A big thank you to Elysta and Lady Adaira for reviewing, you guys are awesome as are all who fallow and fav.

Note after this short:

~I realized I never posted how to say my Inquisitor's name and seeing as there are quite a few way it could be said, I'll do so now. Ausra is said 'AO-ZRaa' and means 'Dawn'.

~ while all of these shorts can be viewed as separate pieces, they do link together loosely in a time line. this one in my mind happens around the same time the last one did for Solas.

~ This chapter will mention my personal Hawk, Serenity, who story is not posted yet as I bit a bit of a mental fail after the first half of the short, but I will post it at some point.

on a side note, I do have the next short almost completed, but its another one done from Ausra's POV, and I am wondered about another look at Solas. Lately I have been playing with the idea of him running into my Warden (who story is up here.) as I feel they might have an interesting interaction. What do you guys think? would look like to see that? Let me know!

Tethered Hearts

Her Will:

She watched the small group of Hala as they walked slowly towards a small watering hole on the out skirts of camp. Far enough from people that the wild animals felt safe getting a drink. Carefully, the male of the group nudged a yearling forward as it trailed behind and Ausra smiled for a moment at the action.

The crackled of the fire in front of her drew her attention to the twisting flames as a rather sappy branch got eaten up. This would be the last night for a while that the inquisition would come to The Exalted Plans, as her group had finished up the last of the trouble in the area, ending the day with closing the last rift in the region. She liked to think that sooner or later, that task would be finished for good.

She had hoped that when the main tear had been sealed that the rest would follow, but they hadn't. Instead the more time that went by the more demons came from the opening in the fade, and any chance of them simply going away, along with the anchor in her left hand, seemed unlikely. So for now, she closed them herself, while taking care of what ever might be needed done along the way.

It kept her busy, and Ausra preferred to be busy so that she was too tired to really think too much on her own. Rubbing at her side, she winced at the bruises that were forming there from a Pride Demon's heavy arm. She'd been lucky nothing had broken, but she was defiantly sore. With Vivian back in the courts, the group's main healer was gone, and while she thought Dorian was talented, healing wasn't in his realm of forte.

That only left Solas, the only mage she'd even met that seemed to know every form of magic that dwelled in the sun. When things had first begun, over a year ago, she hadn't trusted many, and so Solas had ended up tending to her injuries. He hadn't been a healer, not really, but he had known a few things to help with pain and to stop bleeding. He only started studying in the art because of her 'reckless tactics' or that's what he had slyly told her once.

Even after all those month, he had been the only person who had truly ever known her, or ever would. It reminded her of the Hala she had just seen, Solas had always been there to gently push her forward when she lost her nerve, if only for a moment.

She had never trusted someone as much as she had him, never told anyone everything before. She had loved him so much, and he had set her free of something she hadn't even known caged her. She just hadn't known that it would be a parting gift, something that would remind her everyday of his touch and his smile and every word he had ever spoken. Ausra never seemed to forget a single word ever spoke by anyone, but is remained clearer then anyone else's ever had. He had told her, what they had was real, but he had left.

It had turned her greatest victory into a bitter sweet thing, something that had eaten at her that entire night before she had finally left the party, unable to force a smile anymore.

It was Dorian who had found her hours later after a maid had reported crashing sounds in her quarters. She'd been on the floor, curled up in a tight ball, her face tear stricken. She'd trashed her room – a room she had started sharing with Solas– and thrown a book at her gold-rimmed mirror and shattered it. When her charming friend had approached her, Ausra had simply broken down crying again, and no matter how tried she was, she refused to sleep in her bed.

It had smelled too much like him.

In the end she had ended up in Dorian's room, clutching to the mage as she slept as if he might leave her too. It had caused quiet the uproar at first, but such a thing was short lived when most knew the mages preferred gender. Ausra spent most nights there, though she often fell asleep on the couch instead of the bed. When she hadn't been in the mages room at night, she had bunked with her Hart Deer, Yarin, in his stall.

Even now, Ausra couldn't sleep in her own room; she had hardly even gone within it. Blinking, she rubbed at her eyes; pushing away the feeling of shame such memories often brought her.

"You think of the pain in your chest, and that deafens the pain made by the demon." Cole's sudden appearance next to her hardly surprised her as the spirit turned human often traveled with her these days. Ausra smiled slightly at the boy's rather droopy expression, one that matched his hat well.

"You never miss anything." She muttered, rubbing at her side again.

"I hear all suffering." The boy reminded her. "I'm suppose to help them, but your pain always comes back. What should I do?"

The elven women didn't know how to answer him, because she had certainly tried to kill the pain herself more then once. Drinking hadn't helped; it only gave her a stabbing headache and a laughing Iron Bul in the morning. Keeping busy did help but one couldn't be busy forever. So it left her in a bit of a rut, pledging her waking hours. If she didn't even know how to help herself, how could she tell someone else what to do?

