SPOILERS! This section of the story takes place after "Here Lies the Abyss." I've been writing this story under the assumption that you have played the game before. It isn't my desire to transcribe the game's dialogue, so I try to summarize those sections. At this point this story diverges heavily from the main plot.

Some parts of this story depict sexual acts, but I hope in a tastefully vague way (this chapter is clean aside from a few offhand references to their sex life). If you're not okay with that, then at least you were forewarned.

Trigger warning: Much of the this story deals with anxiety, personal demons, mental anguish, and human(oid) misery. I think a lot of why I've written this story is to try and communicate a reflection of my own struggles, but please know I don't write this to make those who are suffering feel worse. Instead, I hope to show that eventually there is a light at the end of the tunnel, it just might take your friends dragging you physically along the train tracks to reach it.

Please review! This is my first time ever posting to this site. I've written and drawn other stories, but this sort of blindsided me from nowhere. I'm just hoping others enjoy the story as I try to spin it out of my head.

LASTLY! I do not own Dragon Age or the characters, nor do I receive compensation for this work.


Habrynn smirked like a fool as she downed the Maaras-Lok The Iron Bull poured for her.

"Ataaaashi," Bull swooned, "The Glorious Ones," He continued, swigging another cup for himself. She continued to stare at him with heavy-lidded eyes, concentrating more on the prize of the fight than on him. She could feel the dragon's tooth pressed into her hip bag. She'd furtively worked on it as they rode with the caravan dragging the Dragon's remains back to Redcliffe-the nearest town with a port that could accommodate the amazing treasure that was the Dragon's remains itself. The fight hadn't been easy. In fact it had been a poor decision once she saw the first gout of flame spill out from it's enormous maw. The giant serpent turned out to be a fire-breather… the same element that had always dominated her magic.

The end result was a skirmish in all directions as dragonlings tackled them from their flank, and wave after wave of flames swept over them. Sera's recent dabblings in alchemical potions served her well as she poured flask after flask over herself, and dove into the fires to get the best shots off. Bull struggled almost as much as Habrynn, though you would never have guessed it from his intense (and after listening to him talk tonight, incredibly perverse) battle cries. The Dragon flew and leapt from outcropping to outcropping, and though he would never admit to weakness, she had never heard The Iron Bull pant so loudly as he did while sprinting continuously to get within reach of the beast. Vivienne's experience had propped her up as she stumbled through the fight, shouting commands to combine their abilities to further shield the party, and then dash in with spirit blades in hand. Despite the noble woman's usual coldness, she had finally warmed to Habrynn when she learned that her old teacher Hellane was taking Habrynn under her wing. The death knell of the great beast was struck when Sera landed an arrow in the great Wyrm's eye, and it faltered and began to snap blindly in all directions..

She still could feel the spray of blood hit her when Bull had landed the final blow, and the creature screeched out at a pitch that made all their armor vibrate. When their hearing returned a few moments later, they were all standing in a quickly expanding pool of blood, amidst a valley now scattered with enough dragon hides to outfit the entire inner circle.

"Here," Bull laughed uproariously, "Your turn!" He filled her tankard again with another dose of Maaras-Lok, burning her nose from even a foot away. She tipped the cup up, and regretted the second glass as much as the first. It took several minutes of coughing before she could get more than a squeak from her throat again.

"Why do you think the Qunari see the dragons that way? I thought the Qun didn't really have anything Sacred," Habrynn smirked, and tried to concentrate on him as the buzz intensified.

"Well... " Bull slurred, "You know how we have horns? We kind of look more… Dragony… than most people. Maybe it's that. But a few of the Ben-Hassrath have this crazy old theory. See. The Tamassrans control who we mate with."

Habrynn nearly spit the liquor out. Instead, it found a way to go up the back of her nose. "Cke-HACK! WHAT?!"

"They breed us for jobs, you know, for specific traits like humans breeds dogs or horses. What if they mixed in dragon a long time ago," Iron Bull mused. "Maybe drinking the blood, maybe magic-" He slapped her back hard to help her clear the alcohol, and she looked up at him with wide eyes.

"You're HAPPY they breed you?!" Habrynn snapped.

"Yeah. They keep records of everyone's geneology as far back as… as… really far back. They choose donors to make whatever specialized Quanri they think will be needed in the next generation." Bull pondered, "Something in that Dragon… spoke to me…"

Her mother's voice echoed in her mind, "They made our child a weapon."

Habrynn slammed her hands down on the bartop, and shouted, "They WHAT?! The QUN did this to me?"

The Iron Bull put down his tankard and stared back at her with instant sobriety. "What do you mean, Boss?"

She shoved him with all her weight, surprising even herself when he was knocked back from his stool, and forced to jostle to stay upright. She scowled at him with a sudden hatred in her eyes. "Saarebas!" She hissed out. "They PLANNED this! They CHOSE this for me?!"

"Hey!" Bull shouted back, "You're Tal-Vashoth, that word doesn't even-"

She didn't let him finish before she shoved him hard again, now backing him into one of the pillars that held up the Upper Balconies. She persisted, and stood on tiptoes to get up in his face, "How would you KNOW?"

The Iron Bull snorted at her as his eye glanced around furtively. She could hear the squeal of stools being pushed out, and chairs being frantically moved aside throughout The Herald's Rest. She thought she heard a far-off shout of, "What's going on?" But she continued to concentrate on The Iron Bull as the fire in her belly burned white-hot, until her hands glowed a cold blue-green.

Her apple-green eyes met his, and gradually shifted to a blue glow. "You say you're no longer Qun and yet you still speak of them so reverently? The same people who would have leashed me and sewn my mouth shut?"

"But you're not part of the Qun-!" The Iron Bull shouted back. Habrynn growled, and faster than snapping her fingers, she burst into green flames and slammed her fists down onto his chest a single time. As fast as the burst of magefire erupted it subdued, leaving the whole Inn quiet, and Iron Bull on the ground with the smell of burned flesh wafting up from where he crouched.

"Enough!" Vivienne's commanding voice echoed through the Tavern. Habrynn had forgotten about her perch in the corner, sipping her fine vintages in homage to the same Dragon Fight they were celebrating right now.

"No… I-" Habrynn stammered. Bull grimaced, and winced as he touched his chest where two fist-sized circles of frost-bitten skin showed clearly. "N-no, No, Bull. I-I'm sorry," Habrynn stuttered.

He raised his hands into the air as she reached out to him, "Katoh."

Habrynn tried to meet his eye again, but Bull simply winced and made his way towards the Chargers table to nurse his wounds. She twisted and turned to look into the gawking faces of the Tavern patrons, until the only thought that filled her mind was, "Run." She fled through the front door without looking back.

"Oi! What sort of fight are you two oxen-" Sera shouted as she bolted to the railing from her private hideaway on the second floor. By the time she glanced around and realized just how much shit had hit the metaphorical windmill, the Tavern door was already slamming, and as she raced back to her window, she saw Habrynn running at full speed towards the stables.

Returning to the banister, Sera snarled down to Bull, "WHAT Did you say to my bestie, you lummox?!"

Bull grimaced and pushed Stitches aside as the healer he tried to get a look at the two burns on his chest. He shook his head a few more times as if that could clear the strange site from his mind, but all he replied was, "I don't know."

"It can't be," Vivienne boggled. "But I'm sure.. the color, the temperature…"

"What?" barked Bull.

Vivienne stared at him firmly, and continued, "Our dear Inquisitor just cast ...Veilfire."