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Vhenan'ara	By : Arcanis_Born Category: +A through F > Dragon Age (all) > Dragon Age (all) Views: 6576 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 1
Disclaimer: I don't own Dragon Age, nor the characters from it. I do not make any money from this.

Chapter List
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Dragon Age: Origins is owned by Bioware, as with all its characters, the story as it deviates from canon is mine, however, as with the personalities of characters as they deviate from those in the game.
Parts of this chapter is taken directly from the game, during the Dalish Elf origin story. All credit for those parts goes to Bioware.
I hope you guys enjoy, and I would appreciate any reviews!
Translations:
Fenedhis: Elvhen. A common curse.
Lethallan/Lethallin: Elvhen. "Clansmen" or "one who is familiar". "Lethallan" is for females, while "Lethallin" is for males.
Shemlen/Shem: Elvhen. Literally "quick children". The original name of the Elves for the human race. Often used in a derogatory sense.
Elvhen: What the Ancient Elves called themselves.
Mar'inuth era'harel: Elvhen. "May demons dwell inside of you eternally."
Fen'Harel: Elvhen. "Dreaded/feared wolf." One of the Elvhen gods. A trickster and deceiver. Also the name of Riel's mabari.
Eluvian: Elvhen. Mirror. "Seeing glass."
Seth'lin: Elvhen. Thin blood. Used as an insult.
Mythal: Elven goddess of motherhood and protection.

Somewhere in the Brecilian Forest
The bright sun was already beginning to cast long shadows upon the ground by the time that Riel finally spotted the buck. She had been tracking the deer for almost a mile through the forest since earlier that day. Beside her, her clanmate Tamlen readied his bow and took careful aim. However, before he could let the arrow fly, the deer ran off through the bushes.
"Fenedhis!" Riel cursed as she watched the deer sprint away.
"Listen, lethallan! Something comes!" Tamlen hissed. Riel readied her dagger as the two elves ducked down behind a tree just as two human males came bursting through the brush. Tamlen stood and took aim at the taller of the humans, stopping them in their tracks.
"It's a Dalish!" one of the men cried out.
"And you two are somewhere that you shouldn't be," Tamlen replied coldly.
"Let us pass elf! You have no right to stop us!" the other human angrily stated.
"No? We'll see about that, won't we?" Tamlen eyed the humans carefully. They appeared unarmed, but one could never be too careful when it came to deceptive and dangerous humans. "What are you doing lurking in the bushes? Are you bandits?"
Off to the side and out of sight, Riel hid behind a tree, frozen by her fear. Even with Tamlen having his bow trained on one of them, Riel still couldn't seem make herself move. Memories of her past came back to her, and with them came all the pent up anger and rage that they caused her. With the images of the men who hurt her locked in her mind, Riel took hold of her dagger and silently made her way behind the men.
"We aren't bandits! I swear!" the taller human cried out.
"Then what are you doing here?"
"We didn't come here to make trouble! We just found a cave!"
"Yes! A cave! With ruins that I have never seen before!" the other human added. "We thought that there might be uh..."
"Treasure? So you are more akin to thieves than bandits. You Shemlen are pathetic. It's hard to believe that you once drove us from our homeland," scoffed Tamlen.
"We've done nothing to you, Dalish! We didn't even know this forest was yours!"
"This forest isn't ours, you fool. You've stumbled too close to our camp. You Shemlen are like vermin; you can't be trusted to not make mischief."
"Look! We have proof! Here, I found this just inside the ruins!" the taller human hurriedly stated before handing Tamlen a small piece of stone. Looking at it, Tamlen gasped as he recognized the writing.
"This stone has carvings on it. Is this Elvish? Written Elvish?" Tamlen's eyes went wide as he looked carefully at the stone.
"There is more inside the ruins! We didn't get very far through..."
"Why not?" Again Tamlen raised his bow at the humans, his arrow pointed directly at the heart of the taller one.
"There was a demon!"
"Demon?" Again Tamlen scoffed, clearly not buying the story completely.
"T-th-there are demons!" the taller one spurted out.
"Where is this cave?"
"To the west! Not far from he- egh!" the shorter man groaned painfully as Riel suddenly appeared behind him and slit his throat with her dagger.
"What the-?" the other human's voice was cut off by Tamlen's arrow lodging deep in his chest, sending him down to the ground dead.
