Hope you're enjoying your holidays. I might sneak in one more chapter before I go out of town on the 23rd, we'll see. I won't be back until the 27th.

On Wolves and Dread

We meant to leave that afternoon, but when we arrived at the place we had marked for the camp it was (apparently, based on my companions' comments) only half set up and additionally under attack from wolves. "Are they rabid?" Cassandra asked, incredulous. "Wolves do not behave this way!"

"I can see them," I told her, squinting, "so I don't think that's it."

Then we were close enough to join in the battle, and there was no more time for speculation. We finished off the group - I hesitated to call something so clearly under demonic influence a "pack" - and quickly decided to go after the demon controlling them. "This isn't a problem we should leave behind," Solas said reluctantly, "and it shouldn't cause too many delays."

"You just jinxed it, Chuckles," Varric groaned, but Cassandra and I agreed with Solas, so Blackwall and Sera joined the rest of us and we went hunting.

We quickly encountered a rift in our path, which was likely where the demon had originated. There was every reason to close it - not only was it in the way, as long as it remained the wolf packs in the area would apparently be vulnerable to possession. It was different from any other rifts we had encountered, though - stronger, more stable, and expanding.

The demons it disgorged were also more powerful.

The battle was not a mess - not even close. My companions were skilled, Blackwall and Cassandra disciplined and clearly accustomed to fighting in a group setting, and Sera and Varric were clever, good at reading a battlefield and knowing where they were most needed. Most of them weren't accustomed to fighting alongside mages, though, and in a battle where we were pressed hard, it showed just a little.

Just a little too much.

I could only read the positions of my companions based on where the demons were gathering and which ones were rapidly weakening - except for Solas. The magic he cast was like a beacon, drawing my eye and leaving me constantly aware of his position, whether I wanted to be or not. So when I saw a powerful shade bearing down on him, I noticed. I also suspected - though I couldn't be certain - that no one else did.

My first reaction was to call someone's - anyone's - attention to the problem as I attempted to slow the demon with my own spells, but the two heavily-armed members of our group were on the other side of the battlefield. Either Varric or Sera - Varric, I learned later, though there was no way for me to know then - began pouring darts into the shade as I threw spell after spell, but it was too powerful to be dissuaded by such minor irritations. What Solas needed was someone physically standing between him and the danger it presented, and that simply wasn't going to be possible - not with Blackwall and Cassandra each apparently tied up by despair demons, unable to turn their backs lest they be frozen in place. I could see the demons, and see the rays of frost they cast, even though I couldn't see my companions.

I cast a desperate barrier, trying to buy Solas just another moment, as the demon struck. Its first blow glanced away more or less harmlessly, though it did knock him to his knees.

Then the shade loomed over him as the last of my barrier drained away. He was struggling to cast something, but it wasn't taking shape fast enough. I reached toward him helplessly -

The Veil parted, my marked hand twitching it aside as easily as if it were a real, physical curtain. My magic found purchase on something, and I pulled - and then Solas was falling on top of me, as, a stone's throw away, the shade's claws cleaved empty space.

There was time for nothing beyond one surprised look, about equally shocked on both sides, before we were scrambling up from the ground and toward our better-armored companions. Solas's hand gripped my waist firmly - not in affection or even gratitude, but to steady me over the rough terrain. I cast a quick bolt of fire - more a spark, really, considering how little mana I had left to draw on - at an already-weakened despair demon, and it dissolved, leaving either Cassandra or Blackwall free to deal with the shade still fixated on Solas.

After that, the battle didn't take long, and though the rift was perhaps a bit harder to close than usual, I pulled at its strings with a fierce determination and it eventually collapsed.

There wasn't time to speak to Solas even then - we were still tracking the demon that was driving the wolves in the area mad. He claimed my attention only briefly with a tap on my shoulder, saying: "We should speak, later - perhaps at Haven. That was well done, and I have an idea."

I didn't even know if he saw my nod - he had barely stopped speaking before he was striding off to say something to Cassandra. It was Blackwall who offered me his arm as we went on, thanking me for the honor when I accepted, which made me laugh in spite of myself.

"What?" he asked, clearly uncertain whether he should be offended.

"It's just - as a savage Dalish barbarian - " I realized then that he would have no context for my use of the word, as he hadn't been present when we met Dorian, but pushed ahead anyway " - I'm not accustomed to such formal courtesy from humans."

"Ah," he said, spending a moment in thought before his eyes slid to me and his cheek twitched beneath his beard. "Well, as Herald of Andraste, sealer of rifts, and - hopefully soon - savior of all Thedas, perhaps you should not only become accustomed to it, but start demanding it."

"Perhaps I should, at that," I chuckled, returning his half-hidden smile even though I could feel myself blushing. My eyes slid away, and I was surprised to see Solas walking nearby, and more surprised when I realized he was watching me. Or us? Then he looked away, and somehow that was even stranger, though he wasn't near enough for me to read his expression.

