A/N: Is your body ready for some serious canon-breaking action?

Eleven

In Hushed Whispers (Part 1): Birthright

It was gray and drizzling the day the Inquisition reached Redcliffe to meet with Magister Alexius. The journey had been uneventful, if a tad slow because so many left with them from Haven. Leliana and Cullen had supplied a small force of soldiers and agents who would sneak into Redcliffe castle while Rosa distracted Alexius—and hopefully did not wind up dead before her backup could arrive.

Solas had insisted on accompanying Rosa during the week it took everyone to prepare. Outwardly he claimed he wanted to see the time magic affecting Redcliffe as much as anything else, but he doubted his comments seemed genuine to Rosa. They both knew he had other motives and that something still lay between them, despite their pretending to the contrary around one another and with everyone else. Still, Solas hadn't expected Rosa to actually agree to let him join her "negotiation" party into Redcliffe castle.

What was more surprising, however, was who she wanted to leave behind: Tal.

"You're not going, isamalin," she told him, voice firm and hard. "And that's final."

"Who named you Inquisitor, again?" Tal shot back at her, frowning. "Oh, yeah, that's right: No one. You're not in charge here. Cassandra is."

Rosa glared at him. "I'm the bait. This plan doesn't work without me. So actually, right now, I am in charge." With her hands on her hips, she struck a pose of authority and confidence, even if the slight hunch of her shoulders revealed her tension. Tal was lanky and defensive in contrast with his arms crossed over his chest.

They were just outside Redcliffe village, waiting for Rosa to say she was ready before they would head to the castle with a small party. Solas had been chosen before they left Haven as one of Rosa's companions, along with the Iron Bull and Varric. Tal, Mahanon, and Cassandra had made the journey to Redcliffe as backups and to further aid Leliana's scouts. Both Mahanon and Tal had bickered with her choices, however, and wanted to be included in her entourage. Rosa had steadfastly refused and Mahanon had seemed to accept her pronouncement by now.

But Tal was another story.

"I should be there with you," Tal insisted, brows furrowing with determination and stubbornness. "We're a team."

"It's too dangerous," Rosa said, dropping her volume slightly. They were standing off the road from the others, trying to settle the matter once and for all before the mission truly began.

"Then that's all the more reason I should be with you," Tal said.

Rosa leaned closer to him and said, "If I don't make it out of this, I want you to live."

Solas had seated himself on a large stone near the road and pretended to busy himself with looking over his staff, to ensure it was ready for battle. Iron Bull and Varric were chatting amiably together about spies and spy networks, while Cassandra and Dorian were working with the scouts to make sure everything was in place. Mahanon, meanwhile, had settled on the opposite side of the road from Solas and seemed absorbed with making arrows. Like Dorian and Cassandra, Mahanon would go with the scouts when the time came.

"I'm going," Tal told her, obstinate. "And that's final."

"You're not," Rosa repeated, reaching forward to lay a hand on his shoulder. "I'll be safer, actually, if I don't have to worry about you while I'm chatting up Alexius, da'isamalin."

Tal scoffed, knocking her hand away. "Don't da'isamalin me, Rosa." He turned away from her and stomped off, his staff thumping on his back as he passed Solas and Mahanon without looking at them.

Solas covertly watched as Rosa sighed and covered her face with her hands, taking the moment to recompose herself before she squared her shoulders and followed after Tal. Like her brother, she didn't glance at either Solas or Mahanon and instead addressed Iron Bull, Varric, Cassandra, Dorian, and the scouts. The drizzle made her skin pallid, her Dalish Keeper armor slick with the rain and her hair dripping. "All right," she called to them. "Is everyone ready?"

Cassandra walked away from Dorian and the scouts, her booted feet crunching on the gravel. "We're ready, Herald."

"Good," Rosa said, nodding. "Then let's get this over with."

Solas spied Tal scowling at his sister from where he now stood beside Dorian, sulking in the rain and with his arms still crossed defensively over his chest. The Tevinter nudged the young elf with his elbow and murmured something to him, a smug smirk over his lips. Tal's expression softened as he listened, transforming into amusement. Solas suspected they were flirting, but he quickly lost interest as he joined Iron Bull and Varric in following Rosa down the muddy road to Redcliffe.

The city was somber and ominous under the brooding gray ceiling of the clouds as they made their way through Redcliffe. The castle looked dreary and depressing, extra dark now that the stones were wet from the rain. The old wood of the drawbridge felt slimy, though oddly it wasn't slick.

They encountered no resistance or guards until they were inside. Solas was tense, his arms and legs feeling heavy with the anticipation that at any moment the Magister would spring his trap and attack them. But the Venatori and Tevinters standing guard inside merely watched them with mild fascination. There weren't all that many of them, a positive sign for their plan. Most of the Arl's men and women must have been evicted. It was a wise move on Alexius' part, as the Redcliffe natives were unlikely to be loyal. However, ditching the Arl's people meant he had a limited force of his own.

Rosa led them through the castle until they reached the main hall where, at long last, Venatori guards and a steward appeared to greet them. Solas eyed the Venatori agents and their bizarre choice of armor and clothing, comparing it with his memory of the first human cultures he'd ever met, back in Elvhenan. It was an interesting distraction from the tension as the steward confronted Rosa and tried to separate her from her companions.

"The Magister's invitation was for Mistress Lavellan alone," he said, eyes sliding over the group haughtily. "The rest will remain here."

Rosa snorted and shook her head. "You wouldn't turn them back out into the rain, would you?" She gestured with one hand at Iron Bull. "My Qunari doesn't even have a shirt on. Surely Alexius isn't that cruel."

The steward seemed uneasy as he scanned them again, hesitating. The guards in full Tevinter—or was it Venatori?—dress seemed unfazed. Finally, after a stare down, the steward nodded, giving way. He did not smile, however. Solas wondered if he was a native who'd been conscripted into this role or if he was a Venatori agent merely dressed like a Fereldener. Regardless, he yielded and turned to lead Rosa and her party up the stairs to meet with Alexius.

