So it's been a hella long time.

I'll be honest, I've been kinda stuck with this story in a self-inflicted writer's block. I've been thinking of ways Irina gets to haven, and scrapping them because they just didn't seem right. What I've currently posted is the draft I'm happiest with honestly. Irina's emotions sort of reflect my own here.

In my personal life, ever since this fic started I've graduated Highschool and am currently finishing my first semester of college. Which is crazy considering this thing has been up for provably more than a couple of years and I'm still in the beginning.

But now I've overcome writer's block and am happy to say that I've got some chapter stored away for the future. Hopefully, I'll get on schedule of sorts but considering college and stuff, expect erratic uploads. I am happy to say, that we're finally getting out of the rut that is the Hinterlands and are moving onto Haven. So yay!

Chapters 13 to this one have been changed/added so I recommend you go back and reread them so this makes sense. Thank you for all the likes, ya'll. And commenting is very much appreciated.

When Irina stepped out of the cave she was met with a vast open space. Stone steps littered the forest floor, mountains enveloped the area as though it were a cradle. Irina walked forward slowly, ash was heavy in the air. Besides the sound of the faint crackling of flame in the distance, it was quiet. Scorch marks left ugly black scars on the grass. What was more apparent, as Irina stopped to observe them, was the nature. Circular in shape and leaving a slight indent on the dirt. She narrowed her eyes.

"What are we feeling, Sakn'vunen?"

"Something close." said the spirit, fear evident in its trembling voice. "Close and angry."

Irina nodded. She continued forward. Her features appeared calm, but within her chest her heart beat wildly. She prayed to Lady Luck to bless her this day. All she needed to do was to bring the dragon down to her level, and make it hear her. If the thing couldn't talk, well, she always had the spirit.

A roar sounded in the distance.

Over the trees, above the mountains and the earth, soared a golden figure. It was unlike any dragon Irina had ever seen. Its body was more stout than the lithe dragons of Auri-El, its horns more vicious and akin to a minotaur rather than the smaller ones she'd seen Odahviing, Paarthurnax, or even Alduin tout. Another vicious cry erupted from its mouth and Irina couldn't help but the wild grin that spread across her face. She could feel the eyes of the dragon lock onto her body as it flew to her.

A shout welled up in her throat. Bring it down. All she had to do was—

"Irina watch out!" Sakn'vunen screamed.

She jumped out the way, narrowly missing the small bout of fire that whizzed past her. She looked at the direction of the source. There stood a creature much similar to the dragon. Gray scales, yellow eyes, and a stance that said pissed.

"Shit, what is that?"

"Above!"

She looked towards the sky only to be met with a miniature sun hurling directly at her. Quickly, she dove out the way with a quick shout of WULD. The flames licked her skin as the world behind her turned to ash. She quickly found herself on her feet as the dragon crashed into the high spire, sending stone tumbling down. It only seemed to fuel its rage as it hurled another fireball at Irina. The elf, once again, narrowly dodged.

The dragon in the sky wasn't the only issue. As, through the flames, lept the dragonling. It charged at Irin, barely giving her enough time to shout FUS RO DAH, to send it tumbling back in the flames.

Finally, she had enough time to take out her bow and arrow. With a well aimed shot to the cranium, the gray abomination let out a strangled cry and fell to the ground. Distantly, she could hear the dragon in the sky roar once more.

"How many of them are there?" Irina said. She began running. The nest, she needed to find the nest.

"The Dragon or the baby dragons?"

"The fucking babies Sakn'vunen!"

"A lot!"

"Where are they concentrated?"

"Uh…"

"Sakn'vunen, I swear—."

"Give me a second!"

Another shout of WULD fell from her lips as she dodged another fireball. A couple of small shrieks sounded off somewhere to her right. "I don't have a fucking second!"

"Okay, okay." Think, she needed to think. Her legs burned. She needed to know who was where. What was where. She needed to reveal who was where. Auras. She needed to see auras. She sent a silent prayer to Auri-el.

LAAS YAH NIIR, she whispered. The world's color dimmed in favor of the bright red aura that surrounded the living. Her eyes flew around widely, searching for that nest of red hidden from her eyes. The mountains were clear, the ground was quiet. The red was starting to fade, her head grew frantic. She looked off into the distance at a large overpass. Her legs changed course faster than her mind could catch up.

There!

