A muffled voice called forth from the void of her hazy Fade dream, "…dra!" But she didn't understand. And a brief moment later, she forgot she had heard anything at all.

"…ndra!" She heard again, this time she could make out a little more, but the comfort of sleep cradled her in its arms and coaxed her back into a slumber.

"Andra!" Her name rang in her ears loudly, prying her from the Fade's embrace and soaring her back into consciousness. "Andra, wake up, sleepyhead!"

Silver eyes drowsily gazed through tired lids into the outside world. Andra groaned in protest at the olive skinned face that grinned at her, green eyes shining brightly as they reflected the climbing sun's rays through the open flap of her tent. She rolled over after a moment, shutting her eyes tightly and begging sleep to sweep her away again.

A laughed erupted behind her, "Andra, it's late morning already, you've slept in. It's time to get up!"

"What?" She rolled onto her back and looked up at the figure of the Dalish girl.

"It's noon already. Everyone thought you had gone out hunting or to pick herbs, but no one's seen you since last night, so I figured I'd check your tent. Good thing I did, too! You could have been sleeping all day!" Another soft laugh escaped the girl's rosy lips.

"Is it really that late?!" Then a moment later her dream came crashing down on her. She had seen Solas; he had been here. He had come all this way to the Free Marches just to apologize. But he had also told her that he would be gone before she woke up… And now she had slept in. There was absolutely no way he would still be around.

"Has anyone seen a strange elf around camp?"

The girl tilted her head in confusion.

Andra elaborated, "I had a dream about an old friend from the Inquisition. And there was this strong feeling that he was nearby, like out here, in the real world…"

"You felt that from a dream?" The girl definitely didn't believe her, but she at least seemed to be playing along.

"It's… hard to explain."

The girl nodded, accepting her own conclusions she had drawn up, "Well, it was probably just a dream. I've had vivid dreams before that felt so real that when I woke up, I had a hard time figuring out what was up and what was down."

Andra sat up and looked down at her lap, "Yeah, maybe you're right."

"Don't go getting all mopey. You're back home with your family, where you belong, and we all care about you!"

"Thank you," Andra said with a smile, as she began getting out of bed.

"Speaking of mopey, maybe you could talk to Calem? He's spent all morning kicking rocks and feeling sad for himself. He won't talk to anyone about it."

Andra huffed out a short laugh in exasperation, "We kinda… had a disagreement last night. He's probably upset with me."

"A disagreement?"

"A conflict of interests." Andra said carefully, not giving too much away. The Ashihari was a small settlement, maybe sixty people including families and children, and since the Keeper never allowed major contact with other races, gossip was a wanton pleasure among the clan. She was grateful that the Dalish girl caught on to the implied undertones and recognized that she didn't want to talk about it right now.

"Well, give me a few minutes and I'll be out." Andra said to usher the girl out.

The girl smiled before nodding and exiting the tent, task accomplished.

.

.

.

If she could have helped it, Andra would have avoided any contact with Calem for the rest of the day. But fate was not often kind.

After she had left her tent, the Keeper had sent Andra off on a task with her First to explore some ruins nearby, also accompanied by Calem. The ancient ruins had been found a couple months ago, but it wasn't until today that they had come to the decision to investigate.

Keeper Sathari put the value of the clan's well being above all else, and was also highly superstitious. She feared sending her people into unknown territory, concerned that it would upset whatever spirits dwell there, or whatever god it might have been built for. If it had been home to anyone long ago, it felt taboo to enter.

The dead were meant to rest.

But Keeper Sathari had given in when most of the clan expressed their curious desire to discover whatever secrets the place might hold. Though her sense of caution limited who would be allowed to go. She trusted her First implicitly, as well as Andra. Calem was merely the muscle if anything got hairy. That, and Sathari knew of the tension between him and Andra and wanted to give them a chance to work it out. It wouldn't do to have anyone feeling uncomfortable, especially since they would be seeing a lot of each other until Calem decided to go back and rejoin his own clan, or on the off chance that Andra left the Dalish again.

"Are you two ready?" The Keeper's First asked as she approached Andra and Calem—who were standing several feet away from each other and avoiding eye contact.

"Yes." Andra replied stiffly, Calem merely nodded his head as he adjusted a strap on his pack.

"Then let's be off!"

The Keeper's First was an upbeat girl with light brown hair and dark chocolate eyes. Andra knew her as Oriana. Her Vallaslin stood out incredibly against her olive skin with its midnight black lines swimming across her features. But what stood out most was her height. She was taller than Andra, reaching up to Calem's own five foot, eleven inches, but her posture was proud.

As they walked through the camp towards the location of the ruins, Andra saw a flash of white out of the corner of her eye and looked to her side. She saw the back of the statue of Fen'harel, placed on the edge of the settlement and facing away to remind the Dalish of the Dread Wolf's treachery, as well as to be wary less they fall prey to evil. Yet despite the tales, Andra felt something else entirely. She felt a sereneness, as if Fen'harel was watching out for her. The feeling was almost strong enough that she felt if the need arose, she could pray to the Dread Wolf to rescue her. Maybe spirit her away.

A child's dream. She knew it was foolish, and dangerous, to think of such things.

Andra did, however, also notice something behind the statue—or someone—as she caught a brief glimpse of pointy ears and the top of a staff that seemed vaguely familiar. The distance was too great for her to make out specifics, though, and she pushed the observation from her mind after they walked past.

.

.

.

