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The next morning, she sent Varric, Cassandra and Solas investigating the lead on the warden, two good hours from where they were. The discussion had been heated for a time, but Cassandra finally accepted as Mahariel pointed out there was no need to be six of them only to see what wanted Fiona with them. None of them was a fool and knew way too-well something was going on here. Still, it had been made implicitly clear she was not to approach Redcliffe with them around. They conformed reluctantly. As there was only Bull, Sera and her left at the camp, it was easier for Mahariel. Sera didn't know everything, but she knew enough to withdraw if she asked her to. She had sent a late messenger to the castle during the night, hoping it will find Felix.
She went aloof from the camp to avoid Sera – who was pouting in her tent anyway because left out of the fun.
She took care of her war-paint, jewels and hair differently.
She took her claw-ring with the signet of Eventus, a silver string with a square ruby, a matching head-chain and a silver hairgrip with a black dragon with rubies as eyes. She took off her gauntlets and unclipped a finger of her left one to replace it with the signet one. She put the string above her armor.
She added a savant entanglement of little braids in her hair, gathering the whole thing into a bun. She finished the task by attaching the hairgrip and the head-chain. She changed her make-up for it to underline the head-chain. It was coming up in a peak to cover the all of the vallaslin. She added vertical lines crossing her eyes and lips. She kept the circle of magi symbol on her chin.
Bull had gone on an errand to the Crossroad to find her a staff. He had, subtly, chosen one with a skull at the top. She secured it on her back and stretched her neck. Here we go.
It didn't exactly begin well as they ran into a rift. The demons weren't especially strong. A tremor went through her spine as she leapt across the battle. She suddenly felt the world go…Slower? Was that a thing? Bull rushed on a pair of opponents, twirling with his axe. His eyes widened as his moves sped up unwillingly, making of him a deadly tornado. It settled quickly the issue of the demons and Mahariel held her hand as soon as she finally reached the ground.
"Fasta vass, what was that?!"
"What the fuck happened?!"
They yelled at the same time, looking at each other. They had no time to speak more that the doors began to open. They exchanged a look and withdrew quickly with a nod, not especially wanting to be acknowledged as the peoples who just closed it.
Her nose wrinkled the slightest. She had the unnerving feeling of being observed. Did Sera follow them? If she did, she was good, she could not manage to know where she was at all. She had no time to question the thing further as the man she was waiting for appeared. She cleared her throat slightly to direct him towards the shadows they were hidden in. He grinned and approached – quite slowly. She suppressed a sparkle of worry when she noticed his sick paleness and slowness. He gave her a warm hug as he spoke.
"Calessia! I'm so happy to see you!" She gave him his embrace back, smiling, and spoke with a strong Tevinter accent.
"Me too, Felix. My apologies for making this complicated."
"Don't worry about it. I'm simply relieved to know you are alive. With what happened at the Conclave…" He withdrew slightly, keeping her hands in his, she was to speak when another voice resounded.
"Felix? Where did you –"
Alexius stopped his steps as he took a glimpse of his son, Calessia and the Qunari. His eyes widened the slightest, more at the grey-skinned warrior than at the elf. He instantly put on a confident smile on his face, stepping towards them.
"Here you have been. I shouldn't be surprised. And Calessia, what a pleasure to see you here! I was wondering when I will be granted your visit. What an interesting pet you have here." Added he as he glanced towards Bull.
Both Mahariel and him suppressed the need to smash his head at the comment, considering it was sadly the plan for Bull to pass as a slave. She was more confused by the lack of surprise. He seemed to have been waiting for her. They exchanged a formal handshake as she bowed slightly.
"Magister Alexius. My apologies for such unconventional meeting." He held his hand.
"No, no, I understand. Knowing Eventus sent you at the Conclave, when I heard of this white-hair elf they called Herald, I figured." He chuckled smugly. "What were the odds? At any rate, I understood you decided to keep your identity for yourself. How commendable to protect the best interests of your Magister."
She noticed the sparkle of worry passing quickly through Felix's eyes as information hit home. Alexius went on, musing out loud. As Mahariel was keeping Alexius' attention, Bull noticed Felix searching his pocket in the meantime. With a lucky guess, he handed him discreetly a piece of paper.
"You are the survivor, the one from the Fade…How interesting. And you found yourself Herald of Andraste and agent of the Inquisition in the process. I imagine this is no visit of courtesy, is it?" Felix let out a small laugh.
