Anders was true to his word. He didn't let Solona exert herself very much – would have insisted on complete bed rest except for the mutinous look in her eyes and her quiet admission that she was uneasy that bed rest would lead to a great deal of sleep, and that much sleep would lead her deeply back into the Fade. Instead, she used the time to write letters to absent friends, catch up on official correspondence, and read after extracting a promise from Zevran that if there were TRULY something that needed her attention, she would know it whether Anders liked it or not.

Her reading was not light, as Anders may have hoped – she had taken some journals of Howe's back to her room and was poring over them, trying to get a better idea of the man's true self from his writings. He was as spare with his journals as he had been guarded about his schemes, no doubt in case someone like Solona came into possession of them. However, there was an intriguing note from two years ago…

Highever Castle is now mine, as is the Teyrnir. The Orlesian turncoats have paid with their lives – the castle put to the sword to the youngest babe in arms. Fergus Cousland had already left for Ostagar – but soldiering is a dangerous business. With luck, the darkspawn will take care of him.

The spitfire is nowhere to be seen. With any luck she'll be found soon.

A note two weeks later:

Young woman and mabari spotted entering Korcari Wilds… what is left of the squad trailing her swears a dragon of all things attacked and killed all but himself. He's badly acid-burned and delirious, of course. There are no dragons in the wilds.

Solona felt her heart thud to a stop. There had been one… Flemeth. Was it possible…?

Solona scribbled a few notes. Well, Flemeth was, arguably, no longer a problem. Hopefully Anders would see the need for her to get up and out of the keep earlier rather than later. She'd see if Zev, Oghren and Anders would accompany her for a brief foray. Maybe she would find clues among the Chasind. If the girl were as clever as Solona thought, she might have tried to reach her brother in the south.

Something niggled at the back of her mind, something related to her long stay in the Fade, and Solona took a deep breath and cleared her mind so she could pay attention to what her subconscious was trying to tell her. She closed her eyes, and thought back to how she'd felt before being trapped.

She'd felt damaged. That was nothing new. She'd felt depressed and despairing. Unfortunately, that happened from time to time, especially when the worst memories of the quest for the Archdemon reared their ugly heads. She remembered fearing the intimacy that had slipped back into her life, wanting to go back to the mage who separated physical need from emotional – and knowing that Alistair had ruined her for that. After experiencing that level of intimacy, she viewed convenient trysts as… lesser. Cheaper.

She had….

Solona's eyes flew wide open. She had wished for the ability to sleep through the night without being torn awake by nightmares. And immediately after that, she had been asleep for three days with what were unquestionably pleasant dreams.

She yanked her boots on. That didn't mean that whatever it was was not dangerous. It did mean she was going to have to be very careful about wishing. And it meant that some spirit of the Fade had had its eye on her, so to speak.

Barkly raised his head and grumbled as she started to get ready to leave. And as she tried to get to the door, the mabari blocked the door with a growl.

"Whose companion are you anyway?" She tried to push Barkly aside, and he simply planted himself more firmly.

"Fiiiiine," she sighed. "I'll wait. You go get Anders. Or Zevran."

Barkly fixed her with a 'you'd BETTER be here when I get back," look, and then grumbling, moved down the hall.

For a wonder, Solona sat on her bed and waited. She fidgeted, and waited. And then she waited some more.

When she just couldn't wait any longer, she got up and opened the door, just in time to see Anders and Barkly coming up to it.

He raised and eyebrow, crossing his arms across his chest. "This does not look like resting to me," he said mildly.

"Probably because it's not," she admitted. "But I've got a theory about why I was kept in the Fade."

That got his interest, and he uncrossed his arms. "Why were you stuck in the Fade," he asked, as he guided her back into the room. Barkly grabbed the ring set into the wooden door in his teeth and with a grumble, he backed out, shutting the door behind the two mages.

Solona sat on the edge of the bed, her knees drawn up to her chin, her arms hugging them close. "Just before the Landsmeet where I put forth Alistair for the throne, I was imprisoned in Fort Drakon," she said quietly, "and they used a variety of techniques to… to try to break me." She looked up at him, tried to smile. "To dream about that, I guess I was really tired and worn down as you say… and… and wondering if I were any good to… to anyone."

He sat beside her noting her closed in, protective body language , then leaned over, and kissed her forehead, nudging her shoulder with his. He was afraid that if he tried to hold her, confine her, she'd bolt. "Never doubt that," he murmured, kissing her temple.

She blushed.

"I had a really bad nightmare where I was back there and… and Loghain had come to see me. They knew I didn't know anything worth knowing about Orlais – but…" She shook her head to clear it. "It scared me horribly to have been reminded of how bad it was, and I woke in a sweat… wishing I could sleep at least one night through without being scared to death."

"Oh. OH." He looked at her curiously. "So you're thinking a Fade spirit…"

"Or demon, I don't know. I don't trust it," she said worriedly.

"You think something gave you pleasant things to dream of and let you sleep."

She nodded mutely.

"Some spirits of the Fade are more benign than others…"

"I don't trust that. I don't trust that any spirits' gifts don't come with major strings attached." She shook her head. "I don't want it to happen again, but I think… I think I can guard myself against it better now."

He nodded, and when she pur her head on his shoulder, he let his arm steal around her and held her close.

"Item two on the agenda: we need – you, Zev and Oghren and I – to head to the Korcari Wilds."