Solas and Iron Bull were alone again. This time, Solas had sought him out instead of the other way around, and they walked up to the battlements, looking out over the valley.
“You are different to how I thought most Qunari were,” Solas said.
“Well, I'm not Qunari anymore,” Bull reminded him.
Solas smiled. “No. You are not. Are you still concerned about your control?”
“Mm,” Bull rumbled and frowned to himself. “Yeah. No. I'm not sure.”
“Better than being certain you cannot control yourself. You must know that the Qunari invent that idea to keep you within the Qun.”
“Could be,” Bull said. “Or, they're right, and we're too dangerous to let loose.”
“Why would that be?”
“Has anyone outside the Qun done that well?” Bull pointed out. “In the Qun, people are certain, and...well, most of them are pretty happy, honestly.”
“Is it true happiness, or merely the contentedness one feels when one does not know anything else?”
“What's the difference?” Bull watched him, his one eye intent.
“One is fragile, prone to breaking when confronted with the truth. One is a cage for the mind. And ultimately, what does happiness truly matter, if they did not choose that life to begin with?”
"Isn't that what most people want? Just to be happy?”
“Perhaps. Is that what you want?”
“I can't figure out what I want anymore,” Bull shook his head.
“Then we have that in common, as well.”
Bull looked at him. 'Yeah?” he raised his eyebrow. Solas looked away.
“I knew what needed to be done,” he said. “Then it changed.”
“There's been a lot of that going around lately.”
“Yes, that is quite clear.” Solas sighed.
“It helps to focus on small goals,” Bull advised. “Well, it helps me, anyway.”
“Does it?” Solas leaned back. “I have forgotten what that was like as well.”
“What do you mean?”
He shook his head. “Never mind.”
“I think we have more in common than I first thought,” Bull said.
“Do we indeed?” Solas looked up at Bull, eyes lidded. “Bull--” he caught sight of something behind Bull, and his eyes widened a fraction. Bull tensed, and Solas backed up, the silvery shimmer of a barrier spell appearing on both of them.
Bull turned, and as he expected, a pair of assassins wearing Skyhold uniforms advanced on the pair of them.
Bull swung outwards, dodging the assassin with the poisoned blade and sending him crashing into the wall. Solas caught the other one with a fireball, forcing him over the edge of the battlement.
The remaining assassin spat a phrase in Qunlat, getting to his feet and coming at Bull again, before Bull hurled him over the side, too. The two of them looked over the wall, Solas pale and angry, Bull resigned.
“This wasn't a real attack,” Bull said at last, drawing back from the wall.
“No?”
“No, this was a message,” Bull said.
Solas narrowed his eyes. “And the message being?”
“They see me,” Bull took a deep breath. “They really don't like to let people go.”
“Bull--” Solas grabbed Bull's arm, and Bull looked back over his shoulder at him.
“Yeah?”
“You are—if this continues to happen--” he paused. “Will you be attacked again?”
“Probably,” Bull sighed. “This one wasn't serious. More of a courtesy than anything. But with the hostilities between the Viddasala and the Alliance—yeah. Probably.”
Solas didn't let go of Bull. “I have had many friends die. I do not wish to add any more. Tell me if you need help dealing with...this.”
Bull raised his eyebrow. “We're friends?” he looked down at Solas' hand, still on his arm. To Bull's great surprise, Solas flushed slightly, his cheeks acquiring a rosy gleam.
“Yes, I—of course,” Solas said, removing his hand after a moment of hesitation.
Bull reached over and squeezed Solas' shoulder. “Thanks, Solas. I mean that.” he leaned forward, hand heavy on Solas' shoulder. “Let me know any time I can help you,” he said.
A strange problem came to the Alliance, and the Inquisition in particular, one that was most unusual and that they had not even been searching for
“The body of the last Inquisitor?” Arethin raised her eyebrows skeptically when Cassandra explained.
Cassandra nodded. “His resting place had been long lost,” she said. “He vanished, some time during the second Blight.”
“And what does this have to do with us?”
“It is possible we can gain the allegiance of the Avvar groups in the area,” Leliana said. “They could help while we investigate the Wilds. The Venatori are quite interested, and there are other groups there that Corypheus may want to ally with.”
Arethin chewed the inside of her cheek. “There is one eluvian in that area,” she said slowly. “Are there many rifts?”
"Quite a few, actually,” Josephine said. “They were damaged by the Breach, but did not contact us for some time.”
“Then we should at least see what's going on,” Arethin said. “If the Venatori are interested, we should see why that is.”
The eluvian opened into a ruin on the very edge of the valley. The mirror had been one that was able to be opened from the Crossroads side, but it hidden away in a cave, far under a newer Tevinter ruin, and it had apparently taken the archaeologists days to dig themselves out. Arethin took Cassandra, Iron Bull, and Solas with her in her investigation.