"I would have loved to see the face of Magister Eventus when he learned that his apprentice is the blessed Herald of Andraste." Mahariel laughed.
"Me too, must have been quite the sight!" Alexius seemed eager to get to business and held a hand to his son.
"The southern mages are under my command." Mahariel grew serious.
"I gathered. I'm certain we can come to some sort of agreement, don't you think?"
"As reasonable as always, my friend."
He made a sign for her to follow him towards the gates, apparently with the intention to find a proper place for negotiation instead of standing there like thieves. She exchanged another amused look with Felix who offered her his elbow as they began to follow his father.
They, however, didn't get to reach the gates. Felix stumbled slightly, grabbing Mahariel's hands. She slid the paper into her sleeve without blinking. Alexius turned towards his son, with genuine concern. She let her own worry dawdling on her features a time as Alexius babbled something about keeping her Tevinter identity for himself and contacting the Inquisition for further discussions. Mahariel offered truthfully her help to put together some healing mists. He politely declined. The three of then exchanged very quick goodbyes as Mahariel came back towards Bull.
"What does the note say?" She chuckled.
"For someone with one eye, you manage to see a lot." He smirked, not pointing out he knew because he gave him the piece of paper.
Come to the Chantry, you are in danger.
"Well, I could have guessed that."
"To the Chantry, then."
Mahariel disappeared into stealth as Bull walked through Redcliffe. He kept his pace casual and, as Mahariel requested, exchanged few words with the inhabitants, for the word of the Inquisition being here spread. He made it quick, however, knowing their timing was short.
She slammed the door of the Chantry – that was becoming a habit obviously.
She was surprised to find a rift and an unknown man inside, fighting demons. He addressed her quickly as she ran into battle with the Qunari.
Once more, they experienced these most curious areas which would make them slower or quicker.
The unknown man happened to be a pariah well-known in Minrathous: Dorian Pavus. She knew him to be the former apprentice of Alexius. Bull frowned.
"Watch yourself. The pretty ones are always the worst." Mahariel, keeping her Tevinter accent, turned to him with a dramatic hand on the chest.
"Now, I'm offended." They noticed a bit too-late they were quite bad at the master-slave play. Dorian obviously didn't care the slightest about Bull's statue and chuckled.
"Suspicious friends you have here. I'm surprised you are without handcuffs." Mahariel exchanged a look with Bull and shrugged.
"No that they didn't try, but turns out I need my hands to wiggle my fingers." He laughed.
"I see. And don't be offended, my dear. No one can compete with my dashing hair." She smirked.
"I noticed."
"Of course, you have eyes. Wonderful ones, by the way." Added he with a wink.
They laughed a bit more before Dorian resumed his explanations. Time magic. She took few seconds to process, as Bull. Considering what happened with her agents…That was weirdly making sense. As much as time-magic could ever make sense. That was as grand as that was dangerous. Felix finally reappeared and helped cleared some dark passages.
"Calessia, you heard of the Venatori, didn't you?" She was to answer but Dorian cut her short taking a step back in a dramatic way.
"Calessia? Oh my, I did not realize who I was facing! I heard a lot about you, young lady!" He winked. She crossed her arms and smirked.
"I have heard much about you as well, Altus Pavus."
"Don't spill what people say about me or I will spill what they say about you? Fair enough. I still hope a proper discussion about the gossips later, you have been warned! Such a pleasure to meet my dear friend's dear friend!"
"I would share the pleasure more sincerely if the word Venatori had not been used twenty seconds ago. Felix, can you elaborate?"
He did, but not much. The conclusion was mostly, better intervening soon before everything gets to crap.
When Solas, Varric, Cassandra, and the newly recruited Blackwall made their way to the camp, Mahariel was back to her usual appearance.
They had briefed Sera for her story about the meeting to match their, and Mahariel had come back into Redcliffe as her Herald self, for the inhabitants and few mages to confirm they saw her. Kira was to handle putting few witnesses in the right spots, in case Cassandra or Leliana's scouts were to ask. Mahariel wasn't satisfied with such weak measures, but she had no time for more.
They, however, chose not to lie and admitted they did not see Fiona as Alexius found them first. Close enough to what happened.
Good thing, the others were most interested by this story of time-magic and Magister than by the details of the discussions. If one thing was sure, it was that they had to act quickly.
