'Morrigan was panicking about her son and jumped into the mysterious elven teleport mirror and the Inquisitor naturally jumped right in after her, consequences be damned ' is not what Cassandra likes to hear when she first enters the war room in the morning.
Alright, maybe that isn't exactly how Leliana had said it, but that's how Cassandra had heard it.
"I'm sure she will be fine," Josephine says to Cassandra, who stares at the war table without really seeing it, apparently for too long to go unnoticed. "She always is."
"I am aware," Cassandra says.
For all her talk, Josephine seems a bit more on edge than usual, a bit less focused. Cullen looks between them, lips tightening like he wants to say something, perhaps something comforting.
"Lavellan can handle herself," is all he says. "We have work to do."
Cassandra appreciates his trying.
Leliana is even quieter than usual, as well, though Cassandra gets the impression it is due to Morrigan's apparently unusual emotional state before she had jumped into the mirror, more than anything else. They travelled together during the Fifth Blight, which is such an odd thought in itself given their differences, but from her brief experience of Morrigan, it is possible to see how a break from her aloof, sarcastic demeanour might be troubling.
They wait all of an hour, before the Inquisitor comes striding into the war room.
"Everything's alright," she says, "we're back, and we have Kieran. We're all safe."
"What happened, exactly?" Cassandra asks.
"I'm not sure it's for me to say," Raen admits. "But I… I met Mythal."
There is a brief silence as Leliana, Cassandra, Josephine and Cullen look around at each other, with similar looks of bemusement and incredulity.
"Come again?" Leliana eventually says.
"Mythal, I met her, in the Fade," Raen says, in the way that only she can say such outlandish things and make them sound like almost normal, if still clearly important, things to drop into a conversation.
"You met an ancient elven goddess in the Fade?" Cassandra asks.
Raen makes a face. "It's a little more complicated than that. But, essentially… yes."
"What did she say?" Josephine asks.
"I'd… prefer to keep it to myself, at the moment," Raen says, slowly. "It's nothing for any of you to worry about. She actually gave me some advice, a place I could seek help with Corypheus. I'll explain later."
"Very well, if you are sure," Leliana says.
Cullen looks thoughtful, but also like he has no idea what to offer the conversation. It's fair enough - ancient elven gods are more than a bit out of his usual territory of expertise. "Anything to help against Corypheus is welcome."
"Good, then let's get back to work."
It turns out that Mythal's idea of help is a dragon. Luckily, they've a fair bit of experience with dragons by now, so subduing it is a worthy task but not something that nearly kills any of them.
Cassandra had been so sure that the Inquisitor had been out of ways to awe her, and yet, here they are, watching as Raen reaches out to the magnificent creature, parts of her skin glowing with the power of the Well of Sorrows, with the power of Mythal.
There simply aren't words for something like that. There are times that the Inquisitor just takes Cassandra's breath away.
If asked what makes her so special, Cassandra knows she would struggle to articulate it beyond what she had told Lavellan herself, that she makes decisions that shake the world with a conviction that Cassandra continues to be astounded and impressed by. That might be a part of it, but there is so much more to it than that, so much more to her.
She isn't just the Inquisitor, she is Lavellan, a once Dalish elf with a complicated relationship with her people. She isn't just the Inquisitor, she is Raen, Cassandra's friend who teases her about liking romance novels and goes out of her way to both embarrass her in front of Varric but also procure her the much desired next installment. Raen who is so compassionate, so quick to help but so hesitant to forgive, who has a temper to rival Cassandra's own and is just as hit and miss at keeping it in check.
"I get it, she's pretty and does crazy shit like this, but you don't need to stare at her like she's the reincarnation of Andraste or some shit," Sera says to Cassandra, snorting. "Herald is bonkers enough."
"What?" Cassandra asks her, blinking as she is torn from her thoughts.
"You were staring at her like-" Sera makes a face, and a giggle escapes her. "I don't even know what like. Something weird."
"She just subdued a dragon, am I supposed to not be impressed?"
"No, I know, but it's just, if I didn't know any better, I'd-" Sera trails off and stares at her, scrutinising.
"You'd what?" Cassandra growls, with no idea of where the girl is going with this, but absolute certainty that she isn't going to like it.
Sera purses her lips. "Nothing. I like my head how it is, thanks."
Thankfully, that's when Cassandra is saved from the conversation by the dragon taking off into the air, claiming the sky once again as it circles the grove and then flies away, Lavellan staring after it.
"If I hadn't seen it, I wouldn't have believed it," Dorian breathes, awed.
"Why did it fly away?" Cassandra asks Raen. "Will it come back?"
Raen is still looking at the sky, at the dragon getting smaller and smaller in the distance. "It will come when I summon it. Once. That's enough to fight Corypheus, however. I have my dragon."
"That works," Sera says, grinning almost giddily. "Old Coryphenus won't know what hit him."
Raen slowly turns around, and smiles back at her. "It's certainly something."
They make their way out of the grove, and Sera races ahead with the energy she always has after a fight, and Dorian keeps the middle ground as the man who can never be made to go at any pace he does not wish to. (Unless Bull is around to nudge him, of course, but Bull had been needed for something to do with the Chargers, and unable to come with them.)
It leaves Cassandra and Raen at the back, trailing behind.
"You never cease to astound me," Cassandra says to her friend.
Raen looks at her with surprise. "What do you mean?"
