Lots of long translations for this one.

Sparks of Wisdom

The first of the memories I visited was the most recent - the one in which I found his ring and translated his vows. It made sense to me to work backward, as I was not certain I would be able to reach all of them from Cumberland. Places in the Fade are somewhat tied to places in the waking world - usually, anyway - and so it was possible I would need to be physically closer to those I had placed while nearer Val Royeaux to access them.

Solas had left me a memory of his own in response, though not one corresponding to the memory I had placed. I was, of course, immediately curious to know whether he had made that choice universally, or only for a memory in which he was not physically present, and his emotions as he left the ring behind likely bent more toward bitterness and regret than love or affection. But - Nehnadahlen remained my primary goal, and so I put aside my curiosity for later and instead pressed deeper into the Fade.

This area still seemed relatively free of demons, perhaps due to Solas's sojourn there. I spotted a few only at a distance, and friendly spirits warned me in plenty of time to stay clear of them. Sometimes spirits walked with me for a time, helping me wend my way between the layers of the Fade. They were interested by me, as Solas told me spirits would be, though perhaps not for the precise reasons he listed. "There are few with an interest in speaking to me - or any of us - since the days of Elvhenan," a spirit of reason told me as it led me closer to my goal. "Some come to trap us into servitude, while others ignore us entirely, hurling thoughts such as demon our direction. Merely to converse is - " it paused thoughtfully before going on, "an act of affirmation. Nourishing, in its way. Ma serannas, lethallan."

"Sathem, hahren," I replied, bowing my head.

"Y - emas sule'vi'in tel'ane erelan?" it asked, studying me.

"Eman sule'vi'in," I replied with a smile. "My circumstances are unusual. I have walked physically in the Fade, which has provided me with a connection few possess. That, however, has little bearing on my interest in conversation. My previous experiences with spirits are responsible for my willingness in that regard. I have met several whom I liked very well, leaving me open to the possibility of meeting others."

Reason returned my smile, but its words were pensive: "Has the waking world changed so much that your connection to the Fade no longer influences your skill as a mage?"

"The Veil has changed almost everything," I temporized.

"How curious," it responded. "Come, you must tell me what you know, for I have stayed well away from it these last few millennia, as I had many thoughts of my own to put in order."

I did as it asked, and we spent the rest of the night and into the following morning talking first about the Veil and what I knew of its impact, and then somehow found ourselves on the topic of logic. I told it of my own studies in the discipline, and Reason explained how logic had been pursued in Elvhenan. There was more overlap than I would have supposed, which the spirit rightly chided me for: "If logic touches no universal principles, what good is it?"

The following night, Reason was nowhere to be found - which was good, as it implied my feeling that I was moving deeper into the Fade was based in reality and not merely wishful thinking. Most spirits occupied particular pieces of the Fade, though they could move about at will - a little like the Dalish and our ranges, come to think of it.

Instead, I found myself walking through a region inhabited by a particularly powerful spirit of wisdom, which I might have guessed even if other, less well-defined spirits hadn't approached me to speak, and told me where I was. Enleal, as the spirit called itself, had shaped its piece of the Fade into a garden of precise ratios, particularly the lyrium ratio - formalized by the dwarven mathematician Zeising Hadens as he sought to understand the branching patterns formed by lyrium veins, but applicable to many species of plants and of considerable interest in geometry, as well.

I admired shrubs grown into the Maker's rectangle, whose side lengths were in the lyrium ratio. Trees and flower petals grew in logarithmic spirals. Plants were arranged in series of perfect concentric circles, or in spirals based on the Antivan sequence (which wasn't a fair name since the sequence was actually discovered by the Qunari first - Leonardo of Antiva had only cited it in his Book of Calculations, which served to bring Qunari mathematics to the attention of southern Thedas). The garden was a little eerie in its rigorous perfection, but undeniably beautiful.

It wasn't long before Enleal approached me itself. The spirit had fashioned itself in the form of an elf without identifiable gender, head shaved or otherwise rendered hairless, wearing a belted robe not unlike that of Chantry lay sisters, though simplified - all in one shade of dark blue and lacking embroidery. The spirit inclined its head to me. "An'daran atish'an, vherain," it said, its voice unexpectedly low and soothing. "Neral i'vena sa or'Elvhen. Ame lahnem Enleal."

"En'an'sal'en, hahren. Ara melin re Silea," I replied.

Enleal smiled as though I had said something amusing. "Vhallan na amahn, silealan da'len."

Oh, my name - of course. "Silea" was the feminized form of sileal - wisdom.

"Most of the spirits call me fenes'saota," I told Enleal, amused in return. "None have taken note of my name or greeted me as a lion."

The spirit tilted its head, regarding me with interest. "Lealsha ny tel'vhellal sast alin elgaren'sileal. Ane elvar'el o ehn nar saota ise, thusast ise onharosha solast fen, ehn ivys la'gera vheraan'asha isa saota."

"He is likely the proudest wolf ever born," I agreed with a wry smile. "What does it say about the lioness who would consent to be his mate, though?"

Enleal laughed. "Perhaps that she has found no lions - or perhaps that she wants a mate who would gladly hunt beside her, rather than spending most of his time lazing about. Walk with me, vherain, and I will show you the way you wish to go - at least for as long as your desire holds to walk that path."

"I want very much to return to Nehnadahlen," I told the spirit, falling in beside it as it chose a path through its garden.

Enleal glanced at me, its eyes taking in my face in a swift flicker of movement. "You do, but I think that passion is likely to be buried beneath duty if you don't take care. Remember that the Fade responds to what you want, not to what you think you ought to want."

"I do want it," I insisted. "I am...also excited by other possibilities." Namely finding and viewing Solas's memories. "That doesn't diminish how much I want Nehnadahlen."

