A series of rhythmic beeps stirred Ellana awake. As she slipped from unconsciousness to consciousness, pain flooded her senses. Her body was incredibly sore, and she struggled to move her hands or turn her head. Each strand of hair was sensitive, and the smallest movement made Ellana flinch.
She groaned as her sight slowly focused and looked at her surroundings in the afternoon light; she was in a private hospital room. Why was she in here? The thought that plagued her was the idea of how expensive this must be. Treatment in Orlais was expensive enough, but a private hospital room? Ellana thought she might as well return to Clan Lavellan at this point.
Ellana moved her hands around her, feeling to see if there was a call button of some sort. She cringed when she realized she had tugged on the IV delivering blood in her left arm. A transfusion, too? She closed her eyes and let out a sigh.
A nurse in green scrubs and shaggy blonde hair came in then, startled to see Ellana awake. "Oh. I have to go inform them you're awake." He left as soon as he entered.
What seemed like seconds later, a tall, muscular, and short haired woman barged in the room and spooked Ellana.
"You. You're awake and we need answers, now. Talk." The woman had a thick accent, but Ellana was not sure where it was from.
She replied with a rasp, "What? I don't know what you're talking about."
"What do you mean you don't know what I'm talking about?" The woman stepped closer to the bed and frowned.
"I don't even know why I'm here. Why am I?" Ellana tried to sit up, and the other woman silently helped her. Now that they were so close to each other, Ellana could see the Seeker insignia pin attached to the right lapel of her jacket. The woman was dressed in a well fit black pantsuit. She must work for the Chantry or governmental affairs, directly reporting to Divine Justinia.
It was then that another woman entered the room, similarly smartly dressed but in a deep purple. "Cassandra, what are you doing to the poor girl?" Her accent was an Orlesian one.
"I have done nothing, Leliana. She refuses to talk." Cassandra gestured to Ellana on the bed with her hands.
Ellana spoke up, "I'm not refusing to talk. I don't know what's going on!"
Cassandra scoffed and walked away from the bed to lean on a table at the front of the room.
Leliana walked closer and said with her soft voice, "Ellana, is it? We found you near the site of a mysterious occurrence at the center of the city."
"Mysterious occurrence?"
Leliana leaned in. "Yes. There was some sort of blast that took out most of the electricity in the area along with disrupting wi-fi and mobile data connections." Ellana could see that instead of a Seeker pin on her lapel, Leliana had a raven. She didn't know what this represented.
Ellana didn't respond and Leliana continued, "Civilians found you unconscious in the neighboring park."
"Where are my personal belongings?" Ellana questioned, changing the subject.
Cassandra answered her, "Personal belongings? There was nothing with you at the time you were found."
Vague and hazy thoughts that she assumed were memories came to mind. Was she with someone that night? Did they take her things? Her map?
Ellana boldly turned to Leliana and stated, "Then why am I being questioned like this? There's numerous reasons why I could have been unconscious in the park, and I don't see you asking me about those."
Leliana turned away and amusedly replied, "Don't worry, you are not in trouble. We are simply approaching any person who was outside in the area last night. Although, if you do suspect foul play please alert the proper authorities." She motioned to Cassandra for them to leave. The two of them left wordlessly.
Ellana shuffled and felt something scrape her upper left arm. With her right hand, she avoided the IV line and took out what was there. It was a business card, and on the back in elegant handwriting, was the personal number for Leliana. How did Leliana manage to slip this underneath her arm without noticing? Ellana told herself to avoid the woman in the future, she seemed like someone who could mess up her life really fast.
The nurse returned. "How are you feeling?"
"I'm actually feeling much better now that I've been up for a while. How soon can I be discharged?"
"The doctor recommends staying the night–"
Ellana cut him off, "Please, I want to be discharged today. Now, if possible."
"I'll see what I can do, although it is apparent you are still in pain." The nurse left again.