The head of the archaeological team, Professor Kenric, was the one who initially had the lead on Ameridan. All he knew was that Ameridan had vanished in this area, and he had narrowed it down to this valley. He thought perhaps the local Avvar might have some information, as they had been here since before Ameridan's death, and had a detailed understanding of the history and ruins.
The valley was warm and humid, filled with unusual plants and huge animals. The valley had its own strange climate, making it very warm up until winter hit with an uncommon fierceness. Once one ascended the cliffs, however, it became much colder, no matter the time of year, making a trek to the Avvar one that was not very comfortable.
There were aggressors in the valley, besides a scattered Venatori scout or two, and it became apparent there were at least two different groups of Avvar. One group was mostly disinterested in the Alliance, but the other one was clearly hostile. The hostile group was called the Jaws of Hakkon, and why they had a problem with the Alliance was not very clear. They attacked any Alliance forces that came near, be they Dalish, Inquisition, dwarven, or one of Kenric's assistants. Anyone with an Alliance symbol was fair game, it seemed, and they had given no reason why.
The neutral Avvar hold, called Stone-Bear Hold, clung to the cliff-face, and Arethin made a note to go to them and ask them about Ameridan on Kenric's behalf. The last time Kenric had tried, he'd gotten accosted by Hakkonites and barely escaped.
The Avvar, all dressed in furs and hide despite the warmth of the day, watched them and murmured to each other as her group passed by. Most stared openly at Iron Bull, but others focused on Arethin and Solas, and a minor few payed close attention to Cassandra. The Veil was somewhat thin here, but not in a bad way. Spirits pressed close, but not because of spilt blood or poor spellworking. The reason wasn't clear, but fortunately it did not seem to be an immediate concern.
The leader of Stone-Bear hold was a tall woman, who had long blonde hair mostly hidden by her hood. She sat on a rough-hewn throne of stone and hide, propped up against which was a massive war-hammer. She grinned when she saw them.
“You be the Alliance lowlanders, yes?” she had a very thick accent, almost Ferelden. Arethin wasn't sure what language the Avvar spoke other than Common—they never came anywhere near the Free Marches, so her Clan had never run across them. Dalish Clans in general didn't interact much with the Avvar.
“That's correct,” Arethin nodded. “I am Arethin Nadur Lavellan, mediator to the Alliance.”
“I am Thane Svarah Sun-hair,” the woman said. She peered at Arethin and Solas, looking hard at their pointed ears. “We heard that the Alliance claims two gods assist it,” she said. “The burning woman for the Chantry, and an elf god for the elves. I thought the elf gods had left you behind.”
“The story is a bit more complicated than that,” Arethin explained.
“How so? Did a god not come to you?”
Arethin shifted from one foot to the other, considering her answer. “What have you heard?” she asked eventually. “There have been many rumors, of all different kinds.”
“Quite true,” Svarah agreed. “We've heard all manner of tales, but here is the story we heard most often. We heard that the burning woman rescued one called Herald, and then a wolf-god gave the Herald a castle.” she rested her chin on her hands. “The story about the wolf-god confused the people who told it,” she said. “So many lowlanders did not even think he was a real god, but there the elves were, all saying he'd come back to them.”
Arethin raised her marked hand. “That was me that they called the Herald,” she explained. “But I don't think Andraste came to me. As for Fen'harel, well—that's a very long tale.”
“Ah,” Svarah leaned back in her chair, satisfied. “But the wolf-god did come to you?”
“Fen'harel did come, yes,” Arethin didn't really want to retell the whole tale, especially with Solas in the same room. It felt odd, especially how he had decided to add no commentary. If he felt no need to intervene, she'd keep the details to a minimum. It was rude to talk about people like they weren't present, after all.
“Well, if you did not see the burning woman, but saw the wolf-god, it's good favor, all the same. He's a tricky god, yes? A tricky god will bring you his cleverness, and escape from your enemies if you do him well.”
“I hope so,” Arethin said, glancing at Solas out of the corner of her eye. Solas' expression was carefully blank, but a slight flush rose in his cheeks all the same. “In any case, we are here as a favor to one of our allies, the Inquisition.”
“Ah, yes.” Svarah nodded. “What do you need?”
“We believe that the body of the last Inquisitor was laid to rest here,” Cassandra now stepped forward, and Svarah looked at the Inquisition insignia on her breastplate. “It was lost long ago, and it would be important to have it.”
“What is the name of this Inquisitor? Perhaps the gods have said his name.”
“Ameridan.”
Svarah pursed her lips together, thinking.
“You must go to the Lady's Rest,” she said. “An island in the lake.”
“And what will we find there?” Arethin asked.
Svarah shook her head. “There is a god there, a sad one,” she explained. “We stay away, but her voice calls out for Ameridan.”
Cassandra and Arethin glanced at each other. This was a much more specific lead than they had been expecting.