Solas noted that the Venatori guards moved after them, hands behind their backs and masks still firmly in place. They moved with casual confidence, as if this meeting wasn't actually a poorly disguised trap. As they walked further into the main hall, Solas noted more Venatori guards along the hall at regular intervals. This was where Alexius had staged most of his men, it seemed. The rest of the castle was virtually empty.

Alexius sat in a wooden chair—the Arl's throne, no doubt—in front of a large fire. Felix stood to the old Magister's right, his eyes tight at the corners as his gaze followed Rosa on her approach to the throne. Enormous, exaggerated carvings of what Solas guessed were dogs projected out on either side of the fire. Off to the far right, standing unobtrusively on the sidelines, Solas noticed Grand Enchanter Fiona.

"My lord Magister," the steward said then, announcing them. "The agents of the Inquisition have arrived."

Alexius rose from his throne and took a few steps toward Rosa without leaving his little elevated dais. "My friend," he said. "It's so good to see you again." With a little hesitation, he added, "And your associates, of course." His gesture took in Solas, Iron Bull, and Varric. "I'm sure we can work out some arrangement that is equitable to all parties."

Quiet footsteps preceded Fiona's sudden interruption as she brushed past Iron Bull. "Are we mages to have no voice in deciding our fate?" she demanded, a wrinkle in her nose the only sign of the anger she must feel. Solas guessed she had run from another part of the castle when she heard rumor that Rosa had at last arrived.

"Fiona, you would not have turned your followers over to my care if you did not trust me with their lives," Alexius said, politely dismissing any concerns or arguments Fiona had. Solas had heard that Alexius had indentured the mages, but the way he treated them…it was all but slavery in name. The idea of it made Solas' blood flush hot.

"Yes," Rosa said under her breath wearing a dry smirk. "Because you simply ooze trust." Iron Bull and Varric both restrained their chuckling at her sarcastic comment, but Solas clenched his jaw, determined to give nothing away.

Alexius looked at her, brow furrowing slightly. "Pardon me?" he asked.

Rosa's smirk became a polite smile as she smoothly lied. "I was saying that if the Grand Enchanter wishes to be a part of these discussions, then I welcome her as a guest of the Inquisition."

Now Solas smiled with approval. Rosa had outplayed the Magister there. If Alexius wanted to exclude Fiona, he could do so. But Rosa had extended an invitation out to Fiona, giving the Grand Enchanter a way around Alexius' dismissal.

Fiona nodded in acknowledgement. "Thank you."

Alexius apparently decided not to further antagonize either Rosa or Fiona and turned round to walk back to his throne without further comment. Felix watched his father a moment before his gaze flicked back to Rosa and the others. Solas admired the young man for his bravery in defying his father, but he tried not to let his attention linger on the youth for fear he'd give away the game.

He felt the edges of his tunic, trying not to fidget as Alexius sat down and began the "negotiation" proper. "The Inquisition needs mages to close the Breach, and I have them. So, what shall you offer in exchange?"

It was difficult to pay full attention to Alexius now that the ruse seemed to be stretching so thin. How much longer would the Magister pretend he actually intended to help? Solas' clothing was damp from the rain outside, but the chill as it began to dry had passed into a clammy sweat of tension. Any moment now the trap must spring…

Rosa must have grown tired of the ruse as well, because when Alexius had finished speaking, she said, "Well, I make a fantastic flatbread and I'm sure I could even get you a little halla butter to spread on it." When Alexius frowned at her, Rosa quickly added, "And if Dalish food isn't to your liking, I could sing you a little song, perhaps?"

Before Alexius or anyone could react to Rosa's comments, Felix turned and blurted, "She knows everything, father."

"Felix," Alexius said, a warning note in his voice. "What have you done?"

"He's done the right thing," Rosa interjected with an appreciative nod toward Felix. "He knows you're involved in something terrible and he's trying to stop it."

"So says the thief," Alexius rejoined, irritation now coloring his tone. "You think you can turn my son against me?" He glanced toward Feliz as he spoke this, as if to reassure himself that Felix couldn't possibly have already exposed him. When Felix didn't move or speak immediately, Alexius rose out of his throne again and walked toward Rosa and the end of the dais. "You walk into my stronghold with your stolen mark—a gift you don't even understand—and think you're in control?"

"Actually," Varric piped up. "I think this is supposed to be Arl Teagan's stronghold."

Iron Bull smirked at the dwarf, but Rosa didn't react. Solas, for his part, continued to remain motionless, keeping his hands as still as possible. Inwardly, however, he prodded his mana core repeatedly, imagining the first spell he would use when the fighting started: a barrier for Rosa and their other companions.

"You're nothing but a mistake," Alexius taunted from atop his dais.

"Oh really?" Rosa said, cocking her head to one side. "Tell me more, oh great Magister." She lifted her left hand and wiggled the fingers. "Tell me about this mark."

"It belongs to your betters." Alexius shifted on the dais, as if uncomfortable. He probably was, actually. This was not, most likely, how he'd wanted the trap to spring. Had he actually intended to negotiate a mock deal and then have Rosa and her companions stay the night so he could slaughter them in their sleep? Or maybe stab them in the back as they left the great hall?

"You wouldn't even begin to understand its purpose," Alexius went on, earning a disdainful snort from Rosa. Solas managed to remain motionless, as if he didn't know exactly the purpose of his own orb and the Anchor. As if he hadn't indirectly caused all this…

"Father," Felix interrupted. "Listen to yourself." He stepped forward, likely ready to plead with Alexius. "Do you know what you sound like?"

The answer came from behind the group in a rustle of silken clothes as Dorian walked out from beneath the pillars lining the hall. "He sounds like the sort of villainous cliché everyone expects us to be," the altus quipped.

Alexius' eyes narrowed with dislike and recognition. "Dorian."

