Glancing around the library I confirm that he is in fact not here. After near on a week of him consistently being in here it almost makes the library seem dull. Not that I will be telling Dorian that. His ego is plenty large and doesn't need that kind of fluffing.
I sit back again in the chair next to the window and stuff my face back into the book. One of the more recent additions—
"Lady Gaelea?" A voice brings me right back out of the book to see a scout standing before me.
"I'm Gaelea, but you don't need to address me as 'lady,' just Gaelea is plenty for me." I say as I stand up and put the book down.
"Very well, Gaelea." The scout smiles, "Inquisitor Lavellan summons you to the war room for a meeting."
"Yes, she did mention she wanted to do that… I'll head over there."
"If it's alright I was asked to bring you there." The scout then gestures for me to come along.
"Okay, if you insist."
We walk down the stairs and through the room with the mural where there is a man hunched over a desk concentrating very hard on some kind of glowing stone. Then we go through the great hall with the towering windows at the end of the space. I'm led through Josephine's office, which is empty right now, to the door at the end of a worse-for-wear hallway.
The scout opens the smaller door and announces me.
This all seems so official… But I suppose when you're just starting this kind of thing you kind of need to keep everything official… Even if it may all be pomp and circumstance.
"Your Worship. I have brought Gaelea as requested." The scout stands aside to let me pass into the impressive war room with the grand table with a base fashioned from a large tree stump in the middle of the room.
"Perfect, thank you. You're dismissed." The lyrical voice says to the scout who salutes with their arm across their chest before exiting the room and closing the door.
Left to right on the side of the table opposite me is Leliana, Cullen, and Josephine. On this side of the table the Inquisitor stands beckoning me forward to the table with Dorian next to her.
"Gaelea, I'd heard some of the rumours about you while I had been helping in the Hinterlands and closing Rifts. I never expected then that we'd actually secure your help for the Inquisition."
"Well, you certainly sent a good sales representative… The Iron Bull made a sales pitch for the Inquisition that I just couldn't refuse." I smile and shrug a little, and the Inquisitor chuckles a little, "So what exactly did you want for this meeting, Inquisitor?"
"Oh, you can call me Asleatia while we aren't in the public eye… Although, they all insist that everyone address me by my title while in front of others." She scratches behind her ear a little, she must be nervous, but she hides it well…
"Okay, I can do that Asleatia. I typically ask to not be called by any title too. Mostly since I don't have one." I shrug, "But, again, what did you want to have this meeting about? I thought that I had already agreed to some terms on my helping the Inquisition with your Advisors…" I look up at them all and they all just smile lightly.
"Well… This is about something that happened a while ago now. When we went to Redcliffe to secure the aid of the Mages."
"And what could that have to do with me? Besides of course that I was in the region."
"So, she is the Gaelea, from that time then?" Leliana asks the Inquisitor.
"Yes, beyond a shadow of a doubt." The Inquisitor confirms. From what time? I look between the three on the other side of the table but none of them make eye contact with me. "Here… I'll explain it all… When I went to Redcliffe to secure the help of the mages to seal the Breach, the Magister—"
"Alexius." Dorian adds, making it finally click that Dorian was the well-dressed person who had been in the throne room that day…
"Yes… The Grand Enchanter Fiona had invited us to Redcliffe in order to negotiate the aid of the mages to close the Breach… But by the time we got to Redcliffe… Alexius had beat us there. He had used time magic to take the allegiance of the Mage Rebellion out from under us…" Time magic? Is that seriously a thing? "Then when we went to the Castle, he used the time magic, created a rift with it, and ended up sending Dorian and I one year into the future… A future where I hadn't been there to stop Corypheus… The—"
"The Elder One…" I finish for her. She nods grimly.
Time magic… Could that be the wave of magical energy I had felt when we had been approaching the castle with Allan and Anora?
"So… Alexius sent you… Into the future? And it made a future where you had disappeared and never came back…" But time travel… And them being sent into the future essentially erased them from the present. Which led to some apocalyptic, dystopian future.