"Filthy Shemlens!" Riel cursed as she looked down at the two men. Tamlen sighed heavily and walked over to her.
"You didn't have to kill him, Riel."
"You killed one too, Tamlen."
"Only because he would have attacked after you killed his friend!" Tamlen shook his head and cursed. "The Keeper must hear of this," he sighed as he pulled his arrow free from the human's chest. "We should head back and tell her what happened."
"Not yet." Riel bent over and wiped her blade clean on one of the human's shirts. "We should check to see if there really are ruins first."
"By the Creators, Riel! What if there are more Shemlens there?"
"Then we kill them, too."
"You are mad! They said there were demons!"
"Oh stop your whining, Tamlen! What good is telling the Keeper if there is nothing to tell? Wouldn't she want to know if there really are ruins nearby, anyway?"
Tamlen looked hard at his clan mate and grumbled under his breath. He knew there was no use arguing with her. Riel was the most stubborn woman that he had ever met. Even more stubborn than the Keeper. And she never followed any of the rules set out by the Keeper or the other elders, either. Yet the Keeper insisted on giving the young woman more time. Even though after being with the clan for nearly three years, still no one really knew much about her.
"Go back to the Keeper if you wish, but I want to search for these ruins. If there are demons, than the Keeper should know about it right away."
Riel turned and started making her way through the brush that the humans had come from, not even waiting to see if Tamlen was following her or not. In truth, she was far too agitated to head back to the clan right now. It had been several years since she had last seen a human, and seeing the two men brought back too many memories for her.
The two of them walked for at least half an hour, yet they didn't see any cave opening or indication of any ruins nearby. Tamlen wanted to head back, but he couldn't leave Riel out here by herself. The stubborn set of her jaw told him that they could be out here all day and still Riel wouldn't give up. Only the coming darkness of night would finally send Riel back to their camp. And him, being the fool that he was, would follow her as she searched this old forests, no matter how much he may have disagreed with her.
Despite her anger and her strange ways, Riel was still beautiful to him. The scar that ran the length of her face didn't deter one bit from her beauty, nor did the scowl that she usually held whenever others were around. And on the rare occurrence that she smiled, by the Creators, did Tamlen fall even more for her. And the rare smiles only made the ones she did have all the more sweeter and beautiful. So when the Keeper asked him to go with her while they hunted today, Tamlen couldn't believe his luck!
Usually Riel preferred to hunt alone, but they have yet to come this far south when they traveled through these forests. This part of the forest was still unknown to her, and the Keeper wanted to make sure that she wouldn't get lost. Riel objected at first, and fought against the Keeper's council, but Tamlen was only too happy to come along.
Stubborn though she may be, the Keeper was the only person who could reason with Riel, and was the only person the troubled Dale ever really listened to. Still, it was no secret that many in the clan even wanted her banished, thinking her far too damaged to live with them.
The sad part is, they were right.
As much as she fought, a part of Riel craved death. A way to end the pain that burned her alive each day she lived. The memories and the nightmares of her former life stealing away any will to live or hope for the future. The only thing that kept her alive was her stubbornness. A fire inside of her that refused to go away, and only pushed her harder to live each day.
"I don't get it. Do you think that they were lying? We've went through this area twice now and I do not see anything that resembles a cave at all..." Riel huffed angrily. She was hoping to find something to bring back to the Keeper. A way of apology for her rude behavior that morning. Riel knew that the Keeper loved the old tales, and any artifact or story of the Elvhen history always brought joy to the aging woman. And so Riel had hoped to bring her back something to help ease the tension that Riel always seemed to create no matter how hard she tried.
"I don't see anything around here, lethallan. Maybe we should... Riel!"
"Aggh!" Riel called out as suddenly the earthen floor beneath her feet gave way and she began to fall. With the speed and agility known only to elves, Tamlen reached out and grabbed hold of Riel before she fell more than foot, keeping her from crashing down through the hole that had opened up.
"Let go of me!" Riel cursed out as she struggled against Tamlen's hold on her upper arm.
"Stop struggling, Riel! You are going to fall!"
Riel's mind was spinning as her anxiety rose past tolerable levels. Below her was a fall of several feet into a darkened and unknown area below ground. Above her was her greatest trigger - to be roughly handled by not just another person, but a man on top of it. Riel's heart beat furiously in her chest, and at that moment she didn't care if Tamlen dropped her into an abyss. Anything would be better than her inner fears coming back to assault her.
