In A Manner of My Choosing
By Pyreite
Warning: This short vignette contain the death of a canonical character. Discretion is advised.
Forward or Back?
It felt like hours had passed in the span of minutes. Ellana tried, time and again, to shove the wolf out of her lap. The great beast would whine, ears and tail drooping, and slide under her arm. He snuggled into her like a puppy seeking warmth. His thick black tail lashed the grass when Ellana relented.
"Fenedhis. You can stay there if you stop licking me".
The besotted spirit of Fen'Harel nuzzled her chin.
Ellana was relieved when he didn't try to stick his tongue in her ear again. She may have been dead, but even in the afterlife wolf-drool was slimy. She gave the beast a tentative scratch behind an ear. She was surprised when he accepted her attentions with enthusiasm. He even inclined his head so she could reach just the right spot.
Marethari laughed when his hind-leg thumped the grass.
"You spoil him".
"He won't leave me alone", grumbled Ellana. "If I push him away he whimpers like a puppy and burrows right back in".
Marethari smiled. "You know he loves you".
Ellana glanced from the former dalish Keeper to the wolf in her lap. Emerald eyes bored into her own. She recognised that radiant sheen. Ellana took his head in her hands. She patted the long black snout as she returned its scrutiny.
"I know that light".
"You do", confirmed Marethari.
Ellana trembled when the wolf rubbed his furry cheek against her wrist. She looked from him to her left arm. She turned her hand over exposing her palm to the moonlight. She gasped when she saw a familiar shining emerald mark. Its shape had never been discernible until now.
"It's a wolf's head!" gasped Ellana.
Marethari studied the pointed ears, jagged teeth, and long narrow snout.
The eyes were tiny twin stars of pulsating light.
"You bear the Mark of Fen'Harel", said Marethari. "And now you must choose".
"Choose?" asked Ellana. "I don't understand".
Black lips peeled back from a maw full of jagged teeth. Black ears flattened against the crown of a shaggy lupine head. A black snout wrinkled as the wolf growled. Emerald eyes glowed like hot coals. Ellana wrapped her arms around his neck when he lunged at Marethari.
"No! Leave her alone!"
The wolf ignored her. He snapped and snarled at the dead dalish Keeper. He tried to catch her hand in his jaws. He would have rent her limb from limb if Ellana hadn't intervened. A stern command made the wolf pause.
"Fen'Harel! Venavis!"
Marethari smiled when she heard his plaintive whine. She pitied the poor beast as she peered into its sorrowful emerald eyes. The intelligence she saw there was unlike the wolves inside the waking world beyond the Fade. This creature was old, sad, and lonely. He hadn't had companionship for centuries.
"You know you cannot keep her".
The wolf turned its gaze on Ellana. It appealed to her with a piteous whimper. It pleaded without words for something it could not name. A desperate nuzzle under her chin distracted her for several moments. The deliberate flop of its gargantuan body across her lap made Ellana squeal.
"Hey! Get off! You're squashing me!"
The spirit of Fen'Harel stayed put despite her frantic shoves.
Marethari laughed.
"I admire your determination, but time grows short. You know she cannot delay her choice. She must go with me or return with you. The longer she tarries here. The more likely she will be caught between life and death".
Ellana stared at the wolf in her arms. He whined at her as if begging for attention. She patted his shaggy black cheek. He leaned into her touch, tongue lolling. His eyes were half-lidded in bliss. His hind-leg thumped the ground.
"Where would he take me?" asked Ellana.
"Back, da'len", answered Marethari.
"Back where?"
"Back from whence you came".
"I don't understand".
Marethari pointed into the distance. The moon was high in the sky, a ball of brightness in a sea of black. The stars twinkled like diamonds in the darkness. Ellana saw it standing upon a hill of crumbled stone. The arc of the Eluvian housed a mirror reflecting a land drenched in sunlight.
Elvish Translations: Courtesy of the Dragon Age Wiki – Elven Language
Da'len – Little one.
Solas – Pride.
Fenedhis – An elven curse, likely translated to 'wolf crap' or similar.
Fen'Harel – The Dread Wolf – The elven god of Rebellion, Betrayal, and Trickery.
Venavis – Stop.
Eluvian – Seeing glass – Used as a method of transport between places, realms, and worlds by the ancient elves.