Into the Chaos

Chapter Fifty-Eight

Solas didn't act very differently on our journey to the wastes. A journey that was rather uneventful after getting a boat to Val Royeaux because let's be honest, no one wants to walk all the way there.

Solas didn't sit as straight as usual. Got lost in thought when no one was talking. Stayed away from the Anchored arm even though, as much as I pressed on it myself, there was nothing but a dull ache. Somewhat a mystery in and of itself. It would have been sore from the... veil band aids but it probably shouldn't have hurt like that. We'll see next time.

My main focus was to piece together the dragon parts. A mostly successful attempt before it somehow disappeared from my things. I say that as if I didn't know who took it.

And while the bow held my attention until it was gone, the waves of conversation between comfortable silences didn't hold my attention. Nervous about seeing Decius. Thinking about Solas's reaction to the Anchor.

Understandable really. But there could be more to it however unlikely. But it's not as though I can read minds.... Well, not really. I wonder what they've done already. Griffin Keep probably, if that dream did have anything true in it. I'll know when I get there. There ought to still be some evidence of it. Shoulder wounds are not the best.

Somewhere along the way, some 15 measures of a concerto got stuck in my head. Not even the beginning, right in the middle of a phrase. For days. Considering I don't sleep, they were a long few days. It wasn't anything I had heard recently before arriving. I know it's in a minor key, the best kind of key, but it's not like I know the name or composer. It's probably just called a violin concerto and the minor key it's in. I can't ask either.

I think Hilary Hahn played it for some radio in France? I feel like that should narrow it down but it doesn't. I remember watching it. She was wearing a nice dress—evening gown. Was it even an evening gown? Yes, those are the important questions. What even are evening gowns. I should know that. I've worn some. I suppose at that point it's just a concert gown.

~~~

Val Royeaux was the same as the last time we were all here. Intrigue, masked faces, and french accents. Just less templars. The only benefit to travelling this way is getting to avoid the mess in the Graves, the Exalted Plains, and the mountains. Okay, it did cut a while off our journey. Which is also a benefit. It evens out pretty evenly I guess.

The shift in biomes happened a little more sudden than I originally thought. One moment we were walking through some plains and the next there was sand everywhere with little tufts of grass and red stone to poking through the sand. Which did happen a lot throughout the approach, less so in the wastes, but still somewhat notable.

I keep my hands behind me as we walk. Out of sight, out of mind, right? I see a worn stone post not too far away from us, a little ways off of what could be considered a road. Is that a Chantry thing? Already? Why didn't I notice when I was out here for the Oasis? Well, the Oasis does not border the Abyssal Rift like the section we're headed to. Right? Geography. Is that giant trench even the Abyssal Rift? I'll see it when we finally get there.

~~~

A long time of walking along the line between sand and vaguely not sand, there's finally a road to where we want to go. A road further outlined by the evenly spaced Chantry markers that were put here at least within the last century or so.

"Where are we going first, now that we're here?" Cass asks.

"There's a keep on the far side that overlooks that lovely cliffside off in the distance. If they aren't there by now, we should be able to find them on the way."

"I feel odd to ask but, do you think there'll be a lot of trouble?"

"Do I know? Depends on how far they've gotten. There will be rifts, venatori, and a dragon. And sulfur pits, darkspawn. Really, aside from the sulfur, it's a regular day at the office."

Sera starts walking backwards, "What about a desert screams 'I'm an office'?"

"It's a saying. It's nothing unusual for what we do currently, is what I meant."

"You're weird."

"We established this?"

"Yeah, but, you know," she wiggles her fingers at me, "weirdo."

"I'll take it as a compliment, Sera. You should do that to Decius when we see him."

"He wont start singin' will he?"

I shrug, "depends on how he feels, really."