs. When she approached, he grabbed her and then...

#

She was elsewhere. It looked almost like the underpart of the Temple of Sacred Ashed. Bodies, some still burning, littered the place. Ahead, she could make out figures. Sulana shook her head when she recognized Cullen and Josephine.

Leliana stepped out of the darkness. "Is this shape useful? Will it let me know you?" Leliana's form walked closer. "Everything tells me about you." She took up position behind Cullen, and laid a knife against his throat. "So will this: watch."

Even knowing it wasn't real, she didn't like it. At all. "Stop these disgusting lies, demon."

The knife opened Cullen's throat, and his body fell to the ground. Leliana imitated her voice. "Stop these lies, demon." She stepped back into the shadows.

Josephine's figure moved, and laughed. "Being you will be so much more interesting than being the Lord Seeker." She paced around Sulana. "Do you know what the Inquisiton can become? You'll see. When I'm done, the Elder One will kill you and ascend. Then I will be you."

"This guy thinks he can become a god?" Sulana raised an eyebrow. "Isn't that the original stupid?" She took a deep breath. "You're not Josephine. So there is nothing stopping me from killing you."

The image withdrew. "Glory is coming. And the Elder One wants you to serve him like everyone else: by dying in the right way."

Sulana drew her blade and moved towards the image, which vanished a moment later. "Get back here, asshole."

Cullen's voice came from behind her. "I am not your toy. I am Envy, and I will know you." He stabbed something that looked like her. "Tell me, 'Herald', in your mind. Tell me what you feel."

She stepped forward, and suddenly the dagger was in her hand, blood dripping off the end. A voice that sounded eerily like hers echoed. "Tell me what you see."

#

Images floated around her, shifting and changing as she moved. Herself, seeking to conquer. People trampled beneath the Inquisition. Friends and allies suffering. "Do you see how glorious my Inquisition will be after you die at the hands of the Elder One?"

"Keep talking, jackass. You're just going to make it more fun when I stab the shit out of you."

"You're hurting, helpless, hasty. What happens to the hammer when there are no more nails?"

Sulana blinked. That was a different voice. One oddly familiar and... comfortable. She looked around. Then she went to a door. The room inside was empty. She started to leave, and the voice came again. "Wait."

She looked around, and on her second rotation a young man in an odd hat was standing there. "Envy is hurting you. Mirrors on mirrors on memories. A face it can feel but not fake. I want to help. You, not Envy."

"Who are you?" Something about him was... "I've seen you before. Have I?"

"I've been watching. I'm Cole. We're inside you. Or I am. You're always inside you." He sat on the ceiling. "It's easy to hear, harder to be part of what you're hearing. But I'm here, hearing, helping. I hope. Envy hurt you, is hurting you. I tried to help. Then I was here, in the hearing. It's -" He shook his head. "It's not usually like this."

"Well, good. I think. Alright." She took a deep breath. "Can you help this make sense?"

"I was watching. I watch. Every templar knew when you arrived. They were impressed, but not like the Lord Seeker."

"That's not the Lord Seeker. That's an envy demon who needs its ass thoroughly kicked. It wants to be me." Sulana laid a hand on the hilt of her sword.

"Yes. It twisted the commanders, forced their fury, their fight. They're red inside." Cole perched now on the bedframe. "Anyway, you're frozen, Envy is trying to take your face, I heard it and reached out, and then in, and then I was here."

"I get it." She nodded. Or enough of it, anyway. This would probably have made a lot more sense to Qui. Maybe Solas would be able to explain it. "But the next thing that wants to get in my head had damn well better knock first."

"If it bothers you, I can make you forget. That helps." Cole shook his head. "No. You need all of you right now to fight. Maybe later."

"Alright." Sulana set shoulders. "There's an envy demon out there. How do I kick its ass out of my head?"

"It's your head. I hoped you'd know how to stop it."

"Unless stabbing it a lot is going to help, I've got nothing."

"All of this is Envy: people, places, power. If you keep going, Envy stretches. It takes strength to make more. Being one person is hard. Being many, too many, more and more, and Envy breaks down, you break out."

"Like running down a boar. Chase it until it is exhausted, then close for the kill." She nodded. "Except a boar usually keeps a little bit of fight for the end." Her smile was fierce. "Kinda hoping this thing does too."

"I hope it helps. It's more than sitting here waiting to lose your face."

#

Cole continued to help her, moving with her in his strange way as they traveled through the images Envy made in her mind. Fire became water, and walls moved and vanished. Envy tried other tricks. She ignored them to keep moving. Cole's voice encouraged her onward. "None of this is real unless you let it be."

#

It found her, or she found it, at the top of the stairs where she'd found it the first time. "Unfair, unfair. That thing kept you whole, kept you from giving me your shape." It caught her by the throat, lifting her up.

"What could you gain from being me?"

