Sisters of Tevinter

Crossroads

                     Jor had retreated to the cabin where she had woken, rummaging around for the dirks she had acquired and anything to eat. She found one wrapped loaf of bread on the table and figured it would do. She reemerged and trotted down the road and a small flight of stone stairs to a corner of the compound. The smell of herbs and something burning was heavy here, and she found Solas seated in a rickedy wooden chair by the wall of sharpened logs. 

                       He looked deep in thought, staring out over the view of the mountains and the foreboding green cloud that was the Breach. The sun was just beginning to reach its peak in the winter sky. 

                       "Good morning?" Jor greeted hesitantly. The elf turned keen eyes to her. 

                        "Hello." 

                         Jor smiled uncertainly. "Did you hear?" 

                        "I was informed of our next task, yes. I was instructed to wait for you. Cassandra was most impatient, she is waiting outside the gates." 

                        "Oh. I hadn't meant to keep anyone waiting. Should we go then?" 

                         Solas rose. "For the sake of this Inquisition, yes." Then he smiled. "Though I for one have no qualms about making the Seeker wait a little longer." 

                          Jor laughed. "Come, they'll get cold." She tugged her hood over her head and walked with the mage into the snow and out of Haven. Cassandra was bickering with Varric outside, brandishing a finger accusingly. 

                            "And another thing, you foul little weasel-"

                            "Oh, name calling! That's original," Varric declared, clearly exasperated. 

                            "We should get going," Jor interjected, hoping to spare the dwarf any more of Cassandra's wrath. 

                            "Couldn't agree more," Varric huffed. He pulled a map from his coat and started to push his way through the snowfall of a mountain pass. Cassandra scoffed and followed after him. Solas cast Jor a bemused glance and forged ahead. 

                           This'll be fun. Jor sighed and steadied her nerves, plunging into the snow after her companions. 

                          After a few hours, the snow thinned. The mountains turned to foothills, the stone turned to red mud and sparse grasses. Rock formations miles high rose unbidden at seemingly random locations, overgrown with trees and creating jagged cliff faces and large, half buried boulders that made navigation difficult. It was late afternoon when they finally found a wide expanse of clear road. The surrounding wilderness looked nearly deserted void of the occasional chirping fennec. 

                           Solas lifted his head to glance at the sun. "Are you certain we are going in the right direction?" 

                           Varric scoffed. "You doubt my cartography?" 

                          Cassandra groaned. Jor's confidence did not soar. Her feet ached, her hands were cold. 

                           "Look. There's Bear Rock." Varric gestured vaguely at a twisted boulder that looked more like an agonized chicken. "We should be at the gates of Redcliffe before nightfall."