A/N: There is rape mentioned but nothing other than mentioning it happened and reacting to that news. Towards the end.

It had been a hectic day spent mostly in the war room hunched over the map, letters, and missives. Cullen pushed his pieces around the Hinterlands, trying to assess the best movements for the troops he was sending to protect against any lingering mage/Templar threats. Leliana was in and out of the room with more messages to add to their pile, updates on agents or soldiers in the field, and the status of the Inquisition name throughout Thedas. Josie shifted through the papers, pausing to scribble out notes for letters and paperwork as she went. She would filter in and out as Leliana did but not nearly as often. Eleri had her own pile of papers to work through. Slower than Josie but her progress was much better than it had been in the past. Her eyes stung, her back and neck were sore from leaning over the papers from her seat, and her stomach was grumbling but there wasn't time for a break.

The Inquisition was growing. More people flooded their gates each week and more and more correspondence was coming from various nobles, governments, and organizations. With getting Skyhold livable and settling their people, the council had gotten behind. Eleri's mind wandered to Tristian and Cassandra. They were dealing with the darkspawn issue on the Storm Coast. Bull had gone with them as well as Tristian's mabari, Maddox, but Eleri still worried. The Storm Coast was unrelenting in its horrible weather, harsh terrain as well as the threats that wondered the land. They hadn't been able to send out Inquisition soldiers to take care of the straggling mages who refused to give up their fight, not to mention that red Templars. Add in the darkspawn and Eleri could barely focus. Another reason her work was so much slower than Josie's.

"Eleri, amor?" The elf looked up with a smile that instantly fell when she saw the look on Josie's face. She held out a piece of paper that Eleri didn't want to take. She took a breath as her eyes slowly grazed over each word, her mind piecing together the message. She forced herself to read it again to make sure she was not making any mistakes.

Da'len,

I would not trouble you normally. You have enough on your shoulders, fighting ancient Tevinter magisters while representing your people. Unfortunately, the rifts that plague this land have spread chaos and fear along with them, and many seek to take advantage of it.

Bandits are attacking clan Lavellan. The raiders are well armed and heavily armored, and they come in numbers our hunters cannot match. We had settled in a small unclaimed valley not far from Wycome, a safe place with few rifts—but these bandits may force us to seek a new home. If your Inquisition can help, you might save our clan much hardship.

Dareth shiral,

Keeper Istimaethoriel Lavellan

"When did we get this?" Panic and helplessness seeped into her voice. Eleri could hear it but she didn't care. Her clan was in trouble. Her family was in trouble. They were a large reason why Eleri fought through all the issues that arose while being Inquisitor. She handed the letter to Cullen who came around to stand at Eleri's side.

"I don't know." Josie admitted. She was nervous, Eleri could see it in her eyes and hear it in the slight shake to her voice. "It was in the pile we have been working through."

"We need to send help. Now." Cullen excused himself to get Leliana as Eleri issued her demand.

"We have options." Josie explained while walking around the table. She put her hand on Eleri's forearm with a comforting squeeze. "We will do all we can to protect them but you need to stay calm as we plan this out. I know," she emphasized the word as Eleri attempted to interrupt, "it is not easy to do but it will help us make a decision quicker."

Eleri nodded and took deep breaths. Josie stepped closer, now rubbing her arm up and down Eleri's bicep. She didn't say anything. Eleri was grateful. There was nothing to say that would help. She bit back the urge to sprint from the room then from Skyhold all together to her clan. Finally, Cullen and Leliana walked into the war room.

"We discussed possible plans on the way down." Leliana began. "We believe a mixed force, mostly agents with a small contingent of soldiers for added muscle, would be best. I have elven agents that can go in first, assure your clan of their intentions before bringing in the soldiers. With the attacks, we should not go in swords flashing with battle cries. Your clan needs to know we are there to help."

"I'm going."

"No." Leliana's voice was firm, no room for argument but that didn't mean Eleri wasn't going to make room for it.

"They are my people, my clan. My family is there. I cannot stay here while they are being attacked! Who knows how long ago we received that letter!"

"You can and you will."