"You just approached a dragon and looked it dead in the eye, and made it submit to you, however briefly," Cassandra says. "Do you have any idea what it is like to witness such a sight? It is the kind of extraordinary scene that is commemorated in paintings ."
"I don't think the dragon will pose for a painting, no matter how nicely I ask," Raen remarks, only to get punched in the arm by a reluctantly amused Cassandra.
"You are the most ridiculous person I have ever met," she says, "why is it, again, that I consider you my friend?"
"I think it's mainly that your other choices are Varric and Dorian," Raen says with a shit eating grin.
Cassandra smirks. "Ah yes. That would be it. My selection is limited, it's true. Thank the Maker for Josephine, who raises the standards of company for us all."
"She rather raises the standards for anything, don't you think?"
"Indeed she does," Cassandra says with a small smile. "For most things, anyway. She is so averse to violence that I do worry about what may happen if anything went… wrong, somehow."
"She was a bard, she must know something about fighting," Raen points out.
"I believe she is as handy with a rapier as any self respecting noble, but other than that? It is hard to say."
"Well, we won't need to find out if I have anything to say about it," Raen says, with a surprising determination. "I won't let anyone hurt her."
"A noble sentiment. She should, however, be safe enough, and far from the coming battle."
"She'd better be." Something lighter flashes across Raen's face, a moment before a softer smile does. "I can tell her about this when we get back to Skyhold. She'll love it."
"She'll scarcely believe it."
"That's half the fun! Her face of utter disbelief is my favourite ."
They fondly discuss the many expressions of Josephine Montilyet for most of the journey back to Skyhold.
Upon returning to Skyhold, however, it is jarring how rapidly everything happens after that. They're barely in the front door, barely been in the war room a minute when the sky itself is wrenched open in the distance.
Raen strides out of the war room, determination powering her every step.
Everyone is gathered, supplies and armour and weapons and potions, distributed as needed. They're ready to move with an admirable speed, and it's a good thing they're a specialised lot, since there is no army behind them this time.
"Please be careful, Inquisitor," Josephine asks Raen, clasping her arm. "I could not bear it if-" She swallows. "Come back safe, my lady."
Raen , she wants to say, but it doesn't feel the time to be correcting her. If she comes back safe, there will be many more a time for that, after all.
"I'll do my best," Raen tells her, because she won't make a promise she can't keep, but damned if she is going to let this bastard take her down.
They head out, and it's a somber march to where the Temple of Sacred Ashes had once been. Where normally a walk towards adventure would involve absurd banter between the incredibly odd assortment of people that is her inner circle, the weight of what is about to happen and what is at stake hangs over them all. There is only the sound of footsteps in the gravel and quiet gestures of affection between friends as they walk.
"Solas," Raen says as they arrive at the base of the mountain, pulling him aside. "I - look, I don't really know what to say, except that-"
"I know," he says, voice calm and patient while his eyes show soft adoration and a kind of guilt that Raen isn't sure she fully understands.
He presses her against a nearby boulder, just for a moment, to steal a fleeting, desperate kiss.
"No matter what happens now, vhenan , this between us was always real, and I will always treasure it," he tells her.
"We're going to be alright, I'm not letting Corypheus hurt me or anyone I care about, ever."
"Good," he replies, but she feels like he wants to say something else. He doesn't, and when they hurry to rejoin the group, he falls back to allow the others to flank her, as she has preferred since their break up.
Raen looks to her right and sees Cassandra, as she always does, and it again hits her what a comfort Cassandra is, how she is always where Raen needs her.
"I'm with you," Cassandra says, eyes even.
Raen takes a breath and nods. "I know."
She looks around at all of the others, all of her friends, the ones she would wrestle a dragon for or go to the ass end of the world to help. They nod at her, words not seeming needed after everything that has brought them here.
There will be time to talk later. She will make sure of it.
What if you can't what if someone falls what if you fall what if Solas falls what if Cassandra falls -
She pushes away her fear and insecurity and clasps Cassandra's forearm in hers. Cassandra's grip is tight, a little too much so, perhaps betraying her worry.
"I have watched you beat every set of odds that should have held you back," Cassandra says. "I have no doubt that today will be no exception."
Raen nods. "Let's end this bastard."
They arrive just in time to see Corypheus slaughtering the last of their scouts. Raen has seen many of their fighters die, read reports about the losses of countless more, and it has always hurt. But something about this time fills Raen with a powerful rage.
No more .
Everything blurs after that. It's Corypheus and his magic and the two dragons battling above them - she will always owe Mythal for this, which is not a happy thought, but it's a worthy price - and the entire world feeling like it is about to break apart.
Their dragon goes down, but it had done enough that they are able to finish off the one serving Corypheus.
They climb. Higher and higher, to where he is trying to break open the world.
He's crumbling, Raen can feel it, but that's when she sees Cassandra go down with a blast of energy, and for a second she is stuck staring.
"Cass !" she screams, before her attention is forced back to Corypheus.
Raen's fury rises in her like a storm, physically sparking from her in excess lightning magic. She might have needed help to get this far, but in this moment, she is beyond capable of dealing with Corpheus on her own.
He doesn't stand a chance against her. All this time she's been terrified of him, he should have been terrified of her . Any sensible person would be, after seeing all that she has managed to do, but the arrogance of this being, this thing that had once been a man but retained only the narcissism of his former life, surpasses even perhaps his power.
She throws him into the broken sky and seals it once and for all.