Sweet dreams till sunbeams find you
Sweet dreams that leave all worries behind you
But in your dreams whatever they be
Dream a little dream of me...
Sweet dreams, till sunbeams find you
Gotta keep dreaming leave all worries behind you
But in your dreams whatever they be
You gotta make me a promise, promise to me
You'll dream, dream a little of me
~ Ella Fitzgerald, Dream A Little Dream of Me
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If he dreamed, he didn't recall it when he woke. Eating a little more, he stood and stretched, working out the kinks in his back from sleeping on the stony ground. He could hear things moving in the distance, some large, others smaller, and none of them pleasant sounding. Out of long habit, he cleaned his blade and checked his equipment for damage. Other than the wound in his side, which he'd wrapped, everything seemed all right for now.
When he had finished, he made his way out into the long, winding pathways and began to walk. Staying in one place for too long seemed a bad idea, and, if he had any chance at all of escaping, sitting still wouldn't help him find it.
The candles were flickering in the Inquisitor's chambers near dawn. The Warden was standing on the balcony, shoulders slumped and her hand over her face, the wind catching her pale hair and tossing it across her shoulders. None of those in the room said a word, though the Inquisitor, Ashe, looked up now and then, her brows creasing as she watched the way the elf's frame shivered in the cold wind. Beside her, Morrigan was turning the amulet Dorian had retrieved from Redcliff castle after their adventure in time travel.
"Has she slept recently?" Ashe asked.
"Doubtful. Though sleep is not always restful for a warden," Morrigan answered, setting the amulet down on the desk. "Ysris has ever been resilient, though ..." her eyes drifted toward the balcony and her lips tightened. "I do not like to think what she will do if we cannot succeed in this endeavor."
"I know I couldn't sleep in the same situation," Doran said softly. "Though she should likely make an attempt. What we're about to attempt should not be taken lightly, not if she wishes to rescue him without destroying everything in Skyhold in the process."
It was an ambitious plan Morrigan had presented in the previous evening, involving both Dorian's research with his previous mentor, Alexius, and the use of the eluvian - though she'd presented the last with reservation. It involved more than that, as well, though she'd only said that both the Warden and the Champion's particular skills would be useful to them in gaining the power they would require ... and even the chance that that would work lay squarely in the use of the mark in her own palm.
"I'll talk to her."
"Are you certain?" Morrigan asked, brow lifting. "She might throw you over the rail."
"Not so long as Alistair is in the Fade," Dorian muttered. "I think we've done all we can for the moment. We all need to rest before we make an attempt. The Warden most of all."
Ashe nodded, and made her way out onto the balcony. She was tall enough that the elf's head reached no higher than her chin, which ought to have given her an advantage. Unfortunately, Ysri Surana made up for what she lacked in height with intimidation. When she turned her head to look at the other mage, it took everything Ashe had to maintain eye contact - disconcerting for someone accustomed to Cassandra's glowers.
"Aren't you tired?" she asked, keeping her tone neutral. "You can lie down on my bed, if you want. We'll keep working and get everything together while you sleep."
"I ought to, but I'm not certain I can," Ysri answered, looking away. "I found what I was looking for in the west and was almost to Weisshaupt when I got Leliana's message. I haven't slept since, not for more than a few minutes at a time."
"Then you should lie down before we do something that could have catastrophic consequences if it goes wrong," the Inquisitor recommended, her tone sharper than she'd have liked. Ysri nodded, moving to walk past her, but paused at the doorway, her eyes studying the human's face.
"Why him? Hawke said it was between the two and she offered. Not that I'm unhappy to find the Champion still alive, but I have found the Wardens gone from Orlais and my husband left behind in the Fade. I cannot help but think those two incidents related."
"Corypheus can control those carrying the taint of the Blight," Ashe explained, her voice going stiff and formal. She couldn't help it, not with the guilt surging so strongly through her chest. "Adamant was ... a terrible thing. The warden mages had become demons under the command of the Venatori mage, bound by Corypheus to his will-"
"Alistair is no mage," Ysri interrupted, eyes flashing. "He ... he was trying to fix things. So you leave him behind in the Fade - Alistair who ...," her lips twisted and she turned abruptly away. "If you ever want to know what a Warden ought to be, it was him. He gave up everything to be what he was, and ... we were finally going to be free. Together."
"I'm sorry," Ashe said, knowing it wasn't enough. "If we can retrieve him, we will. I swear it."
The Warden said nothing else, walking to the bed before dropping down onto it. She looked at no one else, simply pulling off her boots and stretching out over the coverlet, one arm across her eyes.
He slept again, having found another hidden place. This time he dreamed a little, though it was a strange dream. He was standing in the center of a garden, people drifting by him like ghosts. A woman in scarlet Chantry robes paused nearby, smiling as she listened to a man with light hair and an Orlesian accent ask her advice. He heard a child laughing, dark haired and pale, eyes flashing as he spoke to a pale haired boy with a large, awkward hat. Others made their way past him, not noticing where he stood. He was a ghost in the garden, invisible, untouchable ...
"Where are you?"
His heart broke at the sound, and he turned to see Ysri standing on the path, pale hair pulled back from her face. She seemed less spectral than the others, and he caught his breath as her head turned, her eyes searching the space around them.
"I'm right here," he whispered, moving toward her. "Maker's breath, I'm right here."
"Alistair ..." she closed her eyes as he neared, her hands reaching out and he held his breath. But they skimmed his presence, broke through the space where he stood, unable to reach him. Her face crumpled and she sagged, head dropping. "I can't believe you're gone. I won't."
"I'm not," he promised. "I'm still here. Ysri, I'm right here, my love."
"It's been too long," she confessed. "They all think me mad with grief. There's no way you could still be alive."
He stood as near as he could, drinking in the sight of her, the sound of her as she spoke. He'd not heard that voice for so long, and it was enough to undo him. "Don't give up," he said. "I know you won't. You never have."
"I should never have left," she whispered.
"It was safer that you did," he answered, wishing she could hear him. "I love you."
There was a rose in the locket Ysri wore around her neck. Old and faded, it had survived journeys though the Dark Roads and the battle with the Arch Demon. She took it off only to bathe, and, even then, she kept it near to hand. All through the journey to the west to find the answer, she'd carried it with her, close to her heart. It was in her hand when she woke, curled onto her side on the Inquisitor's bed, tears coursing down her cheeks. She forced herself to breathe, to calm down before she opened her eyes.
He'd been there. In her dream like a spirit of the Fade, but invisible. She'd felt him there - so near she might have touched him.
When she finally lifted her lashes, she found Leliana sitting beside her on the bed, quiet and watchful as always. She was older now with a steely look in her eyes she hadn't had ten years before, but Ysri could still see the girl there, the laughter and determination beneath the surface.
"Are you all right?" Leliana asked.
"No. Not till we find him," Ysri answered, pushing herself into a sitting position. Everything ached and, for the first time in days, she was calm enough to hear that damnable song in the back of her head. "We will find him."
"You do not believe he is dead."
"He isn't. I know he isn't, even though it's mad to believe he's alive." She shook her head. "He was in my dream just now. I felt him."
"Ahh, a dream," Leliana's lip curved to one side.
"Don't tell me you, of all people, are going to dispute putting faith in a dream?" Ysri asked, smiling crookedly.
"I would not dare."