Dragon Age Origins: The Tale of Solana

Chapter 2: Finding Soris

There have always been Alienages. They have been around for as long as elves and shems have lived in the same lands. Solana's isn't even the worst: they say that the one in Val Royeaux has ten thousand elves living in a space no bigger than Denerim's market. Their walls are supposedly so high that daylight doesn't reach the vhenadahl, or the tree that sits smack in the middle of most alienages, until midday.

Solana walks up the cobblestone path toward the vhenadahl. She keeps in mind not to get too tore up about other Alienages, or start picking fights with the guards to tear down the walls. They keep out more than they keep in. They don't have to live here, she remembers. Sometimes a family gets a good break, and they buy a house in the docks, or the outskirts of town. If they're lucky, they don't come back to the Alienage after the looters have burned their house down. The unlucky ones just go to the paupers' fields.

No, Solana thinks, Here, we're among family. Here, they look out for each other. Here, we do what we can to remember the old ways the best we can. Here, we try to make peace.

And keep the old ways, and traditions, they have tried to keep; the humans tell tales of Andraste, and to them, she was a prophet. To Solana's people, however, she was an inspiration. Her rebellion against Tevinter gave the elves a window through which to see the sun, and they had reached toward it with all their strength.

The rebellion was brief but successful; even after the death of the prophetess, the elves had fought on for independence as the human Imperium began to crumble. In the end, the elves had won freedom and the southern land known as the Dales, and they had a new homeland.

There in the Dales, Solana's people revived the lost lore as best they could. She remembered the stories of how the elves called the first city Halamshiral, "end of the journey," and founded a new nation. They were isolated, just as they were always meant to be. Patrolled by an order of Emerald Knights charged with watching the borders for trouble from humans.

But, Solana knew how the story always ended. Something had gone terribly wrong. A small elven raiding party attacked the nearby human village, called Red Crossing, and in an act of anger, the Chantry had retaliated.

Elves were defeated, and forced back into servitude. The worship of their old gods gone. Forced to live as second class citizens to the shemlen people who worshiped the Maker and Andraste around them.

Solana contemplated what it might have been like to grow up without the protection of the Denerim walls, and it felt lonely. To this day, she never really thought about leaving. After all, this was her home and where her family was. Where could she go?

Suddenly, a drunken elf stumbles in front of Solana. His friends all wobble in place next to him. The drunken elf helplessly gets to his feet. Solana just narrows her eyes impatiently. She knew this man. His name was Servis, a drunkard who was more cowardly than heroic. She rolled her eyes as he peered at her.

"Well, hello. Aren't you a sight for sore eyes," came his drunken slur of words. Solana waved off the smell of alcohol on his breath.

"You're drunk! Already Servis?"

His friend smiled big and hiccuped. "It's a wedding, isn't it?" He looked around at his friends to established what Solana could only assume was some kind of drunken question to see if he was right.

Servis raised both arms into the air and cheered with a loud voice. The others joined in a loud choir of drunken laughter and banter. Solana waved them off with a groan and continued on her way. She wasn't in the mood to try and talk sense into that rabble today.

As she approached the large oak tree, Solana is reminded how small she is compared to things around her. The vhenadahl had moss hanging from its branches high above the alienage walls. To it, everything must seem small and unimportant. One would have to wonder what it would take to measure up to its' stature.