"Yes… It was…" The Inquisitor starts, but she gets a far-off look like she's trying to find the right word by remembering it all…
"Terrible." Dorian finishes, "Corypheus had destroyed everything…"
"Apparently, Corypheus had staged the assassination of the Empress of Orlais…" Josephine adds.
"And led a huge invasion of the South with a demon army." Cullen piles on top of the already devasting sounding future… A dystopian alternate universe. What then…
"Okay… That all sounds completely horrible…" And makes me want to go home even more… Back to a place where I'll never encounter a demon army. "But what does this have to do with me?" I look between them, and they all look at the Inquisitor.
"I—We…" She motions to Dorian, "We met you there." When she says it there is an alarming grim tone to her voice, "You were being held in the castle… Completely surrounded by red lyrium." To which I have recently found out I have an immunity to, so why would I have stayed there? I should have been able to use my magic to get out… "But the red lyrium wasn't infecting you like everyone else we had found to that point… In most of those we found, we could see the affects of it but… Lashes for example… When we found her, she had been completely consumed by the lyrium, and it was driving her to insanity."
"Even the Grand Enchanter had been nearly consumed herself." Dorian slips in.
"Actually… On the way here, just hours after leaving Redcliffe, I was attacked by what Iron Bull identified as 'Red Templars.' They managed to land one of their spearhead shots of red lyrium into my shoulder… And the company healer, Stitches, as well as Dalish, mentioned that I didn't have the typical signs of a wound from red lyrium…" I add, so far this hasn't sounded too terrible. They have already explained why she knows me… But… "So… You already knew who I was when we met after I got here… Why didn't you just say something?" I look over at Dorian, although this could also explain the suspicious glances in the library.
"Well… We had agreed that if we were to meet you in the present, we should both be here to tell you all of this…" Asleatia sneaks in.
"Of course, none of us," Leliana gestures to herself, Josephine, and Cullen, "really knew when you arrived because none of us were in the future…" She clarifies.
"Although… I did have my suspicions when the Inquisitor and Dorian reported meeting a 'Gaelea' in that future…" Cullen admits, "But…" He starts and peters out before finishing.
"It's because of what we learnt about you in that future." Asleatia takes the torch of the story, "We found you in that room completely drained of energy… So exhausted that you could hardly move for yourself, and we got you out of there… Later on, you even asked me to tell you about all of this, if I ever met you… You said all this would sound more believable than… You mentioned to say something. Mind you, it still makes absolutely no sense to me. You told me to ask you this question and that somehow it would make you believe all this more. Um… How did it go again?" She scrunches her face up trying to recall something from the back of her mind, "Right! 'Did you ever believe that time travel would be possible without a flying… delean? Diloran?" She concentrates harder, "Delorane? Maybe I should have written down…"
She says that but I almost think I might know what she is trying to say… But it's surely impossible. I can't know fir sure unless she—
"DeLorean! That's it. I'm sure." She grins a little, evidently proud of herself, "Whatever that means anyway…"
Well… I suppose she isn't wrong… Just by her having Vallaslin I know that she grew up here. In Thedas. So, the only way for her to know a phrase like that would be someone from Earth… And, so far as I'm aware, I'm the only one here from there.
And this also would explain that tidal wave of magical energy I had felt.
Dorian clears his throat loudly and gives the Inquisitor a look.
"You said that recounting everything that happened to Dorian and I, coupled with that strange phrase, would sound more believable than someone who knew about your magic and did not mean you harm…" My heart stops.
She said, 'your magic.'
So, she knows.
And Dorian.
And Leliana.
And Josephine.
And…
Cullen.
God… He must hate me…
For lying to him from the start…
For never telling him along the way…
But what could I do? This curse has been turning me into a monster at every turn. It has made me kill. It has made me maim. It has made me destroy!
Even now… I can feel it roiling and tearing at the blocks I use to keep it under wraps. To hide it. To conceal myself from other mages and templars
All I want to do is go home.
And this curse is hindering me… Every god damned step.
At every turn it brings me a problem. All I want is to go somewhere magic doesn't exist so that it will go away forever. And yet, at the same time… This curse seems to be the only hope I have of returning home.
"…you okay?" A voice brings me back to the war room of the Inquisition, "Are you okay?" Inquisitor Lavellan asks again.
