"Inquisitor." Thane Sun-Hair greeted her. "You've new companions."

Ruya nodded and turned to the men following her. Before she could make introductions, Jerath spoke up. "I'm Jerath Storm's-End. This is Nathaniel Fire-Eye and Carver Stone-Fist."

Thane Sun-Hair sat up. "The warriors of the Thousand Vigils. Welcome to Stone Bear Hold."

They spoke a while. It was clear the Thane had no love for the Jaws of Hakkon, but before she would help, they apparently needed to go rescue a bear.

#

"You didn't bat an eye at the whole 'go rescue our bear' thing." Ruya glanced over at Jerath.

"It is by far not the strangest thing I've been asked to do over the past dozen years."

Ruya laughed. "Some day you'll have to tell us the story of the strangest. How did you three acquire Avvar legend-marks?"

"Four." Jerath shrugged. "Loghain is River-Stone. I filed a report of the incident back at Vigil's Keep."

"I don't have that report, so fill me in."

"It involved giants, rage demons, giants possessed by rage demons, a half dozen naked apostates, and a talking nug," Carver answered.

"A..." Ruya raised an eyebrow. "Talking nug?"

"Inquisitor, before you ask a question, be very, very sure you want to know the answer."

"Just one question then. Was that the strangest?"

Carver nearly fell over laughing as Jerath just sighed and said "no."

#

"More carvings of Tevinter." Dorian bent to examine the relief. "Apparently, they thought if they yelled into that pit loudly enough, Razikale would hear them again."

"Seriously?" Sera peered out over the edge. "We're going to summon our gods by yelling into a hole real loud?"

"Makes you wonder, doesn't it?" Jerath shrugged.

"Wonder what?"

"If you yelled now, would something answer?"

Sera glanced over the edge, and then slowly backed away. "Let's find the creepy cave with the bear."

#

They found several Hakkonites, and the bear, in the third cave they tried. Cole was oddly delighted by the massive creature. Ruya had some misgivings about releasing it from its cage, but once released, it fought ably at their side. Massive claws raked the attacking Hakkonites, but the bear seemed to know who had rescued it.

Ruya gathered some of the skulls the Hakkonites had been using for their ritual before returning to the hold. The first person she asked advised her to ask the Augur about them. As soon as she entered his domicile, the massive man gestured. "So she arrives. Don't throng." She kept her face steady as spirits began to appear. "Behold, worthy ones. The woman who blazes like fire, and mends the air."

Cole waved cheerfully at the other spirits. "Hello."

"I am the augur of Stone-Bear Hold. I greet you, as do our gods and the gods of our ancestors." He raised his hands. "There. It is done. Now come, be welcome. I'd hear news of the north."

"Did you just..." Ruya glanced at her companions, and then back at the augur. "Introduce me to spirits?"

"The gods of the hold clamored to see you. I obeyed, for I am their voice and their augur." He shrugged. "And if I didn't show you off, they'd hound me for months."

She nodded slowly. "What did you mean when you said I blaze like fire?"

"How do you think you appear to the gods of the Fade?" He pointed at her marked hand. "To those beyond the Veil, your hand burns like the watchman's bonfire."

That was disconcerting. "Are you saying every spirit in the Fade knows where I am?"

"Only those nearby, but thoughts spread quickly among the gods." He tilted his head at her. "They tell me strange things. That you muddied time's waters where the cliffs are read, and returned again..."

She held up one of the bones she'd found, and asked him of them. He sent her to gather veilfire runes before he'd answer. It was fascinating learning how differently the Avvar viewed the spirits. She missed Solas. Her friend would likely have enjoyed himself here.

#

"Does Anders know about..." Ruya glanced back at the hut.

"Justice was not pulled from the Fade, nor did he push through. He was torn." Jerath continued down the path. "The ritual would free Anders, but kill Justice in the process. Anders is unwilling to allow this."

"How was Justice torn?"

"We entered the Fade in the Blackmarsh. An enemy sent us back, and Justice was ripped from the Fade in our wake. He ended up in the body of a murdered Grey Warden, Kristoff."

