Frustrated, Nora stabbed a dagger into the war map where Adamant Fortress would be found. Her skin was flushed with anger. How had they lost Magister Erimond? Garrett Hawke frowned down at the "marker", his arms crossed stiffly across his chest. Nora set her hands on the table and leaned over as if to look at it to avoid his knowing gaze.

"We will find him, Inquisitor, don't worry."

"I know you mean well, but my sister needs me to worry."

"Yes, she does." Hawke leaned a hip against the table and tilted over so he could look Nora in the eye, though she didn't look back. "What she doesn't need is you blaming yourself. Has Varric told you about my brother?" Nora shook her head and he settled his derriere against the table instead, to be more comfortable. "He came with us when Varric and I took an expedition into the Deep Roads. After Bartrand betrayed us and took the lyrium idol for himself, Carver got infected with the Blight after a Darkspawn ambush. I wanted to blame myself for letting him come after our mother begged me not to, but I knew I couldn't give up on him and let him die. He needed me to be strong. That's when we met Alistair. He agreed to make Carver a Grey Warden. So, yes, she does need you, but you won't be able to help her if you're weighing yourself down like this. You can't lift a sword if you're overburdened by self loathing. Hold yourself up. Fight."

A new worry struck her. "Your brother is a Grey Warden? Could he be at Adamant?"

Hawke shook his head. "No, he's in Revain following a lead on the Hero of Ferelden's quest to find a way to remove the Blight from Grey Wardens." She breathed a sigh of relief just as the heavy wooden doors of the war room were pushed open.

"Lady Inquisitor," Leliana greeted. Cullen and Josephine filed in behind her and they took their positions around the war table. Nora tried not to shift under Cullen's chocolate eyes, which she refused to look into. She couldn't deal with her feelings right now. He would think it was only a result of vulnerability due to her sister's condition and she couldn't stand the thought of him thinking of her that way. Instead, she looked down at the dagger in the map. "Adamant Fortress has stood against the Darkspawn since the time of the Second Blight," Leliana explained.

"Fortunately for us, that means it was built before the age of modern siege equipment," Cullen added. "A good trebuchet will do major damage to those ancient walls, and thanks to our Lady Ambassador . . ."

"Lady Seryl of Jader was pleased to lend the Inquisition her sappers. They've already delivered the trebuchets."

"That's the good news," Leliana jumped in.

"Getting in is all good, but shouldn't we be more concerned about the demons?"

"Erimond called the ritual at the Western Approach a test. He may already be raising his army of demons in the fortress."

"The Inquisition's forces can breach the gate, but if the Wardens already have their demons . . ."

"I found records of Adamant's construction. There are choke points we can use to limit the field of battle."

Cullen nodded. "That's good. We may not be able to defeat them outright, but if we cut off reinforcements, we can carve you a path to Warden Commander Clarel."

Nora sighed sullenly down at the map. A lot of Inquisition soldiers would be killed in this plan. "I will bring Varric, Solas, and Cole with me, but I want Cassandra, Sera, Blackwall, Dorian, Vivienne, and Iron Bull and his Chargers helping our soldiers in whatever way they can."

"Yes, Inquisitor," Leliana agreed. Nora dismissed them to begin preparations but lingered behind. To her dismay, Cullen did as well. She tapped her fingers on the table to distract her from his closeness. She heard the surrender in his sigh.

"I want to apologize again. Both for lying about your sister, and, well . . . I'm sorry if I've misread things between us. I will be more professional moving forward, Lady Inquisitor, I swear it." She heard him turn to leave and felt the overwhelming need for him to stay. She spun and caught his hand. The confusion that muddled his expression turned to shock when her other hand moved to the side of his neck, her thumb caressing the scruff on his jawline. Her heart pounded loudly in her chest. His brown eyes searched her face until her lips met his in a brief kiss. Their noses still touched when they parted, their mouths only a whisper apart.

"You haven't misread anything," she breathed.

"Thank the Maker," he said softly before pressing his lips to hers once more. They sunk into a deep kiss, a momentary refuge from the battle before them.


"Warden-Commander!" Alistair called to the mage as a large shadow passed overhead.

"No! Clarel!" Nora watched in horror as the dragon snatched the Warden Commander in its powerful jaws and snatched her into the air. It flew overhead and perched on fortress to shake her violently and then threw her back to the bridge, assuming she was dead. To Nora's disbelief, she wasn't. The dragon landed on the bridge once more and advanced on Nora and her team. Erimond used this chance to sprint past them. Nora moved to follow, but Hawke's arm wove around her middle.

