A/N: Thanks heaps for the lovely reviews, guys and dolls! I always saw the Inquisition as one big family, so I'm pleased you all picked up on that pretty quickly :) Once again, huge thanks to DARK-EVIL-GODS21 and Hell's Pixie(my beta): this story wouldn't be what it is without you guys spurring me on :3
Let's jump back into it!
As much as Olivia would have liked to stay in Skyhold for the rest of eternity without worrying about any of the goings on in Thedas, she knew she had to get back out and seal the rifts that were threatening to cause irreparable damage. Millions of people were counting on her to counter the imbalance, and despite being overwhelmed with the enormity of her task, Olivia was determined to see it through.
After her and Cullen's sparring match in the courtyard, the two of them had talked at great lengths about where Olivia should travel to next. Olivia thought that the Emerald Graves would be a good place to get a few more answers whereas Cullen argued that Emprise du Lion or even the Hissing Wastes would be a better choice to counteract increasing levels of Venatori activity. However, the decision was made for Olivia several days later; a missive from someone named Fairbanks in the Emerald Graves arrived on the war table, prompting her to head out earlier than she would have liked.
Sighing softly, Olivia had walked out of the war room to gather the group of companions she would take with her on her journey, electing to bring Dorian, Solas, Varric, and Cassandra with her. Bull was still nursing some wounds from their dragon encounter in the Western Approach, Sera was hungover, and Dorian and Varric both insisted on coming with her in case she decided to do "anything else remotely reckless". Rolling her eyes, she'd informed each of her companions to prepare to leave at sunrise the following day; once she'd gotten their assent, she'd turned and headed for the stables to prepare her mount for the long journey to the former Dalish homeland.
As she'd groomed the spirited grey stallion that she had befriended upon their arrival to Skyhold the year before, she had lost herself in a random tirade of thoughts; thoughts of Cullen, memories of Max, possible outcomes for her own future once the mess with Corypheus was dealt with. She had shaken her head slightly before returning her focus to replacing her horse's shoes, not wanting him to crack his hooves while they were travelling. Once she was satisfied, she patted him down firmly before relinquishing a few apple slices to him, laughing when Dennett called her out on it before chasing her out of the stables with a grin of his own.
Olivia hadn't been sure what possessed her to go up to Cullen's office once she was done with her tasks for the day, but she found herself leaning against the wall as he delegated duties to his officers. She grinned wryly when he faltered as he caught sight of her, and several of the lieutenants chuckled knowingly after he dismissed them, greeting her warmly as they left. Once the last officer had left the room, Cullen had surprised her by shutting the door brusquely before he'd dragged her against him, tangling his hands in her hair as his lips descended onto hers.
The two of them had shared a night of learning and exploring each other in Cullen's bedroom, losing themselves amongst hesitant touches and heady kisses. Olivia had lost count of how many times Cullen brought her to an earth-shattering orgasm, but she kept a perfect tally of how many times she had returned the favour to him. After they were fully spent, they lay side-by-side in silence for a time, Cullen's hands gently skimming up and down Olivia's arms. She knew he was worried about her leaving; they always worried when they were separated from one another, and she gently placed what she hoped was a reassuring kiss over his heart before falling asleep with him.
Olivia had woken before Cullen the next morning, and with a sorrowful kiss, she left him to journey with her companions to meet with Fairbanks in the Graves. Her companions said nothing of her unusual silence for the first leg of the journey; they knew that being away from Cullen was painful for her, and thankfully Dorian and Varric did not tease her about it. How she was supposed to bring down a would-be god while suffering from separation anxiety was beyond even her.
However, Olivia livened up as they journeyed further into Orlais, eventually poking fun at Dorian when she learned that he'd gone and slept with Bull, just for fun. He'd quipped back about her and Cullen, and the two had shared a good bout of banter before Varric reminded them that he could easily add all of the sordid details of their relationships into his book. They both had shot him a glare that had Cassandra and Solas laughing before a comfortable silence fell over the group.
