Posted originally on the Archive_of_Our_Own at https://archiveofourown.org/
works/4049545.
  Rating:
      Explicit
  Archive Warning:
      Graphic_Depictions_Of_Violence, Rape/Non-Con, Underage
  Category:
      F/M, M/M, Multi
  Fandom:
      Dragon_Age:_Inquisition, Dragon_Age:_Origins, Dragon_Age_(Video_Games)
  Relationship:
      Female_Inquisitor/Cullen_Rutherford, Cullen_Rutherford/Female_Trevelyan,
      Iron_Bull/Dorian_Pavus
  Character:
      Cullen_Rutherford, Female_Inquisitor_(Dragon_Age), Female_Trevelyan,
      Dorian_Pavus, Leliana_(Dragon_Age), Josephine_Montilyet, Cassandra
      Pentaghast, Iron_Bull, Cole_(Dragon_Age), Sera_(Dragon_Age), Vivienne_
      (Dragon_Age), Lace_Harding, Varric_Tethras, Solas, Blackwall
  Additional Tags:
      Slow_Burn, Romance, Unresolved_Sexual_Tension, Explicit_Sexual_Content,
      Violence, Triggers, Rape, Physical_Abuse, Sexual_Abuse, Emotional/
      Psychological_Abuse, Drug_Abuse, Emotional_Hurt/Comfort, Emotionally
      Repressed, Drug_Addiction, Non-Consensual_Bondage, Cage_Trauma
  Series:
      Part 1 of Magna_di_Curant,_Parva_Neglegunt
  Stats:
      Published: 2015-07-09 Updated: 2015-07-13 Chapters: 3/? Words: 5745
****** Magna di Curant, Parva Neglegunt ******
by lainfiquette
Summary
     When High Enchanter Katalina Trevelyan asks her younger sister,
     Elspeth, to accompany her to the Conclave that is occurring in Haven,
     Elspeth is reluctant to go.
Notes
See the end of the work for notes
***** Exordium *****
Chapter Notes
See the end of the chapter for notes
A pale, thin, petite woman, dressed in a loose grey tunic and baggy black
trousers, stood over a large cauldron. She stirred the cauldron with a large
paddle, the lower half of her face was covered in a handkerchief against the
fuse emitting from the salve she was making. Her flame colored hair was pulled
up in a messy bun, with damp, sweaty, tendrils escaping to frame her face and
ears. A scar ran from above her left brow, down over her eye, ending in a
branch in the middle of her cheek. Her eyes were a vibrant emerald, freckles
sprinkled her pale skin. She turned slightly as a door opened, letting light
into the shadowy room, as a tall woman with the same hair and coloring, except
for her eyes, which were a piercing sapphire, entered the room.
"Elsie, mater said you would be here. Should've figured you were working with
that noxious brew." The tall woman smiled wanly as the smaller woman shrugged.
"Andraste's breath, that brew is ripe. Pater will be thrilled that no flies
will be getting gear his horses, but nobody else will want to either."
"Nonsense, Kat, the smell will go as it cools. You would know that if you ever
helped make the stuff. It always surprises me, being that you are the one
trained in alchemy." Elsie continued to stir the cauldron as she watched the
taller woman sit down. Kat shrugged at Elsie as she pinched her nose close. "Of
course, you don't ever deal with the anti-bug juice and make a habit of staying
away from the room when I'm brewing it, so why are you here soror?" Elsie asked
as she stopped stirring to add more wood to the fire burning under the
cauldron.
"How would you feel about going on a trip with me?" Elsie shot up from where
she knelt by the cauldron poking at the fire with a poker. Her face was pale
and she looked like she was ready to bolt from the room. "That well, huh? Come
on, Elsie, you can't hide here forever. You need to get out and experience the
world. Meet people, make friends. Maybe find love." Kat waved her free hand in
the air to emphasize the room. Elsie snorted at the last part of Kat's
statement, irritated at her old sister's insistence that she need to learn more
about how the world operated outside the Trevelyan estate, especially after the
ten years she had been away from it.
