"The veil is thin here. Can you feel it, tingling on your skin?" Solas spoke quietly as they walked hand in hand into the grove. They left the horses to graze in the tall grass outside, both animals too nervous to follow.

Varania was nervous too. It felt like there were butterflies, just like the one Solas carved on her bone pendant, fluttering in her belly.

There was something about this place, something that felt sacred but that didn't frighten her. After The Well of Sorrows, the eerie sensation of being watched seemed almost normal.

But she was afraid of him, of them, of how fragile this thing between them felt.

Solas was right, they'd never really been alone before, not really. Even that first memorable evening when they made love with the sunset as a backdrop, there had been the faint lilt of voices from the courtyards below. Later, when they were hungry they went and shared a late meal with Dorian and Cassandra.

Varania smiled at the memory. The knowledge of how they'd become such staunch friends, the Seeker and the Necromancer. Who could have imagined? Just as she and Solas found each other, Dorian and Cassandra had both found love as well; Iron Bull and Cullen were both very lucky men. Knowing that the Inquisition, that all this horror had brought more than death into the world gave her strength.

She turned her attention back to Solas beside her. He was so languid here, easy and loose in a way he rarely was despite the uncurrent of tension in them both. She did feel it, the magic pressing against the thin veil here. Usually that put her on edge, made the mark in her hand flare. Yet tonight was different, or perhaps this place was different. The magic almost seemed to calm her mark instead on inflame it.

It was beautiful as a painting in this grove, now that the wyvern were gone. The water danced down the rock face into the calm pool, ferns and soft foliage swaying at their passing.

It was obvious this had once been a site important to the ancient elves, the towering statues and the paintings on the rock walls making that abundantly clear. Perhaps they chose this place to pray because the veil was thin or perhaps millennia of prayer had thinned the veil and brought peace to the Fade behind it. Either way, she felt...welcome here. Whatever entity was worshipped here wanted her here, though she didn't even know its name.

Undeniably aroused, yet at peace. Nervous but calmed. The paradox of emotions swirled around her. From the sly and yet oddly shy looks Solas was giving her from the corner of his eyes, she knew that she wasn't alone in these feelings.

They walked silently for a while, only their footfalls and the soft murmur of the water surrounding them. At the water's edge, Solas stopped and turned to look at her, taking both her hands in his. He looked at their clasped hands carefully, his head tucked down against his chest. A silence stretched between them. Varania squeezed his hands.

He looked up, smiling faintly. "I've been thinking about what I can do to show you what you mean to me."

Varania took a step closer to him, tilting her head back to look up at him. "I already know, ma lath."

"Even so," he began but then paused. Solas shivered as if a cold wind hit him. His breathing seemed to come faster and not in excitement. She recognized his posture immediately, though she'd only seen him like this once before.

When Alexius sent her into the bleak red lyrium future, she found Solas in a cell, tainted and dying from exposure. When she found him, he was afraid.

He was afraid now.

"I determined the best thing I can offer you is the truth," he said, his voice not betraying his emotion as the rest of his body was.

He opened his mouth to continue and Varania silenced him with a gentle finger over his lips.

"Shh," she hushed him, releasing one hand so she could reach up and press her palm against his cheek. "Whatever it is, it doesn't matter."

Solas closed his eyes and leaned his face into her hand. "It does."

"No," she shook her head. "I love you; for what you do, for what you've done since I've met you. Whatever came before is the past."

"I wish it was so simple," he said, opening his eyes again. "There are many truths I should share with you, of varying importance. Some perhaps I should have told you from the start."

"Am I still a slave?" Varania interrupted him, surprised at how direct her own voice sounded.

"Of course not, that's-"

She cut him off again. "Then it doesn't matter." She slipped her hand around the back of his neck, stepping close to him, their other fingers still entwined together, hanging loose at their sides. Solas put his free hand on the small of her back, his fingertips brushing over her tailbone.

"I do want to know your truth whatever it might be," she said. "But not because you worry that I don't know some truth that will change how I feel. That it will change what we mean to each other." She smiled at him, swallowing hard at the lump of emotion in her throat. "Because I love you and you should never doubt that."

He melted against her, his expression and his eyes soft. "You are remarkable." He took a long slow breath. "You are so beautiful."

The emotion in his words was so heartfelt and heartbreaking all at once. Varania couldn't help but lean into him, reaching up on her toes to kiss him. As his arms came around her, she felt encompassed by him, surrounded and comforted in his embrace.

