The sun had set on the horizon in the Amaranthine ocean. Rolling clouds peppered its disappearance into the night through a rainbow of pastel colour. The summer's warm winds blew across the cream coloured sails of a tall ship as it sailed smoothly on the water. The Antivan Galleon flew no flag and was headed north along with the current. The Inquisitor among a crew of mercenaries and the last of the loyalists to the inquisition.
Rubeus Lavellen had long fiery red hair shaved into an undercut. A warrior who had championed the noble courts and cemented himself in the history books for slaying Corypheus. An elvhan knight who lost his hand defeating a Qunari invasion. His heroism had amounted to a title that was stripped from him before he had a chance to make it to court. Luckily, Rubeus had made strong allies and his connections had brought him into the company of the pirate who captained the Hateful Barnacle.
Rubeus had made himself at home on the Barnacle in the Crows Nest. A bucket sitting eighty feet up in the air where the ropes converged on the mainmast. A small uncovered and cramped vantage point that had the best view of the ship. The nest was stuffed with Rubeus' personal effects. A bedroll, a lantern, a brown rucksack and a canvas sack of snacks.
Rubeus had finished his daily chores, his gloves still dirty with the remnants of iron and steel. His white shirt dusted in soot, as was the brown leather vest he sported over it. He peeled off his gloves revealing his new prosthetic hand. A magical enhancement made from ice dragon bone and runes. With it was he able to delicately polish a golden monocle from his pocket with his handkerchief. Now ready to wind down from the day with a book he pulled from his navy blue jacket. A green leather-bound journal written in ancient elvhan.
The book was written in code, one Rubeus had already deciphered, but still hesitant to fully read. For the ancient runes inside flashed images in his mind with ancient magic. After every page, he needed to put the book down and rub his eyes. His headaches merged with emotional tears, and soon he was completely exhausted.
"Could you have left me some sort of clue to find you or does trying to help you always have to be so… draining," Rubeus said with an exasperated sigh. Closing the book to tuck it aside as he turned his attention to the stars which were starting to appear.
"Rubeus!" A mighty voice bellowed from below.
"Yes, Captain." Rubeus jumped up at the call and looked down to see Captain Edward Jones a dark-skinned man standing at the edge of the officers' deck. His long bronde hair tangled up in messy dreads tucked under a brown headscarf and audacious feminine feathered hat.
"You see anything out there?" Edward asked, taking his hat off to look up. His smokey eyes were like little black dots from Rubeus' perspective.
"No sir! Just a couple clouds to the north." Rubeus called back.
"Great! Night duty is taking over. You're on watch at sun-up so come down and get some rest." Edward ordered as he turned, plopping his hat back on before leaving for the door into the office cabins.
"With all due respect, I'd like to stay up here tonight," Rubeus shouted.
"What?" Edward turned at the door.
"Nevermind! Good night Captain." Rubeus nearly screamed. Edward shrugged and turned to go inside, leaving Rubeus to watch as the crew started to turn in for the night.
Rubeus groaned and quickly hid before invites for wicked grace could be thrown his way. The shouting of goodnight back and forth from below as the elf collapsed back into his bedroll lazily. He stared at the sky and lifted the journal back up to look at one of the last pages of the book.
"Solas…" Rubeus sighed as he stared at the writing intently. "I can feel your magic like it's holding my hand… how? You're so far away, possibly between the veil and yet I hear you in my heart." Rubeus spoke softly, hoping only the book could hear him.
"I will find you, and save you from yourself to remind you this world has meaning. You just don't see it when you hide in dreams." Rubeus said as he closed the book and placed it beside his head.
As the elf laid down the rest, the full moon cast its brilliance down on him and the tomb next to his head. The magic within illuminated the light as Rubeus tossed the blanket over his face as he got comfortable. Too exhausted to notice it. Sleep took over his mind only after a long time of tossing and turning. At first, he was greeted with sweet darkness. Blissful silence was interrupted by whispered songs. Elvhan voices sang with the waves and taught him the melody of the water.
