A/N: To those of you still reading my story, thank you so so so so much for sticking with me. I've been moving around with work, and now I'm in hospital for a couple of weeks. So yeah. I'll try to update when I can.

There was smoke and chanting. That was the first tangible thing that he could cling to. It was familiar, and it calmed him. He had been stranded, screaming into the darkness for an eternity. He had been blinded and deafened. But the chanting. The drum. The smoke. His people were here. They were with him. Fay wasn't alone anymore.

Days passed, and he began to feel the pain. It was visceral. It was physical. He had been beginning to think that perhaps he wasn't real anymore. That his body had simply ceased to be. But the pain was reassuring. It was a relief. For a time. Every second was pain. And it continued to build in intensity. It was unbearable, but he didn't have a choice. A moment came, when the chanting and drums became more frenzied, more urgent. More panicked. And then the pain began to ease. Fay realised that he had passed some crisis.

Weeks later, he felt light falling on his eyes. He was aware of his breathing. He could feel his body. And he could feel a presence. With momentous effort, he forced his eyelids to move. He hissed with the pain the light stabbed into his eyes. He saw Nimué's face, looking at him with big eyes.

"Baba…" she wept. Fay blinked.

"Naja." He managed a weak smile, as his little girl buried her head into his hair. His hand flew up to stroke her back. His eyes roamed the room. He saw the eyes of his clan upon him. His sisters, his father, his twin. And stony-faced at the back of the room was Dorian. He looked wretched, and exhausted. Unkempt. He slipped out the door, and closed it quietly. He felt wounded, but he was very happy to be here surrounded by his people.

"Welcome back, son." his father said, with happy tears in his eyes.

A few days passed before Dorian slipped back in through the door again. He looked more groomed this time. Rested. Still hollow-cheeked, and worried. Fay was alone for once. This was probably why he had come back now. They stared across the room at each other for a few minutes.

"Hi." Fay's voice cracked as he spoke, meekly. He cleared his throat.

"Where were you?!" Dorian said, calmly. Quietly.

"W-what?"

"Where did you go? You were gone for months."

Fay's gut twisted violently. He had been in and out of consciousness for days, his family making small talk, and pampering him when he was awake.

"Months…?" he whispered.

"Two." Dorian gave him a hard stare, before he cautiously crossed the space between the door and the bed.

"Where were you?" he asked again, a little bit more gentle this time. Fay took a moment to gather himself, and to recall.

"The Fade." Dorian visibly paled. He looked like he was going to be sick.

"That's what I thought." He paced back and forth for a moment in silence before he sat in the chair beside his bed.

"It shouldn't be possible Fay. Nobody has walked in the Fade, in the actual Fade since the seven…" He shook his head. The implications of what had happened to Fay was clearly disturbing to him.

"I saw the Black City." Fay managed to say, after some time.

"Maker…" Dorian was breathing faster. "It's real." Silence. "What… what was it like?"

"Like every nightmare you have ever had." Dorian took up Fay's hand, and squeezed it.

"Don't you EVER do something like that again. Don't you ever leave me like that again." Fay went to speak, but he was stopped with a stern look.

"When I heard what you had done, I couldn't believe that this is what had happened. That you were… alive. Now that I know, I can't believe you left… Without me." His voice was fraught with emotion. Fay squeezed his hand. They looked at each other for a time. "I'm so glad that you're back." Dorian leaned over him, and planted a soft, affectionate kiss on his lips. Fay relished the moment. This was a blessed moment after an eternity of torment.

"Two months…" Fay said, after a time of companionable silence. Dorian had crawled up onto the bed, and nestled into the elf's chest. Fay was slowly stroking his hair.

"You disappeared at the battle of Adamant. Into the Fade, as we now know. Everything was chaos. The Wardens assisted in the battle against the demons. That…. Dragon? Archdemon? Flew away. We got things under control, but there was no sign of you." Dorian clung tighter to Fay for a moment, as if afraid he would disappear again. "We fell into a panic. But it was the general consensus to withdraw to Skyhold once more, and strategise what we would do. Without you."

He could understand that this had been a very upsetting time for Dorian, so he held him just a little bit tighter.

"Cullen, Cassandra, and Leliana became the leaders of the Inquisition in your… absence. They bickered like fishwives, but we've held it together. Just about." Fay didn't have to imagine very much to see how badly the three of them would argue and fight. They were all friends, but they had very different opinions on things. Fay was honestly surprised the Inquisition hadn't disbanded.