"Don't worry too much about it kid." The heavy foot falls of the only Dwarf Ausra had ever met without a beard appeared beside the Mercy Spirit, his ever present cross bow on his back like always. He met her eyes for a moment with a smile before sauntering over and sitting down on the other side of Cole. It occurred to Ausra a bit humorously that they were 'three rouges all in a line' and some how that helped to lighten her spirits. "Your still here, and you care, that's all she could ever want from you, right Swifty?"

At that, her humor grew and she smiled and shook her head. Between Varric's nickname 'Swifty' and Dorian's 'Sneaks' She often wondered if they didn't like saying her name, though she knew it was just an endearment. At least they didn't call her 'Inquisitor' or 'Herald', like half of Sky Hold did.

"Varric's right Cole, knowing you care and that your still here, that's more then enough for me." She repeated to the boy. The blond still frowned shaking his head right back at her, making her wondered just what he saw when he looked at her. Once, he had said she was like a bright light, had she dimmed, she wondered.

"That's not good enough. You do so much for me, isn't there anything I can do?"

Glancing at Varric, he only shrugged is shoulders and Ausra bit the inside of her cheek. Some how the two of them had become almost parents, mentors, to the Spirit-Human, and while neither of them had really expected to take on such roles, neither tried to get away from it either. Soles had always found it a bit agitating, but then again he hadn't approved of letting the boy be more human either.

"Alright…" She soothed, her gaze finding the Hala again as she tried to come up with something to say. The little herd of white deer were still drinking water, though the lead male had taken to staring at their camp. She stared right back, trying to come up with something, anything that would be easy for him and put him at ease.

None of her problems were ever easy though, even if Ausra made it appear as though they were. Strong willed – Cullen had called her – but if she had been so strong, why hadn't she been able to stop the man she loved? Why hadn't she confronted him about what she had just started to realize he worried about? Biting her lip she asked the only thing she could think about in that moment, choosing to be selfish.

"Do you think he ever loved me?" She whispered.

She knew it wasn't fair to ask such a question to the boy, for even those who were born in this world had trouble figuring out what love was. For someone of the fade…she wasn't sure he could even truly fathom such an emotion, as he still lacked quiet a few himself. When she glanced at Varric she could see the sadness in his warm eyes. It wasn't pity. The fellow rouge had seen enough heart aches to know never to pity those who had rightfully earned a chance to lick their wounds. From what he had told her of Serenity Hawk and her life, she could see why he was always asked how she was.

"He always watched you." Cole said suddenly, earning the inquisitor's attention. "When you would meet his eyes, or laugh, there was a warmth in his chest that made him forget, if only for a little while. "

"Forget what?" Ausra muttered, eyebrows pulling together. Cole fidgeted again, picking at the sleeve of his shirt.

"Guilt, pain, anger. There was a scar too deep, too brutally forged. You made him forget about that, made him remember what it felt like to be happy." His words, though sad made her smile, even as tears welled up in her eyes and she pushed them away with the heel of her hand. Though Cole hadn't said it, what he had said gave her enough to know the elf had cared about her, perhaps even loved her.

"I still think you'll see him again." Varric chipped in, leaning back on his hands as he looked at the fire. For a moment, he looked like a great shaman, preparing to tell a story of old, and Ausra couldn't help but think Varric would have outshined them all with his tales. "Chuckles surprised us all when he disappeared, but I think there's more to it then just that. There was a lot we didn't know about him."

That was true. She hated to admit to it but she had never been able to get him to talk about who he had been before, at least not very well. She had never pushed at it because what mattered was who they were now, much like Blackwall. Yet, Solas has berated the warrior for lying, for hiding who he was.

What did that make Solas then?

Even if towards the end, and even more so now, things had begun to fall into place. Things she'd started connecting together even though he tried to hide them. His knowledge, his powers, what the fear demon had said in the Fade… they were clues that she had just started to grasp at when he had left.

Still, even if her guesses were right some how… it didn't change a thing for her. It wasn't that easily to stop loving someone. Though, if that is why he had left, it made her sad to think he thought her so easily swayed. It made her angry too, that he would run away, she had thought him braver, smarter then that.

"When he does come back, what do you think you'll do?" Varric prompted, a sly smile on his face. Ausra raised an eyebrow and Cole looked a bit worried by the dwarf's statement. Her uneasily, unanswered questions aside, she had been thinking about just that as well, for a while now. She hummed, a smile curling at her mouth.

"I'll probably punch him straight in the face." She mused, earning a chuckle from her friend. "Then I'll demand answers… well after I make up for punching him." She wasn't sure she would have had the nerve, if he were to show up in that moment, but it was nice to think about.

Her words even prompted a small weary smile upon the assassin's face while Varric laughed outright and she grinned, her face redder then the flames in front of them.

"Would you guys be quiet!" Cassandra's voice bellowed from within one of the tents. "Some of us are trying to sleep, and dwarven cackling isn't very soothing.

Varric rolled his eyes, but did his best to quiet his joy. "She such a stiff." He grumbled out.

"She's not that bad." Ausra defended, leaning on her legs for a moment. "It is late."

