9:30 Wintermarch 22nd
I sighed again as my pack rested securely on my back. I was going to miss beds and regular meals. Derek laughed as he slapped my back.
"That's the tenth time you sighed missy! Got anything on your mind?" Derek asked.
"Oren." I mumbled.
"That kid's tough. Don't worry about him." Derek laughed.
"Easy for you to say." I huffed. 'You never had kids.' I thought. We waited at the front door as everyone started to come and regroup. Talen and Wynne were right next to each other as they came.
"Is she coming with us?" Alistair asked.
"Irving has agreed to let me go with your group. I am not one to sit on my laurels." Wynne chuckled.
"Of course you decided to come." Morrigan rolled her eyes.
"Good job senior, way to live a little!" Derek did a thumbs up.
"Her healing will greatly enhance our group." Sten nodded.
"You finally speak!" Derek laughed again. Sten huffed. I saw Eren come out and nodded toward Talen. He said his thanks to Greagoir and we all filed out of the tower. We got hit with the chill and I gasped. The whole world turned white.
"Wow." The wisp of cold air was coming out of my mouth.
"It's beautiful no?" Leliana giggled. I nodded with a dumbfounded look as we went to the pier. We had to do turns since our group was big. Alfred was playing in the snow as Leliana, Alistair, I and Talen were waiting for the boat to come back.
"Are you alright Talen? You don't have to come with us. We have plenty of Grey Wardens. If you want to stay…" Alistair let that hang. Talen shook his head.
"Irving will do his best to get the Circle back on its feet. Either way, this is my responsibility. I'm a Grey Warden and we stop blights right?" Talen smirked.
"So no more Templar vs mage then? Is it only going to be me and Morrigan? She plays dirty you know." Alistair whined. Talen chuckled.
"If you'll miss it that much I'll throw fireballs at you when you want it." Talen joked and shrugged.
"Ha, ha. No I'd rather not be scorched." Alistair said.
"Still, If I knew it was going to be this cold, I would have asked a Tranquil to make something for my ears." Talen groaned as he held the points of his ears in his hands. I hummed as I went into my pack and got a long strip of cloth. I was going to use this to mend my clothes but I could get some later on.
"Stand still." I said, going behind Talen and wrapping the cloth around to cover the points of his ears. They were plastered against his head instead of sticking. The best part was the fact he would be able to still hear. "There. If I had some yarn I would make a band for you but this will have to do until it gets warm."
"Oh thanks." Talen mumbled.
"You're embarrassed." Leliana giggled. Talen's face grew red.
"I'm not!" Talen yelled. Alfred barked as the boat came back to the pier. We all got in and I clutched at the boat when Alfred jumped in and rocked it.
"Whoa! Careful Alfred, you might capsize us." Alistair chuckled.
"That isn't a good joke." I gulped.
"You're scared of the water?" Talen asked as the boatman started to row us back to the shore.
"It's not the water. Ok maybe a bit because it's freezing and I'd rather not be a meat popsicle but yes boats scared me. It's just, I've never been good in open water. You never know what might be lurking and waiting to eat you." I explained.
"Oh no what's that!" Talen pointed and rocked the boat.
"I swear to God Talen!" I got startled and reacted in holding onto Alistair for dear life.
"I don't mind the company but you're squeezing my chainmail a bit too tight." Alistair chuckled. Talen laughed his ass off, figuratively.
"Talen, I'm going to get you one of these days!" I shouted as we disembarked.
"I'd like to see you try." Talen chuckled.
"Did we miss something?" Eren's eyebrow rose as he saw us. Alistair laughed and Leliana shook her head. Alfred barked and played in the water. I saw Sten over by the trail talking to a little and grungy man.
"Who's Sten talking to?" I asked.
"Don't know. He just marched right up to him when we got back on land." Derek shrugged. We all started to walk toward Sten. He noticed our approach and joined our group as we got back on the road.
"Who was that?" Eren asked.
"Someone of importance to me but not to you." Sten said gruffly. Eren and I shared a look but let it go. Talen took out the map of Ferelden.
"We can follow the Imperial Highway down Calenhad, through River Dane and most likely get to Lothering to stock up before going down to the Korcari Wilds." Talen described.
"We won't be able to go the other way around near Gherlen's pass to go to Redcliffe?" Alistair came up.
"Didn't we decide to go to Ostagar?" Derek wondered.
"True…" Alistair pouted.
"After we go to Ostagar and settle with Flemeth, we'll direct our attention at Redcliffe." Eren decided. Alistair nodded. We continued on the Imperial Highway. The steady pace made sure that we kept warm. Wynne brought out more hoods for everyone. Morrigan denied it. How in the hell could she not feel the cold with so little clothing is beyond me.
