#and half the ceiling above the window caves un

[du-hjarta-skulblaka]

DELIGHTFUL our fucking kitchen ceiling has caved in

[breath-of-the-hobbies]

BOTW2 - A Return to Darkness

(I’ve never written fan-fic before in my life, but all of these new BOTW theories and art inspired me to write this idea out. Special shout-out to @autumn-sweet-fae for the idea about Link’s ability reset! [x])

The series of caverns beneath Hyrule Castle seemed to be a source of boundless interest and excitement for Zelda, who stopped to document every carving and luminescent gem with the Sheikah slate no matter how small or difficult to reach. Link felt the absence of Revali’s Gale acutely whenever Zelda lamented being unable see the carvings far above their heads, but Revali and all of the other Champions had long since moved on, taking their gifts with them.

The two Hylians, displaced in time, had initially begun exploring the newly uncovered cave system as a way to escape the realities involved in rebuilding a kingdom. Soon enough, though, it became obvious that there were important secrets tucked away beneath the ground, perhaps even older than the Sheikah. Zelda hoped that uncovering these secrets could help in the rebuilding process, and so their short, escapist trips had turned into full-fledged expeditions.

They had recently discovered a steeply descending path near an entrance by the Great Plateau. Although Zelda continued to record her findings as diligently as always, they both felt a strange sense of disquiet as they descended into the darkness. Though they had been seeking answers to their questions for months, this was the first time they were afraid of the response.

When they discovered Ganon’s mummified corpse, things began happening very quickly.

Perhaps it was the presence of all three people of legend in one space that activated the chain of events. Within moments of the Hylians stepping into the final cavern, the earth began to shake and malice oozed from the floor. A glowing turquoise light leapt like lightning from Ganon’s form to Link’s arm, which he had instinctively extended to shield Zelda as stalactites and whole chunks of the ceiling rained down around them.

The shock of the light touching his skin—no, entering his skin—was nothing compared to the acidic burning of malice as the slime piled up on itself and swarmed the glowing arm, as though with a single-minded purpose.

Zelda screamed his name over the thundering of stone, knuckles white on her sword grip. Neither of them had seen anything like this, and neither knew how to combat it. Link stepped backwards, tearing at the ooze and trying to keep it away from his princess, noticing how it seemed to be exclusively targeting him. Afterwards, he would remember that small step with piercing regret. If he had only been closer, if he could have moved a little faster…. The ground collapsed beneath Zelda’s feet. Link lunged forward, desperate, reaching—their fingers brushed, and then she was gone.

Link could barely process anything. The earthquake had stopped. Ganon’s corpse had disappeared into the yawning black mouth that now filled the cavern, the same mouth that had eaten the only person who mattered to him in this world. The malice had somehow shriveled and sunk into his arm along with the strange light, and now a black rot was crawling up towards his shoulder, rendering the whole limb dead. He was unable to handle a glider or climb down into the hungry darkness, and the gnawing, unnatural pain in his arm was enough to drive him to his knees.

Slowly, painfully, and with an involuntary cry of agonized frustration, he tightened a belt around his upper bicep in an attempt to stem the creep of malice and stumbled up the debris-filled path to the surface.

When he finally emerged into the calm summer evening, his horse startled and shied at his approach, registering the scent of his arm as a corrupted enemy. Nearly delirious with pain, fatigue, and fever, Link still managed to soothe it, leaning his face against its neck and pretending that it was sweat running into its fur. He could barely stand to look at Zelda’s beautiful horse, but forced himself to clumsily fasten its lead to his own horse’s saddle.

But where to go? His champion allies were gone. The castle was still largely abandoned, the guardians erratically active and monsters as yet un-eradicated. The closest source of help was days away, and the slate had been with Zelda, so there would be no teleporting.

Purah’s not going to be happy about this. He thought nonsensically, and set his horse’s nose towards Hateno Village.

***

He did his best to cling to the horse’s mane, but as the familiar village appeared in the distance, his sense of relief overpowered the adrenaline that had kept him going for the past several days. Slowly, gently, darkness clouded his vision and he slipped from his mount’s back, falling into the ditch on the far outskirts of Hateno Village. The horses, exhausted themselves, barely registered the change in weight and continued on to the place where they knew that apples and good hay could always be found.

The children of the village, who had frequently begged rides from Link and clung to him on past visits, immediately recognized that something was wrong when they spotted the tired creatures trudging up the cobbled street. They ran to the eccentric scientist up in her tower, and joined Symin, her chief researcher, in a frantic search of the area. The sun was beginning to set when they finally found the unconscious Link. Symin scooped the small hero up in his arms, a knot of fear in his stomach, and carried him to his lady.

***

Link opened his eyes to sunshine streaming through a window, birdsong, the warm scent of hay and machine oil. The agonizing, corrupted, wrong pain in his arm had faded, but in its place was a weak and draining numbness. Remembering Zelda’s fall, he sat up with a gasp, and immediately crumpled, spots swimming in his eyes, heartbeat rushing in his ears. As he panted, head between his drawn-up knees, he heard soft steps as someone came up the ladder to this bedroom.

“I would have thought you’d slept long enough the last time, Linky.” Said Purah dryly, but not unkindly. “You’re really pushing my skills here. I had to research tech that hasn’t been used since the Zonai disappeared.” Link slowly lifted his head to look down at his arm. The rot was still there, shriveled black skin stretched over tendon and bone. Two things were different: there were engraved metal bands that clasped his arm from wrist to bicep, softly buzzing with energy, and there was a Sheikah emblem tattooed on the back of his blackened hand.

Purah remained uncharacteristically quiet, letting Link take in the changes, before starting up again to enthuse about the tech. “I’m going to keep optimizing it, of course. It’s wildly inefficient at the moment but I needed to get something on you or you’d lose the arm. Currently the runes are drawing directly from your energy just to stop the procession of the corruption, but I plan to improve that. As such I think it’s going to take you a while to get your strength back. I saw you lost your slate—“ her voice hardened in sudden anger “—but until you get it back I’ve got plans to add some capabilities to this tech in the meantime.”

Link finally found his voice. “Zelda.” he croaked, his defeated, exhausted gaze rising to meet Purah’s.

Her face softened. “We were worried why she wasn’t with you, why you were in that state. We sent some people to the tunnels, but they haven’t returned.”

The half-hoping, half-pleading look in Link’s eyes disappeared immediately, replaced with stubborn determination as he placed his feet on the floor and rose, legs visibly shaking.

Purah sighed, as though she had expected this. “You’re in no shape to go after her now. Zelda has held her own in this world for longer than you have, and she can handle herself. You, on the other hand, need to build your strength back up or you’ll be knocked over by the first bokoblin you meet. Or the first gust of wind.”

Link ignored her, taking slow and unsteady steps towards the ladder. “Link, your clothes!” She yelled after him in exasperation just as he missed the second rung and disappeared from view. A loud thud and a startled exclamation from Symin rose back up through the hole in the floor. “Hylia, why me?” She asked the air.

***

Link glared at the straw monster in front of him, sweat running into his eyes. It took all his effort to raise the stick in his right arm, the numbness of the limb and unfamiliar weight of the tech making every movement sluggish. He had been hacking at the doll for hours and yet it looked fresher than he did.

Symin watched from the window, sipping a cup of tea. “Should we stop him?” He asked. It was several weeks now since the scrawny hero had picked himself up off the floor and legged it out the door, only to collapse less than halfway down the hill. Since then, he had spent every waking moment making his best attempt at training.

