#CAN ALSO VOUCH FOR SIGNAL STUDIES AND NOISE BREAKING

[mauvecardigans]

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[heartslogos]

send the morning [39]

“I am not leaving until you let me in there and see her,” Maxwell says, pounding on the heavy Chantry door. This is probably at least ten sorts of sacrilege but Maxwell figures that he’s already damned thirty different ways just for continuing to breathe as a living insult to the Trevelyan family so he might as well keep going. “Seeker Penteghast? I demand to see Evelyn!”

The templar guards on either side of the door try to pull him away but while Maxwell did fail at all the mental mind sets that make a templar he did not fail in combat. He holds his ground.

“I am going to stay here until I am allowed to see that Evelyn is being kept well,” Maxwell yells at the door, “I am Maxwell Trevelyan and as incredibly out of favor I am there will be repercussions for your actions if you evict me from Haven. The Trevelyans may regret my existence but they still like Evelyn. Let me see her.”

The door swings open and Rutherford gives him an exasperated look, gesturing for the templars to let him go.

“Ser Trevelyan,” Ambassador Montilyet says coming into view behind Rutherford, “It is dangerous to see her, and we are not entirely sure of her innocence.”

“We’re certain of her guilt.” Pentaghast’s voice comes from deeper within the room. Maxwell pushes forward but Rutherford stops him with a hand to the chest, shaking his head. Maxwell glares at him. “What more evidence do you need? She was the only survivor of the explosion, in fact she was in the very center of it. And that mark on her hand. Reports say that she was an exemplary scholar and experimenter.”

“Evelyn never worked on anything that could do this,” Maxwell cranes his neck to look around the Ambassador and Commander. Pentaghast’s sharp eyes meet his. “She wrote to me about her research. Do you want me to send for her letters? I can tell you exactly what she was studying these past decades down to the volume. I can give you a list of damn citations if that’s what you need. Evelyn is innocent.”

“Trevelyan,” Cullen says, “I know that you two are close. But it’s been years. You don’t know what was true and false in those letters.”

“Evelyn wouldn’t lie to me,” Maxwell spits, “You don’t know her. Just talk to her - you’d know instantly she’s innocent.”

“We cannot talk to her,” Pentaghast snaps, coming to the door and gently moving Josephine aside. “Because she is unconscious and has not woken since we found her coming out of the Fade.”

“So you condemn her without even speaking to her?” Maxwell scoffs, “Let me vouch for her. I will speak for her since she cannot. Maker knows I have the mouth for five people. Might as well put it to use. I will stand here until you let me see her.”

Pentaghast scowls at him, stepping closer like she’s about to punch him out and Maxwell glares back. He’d rather be punched in the face than ignored. At least that means they’re starting to listen.

“Cassandra,” Rutherford’s voice softly cuts in, “She’s unconscious and being watched at all hours. I can go with him if you’re worried about security.”

“He’s not wrong about the Trevelyan’s opinion of Evelyn,” The Ambassador adds on, “And there really is no reason to keep them apart.”

Pentaghast’s jaw clenches, “Very well. But he goes in unarmed. Cullen, you go with him. Josephine send for those notes. How quickly can we get Ostwick’s reply?”

“Within a fortnight at least,” Montilyet replies, Maxwell steps aside for her as she leaves the room, “I’ll have Leliana send her fastest birds.”

“Thank you,” Maxwell says, “And you’re welcome.”

“For what?”

“For stopping you from making a terrible decision about an innocent life,” Maxwell replies, “Commander Rutherford, lead the way.”

-

Ellana returns under the cover of darkness, without warning or signal, with everything different.

Evelyn startles awake when she feels a hand on her cheek, the faintest touch of magic that she doesn’t recognize - but one that she feels that she’s touched before.

“Evelyn,” Her eyes meet Ellana’s - lit by a small, soft and muted mage light.

“Ellana?” Evelyn sits up, wrist flicking a flame and reaching for the candles on her bedside table.  “Maker’s breath.”

Ellana sits in full Dalish armor, a staff hanging over her back. Evelyn has never seen Ellana looks like this. Like -

Evelyn doens’t know the word she’s looking for.