"Why would I tell you about my magic? Even there? All it has ever done is cause me problems. And I can't escape them! Every time I turn around my magic slaps me in the face! I'll even wager that my magic is the only reason I was in a hellhole like that in the first place!" I suck in a deep breath, "All my magic is… is a curse."
"I'm sorry that you feel that way about it… But… In that awful future…" Asleatia takes my clenched fist and unfolds it, "In that horrible situation, even though you were barely able to stand on your own from exhaustion… You used that magic to save us. If it hadn't been for you, and your magic, we would never have made it back. And the world would have been doomed." She places her hand over mine, and I look up from them to her deep azure eyes, filled with a blazing passion. This must be why so many are following her. I breath in slowly and pull my hand away.
"So, just how much do you know about my magic then?" I keep my eyes on her, I can't bare to look over her shoulders to see what kind of disgusted face Cullen must be making about all this. After what I know happened in Kirkwall… It would only make sense for him to hate mages. And by extension me… Although my lies give him more than enough reason to hate me.
"Only what you told me at the time… That your magic had attracted the attention of Corypheus and his Venatori… That they had tried more than once to capture you to use your magic… Which is why you don't like people to know about it." She steps back from me.
"Yes. It has been more than a year since my first encounter with slavers under the employ of the Venatori." I state.
"More than a year?" Dorian repeats as a question. I take another deep breath to keep calm. If they had suspected from the beginning… And even having just met Leliana, she most certainly suspected. They have already had hundreds of opportunities to do something.
"Maybe Corypheus had originally been planning to use your power to create the Breach and enter the Fade…" Leliana's comment gets me thinking… Resonance… That was what Danarius had said…
"So Corypheus made the Breach… The Elder One… What did he use?" I am going to fish for as much information on this as I can with the opportunity placed before me.
"He used an orb… Ancient Elvhen in origin, they were called foci. He did something at the Temple of Sacred Ashes, involving Divine Justinia, with the orb… And that caused the Breach. Although, most of that is guessing really… I don't actually remember what happened. We only know that I was present." The Inquisitor states simply.
Ancient elven magic… Resonance… The Breach… My Grandma and her magic… I look at the Inquisitor's hand, a faint green glow emanating from it even now…
No… Could it be that the explosion in the apartment… Wasn't just caused by a weakness between here and there made by my magic?
The green of the Breach and the Rifts… It is the same as the green from that day… I noticed the colour right away when the Breach first appeared, but I never thought that it could be directly related to my arrival here… And with my arrival here being a year prior to the Breach…
Could here and home be, misaligned in the sense of time somehow?
So, if the Breach did cause the explosion at home… And we ended up in Thedas about one year before the Breach happened… If Thedas and home are temporally misaligned, then the Breach could have caused a surge of energy between the two places. A surge of energy not unlike a quasar ejecting matter out of the event horizon of a blackhole… Like water needing to escape a hose that is blocked at one end with the pressure suddenly pushed to the maximum and with no where for that energy to go but bursting out of the weakest spot.
Which was me.
"…elea…? Did we lose you again?" I snap out of it to see Dorian waving at me.
"Sorry… I was… Thinking."
Could that even be possible…
I never thought I would wish that I had kept going in Astrophysics like my parents had planned for me… Maybe I could solve this riddle on my own then, not that I'm about to tell these people that I'm not from Thedas…
That is certainly more unbelievable than time magic.
"Something we never really got a chance to ask in the dismal future…" Dorian starts, he glances over at Leliana furtively, "Exactly how powerful are you?"
Well, I'm sure he has been dying to ask this question since Cullen brought me into the library the first time.
"I… I don't actually know." I would rather go with the truth here, then they can at least know what their in for if they want to keep me around. And if I decide to stick around… That now remains to be seen. Although, I admit the expressions of Asleatia and Dorian are pretty priceless.
"How can you not know?" Dorian's eyes are just like when I first met him, practically bugging right out of his skull.
