The Aegis faltered; his hand could not draw against his own lord,

But neither could it be stayed as his Prophet was betrayed.

Unarmed, he stood between Andraste and the Tevinters.

A spear pierced his chest twice, and he fell.

Andraste 1:13

'Thinking to kill me?' Veldrin asked of the darkness in her chamber; she needed no light to sense the other's presence, and she did not wonder how he had managed to get in unnoticed. The eluvian in the library was very much still active; he'd have known how to navigate the Crossroads to reach it, and her servants were not guards.

'There is nothing I would wish more than to do so,' Abelas responded.

'Well,' the woman said, closing the door behind her, and turning her back to him, 'do it. I will not fight you, even to defend myself.'

She did not hear him inch closer; she did, however hear him shift his weight uncomfortably.

'Unless, of course,' Veldrin softly spoke, 'you think a simple stab would be too merciful for the dimensions of my so-called treason.'

'I do think that,' the man responded. 'But the world never ceases to mock - I need you alive, and I have dire need of your counsel. This truth,' he uttered, in a low hiss, 'brings me pain and disgust.'

'Of course,' Veldrin shrugged. 'Still, if you're not minded to kill me for it would be too swift a punishment, may I light some candles? I don't see well in the dark, and I should think that you will hate me even more if you actually see the robes I am wearing.'

'Do as you wish,' Abelas said; she closed her eyes, and willed all of the readied candles in her room alight. She then looked at him, over her shoulder, and willed the fireplace alight as well, for it was winter in Minrathous and he was neither accustomed to the cold, nor dressed for it. He did not even blink.

'Could you reach Solas, if you wished?' she asked, fully turning to face him. The man hesitated, yet it was obvious the robes of a Tevinter Magister were not the implement to give him pause – just even greater reason for pain and disgust.

'If I was so determined, I could, but it would be too great a risk for too little gain. You have rendered him useless to all of us, but his survival still serves to distract.' Abelas said, dryly.

She sorrowfully nodded, and strode to sit on the corner of her bed; the man looked at her with narrowed eyes, as if he'd been suspicious this was some misguided attempt at seduction. Of course, she dully thought – perhaps he considered this had been how she'd gotten so deeply under Solas' skin that she had managed to defeat him…

'I shall take a seat,' he dryly announced, and Veldrin nodded, though it was obvious the Abelas was not asking for permission. There was a little comfort to be had in the fact that he picked a chair that was obviously close to the fire. It was still as far away from her as he could possibly sit.

'How fare you in Senate?' Abelas asked; the utter lack of irony truly surprised her.

'I have some friends, but they are few. The others, well…They don't openly spit at me,' Veldrin earnestly replied. 'I disgust some, I frighten others…'

'You have taken an useful name,' he noted, again, with a surprising lack of any caustic undertone. 'It is said that you have the Archon's ear; it is also said that the Forgotten Ones greeted you as an equal. Is this true?'

Veldrin hesitated for a moment. 'Yes,' she cautiously replied, 'but I do not fully understand what that means...'

'That they see you as a friend. All friends are fickle,' he stated. 'Only true enemies are steady.'

'It is good, then, to know that I can count on you,' the woman replied, smiling; he sternly nodded. 'Why have you risked this, Abelas? You should not have come in person.' Veldrin asked. 'You are in great danger here, and not from me.'

He nodded again. 'I know that,' Abelas simply answered. 'Anaris watches and listens.'

It was Vel's turn to nod.

'If he had been minded to kill me, or afford me the same treatment as Solas,' the man indifferently said, 'he would have done it already. Thus, I can only assume that he is more interested in watching me humble myself before you than in killing me.'

'I dare say you are not making much of a spectacle,' Veldrin replied, arching an eyebrow – and indeed, she considered, no truer words had ever been spoken, for the man carried himself in such a way that she felt caught on the back foot. 'Nor do I wish you to,' she added, in a gentle tone. 'I can guess why you are here,' the woman followed, 'and if it is within my power to aid you, I shall, without reservation.'

