The Blood that Binds

Assassins and Imposters

They left Kinloch Hold a companion heavier. Wynne climbed into the boat with Leliana and again, Solona was left with Alistair. She was reaching her breaking point with no sleep. The brief jaunt to the Fade had not given her any rest and she had been using her magic to the brink of being tapped for nearly a full day. As they pushed off from the shore and Alistair hopped into the tiny rowboat, he grinned excitedly. She returned the smile, but was not in the mood for any deep conversations. She hinted as much by lowering her head onto her knees and sighing heavily. Alistair took the hint flawlessly and turned his attention to simply rowing the boat into the middle of the lake so they could float south to Redcliffe.

Solona found no rest in the boat as the sun began to dip below the horizon. She was drawn into her own thoughts. She was exhausted, hungry and sapped, but Alistair's profile in the backdrop of the setting sun still caught her attention. She sighed and stared for a moment before blurting out the compliment she felt she owed him for calling her beautiful. "Has anyone ever told you how handsome you are?"

His head swiveled and his eyes fell on her in shock for a moment before a teasing grin spread across his face. "Not unless they were asking me for a favor." His brows knitted together and then he amended his phrase. "Well, there was that one time in Denerim, but those women were... not like you..." The grin returned and his eyes flicked over her shabby run down appearance. "Why? Is this your way of telling me you think I'm handsome?"

"And if it is?" She slurred, not really certain what she was saying. "What then?"

He snorted. "Oh, nothing much. I just get to grin a bit and look foolish for a while."

"That's nothing new," she said with a yawn.

"Oh, my wounded pride," he sighed, the promised grin still present. "We still have a few hours of rowing ahead of us. You should rest, Sol. You look exhausted."

Compared to the last visit, the stroll through the Fade to save Connor was easy as pie. Solona ran into Arl Eamon early on, trapped in sea of spirits that all looked like either him or Connor. She calmed him and promised she would help. Through a portal, she found Connor. After speaking to him for a few moments, it became rather evident that she was definitely not speaking to Connor. It was a guardian, meant to confuse and trap her, too. She destroyed the demon and crossed back through the portal. On the other side, the area where Arl Eamon had stood was changed. She followed a twirling path around to a twisted idea of a bedroom. Connor stood there again, his arms crossed. 'You're the one making father sick!' the guardian accused. Solona waved it off and it attacked her. She dodged the swipe of it's arm after it, rather painfully, changed from Connor into a desire demon. She jammed her staff into its gut, pushing it away from her and onto the bed behind it. She set the bed ablaze beneath it. With the second guardian dealt with, she had no choice but to take the portal again. Through the shimmering purple haze and out the other side, another guardian attacked. She was starting to get irritated. When she crossed thorough the portal a fourth time, the demon stood alone in it's true form. Solona crossed her arms as the demon propositioned her. "We have nothing to discuss," Solona said boldly. "You've taken the soul of a child and I refuse to bargain for it. You will hand it over and leave, or you will die."

The demon chose to die, lashing out at Solona. She slammed it with a stonefist from her staff and knocked it to the ground. The demon got to its feet and threw it's own magic at her. The bolt bounced off her hastily erected barrier. She hit it with a winter's grasp, but all that did was chill the demon, not freeze it. It angrily swiped at her with slow, labored movements as it's body fought the cold from her spell. She slammed the head of her staff into it's head and scurried away from it's reach. After shaking off the blow, the demon laughed and threw it's arms out to the sides. It shimmered and suddenly she was surrounded by several copies of the demon, all of them circling her. Did it think to escape this way? The trick was finding the right one. She unleashed a tempest, allowing the lightning to strike at each of the demon's dopplegangers. When it hit a copy, the image shattered in an instant. Soon the numbers of copies had been reduced enough for Solona to glance around and pick out the original. It was not quite as bright as the copies. She grinned and casually attempted to pretend she had no idea which was the original. All the while she grabbed a hold of her force magic and called a fist of the Maker to smash the demon to the ground. The copies all disappeared as it took such heavy damage. A fireball scorched it's skin and it ran at her, still on fire, shrieking in anger. It slashed down with it's claws and hit Solona on the shoulder. She hissed and backed away, reinforcing her barrier. She was tired and getting sloppy. Wynne was on standby in the real world with her healing magic, but Solona did not relish in needing her services. She called down a crushing prison and stopped the demon in it's tracks. A cone of cold froze it where the winter's grasp had not. She threw a stonefist and the desired result shattered the demon. Solona dropped onto her back and sighed.