"Well, I came into my magic quite late… And a… Very powerful apostate was the person who trained me… Once she set me out on my own, I found that keeping my magic hidden seemed to be my best course of action, so I trained hard in the use of my swords. Although, there was a while that I used some magic in my swords, but once someone noticed right away that it wasn't an enchantment but actually magic from me; I stopped. By no means do I not have control of my magic, but I just prefer not to use it openly… At least when people can see my face. I did use some magic for larger fights when I had the mask that earned my infamy on."
"Yes, it is obvious that you must have quite refined control of your magic to keep it so well hidden, even from as many mages as were in Redcliffe." Cullen comments, I can't tell if he is angry or just stating a fact, but I'd wager that he is upset over my lies.
Cullen crosses his arms in front of him, "Even now… If I weren't looking for it and didn't know it was there, I don't know that I would be able to tell you are a mage."
"So, what we felt at the time you were regaining your composure after getting out of the red lyrium room… Could that be all of it?" Asleatia asks cautiously.
"Not likely…? But who all here knows about the magic?" I counter, hoping that it is only the people in this room… Not that that is any better I look from Leliana straight to Josephine, I'm still afraid to see what Cullen's face will betray about his feelings towards this… Truth coming out.
"Besides the people in this room? Only Madame Vivienne the Court Enchanter to the Empress of Orlais. And Solas, an apostate mage who has been helping us and the Inquisitor directly since the Breach opened in Haven." Leliana answers for me. Madame Vivienne? Wasn't she the one that Harper and Felix have been visiting for magic lessons or something? I think I saw her in passing once.
"So, you were also the masked warrior in the Hinterlands?" The Inquisitor appraises me again, "So if you join us, we gain a capable warrior and an amazing mage."
"Also… Since you've been honest, I will let you know that I already knew about you apprehending Alexius… I was a part of King Alistair's entourage that day and he had brought me into the room when he asked you what had happened."
"Oh… So, the person in the mask, was you?" She asks in reply.
"Yeah… But now… If you don't mind… I would like to… Think some more… Privately." I say to the confident looking elven woman.
"Oh! Of course, go ahead… I hope you decide to stay with us." So, she doesn't plan on forcing me to stay… At least that's a positive… And her eyes regard me warmly, like she is talking to an old friend.
I turn and leave the war room.
I would have expected myself to feel the burden of my magic more heavily than ever knowing now that so many here have known this whole time that I'm really a mage… But instead… I feel lighter.
They know about the magic, and yet they haven't acted like they are going to force me to do anything with it… She said that they would gain a capable warrior and a mage. That's a relief… Every time with the slavers they talked about getting me into submission… Breaking me. But Asleatia only treated me like someone she had missed dearly. Like a friend.
I pause before continuing down the hall when I hear the door open and close, so I look to see Dorian walking towards me.
"Ah, glad you didn't get too far. I was hoping to catch to tell you one more thing."
"Hmm?"
"Well, as we said Madame Vivienne is aware of you having magic as well and she is a firm believer of Circle based training. She seemed wary until I made the suggestion of having us both evaluate you in a way."
"Evaluate me? How do you mean exactly? I'm not a danger to anyone if that's the question. As I'm sure you learnt in the future, I do have fairly stable control of my magic."
"Yes but convincing her is another matter entirely. I admit that there is also the part that both of us are curious of your actual limits magic-wise. I did explain to her that you seem plenty capable and that I would simply extend the offer of help. You may refuse if you prefer."
"Let me think about it… I still need to get used to the idea that so many here already know about me… I won't lie, I don't exactly trust any of you at all yet. That being said, I was once told that I should take any instruction on magic that I have access to because it will get me a more complete understanding of magic in general. Especially since I came into my magic so late."
"Yes, I recall you saying that… May I ask when you came into your magic? Most find their magic abilities prior to puberty. Did you come into your magic as a teenager perhaps?"
Ha! As a teenager… If only… Then maybe I would have been able to protect Arry and me when I'd had the chance.
"No. I came into my magic a little over a year ago." Then I walk away, hoping that ending the conversation is enough of a clue that I'm done talking for now. Although, I do find some amusement in the way Dorian's mouth dropped at my statement.
I come around the corner out of the hallway leading away from the war room and make my way towards the grand doors to leave the main hall of Skyhold.