Solas shifted his weight from one foot to the other as Dorian strode by him, moving closer to Rosa and the dais. The altus' arrival meant that Leliana's scouts and the rest of their backup had to be in place now. He probed his mana again, testing it as his stomach clenched with anticipation.

"I gave you a chance to be a part of this," Alexius said to Dorian. "You turned me down."

From somewhere behind him, Solas sensed familiar magic—an old spell from Elvhenan that made his skin tingle. He resisted the desire to turn round, knowing that would give away the trap, but he saw Rosa's head jerk slightly as she sensed it too. That had to be Tal, drawing close and using the invisibility spell the siblings had learned from Felassan.

"The Elder One has power you would not believe," Alexius went on; seguing into a sales pitch for Corypheus, as if he still hoped to recruit Dorian. "He will raise the Imperium from its own ashes."

Now Rosa seemed to straighten, taking new interest. "That's who you serve? The one who blew up the Conclave?"

"Soon he will become a god," Alexius said, not truly answering Rosa's question. It was all Solas could do not to frown or reveal his own disgust at Corypheus' divine aspirations. Why was it that everything he became part of revolved around false gods? Alexius yammered on about how his "Elder One" would elevate mages once more and Fiona, having been stoically silent until now, reacted with horror.

"You can't involve my people in this!"

Behind him, Solas heard the soft grunts and scuff of discreet struggling and pinched his lips together to keep from glancing back or revealing anything. The sense of magic continued behind him as well, meaning Tal was close by.

"Alexius," Dorian said, stepping even closer. "This is exactly what you and I talked about never wanting to happen." The note of pleading in Dorian's voice was slight but unmistakable. "Why would you support this?"

"Stop this, father," Felix added as Alexius turned away from everyone and stared at the fire. "Give up the Venatori. Let the southern mages fight the Breach and let's go home."

Alexius whipped around to regard his son, an expression of anguish twisting his features. "No," he said. "It's the only way, Felix. He can save you."

"Save me?" Felix asked.

"There is a way. The Elder One promised. If I undo the mistake at the temple…" He almost sounded as though he was trying to convince himself that his path was still correct. Solas relaxed slightly, wondering if Alexius might decide to do the right thing after all…

"I'm going to die," Felix said, fearless and blank. "You need to accept that."

The words fell on deaf ears as Alexius pointed at Rosa and her party. "Seize them, Venatori. The Elder One demands this woman's life."

As if those words had been the cue everyone hidden behind them was waiting for, the Inquisition agents struck with abandon. Solas allowed himself to glance over his shoulder in time to see a Venatori agent collapse with a sword through his chest, blood splattering from the fatal wound. Cassandra stood behind him, a battle-hardened snarl over her face. The steward flinched at the sight of the blood and death taking place all around the room. His body language suggested he was ready to run for the hills.

The Venatori agent closest to them on the right side fell to the floor, clutching at his neck as blood gushed from a slice that seemed to have opened spontaneously. But, an instant later, the air in front of the man shimmered and Tal appeared, holding a small knife stained with the Venatori agent's blood. Rosa had turned to look at the carnage unfolding behind them and Solas saw her catch her brother's eye, smiling at him. The youth nodded back and then stepped forward to be closer.

Further down the length of the hall, Solas saw Mahanon with the other Inquisition scouts. His own dagger had a respectable amount of blood on the blade and a dead Venatori lay at his feet.

"Your men are dead, Alexius," Rosa said, edging closer.

"You are a mistake," Alexius repeated, glaring at her. Lifting one hand, he exposed a squarish talisman that began to glow greenish in color. Solas felt his skin prickle with the Magister's growing mana expenditure and his heart began to pound. This magic was entirely unfamiliar to him…and that was quite an achievement considering his vast age.

"You should never have existed," Alexius snarled as the magic continued to build.

Solas grabbed his staff, reaching inside himself for mana to cast a barrier and a powerful dispel—but Dorian reacted faster. The Tevinter flung a wild bit of green spirit magic out as raw force. It was blunted, shaped to disrupt Alexius' spell and disorient the Magister rather than actually harm him. Alexius stumbled at the impact of it and the talisman flew out and upward through the air…

With a whump-pop a greenish ball of light and something that could almost have been Fade ether appeared in the space where Rosa and Dorian had stood. It rippled and spun like a whirlpool, dazzling and beautiful—and deadly. Despite thousands of years of experience, Solas had never seen its like before. He found himself equally parts horrified and fascinated as he stared, dumbfounded.

And then, suddenly, the spell failed and vanished with a flicker. In the aftermath, horror replaced any intellectual curiosity as Solas realized both Rosa and Dorian had vanished. There was a scorch mark on the floor and maybe a bit of dust but there was no trace of either mage.

His stomach twisted and fell through the floor. His body went icy cold with dread. No, no, no…

"Rosa!" Tal screamed, his sister's name shrill with emotion. He had drawn his staff and was the first to recover, rushing toward Alexius. He flung fireballs at the Magister as he ran, pushing past the stunned Cassandra, Iron Bull, Varric, and Solas. The fireballs would have hit Alexius, who was still stunned from Dorian's counter spell, but instead they impacted a barrier, making it shimmer with blue energy.

"Please," Felix shouted and all eyes flew to him—especially Tal's—as they realized who had cast the barrier that saved Alexius from Tal's onslaught. "Don't—"

Whatever Felix had been about to say they'd never know as an arrow thwacked into his shoulder. Felix stumbled backward into the wooden dog statues, clutching at the shaft protruding from his shoulder.

The sight of his son being attacked finally drew the Magister out of his stupor. He shouted Felix's name and tossed a barrier up over himself and his son before turning to face what was left of Rosa's entourage. "You," he spat—his gaze was focused not on Tal, but beyond him. Solas dimly realized the arrow that struck Felix had been from Mahanon.

The doors behind them in the main hall burst open then and more Venatori ran in, wielding blades and staves. From the dais, protected by his barrier, Alexius shouted, "Kill the archer! Kill the intruders!"

