Dragon Age Inquisition: Their Wonderful Abnormality

Sense

Elsa Trevelyan allowed the world to fade away.

Every inch of her skin was submerged in warmth and she felt her hair slowly dance and twist around her, floating. She heard nothing. The world had been muted, its sounds, its feelings and suddenly it was just her. She was alone. All she could hear was her own heartbeat in her ears; the only sound to remind her of herself, of reality. She was reduced to the very centre of what she was: A thud and a pause. Thud. Pause. Thud. Pause....

She allowed her mind to wander, she opened the floodgates and thoughts sept back, gushing like rivers into their dried riverbeds, winding away, flowing again.

Without a world to exist in, what was she? A body? A heartbeat? A mind to wonder? Without eyes to see her, perceive her, to hate or to love her what was she? A being of its own given definition, left down to and perhaps even degraded by the lone interpretation of itself.

As she thought she gently flexed her fingers, feeling the water they ran through which had cooled to such a temperature it barely felt like water at all – more like silk. She felt her hair brush over her closed eyelids and for the first time she heard the distant echoes of the world above her. She seemed so separated, despite only being kept apart from reality by an inch of cloudy water. She had waited until it was still as looking-glass.

Suddenly the world exploded into movement and fear struck her chest. Her eyes flew open. Instantly, all that surged to the front of her mind was the bloodied snarl of Black-Cloak and the feel of cold, phantom hands closing around her neck slowly growing tighter and tighter... But a slither of her knew her world of serenity and self-definition was broken only by pair of hands clutching her shoulders and dragging her upwards to the water's surface.

Her skin hit the cold of her chambers and she gasped loudly, head pulled backwards by the weight of her wet hair. She tried to open her eyes but hissed when she found they stung sharply with soap.

"Maker's breath are you trying to give me a heart attack!"

Her shoulders were released quickly in shock but Elsa just growled, rubbing her eyes hard with the back of her hand. She summoned the bravery to open them just a crack and as she did she caught the blurry image of a white shirt and blonde hair.

"You stupid idiot," She muttered bitterly to Cullen, instantly closing her eyes again for the soap and water stung mercilessly. She heard him stammer on words, the unsure croak of half-formed letters caught in the back of his throat as they usually did when he was anxious.

"I-I thought you had..." He trailed away.

"What?" She cut in irritably, hating she must have looked quite ridiculous sat in the bath with her knees pulled to her chest. She was inexcusably angry. "killed myself?"

He bit back words. He must have been stood there painfully unsure on what to do with himself. She sighed, trying not to let the thought of his blushing sway her annoyance at his – somewhat terrifying – interruption.

"Just... just pass me the towel, will you? It's on the bed."

There was another pause and due to the cold prickling her skin she became painfully aware of her stark nakedness. She sunk into the cloudy water trying to hide the red flush of her face with exaggerated eye-rubbing.

The bathtub poor Josie had finally managed to get hold of after much deliberation, and, she daresay, insistent nagging had become rather one of Elsa's favourite distractions. The water was soothing and there was something about sitting warm in a cold room that she rather liked. It proved also a perfect time to think.