Solas, Varric, and Cassandra accompanied her to the Hinterlands. Varric chattered away, with apparently the intent of driving Cassandra insane, with some occasional help from Solas.

"So here we are, elf, cleaning up another human mess."

"What would the Inquisition do without our stabilizing influence, Master Tethras?"

"I assume they'd just start burning things."

"That does sound like most humans I know."

Cassandra glared at them. "If you gentlemen are quite finished?"

"Now, now, don't get touchy." Varric held up his hands. "We're just here to lend you simple humans our help."

"Before you cause everything to explode."

"Again."

Ruya tried, with some difficulty, to keep a straight face. Varric winked at her. It was fun, in its way, trekking across the land. Like something out of an adventure story. Even after being forced to go on the run, she hadn't been able to spend much time in the outdoors without risking being spotted and having templars come down on her.

Varric wasn't quite as thrilled to be out walking across the land. Actually, when he wasn't pestering Cassandra, he was complaining about the hills.

#

She found Solas a bit away from the others at the camp. He sat on a fallen log, watching the stars. He nodded when he saw her, and gestured for her to sit next to him. "Closing the Breach is our primary goal, but I hope we might also discover what was used to create it. Any artifact of such power is dangerous. The destruction of the Conclave proves that much."

"You don't think whatever created the explosion was destroyed in the blast?" She raised an eyebrow at him.

"You survived, did you not?" He gave her an appraising look. "The artifact that created the Breach is unlike anything seen in this age. I will not believe it destroyed until I see the shattered fragments with my own eyes."

If it could do such a thing... Ruya turned her gaze towards where the Breach was visible in the sky. Was the explosion the intended use of the artifact, or had its wielder been intended something more nefarious? And if the artifact could do that, what else could it do? "We would do well to try to recover whatever created the Breach."

"Leliana's people have scoured the area near the blast and found nothing. Whatever the artifact was, it is no longer there." He shifted slightly, and then looked over at her. "In any case, did you need me for anything?"

"What do you know about the Fade?"

"A great deal, from my wanderings. There are few hard facts, but I can share what I have learned."

There were a million questions she wanted to ask. She tried to narrow it down to the most pressing. "I'd like to know more about the Breach."

"Simply put, it is a tear in the Veil between this world and the Fade, allowing spirits to enter the world physically. Small tears occur naturally when magic weakens the veil or when spirits cluster at an area that has seen many deaths." He used the butt of his staff to make patterns in the dirt as he spoke. "But your mark allows you to exert some control over the Breach. That means it was created deliberately."

She turned her hand over, examining the mark as she considered his words. She'd read books in the library on the Veil, but she knew enough to realize that the books were biased and limited in their way. "I'd like to know more about the Veil."

"Circle mages call it a barrier between this world and the Fade. But according to my studies in ancient elven lore, that is a vast oversimplification. Without it..." He set aside the staff and gestured, sketching the air as he spoke. "Imagine if spirits entered freely, if the Fade was not a place one went but a state of nature like the wind."

Parts of the Fade were beautiful beyond words. "It sounds like it would be wonderful." Just avoid the more dangerous locales, just like in the real world.

"And dangerous, but..." He smiled at her. "Yes. A world where imagination defines reality, where spirits are as common as trees or grass. Instead, spirits are strange and fearful, and the Fade is a terrifying world touched only by mages and dreamers." He tilted his head at her. "I am glad I am not alone in seeing the beauty of such a world, along with the obvious peril."

"I'd like to know more about demons." Especially if they were going to keep encountering them.

"Your Circle says that demons hate the natural world and seek to bring their chaos and destruction to the living." He spread his hands. "But such simplistic labels misconstrue their motivations and, in so doing, do all a great disservice. Spirits wish to join the living, and a demon is that wish gone wrong."

She drew her knees to her chest and rested her chin on them. "Is there a way to coexist? To live with them, if not in peace, at least without such active confrontation?"

