AN: This is late because I have been busy all day and this chapter needed about 1200 extra words on top of what I already had. The entire second half was a write in to ask questions to the GM and needed to be almost entirely rewritten.

Merrill has been compiling a list of questions ever since you arrived. It is, as of this moment, as tall as you are and growing. You decide that the best thing to do is answer some of them before the list ends up as tall as your horse. Merrill is physically vibrating with excitement when you inform that you are ready to answer her questions.
"Yes! Ah. I have my list here somewhere. A minute please." She runs to the keeper's wagon and starts rummaging around looking for said list.
"List to be on the bench." You call after her. You're not sure how she managed to forget it or fail to notice it. To reiterate it is as tall as you, it is very hard to overlook.
"…Thank you." Her reply is somewhat more hesitant than her initial exclamation, her tone is embarrassed. "Uh... should we go somewhere else? You know because of, uh, your home?"
"The keeper to tell you about it? No to need." You no intentions of hiding your origins. You would rather not run into another ambush because people think you're some kind of houseless.
"Ah. Great! Ok um first question…" She spends a few minutes going through her list before she settles on one.
"How did you come here? And could it be replicated"
It is at this point that you have to consider how you plan to answer Merrill's questions. You have no intention of outright lying, obviously, it would be beneath your dignity. You are unsure how detailed your answers should be. You could tell her everything you know for each of them, but you do not know how some information would be received. For instance, with this question you could tell her of the oath of Fëanáro and how it may have cast you into the void.
Eventually you make a decision and say, "I don't know how I came here." It is the truth, there is no need to bring up the Oath even obliquely. It is only a theory that it had anything to do with your current situation, and frankly you do not want to talk about it.
"Really? So, you were just in the Beyond and suddenly ended up here?" Merrill frowns at you.
"No, one moment to be home, next was flying through Void, to arrive here in a flash of green."
You consider for a few moments whether you should mention your death and miraculous restoration of your body. You decide against it in the end, it would just raise more questions you don't really have the answer to; mortals also rarely react well to the revelation of quendi immortality. Instead, you watch as Merrill spends a few minutes staring into space, presumably thinking about something. She turns back to face you and her voice is laden with concern when she asks, "Do you think something brought you here? Like a demon?"
Her honest concern is touching and you feal obliged to answer in as much detail as you can. "No. It to feel more like to be thrown than to be dragged somewhere."
You doubt that anything of this world could breach the Walls of Night to reach you, they were designed to keep Morgoth out after all. That doesn't even touch on the improbability of something that has sufficient power in this world stretching out to your world and then selecting you of all people to bring here. Further if something had brought you here you would have expected them to more carefully choose where you arrived.
"Oh, ok then. I, uh, I don't really have any other ideas sorry. Do you miss home?" Merrill asks.
That is a question with a complex answer. Since you don't really have a good way to express how you feel even in your native tongue you give a very simple answer. "I to miss home since to leave long ago. I to return sooner or later. I to be not worried."
Merrill looks at you with a strange expression. "I wish I had your confidence."

Once you have finished answering her first set of questions, she immediately starts to search through her satchel looking for something.
"Oh, I thought I had some paper, another minute please."
You raise your hand to massage your forehead as she scrambles back to her wagon again. This child really needs someone to help her organise her life, or better yet teach her to organise herself. You are not surprised when she has to go back into the wagon again after returning to find something to lean her paper against.
"Do you have everything now?" You keep your voice level only by dint of long practice corralling your brothers.
"Yes. Oh… Sorry could you repeat what you just said?" she asks blushing.
"Which part?" You ask.
"Ummm…" Merrill awkwardly trails off for a few moments but, when a solution fails to miraculously present itself, finally says, "All of it?
You sigh and do so. When your answer is recorded, she asks, "What was your home world like? What about your people?"

