AN: Here we are, a little epilogue-type bit to wrap things up! Thanks for going on the journey with me folks, it was a fun ride.


Guinevere was meant to be checking in with Quartermaster Morris, but she could not yet tear herself away from Keeper Deshanna's latest letter. Reading it put a vision in her mind of the keeper's disappointed, disapproving look. She had told the keeper about Solas before, and about the baby, so it seemed well enough now to tell her the truth. She would understand what it meant far more than any of the Inquisition's human advisors, much as Guinevere treasured their support. They were still reeling over the revelation that the elven gods were real, let alone mages of incredible power, put to slumber by their Solas' own hand, let alone that he intended to tear down the Veil and wake them.

But to admit to her keeper—as that keeper's chosen first—that the father of her child was He Who Roams Beyond was no easy thing. She must have written and re-written the letter fifteen times, while Nimue toddled around the fur rug in front of the desk, occasionally shrieking as if to remind herself that she could still make noise. Sometimes, she would look up at Gwen and announce what she was playing with ("Horse! Dog! Block!"), or simply babble in that squeaky little voice, mimicking things she had heard others say. Guinevere had no idea where she kept getting the toys; every time she picked the girl up she had some toy Gwen had never seen before (which was just as well, since they were perpetually being left all over Skyhold, and tended to vanish as quickly as they'd appeared).

Only her determination to tell her keeper the truth of it all had kept her writing. She had wanted to tell Deshanna in person, but she was too afraid some other news might reach her first, and she wanted to be sure she was the one to break it. But she would go to Wycome with Nimue, to talk to the clan face-to-face.

It wasn't until she got the keeper's letter back that she understood how desperate she was for her reassurance. The disapproval and suppressed horror in the letter she got made her eyes burn, and it was difficult to swallow. But what else could she have expected? By her doing, a child of the Lord of Tricksters now roamed Thedas. Nothing good she had ever written Deshanna about Solas mattered now—he was the Dread Wolf, and that wiped away all the rest (not that convincing Deshanna he wasn't what legend said would have been worth the time and ink, given that she would be arriving to tell her about his plan to destroy the Veil and decimate all life in Thedas).

The keeper did not refuse her to come and see them, but she warned Guinevere to be cautious with Nimue, and for the time being, swore herself to secrecy about the girl's parentage. That was fair—it should not be on her to break this news to everyone else.

She wasn't wrong about Nimue's safety either—there was a fear that beat in Guinevere's chest at all hours of the day now, whispering in her veins and making it so there were times she could barely breathe until she set eyes on the child: the fear that Solas' followers would find out about Nimue. He might be above harming Nimue directly, or using her as part of his plan, but what of those who called Fen'Harel their lord and commander? How could they not see a clear, bright target on Nimue's head? The idea of Nimue at their mercy kept her awake far too many hours of the night. If nothing more sophisticated, they would all know the easiest way to render Guinevere helpless was to have Nimue in their grasp—and while Solas might not actively harm her, he would know Guinevere could not take even the slightest chance that he could.

Gwen had not yet made up her mind about whether she meant to tell Keeper Deshanna about the dreams. She had not yet raised them with anyone else. It seemed silly, to raise figments of her subconscious imagination and what was, as likely as not, a mere expression of her perpetually breaking heart. And yet—she could not quite dismiss the hulking wolf that haunted the edges of her dreams now and again, as if keeping an eye on her.

Setting the letter down, Guinevere rose from her seat and went to go kneel on the fur rug.

"Mamae! It's a dog!" Nimue, delighted to have her mother's attention off that boring paperwork, immediately lifted her toy for Guinevere to see.

"So it is, sweetling," she said, thinking it was the wooden mabari she had seen in Nimue's hands before. But when she examined what was being thrust in her face, she realized it was not the mabari, but one she hadn't yet seen—it was a wolf.

"It's my favorite." Nimue smiled and offered the wolf to Guinevere. It's just a toy, Guinevere told herself, and took a deep breath, forcing herself not to take it away, before curling the girl's hand more firmly around it. Then she pulled Nimue against her, smooching her neck until she squirmed and laughed. "Mamae!"

"I have a surprise for you," Guinevere said. "We're going to visit our family. Would you like that? You can meet Keeper Deshanna, and your grandfather, and your uncles, too."

"Auntie Josie too?"

"No, Josie won't come with us." Gwen shook her head. "Just the two of us, how's that?" Nimue frowned, so Gwen smiled to convince her. "It will be great fun! Wait until you see the aravels. They're so beautiful, especially rolling through the long grass. And there will be proper Dalish cooking! And the songs we'll sing when the sun goes down, and the dances…" Guinevere sighed, unable to convince herself the fanciful images lighting up her mind would be the truth of her trip, but reluctant to banish them. It had been so long since she had been home…

Guinevere opened her arm for Nimue to climb up, and she lifted the girl as she rose, which was getting more difficult—she was getting heavy for Gwen to heft around with one hand (however, Auntie Cassandra and Auntie Lace had no trouble, and Nimue shrieked with delight when they consented to tossing her in the air). Out on the balcony, Guinevere pointed over the mountain tops.

"Lavellan is far, far past the mountains," she said. "In a place called Wycome, by the ocean, where boats sail all around the world. Do you want to see it?"

"Yes!" Nimue cheered, because talking about it made her mother smile, which meant it was Good.

Guinevere nodded in agreement, and let that old longing for home, which she had battled to keep at bay for more than four years now, flood over her, and the thought of returning lift her spirit as a bird on the wind. Solas would still be there when she returned to the Inquisition, and all her fights would still be ongoing. But wouldn't it be lovely, just for a few weeks, to pretend life could go on the way it had before the sky was torn asunder?

When she was done with that, she could busy herself arranging another talk with Nimue's father.


AN: I realized maybe I should have explained Nimue's name-it also comes from Arthurian mythology, like Guinevere, and I decided I might as well stick with that theme. Also, in some versions, Nimue goes on to defeat her teacher, Merlin, and seal him in a tree, and I was sort of toying with the idea of what if it wasn't Lavellan who defeated Solas in the end, but their child?

Anyway I have more Solavellan in my library if you want more reading!