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Sprinting down the stairs, Sera grinned as she hit the last step. A shrill scream echoed the hall and she turned back, bursting into laughter. Picking up the pace, Sera quickly made her way into the great hall.
Others glanced around trying to figure out where the ruckus had come from. She whistled and made her way past the others.
Entering the Undercroft, Sera jumped the ledge and headed straight for Dagna.
Sitting at her table, Sera noticed Dagna leaned over in her chair resting her head against her arm propped up on the table. Usually she more active, pacing or standing at the desk tinkering with something.
“Oi! Whatcha working on?” Sera asked.
Dagna jumped and looked back at her. “Oh, Sera! I’m just trying to figure out how the red lyrium interacts and corrupted the runes that the Inquisitor brought back. I’m trying to determine whether they can be used to craft better weapons.” She coughed before continuing, “They have the ability to harm living things, which could be useful in battle, but is it possible to use them without developing long or short-term effects on the person using them?”
Sera studied Dagna as she trailed on talking her magic mumbo jumbo. She didn’t really understand why anyone would waste their time on that magic rubbish, especially when it was so dangerous, but she couldn’t help but smile as she listened to Dagna go on about it. Her eyes would light up, and she would talk for hours about it.
But as she talked, Sera noticed that something was different today.
Her eyes which usually shone seemed duller today, and she blinked slower than usual. And while she continued to ramble about her hocus pocus stuff, her voice seemed raspier like she had been talking awhile.
“Can the corrupted runes also end up effecting the others once enchanted on weapons with multiple runes and slowly corrupt them as well? Earlier I observed that-”
“What’s wrong with you?” Sera interrupted.
Dagna paused before rubbing the back of her neck. “Huh? Oh, I just didn’t sleep very well. And I think it’s made me a bit tired.”
“She’s sick.” Harritt interrupted.
“I’m n- not-” Dagna pauses before tilting her head back and delivering a sneeze far too loud for such a small person, “sick.”
Harritt grunted, “She’s been sneezing and coughing all morning. Caught her falling asleep by the crafting table earlier.”
“I was not falling asleep!” Dagna crossed her arms and stared angrily at him. “I was just closing my eyes. It’s fine! Besides, small naps are good for you! They help you focus and-”
“Why don’t you just go back to bed?” Sera asks.
“It’s fine. Really! I have so much to do and figure out. I can’t just spend all my time in bed just because of a few sneezes. I’m one of the only people in Skyhold who has studied stuff like this. If I can’t figure this out, then who else will? Harritt?”
“Ah, yes. Who else will unlock the mysteries of the fade while also delivering sneezes so loud they burst out my eardrums? Those sneezes should be registered as a weapon in their own rite.”
Dagna turned to Sera. “I’m fine, really!”
Clearly not convinced, Sera looked her up and down before placing her hand on her Dagna’s arm and giving it a soft squeeze, “Look, you’re right. There’s only one of you around here. You should take better care of yourself because you matter.”
“Are you saying that you care about me?”
Sera felt heat rise to her face. “I’m saying that I may not know a lot about this red magic piss, but there’s a ton of them mages and smiths and all sorts of whats-its around here. They should be able to knock their heads together and come up with something or else what good are they doing here?”
Dagna laughed before a coughing fit emerged.
“Okay, I’ll take the rest of the afternoon off and go back to bed…” She paused before grabbing some of her things. “But I’m taking my notebooks and what not with me! There’s some Tevinter rune and crafting books that Dorian gave me that I’ve been meaning to look over. I’ve been interested in seeing how their techniques differ from the ones I’ve seen in Orzammar and Ferelden.”
Before Sera could respond, the door to the Undercroft burst open.
“Sera!” The Inquisitor called. “Is there a particular reason why all of Vivienne’s left shoes have pudding in them?”
“Oh! Hey, your Gracious Ladybits.” Sera gave an exaggerated salute before turning back to Dagna. “Gotta run!” She said before dashing towards the door.
The Inquisitor reached forward to grab Sera, but was unable to grab Sera as she ducked and flew out the door. The Inquisitor hot on her trail chased after her, sliding as she turned the corner in pursuit.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Sera made her way back to her room and stared out onto the courtyard. She had managed to duck the Inquisitor for almost two whole hours before the Inquisitor finally tracked her down. It was actually a pretty fun game of hide and seek before the Inquisitor finally caught her. Sera had rounded the corner only to run straight into her. Having caught her off guard, the Inquisitor tackled her to the ground and the two rolled before the Inquisitor finally held her in place. After a long boring lecture about rules and etiquette and how important it was to kiss ass, the Inquisitor finally let her go.
As she watched the soldiers train and other come and go, her mind drifted to Dagna. Was she feeling better? She should do something to help, right? What did other people do when they were sick?
She thought back to when she was sick as a kid. She had grown up without the mushy lovey family stuff that some of the others like Josephine had. Lady Emmald had taken care of her, but she definitely wouldn’t have called the woman maternal.
Sometimes she wondered why she was the one Lady Emmald had chosen. Was is it pity? Or would just any orphan brat have worked? No, best to stop that train of thought before it started.
Instead, she needed to focus on how to help Dagna. How could she do that? What do other people do when the people they care about are sick?
When she was sick, she was mostly left alone until she got better on her own. She was brought soup and tea and then told to stay in bed until she got better. When she got tired of staring at the same four wall she would try faking being better sometimes. When that didn’t work, she would try and escape out her window sometimes.
