The dark came early here, the fading sun finding the path to the surface increasingly difficult as day turned to dusk. The Basin was always a more terrifying place at night, even for one who no longer feared the ghouls and goblins. Magic here, ancient and powerful, had carved the landscape and left behind its puckered scars. Solas no longer dreamed within these depths, he found that the visions contained within the permeable veil of this place left nightmares that did not dispel upon waking. Ghouls and goblins were one thing; Frostback Basin held horrors much more unpleasant.

He feared now that he knew how he would die.

Inquisitor Ameridan's legacy as Inquisitor, as man of both faith and fervor, was known to all in these lands. The shock of discovering he was of the Dales shook Solas more significantly than he would have imagined. He was no stranger to the erasing of his kind in the annals of history, for reasons both personal and educational. He woke in a world that had misremembered him completely, writing all evidence of his life among the people out of their stories, and twisting the significant parts of his life among the Evanuris into a tale of revenge and betrayal. The truth was so malleable to humankind, so impermanent. They lacked the discipline and the honor of the Elvhen. To misrecord history was to deny it, and denying one's past made for terrible futures.

Seeing where this land was headed reminded him of why his quest was so important, no matter how fond he had become of its inhabitants.

Yet, even this discovery, this realization of who Ameridan was paled in comparison to learning of his end days, of what befell him. Of Telana.

Ameridan was an Inquisitor elf who loved an Elvhen I've'an'virelan. He gave the remainder of his life to protect the people, to uphold his position, to stand against the fall of the world; she wasted away physically while her spirit foundered in the Fade. Left to sink into the great abyss without a vessel in the other world; waiting for the one for whom duty overtook all else. They had stood together, Solas and Evelyn, staring down at the small skeleton ringed with flowers, the dull ache in his heart stinging nearly as profoundly as the rip in his leg. Evelyn groped for his fingers, squeezing when she found purchase. "I thought to..."

"You thought we'd find them together," he had whispered.

She nodded, the tears slipping down her face. "Andraste, this place. This terrible place."

Then he'd felt the temptation rise again, to tell her what he knew, to explain to her why this happened, why in this place, what it all meant, what he had personally witnessed and accomplished. For months they had coexisted in this new reality, one where a moment alone meant frenzied hands and whispered confessions of love. Before that was endless weeks of stolen glances, misunderstanding one another's intentions; even a pained snowy week where they huddled in various campsites, bodies locked together for warmth while they denied the desire each fought so valiantly to keep from rising to a boiling point. It was something to laugh about now, the "why were we trying not to?" when the end result was so full of light and happy. Almost enough to make him forget.

Almost.

Cole had said something as they made the somber journey back to the boats, one of his little Cole utterances. Evelyn had stopped, bent forward, her hair slipping loose from her ear and falling into her face. Solas fought the urge to push it back for her, lest he receive another knowing look from that damned Tevinter, when he heard Cole softly speak behind him.

"She's real."

His words, simple and unobscured, given without context, cut Solas to the core. It was a thought that often kept him awake at night, staring up at the ceiling and turning over the strange inconsistencies in what he found, versus what he expected.

Solas thought of it now as he waited by the fire, warm and safe from listening ears, Cole once again materializing beside him in an instant, the mere thought of him summoning his physical presence. "What you said to me yesterday, Cole. The thing that made me upset. Do you remember?"

"Yes."

"Do you know what it means?"

"It's not important that I know what it means," Cole said simply, turning his head slightly to watch Solas. "It matters that you know what it means. Curtain fell like silk, but cut like iron, severing all connection, removing the path. You watched in a mix of awe and horror. In sorrow," Cole's voice affected Solas' cadence for a moment, then. "What have I done? In glee, what have I done? But the energy was too much, too soon. Watching, waiting, hidden away in a place she will one day walk. You tell yourself none of this is real, that she can't be real. But you know."

Cole blinked then. "Where did it go?"

"I'm sorry, Cole. This is something we can't discuss. Not now."

Cole nodded. "I understand. She scares you."

He gave a short laugh of derision. "I can assure you that is not it."

"But she does."

Now he wondered if perhaps his lofty dreams would never come to pass. Perhaps he would be the one to wither while waiting.

"Take moments of happiness where you can find them. The world will take the rest."

Evelyn entered the encampment circle then, removing her gloves and flexing her fingers. Did the same thoughts haunt her? Did she fear their end as he did, or did she remain blissfully ignorant of the oncoming doom? For so long, he had known, known deep in his heart that he would be the decimation of them both. Either through reveal or further deception, his shaky facade could never be maintained in the long term. She would learn, she would know, and when he offered her the choice, she would shrink from him in revulsion. Solas glanced up at her, watching her face as she worked over the events of the day. He reached up, took her wrist in his hand, feeling instantly the snap of attention from her scouts. Their dalliances were no longer a secret, but any overtly public displays of affection were still regarded as uncommon, out of place, forbidden. Rubbing his thumb against the small bones at the base of her palm, he looked back toward the spiraling paths. "I thought we could walk a bit, before bed." She nodded wearily, slowly circling one of her shoulders as she fell into step beside him.

They wandered the raised platforms of the camp, the thicket of forest below teeming with noise from insect and animal alike. Fortunately for them both, the herb wards seemed to be working and they were able to gain distance from the noisy campfires and the prying eyes. He moved gingerly, still favoring the stronger leg. Although the salves had kept the wound healthy, the healing was agonizingly slow. When they were finally past the guards, he spoke. "Today was overwhelming, to say the least. To learn that the first Inquisitor was trapped like that, frozen in time and purpose. I am sorry for what you witnessed."

Evelyn was silent, eyes minding the edges of their route.

They followed the path through the forest, the phosphorescent plantlife glowing all around. "Did you wish to discuss the..." he sighed, "the Telana connection. I was not anticipating finding out much about Inquisitor Ameridan, let alone learning so many details of his love life." The path opened to the creek bed and he paused to negotiate a way across the water. "It made me wonder once again if I would be mentioned, in the great book of the story of Inquisitor Trevelyan."

She smiled weakly. "You are obsessed with this mythical book. Will you be mentioned at all as my mage lover? Will it be phrased more poetically, the way the Avaar do? The leaf-eared love of Trevelyan's reign?"

He had been remembered as less, when he was remembered at all.

The creek took a bend to the south, and they followed the shore. "However you shall be remembered," she continued, accepting his hand as she stepped around a particularly slippery rock, "if we shall be remembered at all, I hope that the story ends well, or at least that they know how it ended. Imagine, all these years searching for the final resting place of one who yet lived."

The giant overhanging danger had yet to be mentioned, he realized, his mouth growing dry as the memory of the frozen beast once again reappeared. "I should only hope we do not find the same end as Ameridan and Telana: holding off the remnants of an old god until we both wither and scatter like ashes." Her eyes were full of confusion as he pulled her toward the cave. "We face a dragon, Inquisitor, and no ordinary dragon. This is a summoned god of old, powerful and dangerous, unlike any other wyrm we have encountered." Her back was against the damp cave wall then, and he began to loosen the straps at her shoulders. "Therefore I am taking your Ameridan's advice, and finding my happiness at every opportunity."