Through a flurry of paperwork and an uncomfortable phone call to Dorian, Ellana was finally leaving the hospital. They gave her the clothing she originally had on, but due to how dirty and torn they were, the hospital gave her disposable clothing. It was a deep green jumpsuit. Luckily her boots were still in good condition, so she was able to wear them. She made her way to the checkout desk, dreading the paperwork she was about to receive.
The nurse came back in again after she was dressed. He had brought with him a wheelchair this time.
Ellana recoiled a little. "Is that for me? I'm able to leave the hospital by myself, and there's a car waiting for me outside."
"I'm sorry, but it is the proper discharge protocol." He stayed silent for a few moments and then said, "Fainting, dizziness, and momentary pain are side effects of having a transfusion. If you were to–"
"I think I get it…I'll use the wheelchair." Ellana gathered her things, which was mainly the documents that were given to her and her clothes.
She struggled to lower herself in the chair, the male nurse held his left arm out for support in case it was needed. Ellana gave him a polite nod. Perhaps the wheelchair was necessary, after all. When she was securely in the chair, she let him know that she was ready. They set off through a flurry of large corridors and hallways.
After minutes of silence, he spoke to her, "Do you have any questions about your prescription?"
"No, it seems pretty straightforward. They're just pain meds, right?"
They stopped at a set of elevators and waited for one to open.
"One is a pain medication, please follow the dosage instructions. The other is a supplement for elves."
"Supplement for elves?"
"Like it says on the paperwork, the doctor did a simple panel on you. It showed lowered levels on all your results. This is concerning because of your condition."
"My condition?" A beep alerted them of an open elevator, and he wheeled her in and selected the ground floor.
"Vampirism."
"Ah." A flush slowly crept up neck. People never said that word.
The nurse was not fazed by her reaction and talked on, "Because of it, nutritional balance is important. Your body can very easily have reactions, which is why there are many cases like yours, elves fainting or suffering overexertion."
The elevator beeped again, and the door opened to the ground floor. As he rolled her out of it and a concerned Dorian went toward them, the nurse patted her on the shoulder and told her, "Be sure to drink blood, okay? More often than you have recently."
Ellana looked up to the nurse and muttered, "Thank you," her eyes roved for his ID card and finished her sentence, "…Cole."
Cole gave her a small, warm smile as Dorian caught up to them.
"Maker! What happened to you, Ellana?"
She gave Dorian a sheepish expression as a reply. Cole allowed Dorian to take the wheelchair and walked away from them, attending to something else. Dorian rolled her to the hospital's checkout.
The checkout went smoothly until she received a receipt for services rendered.
"Why does it say I owe nothing?"
The woman replied flatly, "Some officials waived it for you."
Ellana was surprised the women gave her answer at all while she signed the final paper for her release. It must have been the women she met earlier. That was not a good sign.
Dorian was silent until they were in his car and began to navigate the hospital's complicated parking lot. "Honestly, Ellana… What did you get yourself into?"
"I'm not exactly sure."
"Government officials covering your expenses sounds like you should know what's going on." He gave her a quick concerned glance.
"I just…I was just walking back from the bookstore when that blast happened."
"Don't lie to me, Ellana. You left around eleven. The blast that caused outages was around one."
She was thinking of how to reply when they came to the parking booth. Dorian frowned at her before messing with the ticket machine to leave the parking lot. Ellana racked her mind on what to tell him.
The car merged in the appropriate lane, and they were now officially on the road.
Dorian resumed his interrogation, "So?"
She looked out the window, not knowing how to reply. What was it with everyone asking her things today? She was tired of answering questions.
"I…" She took a deep breath while still staring out the window and explained, "I was exploring the catacombs beneath Val Royeaux." There was no use in lying, and her headache was beginning to feel worse.
"What, why? That's incredibly dangerous!"
"Back at Clan Lavellan, I was observing the Elvhen ruins to see how the Fade was around them, and to see if there was any magic that lingered. I also observed how that slight remaining magic reacted with its surroundings and certain objects."