It had been three days since they'd set out from Skyhold, and Olivia was sore from all the jumping they'd had to do on their mounts. The terrain was unforgivable, but she knew that was part of the reason that the Dalish elves had preferred this area; it prevented them from being followed by anyone who didn't want to risk losing a limb or their supplies on the rough ground.
Whistling lowly, she brought the group to a halt as she heard a sound she knew all too well. Throwing herself off her mount with a surprisingly graceful flourish, she flipped to her feet in a crouched stance, an arrow whizzing over the top of her stallion's back, right where she had been seated moments before. Hissing out a curse, the rest of her group followed suit as Olivia shot off a few spells in the direction the arrow had travelled from, smirking when she heard a few muffled curses as a group of rogue militia men attempted to put out the fireball she'd shot at them.
Cassandra and Varric made short work of the group once they'd stumbled out of the brush where they'd been hiding, and Olivia shook her head in disgust as she helped Solas and Dorian search for valuable items that may have been stolen from the nearby camp. When she was satisfied they had found everything, she swung back up onto her mount, heading for the area Leliana had marked on her map.
As they approached the ravine, they were greeted by several soldiers with arrows notched and drawn, though they lowered their weapons almost immediately when they noticed the symbols emblazoned on the horses' blankets. Olivia grinned wryly as they were escorted to Fairbanks, and she greeted the man warmly as she hopped down from her horse's back.
Fairbanks was a battle-hardened man who was rightfully wary of Olivia before she introduced herself. Once she did, he relaxed slightly, though not enough to be caught off-guard, and he wasted no time in outlining his concerns regarding a mine not too far from their current location, as well as noting several Red Templar camps and their generals within the area. He also informed them of a base not too far to the north that he'd had his eyes on until the Red Templars had taken over it, slaughtering the militia men that had formerly held it.
He also gave Olivia a tour of the makeshift village that had been erected within some outcropping of rock, and several of the villagers approached her cautiously to ask for her aid in some of their tasks. Each one told her that it wasn't urgent and that she didn't have to help if she didn't have time, but Olivia brushed each one of those remarks off, plainly stating that she would take care of it for nothing.
Armed with a plethora of tasks as well as replenished supplies, Olivia swung back up onto her horse before turning to head toward the mine, eager to rout the templars within it's depths as well as rescue the few missing villagers that Fairbanks had mentioned while they were talking. Cassandra had murmured her approval of Olivia taking on the villagers' tasks without wanting a reward, and the praise made her smile warmly at the Seeker. "Every problem that we solve will only strengthen the Inquisition's backing. I can't sit idly by or turn aside pleas for help; everything is urgent, no matter how small." Olivia told her quietly, earning yet another smile that quickly turned to alarm as they came upon an ambush at the mouth of the mine.
Several small battles later, Olivia had managed to get the group into the mine where they came face to face with a Templar Lieutenant under the influence of red lyrium who was armed with several cronies. Olivia wasted no time in debilitating the lieutenant's reinforcements, locking them within a mass paralysis rune she'd traced on the ground while the lieutenant had been mouthing off to them. Once they were locked, she allowed Solas and Varric to pepper the group with volleys of arrows and lightning, turning her attention to where Cassandra was grappling with the female Red Templar.
Throwing up a barrier to protect Cassandra from the flurry of blows the lieutenant was raining on her shield, Olivia called on the depths of her power as she usually did, only to find herself very suddenly and violently devoid of her mana and her power. Cassandra cried out in alarm as Olivia stumbled to her knees, weakened by the power of both the lieutenant's dispel and one of the templar-knight's Holy Smites. She had been so focused on keeping Cassandra alive that she hadn't noticed one of the knight's break free of her paralysis rune.
Being bereft of mana and power left Olivia feeling violently ill, and she held a hand over her mouth as her stomach threatened to empty what little contents it had. Dorian was also struggling with his own mana loss, and Solas managed to feed a weak regeneration spell into both mages to get them back on their feet. Shakily rising to her feet, Olivia popped the cork on a lyrium flask, downing it quickly before tossing one to Dorian, feeling the sudden surge of magic through her blood, giving her the strength she needed to finish the fight. Angrily, she shot icy chains at both the knight and the lieutenant, preventing them from defending themselves as Cassandra and Dorian took a killing blow each, rage radiating from each of them.
