Hey, long time no see! I had to take a mental health week from Fanfiction, but I'm back! Enjoy the chapter! More update notes will be at the bottom!

It had taken some time, but Solas had finally brought Ellana into the fade with him while she was sleeping. It wasn't a decision he made lightly. He didn't trust just anyone in the fade with him, but he felt that they had become close enough friends to share this side of himself with her. Things were easier for him in the fade, they always had been. He had met some of his closest friends in the fade whether they were spirits or fellow dreamers.

Then again, Ellana had mentioned that her bother was a Dreamer, so she would hopefully be familiar with the feeling of being brought into a dream. From what he had been told, it can feel jarring to those not used to it. It would be interesting to see Ellana off balance though. The young woman was always so guarded. No matter how much she tells us of her family and friends from her clan, they were always minor details, nothing specific and the settings were always vague. Maybe, drawing her into the fade would bring show him something of her past that she hadn't disclosed before.

Solas supposed the next thing to do was pick a setting to bring Ellana to. He eventually decided to bring them both to Haven, something familiar to both of them and constantly in their thoughts. Haven fit perfectly, it was something that was on both of their minds. The death and destruction of their previous home will haunt all the survivors for some time. It was an easy space to access and Solas brought her unconscious mind back to their old home without any struggle.

So, here they were, standing in the snow-covered paths of Haven near the center campfire that Varric would regularly stand at, telling stories. The entire space was devoid of life, just the quiet whistle of wind stood between the two of them. Ellana was dressed in hunting gear he hadn't seen her in before. It was form fitting, made out of quality leathers, something he hadn't seen on many Dalish elves. The design reminded him more of the assassins from Arlathan and it struck him how much she resembled the Ancient elves more so than modern elves. The armor glowed with enchantments woven into the threading, it was too specific for her not have seen something like this before. He wondered if this was what Ellana saw herself in or if Solas wanted to create an image of her in clothing from his era, maybe it was a little bit of both. She honestly reminded him of his Spymaster from before he created the veil. They had similar facial features and dispositions. Solas vaguely wondered if Ellana was a descendent from his long dead…friend.

Were they related in some way? No, there was no point in asking, Ellana wouldn't know an ancestor that far back in her lineage. So, Solas let the thought pass.

Ellana was staring up at the Breach, her brows furrowed. "I swear I just closed that blasted thing…"

Ah, she was already noticing discrepancies, impressive. There was no doubt in his mind that she had been brought into dreams before. Ellana stilled for a moment and let out a long breath and waved her left hand around. Solas vaguely wondered what she was doing.

She obviously caught his staring and when Ellana turned to look at him a wide grin on her face. "I'm not cold while I'm standing in the snow. The Breach is back, but my mark isn't flaring…you know that it's rude to pull people into dreams without asking right?"

Solas rolled his eyes, but didn't say anything to the contrary. It certainly wasn't considered polite in Arlathan to take someone into a dream without their permission. Honestly, he could have been brought before a local judge for such an infraction of decorum.

"It isn't nearly as fun to ask first. It didn't take you that long to figure it out."

She shrugs, nudging a bit of fade snow with her toe. "My brother pulls me into dreams all the time, but he does it with less finesse, but then again, he probably doesn't care," she grumbled, arms crossed, no doubt thinking about her rather mysterious brother and the scolding she was going to give to him when he pulled her into his next dream.

Solas got a small taste of her brother's lack of finesse when he invaded Solas' mind to find Ellana half dead in the snow outside of Haven.

A thought suddenly struck him and if he could sweat in the fade he would have started. He completely forgot that she had a frame of reference for the way that being pulled into a dream felt. What if she realized that his control over dreams was superior to her family and she realized that his methods were too refined? Hopefully she wouldn't realize that the reason he easily pulled her into his dreams without her noticing was because he had millennia of practice.

Though, from the way that she was looking around with genuine wonder, it seemed that she wasn't attempting to learn his deepest secrets. No matter how many times she had hinted that she knew something about his heritage and past.

"Why are we here, Solas?" She asks again as they make their way towards the dungeons where he originally met her.

"I figured we could reminisce and speak without worry of being overheard," he replied as they approached her old cell, "this is where I met you. By all accounts you should have been dead."

"Good thing that I'm great at not meeting the expectations of my elders." Ellana replied warily.

Solas let out a humorless chuckle. "While I don't think that your statement is entirely true. I am very glad that you didn't die. I had tried everything I could think to close the rifts and then you came, right when I was about to run."

"You were going to leave?"

He flinched. He hadn't meant to let that slip, but the damage had already been done, so he might as well explain.

