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An Unlikely Pairing (Dragon Age Inquisition)	By : Elvhennan Category: +A through F > Dragon Age (all) > Dragon Age (all) Views: 949 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to Dragon Age: Inquisition. I do not own the fandom nor the characters and I make no profit off of this story.

Chapter List
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Red Templars, Red Lyrium, missing Wardens, Fade Rifts still pouring out demons, and Cassandra was going to kill Varric while he slept for hiding that Hawke character from her, it was all too much. They all looked to me to tackle problems that were beyond the power of one man to conquer.
I missed Cassandra, my stoic and stern companion. She had so much going on with the Chantry and Leliana and Cullen that I couldn’t ask her to run off into the countryside with me to close Rifts anymore without feeling guilty that I was dragging her away from greater responsibilities. Not that there were any greater responsibilities than closing the Rifts, but Bull was just as capable a warrior and if I left him behind in Skyhold he just sat around drinking. After all, I’d hired the Chargers to aid me, I should get my money’s worth.
The same could be said of my good hearted Sera. Her room in the tavern had become a favorite spot of mine in the keep. All of her bright colors and... curious collections. She called it her Cabinet of Wonders. She didn’t really want to accompany me in my travels, something about demons and magic being rubbish, but with a little prodding about villagers and refugees needing help she’d leave her comfortable cabinet and come along. Having her nowhere near the treasury certainly gave Cassandra peace of mind.
I’d made a mistake thinking Sera could travel with anyone though. She hated Vivienne and Solas and their constant bickering whenever I was forced to have them in the same place for too long was enough to make me think dropping my shield on the battlefield was a decent idea.
But it turned out all right, because Vivienne and Solas both had courtly duties to attend, now that we had a court. Vivienne writing to nobles and Circle mages alike on our behalf and Solas receiving so many tomes on the Fade I did not know how he’d ever accomplish reading them all. So in terms of mages I was left with but one option, Dorian.
The three of them got along surprisingly well considering Bull hated Vints, Sera distrusted magic, and Dorian knew what the Qunari did to mages. Part of me, a petty, childish part somewhere deep down in my soul, enjoyed that last bit. Dorian’s people had my people enslaved. Bull’s people had Dorian’s people enslaved. Neither were right, but whenever Dorian questioned Bull about the subject, I could hear the outrage in his voice. I’d felt that same outrage my whole life, now he felt it too. ‘Good,’ said that petty part of me.
Of course, after our night drinking in the tavern at Haven, I knew Dorian had no love for the slavery in his country nor the poverty in this one. For someone who grew from boy to man experiencing nothing but luxury I always found him to be shockingly.... grounded.
I wondered how he’d turned out so different from the rest of his people. I would cast sideways glances at him when I thought no one was looking. I wanted to understand him and sometimes I thought I did. I’d witnessed moments where the sarcasm faded and there was a complex individual underneath. After all, he faced as much scrutiny in this country as I once did. “The Evil Tevinter Magister” could be heard echoing in whispers around Skyhold, always to fade when he walked through the hall. The people had accepted me as a hero, a savior, and their leader. No one’s eyes wandered to the tips of my ears or the curving lines of my Vallaslin when they spoke to me anymore. The same could not be said of Dorian, who had proven his true character to me in Redcliffe, but no one else had been there to see it.
Where I was the first to distrust him it saddened me now, that others did the same. I knew that feeling. Fenedhis, this whole journey had started with my wrists in chains. Maybe bringing him on my travels was partly to give him the opportunity to quiet the whispers.
Or maybe it was driven by my selfish desire to be able to look at him for days on end, but I liked to believe I was nobler than that. That was just a.... pleasant consequence?
“Indulge me, Sera, what do you think of when I say ‘Demons’?” my ears perked at the sound of his voice.
“Arrows,” she said without a moment’s hesitation.
“Fine. Magister?” Dorian continued.
“Arrows,” she smirked.
“Not helpful,” he remarked, “but given our history I’ll accept it.”
He was quiet a moment before he said “Thaumaturgy?”
Even I turned to look at him quizzically.
“What?” Sera’s face took on the expression she had when she was calling someone ‘stupid’.
“Magical endeavors,” he explained. “Helpful Wonders.”
“Ooohhhhhh,” the expression disappeared and then almost immediately returned. “Arrows.”
Dorian sighed, but he was smiling, just a bit, if you were looking for it.
“Must grind your gristle that the Elder One is some crazy Vint asshole, huh?” Bull voiced from the back of the group.