"And you let him remain?"

"He was very different, then." Jerath shrugged. "I share a measure of blame for some of the decisions he made."

Ruya raised an eyebrow. "How do you figure that?"

"I was his commander. I taught him of this world. I gave him his first example to follow. I am not a nice person, and my own feelings regarding the concept of justice..." He gave a small smile. "Tend strongly towards violence."

"I see, I think." She glanced back at Cole. "Spirits are altered by perception."

"Yes."

"Do you think she'll be alright?"

"She does not walk alone. No one should."

#

Mostly to humor Iron Bull, Ruya agreed to participate in the trials. "I'll sit this one out," Jerath said.

"What, too much for a little blade to handle?" Iron Bull grinned.

"I've done the trials. But if you need someone to hide behind..." Jerath raised an eyebrow.

"You just sit and watch. Maybe you'll learn something."

Ruya sighed. "Let's get this over with."

#

"Three fade-touched creatures."

"We saw a giant white spider up the river."

Ruya sighed. "A spider. Of course it's a spider."

#

They found the missing climber locked happily in battle with a gurgut, and came to her aid. Ruya wasn't entirely certain what was about to happen, but let the girl include her in the prayers. Once again, Cole was delighted at the manifestation of another spirit. The girl was thrilled as well, and headed back to the hold to spread the story.

#

Thane Sun-Hair let them know her warriors had gathered. "Your skald and your scout are here. We can plan the assault."

"Oh, I like the sound of 'skald.' It's more dramatic than 'professor.'" Professor Kenric straighted up a little when Scout Harding coughed, and focused his attention back on the proceedings. "Yes, well. Everything we've found about Inquisitor Ameridan suggests that he never emerged from that Tevinter fortress."

"If that is where your Inquisitor defeated Hakkon, that is where the Jaws of Hakkon must perform the rite to free him."

"Inquisitor Ameridan saved the lowlands from an Avvar invasion. We cannot do any less." Ruya clasped her hands behind her back.

Scout Harding gave the Thane a dubious look. "You really have no problem with us kill your god?"

"Gods cannot be reborn until they die." Thane Sun-Hair laughed. "Hakkon needs a good rebirthing."

"If you say so."

"With its ice-wall melted, the fortress is open to attack. We must strike soon, before our foes recover."

"They're already trying. I've got most of our forces defending the shrine from Hakkonites who want to restore the wall." Scout Harding sighed. "Loghain set us up a good defense, but we won't hold forever."

"If anyone has suggestions, now is the time." Ruya looked around at the assembled.

"What gives you fear, Inquisitor?" Thane Sun-Hair leaned forward. "This is not the battle you wanted?"

Professor Kenric shifted his weight from one foot to the other. "I am no warrior, but with Lady Harding's forces defending the shrine and no way to breach the walls...?"

Laughter greeted his words. "Lowlanders. Why not climb the walls?"

"Your warriors can get over those walls before the Hakkonites stop them?"

"This is not a war, Stone-Daughter. This is a raid." Thane Sun-Hair gestured. "We strike at night, clad lightly. We climb the wall and open the gate from inside."

"I like her." Jerath nodded to the thane.

"You would." Loghain muttered in response. "I suppose this is better than the inevitable suggestion that we just blow it up"

"Blowing things up is always a valid tactic." Carver folded his arms.

Loghain let out a sigh.

"If Stone-Bear hold can open the gates, we would be grateful," Ruya said.

"The Jaws of Hakkon have been bugs in my bedroll for months, Inquisitor. We owe you thanks."

"Inquisition forces will feign weakness near the shrine. That will draw some of them away from the fortress."

"Not too many, I hope." Professor Kenric looked nervous.

"Yes. Save some for us." Thane Sun-Hair looked eager.