She knew that Kat didn't understand how after years of being imprisoned, she
was perfectly content with staying where she was. "If you happened to forget,
Kat, I got to see what was outside the Trevelyan estate and I still have
nightmares about it." Not only did she have nightmares, there were days when
she couldn't even leave from her room due to the panic of what might be outside
the door. On those days she hid in her wardrobe, refusing all visitors to
include her family and the servants.
Kat grimaced at her sister, tired of her using any excuse to stay where she
was, which to Kat's mind, was stuck. "Elsie, that could not be called the
world. That man was a monster that kept you caged. The fact that he kept you
caged shows that. People aren't like that. Well, most people aren't like that.
Come on, it would be something new. A new adventure. We can go to Orlais
afterwards, you know, go shopping. I could take you to meet Grand Enchanter
Vivienne, she's a wonder with alchemy You could compare notes." Kat held up her
hand as Elsie continued to shake her head in disagreement. "Come on Elsie, it
should be perfectly safe there, I mean the Divine will be there for the Maker's
sake. What could happen? I really do need a companion that hasn't been stuffed
up in a tower for most of their life. Also, the First Enchanter and I agreed it
might help to have someone who has loved ones that are both mages and
templars."
How could I help? I mean other than taking notes, you handwriting is atrocious.
That's probably the true reason the First Enchanter wants me to go with you. I
was planning on helping pater with the breeding this year, he promised to go
over it. I think he wants me to start learning the ropes." Elsie sighed as she
began to stir the cauldron again.
"Elsie, you can learn that stuff anytime. This will be history! Plus it will be
at the Temple of Sacred Ashes. Tell me that doesn't peak you interests." Kat
looked at her sister, trying not to grin. She knew how her sister loved history
and ancient buildings. "Don't make me get mater in here to talk some sense into
you."
Elsie threw her hands up in defeat, knowing once her mother's aid was enlisted,
she'd not get a moment of peace until she agreed. Kate smiled, knowing she had
won, not that it was hard to do against Elsie.
"When do we leave?" Elsie asked with some trepidation as she began stirring the
cauldron again.
"We'll leave two days from now, I'd hate for you not to get this noxious brew
to pater." With that, Kat left the dark room, leaving Elsie to finish the brew
by herself. Elsi sighed as her thoughts turned to the idea of traveling from
here to the Temple of Sacred Ashes in Ferelden. It was not a journey she was
eager to make.
Chapter End Notes
     Did some grammar and context updates. Nothing to serious.
***** Omne Initium Difficile Est *****
Chapter Summary
     In which Elspeth Trevelyan finds herself a prisoner with no memory as
     to how she ended up there.
Chapter Notes
See the end of the chapter for notes
Pain ran up her left arm, pulsing as if her heart was in her arm, causing a
whimper to draw from her lips. Against her knees, hard stone floor dug into her
legs, cold and foreboding. The air around her face was cool and dank, her hair
framed her face, wisps moving in the slight breeze. She trembled slightly as
she listened to the sounds of water dripping down the walls and torches
flickering that reminded her of things past that she was sure she had escaped.
Her emerald colored eyes opened slowly as she turned her left hand over to
reveal a shining shard of emerald light that sparked, causing debilitating pain
to run from tips of her left fingers, up her shoulder, to her head, and down
into her legs. She gasped unable to hold back the surprise, fear, and pain that
over took her. As she looked up, several guards surrounded her with their
swords pulled.
The door in front of her opened to two women who strode in with purpose. The
first woman was tall with short hair the color of coal. Her chestnut brown eyes
were piercing as she stared in fury at Elspeth.  The second woman was pale and
dainty, vivid red hair peeked from under a dusky blue hood. Her grey blue eyes
gleamed with curiosity and anger in her thin freckled face.