"My world to be like here. There to be more large places where food is grown…"
"Oh, those are called farms, there's a bunch here too. Ah, but not here here. As in this forest, uh, obviously." Merrill interjects.
"farms. And there to be many more buildings. But to be much the same. To feel very similar, tree to be same, sun not to be quite same but close."
Merrill scribbles down what you've said while replying "Fascinating it sounds like you're trying to describe a city, I know the Beyond often mimics the real world but that is partly a choice on the part of the spirits and partly caused by the way will and belief shapes it. It's really different when it doesn't. Your world being so similar is strange but explains why you seemed to not miss a beat when you arrived."
"My kind to adapt very good also." You point out.
"Oh yes, I also asked about your people, I nearly forgot. What are they like?"
You pause to think for a moment. Best to not go into too much detail about your nature nor the internal politics of the quendi. "My hair to be unusual. More normal to be dark. Other than that to be similar to me. We love to learn, always to learn."
"That very much comes across trust me." There's a faint laugh in Merrill's answer. "What about your culture, your history? Does your world have races other than you?"

You want to tell her the full history of the Noldor; to sing the songs of your people, see her marvel at the glory of Tirion, to let her feel the full weight of the War of the Jewels. Your eyes flick to the afternoon sun sinking, almost imperceptibly, towards the horizon. You simply don't have time, you will have to summarise.
"Our history to begin by a lake before sun to rise first." You begin. "There Finwë, first king of the Noldor, to lead our people on voyage to Eldamar. The journey to be long, many to do not finish. Sindar, Nandor and all the Moriquendi to choose to stay. To be a mistake for them. Eldamar to be the best place to live. Long to do we to live in peace, then to come Enemy of the World. To make a long story short. We to go to war with the Enemy and do many things. Some good some not. The Enemy was to defeat by the smallest chance. Many to die, much to be grieving."
Merrill writes down everything you said diligently as you take a moment to collect yourself, even in summary it is hard to speak of the War of the Jewels without emotion.
"Many to be the peoples of Arda. Three to be 'races' but each to be made of smaller races. I am Quendi, Noldo to be correct. But Thingol, king of Dior is also Quendi but Sinda not Noldo. Much to be same, but much to be different. To be not like clan, because Nolor to have many kingdoms and clans. I to rule Himring, to be lord, to be like keeper but for much bigger clan. My cousin to rule all Noldor in all of Arda, to be high king. Another cousin rule Nagothrond, to be king. There are Atani, who to come second. There also Casallië who to live underground. All to have clan and kingdom and small race."
Merrill nods to herself as she finishes writing. "It all sounds very complicated. I'm not totally sure what you mean by small race."
You shrug. "I to know not how better to explain. What important is Noldor not Sindar, Sindar not Nandor, Nandor not Avari but all to be Quendi. Also all Eldar, except Avari. Ah I to forget to mention Avari before. Avari to choose to not even to try to reach Eldamar. Avari to mean to refuse. Thus, Avari to be not Eldar, children of star"
Merrill nods "It's all very interesting. I'd love to visit your home world and see all of this for myself."
"They to love to meet you. My people always to like new things. Atani to make us very happy when we to meet them first time." No need to mention that they were welcomed as allies against Morgoth, or that she might get some comments on her strange appearance.
Your words make Merrill smile widely as she finishes writing, so it seems like those omissions were the right choice.

The question of your homeland, due in part to it complexity and in part to the detail of your answer, takes a significant amount of time to discuss. Merrill seems very interested to say the least. After a few minutes of furious writing and requests to repeat things you've already said, she seems ready to continue asking questions.
"So. Magic, are you a mage and how do your people treat mages? How do you use your magic?"

"Yes and no. You should to know that magic to be very different where I to come from. Here to need a talent to use magic. At home magic can to be used by all. Beyond can not to see by most. Why would mages to treat differently? How to find mage to be different from anyone? 'Magic' to use in most other things, I to use when I to speak. We to call it skill, atani to call it magic. Closest to magic as you to call it is to use in battle, but to be very hard not to do lightly. Are mages to treat differently here? Why?"
Your response has Merrill scribbling furiously for some time. After she finishes she spends a few moments thinking. Eventually she says "That was… a lot to take in. Anyone can be a mage? You don't use the Beyond? How does that even work? What's that about it being used in other things?"
You give her a flat look and repeat yourself. "Why to treat mages differently?"
"AH, oh, sorry. I got caught up in my own questions." She blushes and seems thrown off for a few moments.
After she rallies herself, she informs you, "Because of the risk of possession mages are often treated differently. In Ferelden they're all gathered into a group called the circle and guarded at all times. Even among the Dalish where keepers are leaders if you can't become a keeper's student for some reason you might be exiled. Now my questions please."
That's some incredibly useful information, mages risk possession? They risk exile if they do not become a keeper's apprentice. Was there not a child whose mother was claiming they were performing some sort of magic. You will need to consider all these things further when you have the time.
"Yes. Everyone to be mage, to be a part of skill, like archer who to hit target when blind. To study 'magic' itself is to be rare choice because to be very difficult. The Beyond can only to be used by those born there…"
"Wait you have spirits living among you?" Merrill interrupts with a strange mix of fear and excitement in her voice.

