Edited: June 2024

19

For the past few days that they had journeyed together, Talia and Felix had gotten along splendidly. The two had a common goal and both agreed with their plan to achieve it. This meant, however, that their first disagreement had taken Talia by surprise.

The two had already started climbing down from the Frostbacks and was on their way to Haven when Felix spoke up.

"What will I be doing while you're talking with the Nightingale and your ambassador?" He asked as they stopped for a quick lunch.

Talia furrowed her brow. "You'll be there explaining with me, I assume."

Felix looked away contemplatively. "I think you'd have better chances of success if you didn't bring me. I could stay at the Crossroads in the meantime, Harding will be able to—,"

Her blood turned to ice in her veins, and she didn't hear the rest of his statement.

"No."

Felix blinked at her. "Sorry?"

"I said, 'No.'" Talia repeated coolly.

To her surprise, Felix didn't back down. He straightened his back and narrowed his eyes. "What do you mean 'no'? You haven't even heard what I was suggesting."

"I am not leaving you."

Felix raised an eyebrow. "You know I can take care of myself. And Harding will be there. I'm not an invalid because I'm sick."

Talia looked away. Her decision had nothing to do with Felix's fighting skills; he can protect himself. But it was that inherent wariness and cautiousness inside Talia that made it difficult for her to trust anybody. She couldn't help but think he was setting this up as a way to leave and run back to his father.

"What's the problem?" He sounded frustrated now. "You know you can't sneak me into Haven in whatever way you're planning to enter. Even if you cast an invisibility and muffling spell on me, I am incapable of sneaking. And they'd be more willing to talk to you if you go alone rather than bringing me, a Tevinter mage."

"I'm not letting you out of my sight," she said with a tone of finality.

Felix was quiet as they broke camp, and Talia brushed off the twinge of guilt she felt. For the first time since they traveled together, there was only stony silence between them. And while Talia usually preferred staying quiet during the journey, she found that she had gotten used to her and Felix's light discussion about Tamriel and Thedas.

Talia's thoughts drifted to the artifacts in her possession and her hand lightly brushed the Skeleton Key in her pocket.

She had told Felix about what had occurred in the Fade during their first night in Skyhold. Still unsure what to think of the entire business with Fen'Harel, Talia had omitted him from her story, only choosing to focus on Nocturnal and the strange orders the Prince had given her. He shared her puzzlement over the Prince's task.

"Are you certain she was...speaking the truth? Can these Daedric Princes be trusted?" he had asked.

It depends, Talia had thought, but had instead said, "I'm Nocturnal's Champion, so she wouldn't lead me astray."

He had looked at her in surprise, and asked what the process was in becoming a daedra's champion. She must have looked uncomfortable, because he had dropped that line of questioning, and asked instead for a chance to examine one of her artifacts.

The mage was utterly fascinated by the Daedric Princes, probably because the closest comparable thing they had in this world were demons, and they were definitely not in the same league. She hesitated for a moment before showing him the Ring of Khajiiti, considering it the least dangerous. Tinkering with the Wabbajack would be hazardous to one's health, and the Gray Cowl couldn't be used by anyone but the Gray Fox. For a moment, she considered handing him the Skeleton Key, but she remembered stories about it, tales of enrapturing darkness and corruption, and decided against it.

Glancing at the mage, Talia noted that he was making an effort not to look in her direction, and she raised an eyebrow at him.

If he wanted to be petty, she had more than enough experience with frosty relations from Cassandra.

When they stopped to camp during the night, Felix was still stubbornly silent, only saying he was going to take first watch, and settled in the outskirts of their camp.

Talia sighed and climbed into her bedroll. Thankfully, the Fade was calm that night, and she hadn't seen hide nor hair of Fen'Harel since their last talk. She fully expected to be wakened by Felix halfway through the night for her shift, and so was unprepared when she woke to see the sun slowly creeping up the sky.

She sprung out of her bedroll and stormed out of her tent. She found Felix crouched over the campfire, coaxing the embers to life. When she approached, he looked up at her defiantly, and Talia resisted the urge to smack some sense into him.