As the Seeker and the Herald were busy discussing the best next move and writing reports to Leliana, Solas escaped the camp, officially to gather woods for the fire. He made his way until a discreet spot and set wards, before sitting cross-legged. He took few deep breathes and quickly made his way into the Fade.
He found the elf he was looking for easily. His agent – Nyreos – was waiting for him. The man was tall with light brown hair gathered into a tail. He was bare-faced. He nodded respectfully.
"My Lord." He gave back the nod, his nose wrinkling slightly to the title. Not like protesting had ever worked.
"Nyreos. What did you find?" He smiled faintly.
"See for yourself."
The elf summoned the memories around them. It began with Mahariel, or obviously, her Tevinter self, and Bull making their way to Redcliffe. He frowned slightly. He watched as they fought the demon and witnessed the time-magic. And when, instead of entering, they withdrew in the shadows. His features unreadable, his fist clenched in his back with the warm welcome to Felix. Who was that? Was he who she had been hiding? Some…Tevinter bedfellow? Thought he with gritted teeth. They could hear some bits of words, here and there, allowing him to acknowledge the second Tevinter as this Magister Alexius.
He glared uselessly at the memory as he saw her laugh with Felix and taking his elbow gracefully. They read the note and moved on to the Chantry. They closed another rift. Nyreos had taken advantage of the demon's row to break a window on the upper level, having good view and the Chantry's acoustic allowing him to listen. Not that he was exactly certain having his Lord hearing was such a good idea at this point. Solas hardly suppressed a growl. For the love of – Do they have NOTHING better to do than to flirt, right this moment?! Oh, and the first one is coming back. Wonderful. As the memory stopped, Nyreos hesitated a bit.
"My Lord?"
"What?" Hissed Solas through gritted teeth.
"Are you…Okay?" Solas raised a brow.
"Yes. Thank you, Nyreos. I would be interested in learning more about this Calessia. Could you send words to our agents in Tevinter?"
"Consider it done."
They exchanged nods. Solas stepped out of the Fade, absolutely refusing to acknowledge the feeling at the origin of his sudden dreadful mood. He tried to stay focus. So, she was hiding someone, but it was herself, so to speak. Meaning, she knew exactly what she was going to find in Redcliffe, and it was why she sent them away. Who tipped her, then? One of the Tevinter? A servant? At least, the involvement of Bull was encouraging his theory about her spying for the Qun in the Imperium. Maybe the tip came from the Ben-Hassrath?
Cassandra made her way towards the Herald. She was a bit aloof, busying herself with mists. If Solas could condescend to come back with the woods, I might actually be able to get something done. The Seeker stood next to her. After few seconds, Mahariel turned towards her, a raised brow.
"Cassandra, can I do anything for you?" The Seeker pursued her lips. She had had it in mind since the day before but didn't manage to catch her alone. She finally answered.
"I wanted to apologize, Mahariel." Wow, first name? The second brow joined the first up with surprise.
"What for?" The Seeker was almost standing in a fighting stance.
"What I said some time ago in Haven. When I said you did not look Dalish. I did not realize until yesterday I likely offended you." Her surprise only grew. She did offend her a bit, but, honest mistake, considering she was doing everything not to seem Dalish.
"Why do you think that?"
"When we crossed paths with the Dalish mage. I don't know a lot about the Dalish, but I do know they are very secretive when it comes to their language. And you are fluent. It means you are Dalish. Or have been, I don't know. Still, my words likely hurt you."
Mahariel's features remained still. She had feared someone would make the connection. A Fenhedis or a lethallin could easily be spoken by a city elf. But one could hardly have a whole discussion. Despite that, she had taken the risk, knowing Mihris. She would have said exactly the same thing in common or elvhen. At least, only Solas had understood it, and he did not point out to the others whatever they said in common was a play.
She could not deny the seeker's reasoning. Well, not straightforwardly. She went for the vagueness of the historical answer.
"My people come from the elves who refused to surrender when humans broke their treaty and destroyed the Dales." Before Cassandra could answer anything, Solas came out of nowhere, wood in his hands. He snorted.
"Your Keeper was not wrong about that, at least. We must mark the occasion of the Dalish remembering something correctly. Perhaps we should plant a tree."
This bare-faced DID NOT just say that…She spun to him, her mask fully falling as her eyes were throwing lightnings. He disregarded her, putting the woods on the ground. Cassandra's eyes widened as she turned to him too. No one else was here to hear so Mahariel allowed herself to give in. She jumped on her feet, ominous.