Chaos erupted as the Venatori clashed with the Inquisition scouts. Mahanon fought beside the scouts, but a Venatori agent with a sword rushed in before the archer could dodge or switch from his bow to his dagger. The Venatori's blade slashed him across the back as he dropped and rolled away—leaving a trail of blood.

Iron Bull shouted in Qunlat and charged into the fray. Varric moved after him, lifting his crossbow and loading the first bolt. Cassandra was slower to react, staring at the scorch mark where Dorian and Rosa had stood. Tears glistened in her eyes. Solas noticed her reaction and everyone else's with a detached, cold horror of his own that kept him rooted to the spot near the Seeker.

"What did you do to her?" Tal shrieked, sending fireball after fireball at Alexius' barrier. "Tell me, you piece of shit! What did you do?!"

It wasn't him, Solas thought, but couldn't have spoken it if he wanted to. His throat had closed up, his breath wheezing. It was me. I destroyed this world, just as my actions destroyed Elvhenan. Rosa was the only one who could stop what is coming, and I couldn't save her.

Now the world would descend into madness and torture for both physical beings and spirits as the Veil slowly fell apart enough to unleash the Evanuris. Before then Corypheus would conquer Thedas, sowing destruction and death and terror. The Blight would spread with him in red lyrium, like fertilizer for the coming disaster of the Evanuris, who would emerge from their long, torturous sleep and use the Blight as a weapon. They would war against Corypheus and, inevitably, defeat him. Then they would rule Thedas again: immortal, immoral, and invulnerable. And, without Mythal, they had no conscience, no mediating influence…

The Inquisition scouts had all fallen to the Venatori by the time Solas wrenched himself from staring at the scorch marks on the floor. Alexius called on them to surrender from the safety behind his barrier. He stood beside Felix, probably itching to begin healing his son, but unable to expend the mana while Tal continued to lob seemingly endless fireballs at him. For his part, Felix appeared weak and gray as he clutched at his shoulder.

"Surrender, Inquisition," Alexius shouted at them. "Surrender and I will spare your lives."

What point was there to living on when all hope had died with Rosa? Surrounded, outnumbered, and demoralized, a dazed Cassandra surrendered. Solas found himself being restrained as well and had no motivation to stop it. He watched as Iron Bull and Mahanon were both slain, refusing to surrender, while Varric was knocked unconscious.

Somewhere, however, amidst the confusion, Tal summoned the invisibility spell and slipped away. Tal's escape offered some thin hope, but ultimately Solas knew no one could escape what was coming. That was why he hadn't tried. When he dreamt that night and many nights after, Solas communed with Tal and pleaded with the young elf to stay far, far away. And, through Tal, he heard of the horrors that passed outside his cell in Redcliffe castle. That is, until Tal vanished from his dreams and Solas assumed the young elf had been killed. By the time his captors fed him red lyrium to study its effects on elves—and to better serve Alexis' unending quest to cure Blight—he'd begun to look forward to death.

In fact, he often thought it couldn't come soon enough once the red lyrium started whispering in his head with Dirthamen's voice. It grew so loud eventually that he could no longer sleep deep enough to enter the Fade. He knew what would be waiting for him if he did manage to dream, however. The Veil was virtually gone and the Evanuris were awakening, their minds able to wander the Fade now. If they found him they would easily be able to kill him from the Fade. It would be a merciful death, far more than he deserved for killing not one but two worlds.

Not to mention Felassan and Rosa.

When the whispers quieted on occasion long enough for him to think, Solas would hold his head in his hands and weep, wishing he could change his own past. Time and time again he went over what he would have done differently. He would have stopped himself from putting up the Veil. He would have found a way to save Mythal. He would have spared Felassan. He would have kept his orb close to him and never let Corypheus have it.

But most of all, he realized he would have chosen to stay with Rosa last winter. He would have given up Fen'Harel and chosen to embrace some measure of happiness with her. It was a fool's dream he had aspired to, trying to return Thedas to the way it was. Why hadn't he been able to see that? Arrogance and pride had blinded him. That day in the Hasmal Circle when he'd chosen a new name—Revas for freedom—he should have left Solas behind. If he had, none of this would have happened. He would be living somewhere in peace with Rosa, coming to terms with his new life as a mortal.

Even in his red lyrium stupor, Solas knew it was a pipedream. He knew himself too well to truly believe it, but it was pleasant and so he clung to it the way a drowning man would cling to a raft. It was the only thing he had.

…Until Rosa showed up outside his cell.

After splashing down into some cold, slimy water, Rosa stood upright and grimaced with disgust. She shook off her hands fastidiously. "Yuck!"

Beside her Dorian fell with a splash and the greenish light of the…whatever it was…winked out. She shook her head, recoiling from the splashes as Dorian landed and simultaneously swaying with vertigo. This…felt like a dream. But not. Her magic swelled in her core, boundless and energetic. Something tingled at the edges of her senses and her blood seemed to burn with…pleasure. She had to clench her jaw to keep from laughing. Her body shivered involuntarily with delight.

From the doorway she heard booted feet splashing and turned to see two Venatori with swords staring at her and the Tevinter. One of them called out, "Blood of the Elder One!"

"What in the great Beyond…?" Rosa asked even as she snatched her staff and hurled Fade stone at the closest of the Venatori. The mana used to create the stone was barely enough for her to feel, making her blink with bafflement. Normally this spell was a bit heftier than that at full strength. Had she miscalculated?

But the Venatori she'd lobbed the stone at fell with a hard splash into the filthy water. He didn't rise again. A red haze lingered in the air and Rosa realized dimly she'd cracked his skull. That wasn't all that unusual for this spell when she aimed correctly, but the Venatori had been wearing a serious helmet and she'd barely registered the mana use…

She grimaced, feeling dizzy again, euphoric. Everyhting here seemed both dreamlike and nightmarish at once. The red crystals growing from the walls—red lyrium, like what had been under the Temple of Sacred Ashes after the explosion—crackled and hissed as the water splashed them. Water dribbled in a constant stream that reminded her she had to piss. And why the fuck did she feel as though she'd just had an earth-shattering orgasm?