“We do have one more question,” Arethin said. “Who are the hostile Avvar, the ones who call themselves the Jaws of Hakkon?”
Svarah scowled. “They want only blood and battle,” she explained. “Hakkon is for war, and that is what they desire. They seek to find him, and find more war. Your Alliance and your wolf-god won't be friends to him, nor the Chantry and their burning woman.”
“They dislike our...gods?” Cassandra asked, raising an eyebrow.
“They dislike everyone. With Avvar, they follow rules, but lowlanders have no rules to protect them.” Svarah shrugged. “Hakkon wants war with everyone. Sometimes war is needful, but Hakkonites want it above all else. They seek to bind Hakkon to mortal form.”
“Mortal form?” Arethin blinked. “They can do that?”
“It has been done before, once, a long time ago,” Svarah explained. “They take the god and birth him into a dragon, like when we speak with our gods. But this isn't meant to be—it is not good for the god. When they bind Hakkon this way, it forces a need for another rebirthing, to break the bonds.”
“Are they capable of doing this?” Cassandra asked, concerned.
Svarah spread her hands. “I don't know. I know they want to, but I couldn't say if they managed it. Mayhap their augur is a poor one—or perhaps they'll find what they're looking for. You should watch for them.”
“Is there anything we can do about them?” Arethin asked. “Are they a threat to you, as well as us?”
Svarah leaned back in her chair. “They're not friends, but not enemies just yet,” her expression was pensive. “We have agreements with them. They will not be oath-breakers, at least, not that we know.”
“Agreements?” Cassandra asked. “What do you mean?”
“We do not fight. It is not needful for us to fight, so they leave off. But they might be oath-breaking anyway,” Svarah's scowl returned. “We can't prove it.”
“So they are not worthy of trust,” Solas said.
“No,” Svarah agreed. “Not really. But Stone-Bear Hold breaks no oaths, so until we find that they are doing it...” she trailed off.
“I understand,” Cassandra nodded. “If we find that they are committing wrongdoing, we shall tell you.”
Svarah smiled at her, her smile radiant as the sun. “Thank you, Inquisition,” she said. “Lowlanders don't often feel like Avvar are important enough to care for.”
Cassandra's cheeks reddened, and Arethin adjusted her grip on her staff.
“We should go,” Arethin said.
The Lady's Rest was a tiny, rocky spit of an island where the Veil was ripped and torn. Arethin flinched upon setting foot on the island.
“Do you hear that?” Arethin murmured.
Cassandra nodded. “I hear...something.”
“The Veil is very thin here,” Solas said. “Something is weakening it.”
They searched the island, and did not have far to look before they located something of import. The soft, worried cries of a spirit were easily heard from the shore, calling for Ameridan. In the ruins of a wooden house, they saw the strange rift that had opened in the Fade, and the spirit that occupied the space.
The spirit hovered, too weak even to maintain a solid form. It had a vague humanoid shape, with a head and arms, but could not even maintain a face.
“Hello?” Arethin asked.
“I--” the spirit began. “I—she needed to find him. She slept, just to find him again. But she couldn't. She asked me to stay—I tried, but only parts of me came through.”
The spirit clearly only had one thing on its mind. “Who is 'she'?”
“Telana—dreamer, she came with him to hunt the dragon.”
They glanced at each other.
“A dragon?” Cassandra frowned. “Like the one the Thane spoke of?”
“A terrible dragon, all of Orlais, afraid!” the spirit said. “Darkspawn to the north, a terrible army. Drakon asked Ameridan for one last favor. 'Please, friend—for both our peoples.'”
“Both our peoples?” Cassandra said. “What do you mean?”
“Drakon's and Ameridans. The young blood and old blood. She came with him to help...”
“What did they do?” Arethin asked. “Where did they go?”
“They came here, rested,” the spirit explained. “Then they went up the river, to the metal spires. Then Telana came back, alone, to wait for him. To find him in dreams. But he never came back. She was dreaming...then...dead.”
“Telana must have cared deeply for Ameridan,” Solas said. “The spirit stayed because of what she felt for him.”
“It was hard,” the spirit said. “But you have opened the sky for me. Thank you.”
“You are welcome,” Arethin said.
The spirit dissolved into mist and vanished entirely. The rift closed.
“That was interesting...” Arethin murmured, thinking hard.
“I'd never heard that Ameridan had a lover,” Cassandra said.
“Are there a great many things you don't know about Ameridan?” Arethin asked. “Were records lost, perhaps? Or destroyed?”
“Maybe,” Cassandra looked troubled.
“Telana seems to have been a somniari,” Solas said as they went down the hill, back to the shore. “The spirit spoke of her looking for Ameridan in dreams.”
“Is that important, do you think?” Arethin asked.
“She might have left other messages behind,” he explained. “It is possible more spirits took an interest in her—it might even be why there are so many Avvar in this particular area.”