"It was a Dalish tribe who found you in the Brecilian forest. They tried to help you as best they could, but they brought you here. They thought you would have a better chance." Fay was surprised by this. Only his own clan would do something like that. But they wouldn't be in the Brecilian forest at this time of year. But Clan Sabrae would be there. Nimué's clan. He closed his eyes at the memory of her in the Fade. His sweet, Autumn love.

"You've been asleep for two weeks, Fay. We thought you'd never come out of it. I- I thought you would die. I had just gotten you back, and I thought you were going to slip away from me again." Fay rested his chin on the top of Dorian's head, an expression of comfort.

"I haven't slept properly since you disappeared. When they brought you here, I thought I was dreaming. But we started to work on you. Me, your sister, your father, even Solas." For some reason Fay felt disquieted to hear that Solas had been involved. But then he remembered that this elf knew so much about the Fade. He was probably the best person to help him.

"I stayed by your side day and night, but there was no change. There was a touch of death on you." Dorian was tripping up over his words, trying to get them out. Fay could tell that he was grateful to finally be able to talk about his ordeal.

"We brought your daughter in… to say goodbye." Dorian's voice cracked, and Fay could feel dampness pooling on his chest. "She sat beside you, and looked at you with such determination… And then you woke! I've never seen such a thing. A miracle." Something in Fay knew that this act, the presence of his daughter… This was Nimué looking down on them both.

"Ma seranas, Nimué, ma vhenan." Fay whispered, wiping away his own tears.

"Do you think she helped?" Dorian asked, genuinely curious.

"I met her. In the Fade. We spoke. She guided me out." Fay found it incredibly difficult to speak of his encounter with his dead mate. It was still so raw.

"She told me to hold tight to you, and to love you with everything I have. And we all three walk together in the Field of Reeds, she will find a way to love you too."

Dorian sat up suddenly, and stared at him. Normally when Dorian would cry, they would be pretty tears. Crying in Tevinter wasn't frowned upon, and was a way to express joy at beautiful things. But these weren't feigned, pretty tears. His face was wrung up, his chin quivering.

"You saw her?" Fay nodded, smiled, then sobbed heavily. Dorian gathered him up in his arms, and cried with him for a moment.

"She gave us her blessing." Fay stammered out. He had never been afraid to talk to Dorian about her. About the mother of his child. The first great love of his life. For Dorian to find out that Nimué approved of them both, was a momentous declaration. He knew that Fay wouldn't lie to him about this. It meant that there was nothing holding them back. They had no excuses now to not throw themselves wholeheartedly into this thing.

Fay took Dorian's face into his large hand, gently touching his cheek. He kissed him, then stared into his eyes for a moment.

"I love you, Dorian Pavus. Beyond all measure." Dorian's breath caught. "Will you consent to be my mate?" Dorian was stunned into silence. He knew what this meant among the Dalish. It was the equivalent of a marriage proposal. His hands shook with the shock of it. All his life, he had expected he would one day have to marry. But it would never have been for love. He never thought he would be in love.

"Andraste's arse…" Dorian swore, and then they both laughed. "Faolan Lavellan…. King of the Elvhen… Are you asking me to marry you?" He spoke with a teasing tone in his voice. There was mounting excitement.

"I'm asking you to be my mate. Which is sort of the same thing. Yes." Fay was toying with Dorian's hand, and he was feeling nervous. What if he was rejected? Where would they go from there?

"I will." Dorian said, in a sudden moment of solemnity. "I want to be your mate." They stared at each other for a moment, and then they began to laugh. They couldn't stop themselves. They were caught up in hysterics.

"Does that mean I'm a King now?" Dorian asked, returning to his teasing tone.

"If anything, you're my Queen." Fay was teasing back, but Dorian had a pleased look on his face. Nothing could spoil this moment.

"Queen Dorian. I like it. King Fay, and Queen Dorian. Yes that does sound right, doesn't it?" They couldn't stop laughing. Their joy was self-sustaining.

"Is there a ceremony, or…?"

"Not really… But we can do something if you'd like."

"I would like."

"Then you'll have it. Anything for my mate." Dorian felt a sense of belonging now. He had a person, who was just for him. And they had committed to each other. They belonged to each other.