The first woman bent down close to her right ear, her voice coming out in
little more than a growl. "Tell me why we shouldn't kill you now." The woman
stood up straight and began to pace around her, her armored boots resounding
loudly in the stone room. "The conclave is destroyed, everyone who attended is
dead. Except for you." Her voice held accusation and was condemning as she came
around to Elspeth's face and looked down at her.
Elspeth looked at the woman in wide-eyed terror, her voice coming out as barely
a whisper, almost inaudible over the water dripping in the room. "What do you
mean everyone's dead?" The atmosphere of the place had her flinching away from
the woman expecting to be struck, as the woman reached down and grabbed her
shackled wrists, lifting up her left hand which continued to glow eerily
emerald in the shadowy room.
"Explain THIS." The woman dropped the shackles back into Elspeth's lap and
began to pace around her again.
"I can't" Elspeth whispered, at a loss of what the thing on her hand was, much-
less where or how she had gotten it.
"What do you mean you CAN'T?" The dark haired woman continued to pace around
her,  as the pale woman began pacing on the other side of Elspeth, watching her
and the dark haired woman.
"I don't know what that is, or how it got there." Elspeth whispered nervously,
afraid that anything she said could see her locked up forever or worse, dead.
Whatever the thing on her hand was, she didn't want it, because not even
flaring, it felt as if her arm was on fire.
"YOU'RE LYING!"The dark woman grabbed the front of her tunic, picking her up a
bit from the ground before slamming her back down. Elspeth bit back the cry of
pain as her legs that had fallen to sleep began to wake back up, with pins and
needles running up from her toes to her knees.
The other woman pulled the dark haired woman back by the shoulder. "We need
her, Cassandra." Both Cassandra and the pale hooded woman turned to look at
her.
"I can't believe it. All those people....dead? How can that be? Are you sure,
everyone is dead?" Elspeth felt panic as hysteria began to creep into her
voice. She remembered the throngs of people who had been at the Conclave.
Children running around as parents came to witness the momentous occasion. Her
own sister, who had been an envoy to the Conclave on behalf of Ostwick Circle.
Elspeth had only been at the Conclave due to her sister's request for her to
accompany her. It had to be a lie, that she was the only one left alive.
The pale hooded woman towered over her now, staring down at her. It felt as
though her eyes could see through her, see everything that made her up. "Do you
remember what happened? How this began?"
"I came to the Conclave with my elder sister. I remember arriving and then...
running? Things were chasing me, and then.... a woman?" Elspeth shook her head
confused at the large gap of memory on even being at the Conclave. When she
tried to remember being there, there was nothing there. She knew her and Kat
had been headed there, but she couldn't remember much more than them leaving
their campsite to head there and then suddenly running in a weird misty green
area, uphill over broken rocks, from things she wasn't even sure she could
begin to describe. Every time she tried to grasp the memory it slipped further
from her into darkness.
"A woman?" The pale woman stood back in surprise and continued to stare at
Elspeth.
"She reached out to me, but then...." She inhaled sharply as what felt like a
spike dug into her head, making what little memory she could grasp, scatter
from her.
"Go to the forward camp, Leliana, I will take her to the Rift." Cassandra
spoke, motioning towards the door. The hooded woman, named Leliana, nodded and
exited from the dungeon. Cassandra knelt before Elspeth, removed the shackles,
and then helped her to her feet.
"What did happen?" Elspeth asked, her voice barely a whisper, afraid to know
the answer but desperate to find out how she was in the situation that she was
in.
"It will be easier to show you." Cassandra opened the door to the dungeon and
beckoned Elspeth to follow her. Upon walking up the stairs and stepping from
what appeared to be a chantry, Elspeth was greeted by a sky torn asunder with
large emerald hole with rocks floating a little below it. "We call it "The
Breach". It's a massive rift into the world of demons that grows larger with
each passing hour. It's not the only such rift, just the largest. All were
caused by the explosion at the conclave."