"No, Inquisitor!"

He was right. If she got any closer, the monster would seize her as it had Clarel. She watched him disappear around it with her answers about Kiara. As the dragon stepped over Clarel, she turned over and cast a devastating spell at its underbelly. Nora barely managed to scramble out of the way in time as the beast stumbled and lurched forward in pain. Had the others gotten clear? Its gargantuan mass crashed into the broken end of the bridge and it started to crumble. A hand found hers and Cole helped her to her feet, his blue eyes wide with fear. They scrambled to cross the bridge close behind Solas and Varric, but weren't fast enough to evade the collapse.

They fell through the air and watched the dragon hit the ground. Instinct took over and she wove the mark on her hand, opening a wide gape into the Fade. Far, far, she fell toward the ground. She braced her arms over her head before she hit, but her stomach turned uncomfortably as gravity shifted and pulled her back the way she had come. Thankfully, due to Fade logic, she was once again about to land on the ground but was suspended in the air. She reached down to touch the ground and the magic that held her let go and she ended up flat on her back.

A feminine giggle echoed through the air. "Oops, sorry," the voice said quietly.

Kiara! Nora shot upright. Glancing around at the others, it didn't appear they had heard.

"Where are we?" Alistair asked. Nora found him standing sideways on an arching rock formation.

"We were falling. Is this . . . are we dead?" Hawke asked uncertainly. He was standing upside down on the underbelly of the arch.

The place was quite grim, with a dead, desolate landscape and dark skies that sparked with green lightning. Nora certainly hoped this wasn't her afterlife. Solas stepped into view, gazing up into the sky where a green rift swirled. "No, this is the Fade. The Inquisitor opened a rift. We came through . . . and survived," he said in utter disbelief. "I never thought I would find myself here physically. Look, the Black City, almost close enough to touch."

"Do you have any idea what's going on?" Nora asked.

Solas turned instead to their spirit companion. "Cole, how does it feel to be back home?"

The lad was having a much more distressing reaction to their predicament. "No, no, no! I can't be here like this. Not like me!"

"It's alright, Cole." The company jumped as Kiara's voice echoed around them. Poor Cole's eyes looked as if they might pop out of his head until he realized they could all hear her, too. "Please, don't be afraid. I can help."

"Cerulean?" Varric asked. Nora nodded confirmation.

"This place is wrong. I made myself forget when I made myself real, but I know it wasn't like this," Cole explained.

"It's not how I remember the Fade, either," said Hawke. "Perhaps it's because we are here physically, instead of just dreaming. The stories say you walked out of the Fade at Haven. Was it like this?"

Nora shrugged. "I still can't remember."

"It has been reshaped. Darkened by the Nightmare Demon's power. I've tried to hold it back, but it grows stronger every minute."

"Do you know how we can get out?" Nora asked.

"The rift the Wardens opened to pull demons through is still open on this side. You should be able to go through it. The demon does not yet know you are here. Be wary. If it finds you, do not let it sway you," Kiara warned.

"Kiara, where are you?" Nora asked.

"I'm safe for now, don't worry. You need to get moving."

"On we press, then," Alistair said. Nora took a deep breath and lead them further into the Fade, toward the rift in the sky. They encountered only small demons. still no sign of this "Nightmare Demon". Higher they climbed. Over behind the towering rock formations, she could actually see the sun. Nora was momentarily distracted by its light and did not notice right away that a qhost was looking at them. She jumped when she saw Divine Justinia. Whether this was truly the Divine, she could not tell. But she took the spirit's advice and started to collect the memories the demon had taken from her. After her friends helped her gather all the pieces, the memory became clear. She fell to her knees as it processed.

"Bones?" Varric touched her shoulder in concern.

"I'm sorry, Alistair. The Wardens . . . they helped Corypheus with a Ritual to sacrifice the Divine so that he could enter the Fade." She did not hear his answer, nor his argument with Hawke. Her mind taken over once more by rememberance. When it cleared, she held up her marked hand and watched it spark. "It was an accident. Corypheus's orb gave me the mark, not Divine intervention."

Divine Justinia was once again beside her. "Corypheus intended to rip open the Veil, use the Anchor to enter the Fade, and throw open the doors of the Black City. Not for the Old Gods, but for himself. When you disrupted his plan, the orb bestowed the Anchor upon you instead. The fact that it was not intended does not change what you have been able to do with it, all the people you have helped. Now you must continue, with haste. The demon knows you are here."