Groaning with effort, Tamlen strained as he fought against not only gravity, but Riel's struggling as he pulled her out of the large hole that nearly swallowed her up. When he finally had her above ground, Tamlen fell backwards, pulling Riel with him. Awkwardly, she landed on his chest, her nose just an inch away from his own. At first her eyes went wide with shock, before quickly turning to intense and paralyzing fear. Frantically she scrambled off of Tamlen, not even noticing the deep red blush that colored Tamlen's cheeks.
"I told you to never touch me, Tamlen!" Riel screamed out in near hysterics.
"You would have fallen if I didn't grab a hold of you!" rebuffed Tamlen as he stood, his own anger and annoyance showing. He knew that Riel had a thing about being touched, and that even the Keeper had warned the others of the camp to never lay their hands upon her for any reason. Tamlen had even personally witnessed Riel attack a few members of their clan after they unthinkingly touched her arm or shoulder. But still, he thought that she would at least be a little bit grateful for saving her life.
**CRACK**
"Don't ever touch me again! Mar'inuth era'harel!" Riel spat out angrily to Tamlen, who now laid on his back at her feet.
"Your curses are getting better at least, lethallan," Tamlen grumbled as he massaged his jaw. "And so is your right hook...Oww..."
The more rational part of Riel knew that she was overreacting. It told her that she would have been likely incredibly injured if not dead had Tamlen not grabbed hold of her when he did. Yet the part of her that was still so very traumatized by her past was in control of her emotions and actions now. The memory of being manhandled and abused by her former masters ruled her mind as she paced uneasily around the hole in the ground.
"Riel... I-..." Tamlen stuttered as he got to his feet. He wanted to apologize to her, but he didn't know how without making her even more angry at him.
"Just forget about it, Tamlen," Riel cursed softly under her breath.
"I've been meaning to ask you, though... Why don't you-"
"If you want stories to entertain yourself, ask Paivel when we get back to camp!" Riel snapped, her silver eyes spearing him with heated anger.
An awkward silence filled the space between them as Tamlen tried to find the words to calm Riel down. The last thing he wanted was for her to be angry at him, yet he still didn't regret doing what he did to save her. It didn't matter if she was angry at him, as long as she was alive to do so.
"Do you... still want to check out the ruins?" Tamlen asked wearily, unsure of her reaction.
Riel rolled her eyes at her fellow elf and walked towards the hole that she nearly fell through. Being careful not to fall in again, she looked carefully around the edge, trying to peer through the darkness below. It was useless, however, as even the light from above barely seemed to make a dent in the thick darkness of the area below her feet.
"We're going to need a torch. I have my fire starting kit, so all we need is some moss and a stick."
Tamlen went about searching for the materials that they would need, making sure to give Riel a wide berth as he looked around for suitable moss and wood. Finally he gathered enough for two torches, and Riel went to work setting them alight. When both we blazing strongly, Riel approached the hole in the ground and dropped one of the torches inside.
"It doesn't seem that far down," Riel guessed, her mouth a thin a line. "Maybe only ten feet or so?"
"I don't know, Riel. Creators know what is down there. The Shems said that they saw demons. Who knows what else..."
Riel ignored the older elf's uneasy warnings and slowly lowered herself down through the hole. Above ground, Tamlen cursed profusely, pacing back and forth while he debated what to do. Inwardly, he knew that he should return to his clan and tell the Keeper of what they had found. Yet he couldn't very leave Riel alone here. Pulling at his hair in frustration, Tamlen said a final curse to Fen'harel, before denying his own better instincts and following Riel down the hole.
Riel landed with a slight grunt before quickly pulling out her dagger and looking around. Being in these ruins gave a thrill to her as she carefully eyed every shadow and corner for signs of enemies. For once she was not just sitting on the side of history as she heard the stories of her people being retold, but actually being a part of it. Tamlen landed beside her a few moments later, being quick to notch an arrow in his bow as he scanned the small room that they were in.
"By the Creators! What is this place?" Tamlen asked, looking around the shadowy ruins. Instead of answering, Riel picked up the torch beside her and began walking along the walls of the room.