"An explosion can do that?" Elspeth asked in alarmed confusion. She had no idea
how they believed she could, much less would, cause such a thing to happen.
Cassandra walked towards her. "This one did. Unless we act, the Breach may grow
until it swallows the world." As she spoke a long emerald trail erupted from
the rift in the sky, causing the mark on Elspeth's hand to flare, knocking her
to the ground in the sudden increase in pain that felt like her left side was
literally on fire and being stabbed continuously over and over by tiny daggers.
She screamed out, unable to stop her reaction to the increased pain from the
mark. She panted as she pulled her left arm in towards her abdomen, her fingers
wrapping around her palm in an effort to ride out the pain. As it began to
fade, Cassandra knelt down in front of her. "Each time the breach expands, your
mark spreads.... and it is killing you. It may be the key to stopping this, but
there isn't much time."
Elspeth gasped for breath, her words coming out as barely a whisper. "I
understand."
"Then..?" Cassandra asked, her voice hopeful.
"I'll do what I can. Whatever it takes." Elspeth nodded, her thoughts to what
anyone in her family would do in her position. They would try to help no matter
what the cost might be. If it saved lives, it was worth trying whatever
Cassandra thought would work, even if it meant she died in the process.
Cassandra helped her from the snow covered ground guiding her past the watching
townsfolk and angry soldiers. She hoped she had a chance to help before an
angry mob decided to kill her. She felt some relief that Cassandra was next to
her, pushing her along, she had a feeling this was the only reason there wasn't
an angry mob on her tearing her to pieces. "The people of Haven mourn our most
Holy, Divine Justinia, head of the Chantry. The Conclave was hers. It was a
chance for peace between mages and templars. She brought their leaders
together. Now, they are dead." Cassandra's voice was sad as she spoke, walking
behind Elspeth and continuing to guide her towards a gateway that was opened by
guards at their approach. "We lash out, like the sky, but we must think beyond
ourselves. As she did. Until the breach is sealed." Cassandra stopped Elspeth
from going any further forward, stepping in front of her and pulling a knife.
"There will be a trial, I can promise no more." Elspeth nodded as Cassandra cut
the rope binding her wrists together. "Come, it is not far." Cassandra beckoned
for Elspeth to follow her.
"Where are you taking me?" Elspeth looked down at her freed hands and then at
Cassandra.
"Your mark must be tested on something smaller than the breach." Elspeth
followed behind Cassandra across the bridge to another gateway being guarded.
She heard people saying the Chant of Light as she walked by them, injured
people crying and moaning, the dead bodies that littered the walk way made her
want to cry or vomit, she wasn't quite sure which, maybe both. Cassandra's
voice rang out to the guards as they approached the gateway, "Open the gate, we
are heading into the valley." With Cassandra's words Elspeth and Cassandra left
the relative safety of the bridge for the unknown dangers of the valley.
Chapter End Notes
     omne initium difficile est: every beginning is difficult
     Elspeth's wonderful memory of nothing being there but still knowing
     the pattern of things actually does happen. I've had a case of this,
     and it is no fun. Being able to put together the pattern but still
     having a large black hole in your memory sucks.
***** quam daemonum, et Pyritidem *****
Chapter Summary
     Cassandra and Elspeth travel into the valley to test Elspeth's mark.
Chapter Notes
See the end of the chapter for notes
Upon exiting the gateway from the bridge, Cassandra and Elspeth began to walk
at a brisk pace up the hill along a well traveled dirt road. The front of the
gateway was fortified with multiple fighting positions built to provide cover
for the soldiers guarding the gateway. Soldiers and villagers rushed past them
back towards the bridge they had just left. As people rushed past them, Elspeth
heard someone call out, "Maker, its the end of the world!" As they continued to
walk up the path to the next gateway, emerald flames rained down from the
Breach towards the ground in the the distance. A large emerald shiver went
through the Breach as it expanded in the sky. Elspeth fell over as her hand
sparked and flared in emerald, grabbing her left wrist as she fell. She cried
out as her knees hit the ground, unable to hold herself up as the feeling of
being on fire stretched out across her body. Cassandra knelt down to help her
up, having to literally pull her from the ground.
