Faces New and Old The two of you wake the Qunari and tuck him into the adjoining room before the serving girl arrives with breakfast. Then you feed him—again, carefully—from your plate and the bag of food. It’s fortunate you had left it essentially untouched while you were in Val Royeaux. It will serve you well in feeding the extra mouth on the way back to Skyhold. Back to Skyhold. It seems almost alien to…
Valo-Kas Karasten Your evening goes precisely as planned. You bathe, a long, soaking affair with the assistance of another of Solas’s fire runes. He is spoiling you, and you tell him as much. You’re very much going to miss this when you return to Skyhold. You already suspect that you’ll become distracted often thinking of the baths in Solas’s and Iron Bull’s rooms. Emboldened by Solas’s good manners, you leave the bathroom door cracked just…
Saccharine Sunsets You spend the night sitting on your bed, knees against your chest and arms wrapped over your head. What have you done? The fact that Solas hadn’t immediately snapped out of his sleep and accosted you means that—contrary to what you’d feared—he couldn’t tell you were a mage simply from touching your sleeping mind. And considering he was apparently a fucking Somniari, that meant your little hiding trick was even better than you’d…
A Surprising Moment A Saarebas. Bound and broken as they always are. You feel the bottom drop out of your stomach, swirling panic conquering your mind. Why is there a Saarebas here?! You pick up on the inconsistencies even as panic overtakes you and you rise to your feet. The mask it’s wearing isn’t accurate. It still has its horns, whereas most Saarebas have them shorn down to nubs. You can’t tell from here, but…
You awaken, confused, to the sound of movement; something that’s becoming somewhat habitual for you. When exactly you’d passed out, you’re uncertain. You’ve drooled slightly onto the paper you were working on. You sit up slowly, body aching miserably. It seems your acrobatics from yesterday—including being punched in the jaw and hanging from one arm off of a three story windowsill—have finally caught up to you. Particularly when combined with sleeping hunched over on a…
The three of you have dinner there at the inn. You entertain the girl with stories of your adventures in the Denerim orphanage, but her fascination rests solidly with Solas and his magic. She peppers him with questions, and he actually answers most of them. Perhaps you’re not the only one with a weakness for children. After ensuring she has a full belly, you slip her a few extra coins from the Inquisition’s purse. Sending…
First Blood You go the night without rest once again. It’ll catch up with you eventually, but there’s nothing you can really do about it. You’re already feeling foolish about your little moment of weakness with Solas, and the worst he could do with the knowledge you gave him is blackmail. Oh, certainly, he could kill you with it, but he’d have to work very hard at it. It almost wouldn’t be worth the bother.…
The Mask Slips Solas, mercifully, lets you recover from your humiliation with grace. He doesn’t poke or prod at you, simply lets you gather your things in peace and head out the door. The mask on your face soothes you as surely as his touch had, although that thought threatens to fluster you in a different manner. You should apologize for your behavior, but that would require drawing attention to it. Instead, you prefer just…
A Subject for Debate Val Royeaux gets shittier and shittier the closer you get to the walls of the alienage. You don’t particularly like coming to this side of town. The Chevaliers patrol more heavily here, and you’ve never been fond of alienages. Not that you actually go into it… No, you stay on the outskirts. And rather than going to any sort of legitimate business, Solas watches as you drop off very different lists…
Masks It’s only when Solas begins to shift in bed that you realize the sun is up. You set down the list you were making, rub exhaustion out of your eyes. You need tea… strong tea. You write yourself a tiny memo to buy a bag of your favorite strong blend while in you’re in Val Royeaux… never know how long it’ll be ‘til your next trip out of Skyhold. The memo goes onto the…