It's been a few days of traveling, but as a new day came and the sun reached its peak, the wind finally decided to die down along with the falling snow. All that stood in their path was a freshly powdered snow that stuck to the bottom of everyone's shoes as Sanya led the way, with the help of Solas. Soon in the distance stood a giant construction that seemed to be as old as time itself as the stone bricks were cracked and looked lightly withered; but the grey stone showed to stand strong and ready for just about anything anyone dared throw at it. May could only stare in awe at the massive construct as they walked the matching bridge with her uncle by her side.

"It's like a castle…" Her eyes were filled with child-like gleam as she adjusted her bag and took in her surroundings of the barren area, she felt a hint of worry at the mere thought of trying to make this place livable again…

"Technically, it's an Elven fortress," May looked to up to her right to see Solas casually strolling by while keeping a sharp eye out, "and a good one at that." He kept walking, not really letting her respond as Loch ruffled her hair.

"Well, that's one thing you can check off your list of things to do." He gave her a smirk, "Now all you need to do is find a way to be invited to an Orlesian ball." He then went with some of the other staff to find the kitchen area, well, that's what May presumed anyway, and quickly followed him before letting the thoughts of actually going to an Orlesian ball and looking beautiful filled her head too much.

"Look at this!" A tall, scrawny looking man with black, slicked back hair along with a stubble in his thirties exclaimed as he angrily threw his arms in the air, tossing aside some of the rusted through kitchenware while continuing to look through the other parts of the dusty old kitchen, "It's a bloody fucking embarrassment at the mere thought of cooking in a place like this!"

May cringed at the sight of the man, Marcus was known for throwing little tantrums when things took a left turn, "Look," Loch grabbed his shoulder and made him stop, "we still have some supplies, so if you'd just calm the fuck down-"

"Calm down?!" Marcus knocked away Loch's reassuring grasp, "What we have isn't nearly enough to feed a whole army!"

Loch furrowed his eyebrows as he was getting ready to counteract the man; May wouldn't stay and watch though, watching her uncle like that scared her… so she slipped away from the kitchens and explored the area, or tried to. There were frantic servants and soldiers running around while others were staying in their spot, making sure not to get into anyone's way. So May stuck to the edge of the building to at least make sure she wouldn't be the cause of someone tripping and falling just because she or them didn't watch their way.

The thought of where Cole might be crossed her mind, but he was surely busy, just like everyone else seemed to be around here… but then she poked her head into a building people seemed to be constantly walking in and out of, so before she got into anyone's way, she slipped through as the door was closing and saw that it was the servants quarters, or presumed it was since there were several rooms with two-three beds big enough for only one person each. Some people were already settling in as she walked through the corridor. The walls where made with the same brick as the outer wall it seemed, but the bricks were smaller and smoother, yet showed age with the few cracks and holes from rodents no doubt, along with spider webs occupying most of the upper corners of each room.

She continued to stroll down the hallway until she was met with a rather smaller room than the rest, yet peeked her interest due to the fact there was only one bed in the far corner with an oak wood bedside table and a matching small closet. As she stepped into the room, she found that it only had enough room just to stand in and maybe take a few small steps, it was weird to her how there was just one small room like this… there were probably other small rooms, but maybe only a few like this.

The small brunette decided to plop down onto the bed with a soft poof before crossing her arms under her head and taking in a deep breath through her stomach, then letting it out slowly in an attempt to relax from the stressful travel. She looked out the small window to see a little bird perched on the sill while eyeing her back for a short moment before flying off to who knows where. May simply closed her eyes and cleared her head, just wanting to stay here and have a few moments to herself before going back to the kitchen and help out cleaning. Really though, she was just waiting for her uncle and Marcus to get done arguing, not that this is the first time they've argued, but May never really liked being around her uncle when he was angry.

"May?" A familiar voice called out her name, causing her to open her eyes to see it was her uncle, "How long have you been here?"

She looked back out the window to see the sun hasn't moved that much, as confusing as that was, it only seemed like she's been here for a few minutes. Mentally sighing, she hated it when time passed by quickly when no one wanted it to…"I've only been here for a few moments…" She sat up on her bed and looked up at him, "When'd you get here?"

"Just a bit ago." He went back to looking at the rooms, but turned his attention back to the room May was in, "That's a freakishly small room…"

"Yeah… Can I have it?" Her sweet smile returned to her as Loch lazily gazed in the room.

He just shrugged his shoulders, "Sure, guess it's good you're not claustrophobic huh?" She nodded in agreement as she started to set her things to make it seem more like her own room… and that no one else confused it as an empty space and would take it for their own. That was one future argument she did not want to get into… Nor be tempted to start.

ooOoO0OoOoo

Most of the kitchen staff who weren't injured or dealing with a lost loved one were working on cleaning the kitchen of the mold and dust that's been gathering for who knows how long. Some of the workers were mumbling though, just in earshot of May, saying how this kitchen is a damn near lost cause and that it would take a lot of time to make it into decent condition again. She couldn't help but agree with them, seeing as how most of the wooden furnishings were splintered and in dire need of repair, or they could just replace them, even then, that would require recourses they didn't have, nor have the time to gather at the moment.