"What are you doing?" she asked in clipped tones.

He tried to look at her neutrally, but the obvious tiredness in his features ruined it. "Starting another fire to cook our breakfast."

"You didn't wake me from my watch."

"No...no I didn't." He said slowly.

Talia bit back an insult and decided to be straightforward. "What is it that you seek to accomplish by doing this?"

"I do not 'seek to accomplish' anything," he said defensively. "I decided against waking you when I figured I could handle both shifts."

Pinching the bridge of her nose, Talia resisted the urge to call him an idiot. "Felix," she said in her most patient tone. "I appreciate you letting me rest, but you do not need to provide me any comfort especially at your expense. Might I remind you that you are ill?"

Felix's mouth settled in a thin line. "You do not need to remind me that I am dying, Talia. But that does not make me useless, nor does it mean I am incapable of defending myself."

So that's what this is about, Talia frowned. "You don't have to prove that you're able, Felix. I know you are."

"Do you?" he stood up from his position and looked her in the eye. "You won't even listen to my perfectly reasonable suggestion. I'm not a fragile flower that will wilt if you take your eyes off me for one second—,"

"Your ability to fight and to protect yourself was never in question, Felix." Her patience was thinning.

Felix scoffed. "Don't take me for a fool. There's nothing else that could possibly—,"

"It's because I don't trust you!" Talia snapped.

There was a ringing silence that followed her outburst, and she took a deep breath as she steadied herself.

"I simply—I cannot let you out of my sight." she shook her head, at a loss for words. She made to move away, but Felix's voice made her pause in her steps.

"You're not worried about my health," he sounded disbelieving as he spoke. "You're worried I'm going to go back to the Venatori."

Talia refused to look back at him, but the rigidness in her shoulders said it all.

"I don't believe this." he muttered. "You truly think I'd leave?" He tried covering up his tone in incredulity, but Talia could hear the undertone of hurt anyway.

She swallowed thickly but refused to answer his question. "Let's move on."

They refused to acknowledge each other as they packed up and left the clearing. If Felix batted away stray branches with more ferocity than he used to, Talia didn't mention it.

How could he ever understand, how could she make him understand? It wasn't about him; she had told him more about her life than anyone on this world, save Leliana, and that was only out of necessity. It was easy to be around Felix, but that didn't mean she could abandonreason and trust him blindly.

But is that not what you're doing anyway? A voice in her head argued. Sharing your plans, telling him about your life in Cyrodiil...you told him about the spell you used on Harding. You trust him enough to know he would not use this information against you.

The thought made Talia pause in her steps, and at the corner of her eye, she saw Felix glance at her in worry, before looking away just as quickly. She shook her head and resumed walking.

She didn't even think about lying to Felix at that time. If it were Cassandra, or anyone else, she would have made something up.

Talia gritted her teeth. After Bellamont, she'd become too paranoid for her own good. It took Lukas an incredibly long time before he managed to gain her trust, and that was already knowing his life was in her hands.

But she had nothing on Felix. No information that she could use against him. And she needed him alive; it was the only way to bargain with his father.

She'd be more comfortable with the situation if she had some sort of safety net, something that assured her he would keep his word. Of course, there was always the option of threatening him with Dorian or his father's life. But the very idea of doing it to Felix, one of the kindest people she had met in Thedas,made Talia feel like the scum of the earth.

It wasn't as if she was going soft. It was simply ridiculous to threaten her allies.

The voice in her head scoffed. You are quite adept at denial. You think of Felix as your friend. This is why you cannot bring yourself to do it. The voice continued. And if you want to keep it that way, you must learn to trust him.

Strangely enough, the nagging voice in her head was starting to sound familiar.

Shut up, Lukas, she thought, only managing to stop herself from saying it out loud.

But the Lukas-voice in her head was right. In the brief span of time they had known each other, Talia had grown attached to Felix. It was quite difficult not to be charmed by his sincerity and kindness, and he, like Varric, seemed to enjoy their conversations as well.

Perhaps it was only her paranoia working against her. Certainly, Felix had never done anything suspicious.

Talia sighed deeply as she made up her mind.