Purah didn’t glance up from her book. “The man just lost everything he cares about for a second time. In many ways he’s worse off than he was when he woke from the century’s sleep. At least that time he had his strength, if not his memory. Let him work things out his own way.” Unspoken between them was the knowledge of reports from central Hyrule that the castle was once again filled with malice and making the ground tremble day and night. Link had not told them the details of his encounter, nor indeed spoken hardly at all, but his grim determination said more than enough.

Only a few days later, the morning after Purah had successfully implanted the first upgrade into Link’s arm, Symin slammed open the door to her tower study, panic and worry twisting his face. “He’s gone! Link’s gone!”

Purah turned to gaze out her window. She didn’t look surprised, but her normally boisterous personality was briefly extinguished. She shook herself and turned back to her notes with renewed vigor. “He’ll be back. Let’s be ready for him.”

Chapter 2

[karnesworth]

i found love where it wasn’t supposed to be (right in front of me) ~Chapter 6

The first time Connor and Karina fuck, it’s for a mission, and it’s supposed to not be personal, it’s supposed to not mean anything, it’s supposed to be professional, but somehow it doesn’t quite end up that way. (FORMERLY “you touched me and it’s almost like we knew (that there would be history”) 

Day 1

Compound

Karina

She drifts awake slowly at first, then snaps alert once she realizes.  Day one.  She lays still for a moment to take a catalogue of herself, her body, her environment.  She’s trained to do this: to make a mental note of anything and everything before engaging with any surroundings.

Her body feels a little stiff but fine.  She’s still wearing the bra and panties she had on yesterday.  Left hand is cuffed to the frame of the bed beneath her.  Her wrists, both of them, are wrapped in thin white bandages.  

The room next.  She’s in a small room with concrete floor and walls.  The ceilings are high, and there’s a small window on one wall.  She doesn’t think it’s meant to open, but she could probably smash through the glass if needed.  

The door looks heavy and thick, and probably locks securely.  There’s an open bathroom opposite the door.  No other means of ingress or exit.  

She sees cameras in the corners of the ceiling.

The only other interesting feature of the room is the furniture: besides the cot she’s chained to, there’s a wardrobe, a chest of drawers, and a large four-poster bed with thick, dark bedding and a chest at its foot.  A figure lies sprawled on the bed: she sees dark hair and freckled skin.  

Connor.  

He’s shirtless, lying on his stomach, on top of the duvet.  Karina realizes that this is the first time she’s noticed the freckles covering his back: gentle pricks like constellations across his skin.  

And there’s nothing for her to do, chained to the bed, except remember the first time she commented on his freckles: it had been after a botched mission rescuing another agent who’d gotten captured by Somali pirates.  The agent had died but they’d survived, kicked shoes off and swam to shore.  A bullet had grazed his right shoulder and she’d pulled his shirt off to dress the wound.  That was the first time she noticed his shoulders, the dots on them, and after they had stopped the bleeding she mentioned them.  She remembers the way he’d blushed, then told her that he freckled under sunlight.  She’d openly challenged him on that-- her red hair and pale skin freckled instead of burning during summer.  His skin-- she had almost accused-- was too dark to freckle from sun.   So he’d told her, gently, quietly, about how his mother’s family had emigrated from the Philippines, undocumented.  Eventually, they’d gotten papers and earned citizenship, but they still consider it a family secret.  He gets his freckles from her.  

She smiles a little at the way his voice sounds in her memory: soft, secretive.  As if he’s afraid, in this cave on the Tanzanian coast, that someone will hear.  As if this knowledge, this secret, is only for them.  

And after that, she had touched his shoulder, the wounded one, inspected his dressing.  Wordlessly, he’d let her gently move his torn shirt aside to look at the laceration, followed her gaze to the injury and then looked up at her face.  Their faces had been so close that she could feel his breath on her lips.

They’d fallen asleep next to each other that night and woken to warm sea air.

Karina wonders how she’s never noticed his back before: how smooth the skin is, how she can see the muscles and bones underneath.  How it moves so gently with his breath, his scapulae rolling and his intercostal muscles shifting.  How the freckles on his shoulders spread downward, cascading, thinning until they become invisible at the small of his back.

He lets out just the tiniest bit of a snore as he sleeps, and it’s a comforting sound.  It reminds her of the nights-- god, so many nights-- next to each other on missions: sometimes huddled together for warmth, sometimes sharing a pop-up tent, often nursing bruises or fighting away panic attacks.  His snore, his breath, he has always been a constant.  For years, he’s known how to calm her down during a panic attack, how to interpret the way her lips twitch or her eyebrows quirk.

The missions she runs with Judith, Claire, and Michael-- her unit, 412-- are amazing.  Unit 412 is her family, but Connor-- Connor is home, is intimate in a different way.  It’s almost as if all the characteristics she admires in Judith, Claire, and Michael are wrapped up in Connor.  Judith’s logic and willingness to call Karina out on her bullshit.  Michael’s thoughtfulness.  Claire’s snark.  It’s as if Judith and Claire and Michael are her siblings, but Connor’s her twin.

She looks down at her wrists again, at the gauze around them.  Slowly, gingerly, she pushes the dressing aside just enough to see the blood dotting the fabric, to inspect the scabs forming.

It’ll heal, she thinks.  It always heals.

Connor stirs on the bed.  She leans towards him, and her cuffed hand clinks against the metal bed frame.

And it’s that sound which pulls him awake, then upright, looking around quickly until his gaze rests on her.  He rolls out of bed and pads over to her, his bare feet poking out from under yesterday’s blue jeans.

“Morning,” she murmurs, but he’s silent as he kneels beside the bed and bends to check her bandaged wrists.  

He keeps his head bowed while he whispers, “There are cameras, but no sound.”  

Karina points her chin upwards to signal that she understands.  It’s almost a nod.

They can talk like this, with their faces turned away from the cameras, so Connor sits next to her on the bed for a minute.

“What can you tell me?” she asks quietly, picking at the gauze on her wrists.

Connor leans over to move her hand away from her injuries before he answers.  “As far as I know, they trust me, but I’m still new.  We’ll be watched closely.  I can gain more of their trust by acting as macho as possible.”

“Turn up the toxic masculinity,” Karina mutters half to herself, then takes a second to think.  “Okay, then, here’s how we’re going to play this.  I’m going to be scared and frozen, so you’ll take the lead.  After a week or so, I’ll get more docile.”

“Got it,” Connor answers. “There’s just one problem: your medicine.”

Of course, she thinks.   With the cameras, she can’t openly take the anti-depressants that Connor has smuggled in for her.  But there’s a plan.  There’s always a plan.

“I’ll try to attack you tonight.  After that, you force-feed me sleeping pills each night.”

He nods, just a little.  “We should start working up to that now.”  Any move, any escape attempt on Karina’s part has to look premeditated, foreshadowed.   They have to set the stage for the attack.

“Then,” Karina ventures, “the first thing--” she pauses.  They both know what the first thing to happen is.  They’ve gone over the timeline together, for fuck’s sake.  

Connor clears his throat.  “And you’re sure?  You’re ready?”

Karina laughs a little, but it’s dry, choked.  She looks away.  “As I’ll ever be.”

Her voice dies too fast in the bare room.  

There’s nothing to say, after all, nothing that can make this any less fucked up.  Nothing that will make it okay.  Nothing to un-cross this line.

“I trust you,” she whispers, small and soft.  Her hand brushes his, and god, the heat radiating from his skin is like nothing she’s ever experienced before.