"As you know, Cassandra and I didn't trust each other, the world was ending around me, all the spirits I could consult disappeared when the Breach appeared. It was all I could think of doing. I had been threated at being made tranquil more than once. It just seemed logical to leave," he replied, thinking back to that moment when Ellana had changed everything, when she had closed that first rift. She had brought hope back into the world. It was when had his mission had become to protect this young woman from harm instead of attempting to destroy the veil he had so painstakingly created.

He turned back to Ellana and there was a warm smile on her face. "I'm glad that I was able to convince to stay. You've become a steadfast friend for me. You remind me of those that I left back home with my clan."

Solas blinked, surprised by her confession. She couldn't be farther from the truth. He was a completely different breed of Elf in comparison to her, but the sentiment was touching nonetheless. "I remind you of your family?"

She gave a quick nod as the scene around them changed to an open field that they had rested at in the Hinterlands a few weeks ago, jarring Solas slightly. He didn't do that and saw Ellana's anchor clad hand glowing in front of her as she concentrated on the scene in front of them. Did she change the setting around them? It should be impossible for her. She wasn't a mage. Was she using the mark, his magic? Had she been practicing this? What did she and her brother do when he visited her in the fade?

"You and my mother would get along, you seem to enjoy the same topics of conversation. She loved to tell stories of Arlathan, the People, the old gods, spirits and our culture. She delved deep within the fade to learn long forgotten history and secrets from ages past. She'd tell them to me and my brother when we were young," She explained quietly, playing with a branch of a tree that had materialized in front of her. There was a bittersweet smile on her face as she recounted her childhood.

"You obviously inherited her ability to weave stories, Ellana," he had told her this before, as had Varric, but she never quite seemed to believe either of them.

"Flattery will get you nowhere with me. I know the legacy that I have to live up to back with my clan. My mother is a true master at her crafts," she responded fondly, stretching out like a cat on the grass beneath them. "Though, I think with all the stories I've shared by the campfires at Haven and during my travels I'm getting quite good."

"Unsurprising, practice does make one better at their craft," he replied, sitting down next to her as a breeze rolled through the meadow.

"Have you been practicing your stitching then? Or am I going to need to fix the rips in your robes again?"

Solas felt his cheeks color slightly. "I think I have mastered enough finesse with a needle and thread to mend my own clothing."

She rolled her eyes as a pair of leggings that looked remarkably similar to his own appeared with a visible tear at the knee next to a needle and thread. "I'll be the judge of that."

"Is this really how you want to spend your time in the fade?"

"I've done stranger things in the fade and have been brought in under significantly worse circumstances."

That raised Solas' interest. "Like what?"

"My brother tended to accidently call me into the fade when we were younger. Mind you, he was a horny bastard as a child, still is now. You can imagine some of the odd dreams I would accidently walk into because his magic would reach for me when we were sleeping."

That caused Solas to let out a genuine laugh. Their connection was something he hadn't heard of since the ancient days in Arlathan. Twins were always special, their magic would bind them for eternity in ways that no one could comprehend besides the twins themselves. "That sounds…uncomfortable."

She snorted. "That's one way to put it, now mend those leggings."

It seemed their time talking seriously was over, so Solas sighed and began to attempt to look like he'd practiced since she showed him how to mend. He'd listen to the details that Ellana had imagined up, to the rustle of leaves, to the sounds of birds and the nearby creek. He could even see the Inquisition campsite in the distance. She forgot nothing, impressive for someone who isn't supposed to have access to magic.

Had she always been able to do that or had she learned once she received the mark? He turned to talk to her, but she looked rather peaceful resting. If anyone in the Inquisition deserved time to rest it was Ellana.

He'd question her another time.

I hope you liked the chapter! I know it isn't the way things progressed in the game, but my version of Ellana wouldn't initiate something with Solas when she 100% knew that it was in the fade. I once again hinted at the big story twist in this chapter. Maybe even explicitly said some stuff. =3

So, sorry for not updating last week. I had the chapter partly ready, but not quite finished the way I wanted it. I had a really rough week emotionally. I got two more rejections from jobs as well as my dad telling me I'm a ruined piece of trash and I just needed to take a breather for a week. My anxiety got the better of me and I ended up crying for like two days because I'm really frustrated that I can't find work and having one of my parents tell me that since I'm not working I'm a ruined piece of garbage for not being in the place they expected me just put me in a really dark place.

Anyway, on a lighter note, the next chapter is going to be longer than this one and it's one of my favorites. =D I'm super excited for it. It's actually one of the first chapters I wrote for this story.

See you next week,

Animerocker