"What could you gain? What..." The thing shook its head. "Ugh. We'll start again. More pain this time. The Elder One still comes."

Cole stood in the outstretched hand of a statue of Andraste. "It's frightened of you."

"It should be." Sulana glared, and kicked the thing in the stomach. It stumbled slightly, and then she brought the top of her head down to break its nose.

#

Once again she stood among her allies. The envy demon was thrown backwards, through the door. Its grotesque form stood back up and roared before fleeing through the startled templars. "The Lord Seeker." Ser Barris took a few steps forward, his face shocked.

"No." Sulana narrowed her eyes. "An imposter."

"That monster ensured we weren't prepared. I still don't know what we're up against." Ser Barris turned towards her.

"You're up against a demon. An envy demon." Sulana set her stance. "It took the form of the Lord Seeker to trick you. But you are templars." She met his eyes. "The knights of Andraste, and kicking demon ass is what you do. It's time for your best, Ser Barris."

"Our best..." Ser Barris slowly nodded. Then he turned to his fellows. Sulana watched as he began to rally them, and smiled.

#

"We'll keep the hall, Herald of Andraste." A templar saluted her as she prepared to head back out and find the lieutenants. "Show them the light."

Sulana returned the salute before leading her companions through the door.

#

Iron Bull couldn't help but be impressed when the elven woman sent a templar twice her size flying. Of course, seeing her headbutt a demon out of a seeker had also been something. He chuckled slightly as he flung a red-coated templar face first into a wall. The templar slid to the ground and ceased moving.

The veteran they rescued saluted before returning to join the others in the hall.

#

"Well, this is a nice big room full of fucked up." Sulana looked around her.

Cole stepped out of the shadows behind the bust of a woman. He looked at it before looking at her. "The Elder One wants her dead. Empress Celene. He hates her, haunts her, wants her dead, but hides why. He hid other things, too."

"We'll get him." She glanced over her shoulder, and when she turned back Cole was gone.

#

They took the untainted lyrium to Ser Barris. He took a deep breath. "Right. Keep them off us. We'll break this beast."

Sulana nodded and gestured for Cassandra and Vivienne to take one side of the hall while she and Iron Bull took the other. Varric she sent up to the top of the scaffolding. The templars began focusing their energy against the barrier.

Red templars began passing through to attack. Sulana set her shield, threw back her head, and howled before entering the fray.

#

"The beast." Ser Barris panted. "End it."

"With pleasure." Sulana headed out of the hall.

The rear of the redoubt was still in ruins, but it had clearly once been magnificent. She could see the Breach in the sky. And the envy demon. "I touched so much of you. But you are selfish with your glory. Now I'm no one."

She heard Cole's voice as he stepped to her shoulder. "Dark and desperate, death to make yourself alive. I used to be like you. I'm not anymore. You shouldn't be, either."

As one, they moved into battle. A few red templars emerged to join the envy demon in battle, but lasted only moments against the infuriated Cassandra. Vivienne froze one in place a moment before Iron Bull shattered it with a blow from his massive axe. The big man looked pleased at the results.

Sulana deflected a blow from the envy demon before driving her sword into its guts. It convulsed, making a horrific snarling noise, and then it began to tear apart and fade away. She smiled.

#

"The demon is dead." Ser Barris led the templars to meet them. "Andraste be praised: she shielded you from its touch." He gestured at his fellows. "We've numbers across Thedas, but we let this happen. Our officers either failed to see it or were complicit." He took a deep breath before assuming a more formal stance. "The templars are ready to hear what the Inquisition needs of us."

She turned and looked back at the Breach. Then she turned towards Ser Barris. "We need knights. Men and women of honor and courage. Men and women who keep their sacred duty, shields against dark magic. Knights who will help us end the Breach and restore order." She looked them over. "Have we found them?"

Ser Barris swallowed. "The order is leaderless, gutted by betrayal. We must rebuild it."

Sulana nodded to him. She'd argue the leaderless part. "You are more than just knights. You are a symbol, one that must again stand for right and order. Let us help you become that once more. We offer an alliance. Supplies, weapons, grounds to shelter you. All we ask is you help us close the Breach."

"Do we take the Inquisition's terms, brothers and sisters?" Ser Barris turned towards the other templars.

A cheer went up, growing in strength. Ser Barris smiled proudly. "The templars will come. I hope your stronghold is ready."

"We'll have a pot of tea waiting..." She nodded to him, then her eyes went to where she could make out Cole's form in the back. "For anyone willing to throw their hat in with us."

#

They were on their way back when a thought occurred to Sulana. "Cassandra."

"Yes?" Cassandra turned towards her.

"I stabbed the Lord Seeker." She gestured. "And now I'm in charge of the templars."

Cassandra ran a hand down her face and sighed. "Oh for..." She quickened her pace to move ahead.

"Heh." Sulana shook her head. "Humans are so weird."

"I know." Varric nodded.