#also introducing the fic's most important character: adan

[queenaeducan]

Var Shiral'vhen - Chapter Three: Echoes

The sight of mages mingling freely at his doorstep stir old memories in Solas's heart. He finds himself still a stranger to the world he now inhabits, catching only glimpses of the familiar in the faces around him.

They had arrived in Redcliffe a humble party of five, and left in numbers beyond his reckoning.

Haven now groans beneath the weight of its new occupants. Mages, young and old, mingle in her snow-lined streets, finding their bearings and reconnecting with faces they had missed in the fog of war.

Solas walks in their midst, yet does not number among them, his plain robes and homemade staff are enough to mark him as an outsider. Instead, he observes, as he has through countless dreams in the past year and change since waking. For their part, they are no more receptive to his presence than the memories, parting around him as though he were not there.

A disarming thought gnaws at him as he recognises that he’s seen this all before. In their eyes, he beholds uncertainty, unsure if they have arrived at their future or another false hope. Others beam with promise so potent spirits press through the Veil to feel their warmth.

Echoes.

Echoes is the word he comforts himself with. Like the farthest ring in a ripple of water resembles the hand that moves the waves.

“Looks good, doesn’t it?” the Herald’s voice resonates with the present, dispelling his stupor with a few warm words. She draws level beside him, her close proximity easy, undaunted. He looks down at her. She looks healthier this morning than she has in several days; her eyes bright and the sides of her head freshly shaved, leaving only a patch at the top that lifts in tight curls. More notably, Redcliffe’s wounds have begun to fold back into her skin, unmaking the memories of the false year. One mark remains, a deeper cut that has the makings of a scar, carved beneath the Carta brand under her right eye. Leaning against the side of a building, she says, “I think they’re settling in nicely.”

(Read the rest on AO3!)