#

"Loghain, head back with Scout Harding, help her set the trap." Jerath started giving orders to his soldiers. "Nathaniel, you and Anders take position by the last marker. Cover anyone who needs to retreat and heal as needed. Carv..." Jerath raised an eyebrow at the eager faces of Carver and Caronel. "You two want to climb the wall, don't you?" When they both nodded, he sighed. "Thane Sun-Hair, these two idiots are all yours."

#

Ruya sent Sera to the heights with Nathaniel. Iron Bull reminded her that she was shooting for the glory of the Inquisition, and better get a higher score than the Wardens. Sera responded with a rude gesture and a laugh. She sent Dorian and Blackwall with Iron Bull, while Jerath, Cassandra, and Cole followed her. As soon as the climbers got the gate open, they started moving.

She sent a glance up to the top of the wall and saw the blades of Caronel and Carver. Both Wardens held their ground, preventing any of the Hakkonites from getting to the mechanism to close the gate once more.

There was a roar, and she turned to see Storvacker mauling an unlucky Hakkonite. The bear looked over at them. "I'm happy to see you to," Cole said to her.

#

They entered the freezing temple. Ruya used her staff to light a fire. "This cold is magic. We won't last long in it."

"Yes. False cold. But the real fire keeps it away." Cole kept his knives in his hand.

"Keep moving." Jerath kept his own weapons handy. "I'll do what I can."

"What you can?"

"Magic cold." He smiled. "Templar."

#

"He's..." Ruya's eyes widened. "He's trying to summon Hakkon into his own body."

"That is not going to end well." Jerath kept moving forward. Ruya kept pace with him. He was able to drive the cold away some feet in each direction and keep the strange ice wards from affecting them, but she didn't want to think about how much energy he was having to expend to do so. And even where the magic didn't touch, it was still damn cold.

"Do you need lyrium?" She asked quietly.

"No. Save it for your spells. I'll be fine."

They came around a corner and saw... A dragon, suspended in mid-air. Someone kneeling before it, a staff in hand. And an Avvar standing nearby, sword raised above his head, chanting.

She took a deep breath, ignoring the cold burning her lungs. "Let's go."

#

It was too difficult to summon fire against the cold, and it had never been her element anyway. She went with lightning before summoning the spirit blade, and focusing her barriers around her allies. Jerath and Cassandra moved in, meeting the Hakkonite blades with their own. Cole remained near Ruya, guarding her back as she moved through the field.

The chant ended, and the Hakkonite chieftain... changed. The dead began to rise. "Jerath, he's dousing the fires," Ruya called.

He dropped to one knee, hand on his blade, and sent out a pulse of energy. It drove the cold away for a few precious seconds, and Ruya used her magic to reignite the flames. Cassandra used her shield to block an attack by a demon seeking to take advantage of the Warden's vulnerable position. "Inquisitor," Cassandra called.

Ruya moved in, taking advantage of Cole's flanking position to strike her spirit blade against the Hakkonite abomination. The thing swept its weapon and sent Cole flying before turning back to face her. Magic knocked her off her feet, and the abomination raised its blade. Jerath caught the blow on crossed weapons before it could fall, and Cassandra moved in to take advantage of the opening. Ruya rolled back to her feet and arced lightning into the creature. It fell.

#

She could sense the magic weakening. The kneeling man did not have long. An elf. Not just an elf, Dalish. He wore the same marks as Brehan. And a mage. Ruya walked up the stone stairs, Cassandra at her side. "Inquisitor."

He looked up at her. "Inquisitor." Ameridan smiled. "How fares Drakon? Has he brought the Chant to the whole world yet?"

It hurt, what she was going to have to tell him. "Inquisitor Ameridan, you disappeared in 1:20 Divine, around the time of the signing of the Nevarran Accord."

"You say it as though it was..." He stared at her, and sorrow came to his eyes. "How long?"

It was Cassandra who replied. "You were the last Inquisitor. There has not been another since you disappeared 800 years ago."

"Drakon was my oldest friend. He would have sent someone to find me."

"There was a blight," Ruya said gently. "It..."

"I see."

"Telana escaped the battle. Did she..." He met Ruya's eyes. "Do the records say what became of her?"

