The sanity of an established camp was heaven. Scout Harding took in their bewildered state and found them food, fresh water and medical supplies in record time without even a question. As the dwarf withdrew as quietly as she'd come, Evelyn made a note to mention a raise in her next report. Maybe even attend once of the dance activities when they got back to Skyhold, Maker help them all.
She sank onto the ground gratefully. Cole and Rina, both with a knack for animals, had rounded up and soothed the horses. Once Hawke was pronounced mostly injury free, they'd searched the area to make sure no fire was still burning, then set off for the nearby camp. Hurel had returned with little explanation, only that he and Abelas wished to examine a site nearby where a disturbance had been. She'd sent Bull and Sera back with him, to protect them from darkspawn in name, but to gather information for her in truth. Rina remained with her group on the way to camp, explaining that their Order's mental connections would allow her to lead the investigating party to them easily when they were done.
Evelyn had tried to ask the Champion some questions, but she'd begged for a little time to rest, and with Fenris as her backup no one argued. Her mount had been killed by darkspawn two days earlier, so he'd insisted on riding double with her, despite her protests that she could walk a mile on her own. Those words were the only he'd spoken since they'd found her, and he gripped her less like a lover and more like a jailor during their ride. Hawke didn't seem to notice. Evelyn wondered if she really was insane.
Now they sat in a loose circle far enough away from the main camp to avoid any listeners but Leliana's. With the Nightingale, only the Black City was far enough away, and even there it would be wise to whisper. Cassandra and Dorian flanked her, with Cole providing a buffer between the mage and the aggressive elf. Fenris sat close to Hawke without touching her, and it was clear to Evelyn that he was acutely aware of her body. When she moved he moved with her, left to right, always staying in sync. And when Varric, on her other side, muttered something that made her laugh, Evelyn saw the tension drain out of him. She raised her eyebrow. He caught her expression and shrugged, faintly smiling.
Dorian, ever the diplomat, called out, "So he does have a smile! I was beginning to wonder if he'd lost it on the journey."
Evelyn tried to kick him, and he shifted out of the way. Fenris growled, but Hawke leaned over and kissed his cheek. "He does get that way with strangers, but don't worry, he only bites me." She chuckled when he frowned.
"He would smile more if you stopped losing yourself," Cole said. "His smile is inside yours, but sometimes he can't find you to take it out."
Hawke looked uncomfortable, but quickly smiled. "Well that's a singular way of putting it, I must say. But not to worry, I'm certainly finished with this errand. And a rousing success it was, too!"
"I wasn't aware arsonists were in such high demand," Dorian said. "If my family ever hits hard times, it's nice to know I have something to fall back on. Besides my devilish good looks, of course." He winked at Cassandra.
"I didn't burn down anything. The fire was kind of a side effect. I think. It was hard to follow."
"I know I'm lost. Why don't you start at the beginning?" suggested Evelyn.
Fenris leaned in closer. "For example, where you went instead of Weisshaupt. Anyone could have taken a message to them, it didn't have to be you. What were you really up to?"
"Such little faith in my word! You wound me, dearest. Actually, I was intending to go to the fortress. I owed it to Stroud to stand in his place." She bit her lip. "He died because of me. He had friends. Plus, I knew you would be looking for that slave group in the Imperium so it was sort of on the way. But yes, it is true that I didn't entirely, completely make it there. On the way I ran into Elissa Cousland in a tavern, and we somehow exchanged jobs. I think she got the better end of the deal, personally."
Varric interrupted. "Wait, are you telling me that you stumbled across the Queen of Fereldan, in a bar? Please tell me you got drunk together and remember every word."
"No such luck, we were stone sober the whole time. She was keeping a low profile, pretty well. Her name might be famous, but without the crown she's just another person. Granted, a person whose face is on a coin, but it's not a very good likeness. Zevran, that assassin bodyguard of hers, was anything but inconspicuous, but I gathered that was part of the show. Make him the memorable one. Anyway, she wanted to go talk to the Grey Wardens already, and I knew they'd respect her more than me, so she took the messages for me. In trade, I agreed to look for some things she needed here in Fereldan. She said they'd be near the remains of Lothering in the Wilds, so I figured I couldn't get too lost."
