Cullen was getting worried. It had been a few hours since Ellana told him to go into the tent and he left her outside with Deshanna. What could they be discussing and how could her Keeper know about their plans with the Cumberland Circle?

Finally, he felt the tent door shift open and Ellana hurried herself inside. She sat down and stared blankly before him, face pale and eyes hallowed.

"Ellana," he cautiously placed a hand on her knee, "what's wrong, my love?"

She slowly turned to face him and opened her mouth to speak. Her voice was broken and low, as if holding back tears. "Cullen, I – I have a sister."

Cullen's mind flashed back to a conversation he had with Ellana in the early days at Haven when they had just begun getting to know each other past the Harold and Commander. He had asked if she had family members back with her clan and watched her entire body tense. Assuming he had asked something that was too personal, he quickly apologized. Ellana had slowly turned to him, with watery eyes, and told him how she had lost her parents at a young age; so young, she couldn't remember them. She couldn't remember much about her childhood and her Keeper had always avoided answering any questions about it. One time, an elder in the camp had too much to drink after running into shem merchants on the road and had spilled a few hints to Ellana before their Keeper interrupted, scolding the elder for sharing the small details. Ellana had been told that men in shiny silver suits came to the camp and took her family away. The clan tracked down the men and found Ellana's parents in a hidden field; they had been beaten and slayed. Cullen never asked Ellana about her family again after that day.

"It was Templars." Ellana spoke and Cullen noticed tiny tremors begin throughout her entire body, "who came to our camp and took my parents, before killing them in the field like wild dogs. I had an older sister in the camp who was taken with my parents… my clan only ever found my parents in the field. They searched hours for my sister but never found any hint of her. Years later, Deshanna received word that she was being held in the Cumberland Circle."

"She was a Mage…" Cullen whispered. But, the Circle of Magi didn't interfere with the Dalish; in fact, they had left Ellana. Why would they have taken her sister?

"It wasn't for her ability to practice magic." Ellana could tell what he had been thinking. "Deshanna says my sister was born with an ancient gift that has been lost by many… it is so rare these days. She could control animals – take over their spirit and have them under her command. Apparently a group of blood mages heard of my sister's ability and planned to take her from our clan, they wished to feed her dragon's blood in an attempt to have her abilities heightened and allow her to control the last remaining dragons. The Templars heard about their plan and… when my parents refused to turn her over to the Circle…" she trailed off before gathering herself once again and continuing, "My Keeper withheld that I was their second child in fear that they would have taken me as well, in case I had the ability. I do not… I suppose it was my sister's misfortune to have been born with that…"

Cullen felt empty and didn't know what to do. Templars had… they had killed Ellana's parents and taken her sister – what could he say to that?

"She is still there. Deshanna said the spirits spoke to her last night in the Fade and told her of our visit to Cumberland because my sister is still there and we are to run into her." Ellana covered her face with trembling hands, "Cullen… they – " she took a deep breath, "the spirits said that she is no longer connected to the Fade…"

Cullen sharply inhaled and wrenched his eyes shut. He knew exactly what that meant: the Templars had invoked the Rite of Tranquility.

"Her name…" Ellana quietly mumbled, "Is Avexis… and when we find her in Cumberland, I'm taking her back to Skyhold with us."

Cullen quickly opened his eyes to glance at Ellana. She was serious – a look of pure determination spread across her face. Maker, that would be no easy feat… obtaining the Litany and taking Ellana's sister from the Circle.

"I cannot leave her there, Cullen – with them."

Cullen reached out and pulled Ellana into a hug, feeling her tears crash down onto his neck. "We will not leave her there." He made a promise to her in that moment, yet found himself at a complete loss of how to even approach such a thing.

After several moments of stroking Ellana's hair and holding her tightly, he finally managed to lure her to sleep. Cullen let out a deep sigh and closed his eyes. Their trip to Cumberland just multiplied in difficulty… how were they to pull all of this off?

Ellana found herself in the happy dream this evening, and let out a delightful sigh as she found herself blissfully walking through the field of flowers towards the log cabin. She smiled in anticipation of reaching the cabin door, knowing that he would be in there…

She reached the entryway and saw his sword placed down on the floor; heard him calling for her and began to walk towards the main room. He was a little burry and she was having a difficult time making out his image, but found her vision become more clear the closer she arrived to him. She felt something brush past her leg and smiled as she glanced down to look upon the floor – knowing what would be waiting down there for her.