As they reached the forked road to Haven and the Hinterlands, she fished the Ring of Khajiiti from her pocket and thrust it towards Felix.

"Take it."

Talia figured the only reason he'd taken it was out of surprise. "I—what?"

She refused to meet his gaze. "For emergencies. I'm certain Harding can run interference, but I don't forget faces, and if the other me sees you, it might cause complications."

"Talia..." he sounded...touched?

"I'll be back early morning. Just make sure you're at the Crossroads before then."

Before she could leave, Felix placed a hand on her shoulder and squeezed it affectionately. No words were spoken between them, but Talia gave him a tight nod in response. He would never know just how difficult it was for her to do that. She just hoped her faith in him was not misplaced.

It was dark when she reached Haven, but she still took caution and cast an invisibility spell before scaling the walls and dropping to the other side.

Mindfully sticking close to the shadows, Talia slowly made her way to the Chantry. Leliana would be difficult to track down, and the woman would probably attack first and ask questions after; Josephine was the more sensible option.

The door to Josephine's office was ajar and Talia slipped in as one of the scribes opened it to leave. The ambassador was dutifully going through piles of paperwork, muttering to herself as she wrote her thoughts.

Talia cancelled the invisibility spell and spoke, "Josephine."

The woman started so badly that she'd knocked the inkwell off her table, and only Talia's reflexes saved it.

"Herald! You gave me such a fright!" Josephine had a hand on her chest as she tried to calm her breathing. "What are you doing back so soon? We weren't expecting you for another week at least."

"I have some information for you and Leliana, if you'd be so kind to ask a scribe to call for her."

"Of course! Have a seat, Herald. Commander Cullen should still be awake at this hour, I can ask someone to send for him as well."

She made to move towards her door, and Talia gripped her arm lightly to stop her. "This information, I'm afraid, is for you and Leliana only."

The woman looked back at her, searching her eyes for something. Perhaps she was gauging her sincerity and seriousness, whatever it was, Josephine seemed to have found it. She nodded and Talia dropped her hand, allowing the ambassador to carry out her request.

Talia took one of the seats in front of Josephine's table as the woman reseated herself.

"May I ask what this is about? We received Scout Harding's letter regarding your meeting with Mother Giselle."

"I will expound when Leliana is here, but simply know that this is information crucial to the success of the Inquisition."

"Josie," Leliana's voice came as the door was pushed open. "I received your missive, what is it that you—," she paused in her greeting as she saw Talia.

"Leliana." Talia inclined her head in greeting.

"Herald," she replied neutrally, but Talia knew enough about the Nightingale to know that she had gone extremely suspicious. "What brings you back to Haven this early?"

"Have a seat," the dunmer gestured to the seat across her. "I have a lot to talk to you about."

Leliana gracefully sat on her chair and crossed her arms; one of her hands was hidden beneath her arm, and Talia knew she was fingering her daggers.

With an exaggerated slowness, Talia reached into her pocket, and interestingly, both women tensed, before relaxing minutely when she pulled out a piece of vellum. She handed it to Leliana, who took it with a raised eyebrow.

"Before I begin, I think it's best if you read Harding's report first. I can answer any questions you have."

The spymaster was stone-faced as she read through the letter, and she passed it over to Josephine without any comment. When the ambassador read it, Talia could tell the exact moment she reached the bulk of the message, as her eyes widened to the size of saucers. When she was done, she simply put down the missive and looked at her dazedly.

"What—,"

"You cannot believe that we would take this seriously?" Leliana cut her off.

"And why not?" Talia replied calmly.

"You're not seriously suggesting you actually traveled back in time, Herald?" Josephine said in a disturbed tone.

"Is this how you amuse yourself? Misleading my scouts, telling them lies? I'm certain you and your companion had quite a good laugh over it."

This wasn't good. Leliana sounded more like Cassandra at this moment.

"If you bothered to check, at the time we met up with Harding, I—at least, the other me—was still unconscious here in Haven after sealing the Breach."

"Scout Harding was obviously confused." Leliana glared daggers at her. "This is utterly absurd."