"The pulses are coming faster now." Cassandra brushed Elspeth off and patted in
her shoulder in an awkward attempt of comfort that Elspeth found somewhat
calming. The two of them continued towards the next gateway when Elspeth paused
for a moment. "The larger the Breach grows, the more rifts appear, the more
demons we face."
"How did I survive the blast?" Elspeth asked, not sure she wanted to know the
answer to the question, but also hoping that maybe it meant that someone else
had survived.
"They said you... stepped out of a rift, then fell unconscious. They say a
woman was in the rift behind you. No one knows who she was." Cassandra's voice
was calm but puzzled as she continued to lead Elspeth forward through the next
gateway to another bridge. Suddenly as they neared the middle of the bridge, an
emerald flame from the Breach above rained down, crumbling the bridge under
their feet in its wake. Elspeth held back a scream as she felt the solid ground
disappear from beneath her feet and groaned slightly as her body impacted the
broken rocks from the bridge and rolled down to the ice covered river below.
She raised her head to glance at the Breach in the sky and then gasped slightly
as another emerald flame landed in front of herself and Cassandra. Both her and
Cassandra pulled themselves to their feet as from the green flame emerged a
figure that Elspeth had never seen before. The figure was dark and shadowy
appearing to be wrapped in worn, torn cloth.
Cassandra pulled her sword from her side and tore her shield from her back,
ready to engage the figure before them. "Stay behind me!" Cassandra ran
forward, her shield up as she impacted with the shadowy figure. As Cassandra
ran forward, a dark cloud began to emerge from the ground. Elspeth looked
around warily as another shadowy figure began to emerge from the dark cloud.
Her eyes lit on a fallen short bow and a quiver of scattered arrows, which she
ran to snatch from the ground. As she moved, the dark cloud sparked the same
emerald as the Breach in the sky and fully in front of her stood another of the
shadowy figures that Cassandra was currently engaging further away with her
sword and shield. She placed her arrow and drew back the string of the bow, for
once glad that her mother had been insistent in her getting back in the habit
of using it. She gritted her teeth as she heard the first arrow hit the shadowy
figure with a sickening thunk, hoping she didn't vomit. She dodged, just barely
missing claws ripping into her unprotected chest, instead tearing into her left
arm. She cried out as she fitted another arrow to her bow and once again shot
at the shadowy figure.
She heard Cassandra cry out from behind the shadowy figure, drawing it away
from her as she once again released another arrow, this time into the figure's
back. It didn't turn as it rushed to engage Cassandra. With another strike from
her arrows the creature went down as Cassandra sunk her sword into it.
 "It's over." Elspeth swallowed the nausea she was feeling as she released a
sigh of relief as she headed towards Cassandra. She turned to face Cassandra as
Cassandra walked towards her with her sword raised.
"Drop your weapon. Now." Cassandra's voice was angry as she looked ready to
slice Elspeth in half. Elspeth dropped the bow and put her hands up in front of
her.
"Alright, have it your way." Elspeth nodded as she reached to grab the quiver
of arrows from her back, but Cassandra lowered her sword and frowned.
 Cassandra sheathed her sword. "Keep it, I cannot protect you, and I cannot
expect you to be defenseless." Cassandra bent over and picked the bow up from
the ground and handed it back to Elspeth. Elspeth nodded before she clipped it
in the clasp on the quiver. "I should remember you agreed to come willingly.
Take these potions, Maker know what we will face." 
 
"Where are all your soldiers?" Elspeth asked as she looked around where they
had landed, taking the belt bag of potions Cassandra held out to her.
"At the forward camp, or fighting. We are on our own, for now." Cassandra said
as she started moving forward. She stopped to kneel down by a dead body,
tossing Elspeth a scribe's hood from the body's head. Elspeth caught it and
looked at it with slight apprehension, she really couldn't mean she wanted her
to put it on.