Professor Kenric was quite interested to hear of their discovery, as he had not been able to get anywhere close to either the island or even to Stone-Bear Hold. The implications of what the spirit had said were not lost on him.
“If what it said is accurate, that means that Ameridan was a loyal patriot,” he explained. “There are many conflicting theories about why he vanished, because all the records about him and the early Inquisition were lost.”
“How were they lost?” Arethin asked, glancing from him to Cassandra.
“There was a Blight around that time,” Cassandra said, and Kenric nodded in agreement. “Many records were destroyed--a great deal from then was lost.”
“And the Exalted March of the Dales resulted in a large number of histories being destroyed,” Kenric said. “Skirmishes between the two sides weren't kind to historians—many records in both Val Royeaux and Halamshiral were lost.”
Kenric had a good idea of the place the spirit might have been speaking of, but he worried that they would not be able to reach it.
“I'm still not certain I'll be able to get very far,” he fretted. “The Inquisition has sent their soldiers, of course, and some Alliance people have come as well, but between the Hakkonites, the terrain and the wilderness I don't know if we'll be able to investigate any of these ruins.”
“We shall go ahead,” Cassandra said. “We will forge a path.”
Arethin nodded. “With a bit of luck, we might get Stone-Bear Hold on our side,” she said. “They will likely be able to help if we can do that.”
Kenric agreed, and he and Scout Harding would follow their progress at a distance.
As they went north along the river, they encountered more Hakkonites, as well as very aggressive wildlife, as Kenric had predicted. The Veil was very thin in many places, partially an impact of the rifts, and it had affected the local animals and plants to an alarming degree.
“Is this normal?” Arethin asked Solas as they examined the corpse of a massive spider that had been far more full of magic than was usual. “I haven't seen this before.”
“It is not normal,” Solas said. “Most animals avoid areas where the Veil is thin, knowing them to be hazardous. It's possible that the Avvar interactions with spirits make them more friendly, however, so there is less cause for an animal to stay away.”
“Do you think the damage might be a result of the Hakkonites and their spells?” Cassandra asked.
Arethin and Solas exchanged a look.
“It is possible,” Solas said. “If they were experimenting on animals, especially.”
“Animals can also be used in blood magic,” Arethin pointed out. “That can cause Veil damage.”
They came across more direct evidence of the Hakkonites' experiments entirely by accident. Forging along up the river, they ended up in a swamp, and stumbled over a camp of hostile Hakkonites. After dealing with the Hakkonites, they found they had been protecting a cave wherein resided a huge bear, kept captive in a cage. Near the cage were pages and pages of magical notes, outlining spells and glyphs.
“What are these?” Arethin picked up a page, but didn't understand the purpose of the spell. She handed it to Solas, who shook his head.
“We should ask the Avvar about it,” Solas said. “They are called Stone-Bear, after all. Perhaps this is the wrongdoing their leader suspected.”
They cautiously let the bear free, not wanting any more Hakkonites to stumble across it and continue the experiments, and quickly returned to Stone-Bear hold to see if they had any information.
“Blood-drinking goat-swill!” Svarah Sun-hair cursed when Arethin explained the situation.
“Excuse me?”
“Those Hakkonites,” she growled. “Traitors and oath-breakers.”
“How so?”
“That bear is Storvacker,” Svarah said. “Our hold-beast.”
“Hold-beast?”
Svarah nodded. “When she is healthy, so are we,” she said. “She had been missing for some time. We had grown concerned.” she rubbed her temples. “We had considered that the Hakkonites had taken her, but we had no proof.”
“What does this mean?” Cassandra asked.
“The Jaws of Hakkon are oath-breakers, betrayers,” Svarah said. “We will lend our swords to you, when you have need of them.”
“Thank you,” Arethin said.
“You need to be wary of them, Augur,” she told Arethin. “If they've been attacking holdbeasts, they'll be much closer to getting their Hakkon than you want.”
Having gained the alliance, they returned to hunt for the ruin that Kenric had spoken of. At last, after almost two entire days of hiking through the valley, they found it.
The ruin was massive and overgrown, the metal and stone spires of clear Tevinter origin.
Kenric and Scout Harding joined them there, and they began to investigate the ruin, trying to find evidence of Ameridan. In the very back of the ruin, there was a very interesting statue, covered in ivy.
A large image of Andraste stood, her arms outstretched. However, in each hand, she held a small halla, and there were distinct animal themes in the carvings on the walls.
“This is strange,” Kenric said. “I don't know why there would be both Andrastian and Dalish imagery in this place...”
“Interesting,” Arethin looked up at the statues. “Is it possible the old Inquisition had contact with the Dalish? A Dalish member?”
“I...don't know,” Kenric admitted. “Why do you ask?”
“Andraste-worshippers,” she explained. “In the time of the Dales, some people worshipped both Andraste and the Evanuris.”
