Oc: Saeris Lavellan - Tumblr Posts
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.
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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."
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