Abelas measured her though half lidded eyes. 'I have no choice but to believe you,' he said, after a century of cold consideration. 'If I had had one, I would not be here. For all the things that you have done,' the man began, 'I cannot think that Solas would have cared so deeply for a true enemy of the people, and thus hold on to some hope that you are not pure evil…'

'Just lethally misguided,' Veldrin completed, with a crooked smile.

'We are defenceless without him,' Abelas said, not bothering to acknowledge her words, 'and still, the ones best left forgotten and the slaving usurpers have not yet come for us. The influence you wield cannot, therefore, be underestimated.'

'I wish that were true, old, steady enemy,' Veldrin answered, 'but I have not fought for your cause. Not yet, at least – Arlathan does not seem to be immediate on their minds, and I did not wish to bring it to the fore. I suspect,' she sighed, 'that your humiliation and that of my vhenan will not suffice; Lusacan will enjoy the humiliation of the entirety of Arlathan far more.'

'And to your mind, this is why…'

He did not finish the phrase, and he did not have to, as both of them recognised truth.

'So, it truly is death or shame, in the end,' Abelas said; for the first time, there'd been emotion in his voice, but whether it had been pain, disgust, or anger, Vel could not tell. 'I know which one you'd pick,' he added. 'Your human mate has taught you how to swallow well enough, I'd wager.'

'I've taken a useful name, as you have yourself noted,' Veldrin snarled; Abelas raised his eyes to hers and smiled, but she did not allow him the triumph. 'If your hope is that you will anger me enough to send you spinning back from whence you came, let you hang yourself and thus relieve you of hard choices, Abelas,' the woman said, dryly, 'it is vain hope. It is death or shame, or, perhaps better phrased, pride or survival. Though you may doubt it, I would choose pride for myself at each juncture; I am still not mad enough to think that I have any right to make that choice for one and all, as you and Solas are.'

'Our people were dying.' He angrily replied.

'Our people are dying,' Veldrin spat back. 'Solas fucked up; the humans defeated us once, and will defeat us again if they choose to, and, yes, we shall need to bend knee to them if we are to survive…'

'We would not need to, if you had not betrayed us all.' Abelas sneered.

'If I had been as willing as you and Solas to kill all that stand in my way, you mean.' She furiously corrected. 'I'm not, and I am not sorry for it. It was by Solas' mistake that the humans triumphed over Elvhenan, and for me, it is now too late to remedy that mistake. I do not know about your world, but in mine, in this one, once you have made the original mistake, you do not simply get to erase the consequences.'

'In other words, if you allowed the rats to nest, you have no right to eradicate the infestation?' he sharply queried.

'Humans are not rats. Qunari are not rats.' Veldrin replied. 'Nor are my people the remorseless killers you and Solas sought to turn them into.'

'Easy to speak so; you doubtlessly think you would die last, when the rising waters finally reached you, on the snowy top of the mountain that is your moral high ground,' Abelas said.

'I would at least die with pride,' she said, between her gritted teeth. 'The pride of knowing that my people were better than the Shem, to the very last. I'd would gladly die with the pride of knowing that we are more intelligent and kinder, and fairer than they are, on every hour of every day…And you've given me no reason to take pride in that – do you have any idea what you have exposed those of the people who did not choose to follow you to?'

The man took a deep breath and shifted his glance. 'We've left them to the care of those they chose to trust above us, their kin…'

'Except that you don't regard anyone who doubts your way your kin,' Veldrin said, coldly.

'While you and yours made no such distinction,' he chuckled. 'Leave well be, da'len, I've seen first-hand how the Dalish thought – still think – of their city born brethren.'

'…and we know all too well how well that division served us all.' She said, holding her anger in check. 'By the fact that you are here, I gather that neither you, nor Solas, not even the ancient truths that you kept to yourselves for thousands of years have been able to mend this, and that, in fact, you've added a further degree of separation…'

'I'm here because your actions have rendered our position untenable,' Abelas said, darting to his feet, 'both within and without Arlathan's walls; you spoke of death or shame – and, at the moment, those within the walls still have that choice. Those outside the walls, bar yourself, and the handful of Tevinter Liberati in the chainless tow of their human masters, no longer have one…because…because,' he continued, his voice dropping to a pained whisper, 'we've all, in different ways, chipped away at it until nothing remained. If such is your pleasure, I will admit to that.'