 - - -

Connor

It’s fluid, the way he spins and is on her in a second, hovering over her, pressing her into the cot.  Her hands move, and the metal cuff snaps against the bed frame.  Connor uses one of his hands to pin her free wrist to the mattress, holding it above her head.  

For the cameras, of course, he tells himself.  He has to appear dominant for the cameras.

She’s breathing hard, he notices: her lips are parted slightly and she’s staring at his mouth.  His gaze locks with hers, and he thinks she can read the regret and desire warring behind his eyes.

He hopes, desperately, belatedly, that she hasn’t guessed how many times he’s thought of doing just this: of pinning her to a bed and holding her close, feeling her breath, her heartbeat, her body.  Her pulse fluttering in her throat.  Her breaths sharp and shallow.  Her cheeks flushed.  Her chest moving up and down so, so fast.  The word heaving springs into his mind and he quickly pushes it away.  

No, these are not the signs of arousal, he tells himself.  They are signs of excitement, of anxiety, of adrenaline.  

He searches her face for signs of alarm.  Instead, she moves her chin up into a tiny nod.  It is a nod, has to be a nod.  They’ve used this gesture hundreds of times before, in identical situations, when they’ve been acting undercover, unable to communicate.  

He thinks of the time in Yukon, when he’d been taken hostage, used as a human shield.  He’d given her this same nod, and she’d shot through his shoulder, hitting his captor in the heart.  And again in Milwaukee, when she’d nodded just like this to him when she’d gone undercover in the mob.  

It’s just like that, he thinks, then stops himself.  Because it’s not just like that.  The action is the same but the context is different.  This is kissing, not shooting, and of the two he knows that kissing is the more dangerous.  

Or is it?  Does Karina think of this as just another undercover gig, just another charade that they will maintain and eventually discard?  Does she know that he is approaching-- no-- has already passed the point of no return?

Just do it, then, he tells himself.  Dumbass.  Just do it.

When he kisses her, he feels none of the anticipation he’d hoped for: there’s no buildup to the way his lips crash into hers.  He’s imagined it would feel like something clicked into place, like the world is suddenly right in a way it’s never been before.  He’s imagined her lips would be soft.  He’s imagined she’d gasp in that soft way she does, then hold her breath and gently tip her lips onto his.  

This kiss is nothing like that: it’s rough and dry and her lips are so tense that his teeth clack into hers.  When he pulls away, she doesn’t chase him.  She just lies there, and he’s struck once again by how goddamn small she is under him, how easy it seems to overpower her.  Of course, he knows, she’s not really fighting him, she’s just pretending: but he finds it all too easy to believe that she doesn’t want this to last, hasn’t thought of this like he has.  That it doesn’t mean anything to her.

God, he should have told her that he was getting attached.

He wonders when, exactly, he started to think of her as a little more than a friend.  He thinks about the time in Tanzania, when he’d told her about his mom.  Or the time in Brazil, when he’d seen her hold a handgun under her own chin and felt her index finger shake on the trigger.  Or in St. Louis, when they’d celebrated a job well done with a few too many vodka sodas and she’d lurched into his arms, her head fitting just so onto his chest--

A soft sound, like a throat clearing, him brings him careening back to the present: to his hands around Karina’s wrists, to her under him, to his dick pulsing in his boxers.  Shit.  He adjusts his position, quickly, hoping she didn’t feel him hardening.  He leans in close to her face, whispers close to her ear:

“Sorry about the, um, physical response.”

She doesn’t answer for a second, and when she does it’s low, terse.  “Nothing to worry about.  Bodies do things.”

He feels her struggle beneath him, and even though he knows she’s not really fighting, he feels a thrill run through him as he pushes her limbs into a spread-eagle position.  He’s got one foot spreading her legs, another knee bracing him against the bed frame.  Her hips are moving against his waist-- rocking? Could that hip motion be something other than an elaborately constructed performance?

No, he quickly tells himself.  He’s projecting, clearly desperate to believe that she wants him.  Time to finish it.  Making sure the camera can clearly see, he holds his left forearm against her windpipe.  He gives her a minute to show the camera that she’s struggling against him-- her hips, they’re moving again and it’s too much-- he peels himself off her, tears into the bathroom, and locks the door behind him.

[thealfanator]

The Steel that Warmed Us in the Night-Time ~ Chapter 8

Ciri crept through the silent, dark corridors and rooms of the castle.  The Sun leaked like water through the diamond-shaped tinted windows. It seemed empty.  No guards were about and no footsteps echoed around corners. Ciri crouched beside a cold, stone wall and listened for patrols.  She could hear nothing except her own breath.  She dug her fingertips into the ridges of the bricks so that it led her down the dimly lit rooms.  The air was strangely clean like nobody had set foot in there for decades, although that seemed unlikely.  Her breaths matched the rhythm of her footsteps.  Eventually, she reached a larger, more open room.  It was brighter, so she could make out the shapes of some objects although she had to squint to do so.  A red carpet flooded the centre of the oval-shaped room.  Bookshelves guarded the walls whilst the books made company between their creaky shelves.  An empty, melancholy throne stood disappointed at the end of the room. Ciri moved forward slowly, creeping on her toes.  If anyone saw her, her glowing eyes would be seen before the rest of her body, drowned inside the dark abyss which smothered the air.  She suddenly identified a special glass case just off the side of the room.  Light passed through it; looking unusually unguarded for an object which looked too holy and significant to be true.  She silently swept to the pedestal.  Inside the glass case sat the amulet that was in her grip for what seemed like such a long time ago.  Once again, her fingertips were drawn to the sight of it like a strong magnetic pulse. She breathed out again, in awe of the object before thinking of a way to retrieve it.

Triss cast fireballs from the palm of her hand to force the invading drowners to retreat.

“Piss off!” she cried, constantly twisting her neck in a clockwise formation to the next monster who wished to gauge out her internal organs.  The waist-high water and claustrophobic pressure of the temple restricted her movement and produced infinite amounts of anxiety within her stomach. The drowners croaked fiercely – their backbones hunched over, making them crawl nastily towards her.  Her fireballs proved un-effective.  Her powerful fire spells would blast them, but they were clever enough to crouch under the water level to brush off the flames. She continued to curse.  Triss counted the synchronised enemies around her: one… two… ten… twelve…  too many. She waded through the thick water towards another archway of the temple using all her effort to unstick herself from the claws of the drowners.  She twisted her body awkwardly to try to multitask her casting with her steps, but realised she was becoming more and more tired through her movements. Another archway passed which she identified to be more unstable than the last one.  Water dripped through the ceiling whilst cracked stones emitted dust particles to become dissolved in the large volumes of water below.  In a split-second decision, she cast one last powerful spell directly above her which resulted in a large, blinding white explosion.  When the surroundings reappeared, she was surrounded by nothing but darkness.  As she came to realisation, she smiled at the corridor which was now caved in and sealed by rubble.  It was so thick that she couldn’t even hear the drowner squeals on the other side.  She breathed a massive sigh of relief before spontaneously coughing out the concentrated dust particles in the air.  Dreading her mission, she turned, lit her fingertips with a light-emitting spell and proceeded down the hallway.  It led her to a descent deeper into the temple.  They looked like they could’ve been stairs but the stream of water which mindlessly fell eroded it into a smooth, uneven slope.  The waist-level water also decreased, to Triss’ liking. She failed to dry her clothing, however, but she had more alerting issues pressing on her mind.  She gasped once more for air before carefully trudging towards the dark hole in the ground.