She had just mentioned how spirits of the unseen sometimes possess the 'mages' of this land.
You hurry to explain yourself. "Yes, they to make themselves bodies to teach us things. They taught us to use magic the way they do. It to involve a lot of energy that to be in all things and it to need study to understand how."
Merrill's eyes grow wide, you might even say they doubled in size. She launches herself into a flurry of questions. "What are they like? Why did they teach you? How did they get bodies? Did they possess people? If so, then why would you let them? What kind of spirits were they? What kind of energy? How much study? How long did it take you to learn? How did you first meet the spirits?..."
"STOP!" You roar, desperate to stop the flood of questions you barely understand. "Stop. Too fast, too much."
Once you regain your bearings you feel slightly ashamed by the chastised and fearful expression Merrill wears. You may have overreacted. Taking in a deep breath to still your temper you speak more calmly. "Sorry, to be overwhelmed. Please one at a time."
Merrill still seems a little off kilter even after your apology, but she nods and manages to ask "How did the spirits get bodies?"
You shrug "They to make them, I to say that already."
"But how?"
"Don't know. How you to make bodies?"
Merrill blushes and stutters a bit. "Ah well, that's not. Um, moving on. Why did they teach you"
"It to be their reason." You state plainly.
"Ah so some kind of spirit of teaching or maybe knowledge. Makes sense. How long did it take you to learn your magic?"
You stare her in the eyes, "Still to learn. Never to stop. Started when I to be very small."
You choose not to mention that, assuming atani lifespans, you began to learn before her great grandmother's great grandmother was even conceived and you still can barely call yourself beyond competent. It treads too close to the immortality question. Merrill nods and gulps. She seems somewhat disheartened by the revelation of the length of time you have spent studying even if she does not grasp the true scale.

She seems to have been very invested in this line of questioning, there are no requests to repeat yourself as she finishes her notes. During the conversation she had waited until she's finished her notes before she asked follow up questions. It is like she is a different person from the scatterbrained shy scholar that she seems most of the time. You notice a glimmer of the obsession that your father and brothers once had in her eyes. You are understandably cautious about going into too much detail about your power in specific. Once this section of questioning has been resolved to her satisfaction, she speaks once more.
"Thank you for this. I guess it's fair if I give you a chance to ask some questions yourself. Is there anything you want to know?"

You take some time to consider. "I to have many questions. First what to be the Beyond and what it to do to people who to touch it?"
Merrill's voice takes on a quality of someone reciting something they have learned by heart. "The Beyond, or the Fade, was once the home of the Elven gods. We visit the Fade when we dream. Most people don't do much more than dream there. A mage can enter while awake and see things there. Since it's the home of spirits they can see them or talk to them. Sometimes they can see events that have happened in the past there since spirits are fascinated by the living world and will capture memories of it in the Fade. The Fade is partially shaped by your beliefs and your will, so you tend to see what you expect to see there. The spirits try to get out through mages though so it's dangerous."

You nod to yourself before asking your second question "How the magic of this world to work?"
Merrill brightens and replies, "Oh that's actually really simple. I mentioned how the fade is partially shaped by will and imagination of the people who touch it. Mages, who are more connected to the Fade than other people, carry a little bit of it into the real world. They can then use that bit of the fade to make reality more malleable than it should be."

Satisfied that this Fade is different from the Unseen you ask, "What to be the history of your people?"
Merrill is noticeably less eager to answer this question. True to her word though she does reply. "Oh yes. I suppose it's only fair I explain since I asked you. Well back before humans our people were once immortal. We lived in both the Beyond and the physical world. When humans came our immortality slowly faded. Most of our people were enslaved by the Tevinter Imperium. We rose up during Andraste's war with them and freed ourselves. We earned ourselves a kingdom in the Dales, but the Chantry wouldn't leave us alone. They attacked us and drove us from our homes, the war was long but in the end most of the elves were force to live in alienages in human cities and the rest of us, the Dalish, were reduced to wandering clans."
She seems saddened as she relays the story, much as you were relaying your own. Tragedy seems to be a common theme in the histories of your people. That part about being once immortal and you take careful note of it. Looks like you made the right call in concealing your own immortality, lest you be mistaken for some ancient Dalish.

