The ceiling is high, but the room is so stifling, lit only by the faint glow of a flickering fire. Varric looks at his friend's back, it's stiff and bent forward while her hands are resting on the table. He can only imagine the contrite face of Lavellan as she leans over the map.

"Inquisitor. How long has it been since you slept?"

For a moment he sees her shoulders relax, but the elf does not look at him. Just a faint shrug of her head.

"The last time I slept, I had such stupid dreams that I don't feel like closing my eyes anymore."

Varric shakes his head and moves closer to his friend until he's beside her and he can see her face.

"Really, Ainur. How long has it been? A week? You need to rest. Without expecting to see him. Just close your eyes."

"He hasn't shown himself for months, Varric. If even this time..." the words die in her throat.

"He'll be fine."

"I think he's close. I think he's found a way."

"I'll ask Leliana to spread the word. We have contacts all over Thedas. We are close to a breakthrough, the rumours are spreading from Minrathous. Tomorrow I will join Harding, she is already there."
Ainur'Len looks at him sideways, her tired eyes shrouded in two deep dark circles. She sighs and feels her muscles relax, as they often do when she talks to her friend.

"I should go with you," she mutters, frowning.

"Aren't you sweet, Inquisitor?" Varric laughs and pats her shoulder. "You must keep the Venatori who have invaded the Highlands at bay, we need you here."

"When will it end, Varric?" she finally turns to him, slowly running a hand through her raven hair.

"Soon, Ainur. You will see."

The Inquisitor clicks her tongue before allowing herself a faint smile. She locks her eyes with Varric's, breaking a promise from him.

"Be careful, please. And keep me informed in real time."

He winks at her.

"Of course, Ainur'Len. I promise."

"This is it, Inquisitor.
Harding found a lead through our contact in Minrathous. As soon as we arrived, all hell broke loose, I only have time to write you these few words. We have a small team of smart people trying to reach Chuckles and shake him up. I will try to bring him back in one piece, I promise. Chances are you will see us coming before you even get this letter.
When it's all over, maybe I'll write a novel about it, what do you think?
Love, secrets, betrayal: it'll be a bestseller.

Yours,
Varric."

She clutches the letter until it crumples in her hands.

Not this time.
I can't let you get away with this.
If you hear me, Solas, I won't forgive you.
How the hell could you do this?
Varric.
No.

The icy air cuts her face, maybe that's why her eyes are watering. She squeezes the wolf figurine in her hands, feeling it vibrate as she curses her old love. It is warm. She stares at the pool of dry blood before her.

Fuck, Solas.

Morrigan takes a step back and looks away.

"Haven't you lost enough?" She whispers, slowly bringing her eyes back to hers. "Do you still want to save him?"

Aiunr'Len hunches her shoulders forward and holds back a breath that turns to a sob. She holds the statuette to her chest and her legs can't take it any more. She collapses to her knees, eyes narrowed and tears streaming down her worn face. Her desperate scream breaks the silence, smacking against the clear sky and the light sea breeze that thickens the air.

Varric will never come back.

Shit, Solas.

She holds her breath to keep from choking. Then she lets it out. Slowly. She resets her eyes on the wolf statuette she holds close. It vibrates. It glows softly, with blue flickers, soft and calm.

Vhenan.

"It is no coincidence that you found it. The Dread Wolf leaves nothing to chance." Morrigan approaches her slowly, just enough to place a hand on her shoulder. She looks down at Ainur'Len, but her eyes are filled with an unusual softness.

"He left it here for you to find. It is a fragment of something greater. A key. He wanted you to have it and no one else."

The elf searches for something more in the witch's eyes, but they reveal no secrets. She notices only a warm glow in the usually icy yellow colour. Perhaps it is Mythal who is looking at her. She wipes her nose with the back of her hand and rises quietly, her amber eyes returning to Solas' relic.

"He's the same old piece of shit, Morrigan." She snorts, exhausted. She hears her friend chuckle. "But I can feel him. There's something about him in here. I can feel it." She shrugs. "Sometimes I wish he would just write me a fucking letter, you know? At least I'd find out what he's trying to tell me."

Morrigan shakes her head, smiling.

"You already know what he wants to tell you, Ainur'Len."

"I suppose I do. Or at least I hope I do."

She stares at the spot where Fen'harel disappeared, swallowed by the Fade.

"I can't bear the thought of him being alone." She whispers. "Trapped in a prison of suffering."

Morrigan lets the silence soften the weight of those words for a few moments before she speaks.

"He is in a terrible place. A prison of regret. The loss of Varric will be just one more to haunt him. But you are also there with him. Hurting you must have made him suffer terribly. You have a special bond with the Fade. You have a connection to him." She pauses for a moment, giving the Inquisitor time to catch her breath. She is looking at her with exhausted eyes, full of fear, but with a glimmer of hope.

The witch speaks again, cautiously, "Perhaps I know a way..."

Solas paces frantically, one hand on his chin, the other behind his back.

"Damn it."

His eyes, narrowed in anger, dart quickly from side to side.

"Damn!"

He lifts a stone with his gaze and hurls it at the iron bars that remain unharmed. With a grunt of rage, hundreds of rocks rise from the ground and crash against the metal. He knows it won't work.

"I have to get out of here." He looks around with a furrowed brow. "Rook." He mutters through clenched teeth, his voice a hiss.

He kicks a rock and sits on the ground, his gaze lost in the emptiness.

Then he hears it.

Not this time.
I can't let you get away with this.
If you can hear me, Solas, I won't forgive you.
How the hell could you do this?
Varric.
No.

He clenches his fists and his eyes suddenly fill with desperation. Something like panic floods his chest. He rises and a faint reflection of the Inquisitor appears before him.

"Vhenan. I have failed again." He holds his face in his hands, as if afraid it will slip away. "I have brought you pain once more. And with Elgar'nan and Ghilan'nain at loose, no one is safe. Not even you."

Only silence, suffocating.

"I have failed again. I... Varric is dead."

Silence, deafening.

"I had taken precautions to save you. And now, the thought that they might get to you…"

The pale light illuminates Ainur'Len's face, which is not really hers, but a shy, expressionless reflection. He cannot bring himself to look at her.

"I have a plan," he whispers, his gaze suddenly sharp. "You would not approve. But it's my last chance."

He glances once more at the bars surrounding him, before turning his back on the image of his beloved's face and walking slowly towards the rift that separates him from the rest of Fade.

"You will understand when this is over."