Nora agreed. They needed to move. More demons appeared to slow them down, but with six of them, shades and wraiths didn't stand a chance. They descended into a clearing and a deep voice echoed around them the way Kiara's had.

"Ah, we have a visitor. Some foolish little girl comes to steal the fear I kindly lifted from her shoulders. You should have thanked me and left your fear where it lay, forgotten. You think that pain will make you stronger? What fool filled your mind with such drivel? The only one who grows stronger from your fears is me."

"And yet you have been unable to slay this 'foolish girl's' younger sister." Kiara's light lilt cut through the looming fear the demon's voice brought down. "You could pray that she is weaker than I, but you would be disappointed." The demon growled angrily and Kiara made a struggling noise as if the demon's power were pressing on hers.

"Hold on, Da'lath'in, we will find you," Solas assured her. The party continued forward while the demon conversed with Solas in elven. Whatever it had said, he did not seem dismayed. They climbed many stairs through the winding Fade trail. More demons awaited in a small clearing with one of the shattered mirrors that seemed to be scattered about.

"Perhaps I should be afraid, facing the most powerful members of the Inquisition." The demon's deep laugh echoed around them. "Are you afraid, Cole? I can help you forget. Just like you help other people. We're so very much alike, you and I."

"No," Cole answered quietly.

"Leave him alone." Kiara scolded the monster. It made a painful noise that suggested she had lashed out against it somehow. They reached a dead end and had to turn back. Every step forward they took seemed to be a false trick, as if the Fade only wanted them to think they were making progress. Justinia showed herself to help once more. Nora was able to recover the rest of her memories, which revealed that it had been Justinia, not Andraste, in the Fade behind her at Haven. She reminded Hawke and Alistair that they did not have time to argue over blame.

It now occurred to Nora that the sun's position had moved more than made sense. It wasn't on the horizon, she realized. And it wasn't the sun. It sat atop one of the spires close by. Curiously, eagerly, she ventured up the long trail of stone steps that wound around the spire. It's light bathed them when the source of the light came into view. The ground the light touched seemed to have been healed of the demon's taint. Grass had even grown about the clearing. Nora gasped at the figure at the center. She could not directly look at it for too long due to the brilliance of the light, but there was no mistake. The girl's form was curled in on itself as she hugged her knees, clothed in nothing but light and suspended five feet in the air. She looked as if she were sleeping. Was that how she seemed to be everywhere? "Kiara. I thought it might be you." The Inquisitor breathed.

"Hello, Nora," Kiara answered gently.

Face to face with her sister, knowing she was alive, Nora felt herself well up. "I thought I'd lost you."

"I know. I'm sorry . . . After the Envy demon brought me here, I knew I couldn't just leave this beast to grow."

Solas stepped forward. He didn't seem to have the same trouble Nora did looking into the light. "What you've done here is . . . unbelievable. How did you do this?"

"I . . . I'm not really certain how. I hear the song the Fade sings. It's in pain, wounded by the demon's touch. I'm doing what I can to help."

Varric chuckled. "You're starting to sound like the kid."

Nora turned to look at Cole. He was wandering the small clearing, looking at the grass in awe. He too seemed unbothered by the light. Perhaps this felt more familiar to his lacking memory of the Fade? "The song is sweeter here. Gentle like her."

Kiara giggled. "I'm sitting right here, Cole." The boy flushed nervously and muttered an apology. She giggled again and Nora couldn't help a grin.

"A light, even a small one, shines brightest in the dark," Solas observed.

"I don't know how much longer I can hold it back, though."

Finally, Alistair joined in. "You should come with us, then. You'll be able to blind the demon with your, well, with yourself much easier up close, I think."

"Yes, I think it is time to leave," the girl agreed. Her eyes opened and the light withdrew on her, dimming until she was no longer painful to look at. She straightened but continued to hover in the air. Fortunately, what light she still possessed obscured her unclothed form from view. Otherwise Nora would have ripped one of the men's shirts off to give to her. Cole looked around sadly as the grass died without Kiara's healing light. Perhaps the song he heard was quieter now. Kiara glided through the group, who parted to let her pass. Grass sprouted under her as she moved, only to die when her light moved on. Varric watched her go and crossed his arms with a smile.

"See? Cerulean. She may be blue most of the time, but when she puts her mind to it, she can touch the sky."