The Great Choir of Silence shook

As the earth trembled in holy terror.

A wordless scream is if from

The legions of dead slaves rose

To the zenith of the black sky.

Silence 2:5

'A little face-painted savage appears,' one of the others remarked; for as relieved as she was to see that she was not truly the only elf left, Veldrin smirked.

'An Altus appears, Liberato,' she answered, dryly. 'Should you not stand?'

'Do not be ridiculous,' the other elf sneered, in return. 'You are no Magister.'

'But I am,' Dorian put in sweetly, causing the colour to drain from the daring one's cheeks as he entered Radonis' antechamber, just a step behind her. 'Besides, is it not common politeness to stand when a lady enters the room?'

And then, they all did stand, and lowered their glances, like the well trained puppets they were. Veldrin looked away, chewing on fiery rage; no wonder, she thought, that Solas had left these behind. If Dorian, or any human, for that matter, had instructed them to jump, they would have asked how high, and weather a curtsy upon landing was needed. These…seven, she counted, might have been the last few elves in Minrathous, but they were certainly not the last of the Elvhen.

She knew three of them by name, the rest by sight, and was fond of none, as none were fond of her. All were mages, yet, due to their class, they had no chance of ever acceding to even the lower chamber of Senate. Their hostility towards her had been immediate, more poignant than that of the humans and infinitely more jarring, even more so because they truly thought themselves Imperial citizens, and thus, far above Veldrin herself.

In a sense, she thought, drawing herself to as remote a corner of the room, and as far away from the others as possible, she well understood their frustration and spite, for she had been swiftly elevated. Unlike them, in Tevinter's eyes, she was Laetan – born of magic-less parents, but free; her marriage had made her a citizen, and once she had recovered her arm, the Altus title had followed as more or less of a technicality. She might not have flaunted it either, for she was not immodest and well understood the unfairness of the limitations, yet, though she'd attempted to endear herself to her people, in the beginning, she'd quickly come to grasp that the only thing they had in common was the shape of their ears.

These men and women were Tevinter, more so than Dorian would ever be; they fiercely envied those above, and ruthlessly oppressed those they had left behind, in a frenzy of showing the humans that they were exactly like them, hence worthy of elevation. Looking upon them, and in their random brushes along the corridors of the senate, she'd learned that they too had come to engineer their marriages, that they too chased the perfect mage, the one that would finally ascend. Some had married humans and had human children, but they were still inherently submissive to them…

'Deep breaths, Amata,' Dorian said, tucking her hair behind her ears. 'Let's not start with decapitations before the Archon does.'

'Gods, Dorian, if Radonis plans to have us all thrown down a hundred-foot-deep hole…'

'I'll make sure you get your very own oubliette to starve in, and are not stuck with Gladius.' The human quietly chuckled.

'You know his name?' she muttered.

'Of course I know his name, he's Cassius' secretary. Don't you read my correspondence?'

'Only Lexi's letters,' Veldrin answered, trying to smile.

'Good choice,' Dorian nodded, 'though Cassius is entertaining in his own right. And the fact that Gladius is out here,' he followed, biting his lower lip, 'can only mean that Cassius is in there,' he ended, tilting his head towards Radonis' door.

'…which may be very bad,' Vel replied.

'Or very good,' the man whispered, 'given the fact that Radonis is bound to have questions, and Cassius has no answers. I am sure that his first and best idea was to gather those who, for one reason or another, have been left behind in Solas' rapture, and beat whatever he imagines is the truth out of them.'

'That would fit my definition of very bad, Dorian,' the elf said.

'Indeed,' he nodded, 'but I don't think Radonis is interested in what Cassius thinks is the truth – he will be interested in the actual truth. Might not spare any of your fervent admirers here any beatings. You're a different category altogether, Altus,' he ironically put in.

'Spare me,' the elf sighed.

'You would have made my mother so proud! The dreadnought-like poise, the hammer-like grace…'

'I'm not going to apologise to Gladius, if that is what you are subtly hinting at,' Veldrin said, scowling. 'If I had known my vallaslin would cause so much ire and derision from Minrathous to bloody Denerim to the blessed fade…'

'You'd have had them removed?' Dorian guessed, arching an eyebrow.