*

Ciri continued to stare at the amulet; half in awe, half in frustration.  If she attacked the vibrant glass casing, the alarm would scream horrifically.  That wasn’t an option.  She swore at her feet and glanced around the case.  Front.  Sides. Back.  Nothing penetrable.  She touched it again, fingertips feeling the warmth of the bright sunlight which conveniently illuminated the artefact.  Suddenly, she heard a massive crash from some double wooden doors on the other side of the room.  She heard screams from multiple people who entered.  Geralt, sword in the air, deflected the blows from manic guards who slashed at the witcher.  From the looks of things, Geralt effortlessly slashed back at the guards who then as a result fell to the floor with a satisfying clunk.  Ciri stood motionless.

“I thought you were supposed to be distracting them!” she said in confusion.  She stared at Geralt, waiting for an answer.

“Things didn’t really go to plan.” He replied, chuckling whilst stabbing more invading steel.  He didn’t even turn to face Ciri because of the hectic nature of the attack.  Geralt threw multiple spells, knocking books off bookshelves as well as sweeping the guards off their feet.  Ciri guessed there must’ve been about ten of them; maybe more.  Thinking quickly, she smashed her elbow into the glass and snatched the amulet; glass sprinkling everywhere.  Naturally, she cupped her ears at the screeching alarm that sounded. It stormed through the castle like water, aching the ears of everyone nearby.  Amulet in hand, she ran over to clutch Geralt’s arm.

“Come on,” she screamed, “we’ve got to go!”  She tugged at his arm like a small child.  Geralt grimaced at the dazzled guards before agreeing.  He ran with her.  They sprinted across the ruined red carpet away from the guards and towards the right side of the large room.  Ciri emitted a bright, blue light as she teleported up and into a glass-stained window, smashing it into a million tiny fragments.  Geralt blocked the shards from falling into his eyes by guarding them with his arm – with sword still in hand.

“You could’ve gave me a warning.” Geralt chuckled.

“Shut up and get up here!” The witcher climbed up the stone infrastructure, crawled over the gap where the glass was standing a moment ago, then ducked through to the next room.  Hearing the castle guards run to the window on the other side, they tried to keep up their pace.  They were greeted with a long, brightly lit stretching hallway; similar to all of the other rooms that Cirilla had visited.  Cobblestone walls scattered throughout followed by an elegant red carpet and torch sconces.  They shot down the hallway with incredible speed.  They turned a corner just as they glanced back at the knights that had only just managed to find their way over the gap in the wall.  They came to an open drop with spikes far down at the bottom. They stopped and shielded each other from the drop.  “Shit.” Ciri swore.  Geralt looked at her in shock at her goofy language.  Ciri smiled back, “Sorry.”  The trap in front of them looked entirely out of place and seemed increasingly unusual to imagine having deadly traps scattered around a holy castle. Nevertheless, the stomping feet of guards behind them forced them to think swiftly.  Ciri saw a lever on the other side of the drop – only a few metres ahead.  It must’ve controlled the trap.  She glanced at Geralt, silently pleading.  Geralt, almost reading her mind, spoke with a serious, caring tone.

“Absolutely not.”  He said.  Ciri, ignoring his response, jumped over the gap.  As she started to descend, she materialised to the ground opposite the gap, once again casting a bright blue light as she teleported.  Out of breath, she looked at Geralt proudly before quickly spinning the contraption.  The hole in the ground chugged shut.  Guards sprinted around the corner.  Geralt started to act.  Smiling at his daughter, Geralt pat her hard on her shoulder as he passed her.  “Come on, let’s go.”  He said.  Ciri smirked at the guards before using her finger to push the lever again.  A large, spiked hole sat between them and the guards. She turned and walked towards Geralt; the smile still glued to her face.

*

Triss entered a large, dark, empty room.  The air continued to stink of foliage and decayed interior structuring.  Walls were collapsing and sprawling over the floor, tiny amounts of water spewed from the ceiling, drops sounding like tiny dwarves crying for help.  She inhaled in a pleasant surprise despite the dangerous position she was in.  She realised that the building could collapse at any moment.  She travelled slowly through the room whilst tripping on small rocks on her way.  She could hardly see except within a tiny radius which her pale light emitted.  However, she caught glimpse of a shining gemstone at the end of the room.  After looking in more detail, she noticed the outline of a large, ominous-looking pedestal.  As she walked closer, she noticed vertical graves on both sides of the room; embedded in the walls.  They conjured an unnerving fear inside her.  There it was. The amulet.  She placed it in her hand slowly and with care before smiling to herself.

“Oh no…” she said to herself.  Immediately, the ground started to rumble after an almost predictable click of the surface in which the amulet was placed.  The graves which burst open wiped the smile from her face.  She turned whilst stuffing the artefact inside her pocket.  Numerous skeleton-like creatures drew their rusty swords and crept towards Triss.  Her heart skipped a beat.  Her hands produced an orange flame as she prepared to fight. Then, without her consent they turned blue.  A strong blinding blue colour.  No, that wasn’t her hands… it was a large portal behind the invaders.  Suddenly, with a yell, Yennefer appeared; her hair tugging at the air.  “Thank God you’re here!” Triss cried.  Yennefer recovered from her sudden transportation and stood up from the rough, stone ground.  Together, they fought off the monsters with flying spells and deafening sounds of the casting.  At one time, during the blitz, Triss became overwhelmed with the high quantities of necrophages but fortunately recovered with a couple of lightning sparks from Yennefer’s fingertips.  In the hall, only Triss and Yennefer stood – highly exhausted.

“Please,” Yen started, “hand me the amulet.  I want to see it.” She smiled.  Triss handed it over, sparkling in their hands.  Yennefer’s face suddenly grew subtly suspicious.  She threw an explosion at the wall, making water flood in. Triss became wary.  “There’s a way out.  Just swim up the water and you’ll be back to the sea and to the surface.”

“You’re coming with me, right?” Triss questioned.

“I’m sorry.” Yennefer responded, looking sympathetically into Triss’ eyes.  She cast a portal between the both of them, then dematerialised mercilessly; taking the amulet with her and leaving Triss alone in the temple. Triss grew angry, then relieved her frustration with a difficult sigh.

           Yennefer greeted Ciri and Geralt with a large hug in the sweet, bliss hot sun of Toussaint.  The pair of them escaped the city guards before Yen prepared a boat journey out of the city.  They counted their amulets.  The contractor, Janshai, has one.  They’ve already given three back.  They have another three in their possession; meaning that they needed to collect three more. The journey seemed to fly by and Geralt couldn’t help but grin at Yennefer and Ciri having a conversation together a fair distance away – hugging each other and chuckling at the smallest moment. He sighed.  They seemed happy.

Oh no!  You’ve reached the end of this chapter :(  Sorry, but I can’t write at the click of my fingers; it does take time!  Nevertheless, I hope it’s worth it.  Please leave me feedback of the series!  I appreciate it a lot! :)

Link to Chapter 1: https://thealfanator.tumblr.com/post/161443706234/the-steel-that-warmed-us-in-the-night-time

[barbex]

Varric and the aliens

For the @daficswap, special scifi round. My contribution for my swapbuddy @aliveria. 

It’s crossover time, Dragon Age and Star Trek Voyager. Featuring my Hawke, who is a warrior but has some mage abilities that she has hidden successfully until the fight with the Arishok.

6800 words. (I know! Why can’t I write short?)

Prompt: "The ruins were hidden, covered over by hundreds of years of plant growth.  And what was inside had remained untouched."

"Are you sure it's around here?" Hawke has one foot on a patch of solid ground and her other foot hovers above the mud as she searches for a place to stand on.

Varric carefully steps in her footsteps behind her through the swamp. "Got a map with a mark, what more could you want?"

