Author's Note: Ok, so this is my least favorite part of the story, but it leads into so much goodness that I powered through to get it done with. No sense waiting around for it to just write itself. That wouldn't happen and I'm really excited to write the next major chapters. So enjoy this and leave me a review to let me know what you think!
SHOUT OUT TO MY NEW FOLLOWER: Starks Snow- THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THE SUPPORT! You're amazing. 3
Chapter 10
The time on the mountainside after the avalanche went quickly. Elena threw herself into setting up a camp that could house everyone from Haven with the other soldiers. She kept unhappy thoughts at bay with working, or at least she tried to. The heads of the Inquisition sent out regular search parties, but after the second one came back bringing Dorian, Iron Bull, and Blackwall with them, she started to feel panic claw at her throat. She kept casting desperate glances at the place where the three adventurers had come over the hill, hoping and praying that somehow Erik had managed to escape the icy claws of death itself. He'd done it before when the explosion at the Conclave had happened. Why would this time be any different? She thought hysterically, piling firewood into her arms from a stack on the edge of the camp. She walked over to where someone else had laid down the outline for a fire pit and let them all fall into it. Elena knelt down and rearranged to wood into a neat pyramid, the trampled snow melting into the knees of her breeches. She picked up the flint and steel the fire pit maker had left behind and started to strike sparks onto the kindling. The damn thing wouldn't light. She struck sparks onto the thin bits of wood and other material time and time again with no result. She was getting frustrated. Elena felt tears start to prick her eyes and blur her vision as she wrestled with the flint and steel. Why couldn't she do this one simple thing?!
"You're doing it wrong." Dorian's voice calmly cut into her thoughts. "Let me help with that." He knelt down beside her and took the tools away from her. With a muttered word the fire sparked to life, "There, now we won't be so damn cold."
Elena nodded her head, rubbing her eyes fiercely to get them to stop this crying nonsense but to no avail. She sat there, knees going numb, crying and feeling utterly lost.
"Come now, dear, don't do that." Dorian told her, his voice thick with emotion as well, "It's just a fire." He pulled her against his side, one hand rubbing her opposite shoulder, "Certainly no reason to be upset."
Elena let him hold her, "It's just so stupid. None of this should have happened. He sealed the Breach. That was supposed to be the end of it." She complained sniffling as she gathered herself back together.
Dorian nodded, rubbing her arm, "It was. We know better now."
"What're we going to do if he… if he…" Elena couldn't say it. To say it would make it an actual possibility. She adjusted herself to look at him fully. "What'll happen?"
Dorian shrugged, "I'm afraid that's one question that I don't have an answer for." They sat in silence, leaning on each other as they watched the flames eat the wood in the pit.
XXX
Elena wandered the camp idly, checking in on her friends. Reeves and Porteur had made it back safely without hassle before Haven had evacuated. Marston was in the infirmary tent with a broken arm, but was otherwise in fine shape. Everyone offered her some form of comfort, noting that she wasn't quite herself. She felt she was holding it together remarkably well considering everything that had happened within the past twelve hours. As she was leaving the infirmary tent she heard Cassandra's voice echo down from the pass beyond them.
"Thank the Maker!"
She froze in place as there were more cries from that same direction. Desperation tightened her throat and clawed at her. She bolted through the camp, following the noise, and slammed into Cullen. He caught her and moved them both to the side as two scouts carried a stretcher past them. She wrenched herself away from him and watched as her brother was carried past her. He was in one in piece! Elena felt her whole body relax as he was carried into the infirmary tent. She took an uncertain step forwards, relief causing her to sway a little bit. Cullen came up beside her and took her hand. He brought it to her lips in a brief, polite kiss.
"He's all right." Elena told Cullen, "Thank the Maker."
Cullen looked at her from behind her own knuckles, "Thank the Maker indeed. Now the real work begins." He let their hands fall, keeping his around hers as they walked towards the middle of camp.
"Don't you ever rest?" Elena groaned, rolling her head back on her neck dramatically as they came to a halt near the main fire.
Cullen laughed slightly, "Not when there's so much that needs to be done." He looked past her to where Josephine, Cassandra, and Leiliana were gathered around a table bickering, "I've got to go speak to the war council." He paused as he passed in front of her and looked her directly in the eyes, "In the morning we need to move. We can't live in the snow forever like this. Don't you understand? We need to make a plan and we need to make it now. I'll speak with you more later. Right now," he sighed and placed a hand on the back of her head, "is not the time." He placed a kiss on her forehead and left to add his voice to the bickering coming from the table.
XXX
When morning came, the decision had been made. They would go to a location Solas had told Erik of. An old castle called Skyhold that sat like an eagle amongst the highest mountain peaks. Elena had gone to visit the infirmary after Cullen had left her at the fireside. Erik had been in a sour mood arguing with Mother Giselle about what to do with the Inquisition now. Mother Giselle had insisted that he rest, but Erik insisted that he join in the war council. Luckily, for both of them, the war council concluded its business with the four participating members shouting at each other before going to their own spots in camp to think.