"Leli, please." Josie shot her friend a look then pulled Eleri to face her, back to the other advisors. "She is right. We need you here. I apologize and I wish we could let you go but the Free Marches are still in upheaval from the mage/Templar war. We barely sanction missions there."

"Jo. I need to help them."

"And Thedas needs you to help it. It is not fair, amor, and I am so, so sorry but you are needed here. Our agents and soldiers will protect them. Maybe we can have them escort your clan to a safer area and then you can go visit them. See for yourself that they are safe."

They were right. She was the only person in all of Thedas who could close the rift. She was the face of the Inquisition. She could not run off into an area that was arguably the most dangerous in all of Thedas. She wanted to and hated that her advisors were right but Eleri gave a nod.

"Send them now." With her order, Eleri walked out of the war room. A quiet spot at the top of the battlements by herself was the only thought she allowed. She needed to block out her fears and imagination. Cold stone, cold wind, and isolation would help her do just that.

…

The war room was silent. No plans being discussed. Papers weren't being shuffled around. The mountain air didn't seem to be whipping outside of the windows, shaking the panes as it normally did. Five sets of eyes followed Eleri as she walked up to the table. She met each of them, dread pooling in her stomach and fingertips. Cullen looked nervous, Leliana as stoic as always, and Cassandra seemed uncomfortable. She shifted from foot to foot with her lips set in a thin line. Both Tristian and Josie seemed worried or something that Eleri couldn't quite put her finger on.

She had been throwing herself into work or training. It had been three nights, today being the third day since their force left for her clan. Eleri worked until she couldn't keep her eyes open then collapsed into nightmares only to wake up much earlier than she normally would to do it all again. She had trouble eating but attempted when Josie or Dorian, sometimes Varric, brought her a meal.

"News?" Eleri asked. Her voice was oddly detached and cold, even. No hint of the emotions swirling into every inch of her body. Leliana stepped up to answer. Never a woman to fear the moment or what might come after.

"Our force arrived late last night. They sent a bird immediately, we just received it." As she held out the rolled parchment, Eleri met her eyes and saw the stoic façade falter. Sympathy is what shone from those blue eyes and, as she let her eyes slide back to Tristian and Josie, realized what was never worry. The young elf's heart plummeted.

We dispatched of the remaining bandits, reclaimed what we could but there are no apparent survivors of clan Lavellan. We will search the surrounding area but otherwise wait for orders.

The words blurred together. Her heart pounded painfully in her chest and her breathing stumbled through parted lips. Eleri pressed her teeth together and swallowed then blinked hard. She needed to give orders, she needed to be the Inquisitor. Not part of clan Lavellan. But orders are not what came out. She shook her head, unable to process.

"Eleri?" Josie attempted but Eleri didn't look up at her. The paper crumpled as her hands began to fist. "Eleri, we should –"

"We should have let me go!" Eleri's voice was loud, tight and clipped. "I could have gotten there in time."

"We do not know that."

"Do we know how we missed a letter asking for help?!" She yelled, eyes darting up. "Do we?! We should have known! That is unacceptable."

Eleri was yelling now. She didn't care. All she felt was an empty pain in her chest and her stomach churning. She briefly thought she was going to be sick but then more words were crashing out of her mouth.

"We are the Inquisition. Our job is to help the people of Thedas but how do we do that if we are not even aware of the letters we receive? My entire clan is dead because we are incompetent. What is the point of what we do here if that is the case?!"

"Inquisitor, enough." Leliana stepped forward and reached for Josie, putting herself between the ambassador and inquisitor. Her voice was vicious, causing Eleri to look at Josie, one of the only people who would make her react that way. Tears fell silently from Josie's downcast eyes. Eleri pushed the guilt back, unwilling to feel it, as she turned on her heel and stalked out of the door.

…

Tristian watched as Leliana tried to comfort Josie, who burst into tears as the war room door slammed shut. Leliana was fuming. Tristian could see it in the set of her shoulders, the crease in between her eyebrows. It was cemented when she spoke. Her voice was icy stone.

"Cassandra, go find the Inquisitor. Bring her to the rookery at once."

Tristian put an arm out to stop Cassandra. "I'll find her but I'm not bringing her to you, Leli."

"What? Yes, you will. Her behavior is unacceptable."

