The Wolf and the Halla

In These Walls

I also wrote a Solas fanfic with this theme, it is under Dragon Age Drabble and One Shots. I'll also add it to the beginning of this story as a kind of prologue.

It had been some time since they had went to Lyklor, the elves had settled in well, and the young mages were being taught how to use magic properly and safely, yet efficiently. She helped sometimes along with Solas. Revansa had went back to Lavellan soon after they had returned.

Cassandra had asked him to stay, but he refused, saying that he could not abandon them now, even in the calm of the storm. He promised to visit again. Cassandra would deny it, but Adani had seen them kiss the night he left.

She went into the Fade by herself sometimes. She had learned how as a young woman, though she hardly did. It was dangerous, after all, especially in those times when the Breach filled Thedas with demons.

This night was one of them. She drifted off with the intention of wandering the halls of Skyhold's past. When she became conscious in the Fade, she was excited to get a look at the old Castle's history. She sat up from the bed, foreign to her now in its silken sheets. The room was highly decorated. There were bookshelves everywhere, filled with books and strange objects. She walked over and plucked a book from the shelf. She opened it to take a peek, everything was written in old Elvhen. She could only make out a few words.

Her face furrowed before she put the book back. She went out onto the balcony next. She gaped at the mountains. There were little building along some of them, lit up with lights she didn't understand. The building seemed to glow. She thought it was amazing. She looked around on the balcony, the windows were different. The stained glass made shapes, some she insignificant, others looked like little wolves, or elves with pointed ears.

"That's interesting." She said aloud. It didn't matter, no one could hear her. She walked out of her quarters and down the steps. In the main hall there were elves everywhere, bearing all sorts of vallaslin. Some didn't have one, which she thought was strange.

There was a throne here. Though it was much different than any she had seen. It looked like it was made from the trunk of a tree, white wood carved into a wolf with its eyes little blue jewels. The seat of the throne sat between the hound's front legs. Some sentries stood on either side in shining armor. She looked around at the tables that sat around, busy with elves eating supper, most without vallaslin sat at the table, laughing and drinking.

There were large murals on some of the walls, hand painted. There was one of an elf, his face turned away, his shadow was of a wolf, it's legs meeting the shadows of his arms and legs. Another portrayed something she didn't understand, it had trees full of lights and crystalline buildings, there was swirls that went about the painting. It gave it a joyful feel, when she looked at it like triggering a faint memory.

She went on through what was, in her time, Josephine's office. It was full of bustling elves, stacking up all kinds of fruits and vegetables. Meat hang on hooks from the ceiling. This was a storage room. Next to the War Room, she found it exactly the same. Except the map that lay on it was very different. Cities lie everywhere, names she had never heard of. There were little flags at some and small statues at others.

She walked back through the main hall. The elves at the table continued to speak and laugh, though she didn't understand what they said. She turned into what was now Solas's study. When she walked in she saw murals covering the walls and even the ceiling. Some showed pictures of what can only be described as a massacre, a war of epic proportions. Others were of elves with smiles, some were merely of shadows. The ones on the roof seemed to portray the rise and fall of an elven man. He was left as a shadow with sad blue eyes. They told a story, similar to the ones Solas had painted now.

"That's curious." She twirled around, taking it all in. Then chucked it up to him visiting the Fade here and seeing the murals himself, thinking he should paint on the walls as tribute or something.

She ventured outside, to the garden. There were winding trees and beautiful flowers, the like of which she had never seen. Most importantly, Fen'harel sat right where Solas said he had. Looking out from the castle. She ran her hands along the wolf as she passed. Under one of the gazebos was a large mirror, an eluvian. The word came to her from somewhere. She took in all of the beautiful plants and birds.

In the courtyard there was another large statue of Fen'harel right where they now tended to the wounded. Elves were walking around here. Some appeared to be traders, others seemed that they were guards. Most, however, seemed to be calming down for the night. Sentries gaurded the gate here as well.

She walked down the steps carefully, as she took in the sights. In the tavern, most things were the same. Only the faces were different. The hold's beneath Skyhold were empty, meaning either a show of mercy or lack of. The wall was intact here as well and there was a large mural on that wall of Fen'harel. The wolf looked up to a large tree, howling, blood oozed from the tree's trunk in intricate lines. Pooling under it, where the wolf sat howling.

She moved on, towards the stables, as she thought of all of the paintings together, some didn't make any sense to her yet made her feel things. She supposed that was normal, she was in the Fade, after all. Emotions were ties to personal artifacts.

Once at the stable she saw a large animal in the barn alone. There was a couple of horses, and one hart in the stables. They were not that unordinary. She moved into the stable where she found a large winged animal. It had a beak like a bird, yet the body of a horse, deep intelligent eyes. It wore adorned armor, golden with jewels in the armor. The armor of a royal's steed, she concluded. She wanted to touch it. She reached out and touched it, it's feathers were so soft. The animal looked up from its snack of fruits and looked at her. For a moment she didn't understand how the beast could see her.

She heard the door opening behind her and she whipped around to see who entered. A man with a long braid of black hair, he wore a simple robe with no shoes. His face was kind of familiar, but it was hard to place faces in the Fade. He walked through her and petted the Griffon on the head. It seemed to come to life at his touch and began jumping about the barn like a big puppy. The man laughed before speaking out to calm it.

She left them to it. As she was returning to the castle she looked up to the banners that hung there. They were of strange symbols she had never seen. Perhaps, these had still hanged when they arrived at Skyhold, as old rags, too worn to see what had once been dyed there.

She went back to her room and lie on the bed, the silk bedding reminded her of the ones she and Solas had seen on their trip into the Fade, and into a different castle in the trees. She looked around at everything in the room. Everything seemed pretty ordinary, except one thing that caught her attention. A ball, with intricate circles on it. She was locked into it, when she awoke to the sounds of trumpets being blown outside.

She sighed. "Time to get up."