All this talk of immortality may be no more than a myth, which prompts you to ask, "What to be the gods of this land, especially the Elven gods you to mention?"
Merrill looks up and scratches her forehead. "Ah, well, most of Ferelden worships the Maker. He supposedly made everything in the fade before making humans, but I don't believe that. Well obviously, I already told you about the elven gods. Oh, sorry, back to your question. There's a quite a few Elven gods, uh, you should probably ask Paivel if you want to know who they all are. We, uh don't really know much about how they were worshipped. We lost a lot of our history and culture under the Imperium. I do know that we choose our face tattoos based on which god we want to honour."
You interrupt her, "What to be tattoo?"
Merrill blinks, nonplussed for a few seconds before she replies, gesturing to her face. "The markings on our face? They're called Vallasin."
You shake your head. "No to not understand the word tattoo. Not to know what it to be."
Merrill's eyes widen in understanding. "Oh, yes. A tattoo is kind of a permanent marking on the body. You put ink into the skin using needles so that it never comes off."
It is fortunate that the heaving sensation from earlier chooses to make a sudden return. If it had not you might have said or done something very impolite to demonstrate your distaste for such a barbaric practice.
Unaware of your thoughts Merrill continues. "Ah where was I? oh right, I don't know much about dwarves I think they worship stones or their ancestors or something?"

It is time to move away from religion before you uncover any more things you wish you could unknow. "To speak of dwarves. What to be the races of this world, and what to be their history?"

Merrill takes up a lecturing pose. "Ok, well, there's the Elves, that's us. Well mostly, there's elves in the cities too but they don't really count to most Dalish. There's humans they look like us, they don't have the pointed ears and there's a lot of cultural differences…"
As Merrill talks it becomes increasingly clear to you that she's describing the atani. You interrupt her to inform her of this fact.
"Oh? You have humans too? Ah yes well that makes that simple then, I'll need to rewrite my notes. Oh do you have dwarves too? They're these short people and they can't touch the beyond at all. They're really stubborn…"
Those could be the casallië though you're not entirely sure so you just say you would need to see them to be sure.
"Oh. I guess you probably don't someone being unable to use magic is pretty distinctive. Though your magic doesn't use the beyond…"
She trails off for a few minutes, before continuing. "I can't really tell you too much about human and dwarven history. I know that Andraste led some kind of rebellion against the Tevinter Imperium and founded the Chantry but that's about it. The dwarves used to have a huge empire underground but it was ruined by the first blight. Sorry."
You are unconcerned by her lack of knowledge, something is better than nothing. "What to be this Chantry?"
Merrill grimaces. "It's a human religious organisation. They control the Circles and the Templars who guard them. They say Andraste was the prophet of the Maker and she founded them somehow. I don't really know much about it I'm afraid. They are found throughout Ferelden."

Speaking of the circle and the Maker reminds you of a question you had earlier. "You to be afraid, yet to fascinate by these spirits, what they to be and what can they to do?"
Merrill rubs the back of her neck and sighs before answering, "Ah well spirits are creatures of the Fade. They each embody some kind of desire or emotion. We're not really sure where they come from but we do know that they want to experience the real world. They'll possess mages or dead bodies and turn them into monsters while also harming the spirit. Sometimes mages summon them but doing so turns them into demons who are just bad for everyone who meets them. Unlike spirits which are sometimes helpful if you meet the right one and are careful about dealing with it. Since I'm a mage I have to constantly be careful around them, though the Keeper says I'm probably ready to start trying to talk to them now. Oh, they know so much, they're native to the Beyond and can teach you things nobody else knows if you can find one is willing to do so. I can't wait to speak to one. I'm so jealous that you got to live among knowledge spirits."

As Merrill finishes her answer to your last question you realise that time has completely gotten away from the both of you. The sun is now sinking below the tree line and the shadows are growing long. You express your thanks to Merrill for answering your questions. Then you head off to practice your archery before Auriel finishes and gets ideas about which of you is the superior archer. Because it is you, and you intend that state of affairs to continue.