"Leli." Tristian sighed. It had been so long since Leliana had lost her own family and, now, her position as spymaster required her to push her feelings down, as already stunted and buried as they were. She wasn't able to think as was needed right now. "She just lost her entire clan, she said her family was with them. Everything she knew has been permanently taken from her."

Leliana looked away and most would see it as a stubborn gesture but Tristian knew it for what it really was. A silent relenting. A subtle admission of being wrong.

"Josie." Tristian stopped near the distraught woman on her way out. "She didn't mean to yell at you. She lashed out at what was in front of her. Trust me, she didn't mean for it to be you." Tristian looked at Leliana again to drive her point home to the woman who would hold onto the anger longer than her friend who was actually hurt by Eleri's words. "She did not mean this."

"Thank you, Tristian." Josie spoke, water logged. "Please go find her. I don't want her to be alone but I don't think I am the one she wishes to see."

Tristian smiled then left the room. Her thoughts paged back to the moment in her own story that her world was decimated. Duncan had been on the receiving end of her anger. He silently bore it until the night before they reached Ostagar. Duncan wasn't cruel but he had been harsh on the unacceptable nature of her reaction. It wasn't the anger, he had explained, it was her treatment of him because of it. She barely talked after that. He had been right but she couldn't seem to brush away the desire to snap at others. It wasn't until Leliana, much younger and much more optimistic about the world, coaxed her into a more amicable mood. Tristian smiled as she remembered Morrigan voicing her favor for her gloomier self. Less pointless chatter she had cited as the reason.

There were a number of places Eleri could be. But Tristian quickly discarded many of the options. If she had not been pulled from Highever and forced to travel to Ostagar, if she was trapped inside those walls, Tristian would have wanted to escape them. She would look for Eleri outside of Skyhold before she looked within it.

The mountains were calm. No harsh wind or biting cold. A mild day that Tristian was thankful for. It would be harder to conduct her search in a storm or even simply the wind kicking up loose snow. The gate guards had pointed off to the left when she asked after the Inquisitor but so far, no sign of her. Tristian trudged forward in the snow. She refused to leave the young elf alone with her grief. She was around the same age, maybe younger, as Tristian was. The thoughts that had occupied her mind right after her family's deaths were not what the head of a world saving organization needed and Tristian was sure they would be there for Eleri too.

She heard something muffled. Tristian stopped, closed her eyes, and listened. Once she caught the direction of the noise, she walked toward it. The muffles became louder, clearly sobs, and Tristian picked up her pace. Eleri came into view as the warden rounded a rock formation. She was sitting on her haunches, forehead to knees with one hand wrapped around her legs and the other, Tristian assumed, was pushed against her mouth. She was leaning with her side against a rock.

Tristian didn't try to touch Eleri. Instead she walked to a rock opposite Eleri and slid down to sit with her back to it. She sat and waited. The cold seeped in. The wind picked up but the worse was kept away by the rocks. When Eleri's breathing started hiccupping, Tristian moved closer. She placed her hand lightly on Eleri's back and tried to coax her into taking full breaths. Eleri initially jumped at the contact but didn't shy away. Nor did she look up.

"There we go." Tristian spoke quietly and encouraging as Eleri seemed to be calming down. "There we go."

"Why are you here?"

"Because you shouldn't be alone."

"I am alone."

"No, you aren't. At least right now you aren't but if you push everyone away, like you're trying to do right now, you will be."

"How do you know? What do you know of what I'm feeling?" Eleri snapped, shrugging Tristian's hand off. The warden simply sat next to the inquisitor. She remembered this pain, this reaction.

"I know a lot more than you think I do. When I was younger, maybe just a little older than you, I lost my parents when our home was invaded by someone my father thought was his friend. I thought I had lost my brother at the battle of Ostagar only to lose him again a couple years ago but this time to a disagreement."

Eleri was as silent as Tristian knew she would be. The pain is easy to centralize, to make yourself a martyr because it doesn't seem possible for anyone else to feel as bad as in that moment. Tristian continued.

"That's why I came here for Leliana. She's all I have left, my brother made it clear I wasn't welcome back in Highever or in his presence, so when I found Haven and thought she was gone, I couldn't bear it. The Calling be damned; I won't leave her again."