"Telana died of old age many years later. She never forgot you."

His smile was sad. "You lie well. But I hunted demons and maleficarum long before I was Inquisitor." He sighed. "I never wanted this job. Hunting demons was so much simpler than politics."

"Inquisitor Ameridan, how could the leader of the Seekers be a mage?" Cassandra was staring.

"Has history forgotten so much?" Ameridan shook his head. "I was not a Seeker myself, as most Inquisitors were. I used my magical gifts in the hunting of demons and maleficarum. Do the Seekers no longer welcome the aid of mages?"

Cassandra shifted, and her eyes went to Ruya's staff. "No. That was forgotten..." She looked down at her hands. "Among many other things."

"Cassandra is a Seeker..." Ruya smiled at her friend. "And after the Seekers went rogue, she discovered the truth about them."

"We learned they developed the Rite of Tranquility." Cassandra straightened her spine.

"You mean sundering one from the Fade? The Seekers do it briefly when granting an initiate their abilities." Ameridan nodded to Cassandra.

"It has become a way to control mages deemed dangerous. They are left Tranquil. Permanently."

Ameridan sighed. "Killing a man is ugly work. You learn not to look to it as your first recourse. But sundering them from the Fade is easy. Bloodless." Anger crept into his voice. I told them spreading such a 'solution' would lead to abuse. They swore it would never happen. They promised. I am so sorry."

"Cassandra will rebuild the Seekers into an organization to be proud of again..." Ruya put a hand on her friend's shoulder. "With the Inquisition's help."

"Then you both have my thanks." He looked at his hands. "I was a good hunter. I did not want to lead an organization. But Drakon told me I was needed..." He bowed his head. "As I suspect you were needed."

"I wasn't Inquisitor by choice. Whatever my life was before..."

"Take moments of happiness where you find them. The world will take the rest." He turned his head towards the dragon suspended in the air. "The dragon carries the spirit of an Avvar god. I lacked the strength to kill it. My own magic was able to bind us all, locked in time. But when the cultists drew that spirit into another vessel, it disrupted my bindings. It is breaking free."

She looked at her companions, saw them nod. "I'd be honored to finish what you started."

"Thank you. The passage of years can be delayed, but not ignored. I will soon join Telana at Andraste's side. Take this. It holds the last few memories of an old hunter who was neither as wise nor as strong as he thought. Fight well, Inquisitor. I am honored to have met you."

#

"She still has Hakkon inside her. We have to stop her before she hurts people." Cole pulled Ruya back to her feet. She heard the sounds of stone breaking, and knew the dragon had found its way out of the temple.

"Go." She headed after it.

#

A blast of ice from the dragon's breath blew the ledge apart. She started to slide, and felt Jerath's hand close on her wrist. He used his axe to slow their descent, and she wrapped a barrier around them both. They landed unharmed. "Inquisitor," Cassandra's voice called out.

"We're fine," Ruya called back. "The dragon is heading towards the docks, meet us there." She looked at Jerath. "We can't let that thing get away."

"Let's move." He turned, and headed after the dragon. She followed.

#

The fisherman's hold was frozen in ice. She said a prayer that the residents had seen the dragon coming and been able to flee. "Jerath?"

"Keep your barrier up, focus your magic on the wings. Keep it on the ground, Inquisitor." He headed up the ice. "If it sees the camps, our people are doomed. We need to keep it focused on us."

"Suggestions?"

He removed a small black orb from his belt pouch, tossed it once in his hand, and then flung it at the dragon's perch. Flames erupted, and the dragon roared before leaping down. "Don't let it breath on you." Jerath leaped down, rolled, and came up to bury his blade in the dragon's leg.

Ruya held the barrier and called forth lightning, aiming for the creature's eyes in an attempt to blind it. The others couldn't be far behind. They'd hunted dragons before.

A voice boomed from the dragon. "Lowlanders, I am the breath of winter, the cold wind of war. Join me in battle and die."