"A description of how to get there would have been nice."

"There is one: it says 'follow the path through the forest of the dying elves'. Serah Annabella is sure that that means the Planasene Forest."

Hawke jumps over a rather large streamlet, and spits out a curse when her foot gets wet. "She is sure? And why does this Serah Annabella know so much about the Planasene Forest but doesn't look for the thing herself?"

Varric sighs, and doesn't even attempt to make the long jump. His boots are already wet anyway. "She can't really walk, not for long at least. She's more for reading and deciphering books."

"Sounds boring." Hawke sits down on a rock and pulls off her boot to change the wet socks for dry ones.  

"Some people like reading books, you know." He sits down next to her and also dries his feet. The path from here on out looks overgrown but dry at least. He takes a sip of cold tea from his bottle and ties his shoes again.

Varric goes back on the path, hearing Hawke stomping behind him. Hawke is many things; but graceful and quiet she is not. "Annabella helps me occasionally with research for my books,” he continues, picking his way carefully through the weeds and bushes. The path leads up a steep hill and obviously has not been used in years; it looks more like an animal trail, and they almost have to crawl up on their hands and feet. “She's got a great library in her house."

"Do you think this was a Dalish path once?" Hawke wonders, hefting her sword on her back.

Varric is about to answer when the path snakes through a gap between the rocks and the area opens up, revealing ruins, overgrown with ivy and moss, that look vaguely familiar and foreign at the same time.

"The ruins were hidden, covered over by hundreds of years of plant growth,” he eventually murmurs. “And what was inside had remained untouched for thousands of years."

Hawke looks at him as she catches her breath. "What?"

"Just how I'm going to describe it in the book."

She smiles and he is relieved to see that. Since the fight with the Arishok, Hawke hasn't smiled much. Which isn't either the Arishok's fault or her new title of  “Champion of Kirkwall”, it has more to do with a certain elf and his inability to show her how much he loves her. Their dance gives Varric endless inspiration for his stories -- but for the sake of his friend's heart, he wishes Fenris would finally admit to his feelings.

The inside of the ruins are pretty, but nothing special when it comes to elvhen ruins. "Once you've seen one, you've seen them all," Varric mutters to himself. This one looks like it has been thoroughly searched and looted a long time ago; nothing in here is small enough to be carried out.

"Are you sure your friend meant this ruin?" Hawke calls over from the end of the hall at what could have been a place of worship once, or a cooking area by the looks of it. There is a table-like arrangement of solid rock slabs in front of an arching window, and the sun shines on it in shimmering rays through gaps in the overgrown vegetation. Varric half expects to see ghostly figures rise from the table to yell at them for disturbing this holy place.

But nothing happens. The ruin is deserted and so very quiet. It makes Varric's neck itch.

Hawke stands with her back to the table with her eyes closed and holds out her hands.

Varric walks up to her. "What are you doing?"

"I think there's something here."

"Naw, this place has been picked clean." He scratches his neck and changes his grip on Bianca. "It's giving me the creeps, that's for sure. Let's find somewhere close to camp for tonight."

"So you feel it too," Hawke says with a grin. "There's magic here, to hide something and scare people away."

"That's what's making my skin crawl?"

"I bet it is." She turns a bit, her hands still outstretched with the palms up and her fingers seem to try to pinch at something.

Varric waits. But patience is not his best virtue. "No offence Hawke, but you're not the most powerful mage there is. Maybe you got this wrong."

Hawke is a warrior to everyone who sees her and her giant sword, and only a handful of people know of her magical abilities that she has hidden since she was a child. As an untrained apostate, her magic won't win her any tournaments. She opens her eyes and glares at him. "I got this."

She pinches the air again, twists her hands as if to wrap a thread around it and pulls back hard. A sound like the tap of a knife on a glass rings through the inside of their heads and the very air in front of them vibrates and shatters.

"Told you," Hawke says with a self-satisfied grin as they look at a door that hasn't been there before. It doesn't have a handle but when she pushes against it with her hand, it opens easily for her and reveals a hallway sloped downwards into darkness. She lets her head hang and sighs. "Did your friend happen to mention anything about the Deep Roads?"

"She may have said something about an underground cavern..."

Hawke points to the angular design on the expertly cut pillars and the giant figures that seem to hold the ceiling up. "You can't tell me that that isn't dwarven, and if it's dwarven and goes underground, it's the Deep Roads."

"Andraste's ass, I hate this," Varric growls to himself. The last time he was in the Deep Roads was with Hawke and his thrice-cursed brother, and he doesn't like thinking about it. It's not that he loved his brother much, but killing him himself had certainly not been his plan.

"We can still just leave," Hawke says, her voice unusually warm. "We don't have to go down there if you don't want to."

"And come back empty-handed?" Varric shakes his head and steps through the door. Hawke follows him and the door makes a sucking sound as it closes behind them.

"Oh no." Hawke turns back and tries to open the door again. It doesn't budge. "Looks like that's not our way out."

"Knowing this crap, we need a special key to open it." Varric already has enough of this and it hasn't even been a minute.

They follow the quickly descending hallway, the red light of glowing lava in narrow moats on the sides guiding them along. Bright blue lyrium grows like veins out of the walls and snakes up into the ground above them. It is cold here and way too quiet.

"I hate the underground," Varric mutters. He wipes a spiderweb off his head and kicks against something with his foot that looks suspiciously like a bone; but down here you better not look too closely at shit.

Hawke snorts. "That's funny, wasn't it you who dragged me down here?"

"Doesn't mean I have to love it."

They arrive in a huge hall, the ceiling higher than some mansion in Kirkwall. Lyrium veins grow around the pillars, most of them blue, but some are bright red. They make a wide berth around the red lyrium as they cross the hall. It is partially caved in on one side, but still looks impressive. Several doors lead from it, most of them closed.

"Well, Varric, before we decide where to go next, what is our plan now? Do we still look for this artifact, or are we looking for an exit?"

It is very un-dwarven of him but the artifact has already slipped his mind. He just wants to get out of this cavern of dead history and rotting dwarven glory. "Exit, exit is our priority."

Hawke looks at him with her typical infuriating grin. "Come on, not so fast. Just think of all the details you can put in your stories from this."

"As if you know about the level of detail in my stories."

Hawke shrugs and walks up to the first door in the hall. "I've read your books, the most recent one too; I liked it. The details you put in are one of the things I like best."

"Huh." Not the most eloquent reaction from him but he is truly surprised to learn that Hawke reads his books.

"I thought about giving it to Fenris... but I think we'll keep that for later," Hawke says, as she pushes the first door open and hefts her sword higher. There is another empty hallway behind the door and the lava seems to glow brighter as they walk in. "I must say, by now I'd welcome some spiders or baby darkspawn. It's too quiet."

Varric holds his crossbow at the ready, as he has from the moment they entered these caves. His arms are beginning to tire. An archer needs to rest sometimes, even with a custom-made crossbow like Bianca. But there is nothing around to shoot a bolt into... and if that isn't unnerving as fuck by now.

He is about to complain about that, because what else can you spend your time on in this dreadful cavern of death and decay, when a noise makes him halt in his steps. Hawke has heard it too, standing frozen like him before slowly stepping forward. For all her lack of grace in normal situations, when needed, Hawke can be light on her feet like a cat — and surprisingly fast.

She flits over to a broken down wall and peers over the edge. Varric waits for her to signal him to join her and tries his best to be as quiet as her as he walks over. They look into a large room with pillars, wrapped in lyrium vines stretching up high to a red ceiling. The lyrium here is blue, untainted at least; it still makes Varric nervous.