"How did you deal with it?"

"I didn't at first. I was a lot like you. I lashed out at Duncan, the grey warden who recruited me, until he had enough and told me in no uncertain terms that I was being an ass and that he wouldn't tolerate the way I was treating the people around me. Then I stopped talking for the most part. I couldn't fathom how I was supposed to be pleasant to others when I felt so horrible.

Then Ostagar happened and I had no choice but to forget my own personal issues. I was surrounded by people who I needed to lead. I still spoke rarely but then Leliana joined us. I don't think you would believe me if I told you what she used to be like." Tristian laughed. Really Eleri wouldn't be able to. She had heard the young elf speak in awe of her wife. She was terrified of her in a way that somehow endeared her to Eleri. "Let's just say that she did not brood as much then and wouldn't let me either."

"I don't think I can do this." Eleri admitted quietly. She had looked up at Tristian as she told her tale but had put her head back down.

"Do what?"

"Be the Inquisitor. I fought for them."

"That's not true." Tristian answered gently but sternly. A combination she had learned from Leliana all those years ago. She wanted to laugh at how her role had come full circle. "You fight for the people you surround yourself with, the people who have become your friends. Josie, Cullen, Cassandra, Leliana, Dorian, Bull and all the rest. You fight for all the people who you have met throughout your traveling of Thedas. You fight for your soldiers and agents and their families. Your clan may have been a solid post you hung your determination on but only because it was easier to grasp than all of the people you fight for. The people who count on you."

"Does it get easier? Hurt less?"

"It never hurts less but it does get easier. It becomes manageable. You start to realize when the pain will come, what causes it and how to avoid most of it but it is always there. I struggled, more than I care to admit, until I was able to confront the man who caused my pain." The thought of her revenge against Howe brought an idea with it. "Would you like to go to your clan? I'm not sure how the Dalish go about it but you can pay your respects. It may provide you with the same type of closure I was able to find."

"They won't let me go. I wanted to go when we sent the agents."

"Then we won't tell them." Eleri's head raised and Tristian offered her a smile. "Two isn't exactly a noticeable travel party. We can get around without any issues."

"How do we get past Leliana and her agents? She sees all."

"Leave that to me. We'll leave at midnight." Tristian stood and offered a hand to Eleri. Pleased when she took it.

The two made their way back within Skyhold, parting ways at the doors to the main hall. Tristian watched Eleri go. Her eyes fixed to the floor and her steps quick. Varric caught Tristian's eye, an eyebrow raised in question that she shook her head at. Eleri was attempting to avoid speaking to anyone. Poorly but the attempt to get through without interaction was clear. Varric turned back to his book without another question. Tristian made her own way up to the rookery. Leliana would need to be informed. There was no way they would make it very far without her knowing. Now Tristian only needed to dig up the past and remind her that she knew what Eleri was feeling and needed.

Leliana was standing at one of the rookery windows with her arms crossed. Tristian stopped at the top of the stairs to take her in. The afternoon light added to the halo affect that Tristian always saw when looking at her wife. "You look beautiful."

"You're married to me, you have to say that." Leliana smirked but didn't turn. Tristian walked up behind her and wrapped her arms around her waist, resting her chin on Leliana's shoulder.

"Doesn't mean it isn't true." Leliana took a deep breath and leaned back. Maybe Tristian wasn't going to have to dig up as much as she thought. Something was obviously weighing on Leliana.

"I can't imagine." She started, quiet. "I've been through much, lost my own mother and now both women who helped shape who I am and who I viewed as mother figures but I cannot imagine everything I hold dear to be ripped away from me. At once."

Leliana turned in Tristian's arms. She brought her hands up to cup Tristian's cheeks as she looked into her eyes with guilt, compassion, and worry. Overall, with the love that made Tristian's heart ache in a painfully blissful way.

"I thought I understood, so long ago when you were going through it but I was not there when it happened. Your pain seemed old to me by the time you told me what happened. Not old in the sense that it was unwarranted but that you could move forward to heal." Tristian nodded her understanding. "You had already been mourning. I did not deal with the out pouring of fresh pain. I shouldn't have yelled at her."

