Daughter of Wind and Flame

By Pyreite

Chapter 5: To Speak the Truth

"Will you heal him?"

"Heal him yourself or leave him to die", countered Ellana. "I didn't return to Thedas to aid an enemy".

Abelas saw Arryn recoil when she refused to help Solas. Despite his lieutenant's overstep, he hoped that she'd prove amenable. The spirit lingering at her side frowned as if her decision upset him. He was thin as a reed, his clothes patchy if clean. The brim of his hat seeming to wilt with disappointment.

"Do it for me", coaxed Cole.

"You would forgive him?"

"It's in my nature".

She capitulated with an agitated growl. Her exasperation palpable when the air shimmered and danced around her. Waves of heat rising as if she were aflame. She looked down upon Abelas, relenting when she saw Solas' agonised face. His throat and jaw red, raw and purpling with bruises in the shape of her hand.

"Fine", she grumbled, addressing Abelas as she knelt beside him. "The spell will take in moments. But Solas will be sore for a few days. Magic can mend but he'll need to rest. I'll trust that you'll stop him if he tries to touch me again?"

"Vin".

"Perhaps now he'll learn not to play with fire".

Abelas was wary when she raised a clawed hand. He peered into her eyes, freezing when she purred. The noise settling into the bones of his ears. The vibration comforting when he swayed like a stalk of grass in the wind. He relaxed the instant she muttered a healing spell.

Magic seeped into Solas' burns, glowing a ghoulish Fade-green.

Ellana's greatest adversary groaned in relief when the pain subsided. Her spell soothing as if she'd salved his burns. The redness lightened to a pale pink till his throat and jaw were hale. He watched her through the healing, pressure prickling at the corners of his eyes. He reached when she drew back, hoping to catch her fingers.

"Nae, ma falon", cautioned Abelas. "Leave her be".

Solas paused inches from making contact. His bare hand hovering in the air between them. He snatched that hand back when Ellana growled. Her lip curling, an ivory fang glittering in the sun like an icicle. That irritable rumble warning enough for him to withdraw.

"Vhenan", he croaked, voice rough.

"Don't!"

He heard the fury in her voice. He saw her clawed fingers curl into the palm of the hand that'd throttled him. Her touch scorching as if she carried fire in her skin. From claw to wrist, her hand was covered in silver scales striped in black. A ridge of spines ran the length of her forearm.

Long, sharp and serrated like a blade.

It was distinct from her bare and brown right arm. Her fingers tipped in the same black talons. Solas didn't doubt her strength. He'd endured those excruciating moments when she'd held him aloft. A single hand bearing his full weight, her claws digging in.

She'd drawn blood then almost roasted him alive. Solas recalled the way she'd glowered at him. The outrage reflected in the furrowing of her brows, the determined focus of her eyes. The indignant scowl when he'd called her that elvish endearment. She'd hated him reacting as if the word were an insult.

"Like a mouse caught unawares by a cat, after creeping out of a burrow. A plaything to be batted about then devoured. She intended to kill you, but she stopped because I asked her too. That won't work a second time. I'd be careful if I were you".

He glanced at the spirit by her side. Tall and thin with a kind face ever-shadowed by the brim of a hat. He hadn't changed in five centuries. His clothes still that drab sandy-brown. His shirt and pants patched at the knees and elbows.

"Cole".

"Hello, Solas".

"Where did you come from?"

"Later. You need to rest".

He gave Ellana's shoulder a fond pat, smiling when she rose to her feet. He took her place when she stepped aside. He noticed Abelas' glazed eyes and vacant expression. Familiar with the affect of Ellana's hypnotic gaze. He snapped his fingers in front of Abelas' face, forcing the dazed sentinel to focus.

"Let's get Solas back to your camp".

Abelas blinked, his silver brows furrowing. "Vin". He shook his head as if he were waking from a dream. Bewildered yet with sense enough to follow instructions. He assisted Cole in lifting Solas, patient and careful lest they jostle him.

Fen'Harel, breathing hard – protested. "Nae. I would stay"

Ellana lingered nearby. Her attention fixed upon Abelas' lieutenant. The younger sentinel returning her scrutiny. Sweat beaded on his forehead, his brows furrowing with the effort. She snickered when he blinked, losing their staring contest.

"Take Solas and go", she told them. "I would speak with this one. Learn what has happened in Thedas since I was gone. I would know why he and his people were searching for me. I trust that he will tell me the truth?"

Arryn heard the hiss of warning in her voice. Each word spoken with that pronounced lisp as if she had a forked tongue. He flinched when her lips parted, a tongue split down the centre flicking outward. It was long, pink and thick as the width of his thumb. A further perturbing change showing how different she was from Mythal.

"That is not my decision to make".

"If you expect me to inherit Mythal's mantle. Wouldn't it be prudent to know what kind of woman you'd be entrusting your people too?"

He was startled by the command veiled as a request. He dared not leave if she decided to force the issue. Yet even as Mythal's heir she wasn't his leader. He waited whilst Abelas gathered his addled wits. The elder sentinel regarding Ellana with suspicion.

"I trust that you will not harm him?"

"As I did Solas?"

"Vin".

She considered the man whose arm was slung across his shoulders. Her eyes wide and unblinking. Her slitted pupils a band of darkness enveloped in green. She stared at Solas till nictating membranes flicked across her irises. She snorted when her estranged beau flinched and recoiled.

He gaped when her lips parted, revealing the jagged line of her fangs.

"I have more honour than the Dread Wolf".

Solas blanched, shrinking back against Abelas. He inhaled a shaky breath, looking away when she lifted her chin. The haughtiness in that gesture making him tremble. He didn't protest when Abelas spoke to Arryn.

"Stay".

His lieutenant gave Ellana a wary glance. "Vin".

"Garas", said Abelas. "Our camp is not far".

"Lead on", replied Cole.

The spirit saw how Arryn's eyes flitted to Ellana and away. His thoughts like spiders crawling down his spine. Full of apprehension, uncertainty and shame. Duty alone prevented him from accompanying them. He stayed behind when they turned, bearing Solas away.

He watched them leave, fearful that he might never see them again.

"You will", stated Ellana.

"W-What?" stuttered Arryn in bewilderment.

"See them again, but your perception will be changed. All that you know is a lie".

He studied her for several moments, uncertain if she were friend or foe. She was garbed like a warrior. Her armour dragonhide rather than the steel-plate favoured by Mythal. Her cuirass, pauldrons, bracers, tassets, greaves and boots the burgundy of dried blood. Dark scales covering the cured leather like links of chainmail.

Her bare arms were scarred.

"You were hurt".

Ellana shrugged – nonchalant. The corded muscle flexing beneath her skin. She was dark where Solas was fair. Her hair a river of silver down her back, braided and tied off with a black leather cord. Akin to Mythal's sentinels in style yet she'd never shaved the sides of her head.

Arryn doubted that was possible with her rack of horns.

"Many times over the last five hundred years".

He was afraid that his people were the cause of her pain. "Solas?"

"Indirectly. He raised and tore the Veil asunder. Yet the root of the evils suffered by us all lies in the expansion of Elvhenan. Mythal was responsible for the deaths of thousands when she led the Evanuris in a war against the titans. In culling them she sowed the seeds of the first Blight".

"What?"

The shocked silence that followed spoke volumes. Ellana sniffed, scenting the air. Arryn smelt like hot steel quenched in rancid oil. The spice of his anger soured by fear. Her claims appalled him.

"Surprise, horror and trepidation. An immediate reflection upon all the things you thought were true. Then the foundations of your world crumbling. I understand. When Solas first revealed himself to me, I questioned everything I'd ever known. So will you".