She fished around in the sack they'd found outside of the fire zone. "And I didn't! Behold, my reward." She removed a handful of dragon scales and a tarnished silver amulet and flourished them.
Varric spoke first. "That's why you traveled a thousand miles? For a dirty necklace and some scales? I've never met the Queen, but her taste in valuables is certainly esoteric."
"You've traveled with both of us enough to know that amulets are sometimes deceptive in their value," said Eveyln. "Who knows what this one might do? But Hawke, if you needed dragon scales, we have a storeroom full of them in Skyhold. We can't seem to stop running into the things."
"To our endless delight," muttered Cassandra.
"Oh believe me, Herald, I would have loved to have taken a shortcut. But Elissa said that I had to find some specifically from here, by the house you found me at. I gathered she'd killed it during the Blight. Digging them out of the ground was a pain, but hey, I always follow orders." Fenris elbowed her. "When I want to. That was actually the easy part. It was just spadework. Getting the amulet was Fade-work."
Hawke paused for groans from her audience and a round of applause from Varric. "Please feel free to lift that for your next book. Anyway, I did some highly technical magic to reveal a chest inside the house and found this. Elissa had been hoping for a necklace and a ring, but there wasn't any ring that I saw. Not that I had much of a chance to look. Opening the chest triggered some kind of spell that lit the house up like a candle. I flung my sack out the window to keep it safe, then mixed my own fire inside of the existing flames to keep me safe."
Dorian looked confused. "How's that again?"
"Well, when you cast fire, it never hurts you, right? It's like it recognizes you. I figured maybe I could sort of make the other fire think that too. Or something. I didn't have a lot of time to think it up, but it seemed to work. What it did not protect me from was the complete collapse of a building, but luckily my shining knight in leather armor was on hand to save me." She batted her eyes at Fenris, who bared his teeth in an approximation of a smile.
"That explains why you're here. It doesn't explain why I had to learn about it from the dwarf," he said.
"I couldn't risk sending you word. I had no idea where you were and our messages are not unreadable to the persistent. Elissa told me that I might not be the only one after whatever I found, and I had to keep complete secrecy. She gave me that look she gets where she's thinking about how good your head might look on the end of a stick, so I didn't push it. I risked word to Varric, since it only required one letter to a known place, and I thought he might be in a position to send me help. When I got the message that he was coming this way, I knew you would follow, and we could all have a nice reunion in my hometown. And here we are!"
Fenris sighed. "You're an impossible woman, Hawke. And extremely annoying."
"Impossible not to love and annoyingly adorable, I'm sure is what you meant to say." She looked at Evelyn. "You're welcome to examine this stuff, if you want. I probably owe you that much for your good timing. I promised Elissa I'd deliver these to Denerim, but I'd trust you to do that as well if you decide to. Let me know. Right now, I hear a stream nearby and I could really use a bath." She stood up and ran her hands through her hair.
Dorian sat forward. "My dear ex-Viscountess, if you need any assistance in bathing I would be more than happy to -"
Fenris's snarl cut him off. "Keep away from us both, mage. Especially her." Hawke tugged him away lightly, asking if he'd brought any nice smelling soap as they walked off. The rest of the group stood and watched them go.
"Maker, Dorian, do you have no sense at all? Are you trying to get him to attack you?" Cassandra asked, irritated. "He's dangerous."
"Seeker, I'm not sure if attack is the right word. He's very handsome, you know, and I've had some success with others in that area already." He smiled bitterly. "But I don't like being hated, especially when I've had no chance to cause it on my own. Still, I will endeavor to remember my manners in the future to spare our overworked healers."
He bowed slightly and walked back to camp. Cassandra and Cole followed him, taking the sack of items with them, but Varric stayed where he was. They watched as Hawke teased Fenris in the distance, then grabbed him and pulled him into passionate kiss. Evelyn looked away, not sure if she was trying not to intrude or trying not to think about her own distant warrior. Varric said, "You might want to find them a place to camp away from the rest of the group. Their reunions can be… vigorous."
