The Daughter of Tethras
Disclaimer: Don't own Dragon Age
A/N:
Chapter 18 (Stand up and Fight)
They reached Skyhold and everyone remained busy trying to get settled into place, so Bianca didn't have much time to talk to her father at all. She wanted to, but now she was nervous about what they might talk about. It would happen, but not while everyone was so busy. They needed to have this conversation when there was downtime.
Cassandra pulled her aside while she was admiring the massive castle they found. Debris and rubble cluttered the place, and yet, its massive walls and walkways still stood beyond the centuries it existed. "I think I feel more secure here than I've felt anywhere else," she joked. "It's not home, but it'll do."
"I agree," Cassandra replied. The woman smiled at her and extended her hand. "Come, let's walk together." Bianca nodded and followed the woman, breathing in slowly. "They arrive here by the dozen, word travels fast."
"Clearly." She was astonished by it as well, though it was a bit off-putting. People were calling her the reason they were alive, and while that may be true, she hated the hero worship. During Giselle's song, people began bowing in front of her and it made her highly uncomfortable.
"As long as people stop worshipping me…"
"I know you're not comfortable with a lot of it, but you must understand how these people see you."
"I do, it's just…weird."
"It isn't something you asked for, it isn't something you wanted, but greatness isn't always something people choose." She rolled her eyes and turned towards Cassandra, peering down at her hand as the woman looked to it. "We do know what drew Corypheus to you now as well."
"Yes. I stole his anchor and he wants me dead. Add him to the list of people who want me dead, and what else is new?" Cassandra chuckled softly and started walking up the nearby steps to the upper battlements.
"The anchor has power but it's not the reason we're here. Your decisions healed the sky, you're his rival because of what you've done and he knows it. Everyone knows it." She frowned as they started to reach the top, where Leliana was waiting for them.
The woman, one of her personal heroes was now standing before her with a look of reverence while holding a long sword horizontally in her hands. "Oh no, this isn't what I think, is it?" Fear gripped her heart and she looked out at the crowd of people below, and standing with them were Cullen and Josephine.
"The Inquisition needs a leader, someone who can stand and guide them, someone strong. They need someone that has already been leading it…" Her heart was pulled down by the panic and she shot a look at Cassandra and whimpered once. "You."
This wasn't what she wanted. She wanted everything to be over, she wanted to leave and live her life. She wanted to be with her father. If she led these people, there was no telling what would happen. "Y-You can't be serious. Cassandra, I-I'll never have a normal life."
"We both know that you haven't had a normal life to this point, but when all of this is over, there could be that chance."
"I never asked for this. What happens if I don't want this?"
"We've all sacrificed, but we're not done, you're not done."
"But-"
"If nothing else, Corypheus still wants you dead. Without you, the Inquisition will be alone, you will be alone." She cringed at the thought, but she was right. It was already pissing her off that she couldn't have a normal life, that just as she found her father, things were already set in motion to make that a difficult connection to achieve-and now some random asshole was going to be even more persistent in getting rid of her than the people that were already trying to.
"Bianca, I do believe that the Maker intended you for this. We need each other." She raised her head and looked out at the people before looking to Cassandra. Her lips separated for a single breath and her chest expanded slowly. "How you lead us is for you to decide, but I know you need us as much as the Inquisition needs you."
"You're right." She didn't want to be alone, that much she was certain. "I'm so tired of running, so tired of fighting by myself."
"So don't," Leliana whispered. The woman looked up with a motherly smile. Bianca could feel the tears fighting their way from her eyes, so she held onto her breath and tensed up to try and hold them down.
"You've come so far from that child that we saved from the deep roads." She let out a single gasp and shut her eyes. "Even then you were running from someone, weren't you?"
"Marcus. Amelia. Darkspawn…"
"You've said it before. All your life, people have wanted you gone. Your father doesn't want you gone, Bianca. We don't want you gone. We're here for you. Now maybe your real mother wants you gone, maybe your adoptive parents and the Carta would love to be rid of you, and now a greater evil wants you destroyed…you cannot keep running. The longer you run, the more chance there will always be someone else chasing after you because they know you won't fight back."
"Won't fight back?" Bianca scoffed and the tears overpowered her struggle. Leliana couldn't know how correct she was, even Lantos once told her when they were together, she 'made it easy' to be abused. "All my life, I just took the abuse. I was worthless, no one ever gave a damn about me."
"And now you have people who care for you. People who will be loyal, people who will stand behind you-stand with you-so long as you would have them. You're not defenseless. If you'll lead them, guide them, protect them…they can protect you as well."
She looked back to the sword and bit down on her lower lip, chewing it for a second. Her eyebrows dipped in the center and her teeth started to grind together. There was no sense in fighting this. No, she was done running and done with hiding.
Done being abused because she couldn't fight back.
