Chapter Text
She woke slowly to a ray of sun in her eyes. She grumbled irritably and rolled over, pulling the soft blanket up over her shoulder. Mother would be furious that she wasn’t up at dawn helping to prepare their things for another day of travel, but she felt awful and surely five more minutes—
She gasped and bolted up, the memory of where she was and what had happened returning to her all at once. That was a bad idea, as she moved her side burst into pain and she could do nothing but whine, biting her lip to try and remain quiet and drawing pinpricks of blood in the process. When the pain calmed she breathed heavy, carefully taking stock of herself— she was wearing only a light medical tunic, sitting in a very comfortable bed in a small one room cottage. The right side of her torso was bandaged up— she couldn’t feel the telltale sting of herbal anti-infection, damn shems don’t know anything do they— and there was quite a lot of noise outside, many people milling around talking and laughing and working.
Last she knew she was up in the ruined Temple trying to close that rift, and now she was in this cottage with a roaring fire in the fireplace and some sort of medical table at the other end of the room. And beside it, miraculously, were all of her things— her weapons, backpack, even a new set of clothes, just sitting there.
“Oh!” She jumped as a voice startled her, a box crashing to the floor. She turned to see another elf in the cottage with her, surprisingly she hadn’t even heard the door open. The elf was staring at her, wide-eyed and terrified. “I didn’t know you were awake, I swear!”
“It’s alright, I—”
The elf didn’t pause, and then she did something to shock the young girl. She fell to her hands and knees, head bowed nearly to the floor, not daring to look at her. “I ask your forgiveness, and your blessings.” The elf’s voice trembled, “I am but a humble servant.”
“I— What?”
“You are in Haven, my lady.” She continued to ramble, her hands shaking, “They say you saved us. The Breach stopped growing, just like the mark on your hand. It’s all anyone has talked about for the last three days.”
“Wait— slow down—”
“But I’m only saying what I heard, I didn’t mean anything by it!” The servant jumped up from the floor, “I’m certain Lady Cassandra will want to know you’ve woken, she said ‘at once’. At once, she said!” Then the servant ran off, the door slamming shut behind her.
She sat there frozen in her bed, shocked beyond reason and none of what she was told making sense. Carefully, quietly, she stood from the bed and crept to the door, opening it just a crack to peer outside. She could see many people out there, and with the door open she could pick out bits and pieces of their conversations.
“Did you see that servant? The Herald must have woken!”
“What a blessed day, our hero lives.”
“They say she’s the Herald of Andraste, that Andraste delivered her from the Breach to save us all.”
She shut the door and leaned against it, beginning to feel the first dredges of panic and trying desperately to tame it. So many people outside the door talking about Andraste— she didn’t even believe in Andraste. She still needed to find her mother, and there was still a strange mark on her hand. Worse still, that Seeker would be on her way here, probably to put her back into chains. There was only one option. She ran to her things and dressed as quickly as she could. She didn’t have much time.
—
“Have you gone completely mad?!” Chancellor Roderick yelled— he’d been yelling for twenty minutes, and Cassandra was beginning to weigh the risks involved in punching him versus the benefits of silencing him. She was leaning towards the second option. “She should be taken to Val Royeaux immediately to be tried by whomever becomes Divine!”
“I do not believe she is guilty.” Cassandra countered for the fifth time.
“The elf failed, Seeker. The Breach is still in the sky. For all you know she intended it this way!”
“I do not believe that.”
“That is not for you to decide.”
“Nor is it for you to decide, chancellor.” Leliana cut in from her corner, where she was writing up a list for one of her agents. “She is under our protection now, that is final.”
“You cannot in good conscience—”
A crash and the swift opening of the door silence all three of them in an instant, “Seeker, Nightingale!” One of Leliana’s scouts rushed into the meeting room, frazzled and out of breath, “It’s the Herald.” He gasped, his eyes wide— he’d run quite a long way, that much was obvious.
“What happened?” Cassandra demanded, both facing the scout as Roderick watched on, unsurprised and silently pleased with himself.
“She ran, my lady.” The scout reported, “Or she attempted to, at any rate. Her injuries prevented her from getting far, but she managed to evade us in the glacier. Scout Harding only just located her, we have her cornered but she’s backed herself into one of the glacial cracks and is refusing to emerge. Nearly took off Yoland’s arm when we tried to get her out, and her wounds have appeared to reopen.”
“Why would she do that?” Cassandra asked, completely stunned, “We didn’t even know she was awake!”
“We’re not sure my lady, but she’s terrified like a hunted rabbit. The glacier is wildly unstable and if it collapses in on her…”
“Go find Solas and Varric, then meet us at the gates to take us to her.” Leliana ordered. The scout saluted and ran off to do as bidden.
“Only the guilty would try to run.” Rodrick shook his head in disgust, “Bring her back so she can be tried properly.”
“Or she ran because she is a child forced into the middle of a demon hoard.” Leliana snapped back, her glare as cold as ice, “Stow your grandstanding. You will not be executing this girl.” Then Leliana and Cassandra left, Rodrick scoffing behind them.