"What does this have to do with the catacombs?"
She laughed while replying, "It's not very deep. I just figured that it was such an old place with so much history, that the bones might still have something with them." Her laugh was cut short when she suddenly saw a hazy memory of a skeleton extending their hand to her.
Dorian gave her a quizzical look and said, "That explains why a Dalish would suddenly move to Val Royeaux. You've been doing this the past year?"
"Intermittently."
They had arrived at her store and Dorian parked the car. He turned to her in his seat.
"Can I ask why you're doing this? There's plenty of academic material on this phenomenon. I can even bring you books on it, free of charge."
"I know there is…It's just different seeing it in person. And it may just be me, but I swear it's different for elves. There's not much published about elven relations to magic, unfortunately. It's a human dominated area."
Ellana decided to give further explanation, "Plus everything I notice, I let the Keeper know. Useful for Arlathven."
Dorian seemed satisfied with this explanation and helped her to the studio. She almost fumbled on the stairs a few times, but Dorian kept her steady. When she was sitting on her bed, he turned to her and remarked jokingly, "And do memorize my number, imagine my surprise when someone from the front desk came running for me freaking out about an Ellana in the hospital."
"Will do."
Ellana had to assure him multiple times that she would be fine before he relented and left. She knew he was immediately going to tell Varric everything, so she was sure to have an earful in a few days.
She leaned back and lounged on the bed, thinking about the parts she omitted when explaining everything to Dorian. Ellana wanted to see how the magic beneath Val Royeaux reacted when she brought some charged items from different Elvhen ruins. Were they enchanted similarly, if so, how and why? She knew there were studies done like this by a few elves already, but she selfishly wanted to witness it herself. She came here for herself, not for anyone else.
Ellana fell asleep with the hospital's disposable clothing still on while her mind flitted through random thoughts.
She flinched and twisted in her sleep; her dreams filled with flashes of unknown people and surroundings. Ellana woke up with a start as a sharp pain shot through her left hand. The moment she awoke, she could have sworn there was a cloud of what seemed to be green smoke emanating from her left hand, but it disappeared instantaneously. It must have been a part of her dream.
Ellana sat up carefully, fatigue and body aches were full force. She rubbed her head absentmindedly for a few minutes and in the dark made her way to the kitchenette to pour herself some blood.
After she poured it in a glass and sipped at it, what the nurse had said earlier came back to her. How did he know she slacked on drinking it? No, there was no way he could have known, it had to just be an assumption from the test results. Right? Had to be.
The thoughts about Cole led her to think about her medication. Glass in hand, she walked to where the paper prescription bag was and pulled out the two orange bottles. She read the labels and took the pills as directed.
After she finished her glass and placed it in the sink, Ellana sat on her bed and waited for the feeling to pass. As an automatic reaction, she reached for her phone, only to realize she didn't have it. It was unfortunately lost somewhere, probably stolen. She let out a long groan and stood up to get her laptop downstairs, which would have to be a suitable replacement for it in the time being. Too tired to make the extra effort, she didn't turn on any of the lights on her way down.
Usually, this simple task would only take a few minutes, but being by herself and having no one else there, it took triple the time to get to the first floor.
She released a breath of relief when she made it to the register. Feeling drained of all energy, she went to sit in the chair until she felt less exhausted. However, when she tried to sit in the chair, her hip bumped into something. Ellana jumped back, almost knocking herself over. She cursed to herself, it felt like she was doing that a lot recently.
Ellana tentatively reached out a hand to feel for whatever was in the chair. After a few taps, she recognized that the item in the chair was her backpack.
She tore it open and looked to see if her stuff was still inside. It was just as she had it.
"What the," Ellana grumbled as she dug through her things. They looked largely untouched, but her phone was still missing. She rummaged through the side zipper pockets, and there was nothing. Lastly, she opened the central zipper at the front and reached in. Her phone!