A movement on the far side draws his attention away from the blue glow to two people in strange clothing peering at something in their hands.

"They look weird," Hawke whispers. "Are those nightgowns they're wearing?"

"Doesn't look like armor at least."

"I've never seen colors like that, that red is redder than anything. And the fabric seems to stretch. I wonder how they did that."

"Since when do you know so much about fabric?"

"Since I had to make my own and my siblings clothes as soon as I could hold a needle because mother was terrible at it?"

Varric shakes his head, trying to align the image of this terrifying warrior woman, who is also secretly a mage and almost twice as tall as him, with delicate fabrics and needlework. He can't quite make it work.

They watch the two people for a bit when a familiar noise makes them draw their weapons.

"Spiders," Hawke says and jumps easily over the rubble to aid the two strangers.

Varric is a bit slower in climbing over, but he watches the strangers more suspiciously than Hawke does. It is endearing that Kirkwall has not managed to stamp out the trust and willingness to help total strangers in Hawke, but it does cost Varric some nerves sometimes.

The giant spiders have almost reached the two strangers and Hawke jumps behind the largest and brings her sword down in a devastating blow. The screech of the dying creature draws the attention of the strangers, who pull out short little sticks from their sides. Varric aims at the spider closest to them, but before he can let his bolt fly, the woman points her stick at it and golden lightning comes out in a straight line. It hits the spider and it glows for a moment and then disappears.

Varric aims his bolt at the next spider and Hawke takes out two more, while the man and the woman in the red and black clothing make short work of the rest of the spiders. When silence returns to the hall, Varric allows himself to reflect what he just saw.

"Andraste's dirty knickers, what kind of weapon is that?"

The two strangers exchange a look. They won't tell him, he knows. There is still a bolt in Bianca and he keeps holding her up.

The woman wipes sweat from her brows and puts the weapon in a pocket at her side. "We are not from around here. Our weapons must look foreign to you." She tidies her hair in a bun and comes up to him with a friendly smile.

"Lady, I've been around a lot and I'm sure I've never seen this kind of magic anywhere." Varric lowers his crossbow a bit, but he is not yet convinced that these people are trustworthy.

Hawke has no such reservations — typical, Varric thinks — and steps in front of the woman to take her hand in hers. "Hello, my name is Hawke, currently living in Kirkwall. Where are you from and what are you doing down here? And what is that?" She points towards the magic sticks in their pockets.

The woman exchanges a look with the man sitting on the floor. He has a pattern on the side of his face, kind of like the dalish have but not symmetrical like theirs. And he very much doesn't look dalish, they both look human, if a bit smaller than Hawke. The look that passes between them shows a strong familiarity. These two know each other well.

The man stands up with some trouble — he seems to be in pain — and sweat drips from his forehead. He favors his right leg. "My name is Chakotay, we'd like to thank you for your help." He bows his head towards them and looks towards the woman as if he waits for her to say something.

The woman looks from one to the other. Varric is pretty certain that she is debating whether to tell the truth or to make up a story.

Finally she steps forward. "My name is Captain Kathryn Janeway, Chakotay is my second in command. We’ve been accidentally stranded in this place and we need help to get outside. Quickly."

Hawke has an amused smirk on her lips as she looks the two strange people up and down. "Captain of what?"

"A ship."

"Water is pretty far away from here," states Hawke, still smirking.

The woman sighs. "Not that kind of ship."

Hawke turns to Varric. "Too bad that Isabela isn't here, she would have loved to see this special ship."

Varric stores Bianca on his back; these two seem to pose no danger. As a matter of fact, they both look very ill; and the man, Chakotay, seems to have injured his leg. "I've never seen clothing like yours and I've seen a lot."

"We're not from around here."

"I figured as much," he says. "And don't try to tell me that you're from Orlais cause I'm not buying it." The man and the woman stay silent, and Varric is growing increasingly curious about what these two could be holding out on.

Hawke kneels down next to the man Chakotay and looks at his foot. "You're injured," she states.

Chakotay makes a grimace and nods. "Yes, I tripped when we... when we got here."

"The one time we didn't take Anders with us." Hawke shakes her head and rummages through her bag.

"Who is Anders?" Chakotay asks.

"A healer. He could fix your foot in no time. I'm — " she hesitates, telling someone you're a mage is always a risk and they don't know these people. Then again, all of Kirkwall knows it by now. "I'm not much of a healer but I could set it and spell some ice on it? And I have a healing potion here." She holds out the bottle to Chakotay but Captain Janeway takes it from her and points tool at it that makes little chirping noises.

The woman shakes her head and hands the bottle back to Hawke. "I'm afraid it would not be safe for him to drink that."

Hawke stares at the small bottle in her hand. "Why? This is just herbs and bit of spellwork?"

Captain Janeway fidgets, and it looks so much out of place on her that Varric is sure that indecisiveness is not a typical character trait for her. She is about to say something but hesitates, and to her luck in this moment another group of spiders and a few baby dragonlings decide to attack.

Varric and the foreigners start shooting from what little protection the boulders around Chakotay's resting place offer, and Hawke gets to work. She rushes through the enemies, occasionally freezing an attacker in an ice cone, while hacking and slashing with her giant sword. It looks almost graceful.

When the final monster falls and Hawke returns to them, covered in blood and dragonling intestines, Chakotay gives Captain Janeway a look.

Hawke uses her sleeve to clean her face. "Well, that was fun, but I think it's time to get going." She drinks one of her own special potions, laced with lyrium for her mage abilities. "Let me see that foot of yours again as long as I can still do an ice spell." She kneels down and touches Chakotay's ankle. For a moment there is a soft glow on her hands and Chakotay hisses in pain, but then ice begins to spread around his ankle and his face relaxes again.

"That's all I can do for your foot, but you also seem to run a fever?" She looks up to Captain Janeway. "The potion could help with that."

Again, a look passes between Chakotay and Janeway. The captain sighs. "I'm afraid not. I'm running a fever as well and our sickness will get worse the longer we stay close to these crystals."

"What, the lyrium?" Varric looks around at the crystal vines sprouted all around them. It's not that he loves them exactly, but they are quite beautiful and useful too. "This blue stuff is not tainted, it should be fine. Just stay away from the red stuff over there."

Chakotay takes out the little box again and points it Varric. He eyes it suspiciously as it chirps but it seems to be harmless. Next he points it at Hawke and stares at it while it chirps some more.

"What is that?" Hawke asks.

"It's a piece of technology that gives me information about your and your physiology," Chakotay says and for a moment it looks like Janeway wants to stop him but then she just sighs and lets it happen.

"I hate it when Anders uses big words like that and now you start," Hawke says with a grin as she holds out her hand to help Chakotay up. "We should get going. This place will soon be crawling with nasty stuff and you can tell me all about your... thing while we walk."

Hawke leads them to the other side of the dungeon as if she knows the way out. Which she doesn't, Varric is sure of it. But she has a gut instinct that hardly ever strays her wrong, so once again, he trusts her to find a way out this.

"So what does your apparatus say?" Hawke asks, her eyes taking in every nook, every corner of the empty hallway they've entered.

"It tells me that we are more different than I first thought," Chakotay says. "Your bodies protect you against the radiation from the crystals, and you," he points the apparatus at Hawke again, shaking his head as he looks at it, "you can even convert some of the energy into other things."

"You mean magic."

"If you want to call it that."

