Chapter Text
"That's all history is. The best tales. They may as well be mine"
-Varric Tethras
Varric,
I got the copy of the book and Cassandra and I went over it. She went over it twice, I think she's hooked. It's Swords and Shields all over again. At least she knows how any cliff-hangers in this end.
Don’t get me wrong, I like that it’s not the same as the tale of the Champion but we did have a few suggestions. Some of the others asked me to give you some pointers as well. I've enclosed them at the appropriate time.
Sincerely,
Sahriel Lavellan
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You may have heard of me. This is hardly my first work and my other tales are quite well-known. There are Ferelden peasants and Orlesian nobility who have lost themselves in the tales I have told. I wrote Hard in Hightown (the first one. I can spell and if you think I named a book ‘The Re-punchening’ just pretend that you didn't so I won't have to be offended if I ever meet you). Swords and Shields was mine, although I hesitate to admit that, and The Tale of the Champion is possibly the most famous book I've ever written.
Varric Tethras.
Adventurer- discoverer of lot thaigs and fighter of High Dragons, renowned author, unofficial Paragon of Manliness, rogue with a heart of gold, friend to the Champion of Kirkwall and the Herald of Andraste.
The fact that I’m Hawke’s friend is less known than might be expected. I don’t really overly focus on myself in the book. I would not want to take away from Hawke’s story. Or incriminate yourself in the many crimes that she was responsible for before she gained her title. And after from what I've heard. And weren't you the one turning into a stuttering wreck when you met her?
I was not even sure if I was going to write this book. I mean, half of this shit still just doesn't even seem possible. That is not unexpected, dwarf. Anyone who has read your work knows to expect fabrications. I made a promise though, and those are things I try to keep. Even if they do go bad most of the time.
I was admittedly two cups in when said promise was made but I don’t think that will get me out of it. Plus, this needs to be written down. ‘I don’t want to end up as the Herald of Andraste in the Chant. I don’t believe I am a Herald. Maybe the Maker or the Creators had a hand in saving me but it seems rather bad for me to declare myself a saviour. That will get left out of tales. I’m starting to realize that the tattoos will too. I do not want to be called a woman who forsook her gods to join the Faithful. That is not who I am and I would appreciate if at least one person other than me made that clear in writing. So write the book, call it what you like, and make sure that you’re in it this time because you were a hero and people should know the truth this time. Like Cass said, 'no more legends lost to the ages'.’
That overly poetic and slightly drunken speech is why this exists. I didn't think it was overly poetic. Cass, I used the word 'declare' and had a quotation added in, that's pretty damn poetic for both of us. Wait, you remembered that? That and Hawke told me that history would remember the Inquisition more than it remembered her and if I was going to write history it may as well be terribly important. So my friendship with a sarcastic mage and the Herald of Andraste has led me here. They are why I have to say ‘I’ instead of ‘they’.
This isn't like writing about Hawke was. This is different.
She was, and is, the perfect set up for a hero. A bit crazy, genuinely caring, somewhat religious, not afraid to get her hands dirty, and had a dwarven rogue with a crossbow in her group of friends.
Sahriel is, despite her own opinion, the perfect set up for a saviour. Willing to risk her life, strong in her own beliefs but not closed to new ideas, humble, and has a sense of humour even if she wasn't exactly the friendliest person when I first met her. Cassandra wanted to kill me and a whole lot of shemlen wanted to kill me and they all thought that I killed a bunch of people. Why would I be happy?
I am not a hero and I don't think I'm Andraste's storyteller. I’m, well, I’m me. I helped start all of this and heroes don’t do that. Well, Hawke sort of unintentionally set of the mage rebellion but that makes her a hero to people who need one and may even deserve one. What happened with the Carta and Corypheus was different. And... (Andrate's ass, you'd think writing about yourself would be easier. I can reword this... Thoughts?) Keep it. It makes you sound human. Oh shut up, you know what I meant.
I could start with that mistake but the beginning is not where this story started. This is the Inquisitor’s story.
But since apparently this is also my story, so I think it should start when I met her. Long before that meant little run-in meant anything and I didn't know that I'd met another legend. It was just a regular day in Haven...
Regular? For us, yeah, it was.