"Leli, what if she's telling the truth?" Josephine asked.

"Josie, you cannot be serious."

"We are no strangers to odd occurrences after the formation of the Breach. Is the idea of time-travel truly so farfetched?" In spite of her words, the woman still looked rather unconvinced.

"I think this has surpassed the realm of odd, Josie."

"Yes," Talia agreed. "Then again, so is a mortal from Nirn falling into another world."

"That is different."

"How so?" Talia challenged. "I would argue that it is in the realm of highly impossible, had it not happened to me."

"Then tell us everything. What happened—or rather what will happen." Leliana jumped on Talia's hesitation. "See? You would not even speak of it."

"Knowledge of the future is dangerous, Leliana. As far as we know, Felix and I are the first two to successfully go back in time. We do not know if our being here changes things, or if we are the ones to bring about the fulfillment of whatever happens."

"Then please tell us the general tale." Josephine spoke seriously. "You need not go into specifics, but you must understand, we cannot go along with this without any sort of proof."

"I understand," Talia said. The dunmer told the story, but purposely kept it all vague. She mentioned their visit to Val Royeaux, the rescue mission for Felix, accidentally entering the Fade and finding Skyhold.

They had a lot of questions, especially about Felix, but she managed to smooth it over by providing a few, but inconsequential details.

When she was done, Josephine had looked convinced, but Leliana was stubbornly suspicious.

"I need more details."

Talia frowned. "I already told you I cannot give you detailed information."

"You could be lying."

"To what end?" Talia asked in exasperation. "I'm not working with the Enemy, everything that I do is for the betterment of the Inquisition. Even if you did think I was only doing this out of self-interest, can you really disdain my help?

"I found a perfectly defensible fortress that I am offering as a base of operations for the Inquisition. I would not do so if I was aiding the Enemy." Talia leaned forward. "I am on your side."

"If you are truly on our side, then why exclude Cullen from this? He along with Cassandra are key people in the Inquisition."

Because he'd kill me, that's why, she thought. "I leave that decision up to you two. But Cullen and Cassandra could not keep any secrets to save their lives, and the other me would notice if they were to treat me—her differently."

Leliana gave her a long, hard look before inclining her head. "Very well. I choose to believe your words."

For now, Talia thought, but nodded graciously anyway.

"But I do not have any scouts to spare. I cannot provide you any men to aid you in the reparations of Skyhold."

"There must be some that you don't need."

Leliana looked at her coolly. "There are none."

"What about the ones that were apprehended in the Fallow Mire?" Josephine suggested, and both of them looked at her, Talia with curiosity, and Leliana with annoyance.

"There was a group of soliders and scouts stalking around the area for information, but they were incapacitated and captured by the Avvar tribesmen that reside in the area."

Talia filed the term Avvar back in her mind for her to research on later. "And?"

"Their chief wishes to challenge the Herald of Andraste to a duel."

"We have decided to ignore it. The Inquisition cannot afford to lose any more men, and if they were incompetent enough to get caught, then we are not bound to get them out of that situation." Leliana explained.

Talia understood her reasoning of course. Most of the scouts' lives were expendable, and if they try and send a rescue party, they might end up as casualties, or additional prisoners for the Avvar. Still, Leliana did not trust her enough to give her any people, and beggars can't be choosers.

The dunmer nodded. "If you no longer have use for them, I certainly need more men in Skyhold. Felix and I will plan a rescue for them, I will send you a letter."

"You seem more confident and assured now, Herald." Leliana commented offhandedly. "What changed you?"

Talia looked back at Leliana. "A few days after I—the other me comes back from Haven, you will find me outside my cabin, freezing in the snow in the middle of the night. You and I will have an extremely long talk about my identity, and my motivations.

"I'm giving you permission to share whatever it is you learn from me with Josephine."

Both women looked surprised, but Leliana seemed to understand her more, and perhaps Talia was imagining it, but the woman's eyes softened just a tad.

"Josephine, please start looking into finding people to repair Skyhold. You can send them there to survey the damage and draw up plans."

"What will you do next?"