"Gaelea! As I live and breathe!" I hear my name, so I start looking around for whoever called me… My eyes keep passing over groups of people milling about in the space, until I see a familiar head of ginger hair standing about a head and a half shorter than everyone else.
"Varric?" I walk over to where he is standing next to a table with a roaring fireplace.
"The one and only." He does a dramatic half bow extending his arms out.
"You not only left Kirkwall, but joined the infamous Inquisition?" I joke as he chuckles and crosses his arms.
"The leaving Kirkwall part was less of a choice, but I did choose to stay." He faces grows a little grim, "I heard from Isabela that you had already been freed by the time my missive got to her."
"What are you talking about? You know Isabela?"
"Oh, yeah. We go way back now… Fenris too, actually." He quips in after answering, like it would have no weight in the conversation…
"And how do you know I know Fenris? I am severely confused."
"Well, the day that you and Cullen went about the city instead of straight to the Gallows, Fenris came into town. He was looking for you. He seemed rushed so we went out looking for you, and when we came across Cullen, he told us that you were heading to the docks to see your friend off… That Brenawyn girl…"
I clench my fist… So, I did see Fenris that day… It wasn't wishful thinking or a trick of the light…
"That's when Fenris immediately went to the overlook of the docks, but he couldn't see you or the girl. So, he went to Darktown, while I went to Aveline to tell her to have them close the harbour just in case…" His shoulders fall, "But we were too late, one ship got out of the harbour, the ship from Darktown. Fenris really beat himself up over the whole thing… I don't know where he went after that, but that was when I sent Isabela the letter about what had happened and to keep an eye out for any slaver vessels heading out from our way."
They really went to that much trouble? I wish I could have wasted more of the slaver's time… Maybe I could have been saved the literal torture. And… Maybe I could have stayed in Kirkwall… With Cullen.
No… That is all just wishing. It's too late for that.
"What of Brenawyn? Did any of you find her?"
He purses his lips. "No, she disappeared. Dust in the wind. Not any of us could find her at all…"
Damn it. I was hoping to hear that they had found her and thrown in jail to rot or something…
"You all really went to all that trouble? I wasn't that important…"
He smiles and raises one eyebrow, "You were making friends there, like Daisy, and Cullen, and me, of course." I suppose I felt the same way then… But now…
"Thank you." I rub my arm, "I suppose I should thank Cullen as well, since he's here too."
"No need for thanks, we were too late, remember? I only hope that you had a boring trip until Isabela shook things up." A nice thought… But that isn't how it happened… I put my hand on my left shoulder, knowing what lies there under my shirt, thankful he can't see it.
"Even so, I'm not a slave in Tevinter… Or in the hands of this Corypheus." Now, it's Varric's turn to be confused apparently.
"What do you mean in the hands of Corypheus? What would he have wanted with you?" Well… Since there are already plenty of people, I don't trust who know, I might as well tell the person I almost trust…
"Since you're likely going to find out anyway, I'm not just a warrior… I'm also a mage… And from what I'm told I'm a little more powerful than the average mage. The people who… Bought me off of Brenawyn, were working for Corypheus… At least, Corypheus would have been the end of the line for me."
"Hmm." He nods, "All this happened before the Breach… I wonder if he hadn't been planning on using your power to crack open the Fade; originally, that is… Chuckles did say it would take a tremendous amount of power to accomplish what Corypheus did… Although, I will level with you. After we couldn't find you, Daisy confessed that you told her you were a mage."
"Well, I suppose that would make sense… I did tell Merrill, but that's because she's pretty sharp about that stuff."
"Yeah, she may not have the street smarts, but she is by no means dull." He smirks a little, but it fades before he looks at me more seriously, "So, did they at least let you be on that ship?" breath in.
I take a sharp "I…"
"Say no more." He holds up his hands, "I can see a sore spot when one comes up and that was enough of an answer. You don't need to go into details."
"Thanks…"
"I am sorry." He says as I watch something of a sigh leave him.
"About what?"
"I couldn't help but wonder if there isn't something I should have noticed about that girl you were with… I manage something of a spy network—nothing like Nightingale's, of course—and I thought about whether I should have known there was something fishy about her."
