CHAPTER TEN

Pharen awoke in Fen'Harel's chambers back at his temple, a soft fur blanket pulled against her skin. Coming to, she smelled a very familiar, albeit slightly different, scent. She groggily opened her eyes to stare into electric blue laced with mischief. "You know, I have this horrible feeling I'm going to grow wary of that look, Fen." He only grinned broader, shifting his weight so he could kneel in front of her.

His smile dissipated with his next words, reaching for her hands to hold. "Mythal told me something quite strange while you were recovering, vhenan." Pharen's eyes lit up with a child-like curiosity, and he had to suppress a smile at her wonder. "I was…concerned, after what happened in the woods. Mother apparently noticed and came to me. I informed her of my…feelings, and Mythal stated where there was a will, there was a way for all things. I am…struggling to find what she means by that."

Pharen allowed herself a small smile at this. "Fen, this is the second time I've been thrown into a different time. The first time though, an amulet was used before it was meant to be, and a companion and I were thrown into an…alternate timeline. What could happen, I suppose." She halted her words here, deciding she didn't need to tell him that she saw him there, in a cell, covered in red lyrium that had suppressed his magic. He had looked so broken, then.

"She might could mean that with my knowledge of the artifact itself, and your immense knowledge of the arcane, we may be able to pool them and find a way for me to get back to my own timeline." She grinned broadly, believing she had helped him in his quandary.

Holding her hands to his own, he brought each of her fingertips to his lips, kissing them in turn and earning a blush from Pharen. Resting his forearms against the legs that were draped over the side of his bed, Fen'Harel gazed up at her, nearly reverently. His vhenan did not break eye contact from him as he locked eyes with her, and he could barely restrain the happiness coursing through him; both at having her in his grasp and the news he had discovered in the Beyond.

"Vhenan," Fen'Harel began, " Before I relinquish my news to you, I would like to know what you prefer to break your fast? I was not aware of your likes and dislikes, so I may have asked the kitchens to prepare one of everything." His grin faltered only slightly at the admission, a gesture she would not have caught, had she not known him so well in the future. Pharen broke her gaze and looked behind him, her jaw dropping at the different array of brightly-colored fruits that covered the table. She admonished him by laying a gentle thwack on one of the arms that lay across her legs.

Fen'Harel watched as she rose from the bed, so in awe of everything laid before her, that she nearly ran straight into one of the other tables in his quarters. It took all the willpower he currently possessed to not snicker, though she turned around to glare at him at his not-quite-restrained snort. He rose himself and made to stand next to her, his fingers moving over the vast trays of food to pluck a single purple fruit from a tray at the back. Dipping it in the dark sauce that lay next to it, he held it up for her to see.

"Here, ma da'enansal, a gift for you, if you would indulge me?" His heart nearly stopped as her eyes met his, not closing as she leaned for the fruit in his fingers. He watched as her tongue flicked out and caressed one of the digits holding the food out for her as she drew the fruit into her mouth. He could not have stopped the shiver that ran down his spine after she made a soft groan against his fingers. Nor could he have stopped the heat pooling deep in his groin at the way her tongue flicked out once more to clean the sauce at the side of her mouth, drawing her lower lip in all-too-slowly.

Standing before a very smug-looking Pharen, he coughed and managed to collect himself. "While you were resting, I thought of ways I could selfishly keep you here." He felt her tense with his words, knowing she may be upset at what he had found. "While I sat at the edge of the Vir'dirthan, a spirit of Wisdom came to me. She told me of a particular way I could keep you here with me, instead of sending you back to your time." Fen'Harel paused and frowned, looking to her to gauge her reaction. Her eyes were alight with curiosity. He guided her to sit at the edge of the bed so they could speak.

"Alright, you have my undivided attention. How would we go about that?" The Dread Wolf smiled once more, his chest tightening in response to her acceptance. "Since I am an elvhen god, I am able to raise others. By 'raising', I of course mean make you a god. Like me." He watched as her curiosity changed slowly into fear at his reply, her mouth forming a small 'o'.

He pressed on, hurriedly, kneeling in front of her. "You are already a mage – a powerful one at that. You are kind and understanding. I would sit with you, assist you where you needed me, I would be your first priest, worship you as you deserve." Fen'Harel's eyes were bright, begging her to understand him. Pharen's gaze darkened under his scrutiny. She said her next words so softly that he was unsure if he had heard her correctly, though the look on her face told all, "I can't."

"Why can you not? You would be treated as you deserve here, with me. You would not be in a future where Solas has left you to whatever fate he has deemed fit for you." Fen'Harel had spat the name as a curse, meaning it as such. He could not understand why she could not stay here. It had not hurt anything when she was thrown into an alternate timeline before, had it?

"Because I have a duty to the people there, Fen. My friends are there, the people I spent months working with are there, though the magister is slain I can't just abandon them like you did to me!" Her hands flew to her mouth, but the words were already spoken, and they remained in the air between them, tense as a taut bowstring. The words stung him, and bit at his very being. "I see," he said, in clipped tones. "You are angry with me over something I have not yet done in this time to you, and you are still willing to go forth in time, alone, and live out the rest of your days there as an elf at the head of a primarily human world? You truly believe that you will be celebrated much beyond the magister dying?"