"This is the one thing I miss the most from being underground, it's always warm! None of this snow and rain." Derek huffed.
"In Par Vollen it rains constantly but it is a warm rain that tends to the plants that are constantly growing. Even the air is humid. Nothing like this cracked and brown Ferelden." Sten added.
"Oh please, Ferelden is not that bad." Alistair countered.
"You'd be surprised how green it gets once we're past our rainy season." I said.
"Thank you." Alistair nodded.
"Orlais is beautiful during the summer, especially in Val Royeaux! The bazaar during that time is filled with rare items, jewels, fine weapons, and shoes!" Leliana got excited talking about it.
"Shoes?" Talen wondered.
"Yes! Fine ones, nothing like these unshapely boots." Leliana giggled.
"Those shapeless boots are helping you get through the snow. The others shoes would make your feet soaking wet." Eren rolled his eyes.
"There's nothing bad about wanting to feel a little pretty with some nice shoes." I defended Leliana. "I tend to go more the simpler pieces though."
"But why when you can adorn your shoes with stones? Or maybe feathers, no not after that one incident." Leliana pouted.
"How on Thedas did we get from talking about the weather to shoes?" Morrigan asked.
"I have no idea." Alistair chuckled.
"I didn't know you liked shoes." Eren side glanced at me.
"I'm not much for being feminine. I don't really like dresses, make up, or dressing up but I do love shoes. Mostly because heels make me look taller." I laughed.
"You are of short stature." Morrigan chuckled.
"Yeah, yeah, I know." I rolled my eyes.
"At least I'm still shorter!" Derek laughed. We kept on making small talk. Leliana and I got into a debate on which was better either regular heels or heeled boots. Of course I loved the heeled boots but she liked the smaller shoes. She was surprised at my foot size though. I got manly feet. After a while, Leliana started to pester Talen and I was in the back with Sten and Alfred.
"Sten, exactly why did you come to Ferelden?" I asked.
"Does it look like I was inviting your questions?" Sten glared down at me.
"Nope but I'm curious." I said.
"Of course you are." He grumbled. I kept on staring at him. He kept on ignoring me and scowling until he let out a deep sigh. "You will not stop until I answer, will you?"
"Nope." I giggled.
"The Arishok asked, 'What is the Blight?' So I came with my berasaad to answer and give him my report." Sten explained.
"Does that mean you have to go back?" I asked.
"Yes." Sten curtly replied.
"When will that be?" I wondered.
"Never. I cannot go home." Sten scowled.
"Well, you're welcome to stay with us as long as you need to Sten." I said. Sten gave me an unreadable look before nodding.
"Thank you." He answered. All those times of memorizing talks in Dragon Age is finally paying off. As it started to get dark, we camped near Lake Calenhad. The tower was still visible from where we were. We stayed in a forest area. Once we finished setting up camp, I got started on making a simple soup with the supplies from the Circle. We only had three tents, four if you counted Morrigan but she slept alone.
Wynne, Leliana, and I were all going to sleep in the same tent while the GWs were going to do their rotations in the night. I stirred the jerky and rice simple soup in the pot. The GWs were off trying to debate about how to gain allies. Eren was the one mostly directing the group. Derek always put his two cents in. Talen would throw in a few ideas and Alistair would listen before putting his opinion in.
"Orzammar will definitely rise up to the chance to help the Blight. All of us know how dangerous darkspawn are. The benefits of being underground." Derek darkly chuckled. "The only thing we've got to look out for is that some families will 'pledge' their people but still won't send them. If we are able to convince them, the Legion is also a very good support to have."
"What's the Legion?" Talen asked.
"It's called the Legion of the Dead. They're soldiers who kill darkspawn for their entire lives. Sometimes it could be a punishment, other times people go into it in order to put food on the table. They accept everyone. Casteless, warriors, blacksmiths, heh, sometimes they throw in some royalty for good measure." Derek laughed.
"I've heard about the great Legion from Duncan and a few other Grey Wardens." Alistair mentioned.
"Then that's one group we can hopefully convince to fight with us." Eren nodded.
"I think out of everyone we'll have difficulty with are the Dalish. They rarely help humans." Alistair rubbed his face.
"I'm an elf." Talen shrugged.
"You think they'll accept you just because of that?" Eren wondered.
"It's worth a shot." Talen shrugged. I went to them with two bowls in my hand.
"It'll still be hard. Dalish don't look at other elves as their people most of the time. They only trust those from other Dalish clans so unless you get a tattoo on your face that signals one of their gods, they won't join us all willy nilly." I mentioned, giving Talen and Eren their bowls while Derek got up to get some for himself and Alistair.