Maker, this was no mere dragon. She called the spirit blade into her hand, and surged forward, calling another blast of lightning into the beast's wings. "Blessed are the righteous, the lights in the shadow." She lashed out with the magical blade.

With a might beat of wings, the dragon took to the air. She started to call forth healing magic for herself and... She looked around. Where was... She looked up. He was on the damn dragon. That man really was insane. As it came for another pass, he buried his axe in the wing joint. It faltered, and landed again not far from her.

Lightning, as much as she could pull, hit it, focusing on the other wing as the Warden rolled clear of its thrashing claws. It breathed and a fog of ice enveloped him. She darted forward just as he stood back up and they hit the dragon together. It started to swing its head towards her, and an arrow hit it. It jerked in that direction, and she let forth another blast of lightning. The creature clawed backwards. She strengthened the barriers once more. "Now."

He moved in at her command, driving his blade up underneath the creature. When it reared, she slashed the spirit blade across its throat. It started to spasm and thrash. Jerath grabbed her arm as it convulsed, pulling her clear of its death throes.

#

"We..." Ruya panted. "Killed a god."

"Yeah." Jerath nodded to her, and then smiled. "Fun, huh?"

She looked back at him, and started to laugh. Scout Harding reslung her bow, and walked over to join them. "I've never gotten to see you take down a dragon in person."

"Corypheus had a dragon. You were there when I killed him."

"No, I was below when you killed him. Hard to get a good view with a floating mountain in my way." She grinned broadly. "I must say..." She climbed up a step to get a better look at the corpse. "It's fun to see it up close."

Ruya noted the arrows still sticking out of the dragon. "Perhaps this calls for a new title. Dragonslayer Harding, perhaps?" In the distance, she could make out Cassandra coming towards them. Maker, Iron Bull was going to be furious he'd missed this.

"A fancy title goes against the point of being a scout. Nobody should see me coming." She turned back towards Ruya. "Inquisitor Ameridan would have been proud that you finished what he started." She sighed. "It's strange. History forgot so much of what he was. They never knew he died saving everyone. Do you ever feel that way?"

Ruya glanced at Jerath, and then looked back at Harding. "Right now, half of Thedas would recognize me on sight."

"Right. But they see the Inquisitor, this larger-than-life figure. Every time you're 'more than just a person' to someone, you're also less than a person to them." She smiled. "They don't see that real, normal people fought the Avvar and killed that dragon."

"Normal might be stretching it," Jerath said.

Harding laughed. "And they certainly don't know about your strange fixation with elfroot."

"It's nice to hear that someone remembers I'm just a person..." She hugged Scout Harding. "Elfroot not withstanding."

"Don't worry. Your secret is safe with me. Scout's honor. For what it's worth..." She smiled again. "Nice work."

Jerath stood, and nodded towards the dragon. A moment later, something seemed to rise out of it. A dragon made of light. It took to the air, and there was a flash of something. It vanished a hearbeat later. "Hakkon reborn," Jerath said quietly. "I imagine the Avvar will be pleased."

#

"Do you believe in the Maker?" Ruya glanced at the elven man who walked beside her.

"Not particularly."

"Then you worship the elven gods?" It made sense, she supposed. One of those elven gods was the mother of his wife, after all.

"A more complicated question than it sounds."

"But you believe they exist. You must." She furrowed her brow. "You've spoken to one of them."

"Spoken to. Bargained with. Killed. Served." Jerath shrugged. "She exists."

"I don't understand."

"Mere existence is no reason to worship. The Avvar, in their way, are wiser than the Chantry. Their belief makes their gods. The worship comes before the divinity. Are we to assume the Maker is different?"

"That is a frightening thought." Ruya started to ask him another question, and then gestured. "The first of the memories." She listened, and smiled.

They continued walking towards the next. She sighed. "The history got twisted. Do you ever wonder what stories they'll tell of us one day?"

"I hardly recognize myself in the stories they are telling now, Inquisitor First-Thaw."

Ruya laughed. "A fair point."