The Caged Sparrow
Head, spinning. Feet, floating. She can't ground herself, she feels like the whole world is shifting beneath her, pulling out from under her. Green light, blinding her, sickening her stomach, twisting her thoughts. Something isn't right. She thinks. She knows. Magic isn't supposed to do this. It isn't supposed to dance through time. It can't, it just simply can't. She wakes in a damp cell, panicked. The fate of the world, future, past, and present, in her hands.
Dear Inquisition,
Time magic. My life's certainly been interesting since I've joined you lot.
-Aveline
While her previous reports had eased the commander's heart with her abrupt humour, this one did no such thing. The Herald had gone to Redcliffe to seek the aid of the mages against his advice, played the bait for a crazed Tevinter magister seeking her head. He'd known it was a poor idea, perhaps suicidal, but reserved his judgement. Of course she'd wish to seek out the aid of her own people, it was only natural.
They weren't gone for more than a few days when they received word. He hadn't expected good news, if he was being honest with himself. There were a thousand ways for their meeting to go wrong, and yet he never accounted for this possible outcome. First the brief message from Trevelyan, but what he read in the letter from Cassandra, it was horrifying. Time magic. "The Elder One"? What's even going on anymore?
"Is this correct?" Josephine asked, finishing the report when he did. "An assassination plot against the empress and a demon army marching through Thedas?"
Beside them, Leliana nodded solemnly. "That is what the Herald says she saw in this future she and Dorian experienced. But I wouldn't write it in stone just yet, not until they return."
"Get ready for the mages to arrive." Cullen instructed a few scouts that passed, shaking his head when they were out of sight. "We're going to need more tents."
Josephine nodded, penning down something on her clipboard. "I'll work on procuring a more reliable source of lyrium."
"Good." Leliana concurred with a slight bow. "I'll do the same."
The ambassador tsked lightly. "Your lyrium smugglers aren't reliable."
Leliana chuckled lightly. "You're so picky, Josie."
Even though the two joked, Cullen could tell they were just as shaken as he. As each day passed something would arise that would force them to question the world as they knew it. First the Breach, ripping open the Veil and passing into the Fade, an act that hadn't been performed in a thousand years, for good reason. And yet, she did it. The Herald walked through the realm of demons and spirits mostly unscathed.
Now there was something even more impossible on their horizon. Time magic. Perhaps the world wasn't as linear as the commander was taught to believe.
Magic exists to serve man, and never to rule over him. He mused to himself. Those days were simple.
Nothing about his life has been simple. From joining the Templar Order when he was yet a man to joining the Inquisition after the Circles had crumbled to pieces, he so wished that for once something could go as planned.
The Herald wished just as he. She was resting in a camp near the Frostback Basin, remaining alert in case the Avaar deemed them an easy target to strike. Her marked hand was clutched to her chest as she recounted the horrors she saw in the future she was thrust into. Demons everywhere, red lyrium corrupting dear friends and turning them to madness before eventually devastating their souls until nothing remained of them. It was too much for her to handle.
"What of the others?" She had asked Leliana in that twisted future, for only Sera and the Iron Bull remained.
The truth, twas something she wasn't prepared for.
Josephine was the only one granted mercy, being nothing but an ambassador meant she was not a threat to the Elder One or his plan. The others, they were killed slowly. Red lyrium seeping through their veins, dark magicks tearing them asunder, every horror they could imagine unleashed from the Fade. No torture was too much for the agents and advisors of the Inquisition.
She let out a shaky breath, watching it warm the air and rise towards the crescent moon shining above them. So much was riding on her, before Redcliffe it was easy to forget that. The troubles thrust upon the people of Thedas seemed so linear, well within Aveline's power to rectify, it was a comforting lie to accept.
Never again. She reassured herself as she brought her knees to her chest.
Never again would the Herald of Andraste make such a grave mistake.
Harper turned out to be a kind sort, a true gentleman when Aveline least expects it. She's spent more days with her new friend than with Vera, something she doesn't even notice. But the others do. There's whispers around them as the walk through the halls, they point and they ponder, the gossip is fresh and new, and they can't get enough of it.
"When did you leave Ostwick?" He suddenly asks her one day during their studies.
Aveline taps are her chin, trying to recall herself. "It was just before the Blight, if I remember correctly, I remember Meredith telling the older mages that they might be conscripted for the cause. I couldn't have been more than thirteen."
"Wow." He breathes in disbelief. "Would Meredith have actually let them be conscripted? You know how she is with us mage types."
She chuckles quietly into her hand. "Luckily for us "mage types", she'd have no say in the matter. A Grey Warden's conscription is law."
"True." He nods. "Lucky for us."
She can't help but smile at her new friend, for reasons she has yet to understand. "Let's speak of more pleasant things, how are things back home? It's been years since I've been back."
"Things are great!" He exclaims, making large gestures with his hands. "First Enchantress Lydia's birthday was just before I left, you wouldn't believe it but the templars let us throw this huge celebration for her! There were magical fireworks and my friend Talen charmed these little paper cut-outs to wiz around, and there were even some cakes from Val Royeaux! It was absolutely spectacular!"
When he pauses to take a breath, there's laughter in Aveline's eyes and he spots it easily enough. "Am I amusing you, my lady?"
Laughter bubbles out of her easily, a hand raises to cover her mouth. "You're so exuberant, Harper. Most mages become sullen after their Harrowing, but not you."
He scoffs joyfully. "Takes more than a fear demon to rattle my boots, I'll have you know."
"Oh?" She asks, a coy grin twitching at her lips. "Then what does rattle your boots?"
To be sure no one's listening, he takes a brief glance over his shoulder before leaning in close to her. "Have you ever seen the cream mask Yvonne wears while she sleeps? It's absolutely ghastly."
It's true, the mask she wears is positively atrocious, but Aveline doesn't understand why he's so cautious about this fact when suddenly –
A kiss?
She's shocked, to say the least, a warm sensation spreads across her lips, a warmth that's seeped from Harper's very being. When he parts, he's smiling sheepishly, a deep blush colouring his face as if this simple act took every ounce of courage he possessed.
"I'm sorry i-if that was pre-emptive but –" He pauses to swallow past a growing lump in his throat. "We haven't known each other long, but I've started to care for you, Aveline and I just – I dared to hope that you possibly felt the same…?"
As he speaks, she simply can't find her voice to respond. There have been stirrings in her since they met those few weeks ago, but only now has she realised what they truly mean. So, unable to speak, she grabs his face and presses her lips against his, perhaps with a bit more force than she initially intended.
He's smiling against her suddenly, pulling her away and laughing despite himself. "I'll take that as a yes!"
The blush that's finding its way across her cheeks is more than she can handle, she falls into him, pressing her forehead against his chest to try and distract herself.
"I am – I am so sorry Harper. I don't know what came over me!" She mumbles into his robes. "I've just – I've never acted like that before, I swear!"
"I know." He says kindly, leaning down and kissing the top of her head like it's the easiest and most natural thing he's ever done. "Neither have I."
Thinking back to her first love, Aveline felt her heart wrench. Another comforting lie she let herself believe, that she could dare to love. What a fool she used to be, what a fool she still is. She looked to her hand once, clenching it and setting it by her side.
Never again.
Author's Note: Yikes, almost a whole year has gone by friends! Don't know why I never finished this chapter, but here it is! Drop a review if you have the time?