'No,' she huffed, 'I would have gone for the elaborate version, the one that covers everything but the whites of my eyes and glows in the dark. Shem,' she sighed, not speaking of the only human in the room; he knew as much and smiled, pulling her to his chest.

'We will be alright as long as we are useful,' the Magister quietly said. 'So let us be very useful,' he added, straightening as the door to Radonis' study opened, and a liveried human servant bowed to them, inviting them in.

She followed him without further thought, not letting herself feel the anger and humiliation of those left behind.

The communication crystals which hung in suspended animation above Radonis' desk were lighting up like fairy lights on Satinalia, after absolutely every soul had had too much to drink. Equally mesmerising was the come-and-go of various Altus, who picked one of the crystals amid the row, called out the name of a city…

…Quarinus…Perivantium…Vol Dorma…Vyrantium…

…then rushed out of earshot, to receive reports.

Archon Radonis was no longer interested in hearing them, for they had all sounded the same for the past two hours, and all said but one thing: the elves were vanishing, all of them, to a child; from cook to passionate lover to learned scribe they were all simply…evaporating, in all of those cities, and more were disappearing by the minute.

Veldrin was too focused to be frightened, or rather, she felt that her heart was frozen while her mind was on fire. It was equally odd to note how much genuine sympathy she felt for Radonis' personal troubles – she'd not come to care for Tevinter more than she cared for the other human nations, yet on the same note, she did not think one human state more despicable than the others. Whether they outright enslaved the Elvhen or merely impoverished and hunted them, they were all the same, in her eyes. Even so, she did not confuse the overall nation with the person who led it, and Radonis undoubtedly had her respect.

Now, perhaps, even a smidgeon of affection, for it was obvious that being hostile to the few remaining elves was the last thing on Radonis' mind. It was not far from Cassius', though.

'Why is she here?' Magister Cassius spat, looking past her and addressing Dorian.

The elf managed a cheeky half-grin. 'I was invited, Magister Cassius. Just as you were.'

'Does it occur to you that perhaps now might be a good time to start controlling that elf of yours?' Cassius followed, fully ignoring her. 'I know a manly punch is far removed from your possibilities, but a bitch slap…'

'You seem in need of being slapped yourself, Cassius.' Dorian said, dryly. 'You are hysterical and just about on the verge of hyperventilating. I fear for your health, let alone your focus.'

'Enough, please,' Radonis sighed, crashing in his imposing seat; he pressed his fingers to his temples, and briefly closed his eyes. When he reopened them, his glance was decisively set on Veldrin. 'How is he doing this?' he asked, with no introduction, and paying no heed to the fact that Cassius had sourly pursed his lips. 'How do we stop it?'

'Your grace,' the elf began, sorrowfully shaking her head, 'I…'

'She doesn't know, and even if she did, she would not tell us,' Cassius spitefully interrupted. 'We are wasting precious time. If I may…'

'Why is Gladius still here?' Dorian interrupted, cutting the other Magister off in mid-sentence.

'Excuse me?' Cassius frowned. 'Are you implying…'

'We are implying nothing, Magister Cassius,' Veldrin sighed, guessing where Dorian was leading. 'We have truly seen nothing and felt nothing, and we responded to the summons before we could question our remaining…help,' she said, biting her lower lip. 'No elf was left in our household, and we know of at least one, if not two or three who would not have left us willingly. Why Gladius is still here is a question of great import.'

'Is it not obvious?' Cassius muttered. 'He is a mage, and he resisted it, for he is well trained. When that creature appeared, he shielded himself and cast at it, so it vanished empty handed…'

'Whereas my scribe didn't,' Radonis said, a distinct twinge of sadness in is voice. 'I see. But Veldrin, you…must have resisted this as well. Correct?'

She did not know whether to laugh or weep. 'No,' she replied in a small voice. 'No, I did not – so you see, Magisters, your grace, my loyalty to the Imperium is so great and so well known to our enemy that I was not even…invited to his impromptu clans meet.' Veldrin added, in mock cheer.