"How do you know that?" Eren asked.
"I talked to…Rael and he told me from experiences from other elves in the Alienage." I lied. It still hurt to talk about him. "Some clans are different. They sometimes accept elves from Alienages to join their clan but most of them see themselves as separate. They see themselves as 'true' elves and the rest of the elves as flat-ears."
"Well that throws my own heritage we can use." Talen scoffed.
"We'll find a way." I nodded. Talen chuckled.
"Who's this Rael that you talk about?" Alistair asked. My face immediately fell.
"He was a friend that saved me." I sat down next to Talen. "I don't think I told anyone but when I came to Ferelden, there was a burning ship. I ended up in the sea with lots of cuts. After, when the guards helped me, I ended up in a ditch in the city. Rael found me and took me to a healer. I got through and Rael became my first friend but I lost him." I sighed.
"How did he die?" Talen asked with Eren intently staring at me.
"OH! He didn't die." I laughed while shaking my head. "He was in trouble. On his wedding day the son of the Arl of Denerim took the woman to…play with them." I cleared my throat. "I found Rael trying to go through and save them. I helped him but in the end, Rael became scared of me. He ended the friendship."
"Is this what happened in Denerim when we fled Highever?" Eren asked. I nodded. "Why didn't you tell me?" He demanded.
"If I remember correctly, you were going through a hard time after what happened. I didn't want to make it worse." I replied.
"Why did he get scared? You're tiny and so nice!" Alistair said. Derek came by and handed food to Alistair.
"Well I went undercover and I killed everyone so they wouldn't be able to pin it on him. I actually outran the guards and convinced them I was someone else by the end. It scared him that I was able to kill so easily." I shrugged. Deep down it still hurt. I understood him. I wouldn't want to be friends with me either. All I could think in that moment was 'I need to protect him.' I never stopped to think about his own feelings.
"I never knew." Eren scowled.
"I didn't want you to know." I ended. "But that's enough of me interrupting you guys."
"Don't let it get you down missy. You were always meant to do greater things. One day he'll see what you've done for him." Derek said as I was getting up.
"Thank you Derek." I went to sit down near the fire as they went back to planning. I took out my journal from my pack and started to write. Leliana went to sit next to me.
"I overheard what happened. I'm sorry that you had to go through that." Leliana said.
"I appreciate what you're trying to do but sometimes things happen for a reason. Rael didn't want to be friends anymore but I'll always be grateful for what he did. I wouldn't be here without him." I said.
"It still hurts to lose a treasured friend." Leliana added.
"I know but I have lots more people that I grieved over already. There's no point in grieving someone who's still alive." I went to pour my own bowl and ate slowly.
"You shouldn't shut off your own emotions like that. They tend to fester and grow into a less manageable problem later on." Wynne sat next to me.
"There's really no time to play therapist in the middle of the woods." I glanced at her.
"Therapist?" She wondered.
"Never mind. I can't exactly work on my emotions when we're trying to stop a gigantic wave of darkspawn from killing everyone. We just got to keep focused on the goal in front of us." I said, finishing my food. "I'm going to the tent." I used some snow to clean my bowl and spoon before going back into my tent.
9:30 Wintermarch 23rd
It has been a day. A very long day.
Between all three of us, it wasn't that cold throughout the night. I also had a dream of the fade. I woke up and I stretched. I took a deep breath and found myself in a similar camp from the real world. I chuckled as Halo lazily floated over to me. I held out my hands to him and he landed into them.
"Thank you for your help in the Circle Halo. I'm sad we weren't able to help Niall." I sighed.
'He was a good man.' Halo nodded.
"Yeah." I agreed before Halo got out of my hands in a flash before I heard someone coming toward us.
"So this is where you spend your time." I heard and I gasped. Wynne was right in front of me. My mouth opened and closed as I couldn't believe what I was seeing.
"What in the hell?" I gasped.
"Language." Wynne chuckled. Halo kept looking at her then to me before looking confused.
"There is something…odd about your spirit." Wynne looked at Halo before he began ruffling in anger.
'You are not supposed to be here. How are you able to connect?' Halo demanded.
"Whoa Halo it's ok. This is Wynne. She's part of the group but, first things first, how in the frigging hell did you even come into the fade?" I asked.
"I am a mage. I can control how I enter based on my experience. All mages can come into the fade and remember what they have lived through. Though I strained myself in following you here." Wynne explained.
'I will allow permission Faith but should you cross my beloved, I will not hesitate.' Halo warned.
"Beloved?" Wynne and I said at the same time. Halo looked flustered at that.