"She needed to be reined in. Duncan had done the same thing to me. Although, not without letting me verbally lash out, once physically. I believe you did nothing wrong, Leli." Tristian paused, unsure how she would be received. "I need to speak to you about something."

"You want to take Eleri to her clan."

"I'd be surprised but you are good at your job." Tristian smiled with a quiet laugh. Leliana smiled back but hers was accompanied by a shake of her head.

"I know you and I know what finally let you move forward. Howe's death did what I could never do for you. But there is no revenge to be taken for Eleri."

"No. There isn't. That isn't exactly why I want to take her there. Do you remember what we did after I killed Howe?"

"We held a ceremony of sorts for your parents." Tristian nodded. A fresh wave of old pain hit her but like she told Eleri, it was manageable.

"I put them to rest in the only way we could at that point in our journey. Now, we could do that here at Skyhold but Eleri can actually leave to put her people to rest. She can get the closure I was denied until we went back to Highever. She can get in a few days what took me over a year to have. Her responsibilities are greater than mine, Leli, she cannot afford to crumble like I did."

"You did not crumble." Leliana leaned forward to leave a gentle kiss on Tristian's lips. "You saved Ferelden."

"Thanks to a certain bard, and my other companions of course."

"Of course." Leliana laughed and gave another kiss. The sound of her laugh, and the kiss, were sweet. Things Tristian had missed since they separated for their different paths. "When will you leave?"

"That's it?" Tristian leaned back to look at her wife, more than a little shocked. "No other questions, warnings? No further convincing needed?"

"I trust you. No other questions, warnings, or convincing. But, Tristian, nothing can happen to her. Thedas needs her. Thedas needs all of her which is why I'm agreeing but we can't afford anything bad to happen."

"I'll take Maddox as well but no one else. We'll slip through easier."

"You should opt for less armor as well." Leliana joked. "Your silver and blue may stand out."

"I'll go light." Tristian chuckled. "How's Josie?"

A long sigh preceded the answer. "She's hurt and feels guilty. I tried to explain it wasn't her fault. If anything it would be mine before hers. My agents are the ones who receive and send the messages that come and go to her."

"It is no one's fault. A better system may be needed but there is no blame to be laid at anyone's feet. Except at the bandits', who have already been dealt with."

"Still. It should have been handled better."

"When did I become the voice of reason against self-blame and holding onto failures?"

"When the weight of making the decisions fell from your shoulders."

"Ah. I knew something felt different." A shot at levity. They both knew that blame and trying to convince each other that it isn't theirs was a battle fought in circles. She switched back to their previous topic. "I don't think you should tell anyone we're leaving."

"Why? Actually, hang on." Leliana stepped out of Tristian's loose embrace and walked to perch on her desk. She picked up a note then wrote something on another. She looked back to Tristian as a sign she was paying attention.

"I don't think the world needs to know that Skyhold is without its Inquisitor. Especially when all her companions are still here."

Leliana gave a half smile, obviously enjoying Tristian stepping into her world of deception. "And what should we do when someone comes asking after her?"

"Release the information that her clan was attacked and left with no survivors and that she wishes time alone to mourn. Don't give me that look." Tristian smiled and pointed at Leliana, "It isn't lying. Simply omitting where she wishes to mourn."

"Lies of omission are still lies, love." Leliana laughed. "But, I see your point and I agree. You'll leave tonight, no? What time?"

"I was thinking midnight. Not too late so that we can cover enough distance from Skyhold and her main roads under the cover of night but also late enough that most will be asleep or in their chambers. Less risk of being seen. And on second thought, I'll leave Maddox. He draws the eye."

"I have forgotten how good you are at this." Leliana teased knowing Tristian was not fond of the sneakier aspects. Her upbringing in Highever, under her honorable father, taught a more direct and honest approach to life. She made a face at Leliana. Just like the laughter and kisses, the teasing was made all the sweeter simply because they were able to do it.