Interspersed with elaborate designs of vines and forestry, there were obvious markings grouped together in various areas. Holding up the torch to one of the groupings, Riel squinted as she tried to make out what they meant. The Keeper had been teaching her how to read and write the King's Tongue, and even a bit of what little they knew of the old Elvhen language. Yet these markings were different than what she remembered. Still, the words called out to her, almost as if she could hear them being spoken in her mind.
Beware. Danger. War. Elvhen. Human. Eluvian.
It was the last word resounded within her the most. In the heavily bound and aging book the Keeper would sometimes look through, occasionally Riel would see a word that looked almost like the one etched here in the wall. And each time that Riel saw the word, a deep stirring within her would awaken. Something quiet, yet persistent. And now, here it was the same word, only the stirring inside of her was stronger than ever before. Whatever it was, it called out to her from deep within the ruins they now treaded. Reverently, Riel reached up and placed tentative fingers along the curves and etches of the markings on the wall.
"I wonder what it says?"
"This way," Riel whispered to her companion, slightly annoyed at him for breaking her concentration. Opening the door nearby, she quietly led both of them down the twisting halls and further into the ruins. Around them were various skeletons, broken pottery, and other debris that cluttered the floor. Many passages themselves were heavily draped in thick webbing, both from time and no doubt from the spiders that they could sometimes hear scurry in the distance.
"I-I-I think... I think we-we should head back, Riel," Tamlen stuttered as they passed by yet another skeleton that still hanging by the web that encased it.
Riel ignored him and instead followed the inner voice that was calling her deeper. Melodic and sweet, the humming in her ears reverberated down to her very blood as they went deeper into the ruins. It echoed along the halls, guiding her and pulling on her spirit with each step she took. Minutes dragged on until Tamlen lost all sense of how long that they were down there, yet Riel refused to stop or even speak more than a few short clipped words. They were so close now, she could feel it. In her mind, it was too late to turn back now anway. She needed to see what it was that pulled on her very soul.
Around the next bend is when they saw the doors. The entryway was massive; easily able to fit three people side by side between the large frames. Made out of a mixture of metal and wood, they were engraved with the same words that Riel saw in the first chamber. Dire warnings spelled out in deep etchings along both massive doors, yet Riel refused to heed them. Somewhere behind these doors came the source of the humming that she heard since entering the these ruins. Handing her torch to Tamlen, Riel approached the door. Laying her hands on the handles of the door, Riel was shocked to find that they seemed warm despite so many years of not being used. Taking a moment to examine the door, Riel summoned her strength and began to push, grunting with the effort to get them to budge.
"Is that really a good idea, Riel? Who knows what is behind there?" Tamlen whispered to her, fear making his voice thick and hard.
"Shut up, seth'lin, and help me open this door!" cursed Riel between grunts as she pressed hard against the doors.
Tamlen muttered a mixture of curses and prayers before putting the torches down on the ground and helping Riel with the doors. With the two of them pushing, a deep groan of wood and metal running against each other could be heard as the doors started to move. Dust and dirt that had built up for centuries fell down on them as the doors slowly swung open.
Inside past the doors, the room opened into a large circle, with a raised portion in the center. Scattered about was more broken refuse and crumbling stone. Large sections of the roof were even lying on the floor as the deep roots of the forest trees from above had invaded the ruins. As it was, it didn't look like the room would last much longer under the onslaught of nature. Yet for the moment, it seemed as relatively stable as the rest of the ruins. Although saying that didn't mean very much.
Yet it was the center of the room that caught and held Riel's sole attention. Raised up on an elaborate platform, was an extravagant and beautifully adorned full length mirror. The frame of the mirror was carved to look like wooden vines, with various jewels that glittered brightly that were embedded into the wood. The wood itself looked well aged, yet as smooth as finely made glass. Rubies, emeralds, and ambers gave the dark wood a rainbow of color as they adorned the frame in the shapes of autumn leaves.
Despite the obvious beauty of the frame, the most intriguing thing of all was the reflection that the mirror gave. As Riel looked into the mirror, her image seemed to bubble and move in strange ways. It was if the glass inside was alive as it stared back at her.
"Riel... We should leave!" Tamlen stated nervously as he stood by the door.
However Riel was too lost in the image of the mirror to hear him. Transfixed, only she and the mirror existed in her mind. The voice that had been leading her down the halls suddenly took form within her mind, begging her to touch the image that she saw flowing in the glass. The voice grew needful, urging her onwards as Riel moved closer to the mirror.
