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miseryscrowned · 17 days

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The Elk and the White Raven

After months of waiting for Inys to return from the Conclave her mentor Tuomas suspects that something might have happened to her so he decides to set out following her trail, haunted by worry and guilt.

He loathed himself for allowing her to go on her own, he would torture himself until his last breath for that - and the Gods knew he had plenty of time for that.

Inys had insisted, it wasn’t dangerous she said, she was just supposed to observe and then come back to report to the Keeper, as if she was never there. He knew that she felt suffocated by the Keeper constantly worrying and toiling over her, that she had enough of being shielded and enclosed in a bubble her whole life even more so than the others in the clan. Inys was curious and stubborn and constantly seeking to prove herself, to prove that she wasn’t a damsel in distress needing to be saved from the dangers of the world, that she was a good fighter and capable of defending herself, after all he was the one who trained her with the sword and where the sword failed she always had magic.

He intervened - Gods curse his blood - he trusted her, he persuaded the Keeper to give her this one chance at freedom, at adventure. Inys was at last given permission to go to the Conclave on her own, she was ecstatic, she gave Tuomas a hug and reassured him she would be back shortly and unscathed, he nodded and held her tightly before letting her go and watching her disappear behind the trees, deeper into the forest where they had first met what was now fifteen years prior.

She was supposed to be away for a couple weeks at most, even less if she chose to travel in the guise of a raven as the Keeper had suggested her, but the weeks kept following each other, turning into months without a sight of the girl. They had sent scouts in the forest and Tuomas had been endlessly prowling the surrounding area himself. It was impossible that she was lost: they had been going over and over the path that she was to follow until it was clear in her head and had she lost it she could still soar above in a ruffle of white feathers to find it.

Tuomas knew something had happened, he knew the fault was his and carried it on his shoulders, the Keeper had tried to dissuade him from venturing out in search of her, she knew what dangers awaited him once he left the shrouded secrecy of the clan but he knew none of the scouts and warriors of the clan were able to navigate the human dominated world like him, it had been his world as well for most of his life prior to meeting Inys.

The Venatori were the least of his problems, he could banish their thought to the edges of his mind but he would never find peace nor rest until he had found her, he didn’t care that they might find him, hunt him down once more. Let them try.

Let them try, and die.

As he sat in a table in a dark corner of the Gull and Lantern, carefully listening to conversations and gossips between the patrons hoping to find a lead, he felt a dagger plunge deep into his heart as he heard them mentioning the explosion at the Conclave. He commanded the tears to retreat and kept listening, she couldn’t be dead, he would have known.

From eavesdropping the conversation he learned a couple things: a group called the Inquisition was gathering allies in the hope of closing the rift in the sky and they had made a base in Haven, a girl with snow white hair was seen traveling with them in some occasions.

The man felt someone grab his arm, pulling him into the shadows “white haired girl you said” he felt the strangers’s dark gaze scanning his very soul from the dark “where did you see her?”

“In this tavern, talking to some mage from Tevinter- ”

Tuomas’ grip on the man’s arm tightened “where is he now?” “Made a bloody mess of the city he did with those damned demons and mages, the Queen wanted to banish’ em but they’re prisoners of the Inquisition now.”

He let go of the man’s arm slipping some gold into his hand, he didn’t know what to make of it all: Inys would never ally herself with the Venatori, perhaps she was coerced or had no other choice but at least she was alive. The task ahead seemed clear now, all he had to do was track down this Inquisition and free her from her clutches, he had no clue what the bloody cult were doing in Ferelden or what business they had with her, for all he knew they intended to use her to get to him, he had to lay low for both his and Inys’ sake.

Approaching Haven from afar all Tuomas could see was destruction, the aftermath of a tremendous fight, once again his heart was held in anxiety’s firm grip as a frantically searched through the ravaged city examining the bodies of the fallen soldiers and civilians clinging to the hope that Inys wasn’t among them. There wasn’t a living soul around, could they have all been killed? But what sort of opponent could manage to wipe out an entire city leaving no survivors? Some must have managed to escape, after all he couldn’t find a trace of the girl meaning she had to have escaped but where? Whatever happened in the city was not recent and the snow covered most of the tracks, making it impossible to follow any trail left by survivors, as Tuomas kept contemplating his next move the snow started following again over Haven and quickly turned to a storm. If there was one thing he absolutely couldn’t suffer it was the cold, and here it seemed to seep into his very bones so much so that even the amulet he forged in the hope of capturing the sun was failing to fight off the frost. He snuck into the first house he would find that wasn’t as badly damaged as the others to find shelter he managed to light the fireplace and started examining the house as he waited for the snowstorm to pass.

Scattered around were the remains of the life of the previous inhabitants of the house, Tuomas picked up a wooden doll not too different from the ones he would make for Inys when she was a child, she would improvise different clothes for them out of leaves and flowers and anything else she could find. The sting in his eyes brought him back to the present, he kept waiting, he decided to read a book he had found in the house but even when he had finished it the snowstorm was still raging so he kept waiting and the hours became longer and the day was followed by another and the snow still wouldn’t cease, he was beginning to grow impatient and decided he would either face the storm directly or somehow find a way around it.

The frost had begun clinging to his hair and beard, he had now reached the outskirts of Haven when something near a trebuchet caught his eye, it was as if a void was swallowing the snow, as he got closer he noticed an opening and looking from it he caught a glimpse of the underground below, it would be quite a fall to reach it but anything was better than the raging frost, he braced himself and jumped.

