Disclaimer: I don't own Dragon Age.
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Chapter 10:
Despite the pressure on her throat Morrigan addressed the Vir'Abelasan with cool intellect, as calculated as ever.
"With whom am I speaking?"
She asked curiously. The Well was comprised of those who'd dedicated their lives to Mythal. Was their consciousness one of community or of separate beings? There were many questions she wanted to ask the ancient elvhen, now that she had the opportunity.
Kana's face soured.
"Do not patronize us, while intending harm. You threaten our host."
The voice coming from the elf before her hinted at its rightful owner but it was laced, layered, with echoes and overlays, like a symphony adding to one sound. The person before her was defiantly not Lavellan. The woman's entire posture had changed, from the turbulent youth to someone or something older, more experienced, confident in their superiority. Morrigan lowered her staff, more interested in the many ancient elvhen than in fighting them.
"Not bodily harm. Tell me, if you will, of how much are you aware?"
Kana's hand kept its grip but the elvhen woman got up onto her feet and held out the other appendage. The staff in the corner was summoned effortlessly to that hand and Kana stepped down from the bed, forcing Morrigan to sit down in her chair. She moved with a grace and skill attained over millennia and embodied by only a remaining few. Solas had been such a one, as were the Sentinels. The witch berated herself. She should have made the connection at the Temple.
Looking around, the Vir'Abelasan seemed cautious, apprehensive behind Kana's eyes, as if not sure of their own existence, flexing fingers in front of their face. They spotted the Eluvian and moved towards it, releasing Morrigan's throat, moving around the overturned chair. They pressed hands, twisted around, curious and Morrigan had a fleeting thought about the men who were part of the collective as. The witch's mouth twitched.
"We know her. We know what she has seen. You are concerned?"
The elf tilted her head and directed her gaze back to Morrigan, no longer interested in their new vessel. Kana Lavellan was apparently adequate.
Concern? Perhaps. She had encountered many abominations, those that housed spirits and those that housed demons. Neither was a good bond but Kana was not connected to simple spirits. Those inside her head had once been alive, real people. Their bodies were gone but consciousness was upon them. Yes, Morrigan was concerned at how much control the Vir'Abelasan desired over their host. Kana could be barred from her own body. This tugged on a nerve inside the witch. Before knowing what she truly was, Morrigan, or rather Tabris, had found Flemeth's black grimoire and brought light the way her mother supposedly prolonged her life. She'd once feared for her own freedom. Now she was at an impasse. The same thing could happen to Kana Lavellan.
Those glazed eyes fixed back upon her. She did not answer the Vir'Abelasan's question but simply watched as the elvhen woman fumbled around the cabin, running her hands along the different surfaces.
"What does Mythal intend to do?"
Seemingly puzzled, the Well paused.
"We do not know. We thought we did once…but much has changed in the world. She is in league with the Dread One."
At the mention of him, Kana's body flinched but Morrigan wasn't brave enough to inquire as to the movement's origin. The beings in her head seemed in conflict, all the while stretching and moving each part of their host.
"And what of Fen'Harel?"
Morrigan asked, wondering how the Vir'Abelasan would decide. She knew Kana's own struggle over the fate of her beloved but how would hundreds of ancient Sentinels judge?
The stillness that settled over Kana was startling and the witch chanced to stand. The elf did not move and Morrigan placed a hand carefully on her arm.
"We are leaving." As if spurned into action and completely ignoring the confrontation that just occurred between their host and their literal host, Kana reached for her robes, her armor. Morrigan once again moved to block the elvhen woman's path.
"I cannot let you go to him." The witch said adamantly and Kana's face soured.
The rage was instantaneous, a glare that rivaled that of Flemeth's.
"Let us pass." It was Kana's voice coming from her mouth but not. It was haunted and echoed through her ears as she heard it, no longer calmly detached.
"What do you intend to do?" She asked plainly, not wanting to waste an opportunity to peer into a hive mind. But the Vir'Abelasan's patience was waning with her, Morrigan could tell.
"We intend to find the Dread Wolf, human. Mythal's previous vessel may have been your progenitor but we will not give you more respect than that." The witch was taken aback at the Well's choice of words.
"What do you mean "previous"? What has become of my mother?" They did not answer but Kana moved towards the door. Morrigan could feel the elvhen woman's magic building. One blast and there would be no door. But Morrigan needed to know more, she maneuvered herself around and stood before the threshold.
"You go to join Fen'Harel? Do you plan to stop him?"
They once again said nothing and Morrigan recalled Flemeth's heated speech in the grove where Kana had summoned the dragon.
"You go to aid him? You go to help him destroy the world? And you would use her to do it. Does she even know of your intentions?"
Faster than Morrigan thought possible, Kana Lavellan was at eye level, glazed gaze pouring into her's. The elf, she didn't doubt was standing on her toes to do it. Her balance was unshakeable.
"Listen to me, human witch. I am Anaya, last of the Well's Keepers. I speak for the Vir'Abelasan. We saw the world, the Empire as it once was, a time of incessant wars caused by petty occurrences and slight insults, cast by a group who cared nothing for the People. Mythal sided with Fen'Harel, we cared for those we came to us for help."
"Then you go to aid him?"
"We go to kill him."
The statement hung in the air like a noose. Morrigan didn't understand their intention and the Well saw it.
"He plans to restore the Fade to the waking world but it will cause an insurmountable amount of chaos, as much as any of the Evanuris' wars. He chained them for the greater good but the disappearance of the Veil will break the locks. We will not let this happen, no matter how desolate a future the People face."