He shook his head. "Not in the world we know today. The Veil creates a barrier that makes such true understanding most unlikely." He smiled. "But the question is a good one, and it matters that you thought to ask."

"We should probably get some sleep. Still a lot to do."

#

The scout that met them was a young, freckle-faced dwarven woman with a cheerful smile. "The Herald of Andraste. I've heard the stories. Everyone has. We know what you did at the Breach. Everyone's a little nervous around mages right now, but you'll get no back talk here. That's a promise." She held out a hand. "Inquisition Scout Harding, at your service." Ruya accepted the hand. "I - all of us here - we'll do whatever we can to help."

"Harding huh?" Varric tilted his head at her. "Ever been to Kirkwall's Hightown?"

"I can't say I have." Harding gave him a confused look. "Why?"

"You'd be Harding in... oh, never mind."

Cassandra made a disgusted noise. Ruya shook her head and smiled before turning her attention back to Harding. "I'm starting to worry about these 'stories' that everyone's heard."

"Oh, there's nothing to worry about." Harding shrugged and grinned. "They only say you're the last great hope for Thedas."

Ruya stood there staring at her for several seconds before she could make her voice work. "Oh. Wonderful."

"The Hinterlands are as good a place as any to start fixing things." She gestured at the soldiers. "We came to secure horses from Redcliffe's old horsemaster." A trace of sadness entered Harding's voice. "I grew up here, and people always said that Dennet's herds were the strongest and fastest this side of the Frostbacks. But with the mage-templar fighting getting worse, we couldn't get to Dennet. Maker only knows if he's even still alive. Mother Giselle's at the crossroads helping refugees and the wounded. Our latest reports said that the war's spread there, too. Corporal Vale and our men are doing what they can to help protect the people, but they won't be able to hold out very long. You best get going. No time to lose."

#

They found Inquisition soldiers protecting refugees caught in the middle of a pitched battle between a group of mages and a group of templars. Despite attempts by Cassandra and Solas to make the various sides stand down, they were promptly attacked. She felt a little bad about slinging spells at them, but got over it quickly when she saw a mage indiscriminately cast towards the refugees.

There were wounded. Healing spells weren't her strength, but she and Solas did what they could. They found Mother Giselle tending to wounded with the aid of other mages. She was reassuring the wounded that the mages were there to help.

"Mother Giselle?"

The kindly-faced woman nodded, and gestured for Ruya to approach. "I am. And you must be the one they're calling the Herald of Andraste."

Ruya glanced over at the mages engaged in healing. "What you said to that soldier..."

"We do not teach that magic is evil. We teach that pride is evil." Her eyes went to the body of one of the templars that had attacked earlier. "And does not corrupt only mages. But I did not ask you to come simply to debate with me."

"Then why am I here?"

Mother Giselle led her up the hill. "I know of the Chantry's denouncement, and I'm familiar with those behind it. I won't lie to you: some of them are grandstanding, hoping to increase their chances of becoming the new Divine. Some are simply terrified. So many good people, senselessly taken from us..."

"What happened was horrible." She could still see it when she closed her eyes.

"Fear makes us desperate, but hopefully not beyond reason. Go to them. Convince the remaining clerics you are no demon to be feared." Mother Giselle was watching her, though her face remained kind. "They have heard only frightful tales of you. Give them something else to believe."

The clerics were frightened of her? It was had to wrap her mind around that. "You want me to appeal to them?"

"If I thought you were incapable, I wouldn't suggest it."

"Will they even listen?"

"Let me put it this way: you needn't convince tehm all. You just need some of them to doubt." Giselle gestured with her hands as though she was comparing weights. "Their power is their unified voice. Take that from them, and you receive the time you need."

It made sense. "It's good of you to do this."