Mother Giselle had taken the time to sing a song with the camp in the hopes of boosting morale. Elena had been greatly confused by this, but was interested to note that Cullen had a terrific singing voice. She saved that information for later excursions to taverns. Erik had looked at her with total disbelief as it happened, holding onto his bruised ribs. Neither of them were very good Andrastians despite what they told their family. There were rumors of electing an Inquisitor once they reached Skyhold and making the Inquisition a formal force to be reckoned with. The rumors led her to believe that Erik was in the best position for that title. She knew she wouldn't like her brother putting himself at more risk for death, but she also knew that he was the only person in Thedas equipped to deal with the monster they had learned was called Corypheus. A name that sent the color draining from Varric's and many others' faces once Erik had uttered it.
Skyhold, as it turned out, was a much larger fortification than any of them had anticipated. The great stone walls dwarfed the mountainside they were perched on. Elena noticed several people openly staring with mouths agape as they came over the final rise bringing it into full view. She would have stopped to join them if it hadn't been for Reeves grabbing her hand as she ran past.
"It's Skyhold! Look at it, Elena!" Reeves enthused rushing forward and grabbing Porteur along the way, "Isn't it magnificent?"
Porteur tugged them to a slower pace, laughing at Reeves' exuberance, "It's only a castle, Carrina. There's plenty of them in the world."
Elena shook her head, "There's not plenty like this one, Mathias. I get the feeling that Skyhold is unique. Where else can you find a castle this massive in the mountains? Think about the effort it would have taken to build it originally."
Porteur looked up at the approaching stone walls and rubbed his chin thoughtfully, "It would have been immensely difficult to bring this much cut stone up the mountainside."
"Exactly." Elena said as she threw her arms around her friends' necks, tugging them closer to her.
"I hope, with all this space, we get our own rooms." Marston piped up from behind them, "I know I'll be glad to be rid of Porteur's incessant morning singing."
Elena turned to face him and was struck once again with Marston's odd handsomeness. He was rugged and had his arm cast casually in a sling. His dark hair was mussed and his impossibly blue eyes pierced through his unkempt bangs at them, sparking with laughter above his brilliant smile. His hair and outline gilded by the morning sun. He reached them and slung his good arm over Reeves' shoulder.
"Marston, you must be feeling better!" Porteur told him from down the line, "What are your thoughts on our new home?"
Marston considered the structure before them, "It looks defensible enough. I don't want to spend a lot of time, here, though."
"Oh?" Reeves asked, "Why's that?"
Marston bobbed his head around, "We should be going on missions instead of lounging here doing patrols. Of course, that's all I'll be able to do for a bit while this arm heals."
"It sure will be good to get back out in the field after this mess." Porteur agreed, "Until you are healed, we are happy to wait around doing patrols with you."
Elena fell silent as her companions continued to discuss their next moves. She wasn't sure she really wanted to be going into uncharted territory after her experience in the Fallow Mire. She had much preferred her role at Haven when tragedy struck. Immediate action was better than wandering around waiting for the fight to find them and being unprepared. She liked fighting, but she didn't like exploring the country side. She also had learned to enjoy her work as a trainer during her convalescence at Haven. She hoped her role at Skyhold would play to her strengths just as much as they had in Haven.
By and by they made their way into Skyhold proper. Erik could be seen standing in the middle of a great stone staircase leading up the main keep. He was speaking with Cassandra about something as she handed him a gigantic sword with a hilt in the shape of twin dragons winding around the blade. Elena pulled her companions to a halt and motioned to her brother. They all stopped talking and fell silent as Erik turned to face them.
"Have our people been told?" Cassandra asked loudly enough for her voice to carry down to them.
Josephine piped up from the front of the crowd, "They have!"
"Will they follow?" Cassandra asked.
Cullen stepped forward and bravely addressed the people around him, "Inquisition? Will you follow?" The crowd cheered, "Will you fight?" The crowd cheered louder, "Will we triumph?" The crowd cheered even louder. Cullen turned, pulling his sword from its sheath heroically and thrusting it up at Erik and Cassandra on the stairs, "Your leader, your Herald, your Inquisitor!" Even though Elena didn't think she or the crowd could possibly cheer louder, they somehow managed to raise their voices higher together. As the crowd celebrated, Elena extricated herself and headed up the stairs by herself, wanting to congratulate her brother on his new position as Inquisitor. However, he had disappeared inside the main keep with his war council. She decided that now was not the appropriate time and instead settled herself in the courtyard. She leaned on a low stone wall and let the sunshine sink into her skin. She felt like Skyhold was the place they would create the legends of the future. She liked that feeling.
Author's Note: I don't know, Elena. You might be forced back into the field even though you're a bit scared of it. Gotta get back up on that horse and ride girlfriend. How else am I going to put you in situations that may or may not require you to be rescued? I mean, for the most part, Elena is self-sufficient, but even the most self-sufficient person needs help every now and then. And I'm thinking about political intrigue and what all that entails and how it might affect our heroine and her companions not to mention her not-a-relationship-relationship with Cullen. They haven't DTR'd yet.
I have a lot of thoughts tonight. I'm gonna sign off before I give any juicy secrets away. Peace and Blessings. -Danbamina