"You insult my peoples!" He snorted again and stood back, holding her gaze.
"They insult themselves. Remember, I have walked the memories of the Fade. I have seen the history the Dalish imitated."
Each of them took steps forwards as they spoke and they were standing but few inches away. Solas took a vicious pleasure in looking down to her, considering her 5.5 feet.
"Oh, my lord knows so much better than anyone, doesn't he?! And yet, you don't know a damn thing about the peoples you insult!"
"What is there to know? You claim to follow the old ways without knowing what that means, you spat on strangers and you think you are so much better than anyone else. You are but ersatz of elv – "
The slap reached his cheek before she could help it. Not that she wanted to help it. Red with rage, her eyes blurry, she disappeared in stealth one second later. Cassandra had witnessed the whole scene. When she finally got over her shock of how things had gone bad amazingly quickly, she glared at Solas, yelling as well.
"What the hell was that?!" He laughed bitterly after stretching his painful jaw.
"The demonstration of my point."
"You are going to tell me this was not cruel, wanton and unfair from you?" He frowned.
"You don't know what you are talking about, Seeker."
"Maybe, but what I know is that she had done nothing but respecting you and you just told her peoples and herself were an ersatz! Don't you see you brought her to tears?! Maker, SHE! To tears!"
His nose wrinkled as he frowned. He did not begin – Yes, you did. She was not even talking to you. You stepped in the conversation and aggressed her. He subsided the slightest, having to admit that Cassandra had a point. The memory showed by Nyreos put him in a most awful mood. This bitterness he felt and refused to name put him in a most awful mood. His back straightened.
"I did not say she was an ersatz." Cassandra burst.
"YOU JUST DID!" He frowned again. His features dropped with awe as he realized that he, indeed, did. He looked at Cassandra with almost distress in his eyes.
"I did not mean to. I got carried away with the use of the you."
He was mad at himself and he had taken this anger on her…Fenedhis, the Seeker was right. Wanton, cruel, and unfair. She had been nothing but the very proof there was more to the Dalish than he thought and he just disregarded the last months. She had shown nobility, wisdom, determination, compassion, open-mindedness, how was it her fault if he happened to care more about her more than it was wise? Dammit, she had defended him without hesitation face to a Dalish just the day before! How was it her fault if…If – If you are jealous. Stop playing child, it is what you are. How was it her fault if he had been jealous to see her being all warm with another man? He spoke low, more to himself than the Seeker.
"I should apologize."
"You have done enough. I will go find her."
Cassandra was going to leave when Varric appeared, alarmed, letters in his hands.
"Seeker, Chuckles, what the hell happened? I barely caught a glimpse of Grey when she took her pack. She literally fled the camp." Cassandra shook her head, glaring at Solas.
"Ask him."
"Chuckles?"
Solas was definitely beginning to feel horrifyingly ashamed. Damn, he had good reasons to be angry at her. She lied and sent them away to protect her cover. For all he knew, she could actually be a Tevinter spy! Well, he doubted it, but she could. And, at the end, he was angry at her for what? For hugging someone and complimenting another on his hair. Which was potentially part of her character, by the way. He avoided the question by pointing the letters.
"What are these?" Varric pinched his nose.
"Er…Remember before we left Haven, Grey was pissed like never and Ruffles mentioned a messenger dropping something. I think that is the something."
Solas frowned and stretched his arm but a glare of the Seeker made it clear she was to see it first. Her eyes widened as she quickly went through the one who was not in a cipher.
"Maker, here I thought you could not have done worst."
She handed him the letter and his eyes followed the example of the Seeker's. For once, he let out a curse.
"Fenedhis lasa." Cassandra made a disgusted noise at the apostate and turned to Varric.
"You did not show that to the others, right?"
"No, of course not. It fell open on the ground and I grabbed it before someone else did."
"Good. Come with me, we will go find her." She turned to Solas with killer eyes "You better work on pretty good apologies in the meantime." Varric frowned and considered Solas, waiting for some explanations. Instead, he noticed the redness of his cheek.
"Holy shit, she slapped you?!" Cassandra grunted.
"He deserved it."
He had to admit the truth of these three words.
I'm not certain why I picture Solas as the jealous kind. Anyway, I obviously had the need to mess up this quest even more. Let's see how that goes.
PS: I kind of settled for a friday update.