Hunt

Chapter 9: Downtime

Lavellan

I jerked awake in my room with a pounding headache. I gasped in pain and put my head between my hands. Gods, just make it stop. Suddenly, there was a flicker of light and no more pain.

"My headache is gone. What the-?"

"That's one of your new talents," Laran, my mentor, replied. "Serious healing magic. You just think and it does."

"Huh, handy."

"Very," she said with a smile.

Her dark skin seemed to glow in the light coming through the balcony window. I flopped back down on the large bed, staring at the high vaulted ceiling.

"Are there others like me? You said you could feel them."

"You are the last of your bloodline, but there are more shan lin in the world," Laran told me. "They let of a sort of pulse through the magical energies. That's how we detect them."

"Why couldn't you sense me?"

"Well, we can sense you now and when you were younger. We think that something might've been causing a sort of interference that made you undetectable."

"Could it have been the mark?"

She shook her head. Her dark eyes meet mine with a bit of uncertainty. "We only started sensing you last night. Right after you came to our area in the Fade for your awakening."

My eyes widen as what she says starts to click in my mind. "You think Solas was causing the interference?"

She nodded. "We aren't quite sure how, but we have a guess. You might not like it."

"Just hit me with it."

"You and Solas might have the same source of magic." I sat up and gave her a confused look.

"You mean he's shan lin, too?"

"No. He's not a blood relation. I'm guessing you don't know the story of Leaquila and her siblings?" I shook my head. "Alright. At the beginning of creation, there was a war in the heavens between light, our gods, and dark, the Cursed. In the end, the gods won, but it came at a great price. Their kin had been slaughtered, and they were the last. They found that they could not destroy the last of the Cursed. They removed his heartstone and locked it away.

"They were weakened from the war but helped the races rebuild. The gods also tried to find a place to hide the Cursed heartstone. Argim, father of the dwarves, saw the greed of his children and bade they hide it elsewhere. Deriv, father of the humans, saw the hunger of his kind and bade they hide it elsewhere. Lesa'nan, mother of the Elven, saw the pride of her people but found it the least damaging of all. She hid the heartstone on their lands.

"She appeared to the Elven in a dream and told them their kin would find prosperity should they build on the land. Lesa'nan then warned them that if the land was desecrated, their blessing would become their curse should the doors of their city open again.

"Their work was done, but they still worried for the children they left behind. Each left pieces of their power to find the one most worthy so that the chosen would watch over and protect the people. When this was done, Leaquila, Argim, Deriv, Lesa'nan, and the rest of their brethren vanished without a trace."

I sat in thoughtful silence for a few minutes. "So you think Solas has a piece of Leaquila's power?"

Laran nodded. After a couple more minutes, she rose from her seat. "Your power still needs time to settle. We'll start training tomorrow."

She left the room, and I stared at her empty chair. For some reason, I really didn't want to be alone. Cole must have felt my loneliness because his head popped around my door a couple minutes later.

"I'm here to help. You're starting to feel wrong," he told me. I motioned for him to come in. He took Laran's seat.

"It's a lot to process."

"You should talk to Dorian. I think he misses you."

I smiled at the spirit of compassion who became a human. "Do you want to stay? I think he'd like to talk to you, too."

"Yes. I miss him."

I took out my communication crystal and opened the locket. After activating it, I called out.

"Dori, are you there?"

After a beat or two, he responded.

"Ah, the great ex-Inquisitor has deigned to speak with a lowly magister." Sarcasm dripped from the sentence.

"You can't be mad. The crystal works both ways, Mr. Man," I sauced back.

"Hello, Dorian," Cole greeted him.

"Cole! It's been ages? How are you doing? Is the Inquisitor feeding you properly? If not, you and Maryden can come stay with me."

"No way," I protested. "Maryden's on of the best minstrels in Thedas. She stays with me."

"I go where Maryden goes," Cole said.

"Love does that to you," Dori sighed. "Speaking of which, how're you doing, Eva?"

He and I filled each other in on what's happened so far. It took about two hours and a bottle of wine, which Cole retrieved for me since he somehow knew where it was. I learned not to question things like that over the years.

"Can you believe that jerk could have been watching me this whole time? Gods, I just want to slap his face." I scowled at my empty bottle. "His face is so slap-able, and his head is shaped like an egg. Also, how come he suddenly had taste, huh? Why has he been wearing pajamas the whole time he's with us? Are we not worthy of a Solas with taste? Is that why we get the egg head pajama mage?" I was pacing around the room as I ranted. Cole watched me from the edge of the bed, where he sat.

Dorian was laughing his butt off on the other end of the crystal. "An egg head pajama mage! That's perfect! I've got to tell Viviene. Oh Maker, I can't breathe."

"It is funny," Cole replied with a smile.

I sighed and flung myself on the bed next to him. I let out a scream into the mattress.

"Is she okay?" Dorian's voice shook as he tried not to laugh.

"She's yelling into the mattress. There are a lot of bad words going through her mind," Cole told him. Damn spirit powers. "Now she's upset cause I'm listening. I can't help it. I'm sorry." It's okay, Cole. I know you can't control it. "Ok."

"Does she feel better, Cole?"

"Yes. She just needed to let it out."

I rolled over. "What am I going to do?"

"Find out anything you can about your enemy. The more you know, the better," Dorian said.

I nodded. "I think I might also try contacting the other shan lin with my new talents. I'm going to ask Laran to teach me how to feel them out."

"That would be a good idea. You seem to be a powerful lot. I'm sure they'd be interested in helping or finding out about their powers."

I nodded again. "Thanks, guys. I needed this. Good luck on the vote tomorrow, Dorian!"

"Thanks, dear. And any time."

I deactivated the crystal and closed the locket.

"Where's your room, Cole?"

"Across the hall," he replied. "I'll be there if you need me."

I nodded. He left, and I crawled under the sheets. I decided not to consciously go to the Fade. For now, I wanted to dream.

No Solas POV in this chapter due to how the passage of time would feel, as it's going to take place a few days after these events. This is a bit of filler, but there is vital information. Also, I thought it would be cool to see her interact with the other characters. We also see what Eva plans to do next.