Morrigan shut her open mouth as the tension shifted between the two figures. An understanding filled the air and Morrigan backed away from the door, to stand just behind Kana Lavellan's form, her own plans accumulating in her mind. Kana had mentioned vaguely what the Veil held at bay, what the consequences might possibly be. Morrigan agreed with the Vir'Abelasan. The Empire was lost and Thedas had moved on. This was her world and she intended to preserve it.
Kana placed a hand on the door handle but then her body collided with the wall, as if pushed. A violet hand went to her forehead.
"We are waning, disappearing. All magic has its price." Morrigan could feel the magic dissipating, weakening and she helped the source back to her feet.
"I, too, want Fen'Harel stopped. You have my aid, willingly."
The witch almost chuckled to herself. For so long she had wanted to avoid anything that had to do with her mother. Now she found herself once again regretting allowing the Inquisitor to drink from the Well. What allies the Vir'Abelasan and she would have been. Instead, they were trapped in a body that desired the enemy.
The power that once emanated from Kana began to fade, but not before one last revelation from Morrigan's newest friends.
"He killed your mother."
…
The scene from before repeated itself: Kana slept in the bed and Morrigan sat in her chair. But much had changed, had been revealed and a new resentment fueled the witch's fury. She was trying to calculate, formulate plans and actions for the coming days but her thoughts were mired. Mythal was in league with Fen'Harel…but he had killed her mother. Had he killed Flemeth and released Mythal? Couldn't the two women separate themselves on their own? In what circumstances had the Dread Wolf required her mother to die?
No longer content in her stillness, Morrigan stood and began to pace. She was not one to be upset. She'd once told Alistair that she'd laugh if her mother died. She didn't feel like laughing. Instead, rage boiled under her skin like fire. Morrigan had spent most of her life in Flemeth's shadow and care. Then the blight had come and nothing stayed the same. The witch had found friends in the Hero of Ferelden and her merry band of misfits. There were few people in Morrigan's life and that circle just grew smaller.
The Vir'Abelasan planned to kill the Dread Wolf in service of the People, to protect the world from the possibility of another age controlled by an empire worse than Tevinter.
But as tears fell from Morrigan's cheeks for one of the few times in her life, it was more than benevolence that solidified her plans of action. It was vengeance. She knew that something was happening within the Arlathan Forest. She knew where the activity was heaviest. Morrigan would deliver Lavellan to the Dread Wolf and she would watch as the person he loved most became the harbinger of his death.
…
The next morning, after a night of pacing and angry words thrown silently at the darkness, Morrigan carried Kana's sleeping form out of her hut. The hours behind her had been filled with unanswered questions and the pursuits of theories and lines of thought she had no way of proving.
She thought back to the Temple, to the Sentinel, Abelas' warning about the Well. What she'd witnessed, was this the great consequence, sharing a mind, a body, with more than your own. Morrigan had had time to consider what would happen if her plans were fulfilled, if the Dread Wolf was killed and peace once again restored to Thedas. What would happen to Kana?
The witch wondered how many were present, trapped inside her frail looking body, trapped inside Kana's head. Morrigan couldn't imagine such an existence and couldn't quiet blame them for wanting to be more than an afterthought. They were going to use Kana to get to Fen'Harel…and Morrigan was going to help them do it.
She finally got the elvhen woman, heavier than she seemed to be, over to the pesky beast munching on her herb garden. Morrigan had only been here a few months but magical gardening was something she'd picked up. She was better at growing her food than hunting for it. The sun was at its peak in the sky. Kana stirred slightly and the witch wondered what war raged behind her closed eyes.
The Vir'Abelasan had said that the Dread Wolf killed Flemeth but that still left the question as to where Mythal was. Was she wandering again, looking for another host? Then a fear gripped Morrigan. If Mythal could gain a new host, claw her way through the ages, so too could Fen'Harel. These were consequences to be considered and soon. Morrigan decided to trust the Well. They were more knowledgeable than her about ancient elvhen magic.
The witch looked down at Kana's slumbering face, a pang of guilt hitting her chest. They were going to use her go get close to him, to kill him. By the way she'd talked about the man she'd known as Solas, it was likely to kill her as well. But without Mythal or Fen'Harel having a physical body, there would be no one to command the Vir'Abelasan. They would be free. Free to use Kana's body. Morrigan wouldn't let that happen but couldn't think of any other way to save her. In the end, this was the way things were, Morrigan thought, people using other people to do bad things until that was all was left.
She'd seen this first hand.
Morrigan lifted Kana's limp form up onto the hart who was more than willing to take the weight of his master.
"Smart one" she murmured as she began strapping the elf into the saddle. She'd already fixed any supplies and her staff to the saddle as well. Morrigan had seen elves in the forest around her home. She was a shape-changer after all and most normally didn't bother a great bear. Whatever was going on, she didn't doubt it to be Fen'Harel. She had come to seek him out, to ask questions she could only get from someone who'd actually been there, and to hopefully track down her mother. Now it was not she who needed to find him.
The witch had followed their patterns, the carefully placed paths that guarded whatever lay hidden beyond her reach in the forest. They would find the Inquisitor, she was certain. As she pulled the hart and its owner further into the forest, a lump began to form in her throat. She began to feel the criticism already. Katrin would not be happy with her. Morrigan didn't know how the city elf or her lover of an assassin would react upon hearing that some elvhen god whom they've never met wanted to destroy the world. Yes, Morrigan thought, they would agree that this was what needed to be done but still not like it. Better only two more die than the entire world.
Morrigan would not allow the Dread Wolf to tear down the Veil. She cared for this world too much, however horrible and decrepit it was. She didn't know what Fen'Harel planned to do to the humans in his new age and Morrigan didn't want to find out. She would not be bowing to some ancient elvhen rebel. She would bow to no one.
So Kana would kill him...then she would kill Kana, saving the world for at least another thousand years.