'I neither need nor want you to do so, Abelas,' she kindly said. 'It gives me no pleasure, nor does it lessen the task before us both…'

Veldrin rested her forehead in her hand. '…which is to say,' she softly uttered, 'two things, I think; firstly, that you have decided for shame, else you would not stoop so low as to be here. You'd not need me if you had chosen death – the question, then, remains, how much shame you, personally, are willing to shoulder, and how we lessen it for all others.'

The Sentinel closed his eyes, and let out a pained breath.

'It does not have to be me. You can try Marquise Briala, and I will gladly intercede.' Veldrin said, allowing him time for thought. 'Orlesian recognition of an Elvhen nation…'

'Will give me…us, nothing, even if the Marquise's influence on Empress Celene is as strong as it is rumoured.' Abelas bitterly said. 'We need protection, armed protection of whatever borders shall be granted – Orlais is not a threat to us, and neither is Ferelden, for we have nothing that they want. Quite to the contrary, I should think.'

She nodded thoughtfully, and gazed into the fire.

'The only way that we will be safe from the Imperium is if we are already…already in their claws,' he whispered. 'I am not under any illusion that they will defend what is ours, but they shall defend what they think they own…'

'Who shall we be irking?' Veldrin impulsively asked; he visibly hesitated. 'You know that if this is to happen, there will be visible borders,' she reminded. 'The continent will know where we are, and whatever land we land on will have more than one nation hawking for it. Thus, we will need to think carefully whose shoes we will be stepping on. Perhaps refrain from stepping on some.'

'I cannot bring myself to think like this,' Abelas said, shaking his head – the woman gazed upon him with warmth and sadness.

'But you are here because I can,' Veldrin reminded.

'Of course you can,' he sighed. 'The world you were born in was a maimed one already…You're used to begging for what was once ours.'

'Perhaps,' the woman answered, trying to ignore the sting – he seemed too tired and defeated, and his words were quite true. 'Do you have counsel?' Veldrin inquired, leaning slightly forth.

He sorrowfully shrugged, but conceded to the truth. 'Not of your…acumen,' Abelas said. 'Very few of the people have been raised so high as you yourself have risen, and I do not think Marquise Briala trustworthy…'

Veldrin chuckled. 'Well, maybe – but do recall that she thwarted Solas without knowing she was, and that should raise her above me, in terms of trustworthiness. But, no, I did not mean Briala, though I think you two will become acquainted sooner rather than later. If we are to accomplish anything, I shall need Briala on side here.'

'On the Shem'len side, you mean,' Abelas said, angrily looking aside.

'The only Shem friends you will have are my friends and her friends,' the woman sharply answered. 'And you'll need many, many more than you know.'

She scratched her head. 'Uhh,' she breathed out. 'Let me explain what I am thinking,' Veldrin said, standing and beginning to pace. He followed her with his glance – it was still icy, she thought, but there was undeniable fascination in it as well. Fascination bordering on dread, but still…

'I don't want the location of Arlathan to be known before we have a plan,' she said. 'I trust my husband, and the head of my Senatorial fraction with my life, but my house is now full of human servants, who have been hired in a bit of a haste, due to…'

'Hm,' the man interrupted, with a dry cough. 'In short, people you do not trust.'

'Yes,' she curtly nodded. 'Were that no so,' Vel sighed, 'I would call Dorian and Magistra Tilani in here, now, tonight, and see what borders you propose…But if that map or even word of it were to leave this room, and end up in the hands of our enemies, of which, I assure you, we have many, the nations that might lust for our land would mount a claim to them before we can present them to the powers who might allow us to have them.'

He bit his lower lip and breathed in deeply. 'The Imperium has its Gods,' Abelas reasoned. 'If ever it had reason to be fearless…'

'Indeed,' Veldrin quickly approved, 'but Archon Radonis, personally, can still fear the Magisterium. The more weapons we hand them against us – such as say, border disputes with Nevarra, or the Free Marches, or Gods forbid, Par Vollen, who has still not given the Imperium a peace treaty – the less free reign he will have to give us an even remotely favourable settlement.'

