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Kale had forgotten how much he missed this. The creaking of the aravels, the conversation between clan members outside mixed with the laughter of his young cousins as they ran around and played, and the sharp ting ting ting of metalworking. The smells of multiple breakfast foods being cooked wafted into the aravel where he had been sleeping, well laying about lazily for the past few hours really, and giving him the energy to finally get up.
He sat up, blinking against the sunlight that was now spilling into the aravel. The pendant holding his sending crystal from Dorian swung against his bare chest and he took it into his hand to let his fingers trace around it, a nervous habit he'd taken on lately. He and Dorian had a conversation most evenings and even a small talk with him grounded Kale and made him feel like he could take a full breath again. But it still felt like there was more than physical distance between them, the chaos of their separate lives had made it feel like the emotional distance was building as well.
So it was time for a break. The disbanded Inquisition was a skeleton crew anyway, while Varric and Harding were out looking for leads, everyone else was holding for updates, which means the most logical course of action was rest.
Not something that Kale was used to, but currently there wasn't much to swing a spirit blade at, so rest it was.
He hopped out of the aravel, his bare feet hitting the soft earth, and clumsily pulled a shirt on over his head. He was getting better with using just one arm and had taken the past several months to get good at swinging a staff again. It was just the odd mundane task that still gave him trouble. Cassandra and Josephine had presented him with a few different prosthetic options that all beautifully mixed form and function. Most of the time, he just didn't find them useful and generally went without.
"Kaelassan..." Keeper Deshanna's calm but clear voice speaking his full name cut through the rest of the busy morning noise from the clan. Kale always swore that she could whisper and command a crowd, while he was easily ignored even when he shouted.
"Aneth ara," he replied and instinctively leaned down as her weathered hands reached up to cradle his face. She traced his vallaslin honoring Mythal with her thumbs, a ritual that she often did with members of the clan, a tender gesture that felt like being anointed or blessed. It probably was.
"Da'len, are you really leaving us today?" she asked. "You won't consider staying longer?"
"I told you I would leave once we got near Kirkwall. And I'm sure we won't get much closer than this," he said and straightened up again.
Keeper Deshanna's wizened face didn't always reveal her emotions. She needed a face that didn't betray her when shemlen hunters got near their camp or templars would sniff around looking for excessive elven mages in clans. But Kale could always tell when she was frustrated with him and it showed now with the thin line of her mouth and the intensity of her stare.
"Go ahead and say what you're thinking," Kale said after a few moments of silence. He was her First once and they knew how to argue with each other.
"You already know that I wish you would stay," she replied with a click of her tongue. "I wish you wouldn't pursue this path in Tevinter."
"I'm just visiting there, same as here. I'll have to get back to work with the Inquisition eventually."
"I suppose I'll have to hope that they'll return a piece of you to us when you die," she said distantly.
Kale had to take a deep breath and walk a few steps away and then pace back to keep from shouting at her in frustration.
"I survived the last year with all the humans and the Chantry, didn't I?" he said in a frustrated whisper that was dangerously close to yelling. "I promise you I can survive Tevinter."
"And you'll be careful," she added, not posing a question.
"And I'll be careful," he repeated.
"Especially with the humans, especially with the Magister."
"Yes, especially with them, I promise," he resisted the urge not to roll his eyes at her. He had promised this the day he arrived as well, when he initially told her his plans. And then again after a few days. This time, she left him to get breakfast, seemingly satisfied by his insistence. At least for now.
It felt silly to have to promise that he would be careful visiting his partner in Tevinter, but if he was honest, he would have the same fears in her place. The fear of humans was so ingrained in him from a young age that he still felt nervous when the Inquisition was a full force and he'd look around at a meeting and realize that he was the only elf in the room. He knew that Dorian was different, and constantly learning how to be better, but he understood the old fear that laid on the heart of the Dalish like an old memory.
With the Inquisition gone, he felt like his place in the world was now in question. He felt out of place with his clan, Kirkwall didn't feel like home, and he only hoped that being back in Dorian's arms was where he was meant to be.