So what really did happen with Elgar'nan during Anuiras rampage. Will Cole find his way to help his friend? Will Anuira be safe from all the fear all mages face?

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Enjoy!

~.o.O.o.~

Credits for any tevene goes to katiebour at deviantart and the dragonage wikia.

Credits for any elvish goes to FenXshiral and whom ever is responsible for the LingoJam elven DAI translator. I'm sorry if I abuse the language. Bare with me, I'm trying

Chapter 36

~.o.O.o.~

"Let me get this straight." Dorian said pinching the bridge of his nose tiredly.

"Anuira shut you out as she met up with Cullen and then knocked you unconscious by stealing your energy sometime after that..."

"Yes."

"She then somehow proceeded to unlock her inner elvhen immortal nature as well as reassemble her arm from the fade and steal back the mark from Solas... "

"Yes."

"She also managed to somehow learn how to shapeshift which allowed her to decimate an entire army by herself, and that's on top of creating a dimensional pocket inside herself..."

"Yes."

"And this said dimension… It has you trapped, pulled Cole in and is now slowly killing her by expanding uncontrollably?" Dorian finished looking raggedly at the spirit borrowing his friend's body for the moment.

"If what we have discussed is true then yes." Elgar'nan said matter-of-factly, trying his best to ignore the white-haired elf male staring at him with his mouth hanging wide open. He'd done that since Dorian introduced him and explained the circumstances concerning Elgar'nan's presence in Anuira's body.
This was one of the reactions Elgar'nan had predicted Anuira would have had when he disclosed who he really was and back then her odd reaction had made him a bit annoyed. Now, he was thankful since this incessant ogling was more than a little disturbing.

"Is that even possible?!" Idrillas wondered looking from Dorian to Anuira – or rather Elgar'nan – and back again.

"When has our dear little elf ever settled for doing anything merely possible?" Dorian snarked unconsciously as he mulled over the information he received.

They couldn't go after Anuira, seeing as how she had closed everyone out and effectively locking everyone who would have been able to help, inside her own world. For the same reason they had no way of calling her back to them either. Unfortunately, however, they couldn't stop the dimensional pocket from killing her without her help – or at least the help of Elgar'nan or Cole – and this was a conundrum to which none of them had any answer.

Dorian felt like a dog running in circles, chasing its own tail.

He'd been thrilled when Anuira had woken up, even if it had only been Elgar'nan clad in the body of his best friend. Now he felt just as useless as he had before.
Even with their combined knowledge of what had transpired the past few days, they didn't know how to save Anuira.
Elgar'nan was only able to project his consciousness to the mortal world with great effort and he had to retreat to the spirit world created by Anuira, often to regain his strength. It seemed Cole was all the hope they had and that was not as comforting as one might think since - according to Elgar'nan - the dimension had a forgetting effect on the spirit.

~.o.O.o.~

"I demand to see the elf! She has much to answer for and I know she's awake!" Sebastian shouted at the very indignant Idrillas standing in his way, refusing the human passage to Anuiras room.

Anuira, or rather Elgar'nan was pushing himself to the limit just be able to talk to them, forcing past the borders of the dimensional pocket took almost all the strength the ancient elf had and right now he was resting. Nothing good could come from Sebastian barging in to demand answers the elf didn't possess and risk the King discovering the rather unorthodox truth about Anuira's state in the process.

Not only did Elgar'nan not talk even remotely in the same manner as Anuira. He also had not been able to share experiences with Anuira since the night this blighted mess began. He had only been able to sense some changes due to the sheer enormity of the emotions.

They knew something bad, really bad had happened after she met up with Cullen. Bad enough to run the pregnant elf out to the battlefield in a fit of rage rivaling that of Elgar'nan himself. Then there was a gap in information until Dorian met up with Anuira just outside Starkhaven, when she was engulfed in that light.
From then on it was mostly guesswork but they had deduced that Anuira somehow had tapped into some unknown power inside her, allowing her to become fully elvhen. And a rather powerful one at that.
From what Cole had discussed with Elgar'nan in the fade-replica dimension, there was much sorrow and confusion in her mind and all those strong feelings had probably overwhelmed her. The dimension was most likely an intended defense gone awry and in her oversensitive state she couldn't deal with it.

Idrillas was glaring at Sebastian, doing everything he could to stall until Dorian came back. Dorian had gone to get something to eat, something he only allowed himself once a day since they had found Anuira. Dread wolf take the blasted mage for having such poor timing.
By himself Idrillas couldn't really do much, other than bark and throw empty threats around. The mage, however, had pull and could certainly get the damn human to back off before Idrillas tossed him out the nearest window.

"If she needs to answer for something then she will do so when she is not confined to bed, still recovering from nearly dying to liberate your blighted city!" Idrillas growled at the blue-eyed man scowling in front of him.

"She's a mage! We all saw the mayhem she can create! I need to protect my city and its inhabitants and thus proper measures must be taken!" Sebastian all but howled at the stubborn elf and signaled to his guards to remove the obstacle. Idrillas sneered and had his bow was drawn in less than a second, making the guards stop in their tracks. The elf had two arrows nocked, each pointing to one of the two guards with swords drawn, looking to their King for confirmation.

"Don't be foolish…" Sebastian said.

"You will not lay hands on my sister, ever, you filthy, fickle shemlen!" Idrillas spat in reply. He was furious at the disloyalty and ungratefulness that seemed to permeate most of the human ranks. The memories of his clan getting brutally slaughtered was still etched into his retina and fueled his fury.