…

Inquisitor and Warden stood side by side. Inquisition forces had been sent home with direct orders not to report back to the council. Odd looks had been on the receiving end of that command but no one questioned it. Eleri struggled to keep bile down as she looked around. The agents and soldiers had obviously tried to clean the aftermath of the bandit attack but it didn't help. Aravels were turned on their sides or in pieces and tents were shredded and barely standing. The pervading smell was of blood and smoke. Bodies still lay scattered though many were moved into one area in preparation for whatever the Inquisition force was going to do with them. Her eyes drifted shut as tears pricked the back of her eyes. Maybe Tristian's idea hadn't been for the best. Eleri wasn't sure she could deal with the tangible sight of what happened.

"What do the Dalish do with their dead?" It was asked with more compassion than the question warranted, it seemed like something asked of a scholar but instead it was being asked so that Eleri's clan could be properly laid to rest. If there were any more pieces to break, her heart would've done so.

"Dalish Death Rites." She managed, choking on the words. Death was not meant to be horrible. Her keeper taught them that death was needed for life. Goodbyes were given and mourning was allowed but death was not inherently bad. Eleri didn't feel that way anymore. "We can't do them."

"Why not?"

"I don't know the songs and we bury them, plant a tree over their graves. There are too many to do that. We don't have the seeds to plant." Her words were running into each other as Eleri realized not one person she had loved growing up would get the burial they deserved. "Falon'Din won't be able to find them and guide them to the afterlife."

"Hey, it's okay." Tristian's hands grabbed Eleri's upper arms to force her eyes away from the devastation in front of her. Eleri focused on the hazel eyes and the grip of her hands. The concern in both of them. "We'll figure something out. They would understand. Falon…din, right? He, or she, would understand."

Eleri knew there was appreciation for Tristian trying to comfort her but she couldn't properly feel it. Her wide eyes just kept staring at the woman in front of her. Panic and pain settling into her bones and muscles.

"In Highever, we burn our dead on a pyre. Their ashes given to the families to spread wherever their loved one would have liked to been laid to rest. I know it isn't Dalish but that is how I would put those I love and respect to rest. I think it is the best we can do. Later, at Skyhold, we can figure out how to plant trees for them. Okay?"

Eleri nodded. She dragged air into her lungs and pushed it back out. She needed to be under control. There wasn't the option to leave clan Lavellan strewn across a Free Marches valley.

"I'll prepare the pyre. We should….we should probably get the other bodies to where your soldiers began moving them to."

Eleri nodded again then turned to roam the wreckage. She began with the bodies furthest away. To this point she had refused to look at any faces but now, she had no choice. Tears began a steady, unceasing flow down her cheeks. There was not one person in her clan that she did not know. There may have been people she did not care for, two she had actually hated, but she was taught to fight for the good of the clan. Personal feelings meant nothing when it came to survival.

Her movements were mechanical. Find a body. Carry or drag it to where the pyre would be. Cry. Repeat. Time moved as steadily as she did. A small flicker of hope had kindled itself without Eleri's permission. She had yet to see her family's aravel. It was unwise to think they had escaped. The agents who had scouted for survivors reported none but the hope was there regardless.

Then the familiar wagon was there. Turned on its side and charred. A sob bubbled out as Eleri saw it. She ran toward it, tripping and stumbling through the wreckage. When she saw what was on the other side, she lost the battle with her stomach and retched what little it contained. She let out an anguished wail as she looked at the bodies of her parents. Her father's torso was hacked into a grotesque jumble of muscle and flesh with a few arrows sticking out. She took a step to do…something but she halted when she realized she had no idea what. There was nothing she could do. To his left laid her mother. She was less mutilated but that did little to comfort Eleri. She moved forward and tried to wipe the dried blood that had trickled down her chin. Her thumb scrubbed furiously before she gave up with another sob, her hands coming to rest on her cheeks and her forehead resting against her mother's.

"I'm sorry. I'm so, so, so sorry. Please Mamae. Please. I love you. I'm sorry." Eleri sat like that, whispering apologies. Her mother had put up with her inability to hold responsibility, the jokes, and attitude. She had loved her father but not like she loved her mother. Her mother let her dream, baked her nut bread when she was sad. She told stories when Eleri was sick. She imagined her mother's thin, soft hands brushing her hair back and kissing her forehead, forcing Eleri to lean down once she outgrew her mother. Her favorite motherly habit.