She looked over to the fire place that was probably once beautiful and used for keeping the general area warm during winter; its wooden exterior appeared to have taken hours, even days to carve the delicate designs into it and fill it in with iron so then the exterior wouldn't catch fire. She followed the metal pipe up to see that it led to the roof, oh how she wanted to burn some firewood and finally be warm for at least a few minutes… Sadly though, there wasn't much firewood for use as most of the wood looked like it was full of rot. She knew better to burn rotting wood, it would most likely cause everyone in the building to get sick and then the illness would most likely spread… she stopped herself before thinking too much on it before moving the rotting wood outside, then decided to move on to working off the mold and built up fungi in the corners of the room along with some of the tables.

After she worked off most of the mold, a fellow kitchen staff member offered to take over and block off the mouse holes. Relieved by this, May finally stood up after doing her time consuming activity and went over to look into the cupboards she could at least reach.

"Hey May," She turned around to find her uncle cleaning off a counter. How could a man like him simply stroll in without her noticing though? He had a club foot and could be heard for miles off it seemed like… she must have really been consumed in cleaning every spec of mold she could find a second ago, "look in that cupboard." Loch pointed to the one that was a few steps away.

She arched a brow at the man in confusion, but did as he said and looked in it to find several recipe books that filled every shelf to the brim of concaving in on itself and tumbling to the wooden floor below her. She couldn't help but get a comical gleam in her eyes that could easily remind anyone of a toddler in a candy store as she quickly scanned the spines of the books for the titles before turning around and running over to her uncle to give him the biggest hug she could.

He just chuckled and patted her head while lightly hugging back, "Thought you might like them, finally you can do something in your down time."

May looked up at him and pouted cutely at his sarcasm, "Oh? Keeping you from neglecting your food because of the staff isn't enough for you?" She couldn't help but smile at her own remark as Loch ruffled her hair.

He grumbled with a smirk before going back to his cleaning, "Dammit, get back to work, we need at least one decent spot to cook within the hour."

May took a deep breath and mentally sighed, setting aside all the joking until later because he had a point, and she wasn't going to slack off because of all the books her uncle probably stumbled upon… she'll most likely "steal" a few books and take them to her room later on if she remembered.

The meal they ended up making was the rations they've been making for the last few days; just some slices of bread, mashed potatoes, some beans, and a few pieces of meat. It wasn't enough to fill the bellies of anyone, but it was enough to keep people moving, and that was enough. Especially since Sanya returned somehow and was now not only able to close rifts like she's done before, but now make them. It astounded nearly everyone as the Elf now took the lead and was titled "Inquisitor". It was an honorary title, yet a questionable one to some because she's in fact, an Elf.

Sanya gave hope to those who've lost it, and that's what counts. She alone raised moral and made this day seem like a victory to a battle, but the war was still continuing, and everyone knew it. The strong walls around them made everyone feel a little more secure now, safe… that only added on to the victory the Elf conquered with them.

May gave a silent sigh as she only heard a scarce few soldiers complain about the food now, well, it still hurt a little, but not as much as it did before they found Sanya again. With the day winding down along with the sun, May retired to her room to read with what little daylight she had left without lighting a candle; hoping that she could at least read herself to sleep.

…

Of course this doesn't work though… hours seemed to pass after the sun settled down behind the horizon, making it colder than she hoped as she tried getting warm with the thin bed sheet that was left behind probably after the few times this place had been raided. She'd go into Loch's room to get a blanket she stupidly forgot to get earlier, but she didn't want to risk waking him up with the creaky hinges that were in desperate need of an oiling. She couldn't complain right now though.

The little brunette slipped out of bed and held a decently large recipe book in the nook of her arm as she quietly opened the door with a slow, yet quiet creak, before leaving the door cracked behind her with her lit candle to help her guide down the hallway without making any more sounds than she intended to in the first place… not like she was trying to be noisy in the first place, creaking doors just sort of happen.

She made it to the kitchen area, hoping that at least her imagination of there being a roaring fire would warm her up a little as she sat down at a relatively clean table. She then placed her candle down before peeling open the book and carefully reading it, trying her hardest to remember everything to the tiniest detail to make whatever seemed appealing.

Her eyes soon failed her though; before she even realized it, her eyes closed and her head was resting on the open book. Despite it being below freezing, she fell asleep within hours and showed no signs of waking up soon.

Soon after May passed out, a young man in rugged leather and cloth whose face was hidden with a wide hat strolled in with an armful of usable firewood and set it in the fireplace. He quickly glanced over at the sleeping child at the nearby table, making sure she was deep asleep before pulling out his daggers and quickly sliding the sharp blades against one another.

Shhhhhink!

A few sparks flew and hit the wood, making a few embers as he protected it with his cloth covered hands and gently blew against it, making the flame bigger by carefully tending the fire until the flames seemed manageable on their own. With a small smile, he stood up and patted May's head before leaving the kitchen to check on other things while mentally noting to himself to come back every so often to make sure the fire was still controllable; but none the less, left May to her sleep for now.

A/N:
The story and art belongs to cartoonartist on Deviantart, I just write it out.
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