"For now," Enleal replied with a knowing smile.

I weighed its words for a moment, but then dismissed them. For now was good enough - I still had the energy, whatever energy it was I used, to continue on this path. "Why do you call me a lion?" I asked instead.

"Well, if you were a wolf, you would have stayed with the pack you were born into - or at least you wouldn't have gone very far away," the spirit answered. "Instead you left it entirely, opting for a more...varied sort of family. Wolves also rarely hunt alone, and even more rarely with any great success, but a lioness may be a solitary hunter or a cooperative one, and you are equally capable of both." It cast a smile my way. "You also simply strike me as more lion than wolf, vherain - perhaps something in the way you move."

I found myself returning the smile. "You already know almost everything about me, don't you?"

"Far from it," Enleal replied, "but I know of your history. I suppose you didn't know you passed my realm before, when Fen'Harel took you to Nehnadahlen. Your passing excited many of the spirits that take refuge here. He looms large in our collective memory - one of the finest sou'i've'an'thanelan who ever walked the Fade. Most of us have felt his call. And you know spirits are drawn to emotion. He feels - a great deal when he is with you, I think."

"Much as he tries not to," I agreed. "Why haven't you joined him, if I may ask?"

"Is this wisdom, what he plans?" the spirit responded instantly. "No. No more that it was wisdom to give his orb to creature naming itself Corypheus. He is desperate. There is no wisdom in that desperation. I will rejoice, should the Veil fall, but I will mourn, too, if it happens as he means it to."

I let out a breath. "I feel precisely the same way."

The spirit linked its arm through mine. "Of course you do, silealan da'len."

We walked on as I thought over the spirit's words - and smirked a bit at ise onharosha solast fen, because it was entirely too true - but I soon felt Enleal casting sidelong glances at me. It seemed to be searching or watching for something.

"Why are you looking at me like that?" I asked the spirit after catching the fourth or fifth glance.

"I am curious to see how sensitive you are, vherain," it replied promptly, and then shook its head. "Or'Elvhen - y o'dasem nar sou, mithsha mar'lan. Do you feel it draining from you? Or will you only notice when it is exhausted?"

I paused and turned to look at the spirit. "Feel what? When what is exhausted?"

It regarded me in return, lips slightly pursed as it deliberated. "Min dirth'ala, ma nere isalas sila mar'lan - vis isalas venira elgar'vhen'an. Will alone is enough to move you through the parts of the Fade that come nearest to touching the waking world. Not so, its depths."

"I know," I responded. "I knew it almost as soon as I began trying to go deeper last night. It depletes me in a way I can't find words for."

"Can't you?" Enleal asked. "Still, it pleases me to know you are not entirely lost to yourself and your People."

"Passion," I said, thinking back over the spirit's words. "You spoke of passion before. Desire. It's not just will, it's desire that takes me where I want to go. But - here, that desire is spent, depleted, in finding my way?"

Enleal smiled. "Though you are perhaps not as quick as I had hoped, you are quicker than I feared. Why do you suppose sou'i've'an'thanelan was such a rare and cherished discipline, vherain? The desire to find one's way in the Fade cannot be manufactured, only replenished from within."

I had to laugh at that. "No wonder Solas was so good at it - no one could have a greater desire to explore the Fade than he does, I think." The spirit's smile widened. "Well then - I suppose I know better than to continue on, frustrating myself by going nowhere, when my desire is exhausted for the night. Then it will be better to turn elsewhere, and replenish myself so that I might try again later." I paused. "Thank you for leading me to that understanding. I know I likely wouldn't have found it unaided - at least not for some time."

"Is this not what the instructor does, closing the gaps in understanding until the pupil is able to make the final leap herself?" The spirit spread its hands in a gesture of - helplessness, perhaps, in the face of necessity.

"The good ones," I agreed, thinking of Augustus and Wilhelmina - and Solas. "Let us continue, then. I still desire Nehnadahlen."

"By all means," Enleal agreed, linking its arm through mine once more.

Sathem: Pleased

Y - emas sule'vi'in tel'ane erelan?: "But - you are certain you are not a mage/skilled mage?" Dalish use "erelan" to mean any mage, but since everyone was a mage in the days of Elvhenan, "erelan" meant a particularly skilled mage to them. It's unclear which way this spirit means the word as it is clearly old and hasn't been paying attention to the waking world.

Eman sule'vi'in: I'm certain.

An'daran atish'an, vherain: "Welcome, lion cub," lit "the place you go is safe, lion cub"

Neral i'vena sa or'Elvhen. Ame lanem Enleal: A pleasure to walk again with one of the People. I am called Enleal. ("Enleal" means sparking, lighting, or igniting.)

En'an'sal'en, hahren. Ara melin re Silea: Blessings, elder. My name is Silea.

Vhallan na amahn, silealan da'len: I welcome you here, child of wisdom

Fenes'saota: Wolf's mate

Lealsha ny tel'vellal sast alin elgaren'sileal: Clearly you have not met any other wisdom spirits

Ane elvar'el o ehn nar saota ise, thusast ise onharosha solast fen, ehn ivys la'gera vheraan'asha isa saota: You are more complex than who your mate is, though he is an astonishingly proud/arrogant wolf, who would claim a lioness as his mate

Vherain: Lion cub

Sou'i've'an'thanelan: Fade mage

Silealan da'len: Child of wisdom

Ise onharosha solast fen: He is a proud/arrogant wolf

Or'Elvhen - y o'dasem nar sou, mithsha mar'lan: Of the People - yet severed from your power, almost from yourself/your blood

Min dirth'ala, ma nere isalas sila mar'lan - vis isalas venira elgar'vhen'an: This lesson, you may need to learn yourself - if you wish to master the Fade