'Vel,' Dorian said, softly; she simply shook her head, and took a deep breath though gritted teeth.

'You mentioned a creature,' the elf said, looking Cassius in the eyes – still baffled, the man shook his head, in turn.

'Gladius alone saw it,' he said. 'Should I…'

'Not needed,' the Archon replied, shaking his head. 'You have a witness sitting before you.'

'Your grace?' Dorian inquired, with a frown.

Radonis leaned back in his seat, and nodded. 'I was in the middle of a dictation for the resolution with blasted Ferelden,' he said, 'when my scribe's hand suddenly froze, and he looked up at me with this blank, tense expression – as if his mind had suddenly been drawn away; for a moment, I had the sensation that I'd said something outrageous to so distract him, and was about to ask him what it had been, then…something…'

'Something, your grace?' Cassius asked.

'Yes, Cassius,' Radonis muttered. 'I may have had a complex past hour, but I am still in control of my language – creature was no more descriptive. Something that looked like a spirit, but clearly was not one, as it was corporeal…I could tell, because when it put its hands on Flavius' shoulders I saw the indentation on his robes, as it latched. It then just pulled him into nothingness, knocking the chair back; there was a brief and very subdued flash of light, some minor thermal release, and they were both gone. I did not even feel the veil warp until in the aftermath, and the sensation was minute.'

'I've never seen anything akin to it,' he softly ended.

The elf bit her lower lip, her thoughts whirring like a hurricane. 'We may have,' she said, questioningly looking to Dorian; he narrowed his eyes.

'Sentinels?' he asked. Veldrin decisively shook her head.

'No, sounds more like the guardians at Fen'Harel's sanctuary, before the Vir'Dashara,' she answered.

'Is this yet another titbit of information that was not worth our attention previously, Magister Pavus?' Cassius sneered.

Dorian rolled his eyes and sighed. 'That would have been a particularly short report, Magister Cassius. A riveting battle account, true…I could have told you we indeed fought something between the worlds, yet it might have remained at the status of something.'

'We've no idea what these actually are,' Veldrin followed. 'They appear as spirits, yes, but as you well noted, they are corporeal.'

'Indeed,' Dorian muttered. 'The one with the gigantic hammer was particularly corporeal. My teeth are clattering at the memory alone.'

'We do not know exactly what they are,' the elf tensely reiterated, 'but they truly are in-between creatures. They did not communicate as spirits or demons do – they spoke as mortals; I think they are spirits that do not possess a body, but are bound to it, willingly bound. Yet,' she followed, looking to Radonis, 'the sensation I had was that they were connected to Fen'Harel's sanctuary, to the actual place, not to…'

'Epic misjudgment from both of us, Amata,' Dorian sighed, nervously running his hand over his face. 'Mythal's sentinels were not bound to her temple – why would these be?'

'All of this elven superstition does nothing,' Cassius angrily put in.

'Elvhen superstition has just kicked us in the head and in the nuts in a single swing,' the other Magister answered, speaking the name of the people as it should have been spoken. 'I think…'

'The theology behind any of this is unimportant to me for the moment, Magisters,' Radonis said, dryly. 'I need a way in which this cataclysm can be stopped, now, before the entire country collapses around us and the Qun catch wind of it. Please tell me one of you has one.'

The two humans looked away from the Archon, and from each other. In turn, Veldrin lowered her glance, to disguise the fact that her eyes were glowing with rage.

Fool me once, shame on you, she thought. Fool me twice…And this is already the third time, vhenan.

She raised her eyes to Radonis'.

'I think I may have an idea,' Veldrin said; whatever was left of her heart was beating at the base of her throat. 'And if I may ask your grace for a great favour, I suggest we should start by making Magister Cassius happy and placing me under arrest.'

Hey all - unusually short chapter today, but we'll be back on Wednesday with the completion. The other half of our 5k words is different in tone, and we did not feel like the two halves read well together.

We thank you for reading and commenting, and we'll see you in a couple of days :)