She stared at him in surprise. "You sound jealous. Is there a history there?"
"Andraste's chiseled calf, no! No offense, Your Worship, but you humans aren't really on my level, if you know what I mean." He sighed. "But they do have a way of wrapping themselves in each other so there's no room for anything else. I guess it was nice to be on the inside for once. Have Broody be the one left out."
She shifted, unsure what to say, and he broke into a broad grin. "Hey, don't worry about it. They're going to give me a least two more steamy chapters for my romance series tonight and that will make Cassandra happy. When the Seeker's happy, we're all happy."
She opened her mouth to reply, but before she could say anything Abelas and the rest of the investigating group came into view. They looked grim but unmarked. Scout Harding came out to greet them and take their mounts. Iron Bull jumped off and walked over to her without pausing. She looked at him, questioning.
"Hey boss," he said, "I think you're gonna want to see what these guys found. It's one of those mirror things, like at Skyhold, and there's a lady's statue lying next to it. They say it's their goddess or whatever. They did some kind of hiding spell trick to keep them safe, but we'll want to send some people to go get them. Between us, she looks pretty surprised for a statue. And she's definitely not an elf."
Two hours later, the mirror and the statue stood in the middle of their camp. Scout Harding and her men had followed Hurel back to the site and retrieved them both with record speed. Evelyn paced in front of them and tried to remember the parts of the story everyone knew, didn't know or couldn't know. Lying might be easy to do but it was very hard to track.
"It's definitely an Eluvian," she said, and Abelas nodded. "I wonder what the key for this one is. And why it's in the middle of the forest."
He glanced at her with puzzled eyes. "While I have no knowledge of this Eluvian's specific key, all mirrors respond to the master key, which opens them all. It's the hymn of the Wolf, from the time of the rebellion. Only entrusted to the most senior protectors of the gods. You did not know that?" She stopped pacing and shook her head. He looked even more puzzled. "But Rina tells me that your boy knows it. He sang it on the path not far from here."
"Cole?" At the sound of his name he looked at her and waved. Solas, she thought angrily, another secret? As his name entered her mind, the Inquisitor's voice rose clamored again inside her. Cole furrowed his eyebrows and made to stand up, but she waved him away and pushed the dark whispers down.
"I'm afraid Cole knows a lot of things that he doesn't know that he knows. And I wasn't aware that what he said had anything to do with Eluvians." She turned away from the mirror towards the statue, now upright. That's definitely Flemeth, she thought. In the flesh. Or the stone, anyway. "What do you think happened to Mythal?"
Varric shot her a look she couldn't decipher, but Abelas didn't notice. "We cannot be certain. This is outside of even our experience. It is not a carved statue, as your Qunari friend suspected. It was made from a being, one that once contained the essence of Mythal. Hurel believes, and I agree with him, that she is not actually inside the statue now. Not only because we cannot believe it is her end, but our mages still feel her spirit moving in the world. Different, less what we remember, but there." He paused. "Tell me, is this what you expected her to look like?"
"Yes," she answered. "This was who I saw in the Fade."
"But she is not an elf. You did not mention this to me when we spoke."
She thought quickly. "Truthfully, I didn't really think about it. Physically walking in the Fade is much more confusing than even dreaming. It's hard to question tings. Had I thought about it, I suppose I might have said she looked human because I was human, or because she chose to be for reasons of her own. I guess the truth is, it seemed very normal to me that any goddess would be human. The arrogance of my race, I suppose."
"Of all races, perhaps. Even the elves took the stories of men and made them their own. It is no shame, Inquisitor."
At that point, Hawke and Fenris walked back into the camp, wet but happy. Hawke stopped short. "Is that Flemeth?" she said. "Maker, why would anyone want to make a statue of that old witch? And all the way out here?"
Varric put a hand to his forehead while Evelyn strove to show only slight questioning. Abelas narrowed his eyes and looked at them both. Hawke looked around. "What? Did I say something wrong?"