“Does Mahanon know?”

Ellana tilts her head towards the staircase and Evelyn turns, seeing Mahanon’s wide and confused, hurt eyes.

“I need you to be witness,” Ellana says, standing and holding her hand out. Evelyn takes it.

“What happened?” Evelyn whispers. Somehow it feels like any loud noise can break the fragile and glass-like texture of this moment of not-time.

“Clan Lavellan’s numbers are reduced to two,” Ellana says by way of answers, holding Evelyn’s hand in hers as Evelyn pulls a blanket off of the bed to wrap around her shoulders. Mahanon quietly pads across the room towards them and opens the balcony door. The moonlight blanches his skin and gleams off of his pale hair. “Years ago I was once the First of Clan Lavellan, but I was demoted to Third after I began to learn the arts of transformation. One who cannot reliably be certain and true to their own selves, one who is easily lost and confused, cannot be trusted to lead others.”

Evelyn stares at Ellana’s face. It’s like she’s awake; well and truly awake and aware. Ellana has always been aware, awake, yes, but - this is different. There is a sharper focus and intensity to it.

This, Evelyn realizes, turning to catch the way Mahanon stares at his sister, is the Ellana Mahanon had lost. This is the Ellana the both of them have been trying to hang onto.

“I was allowed this weakness because there were others to support me, to guide me, to do what I could not,” Ellana leads them out into the moonlight. “But those people are gone, and it is selfish of me to continue to rely on others to make up for my inadequacies.”

“You aren’t - “ Mahanon begins.

Ellana raises her hand, eyes focusing on him, “There are parts of you that hate me, that wish I were gone. There are parts of you, brother of my heart, that wish I had never come into this world; and that if I did I would have been anything different. There are parts of you that wish I had died rather than become bear. There are parts of you that, sometimes, wish could remove me forever. This is fact.”

Mahanon flinches, eyes closing in shame.

“He loves you,” Evelyn says, stepping closer to Mahanon. Ellana’s hand squeezes hers.

“I know,” Ellana says, voice and eyes softening like cold mist, “And because I also love him, I too wish those things. I, too, hate myself for the suffering I have caused him. I, too, wish that I had never been born, that we had never met, that I was better or stronger or all around different from what I have become. There are parts of me that, at times, blame him for not killing me when he had the chance. There are parts of me that hate him for staying. I love him. This does not change the fact that I have caused him to suffer.”

Ellana releases Evelyn’s hand and moves closer to her brother, reaching and taking his hand in one of hers and then coaxing his face to meet hers with the other.

“Evelyn, I need you to stand as witness. You are the Inquisitor of Thedas and our dear friend. Your word above anyone else’s will hold.”

“Witness for what?”

Ellana strokes Mahanon’s cheek with her thumb.

“I am Keeper of Clan Lavellan,” She says, softly, “I bear the Keeper’s staff, I have the ring of the First. Do you accept this, Mahanon of Lavellan?”

“Yes,” Mahanon whispers.

“Then as Keeper of Clan Lavellan,” Ellana says, “I dissolve the bond between us. Brother and sister we are once more. You are no longer bound to me as husband, nor I to you as wife. With the Inquisitor of Thedas as witness, I cut that tie. Be free.”

Evelyn gapes, and Mahanon’s eyes grow wide. Ellana’s eyes smile, though her mouth does not.

“I am weak and fragile of mind,” Ellana says, releasing Mahanon’s hand and face. “I am selfish and flawed. I am sorry I have been a burden to you for so many years. I am sorry to say that as hard as I am trying, I do not know if I will ever be the person we both want me to be again.”

Mahanon’s eyes close, “I know.”

“That doesn’t mean we don’t love who you are now,” Evelyn puts a hand on their shoulders, “And you are trying. You haven’t given up. Nor have we given up on you.”

Ellana smiles, “I do not know how long I will be this way. Even now I feel my mind start to fray and pull in every direction I know I have been. I wish I could help you more, I wish I could stay this way for all of you. All the time. Evelyn, thank you for what you’ve done for us. Clan Lavellan, as small as we are now, stands with you, lethallin.”