Author's Note: Big thanks to my beta HuntressoftheLight, and I do not own DA, but I wish I did.

It had been three days. That's how long it had been since Dorian last saw Lavellan. Well, three days since he had last really seen her. She had gone off on a secret mission with Solas one night, telling only Leliana before they headed off, and when they got back, she disappeared. He knew that she was still around Skyhold. He saw her in the courtyard the previous morning buying something from Belle, and he knew she had been down to the kitchens, but she hadn't been around to see him or anyone else for that matter since she got back.

Well, enough was enough. It wasn't like her to disappear so completely, and he wasn't about to just let it slide. He knew there was something wrong. When he had asked Solas if he had seen her, Solas simply stared at him with his eyes as judgemental as ever, and curtly responded that he had not, and if Dorian could please leave him to work now, as he was very busy.

Dorian couldn't stand the elf. It wasn't the fact he was an elf, which is why many around Skyhold steered clear of him. Nor was it the fact that he was an apostate, which would be incredibly hypocritical coming from him, but Dorian did know that it was the reason why people like Cassandra and Vivienne didn't care for him. No it was undoubtedly his attitude. He considered himself such an expert on everything to do with magic, and looked down on those who didn't hold very similar beliefs. The passive aggressive lecture he had gotten about his "twisted perversion of spirits" as a necromancer had put the two at odds early on, and Dorian knew that Solas didn't like his closeness that he shared with Lavellan.

If Solas cared so much, then why wasn't he more concerned about the situation at hand? It was another piece that didn't quite fit, and Dorian was more convinced that he needed to find Lavellan.

But where to look for her? He had already checked her usual haunts, being the tavern and her bedroom, as well as the stables. He was beginning to run out of ideas. As his eyes raised to the sky to think, his gaze ran across the courtyard tower.

"Caught you now, little rogue," he thought to himself. He began to stroll across the courtyard, filled with soldiers training, and towards the stone steps that led up to the tower, and hopefully Lavellan.

As he climbed the final ladder up to the topmost platform, he sensed immediately that Lavellan was nearby. He looked to his right, and there she was, curled into the corner, sitting on the cold stone, looking out at the mountains before them.

She looked terrible. Her eyes were glazed over; she didn't even notice that her solitude had been interrupted. But that wasn't what shocked him most. As he stared down at her face, he noticed that her vallaslin was gone. Not faded, but completely vanished.

"I am rather put out with you," he said, walking towards her, startling her out of her trance. "I have been looking all over Skyhold, and of course, you were in the last place I thought to look."

She stared guiltily up at him, "You didn't need to do that."

Dorian sat down slowly next to her, wincing ever so slightly at the grime that covered the stone beneath them.

"Well, obviously I did. Who else would play chess with me? Cullen has become insufferable after his last victory." She gave a small smile at that, but just as quickly as it came, it vanished.

He waited a few moments before resuming his search for answers, "I know this has something to do with that mission you snuck out on. Not the smartest decision you've made you know, going off on your own," he said quietly.

"How can you tell?" she snarled back.

He didn't rise to the bait, "Well, you decided to pull a disappearing act since you returned. No one has seen you, not even your lover. And now, I would have to guess that it has something to do with your physical change,"

She winced at the word lover, then looked back out over the mountains that stretched out before them. She started to talk, though she seemed oddly disconnected from the words she was saying.

"He took me out, to where the veil was thin. He told me...things I didn't want to hear," she said in a small voice.

"What things?" Dorian inquired.

"You don't want to know."

"Indulge me," he said, probing her on.

She gave a large sigh, still refusing to look at him, "He told me that the Dalish had it wrong. The vallaslin were never meant to honor the Creators. They were meant to denote slavery."

Dorian was surprised, but at the same time, he wasn't at all. He had been there at the temple of Mythal, and the Keeper's story of the true fall of the Elven empire made him realize that most all of that history had been lost to the ages. The stories of who had caused the Elven empire to fall were incorrect, so it wasn't a stretch to imagine that much of the remaining lore was incorrect as well. But he knew that it would have been a shock to her. She had told him of her markings before, and how she had taken the same mark that her grandmother, a famous hunter in her clan, once wore. And now it was gone.

"He offered to take it away, to free me and I said yes. He took it away, and told me I was beautiful."

Dorian listened to her story, wondering where the story went sour.

"Then he left me."