Dorian at her side seemed unaffected as he hurled fire at the other Venatori. Focusing past the strangeness within and without, Rosa aided him with barriers and then spun her staff to summon chain lightning. It crackled, flickering as it lit up the room and danced along the water, arcing between the floor, the water, and the last Venatori. The man shrieked and then collapsed, dying. As relative silence descended, Rosa and Dorian caught their breath and waited for more sounds of attackers. None came.

Finally Dorian dropped his battle ready pose and began walking about the cell, his feet sloshing in the water. "Displacement," he said, his clear, precise voice ringing with curiosity. "Interesting. It's probably not what Alexius intended. The rift must have moved us...to what? The closest confluence of arcane energy?" He walked over to the base of one of the crystals and knelt, examining the stone beneath it.

He sounded as though he was thinking aloud mostly, but Rosa followed him and added her own input. "The last thing I remember we were in the castle hall."

Dorian stood once more, apparently finding nothing of note around the stone or in the water. "Let's see," he mused. "If we're still in the castle it isn't…Oh! Of course. It's not simply where, it's when. Alexius used the amulet as a focus. It moved us through time."

"Why do you sound so happy about that?" Rosa blurted, shaking her head as her hands curled into fists. She thought of her brother, Solas, Mahanon, and all the others still in the throne room. Were they all dead now and she'd been unable to help them? She sucked in a deep breath, frowning at the sour stink of the dank cell and the odd pleasure still dancing through her blood. "Do you think we went forward in time or back? And how far?"

"Excellent questions," Dorian told her, like a parent patting his child on the head. It irritated Rosa, but simultaneously she couldn't bring herself to be truly angry with him as it was obvious he wasn't trying to patronize her but to explain. He had said he was familiar with this sort of magic and had worked with Alexius on it in Tevinter. "We'll have to find out, won't we?" Dorian went on, sobering now. "Let's look around, see where the rift took us—then we can figure out how to get back…if we can."

"The others in the hall," Rosa said, wringing her hands together. "Could they have been drawn through the rift?"

"I doubt it was large enough to bring the whole room through," Dorian said. "Alexius wouldn't risk catching himself or Felix in it. They're probably still where and when we left them." He shrugged. "In some sense, anyway."

Rosa nodded, agreeing with that logic and then decided she had to ask him about…whatever she'd been feeling since the rift spat them out. "Are you…feeling all right?"

"Well enough, considering," Dorian told her, motioning to the flooded space around them and the crackling crystals, radiating heat. "Are you injured?" he asked, eyes roving over her.

"No," Rosa said, shaking her head only to stop the motion and try to resettle her core, bubbling and heaving inside her. "Just…"

"Don't worry," Dorian said, "I'll protect you."

She shot him dry look before deciding that whatever she was feeling must be unique to herself. It'd been a mistake trying to explain it to this Tevinter. "Well," she said, sighing. "Let's get moving." Please, she prayed, though she didn't know to whom or what. Let us find a way to get back…

She and Dorian set off through the dungeons, finding flooded rooms and cells infested with red lyrium. The air stank of decay, putrid and rank, making Rosa swallow bile constantly. She adjusted to the strange bliss in her blood and her mana core settled as the minutes passed, giving her some semblance of normalcy again. But if she concentrated, Rosa could still feel that weird pleasure.

Water dribbled and sloshed around their feet before they finally ascended into a different area of the dungeon. The area seemed abandoned, with most of the cells they passed empty except for corpses and red lyrium. Every half-decomposed body they passed filled Rosa with a cold dread as she worried she'd recognize it. And each time she felt confident the body didn't belong to someone she'd known, Rosa breathed a little sigh of relief.

Eventually they found a cell overrun with red lyrium—and an elven woman trapped inside some of the crystals. It took a few moments as Rosa and Dorian drew closer to the poor woman to recognize her as none other than Grand Enchanter Fiona. The Grand Enchanter, however, recognized them immediately. Through the ominous red glow around her and in her, Fiona struggled to speak. "You're alive? How? I saw you disappear into the rift."

"Is that red lyrium growing from your body?" Rosa blurted, something in her chest tightening with sympathy for the other woman. This was a terrible fate. She had respected Varric's hatred for red lyrium previously, but actually seeing what it could do…

"The longer you're near it…eventually you become this," Fiona told her, the words breathy as she struggled to give them voice. "Then they mine your corpse for more."

"Can you tell us the date," Dorian pressed. "It's very important."

When Fiona replied, the world seemed to spin about Rosa. She closed her eyes and turned away from the Grand Enchanter, ashamed that she hadn't been able to stop this. "We have to get out of here," she said, trying not to let her voice quake on the words. "We have to go back in time and stop this."

"Yes," Fiona agreed. "Please. Stop this from happening." She took in a shaky breath resting her head against her arm and the stone wall in front of her. "Alexius serves the Elder One, more powerful than the Maker. No one challenges him and lives."

"We'll see about that," Rosa snarled, hands clenching into fists. She took a step closer to the cell, forcing herself not to wince when she felt the heat thrown from the crystals. "I promise you, Fiona, if I get back I will stop all this from happening and I will save your people."

A weak smile played over Fiona's lips. "Good," she said and then added a last tip to help them: "Your spymaster, Leliana, she is here. Find her. Quickly. Before the Elder One learns you're here. "

"We will," Rosa promised her. Backing away from the cell, leaving the woman to her awful fate…it felt cruel and cowardly, even if she knew it was the only thing she could do. Fiona couldn't escape from the crystals, couldn't walk or run or fight. The only greater mercy would have been to kill Fiona. Rosa touched her mana core, finding it swollen to several times what she was accustomed to with a start. What is happening to me? It was as if she'd consumed some sort of raw, potent lyrium.