"Are you tired?" Varric questioned with a raised brow. She shook her head. Despite everything they had done today, she doubt she would sleep with everything on her mind. "Good. Care for some Wicked Grace, Swifty?"

Ausra snorted but nodded her head, even as Cole looked between them, his smile falling away. "Your both just going to cheat again." He muttered earning a small bout of laughter again, quieter this time.

As she watched a deck appeared from out of no where, Ausra looked up at the sky, the same sky she knew Solas must have been seeing as well. Though, this late at night he was probably exploring the fade again.

Would he really come back?

She had to wonder, while she loved Varric, she knew he was a very good liar; hence their constant Wicked Grace battles. While she liked to think he wouldn't lie about such a thing intentionally, what Solas had done, made her wondered if any of them had ever truly known him.

With her slowly filling in puzzle of information she was gathering, that possibility seemed quiet rational. Slowly, as she wondered, she let her eyes trace the stars as they unfocused and let the world just be, if only for a moment.

Solas…where was he now? Had he truly left her without even thought to what it would do to her? That didn't seem like him, not when he had said so much, promised so much.

Her thoughts and the stars above sparked a memory from not long ago. Of one she still held rather close to her heart, even if it did hurt. The night they had danced out on the balcony after saving the queen. Ausra had been half tempted to tell him to just keep her company, but she had told herself to find something to enjoy about that night, and so she had.

"So did you learn how to dance in the fade?" She had teased him; even as he easily lead her around the balcony with grace that matched hers. Solas had raised a brow, the metal on the side of his nose – which she thought looked ridicules, along with the hat – glinting as he did so.

"Would that be so odd?"

"…Your kidding right?" She'd laughed slightly at his expression, shaking her short crimson hair. "Is the Fade that interesting? I mean, yeah it's a way to learn, between you and my mother I probably known more about it then any non mage ever will." She pointed out, her eyes flickering to the stars above them for a moment. "It's just that most people live there entire life never seeing it, up until this year I never had." No, now she walked into the Fade with her real body and risked being trapped there forever while the anchor laid glued to her hand. "Are we really missing that much?"

He had chuckled at that, spinning her out and then pulling her back in with out even a pause. "That is like saying the blind do not miss anything because they cannot see the stars." He mused, looking up as she had. "Just because we cannot touch them, does not mean they do not have a story Ausra." He stopped them for a moment, his hand leaving her waist and brush long bangs from her face that had fallen from their clip. "If I could, I would take you with me on my ventures, so that you could see for yourself."

"Haven't you already?" She questioned, referring to the dream of Haven and the first time they had kissed. The elder elf shook his head.

"That was merely a memory I made myself in a dream for you. The real memories of the fade are not something I can control, it would be like trying to stop water from falling to the ground."

"You could freeze it with ice." Ausra teased quirking a smile. In return, the mage had simple given her an easy smile and quiet suddenly moved his hand again, easily shifting her in the a drip as if they had never stopped dancing.

"I'm not all powerful, Vhenan." He murmured, before ducking his head to hers and kissing her forehead. "But for you, I would surely try."

"Ausra?"

Blinking, the elf pulled her thoughts back forward, glancing to her side to see two pairs of concerned eyes. Feeling guilty for worrying them, she gave them a small smile and reached out, taking the hand of cards Varric held waiting.

"Sorry, just thinking." She told them, and they both nodded, though Coles small smile had faded again. She tilted her head and scooted closer to the boy, patting his shoulder and splaying her cards in her anchored hand. "Come on, we can beat him together." She offered.

Cole had looked at her sharply then, his cool eyes meeting hers. She didn't waver though, for some reason her brief memory giving her strength again, making her surer of her self.

She realized it didn't really matter what anyone else thought, it was up to her to really figure out what had happened with Solas. She had believed him when he had said he would have taken her to the Fade, and surely where ever he had gone must have been just as dangerous.

So if he hadn't taken her, did that mean he hadn't had a choice at all?

Ausra didn't know, and she wasn't sure if she would truly ever know until she heard the truth for the elf's own lips. She was content to wait though, because she realized that he had to come back if the pull he felt to her was even half as strong as hers was to him. It was pull she couldn't explain, maybe it was why 'the pain kept coming back' a Cole said. Maybe it was the fact that ever free moment she had her thoughts turned to him. What ever it was, Ausra would just have to wait and see. She had too many duties as Inquisitor to go off looking for him.

Besides she kind of liked the idea of him coming back to her.

Slowly, Cole nodded his head, apparently satisfied with what he had seen and turned his eyes wondering over the cards he still tried to understand. They had been teaching him, but such things were better taught through experience.

"Two against one? That's almost unfair…to you." Varric boasted, and Ausra knew he had already given himself a winning hand. Two could play at that game though, and Ausra had gotten rather good at his version of the game.

As they played, she saw the small group of Hala disappear from view, the male never turning his gaze until the last of them had left the water source. Only then did he turn and walk about to follow his family out. It really was like Solas – Ausra mused – and she wondered if he was watching them now. If he was, he would surely get a show, after all with three rouges in a game of wits, it would certainly be interesting.