"Are you alright, Snow?" Varric called to her, concern lacing his words as Olivia trembled with rage as well as mixture of adrenaline and lyrium. "Yeah, I'm alright. Just pissed off. I haven't been hit by a smite since I was an apprentice. That bitch's dispel caught me off guard as well, and when the smite hit..." She shook her head with an angry growl. "Dammit!" She pushed her hands through her hair, sighing in frustration. "Sorry, guys." She mumbled after a moment, realising that her companions had gone quiet. "It's quite alright, my dear." Dorian spoke up after a moment, affectionately ruffling Olivia's hair lightly. "You aren't the only one who got caught off guard. We'll both just have to be a bit more vigilant from now on, hmm?"
Offering him a smile, Olivia nodded before moving to undo the locks to the cages where the villagers were, undoing them deftly amid pleas of "Maker, get us out of here!" Once they were all free, Olivia stepped back to allow them to leave, smiling faintly at each person who paused long enough to thank her before they ran off.
From the mine, Olivia turned the group toward the Red Templar camps, rekindled anger augmenting each and every spell she threw at them. She hated them for what they had done to people's view of the Templar Order, and she hated them for forgoing their vows. None of her companions mentioned her renewed vigour, a fact Olivia was thankful for as she wasn't sure she'd be able to explain why she was so pissed off in a way that would make sense to anyone.
When they had cleared all the smaller camps of Red Templars, Olivia decided to head for some more of the rifts, closing each one as easily as she had closed the others that came before them. Each group of demons the rifts spat at the group were easier than they had been before, a testament to just how much progress they all had made in the year since the Breach had first opened.
As they travelled, Olivia searched out more occularum shards as well, keeping the shards in a pocket of her pack for a later use. They also stumbled across an ancient elven ruin among the throng of trees, though the entrance was littered with the bodies of the Dalish group that had been heading for the ruins when she'd met them in the Exalted Plains. With a heavy heart, she knelt and offered a prayer to Falon'din for the fallen before she pushed into the ruins, intent on reaping vengeance on the Red Templars who were responsible.
Once they had cleared the ruin, they gathered the maps and artifacts the Dalish had been seeking out. The findings sparked an argument among Cassandra and Solas as to who should receive the information; the Dalish or the Chantry, and Olivia was forced to intervene. She decided that the information would be returned to the Dalish elves, as it was rightfully theirs, and the matter was settled with begrudged agreement from Cassandra.
Olivia also completed the more menial of their tasks for the villagers and occasionally stopped the group so she could cut herbs for their alchemists and their healers, much to their amusement. Eventually, Cassandra managed to get Olivia to stop cutting every single herb she came across, and the group pressed forward toward the camp that Fairbanks had his eyes on.
The five of them pushed through the primary defenses of the camp easily enough, and Olivia noticed with a pang that the templars had slaughtered several innocent people, children among them. It boiled her blood, and she fought even harder to eradicate their presence in the Graves. When they were faced with a Templar-Captain within a very small space, Olivia noticed they began to struggle slightly, be it from disadvantage or fatigue, she couldn't say. Varric was sporting a few new cuts, Cassandra was struggling to hold her shield correctly thanks to a rather painful hit she'd taken early in the fight, and Dorian and Solas were getting cornered by the continuous flurry of attacks.
Gritting her teeth, Olivia erected a powerful barrier around herself that would hopefully draw the Captain's ire, and when he turned to face her with a sickening grin stretching across his face, she knew she had him. Mirroring his sinister smile with one of her own, she waited for him to rush her, having already formulated a plan in her mind. When he did, she quickly side-stepped him, whirling her staff across the back of his knees to knock his feet from under him.
With a crash, the Captain fell, and Olivia called up a powerful binding spell, effectively locking the Templar-Captain in a paralysis that wouldn't break, no matter how hard he tried to dispel it. When she was satisfied with the strength of the paralysis, she drew him up to stand against the back wall of the barracks. Stepping up to him as she strapped her staff to her back, she narrowed her eyes. "Start talking. Now." To her companions' amazement, the man began rapidly spewing information, almost as if Olivia was pushing it from him each time her eyes narrowed.