An underground tunnel, it was dark and damp but at least he could advance without being devoured by the snowstorm, his attempts at making a torch failed so he had no choice but to summon veilfire to see and soon found remains scattered around, he examined them but they didn’t seem to belong to anything in this world: demons, must have poured from the rifts and wandered until they were slain by something. He continued following the passage and came across some etchings in the stone, his face lit up as he recognized the figures of a raven and an elk, Inys must have been through here, which means that she must also have been the one to fight those demons, Tuomas was reassure for a moment, for if she could fend off the foul creatures of the Fade then she must be giving this Inquisition a tough time even if they had somehow managed to capture her he knew that she wouldn’t make it easy for them to deal with her.

“The wits of a raven and might of a dragon.” He felt immensely proud but her resilience did not mean that she was out of danger, he had to find her and now he was certain to be on the right path, he kept following the passage which led him in the midst of the mountains, all was white before him and the frost would soon begin to gnaw at him again but at least he had made some progress and the strong winds which brought about the storm had begun to cease.

There was no other way, he would have to carve his path through the mountains but to find her and to ensure her safety he would do this and more, he would have torn apart the very heavens and challenged the gods themselves, the Maker even, fortunately that was not necessary, at least for now. Clutching his sun amulet he began to move forwards traversing the white sea of snow before him.

After a couple days’ travel he came across an abandoned campsite of the Inquisition, he searched its remains up and down for any clue about Inys but found none, what had they done to her? It took all his might to dominate his instinct to tear apart what was left of the place, no, he could not waste his energy this way.

Another few days and he begun to see a fortress in the distance. That must be it, that’s where they’re keeping her.

The guards were used to refugees coming to Skyhold, they would welcome them, most of these people had their house destroyed either by the war between templars and apostates or by the demons that were now pouring out of the sky, they were looking for a place to stay and healers to tend to their wounds, the Inquisition offered them aid and the people would spread its name in return speaking of its benevolence and its power. This peculiar man who was now approaching the guards however did not look like a regular refugee: his ears were long and pointed and he had golden markings on his face similar to those of the Dalish elves but unlike any elves they had ever seen he let his beard grow to adorn his chin and he carried no bow and arrows nor magic staff, instead he carried a hammer inscribed with runes. His expression was stern and he seemed to ignore them completely, his gaze fixed onwards to his destination.

“Halt! State your business.”

“White haired girl, I’m looking for her.”

The only person with white hair that they had seen aside from the elderly refugees was the Inquisitor, but this wanderer couldn’t possibly have any dealings with her, not any good ones at least they thought.

“There is no such girl here, you must turn back.”

Tuomas now looked at them, raising his brow. “I’ve seen you take in refugees earlier, do you not have place for one more?”

The guards drew their sword, with a sigh Tuomas took the hammer and the runes began to glow.

“Fine. Have it your way.”

They could not manage to lay a single hit on the stranger, Tuomas parried every blow and at the same time struck the guards who didn’t know how to react, he moved like a ghost as if he could disappear and reappear in and and out of the Fade, he made quick work of them before proceeding towards the courtyard as if nothing had happened.

As soon as he set foot in the courtyard other guards began to attack him, Tuomas’ unusual weapon moved through them like lightning, stunning them, striking them down, repelling their blows as onlookers ran for shelter wondering how could a single man rip through the defences of the Inquisition in such a manner. The guards kept coming and they kept falling before the hammer as it struck the ground with might and then time seemed to slow and it seemed to Tuomas as if it took titanic effort to move a muscle, when he turn around he saw a new arrangement of fighters coming towards him from the tavern but they were no ordinary guards, among them were two mages, a human and a Dalish, a young man and a massive qunari wearing an eyepatch and wielding a greataxe.

Fine, let them come.

He understood that the slowing of his movement was the work of the human mage and tried his best to concentrate on dispelling the magic while avoiding the qunari’s blows, the hammer seemed to have become heavy as the entire world then in the matter of moments he could no longer feel its weight in his grasp.

“I don’t want to do this….” She sighed, looking at the spymaster and the diplomat.

“Who am I to decide the fate of people?”

“You are the Inquisitor” Leliana replied sternly “people look up to you, you are their guide, and a leader has to make these choices.”

Inys found it ironic, she was lost herself, far from her home and her loved ones, still carrying the weight of the lives lost at the Conclave and now she was this herald whose decisions impacted countless people who was to give judgment while not even knowing the laws and customs of this world so different from her own all the while being judged for her every breath. How did they expect her to do it?

She was interrupted before she could utter her protest to the advisors by the sound of the heavy doors bursting open as the Iron Bull marched in holding a prisoner: a man with long disheveled hair, who wore the markings of her people on his face, he kept struggling to break free of the qunari’s hold as he loudly demanded that the Inquisition free his daughter.

“Tomi??”

He looked up to see the white haired girl rushing to him from across the throne room, she did not seem a prisoner, she was finely dressed and her hair was braided in a crown around her head, he managed to escape the warrior as she approached, letting out a sigh of relief as he held the girl in his arms

Everyone held their breath as their gaze was fixated on the stranger and the Inquisitor, the man who had stormed into the fortress causing such chaos had stopped fighting and was now protectively embracing their Herald of Andraste. Once he had made sure that Inys was not harmed in any way he pulled away to take a good look at her, tears were beginning to pool in her pale blue eyes but her smile was wide and so bright she seemed to lit up.

“I’m alright, I’m fine!” she reassured him wiping away the tears before turning to face her advisors.

“This is Tuomas” she said, placing a hand on his shoulder “he raised me, taught me everything.”

Leliana examined the man as Inys was introducing him, he matched the description from her scouts’ reports, from her own research she knew what he was capable of and how much he could help the Inquisition if she played her cards right, she made a motion towards the war room.

“Come, there is much to discuss.”

Tuomas nodded and followed behind Inys and the woman, closing the door behind them.

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