Hawke grins, readying her sword as they approach another closed door. "I'm not even very good at it. But I have another question," she turns and the tip of her sword is at Chakotay's throat, "you don't know what magic is, you get sick from just being around lyrium and that stuff is everywhere in Thedas, so — where are you really from?"

Captain Janeway has her shooting-stick raised, but she holds it low and less threateningly. "Let him go please. I'll explain where we are from."

Hawke lowers her sword and Janeway puts her shooting-stick away. The two women look at each other in a quiet staring contest until Janeway sighs and says, "From the stars."

"You come from the stars." Hawke looks up even though they are underground, far away from the starry skies right now. "The stars in the sky?"

"Yes."

A scraping sound from the door makes Hawke ready her sword. "Hold that thought." The door opens and a group of darkspawn spill into the hallway. Hawke carves through them with determination and the others hurry to follow her through the door as she cuts down the first wave. The second wave gets shot down quickly by Varric's bolts and the golden fire from the shooting-sticks, leaving only one especially strong darkspawn for Hawke's ice-spells and sword.

The thing falls, and it is quiet again in the hall. Chakotay sinks down against a wall with a groan and Janeway settles down next to him. They lean against each other in an intimate familiarity.

Hawke comes back to them. "Where were we? Oh right, the stars from whence you came."

Janeway coughs and wipes her brows. "Every star you see is a system of worlds. Many of them even populated. Our ship travels between the stars, we are trying to get home to our own system."

"You're lost?"

"Not really, we know where we have to go but we are so far away from our home that it will take us half a lifetime to get back home."

Hawke holds out her hand to help her up. "Looking at you, that lifetime gets shorter the longer you stay down here." She pulls up Chakotay too and puts his arm over her shoulder to support him. They walk, slowly but steady and Varric and Janeway follow them at a small distance.

Janeway looks at her technology apparatus again. "We were searching for Dilithium crystals when the transporter got hit with interference from these corrupted crystals and dropped us underground instead of on the surface."

"I only understood half of that," Varric says, "but this blue lyrium isn't corrupted, the red stuff is."

"It's not visible yet but it has already started, see." She holds out the apparatus in front of them and he can see an image of the lyrium vine on the thing but in different colors. The tips are still bright blue but towards the bottom, thin red tendrils grow through the crystal.

"Huh, something like this would be really handy," he says.

"I'm afraid I can't give it to you. The charge would eventually run out and it would be useless." She points at the shooting-stick at her side. "Same goes for our phasers. There is no point in giving you technology that you have not developed yourself, as much as I would like to pay you for your efforts." A violent cough rips through her.

"Our efforts won't be good for much if we don't get you out of here soon." Varric takes her arm and pulls her along. In front of them, Chakotay trips but Hawke catches him.

Janeway makes a soft sound in her throat. "You have to save him, he is important." Her face is already red from the fever but now it's even redder. "For the crew, he's important for morale."

Varric grins. "Yeah, sure. Morale, of course." You can't be a writer of romance if you don't have an eye for romance, and he can tell from how Janeway looks at her second in command that there is more to her feelings than just protecting a friend.

Their conversation gets interrupted by another darkspawn attack, and while Varric protects the foreigners, Hawke fights through the monsters again with deadly precision. Janeway and Chakotay help as best as they can with their shooting-sticks but their aim suffers from their illness.

Hawke comes back, pulls up Chakotay again and hurries forward, clearly sensing the urgency. Janeway struggles to keep up and Varric takes her hand and places it on his shoulder.

"You can lean on me like that, I don't mind."

"I'm sorry, I didn't want to be disrespectful towards your height."

"I'm a dwarf, I'm used to being closer to the ground than others. Don't you have dwarves where you're from?"

"On our home planet? No, humans are the only humanoid species native on Earth. But aliens come in all sizes." She coughs again and leans more heavily on him. "We have to go faster, once we're outside we can contact our doctor and he can help."

"We're going as fast as possible."

"These creatures..."

"The darkspawn?"

"Yes, you fight them often?"

Varric nods. "Down here, yes, quite often."

"Don't let them get him."

Varric pats her hand on his shoulder. "We're doing our best." He grins. "I knew you love him."

"Maybe, but it wouldn't be appropriate. I'm his commanding officer."

"Yeah, and I'm the princess of all darkspawn, what does that have to do with anything? Didn't you say you're decades away from home? Is anybody gonna yell at you for finding some happiness along the way?"

Janeway laughs which leads into another coughing attack. "You're a romantic!" she says when she can breathe again.

"Well, I write novels, I kind of have to."

"A writer, how wonderful." Janeway looks back to Hawke and Chakotay and then to Varric again. "What about you and Hawke? Do you love her?"

"Of course, she's my best friend. But romantic love? No, her heart belongs to another." He sighs, for a moment wondering about something that could never be. "Honestly, I think I couldn't handle being loved by her. You have seen her fight, she loves like she fights — absolute, full hearted, pure force. She would burn me up."

"And the one who has her heart?"

"Burns just as bright for her, but is afraid to let it happen." He gives her a pointed look. "Sometimes I'm afraid that they'll wait too long and never dare to be what they could be."

Another coughing fit shakes the woman, and up front they see Chakotay suffer in the same way. Janeway looks at him as she wipes her mouth. "It does feel a bit silly. But I'm the Captain, they all look to me for guidance."

"And you think they won't understand that you'd want companionship too? Do you think Chakotay would not respect you as Captain anymore?"

"No, he would never do that. He's a good man."

Varric walks a bit faster, partly to bring Janeway closer to Chakotay (and if he has to throw her into his arms he will), but also because there is a light at the end of the hallway that looks like sunlight.

Hawke's gut instinct has once again proven to be the safest bet. They break into a hobbling run, as best as they can with two people who can barely stand anymore. However, the closer they get, the smaller the speck of light appears — until they stand in front of a wall rubble and big construction blocks. The ceiling is caved in with lava licking at the sides, and sunlight peeks through a small gap in the rocks.

Hawke gently removes Chakotay's arm from her shoulder, and the man more or less crumbles to the floor. Janeway hobbles to his side, barely aware of her own fever, and holds him. They both look frighteningly pale, even in the golden glow of the lava, and both of them are shivering.

"I'll look if we can move some rocks at the top," Hawke offers, but Varric can hear in her voice that she's not convinced herself. The two of them can find another exit, but the two strangers in their stretchy pants don't have time for that.

"We could shoot a tunnel through," Chakotay manages to say between harsh coughs.

Janeway tiredly shakes her head. "Then it will all just crash down, burying us when we go through."

"Wait," Hawke says, "you could shoot a tunnel through the rocks?"

Janeway looks at her shooting stick and little gems light up in red and green on top of it. "Yes, the charge should be enough for it. But it won't hold, too much pressure — "

The sounds of many footsteps approaching behind them bring a determined frown to Hawke's face. "I'm afraid this is it. Here's what we'll do. I’ll cast ice over the sides, to hold the wall in its shape, and you shoot that tunnel."

Varric sighs and points Bianca towards the back. He doesn't need to ask if this crazy plan can work, because trusting Hawke's gut is once again their only option. "You better get to it," he snarls over his shoulder "We'll have company soon and by Andraste's dirty knickers, it sounds like I would need a whole lot more arrows for this."

Hawke is already twisting her hand, muttering a spell under her breath and a stream of coldness springs from her palm. It crashes against the rubble, crawling through the gaps and forming a hard sheet of ice. At the same time, Janeway and Chakotay hold up their shooting sticks in shaking hands and aim the golden light towards the lower middle. The rocks heat up, glow, and turn to smoke. Varric is fascinated but he has to tear his eyes away from the process.