Suddenly, Rubeus found himself sitting at a table in the middle of a vast scope of empty mist. Where only a dining table and two chairs sat on a mirrored water surface which behaved like solid ground.
"I would go back to that ruin first. There was a sword I found there and I would like to return it to its resting place." Rubeus said to a ghostly silhouette on the other side of the table. Its green eyes staring at him dripping water into the pool below him. With every blink, shapes in the mist became scenery. Walls, paintings and brick. The rooms of Skyhold being built around him as he experienced the erosion of time in reverse. The silhouette laughed, its voice muffled through the water.
"I had a feeling you would. I remember how much you hesitated before picking it up." The deep voice spoke as the elvhan figure ran a hand over its smooth head. It was nervously shifting in its seat and pushed a full teacup aside to pull the chair closer to the table.
"Rubeus, I have a gift for you." Solas's voice broke through the echoes of the songs. He now the figure sitting across the table as if he had been there all along. Dress in his form-fitted tunic and wolf pendant he casually wore day today.
"Really? I didn't take you like one for gifts." Rubeus replied.
"Well, it's not much of a gift. More of an experience." Solas admitted with a nervous chuckle.
"Oh?" Rubeus eyes light up with curiosity.
"You once told me you wanted to be an Emerald Knight correct," Solas asked.
"Of course! Being a Chevallier is an honour, but it feels like a cheap participation prize coming from the Orlesians." Rubeus sighed.
"Quite, I remember how Gaspard addressed you during the ball at the Winter Palace." Solas extended his hand across the table to Rubeus.
"Ya, let not get into that." Rubeus requested and looked at his hand curiously.
"Take my hand." Solas waggled his fingers.
"What's going to happen?." Rubeus asked as he put his hand in Solas's. Noticing it was flesh and not dragon bone.
"Something we never got to do together," Solas said, as he laced their fingers together. The two elves are no longer sitting, but walking along with the bow of the ship.
"So, this is the Hateful Barnacle. It's a beautiful ship." Solas said as they walked hand in hand. Rubeus held his temple, as a headache began to grow again.
"Wait… how did I?" Rubeus questioned.
"Rubeus, I wanted to apologize," Solas said, diverting his attention.
"Apologize?" Rebeus questioned.
"You once asked me, why I was so distant with you. It's not because you're a man." Solas began to sweat.
"Solas you don't have to explain." Rubeus has a look of heartbreak behind his sunshine eyes.
"I do because I care for you," Solas said directly. Tugging Rubeus's hand to make him turn and address him directly.
"Then let me in, I can help you." Rubeus requested.
"I shouldn't." Solas sighed as Rubeus cupped his face in his hands.
"Solas, you're lonely. Let me in." Rubeus said in a soothing voice. Their lips drew closer together.
"I... I want you." Solas breathed in deep as Rubeus guided him back. Their hips bumping together as the inquisitor walked forward pinning the elvhan sage against the mast.
"Why did you spurn me before if this is how you really feel," Rubeus asked directly.
"You know I couldn't tell you the truth about being the Dread wolf, but I never lied to you. I couldn't... It was easier to make you believe…" Solas shamefully turned away from Rubeus. The inquisitor carefully guided his gaze back with a gentle touch.
"What in the maker? I thought you didn't care for that rubbish." Rubeus smirked.
"Rubeus! Be serious…" Solas tried to protest as their lips collided in a passionate kiss. Quickly Solas drew back, about to say something else. Instead, he dug his fingers into the warriors' skin and desperately kissed him again.
Rubeus closed his eyes into the kiss, and they stumbled off the mast and onto the floor. Instead of hitting wood, they fell onto a soft downy feather. Rubeus opened his eyes to see Solas laying under him on his bed back at Skyhold. The headache coming back to pulse inside the veins of his eyelid
"Are you here with me?" Solas asked as he leaned up to kiss his chin. The elf impatiently unbuttoning Rubeus's vest.