"I honestly don't know if you've been touched by fate or sent to help us... but I hope." Mother Giselle's gaze went out over the refugees. It rested on an old man and woman. The old man carried a small rucksack, and the woman carried a child too young to be able to walk. "Hope is what we need now. The people will listen to your rallying call, as they will listen to no other. You could build the Inquisition into a force that will deliver us..." She looked back to Ruya. "Or destroy us. I will go to Haven and provide Sister Leliana the names of those in the Chantry who would be amenable to a gathering. It is not much, but I will do whatever I can."

Ruya swallowed. "We'll see what we can do here for now."

#

Cassandra pointed at a hilltop. "Corporal Vale is coordinating the Inquisition's efforts in the area. We should speak with him."

Ruya nodded, and headed in that direction. Corporal Vale impressed her. He hadn't been there long, but he'd identified the problems and put someone on each of them. Food and shelter were the primary concerns, but something would need to be done about the mages and templars still fighting in the valley. The rebels and the order had washed their hands of those remaining, but the refugees couldn't do the same. She promised the corporal that she'd keep an eye out for an available healer.

#

Her brothers had taken her hunting before. Excursions into the wood to hunt a boar or some other trophy. Mostly, she'd just been along as an audience for their bragging. Lukas's bragging, anyway. Otwin had usually ended up distracted by something found in the ruins that made up the best of their family's hunting grounds. She wondered what they would think if they could see her now, hunting rams through the hills with lightning bolts. Probably complain it wasn't sporting.

Both Cassandra and Solas knew how to dress the rams. After the first, she rolled up her sleeves and let Solas show her how it was done. Varric was helpful enough when it came to killing the things, but got a little green around the gills when it came time to do the gutting.

"I'm sure some of the refugees will know how to dress the hides," Ruya said as she rolled one up and stuck it into the bag.

"We should look for those caches as well." Solas washed his hands in the small stream before rising.

"We can do that while we try to find out where the templars and mages are holed up." Ruya turned a slow circle as she looked around the valley. "The mages leave signs for each other, but I'm not sure how the templars find each other."

"There are many old forts and ruins around the area." Cassandra picked up one of the bundles they'd made. "They will most likely be in one of those."

#

They found a cache, and learned that the templars apparently couldn't tell the difference between a mage staff and a shovel. Or maybe they just didn't care about the difference between a mage staff and a shovel. Twice the templars attacked them, despite Cassandra's armor still bearing the sigil of the seekers. A small band of mages and sell-swords also attacked.

A scout reported that an elven scout was missing. They found the elven scout being attacked by templars. Ruya started to walk away, and noticed the dead mage. And the picnic. She slowly turned to raise an eyebrow at the scout.

The young woman confessed to having been spending time with the mage. Varric immediately seized on the opportunity to recruit the scout to other duties, pointing out that if she could get into an apostate's pants in the middle of a war, she could likely talk anyone into anything. Ruya smiled. No doubt Varric would recognize such a talent.

She closed a rift for a group of cultists, and sent them to spread word of the Inquisition. Part of her wanted to giggle at the absurdity of it all, but she managed to keep a straight face.

#

She pointed out the first of the signs. From there, they found another, and then another, until they succeeded in locating the camp of the rebel rebellion. Taken by surprise, they put up less of a fight than she would have expected.

Her healing spell took care of the burns on Cassandra's arm. The Seeker tested her range of motion, and then nodded. "With luck, perhaps we can also track down the renegade templars."

"They looked to be coming from the opposite direction, when we followed the mage signs." Ruya considered a moment. "If we head back to that burned out part of the valley, we could track them back." She glanced at Solas and Varric. "Up for it?"

"More walking uphill through muck?" Varric shrugged. "Sounds delightful."

#

Corporal Vale was pleased to hear of their success. Soldiers were dispatched to retrieve the caches and whatever could be recovered from the camps of the renegades.

"We should head back to Haven." Cassandra adjusted her scabbard. "Mother Giselle will be reporting to Leliana."