She pulled out her phone and immediately went to unlock it when a small, folded piece of parchment fell. Ellana picked it up, turned on the phone's flashlight, and read what was written there.
Lethallan, you should be more mindful as to where you venture off at night.
What? Was this some kind of warning? The person who wrote this was definitely an elf, judging by the use of 'lethallan'. Unless it was a human being offensive, then that would also make a lot of sense.
She shut her eyes tightly, trying to exactly remember what had happened the previous night. With a frustrated click of her tongue, she shoved the note in a drawer and returned upstairs, backpack and all. It didn't go unnoticed that her map was missing as well.
The rest of the week proved to be difficult for her, but each day that passed, her bruises and bodily aches lessened. It was now Friday night and she was free from all obligations. As usual, Varric and Dorian were busy with their own lives, they'd probably meet up again in a few weeks. Ellana was appreciative of that for some reason, the outages that occurred last weekend drove up business for the two of them. She guessed it was due to this that she escaped her friends' ire. The passing thought that she should attempt to socialize more crossed her mind, but she brushed it off. Ellana was comfortable with the way things were at the moment.
Laying on her bed with her phone on her chest, Ellana idly looked for a place to order food and chose from the new Rivaini place. The food came soon enough, and she ate alone at her small dining room table.
Tiredness came early for her, and before she knew it, she fell asleep in her bed while watching an Orlesian soap opera.
Ellana flexed her hands and stretched her fingers, noticing that they were slightly distorted. She then rubbed her hands together, feeling the grooves of her skin. This wasn't real.
"…I'm lucidly dreaming?"
This perplexed her because she wasn't trying to lucid dream, nor had she ever done it. She had read on the internet that it was something that typically needed practice and diligence. Any time that she felt that she was beginning to dream lucidly, her consciousness seemed to pull at her and wake her up, but she didn't feel that now.
Anxiety crawled up her body. Many strange things were suddenly happening; she should have known she would eventually run into some sort of trouble. This was all her fault, if only she didn't go creep around places like some sort of rogue spy.
Walls then formed around her, creating a one-way path for her to follow. Ellana followed it wordlessly, tracing her hands along them. Her fingers dipped and scraped against it.
Through the haziness of the atmosphere, she could see a glowing light at the end of the hall she was in. Tugs of familiarity pulled at her as she ran to it.
Confusion filled her as she stared at the scene in front of her. She knew this. It felt so real, like she had lived it. There was a tall man standing before a glowing green orb on the ground.
"I'm surprised to see you here." The man turned and faced her. He was dressed in modern clothing and had a deep burgundy overcoat.
"You…you! You're the guy that entered the store last week, aren't you?"
"That I am."
"Where am I? Why am I here?" She narrowed her eyes at him.
"To answer your first question, you are in the Fade."
"The Fade?" Ellana exclaimed, incredulous. "How?"
"We all enter the Fade when we dream."
She stayed silent for a few moments before replying, "That's real, the stories are true? We travel the Fade when we dream? How is that even possible? Mages don't even exist."
"You ask a lot of questions, you know."
"I just want answers."
"My turn to ask a question. What was it that you were looking for when you ventured down here last week?"
"When I ventured down here, what do you mean– " The next question of hers was interrupted when the walls changed to those of the catacombs. Memories of that night hit her with clarity. She fearfully stepped back from him.
"You don't need to be afraid of me. I am an elf, just like you."
"I saw you. You were manipulating magic."
"That I was."
"None of this makes sense," Ellana said more to herself than him. He chuckled at her, and the sound of it echoed.
"We'll talk more about this another time, don't worry. You'll get all your answers," he met her eyes and continued, "I'm Solas, if there are to be introductions."
She paused before answering, "Ellana Lavellan."
Solas stepped closer to her and walked around her before leaning in and saying with a soft voice, "Well, Ellana. Wake up."