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When they got back to the Lighthouse, a friendly Compassion spirit already dropped by to heal her — a benefit of being Mayari’s vessel. Spirits made themselves easy to befriend.
“Thank you.” She flashed it grateful grin.
“Regret rings heavy here,” it said, “Working wonders when harmonious. Moonlit mercy may heal him.”
It disappeared after.
Quite the cryptic message. Being a spirit healer meant she had enough experience dealing with them. However, sometimes she just couldn’t decipher their words. A puzzle.
Perhaps all will be revealed once she figured out where the wolf statuette belonged.
Rook rubbed her neck, walking into the meeting room. Despite being healed, remnants of the pain remained. She sighed.
“Are you sure you’re alright?” Bellara sent her a worried look.
“Positive,” she reassured, “It’s just Mayari’s fragment reacting to it.”
She took out the wolf statuette, inspecting it — where could it possibly belong? All the other murals in that room had been revealed already.
“Dweller.”
The Caretaker manifested beside her.
“I take it you’re gonna show me where this goes?” She asked.
They said nothing, turning around.
Taking it as her cue, she followed behind. Stone walls slid open to reveal Solas’ personal quarters. But something changed. A pedestal stood in front of the wall.
She gently placed the statuette on it.
The pedestal shook, lowering into the ground — the floor swallowed it up, leaving no trace of it. She looked up.
Instead of a wall, there was a door.
A new room? Interesting.
She entered the room. Inside was a collection of canvases. Both blank and painted. Some were left unfinished; while others were masterpieces — yet they gathered dust all the same.
Rook bent down to inspect the paintings. Most of them seemed to involve three people. Mythal, Felassan and—
Her breath hitched.
Long pink locks that flowed like a river, dark brown skin… It looked an awful lot like her. This was likely Mayari. Though, she didn’t expect to bear many similarities to her — despite being intertwined at the core. Mayari’s vessels came in all kinds of forms. How was she supposed to know she bore the most striking resemblance to the goddess?
Though, it did stroke her ego to learn this. Just a little.
One painting caught her attention — in the centre of it all. A wolf howling at a crescent moon. Within it sat the goddess Mayari.
She reached out for the canvas. Upon her fingertips making contact, a vision assaulted her mind — a sharp prick akin to a needle.
“Ah!” She cried out, surprised.
Dozens of tall trees surrounded her vision. A dark forest with no end to it. There laid a wounded wolf — black fur decorated with crimson. The injury looked far too deep for it to survive on its own. It dripped onto the emerald grass.
Solas? What happened to him?
Light formed at his side, revealing Mayari. She knelt down. Her hands placed themselves on its wound. Another burst of light came.
Soon, its wounds started healing. Crimson washed away by her gentle touch.
She caressed his fur, singing a sweet lullaby to it — It relaxed under her care. How… familiar. Rook has heard this song before. She heard in reoccurring dreams, before she met him.
Rook blinked rapidly, feeling herself come back to reality. In the studio. A memory between Solas and Mayari; but it didn’t seem like a regret.
— Or did it?