Kenric looked quite taken aback. “I had...never heard of such a thing,” he said.
“Well—Orlesian universities are hardly very willing to speak to the Dalish, are they?” Arethin raised her eyebrows, and Kenric flushed.
“We would, I mean—I would, but the university doesn't really—approve of Dalish sources...” Kenric shifted from one foot to the other.
“I see,” Arethin frowned. “Well, either way, the Dalish don't really approve of it now, for obvious reasons.”
They found a massive device in the middle of the ruin, a strange thing that had some magic spell inside it. When the spell was activated, a bolt of light burst from the top of the device, to another one far in the distance.
Arethin hummed to herself, narrowing her eyes at the light.
“Do you think we should follow the light?” Cassandra asked.
“Neither body nor dragon appear to be here,” Solas said. “So I think that is the best way forward.”
They followed the light to another large artifact, and upon activation, another beam of light shot across the valley.
“I gather we follow this until it stops,” Arethin said.
“Ugh,” Cassandra wrinkled her nose. “This is tedious.”
The line lead through the valley, over the swamps and up the ridge of the mountains, unimpeded. The further they got along the line, the more Hakkonites they encountered.
“I guess whatever they're looking for is in the same place as what we are,” Bull said with a frown.
The bolt of light ended at a massive fortress, which they could not get too close to, as it was guarded by seemingly hundreds of Hakkonites. The bolt of light had broken through a wall of ice that had surrounded it, presumably a protective spell of some sort.
Thousands of gleaming ice crystals scattered the ground before the fortress, extending even to where they sheltered away from the arrows of the Hakkonites.
Cassandra leaned down to pick one up, and frowned as it did not melt in her hand.
“This is strange,” she said.
They all examined the ice, and none of it began to melt.
"A defensive spell, perhaps?" Cassandra suggested.
"We'll know more if we can get inside," Arethin said.
“Of course, but we cannot get in right now as it is guarded,” Cassandra said, gesturing over to the wall that crawled with the Hakkonites.
“We could get help from the Avvar,” Bull pointed out. “They don't like these people on their land either.”
“Good idea,” Arethin nodded, and they retreated from the fortress, back to Stone-Bear Hold.
Svarah was quite pleased to assist in attacking the Hakkonites, and she took her warriors to launch and assault on the fortress.
They attacked at night, the Avvar going forward to allow Arethin and the others to get inside. As the two forces clashed, the four of them slipped past the guards with little trouble.
Inside the fortress was deathly cold, colder than anything Arethin had ever felt before. Even the Frostback mountains and the Emprise had not been so cold as this. Everyone hesitated for a moment on the threshold.
“The cold is magically induced,” Solas said softly as they made their way inside.
“A spell to keep out trespassers?” Arethin suggested.
Solas inclined his head. “One likely gone very wrong,” he said.
“Why do you say that?” Cassandra asked.
“It is so severe it would impact even those who were friendly to the keep,” he said. “It has either gone wrong, or the one who set it desired for no one to ever enter the keep again.”
At the center of the keep, they found the leader of the Jaws of Hakkon. Magic rose around him, not just the magic used to attack them or protect this place, but something huge and strange, bending and twisting the Veil.
Frozen above them was a dragon, the body that must be used to bind Hakkon to a mortal shell.
They interrupted the leader's spell and attacked, the cold biting and vicious, and they were all in as much danger from the cold as they were from a stray blade.
At last, however, the leader and the Hakkonites fell, and everyone took a breath. The cold began to disperse, and the Veil began to turn in a way that did not bode well. Stones formed in the center of the cavern, to make steps all the way up to a massive column, the top of which had been hidden to them.
Arethin and the others walked up the steps, to find a man waiting for them at the top of the column.
The man looked up. Vallaslin curled over his cheeks, and Cassandra let out a soft gasp.
He looked at them, eyes catching the light.
“Inquisitor,” Cassandra breathed.
He smirked. “And who might I be speaking to?” his voice was bone-weary, an old-fashioned Dalish accent marking his words. His eyes flicked to Cassandra's Inquisition armor. “Are you the new Inquisition?”
“No,” Cassandra said. “I am—Inquisitor Pentaghast,” she said. “But I am not here on behalf of the Inquisition. No, we are—we are the Alliance.”
“The Alliance? An Alliance of whom?”
“Many of southern Thedas.”
“Then...who are your companions?”
“I am Arethin Nadur Lavellan, the Mediator to the Alliance,” Arethin stepped forward.
Ameridan—for it must have been him—smiled at her. “I'm pleased to see alliances between our people and the Chantry have survived,” he said.
“It isn't quite as you think,” Arethin said. “Can you explain why you are here? Are you a spirit, perhaps, or--?”
“He is no spirit,” Solas said. “He lives, but his life is attached to the magic of this place.”