Except… it was all wrong. Ellana's body shook in horror as she glanced down and saw the young girl sitting at her feet, pulling at her leg as blood slowly dripped down the child's forehead: a tranquil mark. Yet, rather than cast from magic, it had been freshly burned into the child's skin. Ellana lurched back and quickly glanced up to look at Cullen. He was holding the small bundle in his arms towards her and Ellana began to shake uncontrollably as she saw the trickle of blood inch down the baby's nose, a freshly scarred tranquility burn imprinted into the soft fresh skin on the baby's forehead. She met Cullen's eyes and suddenly noticed he was dressed in Templar armor with a wicked smile on his face. Ellana's vision became blurred as the color red slowly dripped down over her brow. She flew her hands up to feel her forehead and recoiled as her fingers met fresh blood; she felt her connection to the Fade slowly slip away… could feel her fear slowly dissipating and a raw emotionless hunger spread out from deep within her chest. She wanted to turn and to run, but her legs were stuck and unwilling to move…

Ellana furiously shook herself awake, startling Cullen and instantly pulling him from his sleep. He reached out to comfort her and was met with shock as Ellana pulled herself away from his arm, shuffling herself to the other side of the tent. Pressed up against the tent's wall, her eyes snarled at him, as if she was a cornered wild animal and sending him a warning to retreat.

"Ellana…" he gently called.

Slowly, Cullen watched as her frightened gaze dropped and she began to violently shake. Tears quickly overtaking her blue eyes and spilling down colorless cheeks. She crawled over to him and buried herself into his arms, gripping onto his chest and mumbling his name. Cullen was at a loss of what to do – what had happened? He held her tightly and resigned himself to do so until she had been calmed.

Hours later, Cullen could see the early morning sunrise slowly peeking in through their tent door and felt Ellana began to stir. She didn't seem to want to discuss whatever happened earlier that night, and instead instantly began packing their belongings in preparation to depart.

"Ellana – " he started before she cut him off.

"I want to get back to the Inn quickly as possible so I can speak with Cassandra. I remembered this morning that she has new information on reversing the Rite of Tranquility. She can save my sister, get her back to what she was before the Templars…" her eyes flashed with rage and she took a deep breath to calm herself. "Cassandra can help her."

Cullen nervously reached out for Ellana's arm, "It is a great idea – I agree. Just… remember that Cassandra has only that – information. We don't know how to complete a reversal yet or… what the effects may be on someone. Especially if she has been in this condition for a long time." His heart broke at the idea of Ellana getting her hopes up by this, just to have them harshly crushed if they found it would not work on her sister.

"It's not a condition." Ellana spewed through clenched teeth; "It's a sentencing – once that your people imposed on her as a young girl. Do you suggest we not even try to reverse it?"

Cullen was thrown by her cold demeanor towards him and quickly clarified. "No! Ellana, I – that's not at all what I meant. I just… wish to caution you against getting invested in this when we are still so far away from learning the truth of reversal. Maker, of course we should try!" She blankly stared at him for a few moments before nodding and mumbling that she was sorry for snapping at him.

He told her that it was fine and he understood, but felt deeply hurt over her choice of words: 'your people' she had called the Cumberland Circle Templars. Did she really see them as that or was it simply her anger speaking?

Ellana and Cullen quickly finished packing and said their goodbyes to Clan Lavellan. Cullen noticed that Ellana was cold in her parting with Keeper Deshanna and he felt remorse over the terms in which Ellana would be separating from her – she was still upset with Deshanna for withholding this information from her for so long and for failing to attempt a rescue from the Cumberland Circle.

The ride back to the Inn was relatively quiet as Ellana avoided any significant conversation with Cullen. It saddened him, yet he understood that she was grieving and needed some time to process all of this new information. Once they rejoined Cassandra and Alistair, Ellana immediately launched into a conversation with the Seeker about her sister and current state of tranquility. Cassandra's eyes cautiously glanced over to Cullen and he quickly looked away, not wanting to be caught in Ellana's wrath again.