"Of course, I just feel… light-headed," Rubeus said as he assisted Solas in removing his leathers.
"Should I stop?" Solas paused. His fingers tracing the curves of Rubeus's chest and abdomen.
"No, I want this." Rubeus insisted and kissed the elf again. "As long as it's really you." He added between breaths.
"It's me, I promise it's me." Solas interrupted as Rubeus took off his wolf jaw pendant and laid it gently on the side table.
"Good. Take off your clothes." Rubeus ordered as he ripped off his white dress shirt. Solas only responded with a chuckle as he shifted onto his knees and removed his tunic.
As soon as Solas's eggshell white skin was exposed, Rubeus covered each inch of him in kisses. The mage shuttered under his touch and gasped at the love bites the Inquisitor left behind. The two crawled up against the headboard and they laid into each other.
"More," Solas begged as he bit Rubeus' ear affectionately. Tugging at the golden hoop in his earlobe with his teeth. The small spark of pain stirring a well of desire within the warriors' core.
"How much more?" Rubeus asked
"All of it," Solas said desperately. Rubeus teasingly ran a finger over the button of his trousers and traced the dimples of his hips.
"I never knew you were so greedy." Rubeus chuckled.
"I can also be sultry if the mood is right," Solas replied and ran kissed down his neck before he bit him again playfully. The inquisitor shuttered at the mage's touch which lingered on his inner thigh and slowly moved higher.
"Show me." Rubeus requested as he aggressively pulled Solas's pants off him.
Their moans echoed off the walls of the castle walls merging with the distant songs of the sea outside. The bed creaked against the ground adding the baseline to the melody as waves crashed around them. Their voices reached a crescendo and the music went quiet as Solas and Rubeus struggled to catch their breath. The cold wind of the mountains was replaced with a warm ocean breeze. Rubeus stared out the window. Hovering over Solas who was helplessly sprawled out under him like a lewd painting.
"Is this a dream?" Rubeus asked sweat dripping from his brow as he looked down upon the naked man beneath him. Solas' legs hooked around his waist quivering slightly.
"Yes," Solas admitted breathlessly.
"You know how I feel about that," Rubeus replied equally out of breath.
"I'm sorry, things have always been easier for me in the fade," Solas said as he kissed Rubeus again. Slipping his tongue devilishly between Rubeus's lips to taste him again.
"Hiding behind the veil?" Rubeus said as they kissed. Solas stopped and pulled back to look him in the eye.
"I want you, but not like this," Rubeus said as he laid down on top of the mage and kissed him sweetly instead. "You're not really here."
"Look at page 46," Solas whispered in his ear.
"What?" Rubeus asked.
"Page 46… don't forget when you wake up." Solas's voice began to diminish.
"No… wait! I don't want to wake yet." Rubeus complained.
It was too late, the sun was up and Rubeus was brought to consciousness in the crows' nest. The clouds that were swirling in from the north had brought rain and started to spit from above. Rubeus looked around and grabbed the journal before it got wet. Shoving it in his bag as he grabbed the bedroll and threw it over the canopy to shelter him. Swiftly tying ropes to secure his makeshift roof as he panted.
Once he collapsed back on the ground, he looked down at himself and knew he was going to need to clean up his clothes. He groaned irritated and smoothed his hair back, his curls bouncing tighter with the added water.
"Page 46." Rubeus blinked and pulled the journal back out and flipped to the forty-sixth page. There were no words, but a picture. A hand-drawn image in ink of an elvhan tree of life complete with runes. An active spell upon the book sourced on this page.
"How did I not notice this before," Rubeus questioned and investigated the image. Touching the surface of the ink, he could smell smoke and evergreen mixed with patchouli.
"Solas?" Rubeus' questions brought the book up to his nose and breathed it in.
"I will find you, and I will help you," Rubeu affirmed and held the book to his chest. A small tear rolling off his cheek as he looked over his shoulder to witness the clouds. Thunderstruck within them as the landmass of Tevinter was on the Horizon.