The world whizzed past her, and Sakn'vunen let out a faint cry in her right ear. Her eyes were trained on the arch before her. Distantly she could see the dragon had caught up to her train of thought, as it soared above the rocks flew down into its nest, awaiting her arrival. And she would not keep the beast waiting.

She stopped her mad dash when she had built up a sizable distance between herself and the dragonlings. Deep, precious lungfuls of air filled her body as she leaned against the stone. Her throat screamed against the action, her mind hazed with the power it took to cast the thu'um. Already the exertion of the shouts were taking over her.

"Are you alright?" Sakn'vunen whispered. Irina nodded her head, unable to speak.

The whooshing of air just past the arch told her the fight was not yet over.

She drew an arrow into her bow, and walked over. There was a lesson about the dragons that she had learned from Odahviing when they'd fought in Dragonsreach. If you wanted to make a dragon hear you, you needed to first conquer it.

There stood amongst the ashes of trees, and puddles of water stood the dragon. She was almost taken aback by the size. It's mouth hung open in a wrathful snarl which made the yellow red pinpricks of its eyes burn even brighter in the sun's light. From this close, Irina could see the gray and green patterns that slithered amongst its skin, bringing it closer to its children.

As she approached, the thing let out another roar. Irina gritted her teeth as she pushed through the urge to cover up her ears. There was no allowance for weakness in a fight between Dovah. She needed this thing to hear her.

YOL TOOR SHUL, she greeted the words shaking the ground with the amount of force she put behind them. Fire fell from her lips, barely missing the dragon by a hair's breadth. The dragon took a step back, a grunt falling from its mouth. It cocked its head to the side. Studying. Thinking.

It huffed a breath of air at her. This was a start.

Irina continued. ALDUIN, KOLOS?

The tithing shook its head. Irritated. Irina squinted. She didn't know whether that was an answer or perhaps a sign of resistance. Either way she didn't back down, instead taking a step closer.

KORAAV RUVAAK DOVAH?Another grunt, this one of irritation. She could see its wings slowly beginning to flap, the muscles in its giant legs tensing with force. She wouldn't have that.

JOOR ZAH FRUL

A shocked screech came from its lips unbidden as it thumped uselessly to the ground. Its eyes glared something hatefully at Irina who looked down upon it with all the arrogance she could muster. It matched her look.

She strode over until she was close enough to feel its strong breaths blow against her cheek. One leather boot came to rest firmly upon its snout. A growl sound from deep within its chest. Irina pressed down harder in response. Power, the absolute rule of the Dov.

HI FEN QIILAAN, Irina spat. UV DIR!

One last look of defiance flashed across its scaled face, before it bowed its head in quiet acceptance.

"Sakn'vunen," Irina said quietly. Her vocal cords screeched at her. The world was near tilting on its axis, but she kept herself firm. "Please."

"On it!" The spirit said. It poked its head out of her pocket and scurried down her thigh until it came to a stop on her knee. The dragon bared its teeth instinctually, but when met with the hard look of the elf it closed its mouth.

Irina worriedly glanced at the spirit. She knew the spell wouldn't last forever and before it wore off she needed to put this thing out of its misery lest it put her out of her's. "What do you see?"

The mouse twitched nervously. "Give me a second! Another second…"

"Sakn'vunen!"Irina growled.

"I see it! I see it!" Sakn'vunen cried. Irina almost lost her balance in shock.

"What?! What do you see?"

"I see… dragons. Fighting in the sky, in my bones I feel their terrible power. Both of them black, black as onyx, darker than night. I hunger and am already mated. I do not care for their fight."

"Is it my dragon?" Irina said. "Is it Alduin?"

"They are unfamiliar. They are not like me, I am not like them." Sakn'vunen mumbled. " The bigger one glows a dim bright red, his breath is electricity. It is like the glowing stone in the caves. He has no eyes."

Unconsciously, Irina presses her boot down harder, eliciting another rumble from the dragon. "And the other?"

"The smaller one is not of here. He looks like me, but he is not like me at all. He talks like the mortals below. He feels bigger than he is. He is like the night sky and as vast as the stars. He frightens me, they both do. I need to fly away."

"Where?"

"It is snow covered and barren mountains, I need to get food. I need to fly south. I am hungry."

Irina clicked her tongue, Snowy mountains. She could work with that.

"That's enough, Sakn'vunen."

The mouse quickly jumped from her knee right back into her pocket. Irina took the arrow in her hand and drew it back in the bowstring. She could feel the thing struggle to move. The shout was wearing off with each passing second.