"Put it on, it'll give you some defense. At least more than you have now."
Elspeth held back her nausea as she followed Cassandra's direction and put on
the hood. She tried not to think of the fact that not only a few seconds ago, a
dead person had been wearing it. Hopefully, it would do her more good than it
had done him. With that though, Elspeth turned to vomit what little remained in
her stomach. Cassandra turned to look at her, and when Elspeth stood fully,
nodded and continued onward.
After another battle against more of the shadowy creatures, which Cassandra
informed her were demons known as Shades and wispy ghosts that had a range as
good as her bow, called Wisps, Cassandra and Elspeth continued forward. "Ah,
they're falling from the Breach!" Elspeth watched as more emerald flares hit
the ground and then demons arose from them. She stood back and drew her bow,
engaging the demons around Cassandra as she engaged the one directly in front
of Elspeth. What felt like hours to Elspeth as they engaged the demons was only
minutes she knew as they defeated the demons. Cassandra knelt down to dig an
object from the dissipating, throwing it to Elspeth. "Keep that in a side
pouch, Minaeve will want it when we get back." Elspeth tried not to vomit again
as she handled the damp shred of cloth, wondering if now Cassandra had done
that on purpose in order to get her to vomit again. She wouldn't put it past
the woman currently.
They continued at a brisk pace past the dissipating demons corpses and headed
up a set of stairs. As they ran up the stairs, Cassandra called back down to
her. "We're getting close to the Rift, you can hear the fighting."
"Who's fighting?" Elspeth gasped out and she gulped in air and continued to run
behind Cassandra in attempt to keep up.
"You'll see soon, we must help them." Cassandra stopped and turned slightly,
offering Elspeth her hand and letting her catch her breath momentarily before
continuing onward. Elspeth wearily followed her up the rest of the stairs to be
confronted by a gateway that was on fire on one side and a crumbled wall that
revealed several people fighting more of the demons as well as a pulsing
emerald jewel that looked very much like the mark on her hand. Cassandra jumped
down the overhang headed towards the people fighting and Elspeth followed with
a panicked gasp of air. Elspeth looked around her and jumped to where a wall
had been slightly leveled but would give her the advantage of being able to see
the whole battle that was currently on going. She drew her bow and began to
target the demons that seemed to be overwhelming what appeared to be soldiers
to the left of the crumbling building. Cassandra plunged head forward into the
chaos with her sword and shield drawn, yelling at the demons to get their
attention and draw them from the others. On the right, close to the emerald gem
that danced in the sky, an elf with well traveled clothes (and a rather bald
head) shooting spells from what appeared to be a rather ancient piece of wood,
and a dwarf with a crossbow that would make her mother's mouth water (and
apparently an inordinate amount of chest hair) engaged the demons as well. 
As the demons fell to Cassandra and the soldier's weapons, Elspeth hopped down
from her perch as she reclipped her bow. She made her way to Cassandra's side
when the rather bald elf grabbed her left hand shoving towards where the
gleaming emerald gem had been replaced by what appeared to be an emerald mist.
"Quickly, before more come through!" As he shoved her hand up towards it, she
cried out as her left side felt like it was on fire again. She curled her
fingers around her left palm as she attempted to snatch her arm away, and the
same time the emerald mist sank into the middle of her palm and was gone. As
soon as it entered her palm, she let out a gasp of release as the feeling of
fire dissipated from her whole left side to just feeling like it was centered
in her palm. Shortly after, the fire feeling in her palm felt more like a warm
pulsing than her hand being on fire.
"What did you do?" She turned slightly, her emerald eyes round with shock. She
almost fainted from the relief of the pain, but she could feel it slowly ebbing
back up from a warm pulse to a flame again.
"I did nothing. The credit is yours."  The bald elf gestured towards her left
hand with a slight grin, looking rather smug and pleased with himself.
