The Hinterlands

The sun hasn't risen and already people are outside preparing for the day. Lavellan stirred under the covers and let out a small groan. She completely made a cocoon of herself using the covers. Her hair everywhere on the pillow and on her face. She tried to blow off the hair covering her face with failed effort. Knowing she won't be able to go back to sleep she slowly sat up, wrapping the covers tighter. The fireplace was already dead and the cabin felt cold. Her body shivered and she sneezed. It took all the strength in her to get off the bed and walk, still wrapped with the covers, and put some firewood inside the fireplace. Luckily they were close by. With a flick of her wrist she conjured up tiny spark of fire and set the logs on fire, or so she thought. She smelled smoke but it wasn't the smell of wood burning it was something else. Realization hit her and she screamed so loud that the people out and inside their cabin heard her.

Solas hears the scream and knows exactly where it came from. He runs out from his cabin and sees the crowd gathering near The Herald's cabin. To his surprise and disbelief her cabin is covered in ice. Overflowing from the cabin walls, ceiling and ground. Inside he sees Cassandra and Cullen trying to calm The Herald.

"It's not every day you get to see this early in the morning." Varric said.

"What happened here?" Solas asks, after noticing Varric beside him.

"No idea but at a guess, I think she tried to light up the fire logs but instead accidentally lit the covers wrapped around her." Varric points at the half burned covers near Lavellan.

Solas looks and soon enough the pieces fell together. Her cabin was mostly likely cold. Sleeplessly walked towards the fireplace. She probably wasn't paying attention and instead she accidentally lit up her covers. Realizing what she had done took the covers off her and in panic conjured up her ice magic to stop the fire from spreading. Because her emotions was wild, her magic went wild, thus covering almost her whole cabin in ice. His train of thoughts is interrupted when Cassandra told the people who gathered to return to their normal daily lives. Everyone starts whispering to each other. Gossiping. Others exchanging their fear and terror about magic. Cassandra asks Varric and Solas to stay with them. Cullen has his robe covering Lavellan and trying to comfort her.

Upon entering her cabin, Solas sees how much of a mess she is. Her hair matted on her face. She is sweating and shivering at the same clearly on her face. He looks at her and she looks back. Her eyes that was full of curiosity and wonder, now shows fear and utter disappointment. Cullen tries his best to calm her down. Comfort her.

"You're alright Herald…you're alright." Cullen whispers to her as he rubs her back.

"Solas, can you do something about this?" Cassandra points around. Solas nods in response. With a flick of his wrists all the ice melts away and the fireplace burst into flames. He hears Lavellan yelp in surprise. He felt a little guilty, but just stood where he is.

"Maybe…we should hold off meeting with Mother Giselle at The Hinterlands." Cassandra suggests. Looking at Cullen then to Lavellan. Cullen opens his mouth to answer, but Lavellan beat him to it.

"No…No it's fine, I want to get out of here…please." She said almost a whisper.

Cassandra looks at Cullen. Cullen looks back and nods his head in confirmation. Cassandra turns toward Solas and Varric.

Be ready to depart in an hour." She said. They nod in agreement.

Cullen helps Lavellan up and has her sit on her bed. He turns and nods to Cassandra and them, then made his way out. Varric and Cassandra also made their way out to get ready. Solas remains.

"Do you think the Shems will hate me even more now…after what happened here…?" she asks barely a whisper. Solas walks towards her and turns a chair around to face her.

"No, I do not. Fear, most likely…but I think this will be forgotten…in time." he replies trying to assure her that everything will be alright.

She gives him a small smile. She stares at him but this time it felt different. Her eyes that was filled with full of wonders, now just looks…empty. Replaced with remorse and guilt.

"I didn't mean for anything like this to happen…" she starts, as tears forms. "I guess this is what happens when someone is a daydreamer…or so my mom says." She chuckles, trying to stop her tears from falling. A single tear drop and with without thinking Solas leans from the chair and wipes the tear away. This action caught them both off guard. Lavellan stares at him wide eye. Solas staring at her with confusion as to what he just did. Solas gets up and clears his throat.

"We should get ready, I suspect Cassandra is not the waiting kind." He smiles at her.

"I suspect your right." She replied, smiling back.

Solas nods at her and walks towards the door and closes it behind him. He pauses. He stares at the hand that wiped her tear and sighs to himself.

'You fool...'

