About a month after the strange occurrence at dinner, in 9:41 Dragon, a messenger from Orlais came to the Ferelden royal palace, bringing news of the civil war. And something new. A Breach in the Veil. The Conclave at the Temple of Sacred Ashes had been interrupted, and the Breach had killed everyone. Eleanor had been listening to the messenger's words, and she stood, opening her mouth as if to speak.
"I… Felt it," Eleanor said quietly, bringing King Alistair to attention at the sound of her voice. "That day… I felt… Something change." She spoke slowly, not used to the way the words felt on her lips. She was such a young child, only seven years old, but there was something she hadn't been able to tell anyone. She paused and bowed to the messenger, then left the dining hall for her room. She was asleep long before Alistair and Elissa finished their discussions.
Alistair watched as his young daughter left the room. "Did you hear that too?" he asked Elissa.
"Yes, our daughter spoke," Elissa responded, just as surprised as Alistair. "But the healers said that she had no voice." She stood. "We will have to figure this out later. Alistair, who's the new First Enchanter? And Knight-Commander? We need to get this figured out. We defeated the archdemon, we can't let this new threat take Ferelden."
"My lady, there is one more message for you," the messenger spoke up. "Teyrn Fergus Cousland invites you, the King, and the young Princess to Highever Castle for his impending wedding with the Lady Lenara, from Orlais."
"You didn't tell me your brother was getting married," Alistair said with a laugh.
"Fergus hadn't even told me he was engaged," Elissa remarked. "I guess it has been a while since Howe killed his wife and son. And he hasn't seen Eleanor in some time. Very well, messenger, tell my brother that we will gladly be there." The messenger nodded and scurried off. "But we still have to decide what to do about that Breach."
Eleanor sighed and swung her little legs as she sat on the warped tree's branch, looking out over the abnormal landscape to the floating black city in the sky. Well, she thought it was just an island, but one of the other people here had called it the Black City. She had only just started getting schooling, she didn't know what the Black City was yet. But this place was dark and, truthfully, rather boring. Sometimes the little white floating things would come and play with her, but more often than not they left her alone.
But there was one, a woman with white hair and a nice face that she thought of as a grandmother. Well, she didn't know hers, mother's parents had died long before she was born, and she'd heard stories of father's brother Cailan, the previous King, but he'd also died long before she was born. She'd met her father's uncle, Arl Eamon, a few times, and Bann Teagan was fun to play with, but she didn't know any people her own age. Even Connor was a good deal older than her. But Connor knew magic, and he was able to make the floating white things play with her while she was awake too. She enjoyed playing with Connor, but what she really wanted was a friend her own age. She'd heard her father say that his dwarven friend, Oghren, also had a daughter, but dwarves were dwarves. Besides, they didn't live here in Denerim. She sighed and pushed herself off the tree branch, landing lightly on the ground. She walked aimlessly, stopping every so often to look at the floating island. Then there was the song. Always, the song floating above everything. And she loved it. The tune was relaxing, and for some reason Eleanor knew it was elvan. But she couldn't figure out how she knew that.
Oh, there… That was her friend. The white-haired woman. The child grinned and ran up to the woman, who easily took the girl into her arms.
"I finally spoke today," Eleanor said to the woman. Talking was easy here, this was a dream world. "I finally used my voice in the real world."
"Now that is an achievement, little one," the woman responded, running her hand over the girl's head. She sat the girl on her lap and began to braid her hair.
"Mother and father talk about their friends sometimes," Eleanor continued. "I heard them today, talking about something called a… Um… Kun… Ku…" She paused, attempting to remember the word.
"Did they say Qunari?" the woman asked.
"Yeah, that was it!" she responded happily. "Mother and Father were talking about some sort of battle, and someone named Sten. Mother said he was a good friend of hers, but I've never met him. Do you know who he is?"
"Ah, Sten, I believe I do," the woman responded, thinking back. It was harder for her, she'd been here far too long, and her memories were quite scrambled. "Let me see… If I remember right, Sten was handed over to your mother to fight the darkspawn as atonement for the family he killed."
"Do you know why he killed them?" Eleanor asked.
"Now, that is a good question," the woman responded with a soft laugh. Eleanor liked the way the woman's hands felt in her hair.
"Mother also talks about someone named Wynne," the girl continued. The woman's hands stopped moving. "What's wrong?"
"Nothing, little one," the woman said, continuing to use her fingers to comb through Eleanor's hair. Eleanor didn't press the woman, and continued talking. Time passed, and Eleanor slipped down from the woman's lap.
"I gotta go back now," the girl said to the woman. "Oh, I've been talking to you for a long time now, but I don't know your name."
"My name is Wynne, child," the woman said with a smile. Then everything went black as Eleanor returned to the waking world.