Sylvanni hit the ground with a grunt at the impact, catching herself on hands and knees. Falling the entire length of Skyhold's wall made her feel as though she had shattered her legs, but as always, the barrier had taken the damage of the fall, not she herself. A trick she'd learned out exploring and had served her well among the cliffs and precipices across Thedas. Sometimes there just wasn't time to take the easy and careful way down.

As she picked herself back up, she immediately broke into a run, tearing across the long bridge out into the Frostbacks. She knew the area around Skyhold well, and she knew how to find the place where they'd spotted the watchers. They were near the road, and she didn't need to get excessively close before a warrior stood up from the hiding spot, baring a sword in her direction.

"Stop there," he shouted. "We don't want to hurt you, but we will if you make us!"

Despite the threatening words, Sylvanni's face broke into a smile. "Rowan?"

A small woman stood up into view beside him, a staff in hand. The top of her white hair barely came up to his shoulder. Rowan towered over everyone, and Mihsa had always been on the petite side. As she stood, Rowan looked toward her, seeming worried that she'd revealed herself.

"Sylvanni?" Mihsa asked.

Another woman popped up out of hiding on Rowan's other side, looking about quickly as she heard Mihsa say the name. The sparks on the end of her staff died out as her eyes found Sylvanni, then she broke into a smile. Sylvanni was surprised at seeing the magic; though she and Kepi had never been excessively close, she'd thought she would have known there was another mage about.

Yet another voice spoke up behind Sylvanni, feminine and casual. "Well, that's a little bit unexpected." Sylvanni hadn't even seen that she'd been flanked until she'd heard the sound, and was suddenly very grateful that the long knives in the woman's hands were being sheathed in the leathers on her back rather than between Sylvanni's shoulder blades. Dyani certainly knew how to move without being spotted.

As she'd turned to see Dyani, Sylvanni caught sight of a fifth person off a small ways up, hidden in the rocks above the path. She wouldn't have noticed Mythri if the woman hadn't moved to relax the draw on her bow. How Mythri was able to blend in so well with her surroundings with that red hair of hers, Sylvanni had never been able to guess.

The hostile postures relaxed around the group, giving way to surprise as each of the five elves recognized her. Sylvanni felt on the verge of laughter, confused delighted laughter at seeing familiar faces around her. She turned in a circle, focusing on each one in turn. "Kepi, Rowan, Mihsa, Dyani, and Mythri. I… I can't believe it. What are you doing here?"

Mythri walked forward, sliding her way carefully down the incline, slinging her bow back into place on her back. "Followed the noble shem. Heard he was headed for the Inquisition, and thought we would see if he might lead us here too."

Dyani nodded. "We've been on our own for a while, and… it seemed like the right thing to do."

"We…" Kepi started, then paused to find a better way to phrase what she was going to say. "Someone needed to tell you. We didn't have any other way of contacting you."

Sylvanni felt a small chill. She had a feeling she knew what was coming next, but with all of them speaking over each other in an attempt to tell her, she couldn't find a good way to interrupt to cut them off. They'd travelled all this distance to say these words and she couldn't find it within her to stop them and say it wasn't necessary.

"It's about the clan and the Keeper," Rowan said solemnly, his deep voice an obvious counterpart to his travelling companions'. "Sylvanni, something terrible has happened. There were bandits-"

"-but unlike any bandits that had attacked us before," Mihsa interrupted. "They just kept coming after us, like they weren't even interested in stealing our things. They wanted us dead. The Keeper tried to send a letter to you here, asking for help, but it must have gotten lost on the way or something."

"They're gone," Rowan said, waiting until Mihsa paused before taking the conversation back. "The clan is… gone. The Keeper fell and almost everyone else did too. There might have been a few others who managed to make it out, but we never met back up with them. They've probably found other clans to join by now, if they survived."

Kepi seemed to be watching Sylvanni for a reaction to the news. "I'm sorry, Sylvanni. There wasn't anything we could do."

A small smile crossed Sylvanni's face. The expression was not the reaction that the others had expected, but she couldn't bring herself to suppress it.

It wasn't that she was happy to hear this, but that they had come so far to be sure that she knew. These five could not imagine the kind of power and resources the Inquisition had, with Leliana's eyes and ears in all places, and they had worried that Sylvanni might never find out. They tried to be gentle as they shared what had happened to them, yet she was standing and listening to them on the other side of the full story.

The news of the clan's loss had hollowed her out months ago, and she had had no one with whom she could share her grief. She'd found all the terrible context of what had happened, learned the full extent of Antoine's crimes. The pain of her loss of the clan almost seemed to be buried underneath, first, the drive for justice, and then beneath all the new atrocities that had surfaced.

Seeing these five familiar faces, that little pain, buried all this time, seemed to lessen just slightly. Here, they thought they were bringing terrible news. They feared they would devastate her. Yet all she could feel was that she was glad that she wasn't alone. They came to tell her that her clan was dead, but she could only hear that at least these few had survived.

"I knew," Sylvanni said quietly. "I can't express how much it means that you came to tell me, though. We received the letter and we tried to send help but… It's a long story. I'll tell you everything, but the clan wasn't killed by bandits. Something far worse."

"Inquisitor!" Cullen's voice carried across the space as he came running up, a quartet of Inquisition guards trailing behind him. Sylvanni was impressed by how quickly he could run in his armor, but such was the benefit of his training.

"It's alright," Sylvanni called back to him, smiling. "They're allies."

Rowan gave her a questioning look. "Inquisitor?"

She gave a small shrug, trying to hide the proud smile at the mention of her title. Cullen waved for the four soldiers to stay back, seeing as there wasn't danger, and then walked the rest of the distance to the group of elves.

As he approached, Sylvanni addressed the rest of the group. "May I present Commander Cullen, leader of the Inquisition's armies." She turned back to him. "Commander, this is… Clan Lavellan."

"Or what's left of it," Dyani added.

Cullen hid his surprise well, just a slight widening of the eyes before he nodded his head in a quick bow. "It is an honor to welcome you to Skyhold."

"You should come inside with us," Sylvanni said. "All of you. You've had a long journey. It's long past time you had some rest."