As she followed Dorian out of that wing of the dungeon, she pushed thoughts of Fiona away. They didn't have time right now. Maybe later she could return to the trapped Grand Enchanter and ask her if she wanted a swift death—but for now she had to focus on escaping this nightmare.

They entered another wing of the dungeon, also partly flooded and in disarray with debris and mold and filth everywhere. Rosa's heart ached as she recognized another woman's voice, echoing unnaturally in the dank space. "The light shall lead her safely through the paths of this world and into the next," Cassandra was saying, reciting part of the Chant. "For she who trusts in the Maker, fire is her water."

Rounding the corner, Rosa saw the Seeker sitting in her cell, slumped and tired. She still wore her armor and hadn't begun to grow red lyrium the way the Grand Enchanter had, but a grim red glow enveloped her. When she lifted her head a moment later, responding to the noise of Rosa's feet whisking over the stone, the red gleam in her pupils made Rosa feel nauseous with pity.

"You've returned to us," Cassandra said, breathily. "Can it be? Has Andraste given us another chance?" Rosa hurriedly used the prison key she'd picked up from the guards they killed earlier to open the door even before Cassandra had finished speaking. The Seeker didn't rise right away, however. Instead, an aggrieved expression spread over her face. "Maker forgive me. I failed you. I failed everyone. The end must truly be upon us if the dead return to life."

Rosa stayed outside the Seeker's cell, knowing that she shouldn't get too close to the other woman even though she wanted to hug her, console her in some way. "It's all right, Cassandra," she said and the words felt so hollow, so inadequate. She frowned, frustrated, and tried to speak around the growing lump in her throat. "I wasn't dead. I didn't die. I was—" She glanced to Dorian and started over. "This is hard to explain, but we were—"

"I was there," Cassandra interrupted her, still not having risen or made a move to escape her cell yet, despite the door being wide open. "The Magister obliterated you with a gesture."

Dorian was better at explaining it. "Alexius sent us forward in time. If we find him and the amulet he used, we may be able to return to the present."

"Go back in time?" Cassandra asked as she got up at last, apparently trusting that Rosa and Dorian weren't ghosts or demons or some sign of the end times after all. She strode forward and, despite the ominous red glow about her, Rosa felt a little of the painful knot in her throat loosen at the sight. Despite her infection with red lyrium, she seemed able bodied and fairly sound of mind. "Then…can you make it so that none of this ever took place?"

"Yes," Rosa told her, firmly. "And I'm going to make Alexius pay for all this."

"Alexius has a master," Cassandra said and began to explain what had transpired in the year Rosa and Dorian had missed. Empress Celene of Orlais had been murdered, which threw that empire into chaos. Then an army of demons had followed. The Inquisition had crumbled under such a force.

When the Seeker had finished, Rosa forced herself to ask the question burning in the forefront of her mind, though her throat tried to close up on her. "Cassandra…did anyone else survive the day you thought I died?" Her breath hitched a little. "Anyone at all?"

Cassandra's brow furrowed and her lips twisted downward. "Iron Bull was killed." She dropped her red eyes to the floor. "As was your companion, Mahanon."

Rosa felt her heart leap into her throat along with bile. She swallowed, hard. None of this will happen, she reminded herself, hoping it would blunt the news she dreaded most of all.

"Your brother escaped," Cassandra told her, but her features didn't indicate this was a good thing. "I don't know what became of him." She let out a little breath. "Varric and…Solas were both captured as I was." She shook her head regretfully. "I have not seen them in some time. I do not know if they're still alive."

"Thank you," Rosa told her, smiling wanly. Tal is alive. He had to be. She didn't let herself think much about Mahanon's death and Solas' most likely infection with red lyrium—another death sentence. "We should get moving."

"Maker guide you," Cassandra said as something like relief swept over her face. "Maker guide us all."

"My thoughts exactly," Dorian quipped. "Let's hope He guides us right out of this nightmare and back to our time."

They found Cassandra's sword and shield in a moldy bag beside her cell. The Seeker equipped them with all the professionalism of long experience, despite the glow of red lyrium and the waves of heat flowing off her body. Her skin looked damp with perspiration, gray with a sickly pallor. It must be a terrible fever, cooking her from within and yet not felling her the way a true illness would. What in the great Beyond is red lyrium? She wondered and shuddered.

They left the wing where they'd found Cassandra and searched the other areas for additional cells, hoping to come across more able-bodied prisoners. They found Varric in a wing of the dungeon without any flooding, though there was plenty of straw and other garbage strewn about. The dwarf sat in his barren cell, much as Cassandra had, and looked up at them with eyes glowing crimson with red lyrium infection, the same as Cassandra and Fiona. That didn't bode well for any other survivors, Rosa thought with a twist of dread in her guts.

Something solemn crossed Varric's face as he shook his head. "Andraste's sacred nickers. You're alive."

Cassandra, lagging a little behind Rosa and Dorian, apparently still had the wherewithal to scowl at the dwarf's blaspheming curse.

As Rosa unlocked and opened Varric's cell the dwarf shot to his feet and spoke almost enthusiastically. "Where were you? How did you escape?"

"We didn't escape," Dorian explained yet again. "Alexius sent us into the future."

"Everything that happens to you is weird," Varric said, sounding almost normal as he looked at Rosa. If not for the haze of red and the crimson glow in his pupils…

Rosa couldn't help but smirk at his comment. "You might be right about that."

"I'm always right," Varric said, shrugging. "And when I'm not, I lie about it."

"You were certainly right about red lyrium," Rosa said, mournfully.

"Yeah," Varric said with a sigh. "Unfortunately. But, what did you come here for? It wasn't just to trade quips with me, was it?"

Once again Dorian explained their plan to return to the past and change this future. Rosa added, "Will you help us?"

"You want to take on Alexius?" he asked with a nod to Rosa. "Count me in, Violet. I can die happy if I take that bastard Alexius down."