The ruins were nothing special, and there was nothing of note worth taking back to the Ashihari camp, in the end. In fact, the ruins weren't even Elvhen—they were Dwarven. The entrance led down into the earth to a wide, cavernous hall that was a dead end. Time had not been kind as the ceiling had caved in at several points. A fact that shook Andra as she knew Dwarven architecture was sturdy and not easily eroded by time. Something else must have happened here. Regardless of its history, it doubtless led down to the Deep Roads. Disconcerting but there was no threat of darkspawn or even a possibility that they could break through. Oriana felt most impacted by this as it meant she was going to have to go back to Keeper Sathari and tell her the bad news of their fruitless spelunking, and also that all her fears were unfounded.

"What a shame," Calem said, more to himself than anyone, as he ran a hand over a jagged wall.

"More like what a waste of time," Oriana sighed.

Andra didn't say anything. In her mind, she found the whole thing mesmerizing. Even if there was nothing to really show for their discovery, they had still wandered into a part of long lost history. There was a certain character about the ruins, and she felt the stone sing beneath her touch and she trace what few carvings remained visible in the rock face. Absently, she wondered if this was how the dwarves felt when they spoke of their connection to the stone.

"Well, I think we've seen enough. We should head back," Oriana said with finality, waving everyone towards the exit.

"You go on ahead," Andra said, "I want to look around a little more."

"We've been here for a couple hours, there's nothing left to look at," Oriana pushed.

"I know" Andra's gaze fell to the ground at her side and she played with the hem of her shirt, "I would just like to stay behind for a bit."

Oriana caught the brief, awkward glances that passed between Andra and Calem and rolled her eyes. Her work as the Keeper's First might keep her busy, but she was still privy to what went on around the Ashihari camp and she had heard of the heated conversation between the two from last night. That didn't mean she was going to let Andra stay here by herself, though. Even though the blonde elf was a trained fighter and an excellent hunter, Oriana worried for her safety, as she knew the Keeper would too. So… "Then Calem stays here with you." The two snapped their gazes towards the brunette and eyed her sharply, but Oriana didn't so much as blink. "I have magic," she went on, "but you two only have the knives at your hips and the bows on your backs." She let her words speak for themselves. Oriana knew they both were very capable of protecting themselves, they both had hunted alone and been fine, and Andra had been in the Inquisition. She had no doubt of their very capable abilities.

"But—" Andra began to protest.

Oriana held up a hand to silence her, "Whatever is going on between you two, talk it out. You can't keep avoiding each other." She gave neither any time to reply and left them in their stunned silence. After a long moment, Oriana's echoing footsteps died away and it was just Andra and Calem left, illuminated by the several lit torches they had placed around the large room.

Andra let out a sharp 'tsk' as she turned around on her heels to stare absently into the cold space. She had planned on talking to Calem, but not so soon, and not out in some abandoned ruins by themselves. The lack of other people and the absolute seclusion made her realize just how much she didn't want to do this. And judging by Calem's body posture, he wasn't ready to either.

It wasn't hatred between them, it was just awkward. Andra wanted to move on, to forget that last night had even happened. What made working this out so hard was that nothing had changed. She knew Calem still cared about her, romantically, but her feelings were still implicitly platonic.

The promise they had made as kids was just that: a child's promise. And it was one they had made when they were both little, Andra had been ten years old and Calem twelve. It was a promise to marry each other when they were older, made as they wove the Ara'lin'hasal together. But then their clans had parted ways, barely any letters were sent to and from, and neither had seen each other for at least ten years—the eleventh, Andra spent with the Inquisition. Too much time had passed.

Andra just didn't know how to convince Calem that her feelings towards him dug no deeper in her heart.

Calem rubbed his neck sheepishly, eyes cast downward, "I guess it's just us now."

"I'm sorry, Calem," Andra said flatly, getting straight to the point as she turned back around, "But nothing's different. I don't want this to alter us, though I know it already has."

"If I just knew what changed…" Calem looked right into her eyes now, gold meeting silver.

"Everything." Andra breathed, "Everything's changed. It's been many years, we didn't even keep in contact, and just… so much has happened. The end of the world almost happened!"

"But it didn't." Calem added.

"It's still… You can't be a part of something like that and not come out different."

"What about before the Inquisition?"

Andra sighed, "I don't know. After those first few years passed, I just started accepting that we probably wouldn't ever see each other again. And I didn't want to dwell on that too much and taint all the good memories we had with sadness. Because it hurt me. By the time I was about to go off to help the Inquisition, I was twenty six—that was only last year—and I just… didn't feel the same any more.

"This will sound stupid, like all those cheesy human romance stories Varric used to tell me about, but… it's not you, it's me."

Despite the heaviness that lingered in the air, Calem smiled, "So I guess I'll just have to woo you and win your affections again, like a proper gentlemen."

Andra was startled by his response but she ended up smiling back. "We'll see."

Neither said anything else as they packed up and began leaving the ruins themselves. Andra only wished she would have remembered how long of a hike it was to get out here. By the time they would get back to camp it would be dusk. In no thanks to her waking up late this morning. However her thoughts were drawn back to her dream as the sight of the aged and wrecked ruin entrance brought her back to the last time she had physically seen Solas. And sadness filled her heart at the thought that now that so much time had passed, she truly would never see him again.

And maybe that was the sign she needed—that it was time to move on.


ELVHEN USED:

Ara'lin'hasal: "Lover's knot". There are always two halves to this bracelet, usually shared between two people that deeply care for each other-as the name implies.

Vallaslin: Blood writing. Dalish receive these markings around 18, sometimes younger. When of age, the elf prepares by meditating on the Gods and the Dalish, then by purifying the body and skin. When the time comes, the Keeper applies the blood writing—in complete silence. Cries of pain are taken as a sign of weakness. If the elf cannot tolerate the pain, they are deemed unready to take on the responsibilities of an adult and the Keeper may make the decision to stop the ritual.