"I have a lead on the location of someone important." Talia smiled at Leliana, and the woman seemed to understand what she was saying.

"You've found her?" There was hope in her voice.

"Felix and I are heading to Orzammar, in the Deep Roads. We have reason to believe we'll find our missing Warden there."

"I would like to come." Leliana's eyes were cloudy. "But I am needed here, so I must rely on you. Bring her back."

"With pleasure." Talia nodded.

The trip back to the Hinterlands was a quiet one that Talia spent on foot. The entire meeting with Josephine and Leliana had been rather difficult. With time, she had forgotten that Leliana had once looked at her as Cassandra once did—with suspicion and hostility, the former was simply better at hiding it.

Their first talk, as unpleasant as it had been, had served to allow Leliana to gain a better understanding of Talia and who she was, and both of them slowly learned to trust each other, if not as friends, then at least as allies. Now, the woman wouldn't even give her a couple of scouts to use, not that Talia was surprised. This Leliana hadn't heard her story of Mehrunes Dagon and Martin Septim, and had never revealed to Talia the difficulty of following everything Justinia asked of her.

Still, at least they were getting somewhere. She'd promised to stay in touch with both of them and update them regularly regarding their plans. Hopefully, once this Leliana and the other her finally get to talk, the spymaster would be more cordial to her.

Allowing Josephine to know what Leliana knew about her was a huge step for her. She needed Josephine's trust for them to be able to work together, and despite her misgivings, she was still certain it was the most sensible thing to do.

When she reached the Crossroads, she made a beeline to Harding. The scout was in her tent giving orders to one of her subordinates when Talia approached. She waited for the other person to leave before dropping the illusion spell.

"Herald!" Harding greeted her in an excited whisper. "How did your meeting with Sister Nightingale go?"

"As well as can be expected. Where's Felix?" She changed the subject.

"Oh, he went out with one of the other scouts, they took the main highway, I think."

Talia froze, and forced herself to relax when Harding gave her a curious look. Just because Felix had taken the main road to Redcliffe didn't mean he had gone in that direction. She decided to wait for him for at least half an hour before trying to go find him. To kill time, she'd asked Harding about updates. Her counterpart was on the other side of the Hinterlands with Varric and Cassandra, which thankfully meant she'd be able to avoid any unpleasant meetings.

She had learned more than she wanted to know about the Hinterlands and its geography when she heard the sentry call out.

"Ho there Mr. Felix! Good to have you back!"

"I was here two hours ago, Sutherland," Felix replied in amusement.

Talia exhaled slowly. She didn't even realize she had been holding her breath.

Harding exited the tent to drag Felix in for a talk, and when she stepped back in, the mage was trailing behind her.

"Talia!" he sounded truly glad to see her and she offered him a small smile in return. She was about to ask how he was, but another man entered after him and she paused in her steps.

"Greetings," the unknown man said in a gruff voice.

Talia looked over at Felix with an expression that screamed, 'Explain.' And the mage smiled widely.

"This is Talia Indoril, also known as the Herald of Andraste." Felix said to the man. "Talia, this is Warden Blackwall."

Talia's eyebrows shot to her hairline.

A Warden, as in...?

Blackwall stepped forward. "I understand that most of my kin are missing. But I would like to offer my services as a Grey Warden." He saluted. "If you'll have me."

Talia looked from Felix's pleased grin to Blackwall's sombre expression.

"The Inquisition is pleased to have you with us, Warden Blackwall."

Things had become much more interesting.

AN: Sorry for the late update! Master's classes have been hell recently. I'm updating on a Friday, since I'll be in place with no electricity (and internet, obviously) for the next 5 days.

Response to reviews:

Guest 1 & 2: Thank you!

Cyclone160: I'm really sorry for the late updates! I'm trying my best to meet my monthly deadlines, but it's kind of hard after starting classes :( Still, hope you like this! Thank you for reading!

METALHELLSPWN: Were you channeling your inner Mordin Solus? Lol xD

Drgyn: Thanks! There is no way for Fen'Harel and the other Evanuris to be in the same league as the Princes. No matter what they do, they will always be hilariously outmatched.