Slowly, the tears calmed and Eleri raised her head. There was one other member of her family that should have been with them. Mari should have been with them. Eleri jumped up as she searched for her older sister. Mari was brave, responsible and brave and she would have run to their parents as soon as the fighting started. Eleri could see it. Her mind created the scene. Bandits invading, arrows slicing the air and Mari running through it all to protect their parents.

Mari's body was at the back of their aravel. The sight of it causing Eleri to look away. Fresh, heavier tears escaping. Her stomach clenched and forced her to her knees. She braced a hand on the side of their wagon, nothing leaving her painfully. She heard Tristian calling out but she couldn't answer.

"Oh." She heard following the steps that stopped next to her. "Oh, Eleri. It's, I'm…"

The older woman trailed off. Then she was squatting next to Eleri and pulling her into an embrace. Eleri crashed into it, her arms squeezing to feel some sort of grounding.

"Who was she?" The answer was choked and stunted, whimpered through but Tristian returned the tight squeeze once it was given. "I'm so sorry." She whispered. "I'll move her for you. Don't wor–"

"No!" Eleri pushed out of the embrace. Anger flaring along the pain. "No. It's my family. Do not touch them."

"Okay, okay." Tristian had fallen back onto her butt from Eleri's push. She moved her hands out in front of her to placate the elf. "I won't but if you need me, I'll just be gathering up your clan's things. Is that okay?"

Eleri nodded. Guilt at lashing out at the woman helping her joined the anger and pain. She would apologize later. Now she needed to regain the respect and dignity that was taken from her sister. Eleri watched Tristian walk off before getting to her own feet. She fixed her sister's clothes then lifted her, nestling her head as best she could to her shoulder. Mari was as light as she remembered.

They had fought growing up as any set of siblings did. Though younger, Eleri was bigger. Mari had always been slight; thin and tall. The other kids unfortunate enough to tease her about it had called her a stick bug. Eleri had handled that with force, though Mari could do it herself if they had ever done it to her face. Eleri had picked Mari up countless times for piggy back rides or when they hugged because Mari hated it. She had been used to the weight of her sister pinning her down whenever their fighting got out of hand. Eleri's head bowed to rest against her sister's temple. This is not how she wanted to remember it.

Her mother was carried in the same manner. Eleri's heart obliterating with every step she took. The final blow was realizing that she could not carry her father. Regardless of the strength she acquired with the Inquisition, she wasn't strong enough. The thought of dragging him, though she had other clan members, was unacceptable. Then Tristian was at his feet, a single nod to Eleri as she bent to grab around his knees. They lifted and carried Eleri's father, placing him next to his family. Tristian rested her hand on Eleri's shoulder as the elf looked down at them.

The discovery of her keeper was met with a blank stare and a few tears. Eleri thought she had nothing left to give. A thought that was proved wrong later when she came across her childhood friend. Eleri simply sat next to her body with her face in hands, weeping silently. There were no more explosions of emotion. She truly had nothing left.

Her clan wasn't large but it still took a long time to gather their bodies for the pyre. The sun was setting as Eleri and Tristian finished their grim task. The warden picked up a torch, wrapped an oil soaked cloth around its end then lit it with their already established fire. She handed it over wordlessly.

"Hahren na melana sahlin. Emma ir abelas. Souver'inan isala hamin, vhenan him dor'felas in uthenera na revas. Vir sulahn'nehn. Vir dirthera, vir samahl la numin. Vir lath sa'vunin." Eleri's voice trembled as she spoke the words. Her keeper had sung them but she couldn't. They felt wrong rolling off her tongue as it was. They weren't enough, not on their own but it was all she knew. All she could give them. Curses rang out for not paying closer attention instead of thinking she had time to learn them as she grew older. Eleri, with those somber thoughts, walked the edges, lighting the tinder patches then threw the torch into the middle once she reached her starting point. The flames slowly snaked through the overly large pyre.

Tristian stood silently next to her. She had her hands clasped in front of her with her head bowed. The universal gesture of respect in mourning. When her head rose, she spoke quietly as if not to disrupt the moment. "What did that mean?"

"Elder, your time has come. Now I am filled with sorrow. Your weary eyes need resting, heart has become grey and slow in waking. Sleep is your freedom. We sing, rejoice. We tell tales, laugh and cry. We love one more day."