Ameridan inclined his head.
“That dragon,” he said, gesturing to the massive beast. “I couldn't kill it, but I had to stop it. There was no other way. This place is full of old spells, built on ruins upon ruins. I could seal it away, but I had to seal myself, too.” he looked to the dragon. “But the Hakkonites came again—I knew they would. And I can no longer hold the beast.”
“We can help,” Cassandra said, stepping forward.
“You will have to be the only ones,” Ameridan heaved a breath and closed his eyes. “I was not made to live thus. When the spell is gone, so am I.”
"Is there nothing we can do?” Arethin asked.
He shook his head. “No, and even if you could, I would not wish to. Some things must have an end. Tell me—what happened after I was trapped?”
They all glanced at each other.
“Nothing good,” Bull said at last. “At least, not a whole lot. Didn't the Blight happen right after he...vanished, Cassandra?”
Cassandra nodded. “The Blight, then the Exalted Marches--” she cut herself off, going pale.
Ameridan glanced at her. “Marches? Why?”
“To attack the Dales,” Arethin said. “The Dales and Orlais fought, and in the end, Orlais invaded, and drove our people away.”
Ameridan hung his head. “I don't understand,” he said. “Drakon was my friend—he would never--”
“It was his son,” Solas said. “Friendship is not always spared the tides of power.”
Ameridan's mouth twisted. “And the Chantry allowed this?”
“They...began it,” Cassandra said softly.
He looked up at her, eyes sharp. “And you—Inquisitor, you are part of this Chantry?” Ameridan demanded.
Cassandra shook her head. “No—we have had—troubles,” she said. “It would take too long to explain. The Inquisition is not part of the Chantry, not now.”
Ameridan nodded. “Good. Heathens,” he growled, angry light flashing in his eyes. “That they would forsake the word of the Lady...I knew Drakon's son a fool, but I didn't know it was like...” he sighed. “Never mind. You, you must have mended things,” he nodded at Arethin and Cassandra. “Tell me—what of my friends? What of Telana? It has been so long—I know they must be...” he trailed off.
“We don't know what happened to all of them,” Arethin said. “I'm sorry. Telana died soon after you disappeared. She was looking for you, in the Fade.”
Ameridan shook his head. "I told her not to...” he glanced up at the dragon, clenched his hand tightly around his staff. “It matters little. I will be with her soon, Creators willing.” he looked back at them. “I should have done more for our people,” he said, eyes immeasurably sad. “I should have done more for the world. To be lost here, for so long..."
“You did what you could,” Cassandra assured him.
He smiled at her. “I suppose that is something, Inquisitor,” he told her. “I suppose that is all anyone can ever do, in the end.”
The dragon shifted, and Ameridan hissed, clenching his eyes shut.
“The dragon is coming,” he said. “Lady and Creators be with you,” he told them, looking into Arethin's eyes.
Arethin clenched her marked hand. “We will finish your work,” she said. “Dareth shiral.”
With a sigh, Ameridan's body crumbled away, and all that was left of him was ash. They had hardly any time to think on that, however, as the dragon moved, ice cracking as it did so, and with a scream, it had broken free of its spell. It crashed through the ceiling, leaving a massive, gaping hole to the sky.
“We need to get that dragon,” Arethin said.
“Glad to hear it,” Bull said. “Think we can get Stone-Bear in on a dragon hunt?”
They left the ruins, to see that Svarah and her warriors were still at the entrance.
“We saw Hakkon rise,” Svarah said, hurrying to meet them as soon as she spotted them. “We shot arrows and spells, but could not reach him. He flies to the river, that way--” she pointed to the south.
“Can you help us kill him?” Arethin asked.
Svarah shook her head. “We lost many warriors, and many were wounded,” she said. “You must go, quickly—I will send who I can, but you cannot let him escape.”
Arethin nodded, and they tore off after the dragon. It had winged down the mountain, into the valley, all the way to the lakeshore. In its trail it had left ice and snow, cold spilling from its wings.
It finally came to rest out on the lake, where it sat on a sheet of ice it had conjured. It seemed to know that they chased it, for it stopped and watched them come down to the shore.
Come, lowlanders!
A voice rang in their minds, a voice so cold that it seemed to have never known the touch of the sun. They could smell blood and ashes on the air, and there was snow on the wind.
Solas hissed in pain, bringing a hand to his ear. Arethin flinched, but the voice did not cause her the same pain.
Come, fight and prove your worth!
“What are we hearing?” Bull asked.
“The demon inside the dragon,” Solas said, slowly pulling his hand away from his head. His face was pinched in pain.
“You alright?”
Solas nodded. “It is—not pleasant to hear it,” he said. “Come—we cannot let it roam free.”
“I agree,” Arethin said. “Come on.”
They approached the beast, drawing their weapons.