Oh, that's where.

"What do you mean he left you?" Dorian asked, his anger growing by the second.

"I mean he left. Said we were over and apologized from distracting me from my duty. Because that is what always matters," she bitterly said.

Dorian couldn't believe the nerve of the fucking elf. He must have known what those marks meant to her, how proud she was of them. Who cares what they used to mean, what was important is what they meant now, and to her, it meant her clan and her home, a home she no longer had. More importantly, he must have known how important his opinion was to her, and how much she cared for him. Then he just threw it away, like it was rotten meat or a scrap of cloth.

"And then what?" Dorian didn't think he even wanted to know the answer.

"He left, and said he would see me at Skyhold."

"So he left you in an unknown location, and you were forced to come home...alone?"

"That about sums it up."

Dorian sat there for a moment, stunned into silence at the stupidity of the elf, and the callousness of his actions.

"You realize that he is, without a doubt, a piece of shit, don't you?"

"I know. Creators know I am fully aware," She leaned onto Dorian's shoulder, as he wrapped his arm around her, "It doesn't mean it hurts any less."

"I know darling," he said softly, "Heartbreak is never easy." So he sat with her, her head on his chest, and his arm around her shoulders, staring out at the sun that was just starting to set over the snow, causing beautiful reds and oranges to dance over the white canvas.

As she cried her sorrow away, he knew that he would be having words with Solas as soon as he was done.

Dorian stalked into the study where Solas always roamed, only just having finished stuffing Lavellan full of food and convincing her to rest.

As he walked into the room, Solas stood from his chair to face the incoming mage.

"I have already told you Dorian, I am rather..."

That was all he managed to get out before Dorian reared back an arm, and cracked his fist across the elf's nose. Solas sprawled out on the floor, nose bleeding rather profusely, looking up at Dorian with a mixture of knowing and hatred. Though, whether or not that hatred was aimed at Dorian or himself, Dorian couldn't be sure. It didn't matter.

"I take it you know exactly why I did that, so I won't lecture you. Just know, there are those around keeping an eye on her, and would be more than happy to put you in your place if you stick another toe out of line."

"She wouldn't want to have me threatened. I did what I did, and what was done is between the two of us."

Dorian took a threatening step forward, "You have no idea what she wants. That much is abundantly clear," he spat. He jolted his hand out, and the tingle of magic could be felt in the air.

"What did you do to me?!" Solas demanded, as he struggled to his feet.

"Nothing you didn't deserve," Dorian snapped back, and with that, Dorian turned on his heel, leaving a rather shocked elf in his wake.

That night, the permanent residents of Skyhold crowded into the dining room for dinner, as they did every night. Long tables had been set up in the room, and many of Lavellan's companions were sitting along on said tables, eating and drinking away.

Lavellan had come down after an afternoon of rest, and was socializing with the rest of her group. She was talking to Varric about a plotline in his latest thriller, when Varric went silent, staring at something behind her head. One by one, many others at the table did the same, except for Dorian, who looked like the cat who had gotten into the cream and finished the bowl. She turned around to see what the fuss was about, when she too, paused in shock.

There was Solas, carrying a plate of food away from the table, with a huge black eye splotched across his face.

"What happened Chuckles?" Varric said, trying and failing to hide his amusement at the elf's predicament.

"Nothing that you should concern yourself with," replied Solas stiffly, and with that, he walked out of the room, leaving a slightly disbelieving audience in his wake.

"I wonder what happened," said Cassandra, frowning slightly at the door he had just exited through.

"I wonder why he didn't heal himself," Vivienne responded.

With that, the conversation began to pick up again.

Lavellan was puzzled at Vivienne's remark though. She knew Solas was a talented healer, and was able to reduce the bruising and swelling of an injury; he had done it to her many times before. Her gaze was drawn to Dorian, still looking a mite too proud of himself.

"You?" she mouthed, her eyebrow raised in question.

His response was an innocent smile that she didn't believe for a second.

She raised her mug of ale to him, a smirk of her own growing on her face, and as he clinked his glass with hers, she felt better than she had in days.

Author's Note: So I never romance Solas in my playthrough, but I did hear all about it afterwards, and looked up videos and all that. I would have been so mad if that had happened to me, and I couldn't imagine any of the Inquisitor's friends would be so happy either. Anywho, I hope you enjoyed and please review!