"If there's anyone who should've known there was something fishy about her it was me. I did travel all the way from Val Royeaux with her after all… I should have seen it coming. So don't feel like you need to apologize to me. It was my fault."
"But still—"
"Hey!" Lashes strolls in through the large doorway. "I heard you spared with the illustrious Commander yesterday! I was away with the Chargers at the ruins of Haven…"
"Ah, Jack. Good to see you!" Ah, so even the rough around the edges Lashes has received a Varric designation.
"Varric! You got back too?" She answers grinning a little. I suppose I can see where the name came from… I saw her use a different type of weapon for pretty much every encounter we had on the way here. I'd bet it stems from 'Jack of all Trades.'
"Yeah, we got in yesterday." Then a realization passes over her face.
"Aw man… I was hoping to introduce you to our famous author…" Lashes' shoulder droop a little. Right… Varric is a famous author… I forgot about that.
"Sorry to break it to you, Jack, but there was no introduction needed. Gaelea and I met before the world started ending." I scoff a little at his answer.
"What? How?!"
"Well, it was when I spent some time in Kirkwall… What… Like some months ago now?" I answer.
"Yeah, that sounds about right… It was before the Seeker arrived to ask about Hawke." Then I look over to see Lashes gazing at me with gleeful eyes.
"Did you meet Hawke?! Where in Kirkwall did you go? Hightown? Lowtown? What about Darktown?"
"Uhm… Well… Yeah, I guess I did go to those places… But I mostly visited the Gallows to sift through the remains of the library."
"Did you see the statue of Meredith?!"
"Well, yeah, but they keep everyone a pretty good distance away… But hold on… Why the questionnaire?" I ask and she just makes a near crazed grin before producing a book I don't know where. She holds it in my face for all of three seconds before flipping the pages to show me a page with some scribbles on it.
"See! I even have autographs on it! Look!"
"Yes… It's a book."
"I still can't believe that Fenris, of all people, has signed a copy of this… He would hate that I know too." Varric chuckles at the end of his sentence.
"Wait, Fenris is in a book?"
"Well, I had to include him in the Tale of the Champion, of course. He was a pretty integral part of everything that happened. So was Aveline." Then all the puzzle pieces begin to fit into place.
"And Merrill! And Isabela!" Lashes squees a little and hugs the book tight to her chest while making a gleeful face.
"Oh… Your book… You did mention that before, didn't you? I just… Got preoccupied before I could read it myself… But now I'm not sure if it's a good idea…"
"Why? It's such a good book! Easily one of my favourites!" Lashes announces.
"I'll take your word for it… But mostly because I've never read a non-fiction book where I've met people featured before… I don't think I would want to do that…" I confess before looking at Varric, "No offense meant, of course."
"No, no… That is actually a very level-headed response. I would expect no less from you." Varric shrugs.
"But somehow… It all makes sense… Especially with how you and Aveline sneakily got me away from Cullen to introduce me to Merrill."
"Ah, so that's what it had been when I went to Aveline at your request." Cullen's voice behind me gets me whipping around to face him with a guilty grin.
"No hard feelings, right Curly? That was a while ago. Plus, it's not like you had been on a date, right?" Cullen stutters for a moment but before he can say anything Lashes puts a heavy hand on my shoulder.
"You've met Aveline and Merrill? In Kirkwall?!" Her face is wide with surprise.
Cullen looks between Lashes and me, "Uhm… I'll let you get back to your conversation… Although, Gaelea, when you have a moment could I get you to come by my office?" He pauses for a moment, "It's regarding what I believe Dorian should have mentioned to you."
"Oh. Uh… Yeah, I can stop by in a little." I answer and watch after him as he goes down the hall towards the round space belonging to the mural and the library.
"So. We were just getting to you knowing Ave—" Lashes starts but a strong voice coming into the hall and interrupts her.
"Lashes. Did you ask what you were going to ask?" Bull asks as he comes into view.
"Tiny, good to see you." Tiny… I guess that Varric-designations can come from any basis. Oxymorons included.
"Varric. Well, Lashes?"
