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Dir'vhen'an - Chapter 42: The Lonely Fortress

Summary: Saeris and Aila have a chat, and they come up with a strategy to take Adamant and stop the ritual.

Read on AO3 | Start from the beginning

Excerpt (spoilers ahead):

The march lasted a week. They had elected to rest a good distance away from Adamant, hidden in the cover of the small mountains on the other side of the flat land between them. Saeris could still see it in the distance; a lonely fortress with nothing but sand and the howling wind to keep it company. He didn’t like to think about the horrors occurring behind those stone walls, likely at this very minute. It would not help him sleep any better, if he slept at all.

He heard the scuff of feet as someone stepped beside him. 

“May I steal a moment of your time, lethallen?” Aila said. 

Her dark hair shifted in the wind as he looked down at her. The legends about her had all been true, he knew. He did not need to hear it from others or see the strength of her magic to know it. It was made clear by the darkness behind her eyes, the scars across her neck and the edge of her jaw. Even the way she walked and the way she held herself told him everything he needed to know. He had seen the same thing in Solas, and he understood the mark that war left on people. The mark it was sure to leave on him, in the end. 

“I’m not busy,” he said finally. “Just… taking a moment.”

Aila nodded, and followed his gaze to the expanse beyond them. After a moment she said, “The soldiers under your command respect you a great deal.” 

“They believe I’m the chosen one of their god,” he said quietly, though he did not hide his disdain. He’d accepted his position, but he did not accept being considered a saint.  

Aila assessed him for a moment. “No, I don’t believe that is the only reason.” He frowned, but she continued. “There is a reverence in the way they speak of you, yes, but many of them speak of your presence as a leader - what you value and what you fight against. I cannot speak for your entire army, of course, but I have heard a great deal during the march here. You show strength when it is needed, mercy when there is room for it…” Her gaze sharpened and burned like a white-hot blade. “And honesty.”  

His jaw tightened, understanding her purpose now. “This is about what happened in the war meeting,” he said. 

She tilted her head. “Why did you want me to lie for you?” she asked. “If I am going to keep your secret, I would prefer to know why.” 

Saeris looked away, out at the empty expanse beyond them. “We share a people, a history,” he said, then he looked back at her. “You have no reason beyond that to believe me, or trust me. But what we witnessed in those ruins…” He shook his head. “The shemlen cannot know of that place. No one can know. If that information got into the wrong hands-” 

“You mean the knowledge of that creature?” she asked, cutting him off. “Or was there something else hidden in those ruins?” She looked as though she were trying to read him, checking for any sign of duplicity in his answer.

For a heartbeat, he didn't speak. He didn't want to lie - not when she had already done so much to help him and had done nothing to earn his distrust. But it was too dangerous. Despite the potential that she would understand, telling her would open the door for more questions – about the elven gods, about Ghilan’nain. About Solas. 

He would not put Solas' life in jeopardy. But he needed to give her something. So he said, “Have you ever come across something that you just… wish you hadn’t? That if you could go back in time and take a different path, you would?” 

Aila’s face grew unreadable, her shoulders tensing at the question. She turned to face the expanse before them, her golden eyes beginning to glow like twin flames in the light of the setting sun. 

"Yes."

--

Credit to @kirkwallsdumbest for my lovely new banner 🥺

Dir'vhen'an - Chapter 43: In War, Victory

Summary: Saeris and the others infiltrate Adamant Fortress.

Read on AO3 | Start from the beginning

Excerpt:

Leaves crunched beneath Solas' feet as he walked through the forest - the shared space between Saeris' spirit and his own. The Fade had chosen the shape, and the legends of the nas'falon bond claimed that the place between was meant to bring them peace.

But all Solas felt whenever Saeris was absent was sorrow. This place was a memory, something lost to the ages, never to be seen again. 

It was his home. 

The Fade reshaped itself as he recalled the plumes of smoke in the distance, rising tall like giants in the sky. 

A younger version of himself stood upon an overlook high above the forest, his face a mask of horror. He remembered feeling the impossible heat on his face, how he’d clenched his teeth, magic curling at his fingertips.

He had begun to take a step forward when a hand rested on his shoulder. 

"Your forest is gone," he'd heard a woman beside him. "There is nothing you can do, my friend."

Her gaze had been so calm, so serene despite the violent destruction that lay before them. 

"You would stand by and watch the forest burn?" he'd asked incredulously. 

"And what would you have me do?" she had asked, her golden eyes flashing in his direction. "The flames will tear down everything in their path, including us, should we get too close. Were these natural flames, we would be able to do something. But this," she’d gestured to the forest with the metal claws of her gauntlet, "this is powerful magic that would snuff out your life, and mine. Sometimes, dear friend, action is not always superior to inaction."

His brows had furrowed. "Was this her doing?" Andruil, who despised every fiber of his being. 

"It's possible."

"There were spirits in that forest," he’d said, anger fueling him now. "Spirits that she has now killed.”

“Such is the way of things,” she’d said solemnly. "Justice will be brought to her for this. You have my word."

His hands had balled into fists. "And what is your word worth, while those who have done nothing are allowed to be slaughtered on the whim?"

"I did not allow this," she had said. 

His jaw had tightened. "I will not stand by your side while you let the innocents around you be murdered by your own kin."

"There is nothing left to be saved," she had said. “You will get yourself killed in the process."

“I will succeed where you would have failed,” he’d said, starting to walk away. "One way or another."

"Your pride will be your downfall," Mythal had said after him, her words sharp. 

He had not turned to look back at her as he’d said with conviction, "Nothing is inevitable."

The vision swirled away from existence and Solas stood in the silence of the forest, just as beautiful as it had been when Mythal had called him into her service. The final remnants of his past that he did not think he would ever truly be able to forget. 

Or forgive. 

@equalopportunitysolas week My posts will be centred around my lavellan, sometimes including dorian (they are a throuple). Not all my posts are following the prompts. Sulevin Lavellan - he/they/any

Day 1 - Dreams

Sulevin is a Dreamer, too- but he's very careful to never venture far, and he mostly helps make sure his clan, his people are safe on the side of the Fade. He learns to be more at ease with Solas, learning how to more safely interact with spirits.

Please bioware make Solas bi/pansexual in dav I beg you. I need to make my non binary Lavellan in game :(