Lavellan stares at the door and hears Solas walking away. She gets up from her bed and walks towards her trunk for clothing. She picks up a green tunic, brown leather coat with matching boots and a simple leggings. She lets out a sigh and touches the cheek Solas wiped the tear away. She felt her face getting warm from that memory. She shakes her head and starts dressing up. She packs some tonics and other clothing she may need in her bag and grabbs her staff that Harriett made especially for her. As she walks out her cabin she sees Solas, Cassandra and Varric all waiting for her. She gives them her warmest smile and is glad to see only them. They all waved goodbye to the advisers and they in turn wished them luck and be back safely. Her journey to The Hinterlands begins


Their walk to the Hinterlands wasn't so bad. For a week now, they have been walking. Stopping only to rest for the night. They ate breakfast and dinner with what little food they had. Varric exaggerating stories, while Cassandra reprimands him. She and Solas barely spoke after what happened in Haven. Now that she thinks about it no one actually mentioned anything to her about the accident. It's as if they are avoiding talking about it on purpose. Curious as to why and a bit annoyed she stops walking and spoke.

"So, no one is going to ask or talk about the whole incident back in Haven?." She looks at them. They all turn around to look at her. Varric replied.

"Do you want us to ask or talk about it?" He asks.

"Well...I...it would help me...I think...or at least I would know your opinion about me didn't change."

"You think that one little incident would change our opinion about you?" Cassandra asks.

"Maybe?" She replies. Varric laughs.

"Aren't you adorable! Nah...you're fine. We get why that happened." He said.

"So...you're all okay...travelling with me?"

"Of course." Cassandra responds.

"You are the only one that can close the Breach." Solas said. Lavellan looks at him. Pain and sadness on her face.

'Ouch...of course...they need me here only to close the Breach'

Varric notices her expression and nudges Solas on his side. Solas realizes what he did.

"Forgiv-" He begins, but Lavellan cuts him off.

"No. It's fine." She walks past them. Cassandra shakes her head, and Varric sighs. Solas starts walking behind.

'Fool.'

They walk in silence, Lavellan pick up elfroots and onxys along the way. Varric, unable to contain his curiosity, asks.

"I do have one question." He starts.

"Oh? What is it?" Lavellan replies, picking up an elfroot.

"What I want to know…" Varric trailed off looking at Lavellan. "Who came in first, Cassandra or the Commander?" He asks, grinning from ear to ear. Cassandra made a disgusted grunt knowing where his mind went off to. Lavellan stares down the floor and blushed.

"Commander…Cullen…" She replies barely a whisper that Varric almost didn't hear her reply. She wished he didn't. Varric let out a laugh so loud that the birds and nugs all flew and ran away. Lavellan puts the elfroots in her bag and tries to hide her crimson face.

"Does that mean the our commander saw you-"

"That's enough Varric!" Cassandra shouted at him.

"I just wanted to know Seeker. The face that curly made when he saw her, must have been priceless!" He laughs even more after picturing Cullen's shocked and embarrassed face.

Cassandra rolls her eyes. Lavellan and her walk on ahead. Varric still giggling. Solas remains silence.


As the day fell to noon they finally arrived at their camp. Scout Harding greets them and reports what has been happening in the area. Mages and Templars battles have escalated badly that a lot of people became refugees got caught in one of their conflicts. Harding told them where to find Mother Giselle. Lavellan thanked Harding and the group makes their way toward Mother Giselle. They battled their way through to get to their destination. Upon arriving Mother Giselle tells Lavellan to speak to the Chantry in Val Royeaux, see if she can appeal to some of them. Lavellan thanks the Mother and went back to their camp. Harding informed her about the Horsemaster Dennet, but they haven't heard back anything from him. She fears he might either be dead or either Mages or Templars have taken camp at his area. Lavellan talked to a scout and asked information on where to find the horsemaster.

Night time fell and everyone began gathering their things and tuck in for the night. The scouts shared what little food they can offer with Lavellan and her party. It was a simple ram stew with bread on the side. It wasn't much but it filled their bellies for now. Lavellan walked up to the cook and asked if they are short on food. The cook explained that the food would probably last for the week, or maybe less. She promised the cook she'll bring more ram meat tomorrow when they set off to look for the horsemaster. The cook thanked her, and she thanked him for the delicious food. She started walking around and noticed some people didn't have coats or blankets for warmth and had to use what little clothing they got and settled near fire places for warmth. Her next task was to find enough blankets and coats for these people.

Solas noticed how Lavellan was walking around making sure everyone was taken care of. She promised them she will hunt for food and look for anything that can help the refugees feel warm and protected. It surprised him how much she cared for these people. His curiosity of her grew even more. She was talking to some of the refugees' children and saw how well she laughed and played with them, like she belonged with these people. Their race didn't seem to bother her, she accepted each of them, elves, dwarves, and humans alike. One of the children started to play around with her hair, braided it and putting flowers the kid found in the area. He smiled at the sight and how her smile and laughter made him feel…peaceful.

'Peaceful…? Her smile and laughter makes me peaceful? No. No. this must not happen. Control yourself. Your purpose is to make sure the anchor is safe and your foci returned in one piece.'