Elspeth looked down at her hand. "At least this is good for something." Elspeth
mumbled, irritated with the pain that was beginning to regrow in her left hand
and spread up through her arm.
"Whatever magic opened the Breach in the sky also placed that mark upon your
hand. I theorized the mark might be able to close the rifts that have opened in
the Breach's wake - and it seems I was correct." Elspeth glanced at the elf
from under her eyelashes, at this point really wanting to smack the smug smirk
from his face as her arm began to scream at her in agony.
Cassandra patted her on the right shoulder as if reading her thoughts, "Meaning
it could also close the Breach itself." Elspeth turned to look at Cassandra,
realizing even through the pain in her arm, that it meant there was hope that
they could close the giant hole in the sky.
"Possibly." The elf said quietly and then turned with a slight bow back to
Elspeth. "It seems you hold the key to our salvation." Elspeth nodded slightly,
looking up at the elf.
From behind Elspeth and Cassandra, she heard a voice ring out. "Good to know!
Here I thought we'd be ass-deep in demons forever." Elspeth blushed slightly as
she turned to take in the dwarf (with the forest of chest hair, which she was
likely to use to describe him for a while yet) adjusting his gloves. He looked
up and walked towards them as Cassandra and the elf also turned towards him.
"Varric Tethras: Rogue, Storyteller, and occasionally unwelcome tagalong." The
dwarf said the last part with a wink towards Cassandra who grunted in disgust.
"That's.... a nice crossbow you have there." Elspeth said as she bowed slightly
in greeting. The dwarf grinned at her with a glint in his eyes.
"Ah, isn't she? Bianca and I have been through a lot together." He glanced at
the crossbow over his shoulder, the look on his face one of nostalgia.
"You named your crossbow Bianca?" She nearly snorted as she held back the laugh
at the tip of her tongue. She knew plenty of fighters who named their weapons
in her mother's fighting school, it just surprised her and pleased her to see
something so familiar so far from home.
"Of course. And she'll be great company in the valley."  He gestured towards
where Elspeth and Cassandra were heading. Cassandra walked forward, an
irritated look on her face as she looked down at the dwarf.
"Absolutely not. Your help is appreciated, Varric, but..." Cassandra's voice
came out a barely a growl and Elspeth couldn't help but wonder what the history
was between the two of them.
"Have you been in the valley lately, Seeker. Your soldiers aren't in control
anymore. You need me." Varric said with a grin as he looked up at Cassandra.
Cassandra wrinkled her nose and made a disgusted noise turning from him.
The bald elf approached Elspeth and pointed towards himself. "My name is Solas,
if there are to be introductions. I am pleased to see you still live."
"He means, "I kept that mark from killing you while you slept." Elspeth turned
to look at Varric as he spoke with a grin and then turned back to Solas.
"You seem to know a great deal about it all." Elspeth said quietly, Solas
smiled at her.
"Solas is an apostate, well-versed in such matters." Cassandra spoke from over
the dead body she was now pillaging for the bow that laid grasped in the
corpse's hand. She walked over and handed it to Elspeth, who grimaced and took
it, noting it was a much better bow than the one that was currently clipped to
her back. Elspeth tossed the other bow to the ground and clipped the new one on
as she listened to the ongoing conversation between Cassandra and Solas.
"Technically, all mages are now apostates, Cassandra." Solas said smuggly as he
glanced at Cassandra, she shrugged. "My travels have allowed me to learn much
of the Fade, far beyond the experience of any Circle mage. I came to offer
whatever help I can give with the Breach. If it is not closed, we are all
doomed, regardless of origin."
Elspeth nodded, "That's a commendable attitude."
"Merely a sensible one, although sense appears to be in short supply right now.
Cassandra, you should know; the magic involved here is unlike any I have seen.
Your prisoner is no mage, indeed, I find it difficult to imagine any mage
having such power."  Solas turned to Cassandra as he addressed her about the
mark on Elspeth's hand.