Lashes stows the book back to its place in a back pocket somewhere, "Right… Gaelea, I was going to ask whether you were going to do some more sparring? I heard that I'd missed out on the sparring with you the other day. And I'm not gonna lie, I've been really itching to check out your fighting." She whips one of her daggers out and twirls it in her hand.
"Oh? I didn't realize you'd want to do that… To be honest I'm pretty sure you're better than me anyway… At the very least you certainly know more weapons than I do. I'm basically only good with the swords. Besides barely enough skill to hunt with a bow." I shrug because I had thought of it once or twice. With the only thing that would give me the advantage being my magic—which I make a point of not using in most scenarios… Especially sparring.
"I still wanna do it. If only to try fighting against someone who uses two swords. I've never fought someone who uses two longswords. Only ever the longsword-dagger combo or two daggers." She rubs her palms together. "I will even promise to choose only one weapon for the fight." And she leans in, "As long as you promise to leave out the magic."
"Of course. I never use that in a sparring match. The whole point of a sparring match is to improve yourself. If I used that I wouldn't be improving at all." I shrug again.
"So…? Will you do it?" She prods.
"Well… I guess there's no harm. I can always use some learning anyway." She does a little fist pump before Bull begins to usher her away.
"But we haven't finished talking about Kirkwall yet…" She complains to her leader.
"If I let you do that they'll be there until sunrise. The day after tomorrow." Bull waves as they descend from the main hall and go towards the tavern.
"You should probably go to talk with Curly now." Varric points his thumb at the door behind him that leads to the bridge to Cullen's office.
I sigh heavily. God, he probably hates me… For a good reason too.
Varric shifts his stance a little towards me, "What's the sigh for?"
"I'm pretty sure he must hate me…" I run my hand through my hair.
He crosses his arms, "Why's that?"
"Well… I didn't exactly share the fact about me being a mage… Actually… No, I straight up lied about it."
"Maybe so, but you also didn't go running through the streets of Kirkwall setting things on fire or freezing people." I look at him and take a breath to respond but her continues, "What I'm saying is that everyone tells lies. And while, yes you certainly lied, your lie didn't get anyone hurt or killed. A lot has happened since Kirkwall, and given what happened when someone did know, I'm sure he isn't offended you didn't say anything."
"Gaelea!" I hear a familiar voice shout at the entrance of the hall, I look to see Harper racing into the hall with Felix trailing a little behind her.
"Hello, Harper. Felix."
"Gaelea! Last time you said you would keep it with you so you could show it to me!" She looks me up and down, spotting my bag hanging by my hip. As promised, I did put it in my bag last night. I reach into my bag and Harper's eyes grow big with excitement; even Felix cranes to take a look.
"Here it is." Last time we spoke Harper confessed that she was completely enamoured with the idea of the masked warrior once she heard the rumours, so she asked if she could see the infamous mask. I pull it from my bag, still wrapped in some linens.
I unwrap it and she marvels over it for a minute
"Woah, now… Shouldn't you two be going to Iron Lady for those lessons?" Varric asks the pair.
Harper flinches a bit and Felix looks straight up.
"He is right, Harper…" Felix starts walking towards the stairs that lead up to the landing where Madame de Fer would be waiting. I haven't officially met her yet, but I did see her in passing. I had used her title to greet her and, in the brief, passing she used my name in turn.
"Aw…" She reluctantly follows along, "You have to show me later!"
"Of course, you can count on it."
"So, is that the mask of rumor then?" Varric asks more than a little interest, "I admit to being a little curious myself." I pass the lightly wrapped mask over to him and he gently lifts the linens away while I take a seat at the table next to me. He holds up the mask the stormheart beads dangling, "A lynx, huh?" He twists it in his hand appraising it thoroughly, "This doesn't look like something you'd choose for yourself though…" I scoff at him; he certainly pegs people quickly.
"You've got that right, someone else gave it to me."
"And yet, they seem to have chosen just right for. But I've stolen enough of your time now, you should probably go see what Curly wanted to talk with you about." I feel a strained expression grow on my face, and Varric chuckles, "And don't be so worried. Curly is serious enough for the both of you."
"See you later Varric."
"I'll be here."