"I can fight back." Her muscles tensed and she could picture Lantos in her mind with his smug grin and his arms crossed. Behind him, the army of their clan. Further behind she pictured Amelia and Marcus Cadash, and finally the dark silhouette that was her mother.
"Bianca? Will you accept this? Will you lead the Inquisition?"
In her vision she saw Corypheus rising above the others, the last insult, the latest murderer-the latest abuser.
"Corypheus will never let me live in peace." None of them would. "He made that clear. He intends to be a god, to rule over us all." Even if it wasn't Corypheus, it was every person that stood as a block against her. Not only did Corypheus need to be stopped, for the greater good of the world, so did everyone else that stood between her and her father or her and a life of peace. "Corypheus must be stopped."
Cassandra pat her on the shoulder and approached the crowd, looking down at Josephine and Cullen. "Have our people been told?" Her voice echoed in the sky, drawing Bianca's attention.
"They have," Josephine replied graciously, "And soon the world."
"Commander, will they follow?"
Cullen chuckled and turned around a bit too excitedly. "Will you follow?" He asked to the crowd. They roared their applause, and for the first time, Bianca didn't feel the slightest bit uncomfortable. It was still overwhelming, however. "Will you fight?" They cheered once more, forcing a relieved chuckle from her lips. "Will we triumph?"
He drew his blade. "Your leader." Turned around. "Your herald." And pointed the blade to her. "Your Inquisitor!"
Afterwards, she followed her advisors into the grand hall of the castle, where a throne chair sat before magnificent stained glass windows. Despite the rubble on the floor, the hall looked more than sturdy. It wouldn't take much to clean, and once they restored the place, she was confident it would stand strong.
She remembered the words in the first letter that Lantos had sent to her, suggesting that she was hiding behind the Inquisition. Now she could feel those words with more force, because Skyhold was truly a shelter if nothing else. This army of people could protect her, keep her safe, and she knew that.
Hell, even one of her advisors was somebody that had shielded her more than once already.
"But I'm not hiding. No. Not anymore." She looked at the scar on her hand and narrowed her eyes as she tried in vain to listen to what her advisors were saying. "No I'm not weak, I'm not powerless. Try as much as you want, hit as hard as you can, because I swear to god I will hit back and it will be harder than anything you can dish out. I'm done running around like a scared little girl."
Leliana was right to say she wasn't that same girl running from the darkspawn in the deep roads. She was so much more, and if it took the Inquisition to get her to realize that, so be it.
She lowered her hand and turned to her advisors. In order to best understand her enemy, she needed to know who he was otherwise they had nothing. "I know what Lantos is, I know who the Carta is, I know all of the people that if they threaten me, they threaten the Inquisition. For now, we need to know who is Corypheus…"
"Right."
They went on to discuss him, discussing the possibility of him becoming powerful enough to become a 'god'. The other question on her mind was whether or not this dragon he had with him was an Archdemon. The only issue with that theory was that they hadn't spotted any darkspawn yet, so the chances were unlikely that this was anything close to the sort. Although it was still dangerous yet.
He also wanted to restore Tevinter, so there was always a chance that this entire thing could cause a war with them, but that was uncertain. Although there were no doubts among anyone that the Tevinter Imperium would enjoy seeing the south crumble.
"We're safe here, right? Corypheus can't attack us here? We don't need a repeat of Haven being destroyed."
"I'd bet against a direct attack," Cullen replied, "We have the walls to withstand an attack anyway."
Leliana moved her hands behind her back and stretched herself. "We have one advantage." They looked to the woman. "We know what he intends to do next, and we can work to prevent this…in that future you went to, it was said that Empress Celene was assassinated. If that happened, he could take control and garner an army."
"He could conquer all of Thedas," Josephine stated, "God or no god."
"Yes. I do wish we knew more about who we were dealing with…"
A shuffling noise caught Bianca's attention and she looked to the entrance to see Varric walking towards them. "I know someone that might be able to help with that," Varric said with the most casual voice he could muster. "Someone with the experience and knowledge to help. He's crossed paths with Corypheus before, and may know more about what he's doing."
Bianca grinned, thinking Varric could be talking about Thane Hawke. The only problem here was he told Cassandra that he didn't know where Thane was, but if he reached out, that would be revealed as a lie.
Cassandra would be furious, so Bianca was going to have to do some damage control if anything happened. She figured Varric might be trying to protect his friend for whatever reason, that had to be the only reason he would lie about knowing how to find him.
Regardless, if Thane could shed some light on Corypheus, she would be eager to hear from him. "Introduce me." Varric nodded and then grew pale when she flashed a smirk. "I'd love to meet him." Perhaps he had just realized that he would be introducing his best friend and his daughter. "Thane might also be a good source of information for stories about my father too."
"Alright, I'll bring him up to the battlements. Come talk to him when you're ready, I know you may want to get your bearings first."
"Yeah, and thank you."
Here you see a transformation, if you will. Tell me what are your thoughts? Opinions?