—
Cassandra, Leliana, Varric and Solas were moving slowly towards the glacier which rested not far below the Breach and the Temple itself, led by that lone scout. There was only one real reason she would have run in this direction. “So I’m all for getting this kid someplace safe,” Varric spoke as they walked, “but do you actually have a plan to keep the Chantry’s hands off of her?”
“My agents are constantly monitoring the Chantry.” Leliana told him, “Aside from Chancellor Roderick, the Chantry has not issued a formal decree for her arrest. Even if they did, we have enough of a militia in Haven to keep her safe for the time being.”
“I doubt that is an issue regardless.” Solas hummed, “She seems rather adept at taking care of herself.”
Cassandra huffed, “I wonder about that. She is so young but she fights like no one I’ve ever seen. How is that possible? Who would have trained her?”
Solas let out a short laugh, “She is Dalish, Seeker. She’d have been expected to hunt and fight for her survival her entire life. I imagine she is perfectly capable of surviving in the wilds without assistance, but if you put a book in front of her I doubt she would know how to read it, or how to write in its margins. It is also likely she’s never seen so many humans before, let alone a catastrophe on this scale. I am not surprised she tried to run.”
“She’s just around this corner, my lady.” The scout reported before standing aside to let them pass, finding themselves stepping onto a long-since frozen lake at the base of the glacier. The group saw Harding first. She was sitting on the ice cross-legged, looking into a crack in the glacial cliff. To the sides were several of Leliana’s scouts, whispering back and forth and appearing very lost on what to do. They were positioned where the girl could still see them.
“I’m from the Hinterlands,” Harding said into the crack, where the girl was undoubtedly hiding, “near Redcliffe.”
“I’ve been there.” A quiet, shaken and terrified voice spoke out in response.
“Have you?” Harding grinned, “Did you ever see the old windmill? It was pretty, before it collapsed.”
“I like the waterfalls.”
“Oh, me too! And the water’s so warm in the summer. Horsemaster Dennet used to let me ride his horses along the river.”
“I’ve only ridden on Halla.”
“I imagine it’s much the same. I’ve always wanted to pet a Halla, is their fur as soft as the stories claim?”
“Softer, I think.”
Harding looked up as the four approached, her smile growing and a short knowing nod in Leliana’s direction. “Look here, there’s some people here to see you. I think you know them?” Harding moved aside, allowing Leliana to settle on her knees to look inside the crack. There, huddled deep in the ice and shrouded by the dark, was the Herald. She had her backpack, her weapons, and some of the new clothes they’d prepared for her. Leliana noticed she wasn’t wearing a coat to keep out the cold. She was probably in too much of a panic to think about it. Solas and Varric settled nearby within her line of sight.
“Good morning.” Leliana smiled, “I hope you slept well.”
“No, don’t think so.” The girl muttered, clearly uncomfortable and with no intention of moving. Then Cassandra came into view, and the girl recoiled so hard that Cassandra flinched along with her. “Stay away from me!” She screeched, trying to push herself farther back into the glacier without success.
Varric cringed and quickly pulled Cassandra aside as Harding attempted to calm her back down again, “Maybe you should let us handle this, Seeker.”
“But she’s got nothing to fear from me.” Cassandra huffed, completely put off, “And this place is not safe.”
“Why wouldn’t she be scared of you?” Varric asked, looking back to Harding who had her hands outstretched towards the girl, making calming gestures. “Considering that you had her chained in a dungeon, accused her of murder and terrified her at the Temple, I think her fear is more than rational. We’ll pull her out, then you can show her you mean no harm when she’s not trying to run for the hills.”
“She shouldn’t have run.” Cassandra watched Harding with a grimace, “Of all the stupid decisions—”
“She’s a kid.” Varric sighed, “I’d have run too.”
Varric made his way back to the crevice. Solas was talking to the girl now, speaking softly in elvish. She was talking back, also in elvish, voice shaking and breaths stuttering, trying to come down from her panic. “Ir abelas, da’len.” He sighed lightly, and his tone suggested he’d issued some sort of apology, “Vir tu falons.”
The girl looked at their faces— Solas, Harding, Varric, Leliana, all sitting there watching her, trying to help her. “Friends…”
“That’s right.” Solas nodded, “You’re hurt, da’len. We cannot help you if you’re in there.”
“I don’t want to.” She trembled, “They called me Herald. I’m not a Herald, I don’t even believe in Andraste or the Maker!”
Varric smiled for her, “They’re only calling you that because no one knows your name.” He told her, a skillful lie that she didn’t seem to fully believe, but listened to all the same. They all flinched as the glacier shifted, the eerie pops and cracks surrounding them, echoing for just a moment. “So why don’t we start there, alright? Friends know each other’s names. You can come out here where its safe, we protect our friends.”
The girl glanced nervously at the ice that surrounded her, “No touching.” She demanded, starting to scoot out of her hiding place.