Once more they found that Varric's belongings hadn't been dismantled or sold, but lay propped up in a corner near the door outside his cell. Varric reclaimed Bianca with gusto, though he cursed when he saw that some of the bolts had begun to rust and no one had cleaned or oiled the crossbow.

They waited a few minutes as he quickly brought the crossbow back into working order again and fired the rustiest bolt at the far wall of his cell as a test. After the crossbow clacked and reset itself, leaving the bolt embedded in the stone, Varric grunted with satisfaction. "Good enough for me. Let's go."

In yet another wing of the dungeon, this one flooded but otherwise relatively clean, they found Solas pacing slowly about his small cell, the same crimson glow emanating from him. When he heard their footsteps sloshing in the water outside his cell he called out, "Who's there?"

Rosa let Dorian take the lead slightly, bracing herself for the inevitable grimness of seeing the man she had once loved—and, on some level she didn't want to think about, still loved—dying of red lyrium infection. Yet she couldn't manage to stop herself from flinching as he turned round and recognized her, jerking back with shock. "Rosa," he breathed her name. "You're alive…?" He shook his head, seeming to wince with pain. "We saw you die."

"The spell Alexius cast displaced us in time," Dorian explained yet again as Rosa hurried forward to unlock and open the cell. "We just got here, so to speak."

After glancing briefly at Dorian, Solas' red-eyed gaze remained on Rosa, his features twisting with anguish and something like….remorse. "You intend to reverse the process and obviate the events of the last year."

Despite how ill he appeared—the red haze seemed somehow worse around him than it had on Cassandra and Varric—Rosa smiled a little. "You catch on quick."

Oddly, her compliment only made his shoulders slump and his expression warp with a new, unmistakable emotion: grief. "Not regarding what matters most." He swallowed, throat bobbing, and turned slightly to look at Dorian, Cassandra, and Varric a heartbeat before speaking in elven so only Rosa would understand him. "Please, there is something you must do for me if your plan succeeds."

Rosa hesitated a moment before nodding, aware of the others watching and listening. "Of course, Solas."

Solas' jaw clenched and he gripped the lacquered jawbone that hung at his neck. With a decisive jerk, he pulled it over his head and extended it out to her. "Take this to me in your present," he said, voice cracking. "And tell me I was wrong. Tell me to let it go."

Rosa reached out and accepted the jawbone, gingerly. She fingered the shape, pressing her index finger to the pointy canine tooth and considering it a moment. Her brow furrowed as she tried to puzzle out his meaning. I was wrong. Let it go. What was it?

"We should be going," Dorian reminded her. "Before this Elder One we've heard so much about decides to pay us a visit."

"Yes," Solas said, shooting the other mage a look of something akin to relief. "We must hurry. This world is an abomination. It must never come to pass."

Rosa tucked the jawbone into one of the small satchels about her waist and cinched it shut. If she could catch a moment of peace and relative privacy with Solas she knew she had to question him further. And if there never was a moment with this Solas, Rosa promised herself she would get the full story from the Solas of the past.

This is why he abandoned me, she thought. She tried to quash the queasy feeling tightening her stomach and pressurizing her chest, drawing in several deep, calming breaths as the rest of their party began searching the dungeon for Solas' staff and armor. While they equipped Solas once more, Rosa stared into his now empty cell, wondering what tortures he'd endured. There were some red-brown marks along the walls and on the floor. Old blood?

She shuddered as sympathy and impotent rage coursed through her. Solas, Cassandra, Varric, Fiona, and Leliana had apparently spent a year in this dungeon while she was away. There was nothing she could've done differently to help them, and yet guilt still pressed her. It was difficult to meet her friends' stares as they at last finished searching this area of the dungeons and headed upward now, through the keep.

As they entered an open space, walking over a grate extending over a belowground cavern, metal clanked and ground as the drawbridge that had been raised previously now lowered. Venatori on the opposite side waited, both warriors and mages. The warriors charged forward, heaving their blades high. The mages tossed up barriers over themselves and their warrior brethren, then prepared offensive spells.

Dorian had been leading the way and now halted to fight, tossing barriers up over Rosa, Cassandra, Varric, and Solas with a wave of his hand. Gritting her teeth, Rosa surged around the Tevinter and into the middle of the grating to take out some of her rage on the warriors. She passed through the nearest one with a short, precise Fade-step, freezing him solid. Stopping on the lip of the grating, she whipped around to face the second warrior and, shouting, punched downward to unleash a Veilstrike.

The Venatori warrior smashed hard into the grating and the frozen man shattered. Rosa had expected to shatter one enemy and flatten the other—but what she hadn't anticipated was that her Veilstrike would prove extraordinarily lethal to the second warrior. He slammed into the ground so hard that blood sprayed from the holes in his helmet and Rosa heard the wet crunch of bones fracturing.

"Maker," Cassandra gasped, coming up short to avoid tripping on the suddenly very dead warrior she'd been trying to flank. Her eyes, crimson with red lyrium, glowed out at Rosa with shock.

The Venatori mages had continued fending off long range attacks from Dorian, Varric, and Solas, but seeing their fallen comrades and just who had felled them, both men switched targets. One lobbed fireballs at Rosa while the other sent chain lighting arcing her way. Rosa erected a barrier over herself and Cassandra, protecting against both the lightning and the fire easily. The spells broke over their barriers with a ripple of blue, but the barriers didn't weaken or dissipate the way Rosa expected. They were much stronger than she'd anticipated.

"My turn," she shouted at the mages and then spun her staff, summoning winter's grasp for one. Winter magic was her least favorite school, and therefore weakest. That hardly seemed to matter as one Venatori mage froze solid and then shattered spontaneously, spraying his partner with chunks of reddish ice. Rosa's winter grasp was usually not enough to break through a strong barrier with anything more than frosted skin. Now it had cut straight through this mage's barrier and then still managed to freeze him solid. On top of it, these were mages from Tevinter. Countering and fighting with magic were their specialties above all else. It shouldn't have been this easy to kill them with her own magic.