When she was satisfied with the amount of intel she had garnered from him, she turned to walk away from the Templar-Captain, her companions following curiously. As she reached the doorway of the barracks they had been scrapping in, she turned to face the captain. With a flick of her wrist, she summoned a barb of ice that she flung straight at the captain's heart after dispelling the binding spell, piercing it instantly as his eyes widened in surprise. "Thank you for your cooperation." She quipped coldly before she exited the building, leaving the captain to bleed out behind her.
"Jeez Snow, that was brutal. Even for you." Varric spoke quietly, and Olivia turned to look at him. "I will not spare any Red Templar. Not a single sodding one. None of them deserve to live after what they have cost the people of Thedas. Them and the blasted Venatori." She replied, glancing down at her companion with a rueful sigh. "True enough. Just don't lose yourself along the way, kid." Varric admonished, falling silent when Olivia looked back ahead of her, opting not to respond to his statement.
She was still quiet as they made their way back to Fairbanks, sealing smaller rifts on their journey back toward the makeshift base of operations, though she knew Varric was right. Once she had informed the former nobleman of the status of the camp they had cleared, she turned the group back toward Skyhold, not wanting to spend another second in the Graves, especially not after the horrors she'd witnessed there. Sighing softly, she looked behind her at her companions, all of whom were looked just as worn and exhausted as she felt. Olivia instantly felt guilty for pushing them so hard, and she slowed her pace to allow them to relax a little bit.
Two weeks later, Olivia and her companions found themselves back in Skyhold eager for real beds and proper baths, the latter of which Olivia immediately went for, heating the water for the tub in her room herself. She wanted to wash the blood of both the innocent and the guilty from her skin, and she spent the better part of an hour with a pumice stone against her sensitive flesh, scrubbing at the filth until her skin was pink and raw from the assault.
Stepping from the tub, Olivia dried herself carefully with a fluffy towel before pulling on her breeches and standard white shirt combo, forgoing her boots as she stepped out onto her balcony. Leaning against the stone railing, she sighed softly, the usual cool mountain breeze blowing her raven hair around her face. "Maker guide me..." She murmured as she pushed her hands through her hair, supporting her weight on her elbows.
"Those poor children...and the Dalish. All they wanted was to get their lost history back. Both groups, caught in the crossfire of a war no sane person wants." she spat angrily, dropping her head as her hands linked at the back of her neck for a brief moment before she brought them back down to the railing. An exasperated sigh pushed from her lips, and she felt her anger slowly ebb away as she turned her marked palm over, staring at the lines etched into her skin before she clenched her hand into a fist, looking out over Skyhold.
So caught up in her thoughts was she that she hadn't heard the sound of footsteps behind her, and she started quite violently as a pair of warm, strong arms came up to wrap around her waist lightly. Relaxing when she realised it was just Cullen, she leaned back into his embrace, remaining silent for the moment. "Cassandra and Dorian told me what happened in the Graves." she heard him murmur softly as he pressed his lips to her shoulder. Olivia sighed softly, looking down at her hands again. "I hate this, Cullen. So much unnecessary slaughtering of innocent people." She shook her head, another sigh leaving her lips.
"I know. And to top it off, every single one of those innocents is depending on you to restore peace." He added, making Olivia groan. "Yes, thank you for reminding me." She quipped dryly, earning a soft, rumbling chuckle from Cullen. "I will admit, the smiles on their faces and the ease in their step makes all of this worth it." She added after a moment as she gestured to where their soldiers worked and gathered, making Cullen smile against her skin as he held her tighter. "It won't always be rough going. Once Corypheus is dead and order is restored to Thedas, things will be much easier to deal with."
Olivia smiled as the two of them stood together, absorbing the view from her balcony. "That definitely is something worth fighting for."
A/N: Another chapter down! Hopefully you guys enjoyed this one! I know the combat is dry, but like I've said in previous notes, I don't want to waste too much time describing the fights, since you've all played through them yourselves. :)
As always, please favourite, follow, and review! Your feedback is appreciated!
See you in the next chapter!