“No one will touch you.” Varric nodded firmly, giving a stern glare to everyone present who quickly backed away from the entrance. She seemed content enough with that response, and finally she crawled out of the glacier. She moved to the side and leaned up against the ice, keeping her front facing them at all times. Blood was starting to seep through the gash on her side, the wound had definitely reopened in her haste to escape. “There, not so hard is it kiddo?” She shook her head lightly, “So lets start with a name, and we can stop calling you Herald.”
“…Lyadria.” She told them at last, “Lya.”
“Lya.” Leliana smiled, gentle as a flower petal. Somehow, she also reminded Lya of the thorns which rested on the stalks. “Do you have a clan, Lya? Or a family out there that we can contact?” After a moment Lya silently turned to look at the Breach, and they understood entirely.
“It was supposed to close.” Lya muttered, staring at the still open Breach, “Why am I still here? It was supposed to close.”
“You bare the key to closing it, like I told you.” Solas explained, “But your mark didn’t have enough power to close a rift of that size. If we can make your mark more powerful I think we can close the Breach completely.”
Lya laughed bitterly, “Oh no, I know how this works. The Chantry is gonna say I killed that important old lady, they’re gonna put me in a fake trial and they’re gonna kill me ‘cause my ears are pointy. I already helped, I want to leave.”
The four looked at each other for a moment, “Well…” Harding muttered, “She’s not exactly wrong.”
“We wont let that happen.” Leliana assured her, “We know you’re innocent, even if the world thinks you guilty right now. But if you stay and help us close that Breach for good, your name will be cleared and you’ll be safe.”
“Safe.” Lya shook her head, “You must know how ridiculous that sounds.”
“We’ll do our best.” Varric told her, “Maybe you could try to have a little faith, hmm? If it really doesn’t work out then you can run and never look back. Just give it a try first.”
Lya stared at them for a tense few moments, a spring ready to be released, her muscles taut as if she were about to bolt again. Then she looked at Cassandra, who remained several steps back from her, watching on just as tense as Lya was. “Are you gonna put me back in chains?”
Cassandra watched her carefully, “Why would I do that?” She asked rather bluntly, and Lya… she almost seemed to respect that.
“Because you think I hurt that lady. She was important to you, wasn’t she?”
Cassandra let out a sigh and forced herself to relax, forced herself to handle this with more care than she normally would. “I do not believe you killed Divine Justinia. We have no intention of arresting you. Quite the opposite, in fact.”
“At some point the Chantry will call for your arrest. They will want to blame you for what happened at the Temple of Sacred Ashes.” Leliana explained, “We can protect you, but only if you stand with us.”
Lya scoffed, “I’m not afraid of the Chantry. I could disappear out in the woods in the Hunterhorn for decades and never see a living person. I am afraid that they’re going to retaliate against other clans just because I’m Dalish. It wouldn’t be the first time.”
“Then you need to stand with us.” Leliana insisted, “The only way to make this right it to find the ones who are responsible.”
Lya thought it over, her eyes turning back to the Breach, still looming over the mountains above. Demons continually fell from it, an endless stream of chaos that would see no end until the Breach was closed, a chaos that wouldn’t stop at the borders of human life. She felt in her heart that Solas was correct— she was the only one who could close it. As much as she didn’t want to become involved with the shemlen and their wars, she knew she couldn’t ignore this. Her parents wouldn’t have ignored it, she could do no less.
“I need to search.” She said quietly.
“For your mother?”
“Yes.” She looked at Varric, “You said we would.”
“Ah.” He sighed, “I did say that, didn’t I.”
Cassandra took a cautious step forward, and was encouraged when the girl didn’t flinch away this time. “After you were injured, we had our soldiers search the mountain. We checked every body that was up there and looked through all the survivors, asked as many people as we could. I’m sorry, but we have found no evidence of your mother’s survival. We assume that her body, like so many others, was reduced to ash by the explosion.”
Lya’s eyes grew wide, “But… there’s no body? How do I return her to Falon’Din without a body?”
Solas’ head tilted, brows furrowing, “You are surprisingly devout.”
Lya had already taken note of his bare face, no vallaslin in sight. She shook her head, “You are not of the people. You would not understand.” She pushed herself off the ice with only a minor grunt of pain, “If there is nothing to be done, I suppose I will return with you. We will find your mystery enemy and I will help you close the Breach. But when it’s really done, I will leave.”
Leliana nodded, “That seems fair. Come, you should have that injury looked at.”
Lya didn’t wait for any of them. She began marching back towards Haven all on her own, leaving the rest to catch up. It was Leliana and Harding who hung back a bit, letting them get a head start.
“Lace, I need you to take a small force to the Hinterlands.” Leliana ordered once the rest were out of earshot, “There’s a Chantry mother, Mother Giselle, that needs to be protected for a few days. I hear the fighting has gotten much worse.”
“I will leave immediately.” Harding nodded firmly, but her eyes didn’t leave the girl as she was moving away from them, “Poor kid.” She muttered.
“There are worse things that could have happened.”
“Try telling that to her.”
Leliana didn’t answer. The two followed the group back to Haven, with the heavy hands of fate on their shoulders. Their struggle had only just begun.