Sisters of Tevinter

Reunion

(no, we have no regrets for the image)

                Jor's eyes opened slowly. They were sticky with sleep. Her hands ached... but there was no searing pain. In fact, everything ached. Her fingers found the rough quilt beneath her. She was lying on a modest cot. A fireplace flickered across the wooden room. A chair sat unoccupied at her bedside. With a groan, she sat up wearily- and swallowed a shriek as someone beat her to it. 

                 The young elfwoman yelped, dropping her bundle of blankets and falling to her knees. "You're awake. Herald of Andraste." 

                   "I'm sorry?" Jor drew her knees to her chest. Her stomach growled. 

                    "I beg your forgiveness," the elf murmured, pressing her forehead to the floor, trembling. 

                    "Now hang on," Jor said gently, cradling her aching temple in her hand as she slid out of bed. "Don't apologize. What did you call me?" 

                     "The Herald of Andraste. She spoke to you- gave you that mark on your hand. You've been chosen." The elf's trembling grew worse. 

                      Jor blinked away the thought that perhaps she was mad. She was speaking gibberish. "Calm down." 

                        The elf rose quickly, clasping her hands in front of her as she backed out the door. "Seeker Cassandra wished to be alerted immediately if you woke." 

                         "Wait-"

                         "Immediately." The young woman rushed away, through the door and out into the cold. It was early morning, the wind whistled across the doorway before it swung shut. Jor stumbled blearily to the gray leather coat that hung from the wall and wrapped her scarf around her neck. It had been freshly washed and laid out for her on the nightstand. She slipped into the coat and stepped outside, her boots crunching in the snow. 

                        The first thing she noticed was the quiet. No thunder. Then the sharpened log battlements that walled where she was standing. A small, hastily constructed village of huts leaking wood smoke, arranged around a great set of double doors carved into the mountain. The dawn was slow, soft and cold. No one could be seen. Jor took a hesitant step onto the narrow packed dirt road. 

                          Scratch that. 

                         She could hear voices up ahead. One familiar. Varric? She walked uncertainly down the space between huts and shops and small tents. There was something nagging at her memory from the other voice too. A high laughter. She shook her head blearily. Perhaps she was imagining things. 

                         Varric rounded the corner, looking up to talk to the tall, slender young woman with fiery red hair and a bronze helmet tucked under her arm. 

                          Jor knew that hair. 

                         The young woman froze, a ram faced with a bear, staring at Jor with wide green eyes. The same jade green eyes that stared back at Jor when she saw her own reflection. Varric glanced between them. "Uh oh." 

                           A million emotions seared through Jor's chest, leaving her legs weak. Anger, fear, pain, and overwhelming, suffocating relief. "Kai-" 

                            The redhaired girl turned. And ran.

                             Fleet as a deer, she darted back down the path from where she'd come. Varric cast Jor a wry grin. "Go on then."