"Inquisitor, I can… certainly try." Cassandra stammered, "We will put all of our resources into this once back in Skyhold but I – I am not confident in our ability to pull something like this off in such a short time. I may need to study some more – "

"I will help you figure it out." Ellana cut her off, "You will try, though? As soon as we're back in Skyhold – we'll begin the process?"

"I will do everything that I can once we are back in Skyhold." Cassandra assured her.

"Um…" Alistair cut in, "Do we have a plan on how we'll be taking her from the Circle? You do understand that they won't just give her to us – correct?"

Cullen motioned for Alistair to drop it but Ellana quickly spun around to glare at the Warden, "We will find a way. We're not leaving without her." Alistair took the hint and quietly nodded in agreement.

"We will need some time to… rethink our strategy for Cumberland Circle then." Cassandra spoke, "I would like to take the day to formulate a plan with the Commander here at the Inn. We can stay one more night and head out for the Circle tomorrow at dawn."

Everyone nodded. Cassandra and Cullen walked over to the table in Cassandra's room and spread out their map to begin discussions. Alistair mumbled something about returning to his room and Ellana went outside for a long walk in order to clear her mind and process all of her thoughts. They stayed like that for the majority of the day, pulled into little groups while Ellana roamed the nearby land by herself.

After a long day, Cullen left Cassandra's room to go searching for Ellana. He found her in the lobby of the Inn, seated at the bar with a drink in her hand. He sat down in the chair beside her and rested his hand on her back, slowly massaging large circles. He felt her body tense as his fingers made contact with her cloak.

"We have a plan on how to approach the Circle tomorrow." He quietly spoke to her.

"That's nice." She slurred; Cullen was picking up that she was slightly drunk.

"It will give us the best chance we have at obtaining everything that we search for. Hopefully by this time tomorrow, you'll have your magic back." He hoped the thought would bring a smile to her face. Unfortunately, it didn't.

She sarcastically laughed, "I still have my magic, Cullen. I'm just not supposed to use it or… boom." She tipped over her empty mug on the bar. "Everyone gets blown over and they're dead."

Cullen frowned. "Ellana, I know you've been though a lot these past few days and I won't ask you if you're okay – because I know that you aren't and wouldn't expect you to be. I will however, ask you if you're okay enough to go to Cumberland tomorrow. We have one shot at this and if you need some time, we can wait here another – "

"I'm fine." She coldly brushed off his concern.

He studied her for a few moments before letting out a sigh. "Okay. We should go to bed and try to get a good night's sleep. We depart early tomorrow."

She shook her head, "One more drink. I'll be up later."

"Would you like some company?" He quietly hoped that she would say yes.

"No. You should go to bed." She kept her eyes lowered on the bar, refusing to look at him.

Cullen sat there for a few moments, questioning if he should truly leave her there on her own – in her current state. Ultimately, he decided to leave and go to their room. Something told him that if he stayed, it would only make things worse between them. He sadly pulled himself from the bar and began heading up the stairs to their room. Glancing back, he saw Ellana order another mug of ale and turn to glance out the window in a depressive haze.

He laid in bed, however he couldn't fall asleep until he knew she had joined him; safely in their room and tucked into bed. A few hours later, he heard the door to their room slowly open and made out her outline from the faint glow of light peaking in from the hall. She quickly slipped into the bed, yet positioned herself on the edge – as far away from him as possible. This was the first night in months where he would not fall asleep with her tightly tucked in to his side and his arm draped around her.

Ellana's back was turned to him and he could see her tiny frame begin to shake: she was crying. He wanted to reach out and pull her into a hug, but he could tell that – once again – it would only make things worse. Instead, he froze and kept his distance from her… pretending to be asleep. Cullen no longer knew how to be there for her in this, finding himself unable to take her pain away and make it better.

Buckle up! Time to deal with that pesky issue of Dalish mage vs templar… :( I thought about how this relationship may play out in real life, and I think my Inquisitor would have some lingering tension to work out with Cullen around these issues - coupled with everything she is going through with the part-possession & news of her family's murder / sister's capture ... the poor girl's a mess! Soooo… let's see how it goes….!

Also, some of my favorite minor characters are female elves and I honestly just wanted to bring some of them into this story :D