"Understood. We must get to the forward camp quickly." Cassandra headed towards
the opening leading further down into the valley. Solas and Elspeth followed
and jumped down from the crumbling building into a crevasse that opened into a
large valley. On the frozen ice of a pond, demons moved back in forth as if
dancing until they spotted the descending party.  Upon seeing the party, the
demons rushed towards them. As Cassandra began her descent towards the demons,
a barrier was cast over the party. Elspeth gritted her teeth as both her and
Varric removed their weapons from their backs to engage the demons.
"Glad you brought me now, Seeker?!?" Varric called to Cassandra as one of his
bolts hit a demon that was attempting to engage her from the rear. Solas froze
multiple demons in place, which Elspeth then engaged with her bow, shattering
them on contact with her arrows. Upon the all the demons dying and falling to
the ground.
"We should check the cabins for any supplies that might help us." Cassandra
motioned for them to follow her to the nearest cabin. As they entered the
cabin, the party spread out to search for supplies. Varric walked up besides
Elspeth as she bent over a chest.
"That's an interesting accent you have there. I'm from Kirkwall, but you're
from somewhere south of there in the Free Marches, I believe." Varric said with
a smirk as he watched her pull out the money from the chest and pocket in the
potions bag at her hip.
"Oh, that's quite the ear you have." Elspeth rose as Cassandra walked towards
the two of them with a heavy leather coat with metal on the shoulders.
Cassandra handed it to Elspeth, who then put it on, glad that it wasn't
something pulled from a dead body for once.
"Oh, I'm all kinds of impressive." Varric said with a chuckle as Cassandra
snorted in disgust.
"Let's go." Cassandra motioned them to leave the cabin. The group headed out
and up stairs leading from the river. As they walked, Varric addressed her
again.
"So, are you innocent?" Elspeth shrugged, once again attempting to dig forth
the memory on how she was in the predicament that she was in to no avail.
"I don't know, I can't remember." Elspeth said with some irritation as once
again where her memory should be she found nothing.
"Should've spun a story." Cassandra snorted as they continued upward.
"That's what you would've done." Varric laughed at Cassandra's disgust.
"It's more believable that way, and less likely to get you killed prematurely."
Elspeth nodded as Cassandra drew her sword upon seeing multiple demons in front
of them.
"I hope Leliana made it through all of this." Cassandra said with some concern
as she looked around her as she drew her sword from her back.
"I wouldn't worry Seeker, she's resourceful." Varric said as he readied his
crossbow beside Elspeth.
"We'll know when we reach the forward camp. Come, they have noticed us." Solas
said as he cast barrier on the group before Cassandra let out a yell and ran
towards the nearest demon. The fight was over shortly and they continued their
trek towards the now looming gateway. On the way towards the gateway, Elspeth
felt her hand flare and bit back a yelp.
"Help us, they're everywhere." As they crested the hill, another Rift with
multiple demons met their sights. Elspeth nodded as she targeted a demon
engaged with a soldier. The others also fell into action until the demons were
eliminated. Upon the last demon dying, the green jewel of the Rift turned to a
misty emerald cloud. Elspeth brought her hand up, mirroring the actions she had
performed before when she had attempted to snatch her hand from Solas. Once
again the Rift closed, momentarily easing the agony in her arm.
"Open the gates." The soldiers nodded and opened the gates to let the party
into the camp.
 
Chapter End Notes
     quam daemonum, et Pyritidem: of demons and rifts
End Notes
     So, I got a wild hair up my bum and decided it would be fun to add
     some latin words in. Expect all my chapter titles to be latin, cause
     I'm being weird.
     Latin Word Meanings:
     Magna di Curant, Parva Neglegunt: The gods care about great matters,
     but they neglect small ones.
     Exordium: an introductory part or beginning, esp of an oration or
     discourse
     Mater: Mother
     Pater: Father
     Soror: Sister
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