'We want Radonis to hear us first and loudest,' the woman said. 'We have no leverage, Abelas,' she said, stopping her pacing to meet his glance. 'All we can hope for is to reduce the Magisterium's leverage as well; if we set our hair on fire before it is time, we will be spending all our time on our knees, and achieve nothing.'

'So…so what exactly are you suggesting, Keeper Lavellan?' he stuttered, both dread and fascination clearly shining in his eyes now.

'I suggest we bring a map that would be an acceptable risk to Radonis,' Veldrin said. 'One that he could not, in good conscience, argue down too much.'

'The heir of Darinius and good conscience sit not well in the same thought…And how would I…Good heavens,' Abelas said, running his fingers though his hair. 'How would I know what is on that Shem's mind, if I have not your counsel?'

She helplessly shrugged. 'And I cannot counsel you, because I do not outright know what we shall be asking for, neither in terms of land, nor in terms of concessions, and I should not know it in detail, my old enemy,' she sorrowfully said. 'My walls here have ears, and more than the Lord Watcher watch.'

'So, yet again, how would I know…'

'Flavius,' Veldrin said. 'You have Flavius.'

For a heartbeat, it seemed as if the colour had drained from even his vallaslin. 'How do you know that?' Abelas hissed. 'How do you know…'

'Oddly enough, I know Flavius well,' the Magistra answered. 'He…he was not a close friend of mine, mind you...'

'Of course,' he smirked. 'Women of great names do not befriend menial scribblers.'

'Quite to the contrary,' Vel chuckled. 'Men in the Archon's utter confidence do not make politically dangerous friends. I was not Lucerni, yet, but my husband openly was, and Flavius was unofficially as much a face of the Archon's office as the Archon himself; he could not be friends with a Pavus, even a Pavus that happens to be an elf. Any trace of open closeness would have damaged both him, and I.'

'Flavius grew up with Radonis.' She added. 'If there is anyone within your walls who knows what he thinks and how he thinks, it is him. If I were you, I would find his counsel priceless. Mayhaps better than my own.'

'Go on,' he said, between clenched teeth. 'Why should I trust this man?'

'Because no one leaves power and relative wealth such as Flavius had to chance their lives, if they do not believe in a cause,' Veldrin replied. 'Doubt it not: Altus or not, Pavus or not, by Radonis' favour, Flavius was the strongest of our people in the Imperium, far stronger than I was. He'd not have left if he had not resented the Imperium. Even though, perhaps, he does not resent Radonis himself. Ask him, Abelas, then judge him for yourself – whatever he says should inform you, even if you find him not to be trusted...If you find him not worthy, do the opposite of what he advises.'

The man looked into the fire for a long, long time.

'Were you this self-controlled, cynical monster that you now are, when Solas first knew you?' Abelas asked.

She laughed, for he did not understand that even the most powerful of insults washed off her, now, much as water waves at their greatest, foaming rage, broke and became sparse upon the jagged teeth of cliffs.

'Do you find me an useful, self-controlled, cynical monster, though?' Veldrin asked; his silence lingered, so she strolled to her drinks table, straying as close to him as she had thus far done. She poured herself a drink, offering him no hospitality.

It was good that they were not friends, Veldrin thought. Very good indeed.

'I do, thus far,' Abelas said, standing.

'Good,' she said, looking into her glass. 'One thing you need to know about us short lived, pointy-eared Shem is that we learn very fast – we have no choice, our life spans are so very…limited. This makes us hungry for knowledge, and quick to digest it. I've learned a lot from Solas about being a self-controlled and cynical monster. More than you have learned, I think, Abelas.'

Hm, poor Abelas in this one; strong on the hubris, frail on...everything else, really.

Have the two people who most closely following Solas decided that they are going to support his cause and not him? What else could happen that would be worse news?

Oh ya...Something worse could happen.

Thank you for reading, we really do love comments, (like genuinely really, Abstract goes really happy and funky when we get them),

Abstract & Ivi