“I’m not thrilled that we should take those old legends at face value,” Dorian admitted.
“Guess HE thinks the modern Imperium is a real letdown, too.”
“Why wouldn’t he? Tevinter once covered all of Thedas, it’s glory only matched by its depravity,” Dorian speculated. It was immeasurably satisfying every time he degraded Tevinter. “It’d be like Koslun showing up and learning the Qunari hadn’t conquered the world after all.”
Bull chuckled. “Yes, priesthood’s been trying to explain that one for years.”
The caves under Crestwood were dark and dank and full of demons, the conversation helped to lighten the mood. It was nice, at least, to be out of the rain. We’d come to find the mysterious Warden Hawke had talked about but Scout Harding had informed us of the crisis in Crestwood the moment we’d arrived. Even Sera had looked at me sternly and said “We’re not going to leave them, right?”. We asked the Grey Wardens we’d met on the road if they could stay to help, but they refused. It appeared they were searching for Hawke’s friend as well. I’d hardly felt like we could spare the time to take a fortress, drain a lake, and come wandering through these tunnels, but here we were. The power of my mark was, in fact, the only thing that could save these people. The Chantry sister in town had told us of all the drowned bodies here and with a Rift open demons and spirits were turning the corpses into hostile Undead. Sera was right, this had to be stopped.
It also didn’t hurt to have a keep in Ferelden other than Skyhold. Caer Bronach would be a good place to station Cullen’s forces. Might even benefit the people of Crestwood all the more to have us nearby.
Caves became old Dwarven ruins the further we descended. I had to admit I was glad to see stone stairways as opposed to old rotting wooden planks. It’d be ironic to lose a friend to a broken board after surviving an attack by an arch demon. An irony I’d rather avoid.
When we finally came upon the Rift it was unusually large. Demons poured from it.m incessantly. If Solas has been here, he’d name them. Shade, Terror, Wraith, Rage. I didn’t distinguish demons that one. It was always “those ones with the tails” or “FUCK, what is THAT?” to me.
I tried to disrupt its energy to no avail, they were still coming through. Bull was roaring, swinging his greataxe mightily through the smaller ones, dispelling them with a single blow. Dorian cast in every direction, the light dancing off the wet walls. Just as we thought I might be able to close it a massive one spawned seemingly out of the ground directly behind where Sera had taken up a spot to rain arrows into the fray.
She turned and put an arrow in its face, but that only seemed to anger it more. Oh yeah, I thought, those are the Rage demons. She put another arrow in its face shouting something about a “Wrong fiery arsehole”.
The demon growled and lifted an arm to strike her but I was already there to turn away the blow, giving her a moment to leap away and giving me the opening to drive my sword deep under its arm. I saw one of Dorian’s tunes appear on the ground and pulled back my sword to get out of the way before I too was electrocuted. Lightning sprang up from the ground and consumed the creature. When the static faded Bull was behind the demon ready to bring down his axe into its back. That was enough to send the creature back to the Fade.
It seemed to be over. I took a deep breath, set my jaw in a hard line, and turned the Mark toward the Rift. Every nerve in my arm fizzled and seared as the energies battled for dominance, the Mark did not relent and the Rift collapsed in on itself.
“Now we loot the place!” exclaimed Sera. “Bull help me with this lid, why do dwarves make everything out of solid rock? Stupid.”
She and Bull searched the cavern for anything worth anything as I tried to rub the tingling out of my palm.
“Are you all right?” Dorian asked softly, I had not seen him there.
“It’s nothing I can’t handle.”
He didn’t look like he believed me so I gave him a smile and stood up straighter. He let it go.
Sera and Iron Bull were coming back toward us.
“Find anything?” I asked.
“Uhhhh, some gold in the box,” said Sera.
“And I think this fancy looking axe fell out of the Rift, Boss.” Bull handed me an axe with green edges and intricate engravings. It felt familiar.
“It’s Dalish.” I said recognizing some of the runes. I’d grown up on the legends of the Emerald Knights, and couldn’t help but think of Nomaris’ curse. Could one of those demons had been him? Or perhaps the Orlesian soldier who had poisoned his tree? Or was I just reading too much into it?
“Oh don’t get all elfy on us,,” Sera said. “Let’s get out of this friggin’ hole and back to the city, yeah?”
I hooked the axe into my belt and we found our way out of the caves. When we emerged on the surface the sun was shining for ther first time since we’d stepped into Crestwood.
- 8
- 9
- 10
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An Unlikely Pairing (Dragon Age Inquisition)