His words rang true, and they both knew it. That didn't stop her, however, from slapping him straight across the face, leaving a large, angry red welt. It took mere seconds for him to process what had happened, and she found herself very quickly surrounded in a pulsing blue cage of magic. Trying to move and discovering she couldn't, she began to panic when the walls of the cage began to slowly crush her, inhibiting her ability to breathe. She barely managed to choke out his real name before falling forward into Fen'Harel's lap.

Gasping for air and dry heaving, she dared a glance up at the Dread Wolf: the aura he kept so carefully guarded around him at all times was now pulsing and flowing freely around his form. His eyes had changed into a color much like the blood she had seen on the halla corpses scant days before. Hazarding a glance above his head, she saw the head of the Wolf retreating back into the recesses in which he kept that part of himself locked away.

Pushing himself up off the floor and away from her, he strode toward the door. He threw it open with a wave of his hand, slamming it against the wall behind it. He turned around to face her once on the other side, a brazen fury still contorting his features. The words he spoke as he met her eyes had a terrifying edge to them, and it caused Pharen's blood to run cold: "Ma nuvenin. I will ensure you get back to your correct time. Soon." With that, he waved his hand and the door slammed shut behind him, knocking several of the mosaics off his wall.

Pharen remained, unmoving, at the edge of the Dread Wolf's bed, her head hung in shame. She knew she shouldn't have done it, she knew it would make him angry, but how dare he suggest she should stay here! She had obligations to the Inquisition! She had obligations to help the people of Thedas because they…well they…"Shit." Pharen threw herself onto a mountain of pillows and began to cry. She did not stop when some sentinels came in to check on her, nor did she stop when the food was whisked away.

She only stopped when she exhausted herself into the fade, a beacon for benevolent and malevolent beings alike, and heard the far-away howl of a very angry alpha wolf.

XxXxX

Pharen searched through the green mist of the fade, unsuccessfully, to try and apologize to him. His future self had once told her things were easier for him there, and perhaps apologizing would be easier for her here. As she walked, she happened upon several dancing wisps, most likely drawn to her varying emotional states while she lingered here in their realm. Reaching a hand out, one of them flew through her hand, causing a cold tingle to bloom where it passed through. She giggled at the sensation.

"Ir abelas, Pharen." She turned quickly to the voice she had come to know as Fen'Harel's. He was crouched down, looking at something on the ground, before glancing up at her. "You used my name, Fen'Harel. Before now I was your gift or your heart, now I am simply my name?" Her ire toward him was not completely undeserved. They both knew she needed to return, and soon, lest more magisters come back from the dead, or more foci are discovered.

"I am aware of all those things, da'enansal, though I use names when I mean something heartfelt. You needed to know I genuinely am sorry." His gaze never left hers, challenging her to defend her anger against him. Jutting her hip out and placing a hand on it, she raised a quizzical brow at him. "You know I cannot stay here. The People need me." He scoffed. "The People are but shadows of their former selves. If you would genuinely rather be there with them than here with me, then say it."

His words caught her off guard. Good. "I cannot because that would be a lie, harellan. I am not the trickster you are." Her brows were furrowed but she had yet to open herself up to him. She was not backing down from him, even in his own domain. He put his arms up in surrender. "Fine. Come speak with me when you are able, then." He vanished into thin air; she had to assume he had woken himself up somehow, a brilliant way to get away from things that were unsavory here.

Focus. She heard a voice say. Focus on where you want to be and it shall be as you say. Not wanting to remain in this place any longer, she focused on Fen'Harel's quarters, and the soft warm furs he had draped her in. She felt herself being yanked forward, and landing on exactly where she had placed herself in her mind. Neat.

Looking around, she saw no one, but heard a soft thud against the other side of the bed. Confused and deciding to lean over, she saw something moving under a blanket that had fallen down some time during her sleep. Furrowing her brows, she lifted the edge of the blanket, and saw six gleaming sapphire eyes staring up at her. "Hey there little fella. What…are you?" Removing the cover completely, she took in the sight that was now sitting on the ground.

Upon first inspection, it looked like a normal black and charcoal grey wolf pup, save for the six dark blue eyes that watched her every move. She picked up the pup behind its front legs, while watching it carefully, even as she drew it into her lap. Pharen began petting its head, a low growl of contentment emanating from the small animal. Upon closer inspection, however, she discovered that not only did it physically have six eyes, and the grey in its fur faintly shimmered as she stared at it. The pup also had a light green aura surrounding it. Something from the Beyond, then?

She pet him along his spine and fluffy tail, noting the ridges that were along its back and also faintly glowing green. Its ears came to a sharp point at the top, much like the Bringer of Nightmares himself did. She had been so immersed in this little creature that she hadn't felt the bed sink down next to her.

"His name is Da'fen. He bears a likeness very close both in looks and personality to the wolf pup that bested me in my grand hunt. A spirit of Hope has bound itself to the pup, so he may always protect you…when I cannot." Pharen felt her chest constrict at his words, and she realized she hadn't even gotten a chance to really mourn Solas being gone, and wasn't sure how she would fare losing him completely. A single tear fell on the head of Da'fen, and he looked up to her, slowly blinking his eyes.

Steeling her nerves, she held Da'fen close, and met Fen'Harel's unwavering gaze. "Tell me more about what you learned from your friend at Vir'dirthan, vhenan. I cannot leave you here." Now grinning ear to ear, the Dread Wolf launched into explanation on what rituals were entailed, what training she would have to go through, what lore she would need to learn, and of course, what power was required to make her own foci.