"Vhenan," he whispered. She could almost hear him wanting to continue. Varania didn't know what he wanted to say, but she could feel that whatever it was hurt him deeply. This first moment they were truly alone she couldn't stand the idea of them wasting it mired in angst.

Things were hard enough without wasting the few precious moments they had.

She silenced him with another kiss.

This kiss wasn't soft or chaste, but passionate and forceful. Solas seemed taken aback for a heartbeat but he quickly reciprocated. The hand that lay so demurely on her back suddenly gripped at her, grasping her close, sliding lower over the curve of her ass and to the indent where it melded into her thigh.

Varania's head fell back as his mouth began to wander, along the ridge of her jaw and down the length of her neck. Wild hands tugged at clothing, seeking the solace of warm skin underneath. She managed to get her tunic off and dropped it on to the ground and he wasted no time tasting each inch of exposed skin.

Once, she imagined this was a place ancient elves came to pay homage to one of their gods. Now, they would worship each other.

She yanked at his sweater, only letting their frantic touches break long enough to fling it over his head. She found his mouth with hers again, desperate to taste him and to show him how much she wanted him, no matter what any of their truths were.

This was the only truth that mattered.

He seemed mad for her touch, quickly divesting himself and her of the rest of their clothing and tumbling them down on to the ground. Solas cradled her on his chest, pulling her on top of him until she was astride his hips, both of them fiercely aroused. Neither spoke a word, as if words were both too much and not enough to express this feeling.

Silently, Varania looked down at him, her hair hanging loose on either side of her face. Propped on her palm, she ran her free hand over the side of his face, over his sharp cheekbones and jaw. A muscle twitched under her palm as she stroked along the length of his throat and the line of his sternum. Her fingers delved lower, over the flat plane on his belly to reach between them. Her fingers grazed along the length of his erection, tilting him just slightly under she could slide back down to take him inside her.

She was more aroused than she thought she'd ever been. He slipped inside her without the slightest resistance. Varania closed her eyes, reveling in the smooth slip of skin on skin, on feeling her body clenching at him.

Solas made a low supplicating sound. She opened her eyes to look at him, finding him staring at her, his eyes riveted on her face and at her expression of blind, overwhelming pleasure.

He swallowed hard but smiled at her, a painful smile with a deep furrowed line between his brows betraying his distress that even this pleasure couldn't wash away.

"I love you," he said, only the faintest whisper as he lifted his head, arms coming around her shoulders. Varania pressed her forehead against his. She was too terrified to speak. Her heart felt like glass at his broken expression.

Instead, she moved her hips, the sweet pleasure of their bodies overwhelming the threatening pain. Solas didn't speak again, only began to move with her, their bodies finding quickly the rhythm of practice. She knew just how to move, how to angle her hips to both find her own release and to drive him mad. He knew the same and focused first on her, his own body almost an afterthought.

For what seemed like only a moment but also an eternity, there was only the sound of their commingled breath, of their skin and beneath it the soft rush of flowing water.

Instead of an explosion, her climax flowed over her like that water, like an unraveling of her spine, chills of satisfaction coursing over her body. She felt the reflexive contractions of her inner muscles and his instinctive animal response.

Solas spent himself with a heart wrenching sigh, clinging to her as if she might evaporate into the night air. Varania felt tears prick into the corners of her eyes. Even as she lay cradled against him, his heart beating frantically into her ear and his sweat damp flesh against her cheek, she could feel him curving back into himself, pulling away from her.

He was inside her and his arms were around her and she could feel how he loved her but even so, she could feel him drifting away with each passing moment.

"I need," he began, and she lifted her head to look at him despite her sudden fear. "The truth..." His face danced through a myriad of emotions, through expressions she couldn't identify, changing swiftly as the wind. But instead of continuing, he threaded fingers through her hair, pressing her face back down against his chest.

"Later," he whispered, his voice catching in his throat. Suddenly, he was with her again, his presence strong and overwhelming again.

"Yes," Varania said, squeezing her arms around him tighter. He was here. For now, he was really, really here. "Later."

For that moment, she felt him again, not pulling away but beside her fully. Her heart pattered in her chest, but she let the sound of his slowing heartbeat soothe her. His fingers ran softly through the length of her hair at her temple.

"Lath'sal'in," Solas whispered. "Lath ma'revas."

Lath'sal'in = "Love the house of the soul." (From Project Elvhen)

Lath ma'revas = "Love is my freedom" (My best guess)