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Lavendel after the blight is beautiful. Mila grows up there, among the Wardens, helping her father in the forge and the shop. The hills blooming thick with lavender are how she imagines peace.
But she's not a peaceful homebody; she wants adventures, to explore the world outside the Anderfels. Her father makes her wait until she's seventeen and can beat Vee in the training ring, then persuades Warden Bets to take her as a secretary on an inspection tour: down to Val Royeaux, then sailing to Amaranthine, then to Antiva City and Treviso. Mila's hand cramps from keeping records and sending correspondence; Bets teaches her how to draw the plants and animals they encounter. One evening, out over Rialto Bay, they see dragons in the clouds.
But she get more and more excited as they enter Arlathan Forest. The sunlight and the trees and the impossible ruins overflow with magic, ripe with thrilling possibilities. And then, after the arranged meeting with a local Dalish clan, they're escorted to Eldrin's Eyrie, where there are griffons everywhere.
She knows they don't know her and are wild-ish creatures, but she runs right into their midst. They like hugs, too. Their smell and purrs bring back memories.
"Just don't tell anyone," a familiar voice says from behind her. "We want people to think they're ferocious."
Mila turns as she stands, grinning wide. "Rook!" He squints up at her—in her memories, he's tall—and with shocking quickness she realizes she'll cry if he asks who she is. "It's Mila. From Weisshaupt."
"No," he says, as if profoundly shocked. "Mila's a titchy little kid." He holds his hand out insultingly low. A griffon nibbles at his fingers, making him yank his hand back. Ha.
"My dad sent you a present but I'm not giving it to you now," she says.
He nods. "Sounds fair." He looks up to where Bets is chatting with an old man and their Dalish guides. "You want to stay with your tour, or help me with the feeding frenzy?"
She rolls her eyes at him. He finds her a spare pair of boots and a bucket of mushrooms and grubs, and she follows him back to a meadow.
"Shouldn't they be finding this stuff on their own?" she asks.
Rook gestures with his bucket. "That one was found with a damaged wing, she's here to recover and not happy about it. The two boys over there are from the original clutch. They were in cages as kids, so having this whole forest… it's hard for them to adjust."
"After all this time?" Mila asks, and then could kick herself. She knows better. As a distraction, she points to a tiny griffon stalking something in the grass: maybe a mouse. Or a shadow. "That one's cute."
"Knight," Rook says, and the griffon's head pops up. Rook glances at Mila, and then kneels to hold out a handful of feed enticingly. "Like the chess piece."
It's on the tip of Mila's tongue to tease and ask if chess names run in the family, but her attention snags on the way Knight darts over to steal food. She's fast, but… her back left leg's gone. "Shit."
"Yeah," Rook says. "Some a-s-s-h-o-l-e put out a t-r-a-p."
"Did you r-i-p o-f-f their—" she starts, but Rook cuts her off with a murderous grin. "Good." And then, "Wait, do they understand talking?"
Rook tips his head side to side. "When it's convenient for them. Or inconvenient for me."
Mila crouches down and copies the way he offers food. Knight looks between their two hands with immense suspicion, but then flaps her wings and lunges, snapping a fat grub from the center of Mila's palm.
"I'm never leaving," Mila says. Her heart is in a tangle of wonder and joy; she's fallen in love. "My dad would love it here, we'll build a little house right over there. Look at her."
"You should smell them when it rains," Rook cautions, but he's looking at Knight like… well, like he used to look at Assan. Like a proud father.
She breathes deep and thinks, In war, victory. In peace, vigilance. In death, sacrifice. Her dad told her to hold off on joining the Gray Wardens at least until she'd seen the world, had a family, lived her life. He believes the Wardens who say the blight might be over forever. But Mila can be vigilant and watch over the Warden's legacy here, like this, like Rook does.
She jiggles her hand a little, enticing Knight with some mushrooms. Knight's a tiny ferocious hunter, but she still snaps her snack up with a click of her beak.
"I'm serious," she says. She's willing to fight him for this.
"And I'm going to exploit your youthful eagerness until the end of your visit. If all-night patrols, egg counts, stall mucking, and feathers in unspeakable places don't scare you off, then…" He makes a vague gesture with both hands, like he's weighing options. Knight, startled, pecks his knee.
"Never leaving," Mila repeats, and very cautiously scritches the top of Knight's head.