"I will not hurt her so long as she does not pose a threat. I'm just going to put on these bracers to keep her powers in check!" Sebastian said exasperated.

To his defense, Sebastian didn't know that that probably would be a death-sentence for the elf. He didn't know that would lock her into her own dimension, hindering her from closing it and get back to herself. Not to mention Cole would die with her, as would Elgar'nan who had been partly locked away in a dream of Arlathan. But Idrillas was past the point of caring. There was no way he could make this brainwashed chantry-boy see reason and anything he could say would probably only serve make things even more dire. Seeing as how the very thought of unchecked magic seemed to frighten the King.

"You will not touch my sister!" Idrillas sneered again, drawing his bow even harder, ready to release it the second the idiots would dare try anything.

Sebastian sighed and signaled his guards to remove the agitated elf. There was a load twang as Idrillas let his arrows fly and the guards swords clanked menacingly as they parried the arrows and warily stalked closer. The elf had already drawn his bow once more, his deep-blue eyes burning with hatred as he backed towards the door to Anuira's room, dead-set on protecting her even if it meant getting killed in the process.

The heavy armored guards suddenly stopped. Curling in on themselves, gasping as they dropped their swords. Soon they were retreating in a hurry, screaming and whimpering pathetically.

Sebastian muttered something under his breath and was about to let his bow loose, using the momentary confusion of the elf whose attention was elsewhere.

"Oh I wouldn't do that if I were you. Never mind I would be sorely disappointed, but that man is Anuiras last living family. I would hate to have to see her tear into you with vengeance if you robbed her of that." Dorian said in exuberant sarcasm, twirling a fireball in his hand.

"You!" Sebastian spat.

"Me?" Dorian smirked.

"You put my guards under a spell, didn't you?!" The former chantry brother said bitterly, scowling at the Tevinter standing on the last step of the staircase behind him.

"Why of course. Can't have them accidentally poke someone with those. Ghastly things really." Dorian said, motioning towards the discarded swords.

"Don't worry, it will wear off in a minute." the mage continued, flashing a cocky grin at the annoyed King.

"This filthy shemlen is trying to kill my sister!" Idrillas interrupted. Grinding the words out through clenched teeth, still pointing his drawn bow at Sebastian.

"I beg your pardon!?" Sebastian reeled at the elf.

Dorian picked up instinctively what the trouble was about, seeing as how the King had a pair of those hateful nullifier-bracers dangling from his belt and not to mention Idrillas serious agitation. It really was easy to piece two and two together and he racked his brain for a plausible excuse as to why the bracers could not be used. The stand-off was interrupted as a female voice spoke up.

"Idrillas is right, Sebastian. If you put those on Anuira right now. She will die. The only thing keeping her tethered two our plane is her magic and connection too these two men." Merrill spoke softly but her voice was cold and hard as ice as she pinned the King with her stern brownish-green eyes.

"You still on about magic Sebastian? Thought you had learned by now…" Hawke said looking at Sebastian with a scowl as he came up the steps behind Dorian to stand with his wife.

Sebastian stood indecisive for a few moments before warily lowering his bow.

"You and I both know the horrors magic can inflict! It needs to be checked!" Sebastian said heatedly, turning to look at his friends.

"Well then maybe we should just stop treating your soldiers and villagers since our magic is so dangerous and inconvenient for you?" Hawke snarked menacingly, his temper flaring as it often did when talking to the thickheaded King. Merrill nodded to emphasize her husband's words.

The comment had the desired effect and Sebastian backed down, rubbing his forehead with a tired sigh.

~.o.O.o.~

'If you can maintain a connection to Anuira, you can use that to let it pull you towards her instead of trying to force your way through.' Cole repeated Elgar'nan's words to himself again. The only way the spirit had been able to enter in the first place was due to his connection, his bond to Anuira. The only way to move freely in this world was through her and her will and Cole had the only means to tap into that power.

He let his mind focus on that something. That something that was pulling on him, tugging on every fiber of his being and he followed the feeling through what seemed like endless darkness. All the while trying to keep his frail connection to Anuira alive. It was flickering and faint, threatening to die at any moment.
Cole fought his forgettable nature tooth and nail, to keep himself from disappearing into the dark of the void around him. The void he knew, would swallow both him and Anuira if he couldn't keep his mind in check. And to his relief, the pull he felt, the feelings, soon turned into something he could audibly follow.

At first it was only a hum. A faint despairing tune hanging in the air all around him. But the longer he listened the more it grew. It was a sad sound, a lonely tune, cried by a hopeless heart. True to his nature he instantly wanted to help, to soothe and he let those feelings carry him forward.

Very soon the humming turned to words:

"Ha'hren na melana sahl'in
Emma ir abelas
Souver'inan isala hamin
Vhen'an him dorf'elas
In Uthenera na revas

Vir sulahn'nehn
Vir dirth'era
Vir samahl la numin
Vir lath sa'vunin

Vir sulahn'nehn
Vir dirth'era
Vir samahl la numin
Vir lath sa'vunin"

The words was sung by a familiar voice and without thinking he sunk down beside the singing elf, peering up at her sideways from under his hat as he let one hand idly play with a lock of her hair. He was finally home.

"Cole… You came…" Anuira said, smiling weakly through her tears.

~.o.O.o.~

Translation to the song found in this chapter. Commonly known as "Leliana's song"

Original title:
In Uthenera (Within the Eternal Waking Dream)

Translation:
Elder your time is come
Now I am filled with sorrow
Weary eyes need resting
Heart has become grey and slow
In waking sleep of freedom

We sing, rejoice
We tell the tales
We laugh and cry
We love one more day