Touch me the voice ordered, it's soft murmurs more persuasive to be only a request. It was if there was no other choice for Riel than to place her hand on the surface of the mirror. Compelling. Overwhelming. Commanding. These were all words to describe the voice in Riel's head as she moved ever closer to the mirror.
Reaching out her arm, Riel was transfixed, compelled by this voice that was not her own, yet spoke sweetly and softly to her from somewhere deep inside of her. Just a hair's breadth from touching the shivering glass, Riel's hand froze as sheer terror suddenly filled her. The image that she reached out for morphed and swirled, changing from a reflection of herself to a demon with cold and piercing red eyes.
Riel screamed, backing away from the mirror, and running straight into the hulking mass of a demon of hunger behind her.
The demon laughed as it delivered a strong blow to Riel's face, sending her flying. Around her, the once empty room had now erupted with demons and shades. And in their midst, there stood Tamlen, fighting bravely against the mass of spirits. With sure aim, he took down several of the demons surrounding him, yet he was quickly running out of arrows. Horrified, Riel watched as the demons began to play with him, batting and pushing him around, taking their time before they killed him. Pulling out her dagger, Riel lunged at the closest demon, sinking her blade deep into its back. The creature screamed out in pain as it spun around, knocking Riel clear across the room. With a loud grunt, all the air in her lungs left her as she smashed against the far wall, then fell down to the ground below in a crumpled heap.
"Tamlen!" Riel screamed desperately as she again tried to stand. However, her voice pulled Tamlen's attention away from the demons he fought and towards her direction, where for a brief second he seemed relieved to see her. Yet the moment was stolen by one of the demon's impaling him through the chest from behind. His relief quickly shifting to shock, then bitter agony as he looked down at the protrusions coming from his chest. The bow slipped from his hands and fell down to the ground as Tamlen was raised up in the air by the demon behind him.
Riel watched in horror as the light from Tamlen's eyes faded and he slumped in the demon's grasp. Hot tears rushed down Riel's face as her fear turned swiftly to anger. Forcing herself to stand, she regarded the demons before her with a cold glare; her chest heaving with the intensity of her fury. Underneath her skin, Riel could feel a burning sensation begin to light her very blood on fire. Starting in her chest, it quickly expanded to rest of her body, coursing through her veins until the heat of it nearly consumed her. Riel tightly closed her eyes as the fire that she normally had kept so carefully hidden within her finally escaped from her very skin.
"Tamlen!" Riel cried out in vicious fury as the flames leapt from her. The sound of her voice echoed around the small room, melding with the screams of the demons as they were set on fire and burnt to ash by her powers.
The resulting cacophony became the sound of nightmares and the evils of the night that mothers warn their children of. It filled every corner of the room and through the halls beyond, overcoming any other sound that could be heard.
Then it was quiet again. The fire was gone, and she was alone in the room. Exhausted, Riel collapsed down to the ground, weak and unable to even lift her head. Defeated, she closed her eyes, letting the darkness of unconsciousness claim her.
Some time later, Riel opened her eyes to see a human man kneeling over her, shaking her. His voice was muffled, and Riel could only make out a few words that he was said to her. Somehow he knew her name, and seemed to know of Tamlen as well. All of it seemed so distant though, as if she was underwater looking up at the world. Riel tried to speak; to tell this human to leave her alone. Yet whatever she had done had left her so weakened, she could barely keep her eyes open. Seeing her struggle, the human tried to reassure her, saying something about 'wardens'. Whatever he meant, he quickly disappeared from her sight, then the sound Riel heard next was that of a loud crash. As if lightning itself cracked in the earthen room, and even in her weakened state, it made Riel cringe at the sound of it.
The human then returned, and in one swift move, Riel was up in his arms, being carried out of the ruins. Riel tried to fight back. With useless arms she tried to push the human man away from her. Yet it seemed like all her energy had burned away along with the fire that came from her.
Riel's last memory of the ruins was of a bitter and terrifying fear of again being trapped in chains, at the mercy of another human. To be used and abused once more. And this time, there would be no escape for her. As her eyes closed, Riel made a silent prayer to Mythal to please protect her.
And if she were to end up in chains to another master, to then please just kill her now.
It was better to be dead, than be a slave once more.
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Vhenan'ara