The next couple of months consisted of Soora working with daggers and keeping her shape when transforming into a dragon. She worked through out the nights with Mythal, Fen'Harel and Abelas, from an hour before dust till hours after dawn. She almost never slept, during the day she worked on new fighting styles with the daggers. Using only one dagger sometimes in case she lost the other during battle.
Fen'Harel woke in the middle of the day, feeling an emptiness in his bed, "Soora?" Fen'Harel looked around the room to see she wasn't anywhere. He quickly dressed and left his room. He walked outside, hearing Soora cursing, and saw her working with her daggers next to the pond. Fen'Harel watched closely as Soora got up off the floor, holding her head. She quickly shook away her dizziness and grabbed her daggers off the ground. She got into her stance again, moving around the dummy in front of her, cutting and slashing.
She is quite good at this. Fen'Harel thought, crossing his arms and staring at Soora. Fen'Harel watched carefully, noticing where her weaknesses were was harder then he thought. Her stance was good, she was light on her feet, agile, perfect for a rogue. He wondered if she wasn't a Mage would she have chosen to become a rogue – or anything at all. As he watched her practice, he could see how dedicated she was to defeating this 'Elder One.' Fen'Harel smiled and sat on the stairs as he watched her.
Soora fell onto the ground after performing the last move, "Unnn..." Soora panted as she stared up at the sky, seeing it start to change to a golden color, "Fuck...it's almost dust."
"And you haven't gotten any sleep, have you?"
Soora looked to her side to see Fen'Harel walking towards her, his hands behind his back and his all-knowing smirk gracing his features. Soora didn't reply as Fen'Harel stopped in front of her.
"You can't keep exerting yourself like this. You need to sleep." Fen'Harel crossed his arms and looked down at her, worried.
Soora forced herself up and picked up her daggers, "No time. I need to become stronger. The amulet has been ready for months but I can't go back until I've mastered my training."
"You can't do this to yourself, Soora. You haven't slept in days, maybe weeks for all I know. You are starting to look sick and you are falling asleep as I'm talking to you," Fen'Harel pointed out as she saw Soora's eyes start to closed.
"I-I'm fine!" Soora quickly shook her head and clipped the daggers onto her back, "Come. Mythal will be waiting." Soora grabbed Fen'Harel's sleeve and pulled him.
"She can wait all she wants. You are not going tonight." Fen'Harel didn't move as Soora tried to pull him.
"I need to do this." Soora glared at him.
"You need sleep." Fen'Harel pointed out.
"I need to win!" Soora yelled.
"You literally have all the time in the world, Soora. You're using an amulet to time travel back to the future – you can set the time and date to when you want to return-"
"I want to return now! I need to master this as soon as possible so I can get back!" Soora let go of Fen'Harel and started turning towards stairs leading to the Eluvian.
"You need to sleep!" Fen'Harel yelled, pulling her back to him.
"I need to save you!" Soora yelled back, turning her body towards him. "If I don't master this..."
Soora closed her eyes and held in her tears, "I need to go."
"You can't." Fen'Harel said.
"Watch me," Soora glared at him and turned away, walking down the stairs. Fen'Harel sighed and followed her. She stood in front of the Eluvian and pressed a finger to it, having it shock her.
"Wh-What did you do?" She looked at Fen'Harel, anger in her eyes.
"I locked it – no one can come in and no one can go out – and I won't unlock it until you sleep." Fen'Harel crossed his arms.
"Unlock it, you ass!" Soora stalked over to him.
"No."
"Yes!"
"No."
Fire started to form around Soora's arms as her anger rose, "Yes."
"No." Fen'Harel's arms fell to his side as he leaned down.
Soora grinded her teeth together, lowly growling in her throat.
"You are not leaving this place tonight."
The fire around her arms grew up to her shoulders, it's color turing to a bright blue, her eyes filling with sadness and hate. Fen'Harel stood there, crossing his arms again and staring down at her. Soora was enraged, she knew what was at stake, she knew everything that could happen if Corypheus won, but as she looked at him – she knew he was right. She couldn't even think clearly. She looked down at her hands, closing them, as the fire dissipated.
"Wh-What am I doing...Fen'Harel I-..." Soora looked up at Fen'Harel. He took her hands in his and sighed, "Come...let us sleep."
Day's turned into weeks, weeks turned into months, and soon it was a year since Soora had left. The Inquisitions forces had taken a toll with the new Red Templars making surprise attacks. Samson swore he had no idea that there were any more Red Templars. Cullen could even confirm that these Red Templars were never accepted into the order – he guessed they were extremely new recruits or even teens that were still at the training camps.
"I can't believe he would do that," Cullen breathed out, leaning over the war table.
"I can. He is ruthless, we already knew this." Leliana held her hands behind her back as she stared out the window.
"We still have no idea why he was in the Sunless Land. Maybe he found people there?" Cassandra asked, looking around the table at the others.
"The Red Lyrium in the new Templars are too advanced to have just been made." Cullen sighed and ran a hand through his hair.
"King Alistair's forces arrive only a week ago – already more than half dead on their journey here." Cassandra sighed, "We need to make the final plans to attack. Without Soora, we can not close the Breach – we need to attack Corypheus' people."
"We should start at Haven – they might have shipping papers there." Leliana pushed her hood off and rubbed her neck, walking over to the group around the war table.
"We can't attack Haven," Morrigan walked into the war room, a scroll in her hand, "Corypheus was spotted at Haven this morning."
"What? How is that possible? My people-"
"Are dead," Morrigan cut off Leliana and handed her the scroll. Morrigan spoke with sadness in her voice as Leliana opened the scroll, "Corypheus has killed them. He left the Korcari Wilds weeks ago."
Leliana held the scroll in her hand, "H-How?"
Morrigan shook her head, "I do not know. A soldier found this on one of your crows at Ostagar, it was dead. They went to investigate and..."
Leliana held the scroll to her chest, "...No...they...they are my best...my last..."
Morrigan hesitantly put a hand on Leliana's shoulder, "...I am sorry, Leliana. I-"
"We are going to attack Haven." Leliana turned away from Morrigan and glared at the war table. "Make the plans – inform me when we are ready." Leliana walked out, tearing off her hood and throwing on the ground before she exited out the door.
Solas walked up to the Soora's room in the middle of the night, holding a drawing of Soora that someone left on his desk. His mind was clouded as he walked up the stairs and saw the empty room.
"A year..." Solas breathed out, looking down at the drawing. He looked over at the balcony to see all the windows were closed.
"When was the last time these were opened?" Solas set the drawing down on the bed and started opening all the doors, letting the cold air in. He stood on the balcony and leaned forward against the railing. He kept telling himself that she was going to return. That any second that electrifying green portal would show up and she would walk out – safe and sound...but he knew it was too much to hope for. He turned back towards the bed and shook his head, "It's my fault...It's all my fault...I couldn't convince you to get the Templars...I couldn't convince you not to drink from the Well..."
He walked towards the bed and slid under the covers. The sheets still smelt like her. He heard the paper crumble as he moved in the bed and stuck his head out to get it. He stared at it as he laid there.
"I am a horrible person, Soora...You might die because of me. You might already be dead for all I know..." Solas set the drawing down and closed his eyes. He didn't realize he even started crying until he felt the tears roll off his cheeks.
"Ir abelas, Vhenan."