Rosa gawked, her heart pounding with both triumph and surprise. The joyful tingle, the song, still throbbed inside her.

"Way to go, Violet!" Varric praised as his crossbow clacked, impacting the last mage's barrier but failing to break it.

The Venatori's motions seemed panicked as he pressed back into the open doorway behind him and cast three ice mines along the gangway to block their approach. Dorian scrambled closer, ready to disarm the mines and shouting: "He's going to raise the drawbridge!"

"Stop him, Rosa!" Solas yelled to her, jogging around Dorian.

"What do you expect me to do? Fly?" she shot back, frustrated as she saw that Dorian had been right. The gangway groaned and the chains rattled as they began to retract. Dorian had disarmed one of the mines with a dispelling, but the other two remained active, blocking her path.

Solas replied by shouting in elven: "You are a Dreamer!" He sounded exasperated, desperate. "Shape the Fade!"

The Fade…? The joyful song, the euphoria, the vertigo, and her ridiculously overpowered magic…this did feel like a nightmare. Like the Fade, dreamlike and surreal, but it was definitely reality, too. Yet, somehow, there was something just at the edges of her senses, as if her fingers had brushed over a weapon as she floundered in the dark. She had only to grab it and…

Rosa extended her hand, reaching with those inner senses. Something clicked in her head, the same way it did in dreams when she willed the Fade to change. Her eyes narrowed on the gangway as it lifted higher, now out of reach from their group. Mana bubbled inside her, connecting with something. Clenching her fist, Rosa jerked downward and commanded it the way she would her magic. Fall, return to your lowered position and stay that way. Allow us to pass.

The gangway froze and then began to drop once more.

"Andraste's ass!" Varric exclaimed in shock.

Even Dorian had stopped to stare with surprise now that the last ice mine had been disarmed. "Vishante kaffas!" He looked to Rosa. "How did you do that?"

"Herald of Andraste," Rosa quipped, quickly raising her marked left hand as a reminder. "Now, let's move."

She let Dorian and Cassandra rush ahead over the gangway. Both walked over it with a little trepidation, as if they expected it to disappear underfoot. If this had been a dream, Rosa knew she could have done exactly that with but a thought. But this wasn't a dream, and yet she'd managed to alter reality and bend it to her will the same way she did with magic. As Varric darted by her, nodding his appreciation, Rosa turned and looked to Solas, brow furrowed. "What was that?" she asked in elven.

"Your birthright," he replied somberly, a wan smile over his lips.

"That is quite literally the worst explanation, Solas," she grumbled at him.

"There is no time for a better one," he told her, the weak and tired smile still in place.

She opened her mouth to dispute that, but Dorian shouted for her from up ahead. "Hurry along, Herald!"

Turning round, she charged over the gangway, her head still swimming with the shock of what she'd been able to do. Solas' voice repeated in her head: You're a Dreamer.

Dreamers shaped the Fade and entered it at will. But this wasn't the Fade. It couldn't be…

Next chapter:

Tal's outstretched arms fell and his shoulders slumped. "I'm sorry, asamalin," he said. "I did what I had to do. For you, for me, and for our people." He snorted, shrugging as he added, "For this world."

"What did you do?" Rosa repeated, shrill now. "Tal," she said, choking on his name and taking another few steps back from him. "No, da'isamalin…"

Endnote: I've always had some unanswered questions from In Hushed Whispers' dark future. Solas tells you the Veil is shattered if you bring him but you see rifts pop open and they look identical to what you fight throughout the game...when the Veil is intact. The only way I can make sense of the world without the Veil is if it is all one and the same. Spirits are there and the world is malleable like it is in a dream...to those with the power, anyway. So that's what I envision and write. But in game...either Solas is lying and there's some Veil left to account for rifts, which are tears in the Veil by definition, or I guess my interpretation of the Fade and the real world overlaying each other must be wrong...? But all the stuff you find in the Elvhen Library in Trespasser was what I formed my thoughts on so...Ugh. Damn you Bioware for your constant red herrings.

I don't know, but the fact that Solas seems horrified by what he sees and calls it an abomination even though that is exactly what he wants to do himself...I have to think his vision is different somehow and there's something else going on in Cory's messed up version of things. I also think that, when you ask him in Trespasser, if his plans will just bring back the Evanuris he just shrugs and says, "I had plans." Some people came away thinking he wants to free the Evanuris somehow but I think that is NOT his goal at all. So I like to think that, in addition to the red lyrium nightmare, Solas is facing a future in the dark future that is darker than anyone can guess. As in, when the Veil really does fail 100%, the Evanuris are going to be free and probably like gut him and flay him alive. That's my canon-breaking take anyway.

ArtFox2721 thanks for stopping by to review! And yes, I AM evil. Delightfully so!

Thank you also to RandomRockets! Rogathe is a good guess for who could out Solas (other than himself) but...as Solas says so enigmatically in Trespasser, "I have plans." *cackles with glee* and I do believe no one is going to see it coming!

KiraChan, thank you for the encouragement regarding my original works! I do just keep plugging away! I do promise that moment is coming and my beta tore through it and approved. It will feel like forever, and for that I apologize. It sort of became its own chapter though! In the meantime, I hope canon-breaking mage recruitment will suffice!

And Sutet, as usual, I had a great laugh at your review. Thank you! Maybe your powers are fickle like Rosa's? ;) I hope In Hushed Whispers, both parts, don't disappoint that anticipation!

This is, of course, a cliffhanger of sorts. But, trust me, this was a way better spot to let off than any point next chapter, as indicated in the preview. I *might* have enough of a lead I could post the next one a bit early as I wrote like two chapters last weekend. No promises, though! Anyway, next time is In Hushed Whispers Pt 2: Tal. Because he might be my OC, but he's not just here to provide laughs-he's vital to the plot!