Once she had gotten caught as she was halfway out the window. Lady Emmald had screamed, the passersby’s had gawked, and in her haste to escape she almost slipped. She was in trouble for weeks after that.
No, she definitely didn’t want to just leave Dagna on her own.
She went down to the kitchen and asked for some sort of tea and soup. She also heaped a whole two spoons of honey into the tea. That should make it good, right? People loved sweet things. Without honey, tea was just fancy leaf juice.
She carried the tray up the stairs and down the hall until she found Dagna’s room. Sera looked at the closed door with the tray in hand before deciding to kick the door a few times.
After a few times, Dagna opened the door slowly. She had her blanket wrapped around her. Her nose was slightly red, and her eyes looked tired.
“Well, you look like shite.” Sera blurted out.
Dagna looked taken aback before she tilted her head and with a raspy voice asked, “Did you just come up here to tell me that?”
“I- no! I just meant you- uh here!” Sera could feel her cheeks flush and extended the tray in her hands. “It’s for you.”
Dagna, now noticing the tray stepped back, “Oh! Thank you.” She motioned back and showed her to the table in the room. It was covered in books and other papers and materials, but she quickly moved them over to the side.
“You didn’t have to do that! Really, thank you.”
Sera set the tray on the table and pulled up a second chair next to Dagna and watched as she picked up a spoon and dug into the bowl “Yea, well I wasn’t sure if you had eaten. I figured you’d be in here nose deep in some sort of magicky book or writing one or something.”
“Well, I’ve been trying to sleep, but I just can’t get my brain to shut off. I’m tired, but it’s like my brain won’t quit trying to solve a puzzle. I’ve started to pick up one of those books that Dorian gave me, but I feel like I keep re-reading the same thing over and over.”
Sera picked up one of the books on the table. It was huge and she could see some of the dust on it despite some of it being brushed off.
“Ooof! And this didn’t put you to sleep? I don’t even know if I could get through the title of these without passing out.”
“It depends on the book. Some of these can actually be pretty interesting. Others are a pain to get through, especially the ones who want to seem smarter than they are. They go on forever about stuff that doesn’t matter so they can make themselves seem more important.”
Sera leaned back in her chair before tossing the book back onto the table, “Big people always try and make themselves seem smarter than they are. Using big words when small ones will do. You’re one of the only people I know who actually read books like these.”
“Mmm.” Dagna nodded as she continued to eat. “Some of these I definitely wouldn’t read for fun. But if you can dig past the boring stuff. You can actually learn some interesting things in here. Even when some of them are wrong, they have just enough of the right idea that you can repurpose it for your own ideas. It’s like taking part of ideas that you like and smushing them together to make something that you actually really want to make.”
“You really like this stuff, don’t you?”
“Well of course I do.” Dagna looked a bit sheepish before explaining, “I grew up in Orzammar. You know, where dwarfs are only really considered true dwarfs as long as they’re underground. Well I wanted more than that. I always thought that magic was something really special, and I wanted to learn more about it. I never thought anyone would ever take me really seriously since I was a dwarf and you know,” she waved her hand in front of herself, “we’re not really able to use magic.”
“But one day I met this Grey Warden and she actually took the time to help me out. She was from the Circle and she even convinced the First Enchanter to let me study there. Turns out she was the Hero of Ferelden. I left behind my family and everything I know to pursue my dream. And as it turns out,” she smiled at Sera. “I’m actually really good at it. Besides, if I had never pursued my dream, I would have never met such amazing people, like you.”
Sera grinned widely, “You think I’m amazing?”
“Well obviously! I mean, I’ve seen what you can do with a bow. And you make your own explosives. That’s really impressive. And I heard that last time you went with the Inquisitor you threw an actual jar of bees at that group of Venatori. How does that even happen? Did you just have a jar with you at the time? Why did you have one with you? Have you ever considered using hornets or spiders? Where do you even come up with this stuff?”
Surprised by the admiration in Dagna’s voice Sera tilted her head, “I don’t know. You can’t overthink these things. It just comes to me.”
“I’ve never heard of anyone else fighting like that.” Dagna yawned, “It’s amazing is what it is.”
“Well you would know. I’ve never met anyone as smart as you. And you don’t even brag about it or make other people feel dumb or anything. Most people aren’t like that.”
Dagna looked at her, “If anyone ever makes you feel like that, I’ll throw a jar of spiders at them”
Sera laughed, “You’re freaking hilarious, you are!”
“I’m being serious!”
Sera just laughed before taking her hand, “I know you are.”
Dagna smiled, and Sera couldn’t help but join her.
After a few moments, Dagna yawned again.
“You should go to bed.”
“But I can’t sleep.”
“Here,” Sera said as she grabbed one of the heavy books on the table. “This one looks like a real snooze-fest.”
Sera dragged her over to bed and they both got in.
As they settled, Dagna laid her head against Sera, and Sera began to read. She stumbled on several of the words. They were big and stupid. Some of them Sera tried to pronounce. Others she skipped over if they didn’t seem necessary.
She got about three pages in when her head started to bob. She looked over and Dagna still had her head leaned against her. After a few more paragraphs, Sera found herself nodding off.
Dagna looked up to see Sera’s eyes closed. She pulled the book from her hands and placed it on the stand next to the bed. She adjusted Sera slightly so she would be more comfortable.
Sera mumbled as she moved, “I’m not sleeping.”
“I know. Me neither.”
As Sera laid there, Dagna kissed the top of her head before snuggling in next to her for the night.
Feeling content, it was only a matter of minutes before the both of them drifted off to sleep.