"Sorry," she muttered as she let go. With a loud scream that sent Irina flying back onto the floor, the dragon convulsed. The creature gave Irina one last hateful look before falling harshly to the ground. Its body was finally still.

She waited a moment. Soon enough, the thing began to crumble to ashes and was engulfed by a bright glowing, golden light. Its tendrils stuck out desperately to Irina, who welcomed it with open arms. It felt like the warm embrace of a mother, it felt oddly of home.

Sakn'vuen tittered nervously in the now quiet nest. The spirit paused as it looked at something at the looked to the sky, and then placed her face in her hands.

"FUCK!" she said. A breathless laugh escaped her.

"Irina," Sakn'vunen said. Had Irina been more clear-headed, she would've noticed the genuine fearful tint to the spirit's voice. "You need to get up."

The Mer waved her off. "Give me a moment to bask. Mara's tits—"

"Now."

"Not now. Look Sakn'vunen, My head is screamin' at me in three different languages. My legs might as well be firewood kindle at this point and my throat fucking burns."

"The Inquisition is here."

That had Irina hauling ass up to her feet. She quickly gathered herself, still facing away from the arch.

"Shit, shit! Why didn't you tell me sooner?"

"I was focusing on the dragon! I couldn't hear them."

"What do you mean you couldn't hear them? You hear everything else!"

"There's too much stuff! The people, the dragon, the babies, the birds—"

"I get the picture," She said as she sheathed her bow. The world felt out of balance as she forced herself to move. "Just tell me, how close are they?"

"Right there at the arch."

The breath left Irina's lungs in an instant. Slowly, did she turn around, only to be greeted with familiar faces.

Evette stood at the forefront of the group, horror, fear, and shock mixed into a relatively black expression. Next to her was Cassandra, her sword drawn and face hard. Varric to Evette's right, looking highly concerned, and then next to him lay Solas. His expression was the most impassive, if not a bit shocked himself.

"Listen, I know all of this," she gestured towards the dead dragon. "Looks really, really bad. I can explain."

"Uh-huh," Evette said.

"I'll start off by answering your very obvious questions, yes. Yes, I am the Demon you have been hunting down. Yes, I did kill those templars. Bad, I know. But what you should be asking is why. Why? Because they wouldn't leave me the fuck alone. See? I was provoked. Not crazy. Provoked. I haven't killed anyone else since. Excluding the other templars. But that was with you!"

"Uh-huh," Evette repeated. It seemed to be the only noise she could currently muster.

Cassandra took over for her. "And the dragon?"

"I was provoked."

"You were questioning it," the Seeker retorted. "In some… demonic language it understood. And then you absorbed something from it like a—"

"Ah-ah. Let's not get too ahead of ourselves here. Not a demon!" Irina said as she patted her chest. "And that wasn't a demonic language. It was dovahzul. Language of the dragons."

"Uh-huh."

"The dragon," Cassandra said slowly. "Which you subjugated. In the language of the dragons. You who is not a demon."

"Yes."

"Uh-huh."

Varric finally jabbed an elbow into the Herald's side, making her mouth snap shut.

"You know," Irina said, mustering her best smile. "You'd really be doing me a favor if you let me go. Please."

Evette, who'd finally found the will to speak in more than grunts, finally spoke up. "Seeker?"

"Yes, Herald?"

"Cast spell purge."

The human nodded."As you wish."

"Wait—"

It was like all the air had been taken out of her lungs, as though something were ripped from the very essence of her core. She crumpled to her knees in an instant. She heard someone, something, scream like a wounded deer. All the contents of her stomach came tumbling out of her mouth. Everything was hot and cold. There was nothing and yet there was something.

Distantly, she made out the sound of a sword being unsheathed.

In her mind's eye, she felt the cool stone of the chopping block again. No. Her fingers dug into the dirt as she pulled herself forward. Oh, no, no. Not like this.

Fucking Alduin. Fuck, fuck.

She heard footsteps come up beside her, and finally stop. She turned herself over with a last push of strength to be met with a blurred face. Red hair, pointed ear. Evette. Fucking Evette. Sweat poured down her temple as looked upwards at Andraste's Herald.

Mercy. She wasn't sure if it was said, or if she merely thought the word.

Feebly, Irina reached out a hand towards her. Everything was catching up to her now. The running, the exhaustion, the lack of magicka, the fear.

The world was melting. Everything was fading fast. She felt her lips move. Evette moved too.

Mercy.