As he was thinking he forgot he was staring at Lavellan the whole time until he noticed she was staring at him, with a confused look on her face. He shook his head slightly and nodded at her and started walking back to their tents. The scouts were kind enough to give them two tents for their party. He was to sleep with Varric, while Cassandra and Lavellan share the other one. It was to be expected of course. He went inside the tent and found Varric already snoring with papers and bottles of liquor around his area. He was thankful that the tent was big enough for them to have some personal space. He rolled his sleeping bag and tried to be comfortable. He stared blankly at the tent's ceiling and hoped sleep would take him away into the fade. Her laughter rang into his ears and he felt comfortable and within minutes sleep took over.

Lavellan knew Solas was looking at her the entire time she was walking around. She tried not to pay attention to it, but the feeling of someone looking at you was…unnerving. She went and sat with the children and they knew exactly who she is. They asked her questions, has she seen Andraste in the flesh? Was she the maker's servant? Can she show some of mage power to them? She just smiled and answered each question as she could. One of the girls asked if she could play with her beautiful hair, and she approved. The girl was giggly and happy, and put some flowers around her hair. She looked at where Solas was standing, by the post and he was staring at her. She could feel her cheeks flush and her ears started ringing from the blood rush. The way Solas was staring at her made her feel hot and felt like her lungs forgot to breath. His eyes didn't move away when she stared back at him, and thought maybe he was sleep standing?

'Hahaha! No way that could happen. But he did say he sleeps anywhere…whose to say he won't fall asleep here while standing. Probably wake up when he falls on his ass though'

She giggled at her own thoughts, she looked at Solas and noticed him shaking his head. He looked at her and nodded his farewell and walked towards the tent, he and Varric shared. The little girl finished putting the flowers she had picked and was happy with the results. Lavellan smiled and thanked her, then an idea came when she saw Cassandra walking towards them. She smirked and whispered to the girl if she could do the same with Cassandra. The little girl was happy and excited and ran towards Cassandra. Cassandra was surprised when she got tugged towards Lavellan and sat across from her. She didn't even realize what was happening until the all the girls surrounded her saying they were told to make her 'pretty'. Lavellan laughed and Cassandra glared at her, but didn't stop the kids from playing with her hair.

"You did this…" She said.

"Yep, one and only." Lavellan smirked with a proud face. Cassandra sighed and smiled a little.

"You know…it occurred to me that I don't really know much about you. Other than your name of course." Lavellan stilled and stared at Cassandra.

"What would you like to know?" She asked.

"Well…I know your Dalish…and you don't really stay in one place, but where are your Clan from exactly." Lavellan thought about her answer.

"Hmm…well as far I know I was born in the outskirts of Ferelden. Other than that…my clan travelled from here to there…I'm not really sure if I have a place I call home. Wherever I am that is Home enough for me." She smiled thinking about Haven as a place she goes back to from now on.

"I agree with you on that." Cassandra answered smiling at her.

"Where are you from Cassandra?"

"Well...I am originally from Nevarra. One of the Royal Pentaghast family." Lavellan spit the wine she was drinking.

"YOU'RE a royalty descent?!" She almost screamed in shocked.

"Yes, seventy-eight in line to the throne. But I left that life behind. I wanted to join the Templars but I was sent to the Seekers and there started my training to become a seeker. Finally I became the right hand of the Divine." Lavellan stared at Cassandra with admiration. She never knew anyone like her. But then again she never really encountered any Shems that were not hostile towards her or the clan.

"You…are one extraordinary, amazing and admirable woman, I've ever met. And I wish we can become friends…in time…I hope?"

Cassandra was surprised and blushed at Lavellan's comment about her. "I…I hope so as well…friends I mean."

Both women smiled at each other and started talking about what their lives were before joining the inquisition. Cassandra talked about how when she was a little girl she and her brother were always getting themselves in trouble. When her parents chose the wrong side they were executed along with the other family. Her brother and she were spared since her uncle needed their use in the future. As they grew older, her brother was known to become a dragon hunter since they always defeated almost all dragons. Cassandra smiled at all the memories she had shared with her brother. She stopped talking about herself and asked Lavellan what she was like before all this. Lavellan began her story how clan dubbed her as a "day dreamer". She was always getting herself into trouble because of how she is. One time she accidently walked in a bear den. She remembered how she almost wet herself when the bear stood up and towered her. Luckily her father was there to save her. Her father was known for his hunting skills. She remembered standing still when an arrow passed by her and hit the bear right in the heart and it fell right in front of her. She recalled her mother was known for her kindness and healing abilities. Her mother wasn't a mage but she was skilled in almost every healing ointments and such. Lavellan reminisced about her time with the clan and smiled to herself. As time went by both ladies went to their tent and started getting ready for bed. Cassandra immediately slept as Lavellan heard her snoring softly. Lavellan let her mind wander again before sleep took her in. Tomorrow will be one long day.