A bit of a short chapter, as is the next one. Sooooo... I decided to just post them both today. Double update! I hope you enjoy. And as always, please feel free to leave me a review. I do read those you know and they are always appreciated! As always, Italics are in Elvhen.

Chapter Ten New Beginning

Irasir'in woke slowly. She blinked at the fire light that flickered across her tent and wondered if everyone was still celebrating the closing of the Breach. Then pain rushed back to her senses, the burned feeling of healing frost bite filed in from her limbs even as her side throbbed. She stiffened a moment as memories of her staggering through the snow came back in bits and pieces, sagging as she realized she was warm again. And since she was in pain, then it was safe to say she was back with the inquisition. Anything else would have meant she died.

She slowly looked around and saw Malas fast asleep on the floor of the tent, laying on top of a bedroll with a blanket draped over her. Her smile was tired and pained as she studied her daughter, the girl must have refused to leave her side since she got back. How long ago must that have been? She wasn't sure. Slowly, with some effort and a soft groan, she sat up right. She could hear the bustle of the camp around her, but she also heard something else. Raised voices. She pushed herself to her feet and found that the gear she had had no time for earlier was stowed in the tent. She retrieved her staff and used it to walk herself outside.

She followed the sound of raised voices to find the center of the camp where Leliana, Cullens, Josephine, and Cassandra arguing. Cassandra. Her eyes fell on the human as she approached, the woman that had kept her Malas safe. She didn't know if it was possible for her to thank the Seeker enough for that. She stopped a bit away from them though, listening to the heated argument about what to do next that sounded like they had been having it for far too long. The Seeker was trying but failing to end the argument and to turn it into something more constructive. Irasir'in felt even more tired just listening to part of it.

She felt a hand placed on her shoulder and turned to see Mother Giselle standing next to her. The woman gave her a concerned look, "You should not be on your feet Herald. You were badly hurt, if not for the mage healers we have here..." The elf gave her a tired smile, "I'm fine. Nothing I haven't had to deal with before. More importantly, it sounds like those four have been going at it for some time now. I don't even see spectators around watching the show." The revered mother sighed, "They have been at it for hours now. A luxury they can afford thanks to you. The enemy could not follow, and with the time to doubt we turn to blame. In-fighting might threaten as much as this Elder One."

The elf frowned, "Do we know where the Elder...

Corypheus is?" Giselle shook her head slowly, "We do not even know where we are. Which may be why, even with the numbers he still commands, the Elder One, Corypheus you called him? Why Corypheus has not been seen. That or you are believed dead. Perhaps without Haven we are believed to be helpless, and girds for another attack. I do not claim to know the minds of that... creature. Only his affect on us." Irasir'in looked back at the arguing council, "I suppose joining that conversation without any ideas on what to do would be as pointless as the argument itself."

Mother Giselle nodded, "Indeed, perhaps especially because it is you that would be joining. Our leaders struggle because of what we survivors witnessed, we saw out defender stand and fall. Now we see her return. The more the enemy is beyond us the more miraculous your actions appear, and the more our actions appear ordained." The elf frowned, not sure sure where Giselle was going with this. The human took her look another way, "That is hard to accept no? What 'we' have been called to endure? What 'we' perhaps must come to believe?" Irasir'in sighed, "I didn't die and come back. I... escaped the avalanche." She decided that telling them she passed her body through to the veil to do so would be an unwise thing to do.

Giselle nodded, "Of course. And the dead cannot return from across the veil, but the people know what they saw. Or perhaps what they needed to see, the Maker works both in the moment and how it is remembered." Irasir'in tried not to wince at her bringing up the humans Maker. Of course they would see it as another act of their so called Herald; a title she felt increasingly uncomfortable with. She wasn't sure of what she even thought of this Maker or if she believed in him, but she knew she was no herald. Certainly was not blessed by anything. Cursed more likely than anything else. Maybe this was some sort of punishment, a burden placed upon her for leaving the temple.

Giselle continued, "Do we truly know the heavens are not with us?" Irasir'in didn't look at her, "I do not think faith and belief matters here. Corypheus is a very real and physically threat. No amount of hope, prayer, or faith will change that on their own." She hobbled closer to the others, tired eyes watching as the council sulked around the center of the camp, a darkness surrounding them. The elf hadn't even been on her feet again for an hour and she already felt the weight of everything threatening to break her back. She would tell the others what she had learned when she stood against Corypheus, and then... then what? Would she take Malas and run? Leave the Inquisition to handle its own problems... but that wouldn't really solve anything. She couldn't just leave them to their fates either, not after everything that had happened.

As she entered the central bonfire heads turned to look at her and she forced herself to stand tall. She wouldn't look broken in front of so many people. She smiled a bit bitterly at that thought, perhaps she was more like her father than she though. Proud to the point of pain. She wasn't expecting it when Mother Giselle began to sing. She was expecting it even less when people slowly trickled in to join her, first just a few people coming to see what the singing was about and then more as it spread out that she was on her feet again. She could see it in their eyes. They were really coming to see her.

The revered mother spoke as the song ended, "An army needs more than an enemy. It needs a cause." Irasir'in didn't say anything. She needed a course just as badly as the Inquisition. She knew it. But this was the third time she had nearly died since she had inexplicably found herself in the conclave. Since she had been set on the path of the Inquisition. She didn't want to leave Malas alone in this world if it came to that. As people looked to her with eyes filled with a hope, she just tried to look like her confidence in this path, this Inquisition, wasn't slowly being eroded by simple fear. She stood strong. If nothing else, than for these people that believed.

Solas slipped by and spoke softly, "A word." Before heading off to the hills beside the camp. She frowned but followed none the less. He lit a veilfire torch and turned to her, "The humans have not raised one of our people so high for ages beyond counting. The faith is hard-won, Irasir'in, worthy of pride." She stared into the dark and spoke in Elvhen, "Hard-won and stained in blood. And easily lost I suspect." He frowned, "What do you mean?" She looked at him, "I met the Elder One. Corypheus he calls himself. I have seen his weapon. It is an orb. An elvhen one."

She held up a hand to stave off questioning, "I don't know what it does. I only vaguely know what it is. I... my clan spent a large amount of time in ancient Elvhen ruins. I saw pictures of orbs like that on murals there. I suspect they had something to do with our gods." Solas looked down a moment, "It must be what he used to destroy the Conclave. Set off the explosion... we should find out how he survived it. An orb... murals in temples... it must be a foci. One used to channel power from our gods. Nothing else could be so powerful as to have ripped the veil asunder."

Irasir'in sighed heavily, "Of course. And when the humans learn of this, an Elvhen orb that threatens the very heart of human faith... they will blame everyone of Elvhen blood for it. I have their trust now, if that display in the camp meant anything. But what about tomorrow? I need to keep that trust." Solas nodded, "Agreed. And trust cannot grow in the wilderness. You will need every advantage. By attacking the Inquisition this Corypheus has changed it. Changed you. Scout to the North; be their guide. There is a place that waits for a force to hold it; a place where the Inquisition can build, grow." He gestured into the dark and the path that would lay ahead of them, "Tarasyl'an Te'las. Skyhold."