The dragon was absolutely massive, easily another third again the size as the other dragons they'd seen. Its huge head tilted towards them as they approached, pale eyes gleaming with an undeniable intelligence.
It spat ice at them, ice as cold as it had been within the fortress, and they scattered. Cassandra and Iron Bull charged the beast, Solas staying well back and hurling fire spells at it. Arethin at first stuck to long-distance spells, before casting a barrier and running at it with her spectral sword.
Others came to assist, Alliance soldiers and Avvar, and the dragon screamed when it saw them.
Finally, after much effort taken, the dragon died, stuck with arrows and riddled with burns and blade wounds.
Well fought, the voice rumbled in their minds again, for one last time, before finally going silent. The dragon's body was encompassed with a brilliant light, and the Veil felt fractured for a moment, before the light vanished, and the body was simply a body again.
“Wow,” they turned to see Scout Harding crest one of the icy ridges that Hakkon had made. “Never got a chance to see you kill a dragon this close before.”
“I don't like to make a habit of it,” Arethin admitted, taking heavy breaths and leaning on her staff.
“Are you kidding?” Bull exclaimed, swinging his axe over his shoulder. “That was great!”
“If you like running around and getting spat at by an overgrown lizard, then very well,” Arethin rolled her eyes.
Bull ignored her, grabbing Solas' shoulder. “That was amazing!” he exclaimed. “When you just popped it between the eyes--”
Solas stared up at him, blinking. “I...suppose,” he said. “I am mostly glad we survived the battle.”
Bull sighed, and pulled Solas into a deep kiss.
The others stared at the pair as Solas let out a surprised noise, then wrapped his arms around Bull's neck and enthusiastically returned the gesture.
“Um,” Harding said, staring with some fascination.
Arethin turned away from them. “So,” she said, a little more loudly than was necessary. “The dragon is dead.”
“Uh, yeah..” Harding's eyes were very wide as she stared at Solas and Bull, who finally broke apart. “Yeah,” she added, finally focusing. “Now that the dragon is gone, the cultists should clear out, and the valley's probably a lot safer.”
This time it was Solas who initiated the kiss, pulling Bull down to his level. Arethin covered her face with one hand.
“Very well,” Arethin said. “Then if we are not needed, we shall take our leave. Is Professor Kenric still here? I think we have some findings he would quite enjoy hearing.”
Harding nodded, her gaze drifting over to Bull and Solas again. Cassandra was bright red, deliberately averting her eyes.
“If certain people might keep their hands to themselves for five minutes, we can get going,” Arethin said, and Bull and Solas separated at last. Solas flushed very bright red, but otherwise both of them were completely unrepentant.
Cassandra sighed and rolled her eyes, and Harding still looked uncomfortable. They all returned to Stone-Bear hold, which was closer than the nearest Alliance camp or the Eluvian. The Avvar were quite pleased to let them stay for the night, Svarah extremely impressed with the killing of Hakkon.
Iron Bull and Solas spirited themselves away to a more secluded corner, turning quite a few heads.
“I suppose it's nice someone had a good time this trip,” Arethin said in reference to the pair.
“Isn't Solas a thousand years old or something?” Harding asked.
Arethin nodded. “Indeed.”
“Then...”
Arethin shrugged. “It's their business, not ours,” she said.
“I can only imagine what Varric will make of it when he hears,” Cassandra said, giving Arethin a sidelong glance.
“Some nonsense, I'm sure,” Arethin said.
“He is not so bad a writer,” Cassandra protested, the tips of her ears going pink. “In prison, he wrote a tale of Lady Hawke and how things came to be—what I read of it was quite...acceptable.”
“Did he? He hadn't mentioned that.”
“You and he do not exactly speak very much.”
“Quite true.”
Arethin left, Svarah calling her away, and Cassandra let out a sigh, staring after her.
“Oh, not you too,” Harding said.
“What?” Cassandra blinked at her.
“What do you mean, what?” Harding gave her a grin. “You're mooning over her like a teenager.”
“I am not,” Cassandra protested, her cheeks flushing.
“Fine, whatever,” Harding shrugged, and raised a knowing eyebrow. Cassandra folded her arms and turned away.
Professor Kenric made his way to the Hold, quite eager to learn what Arethin and her companions had found in the ruin. Arethin and Cassandra, likewise, wanted very dearly to speak to Kenric on the matter.
“Ameridan was an elf?” Kenric murmured after they finished explaining. “A Dalish mage?”
“He was,” Arethin said.
Cassandra nodded. “I was...surprised as well,” she said.
“And he was friends with Emperor Drakon?”
“That is what he said.”
Kenric began to pace. “Maker...Emperor Kordillus would have known that,” he said. “He might even have known Ameridan himself.”
“He did know Kordillus,” Cassandra said. “The Emperor would have known who he was, and what he did for Orlais.”