After a moment of thought, I put it aside, unable to decipher the meaning of something that couldn't even be termed an interaction. Especially since I couldn't see his expression. Perhaps he had been looking my direction absently, and I had made it strange by looking at him .

It took a little time to find the lair where the demon had ensconced itself, and we had to fight through several more groups of wolves in the process. "A pity," I sighed, nudging one that had fallen near me with my toe. "We have seen enough wolves to form - what, at least two packs, and perhaps as many as five? That the region can support so many implies that everything is in danger of being thrown out of balance if we have to kill many more."

"Thought you elfy-elves hated wolves," Sera commented, collecting spent arrows before she sorted through to decide which might be reused.

"We fear the Dread Wolf," I corrected her. "In the Dales, it's said that our Emerald Knights each had a wolf for a companion, and the wild ones are an important part of nature's balance. Without them, the farmers here will likely have trouble keeping deer away from their crops, and trouble finding necessary wild herbs, like feladara."

"Elfroot," Solas murmured from somewhere nearby.

"What? Oh. Sorry - I usually only use Common names when we're trading," I apologized. "It's a strange name, though, isn't it?" I asked after a moment of reflection. "The roots aren't used for anything. Do humans think they look like elves?"

Sera found the question hilarious for some reason, and nearly fell over laughing.

"We can at least tell Corporal Vale at the Crossroads of this location when we pass through," Cassandra said, "and he can send someone to take the skins. Wolf fur is warm, even though they won't have their full winter coats yet."

I nodded, still sorry for the necessity, and we went on.

By the time we found the lair where the demon was hiding, Solas and I were both low on mana. I made a face as he handed me a lyrium flask, but drank it down dutifully, blinking against the sudden metallic gleam that seemed to saturate everything I looked at. Even - or especially? - the things I couldn't see clearly.

Either the lyrium or the demon - which I cautiously labeled either dread or paranoia; some sort of fear that led to aggression without, itself, being aggression - made the wolves harder for me to see. They were so dim, and other things were so bright, especially the demon. I had several near misses, one of which landed Sera a bite on her arm, the possessed wolf unerringly finding the joint right at her elbow where her armor was weakest. That was near the end of the fight, thankfully, because she needed both arms to draw her bow.

"Ir'el abelas - I'm so sorry," I told her as Solas placed a healing spell on the wound and then bound it. "I - I'm not really much good at this."

"Told you, Chuckles - you jinxed us," Varric said from somewhere nearer the mouth of the lair.

Solas ignored him. "The pain ought to fade soon, though I think you will be excused from helping around camp for the night," he told Sera.

"Almost worth it," she decided before coming and draping her good arm around my shoulders. "We're gonna have to figure out something for you, right? Bright colors, maybe?"

"Enemies will see us coming," I told her.

"It's an Inquisition," she told me, giving me a cheeky grin. "Are we supposed to be quiet? Blend in? 'Cause - we're not, and we don't. You got a friggin' green torch burning on your hand, even through your gauntlets! And you're worried about enemies seeing us," she scoffed.

"She has a point, Vanish," Varric told me helpfully.

"'Vanish'?" I repeated.

"I saw what happened earlier," he said, his voice a shrug.

Sera's eyes went wide. "What happened earlier?" she demanded, looking first at me, and then, I presumed, at Varric.

"Ask Vanish," he said, and I heard his footsteps retreating.

"It was something with magic," I warned Sera as she fixed her eyes on me. She predictably made a face at the mention the word - it was becoming clear she was very put off by mages. "I don't even know if I can do it again."

"You can," Solas said from behind Sera. If I squinted, I could just make out the blurred shapes of his arms as he re-packed his kit. "All it will require is practice," I heard a smile in his voice, "and the application of your indomitable focus."

"Indomitable focus?" I repeated, beginning to feel like I was only here to echo things other people said.

"Presumably," he said lightly. "I have yet to see it dominated. I imagine such a feat would require...extraordinary circumstances, and would be...of considerable interest."

Was he... flirting with me? I felt myself blush hotly, and Sera's arm tightened around my neck. "You know," she said, pushing her hip against mine experimentally, "you're not bad, for an elf - more'n just bones, anyway. Wouldn't mind dominating your focus myself, if you're ever interested."

"Creators," I breathed, certain my face was about to catch fire. Ahead of me, I saw Solas straighten - stiffen? The motion was abrupt, but I was much too far away to discern anything with any confidence.

"Just saying," Sera assured me, laughing, as she guided me towards the lair's entrance. "No need to get your tits in a knot about it."

Once Solas had finished packing up, we returned to our half-built camp. Afternoon was already fading into evening, and we still needed to put everything away and pack our horses. Cassandra came close enough to give me a querying look. "Well?" she asked.

"I have no objection to riding after dark," I assured her. "It doesn't make my vision any worse."

Varric groaned. "We're going to be riding all night."

"The sooner we get started, the sooner you reach your bed," Cassandra admonished him, and bent to begin pulling up stakes from the tent beside us.