Chapter Text
Silver tinted waves crashed across the ship’s deck, rocking the boat back and forth as it journeyed across the seas. On the deck, a small group of people who were not part of the crew were standing in a vaguely circle like shape, trying to shelter each other from the pouring rain and broiling waves. One of the members of this group was the Lord Inquisitor Loki Trevelyan, and he was doing something he hadn’t wanted to do since he was cast out from the godforsaken rock in front of him. He was going back to a place he’d hoped he would never see again.
He was going home.
SEVERAL WEEKS EARLIER
“Ser Pavus!” A messenger called out, upsetting the quiet calm of Skyhold’s library, “Ser Pavus!”
The ‘Ser Pavus’ in question was Dorian Pavus, who was currently waiting for the messenger just outside of the small alcove that he had taken for himself.
“Yes?” He said as the messenger began to reach him, “What is it?”
The messenger panted, obviously tired from running. How far had he run exactly, all the way from the courtyard?
“A letter for you, ser.”
“Ah, from one of my adoring fans, no doubt.” The Tevinter magister joked as he took the letter from the messenger.
“No, ser,” The messenger straightened, beginning to recover from the exercise, “I’m afraid it’s rather more serious than that.”
“More serious? What do you mean?”
The messenger took a breath, readying himself for… something.
“It’s from the Lord Inquisitor’s mother, my Lord.”
Dorian paused for a moment, then began to move back towards his alcove.
“Get the Inquisitor,” He told the messenger, almost forgetting to do so, “If this letter is from his mother, then it concerns the both of us.”
The messenger nodded, hurrying out as fast as he could. Dorian sat in his chair and opened the wax seal of the letter, praying to the Maker that it was nothing terrible. Why else would a mother send a letter to her child’s lover, who she had never even met in the first place?
It began with the usual polite words, I apologise for this, I would have wrote to him, but…, I hope you are well, but there was one phrase which caught Dorian’s eye.
Please try to persuade him to come, for my sake.
And as he read more, he felt his heart begin to sink
On that day, Loki had been in the field along with Cole, Vivienne, and The Iron Bull, so Dorian had to wait until the group returned to tell Loki the news.
A few days had passed since then, and today was the day of their arrival back at Skyhold. Dorian was waiting eagerly by the gates of the ancient fortress for them to arrive, wondering what could possibly be taking them so long, when a trumpet sounded.
They were back.
Upon hearing the sound, Dorian felt his heart leaping for joy at his lover’s return, and sinking at the prospect of having to tell him the news he had been given whilst he was gone, both at the same time, and so, when the Inquisitor finally galloped into the fortress on horseback and jumped off of the saddle with a smile so wide that it could make the gloomiest of people return the expression, he was simply met with a tiny smile from the Tevinter Magister and a small ‘Hello’.
Almost as soon as Dorian smiled at him, Loki knew something was wrong. There was no grandeur, nothing flamboyant or extravagant in his reactions, not like the last few times he had returned from a field mission without him, where he had been greeted with what seemed like hundreds of bouquets of flowers, all handpicked, and they had then had a private dinner to themselves. No, this was different.
“Dorian?” Loki asked as he approached, “Is everything alright?”
The Magister simply looked at him for a moment, brows furrowing in sympathy. “Whilst you were gone, I received a letter. It,” He sighed, “It’s not good.”
“Is it your father again? If I have to tell him one more time not to-”
“It’s not my father.”
Loki paused, even more worried now than he had been before. “Then… who was it?”
Dorian looked away from Loki’s face, trying to gather the strength he needed to break the news to him. When he did, he let out a sigh, the tension in his face escaping with it, replaced again by the sympathy. “It’s your mother.”
Loki took a step back. He hadn’t spoken to his parents – or so-called parents – in years. “You know I don’t want to speak to them.”
“I do, but… this is…”
“What?”
He exhaled before responding. “Your mother said that she was dying.”
And just like that, the world as he knew it shattered around him.
SEVERAL WEEKS LATER
The small group of people huddled together on the boat quickly disbanded as the vessel began to approach the shore. Throughout the journey, the crewmen had heard rumours, whispers of who their passengers were. Some had guessed that they were assassins, on their way to take care of their most recent target, another had said (much more reasonably) that they were pilgrims on their way to a holy site, but none of them knew the truth.
None of them knew that the group was from the Inquisition.
The Inquisitor himself stood at the prow of the ship, lost in thought. It had been so long since he had been to this place, where he had grown up. He had sworn to himself when he had been sent away that he would never come back here again, let alone miss it, and yet… here he was, thinking of it as ‘home’.
From the corner of his eye, Loki saw Dorian walk to the spot beside him. The magister quietly extended a hand towards him, a sign that he would stay with him through it all, no matter what happened.
As they took hold of each other’s hands, Loki gestured grandly to the landscape in front of them. “Welcome to the Trevelyan Estate.”