“Precisely,” Arethin said. “It would seem that the entire incident at Red Crossing was some manner of excuse—perhaps for a land grab, or some personal quarrel.” this was an opinion the Dalish had held for some time, but it didn't seem constructive to bring that up. Not right now, anyway.
Kenric nodded. “Bringing this to the University would have...far-reaching effects,” he said. “It casts doubts on the entire concept of the Exalted March of the Dales. The idea was always that the elves attacked Orlais at Red Crossing, but this...” Kenric shook his head. “It makes the entire history of the Dales more complex. The common belief was that the Dales became isolationist and aggressive, but both Telana and Ameridan being Dalish completely contradicts that.”
“And what exactly would this mean?" Arethin asked.
“The Chantry would be cast in the wrong,” Cassandra spoke up. “It would seem as if the March was a betrayal on many sides. They would seem like liars, fools...” she trailed off, frowning.
“That is if anyone believed the claim,” Kenric said.
“The body and his armor and weapons are still there to be recovered if you wish,” Arethin said. “He used a staff, likely of Dalish make. I didn't get a chance to look at it closely.”
Kenric nodded, frowning. He shook his head. “Between this, the Inquisition, and the entire Themostoclea situation, I think the clerics and the University will have a cat,” he said.
“Doubtless,” Cassandra murmured.
After Kenric left, presumably to document what Arethin and Cassandra had told him, Cassandra was melancholy.
“What's the matter?” Arethin asked. “You should be happy. We killed a giant dragon.”
Cassandra rolled her eyes. “You have me confused with Iron Bull,” she said. “No this business with Ameridan...”
“What? You said everything about Ameridan had been lost.” she raised her eyebrow. “And the invasion...well, considering everything now, it's hardly surprising that it was not the righteous cause it was championed as.”
“No, of course not,” Cassandra agreed. “But I had thought the Marches on the Dales were...equal. The truth was somewhere between what the Dalish and the Chantry thought.” she clenched her hand. “And now this...Ameridan was Drakon's friend. They had to have known that, and the Chantry simply...ignored it."
“Ah.”
“Were the records lost, or destroyed?” Cassandra looked up, over the cliff, towards where the body of Hakkon lay on the water. “Did they lie about it? Just to conquer land?”
“Possibly,” Arethin said. “There is also the possibility that Kordillus had a personal problem with the Dalish.”
Cassandra's lip curled. “Ameridan was a mage. A Dalish mage. An Inquisitor, and it was never spoken of. They hid so much—and I put so much of my faith in them, and for what?”
“Cassandra...” Arethin sighed. “I cannot tell you anything other than what I've already told you.”
“I know,” Cassandra murmured. “And I wish it were not so.” she rubbed her face. “I still believe in the Maker—but how can I believe in the Chantry when this is what they have done? Lied to the whole world, lied to the Order itself--?”
“I couldn't tell you,” Arethin said.
Cassandra curled her hands into fists. “How did I not see?” she said. "How could I not see all the lies? Was Justinia such a liar also? How can I believe in the Maker if everything else is a lie?”
“Cassandra...it wasn't your fault that they lied,” Arethin said. “You made a mistake. You're trying to make it better. You're not the first person.” she gave a dry smile. “According to Solas, you're not even the person who made the biggest mistake.”
“Arethin—I am supposed to seek truth. How is any of what I sought truth? I sought only—shallow truths, things that made me feel as if I were right.” she shook her head, rested her elbows on her knees. “I had given my trust to the Order, and yet they gave none to me. My whole life I have served the Maker, but nothing has come of it but lies and war.”
“Then trust in something else,” Arethin advised. “Make something new. Nothing says that you need to stay with the Seekers forever, or restore them, or anything.”
Cassandra shook her head. “Would that things could be as they were when we were young,” she said. “The world was so much simpler.”
“It was,” Arethin agreed with a sigh. “It absolutely was.'
Meanwhile, Solas and Iron Bull had gotten more than a bit carried away over the course of the night, hardly stopping for a breath. They lay together in the small hours of the morning, Solas' head against Bull's chest.
“I didn't realize you...wanted...” Solas trailed off, uncertain about what was to happen next.
“We were both kind of...busy,” Bull admitted. “Figured you'd be too hung up on problems to come to me, and, well, I didn't want to push anything.”
“But the dragon...?”
“That was really, really hot,” Bull admitted. “Kind of got caught up in the moment.”
“Mm,” Solas rumbled and pulled Bull closer.
“Uh—how seriously are you taking this?” Bull asked. “I don't really want to accidentally marry the Dread Wolf or something...”
Solas raised an eyebrow.
“I'm not too well-read on the stories about Fen'harel,” Bull admitted.
“Iron Bull, you are my friend,” Solas said. “And this is—enjoyable. Does that satisfy you?”
Bull smiled. "Yeah,” he reached out and pulled Solas closer. “Yeah, it does.”