"It seems you have not been entirely truthful to Nia." Wynne said. Halo floated back.
"Wynne leave Halo alone. I know you did this in order to find out about him but, as you can see, he won't hurt you unless you hurt me." I said.
"And why do you think that is? Why does he protect you? Why does he want to return you home? And how can he return you home in the first place? No one has entered the fade physically since the Tevinter mages that started the blight." Wynne countered.
"Why do you need me to ask Halo that? I trust him." I nodded. "He protects me because he wants to and he wants to return me home because that's what I want. I'm not sure how he can do it but I know he'll do it eventually." Halo floated in front of both of us.
'Why do you require this knowledge?' He asked.
"I followed the Grey Wardens so that I may be able to make a difference. All spirits are dangerous. Even you, even with your claim to protect her." Wynne stated.
'Then I will show you so you can trust me.' Halo said, his form twisting into something human like. It was a silhouette of a human without legs. I couldn't see any details though. He was still shimmering like a halo. He waved his hand and the fade changed.
And it looked just like my world. The faded green turned into a bright light. I saw cars coming and going from a stop light. The blue sky that I yearned for. I gasped and took a step back. Then I saw a recognizable van right at the stop light.
"What is this?" Wynne asked.
"This is where…where…" I gasped.
'You died.' Halo ended that sentiment as my doppelganger drove as soon as the light hit green and the 18 wheeler slammed into the driver's side. I looked away. I saw Wynne's lips pursed. I looked back and saw that time stood still. 'This is where it started. My other soul sensed the ending of her life and chose to send me to save her.'
"Your other soul? What does that mean?" Wynne asked.
'It means what it means. We were both different and then we were both the same as time grew.' Halo explained.
"But we have spirits, if people believe them, but this is on a whole other scale of what!" I said. "Spirits can't rend the physical plane and spiritual plane!"
'Unless it was on the verge of death. It was supposed to be a teleportation. From one end to another safe place. In the end, I accounted that your injuries were far greater than I had realized. You had to be healed. There was no time to pick or choose. So I jumped and brought you here. This world's magic would be able to heal you and send you home once I acquired enough power.' Halo explained.
"Ok that explains one thing but who is the other soul?" I asked. Halo's face grew loving.
'Your husband.' Halo said. It hit me right in the heart. I stumbled slightly.
"So he interfered and then you sent her here? But what exactly are you since you are a spirit from her world and not here?" Wynne asked. It was comforting but it hurt too. The realization that he sent Halo to protect me made me want to go home more.
'In our world, they would have called me fallen but in this world my role has changed. I protect her so they have deemed me Protection. Even so, my power grows the longer I spend here in the fade so that one day I may send her home.' Halo explained. I couldn't take it anymore and fell to my knees. With me on the ground, the vision vanished and we were back in the real fade.
"So I do get to go home. Oh God, thank God. Thank you Halo." I sobbed in my hands.
'My name is Acquirer but Halo will do.' Halo nodded. 'Now have you gotten your answer Holder of Faith?' I looked up to see a flustered Wynne.
"Er, yes that will do thank you." Wynne cleared her throat. Halo nodded before going back into his usual form.
'Good. I believe in mortal terms it is time to, Wake Up.'
I opened my eyes and let out a shaky breath. I blinked a few times before tears rushed down my face. There was hope. There was a chance. I put my hands to my mouth to keep myself from openly sobbing. The feeling of happiness and being loved was overwhelming. My husband saved me and Halo was going to take me home one day.
Thank God for sending me Halo and my husband. Because of them I finally get to go home. One day.
One day.
Beta'd by FearaNightmare and Syutaku!
The first time I wrote, I wasn't sure what Halo was. It wasn't until I played Inquisition that Halo finally fleshed out in my mind. But then I didn't do him justice when I wrote all those old chapters ago. I wasn't sure what powers he would be able to grant Nia or what he could do. Eventually I dubbed him as Protection though once 'that' happens, he does begin to grow in a more human sense. His powers will also remain stable instead of going all over the place. Like he will only absorb mana and the fade seems to be in easy reach which is why mages can cast spells easier but, when they touch Nia physically, Halo takes. Of course why this happens later on!
Shout out to Norgrath and Elven-in-name for following! Thank you Grin like the Cherise Cat (Sorry), Undeadhero143 (Yes it is), and Syutaku (thank you so much!) for reviewing!
Chimera Spyke: I tend to be the optimist in my group so I would think mages in our world would make things better though everyone else has other ideas as well. I hope this answers how Halo would react to Wynne :3
WindBear47: Unfortunately they won't be able to meet. Solana will stay in Kinloch Hold.
Please Review!