The first darkspawn comes around the corner, just a few paces away from them and falls from his arrow. The next one goes down as well, and the third in the same way — and if these creatures had any sense, they would have fallen back and been more careful in their approach; but, unfortunately, darkspawn have no sense of self-preservation.

"I could use some help here," he calls back. Someone grabs his shoulder and hauls him back.

"We're through, let's go," Hawke says, casting a wall of ice towards the approaching darkspawn before she pushes him to the narrow tunnel. They have to crawl on their hands and knees. The rocks are searing hot under their hands, and from above, melting ice drenches them in cold water. The skin on their hands burns but they have to keep going, keep going forward towards the light. The rocks begin to creak, and pebbles fall in a rising staccato of decay as the ice cracks under the pressure of dwarven construction blocks.

Varric crawls as fast as he can, the tunnels seems to be endless. He hears Hawke shuffling behind him. Bianca scrapes against the rock and he just knows he's going to get stuck. Hawke keeps pushing, while he crawls as fast as he can... but it's not enough, he won't make it, he's too slow and he will take Hawke to her death with his.

Suddenly, hands grab his arms hard and pull him forward. He lands face first in sun-dried dirt as Hawke gets pulled out in the same way. Her feet leave the tunnel just as it collapses with a loud crack, covering them with ice-cold dust.

Two people in the same kind of stretchy pants that go up to their shoulders tend to the foreigners, waving strange tools over their bodies and talking to a box on the side. They give them something to drink and some color returns to their faces. Janeway sits up and asks for a report, and people answer her calm and efficiently. Even sweating and sitting on the ground of some sunny hillside, she is still clearly in command of these people.

Varric observes that Hawke is the same to their group as Janeway — but you wouldn't know if you looked at her now, sprawled in the dirt like a lazy dog. She rolls on her side, coughing and laughing at the same time.

"Guess what, Varric."

"What?"

"We forgot to look for the artifact."

"Andraste's ass, I almost got you killed back there."

"Naw, the Deep Roads love me," she says, smirking at him. "I've never seen your ass move so fast, Varric, that's enough of a treasure for me."

"I had to, I'm sure Fenris would have hunted me through the Fade and back if I had gotten you killed."

The grin turns into a soft smile, something like hope glittering in her eyes. "You think so?"

Varric rolls his eyes. "You can't possibly be this clueless, woman."

He looks over to the foreigners, where Janeway is helping Chakotay sitting up, cradling him in her arms. She holds his hand in hers, looking at him warmly. Chakotay seems to be surprised at first, but then smiles at her.

"See? Even those two have figured it out," Varric says.

A woman with grooves on her forehead comes over to them and brings the box with them. On the box is a moving picture of a human with little hair who seems to be rather annoyed at being locked in that box. "I could work much better if my projection was down there, if you would just install the local emitters..."

"Doctor," the woman says with an exasperated sigh, "the emitters don't work here with all the radiation and I'm sure I can apply some band-aids just as well."

"Oh, that is my job description now? 'Hands out band-aids?'"

"Sorry, doctor," the woman says. The way her jaw tenses and the vein on her neck stands out, she reminds Varric of Hawke when she speaks to someone from the Chantry. "I'm scanning them now."

The head in the box shakes huffs in disapproval. "Not human like we know. Adapted very well to the constant background radiation. Some extra nerve clusters for something like PSI powers if I had to make a guess. They seem to be fine, apart from some contamination by corrupted crystal radiation. Use the dermal regenerator on their hands."

A shimmer appears on top of the box. Golden glitter swirls in circles and a cup appears out of nowhere. The doctor in the box grumbles something about how they should drink that to be immune against the more dangerous radiation and then his head disappears from the box.

Hawke hesitates for a bit but then drinks from the cup. Varric copies her. It tastes much better than the potions Anders makes. He certainly doesn't miss the bitter tang of elfroot.

Hawke gets up and follows the woman with the grooves on her forehead drawn in a scowl, looking over her shoulder as she works with the tool. There is a short conversation, some angry growling from the foreign woman and somehow Hawke manages to charm her anyway. The woman hands her the tool and Hawke starts pointing it at everything around her.

Janeway gets up, giving Chakotay's arm a calming stroke and calls the woman over. "B'Elanna, a word." She murmurs something to her, and B'Elanna nods. After some fiddling with her apparatus, the golden swirls appear again on top of the box and leave something behind that Varric has never seen before.

Janeway takes the shiny things in her hand and comes over to him. Hawke darts to his side, curious as to what the foreign woman holds in her hands. Janeway gently takes the tool from her hand; Hawke seems to be very sorry to let go of it.

"As I said, we can't leave our technology here," Janeway explains, "but these glasses will filter out most light while enhancing the infectious strains in the crystals. They adapt to outside light, so you can use them both in sunlight and underground. In the sun they will be dark, and underground they will be transparent; but the poisoned parts of the crystals will stand out bright red." She hands them to Varric and Hawke, and helps them to set the glasses on their noses. "I hope you will accept these as payment for our rescue. You didn't have to, but you saved our lives."

"It's what we do," Hawke says, looking around her through the darkened glass. "This is great!" She turns to Janeway. "How does it look?"

The foreign woman smirks. "It looks good. A bit mysterious."

Hawke grins wide. "I like being mysterious. Thank you, this is a great gift."

"And useful too," Varric adds. "I can see red lines over there in that patch of lyrium but to the naked eye it looks just fine."

B'Elanna comes back to them. "Word of advice: don't look directly at the sun." She points the apparatus in her hand at the patch of lyrium. "Yes, the infection has already started. You should have some of your scientists look into this, if you prefer the blue crystals to the red ones."

Hawke stares at the woman for a moment and then shakes her head. "Your world and my world are very different. A scientist? Only place I would think to look for one is the Chantry and I prefer not to go close to that place."

Janeway comes up to them and smiles. Color has returned to her skin and she has fixed her hair into a clean bun. "A scientist just has to be curious about the world, be observant and take notes."

"We can do that, can't we, Varric?"

"Yes, Hawke, you'll hit things and I'll write down how they fell. Sounds like every other day." 

Hawke laughs, and turns back to Janeway. “Thank you, again, for this wonderful gift,” she begins,  playing with the glasses in her hands for a bit before taking a deep breath; and something that seems to have been sitting heavy on her mind tumbles out. "I hope you make it home soon, but, please, don't just wait until coming home to find friends and family because you can find those on the way and they are most important, you know?"

"Is that what you found?" Janeway asks, with a slight blush on her cheeks.

Hawke nods and Janeway takes her hand. There is a quiet, wordless exchange between the two women and then they part with a smile. Janeway returns to her group, ordering someone to bring them up. As the air around them begins to shimmer, she takes Chakotay's hand, to his surprise, and waves at them with the other. Varric and Hawke stare in wonder as the foreigners disappear in golden swirls.

The trek around the mountain is quiet, both of them deep in thought. Hawke looks through the glasses while they walk and when she discovers a tendril of corruption in a cliff or under the ground, she marks the locations on her map, taking her new assignment as a scientist seriously.

When the sun begins to sink, they have made it back to one of the main roads in the Planasene Forest. It's almost time to find a place to rest but Varric notices someone running towards them, someone very familiar.

Hawke sees him too, a smile on her lips as she observes him through the glasses. "Fenris," she says quietly. "I see no corruption in the lyrium in his lines, do you?"

Varric looks and shakes his head. "No, he looks fine. Did you think he wasn’t?"

"That's the first thing I thought when Janeway and her team said that the lyrium is corrupted even if we can't see it yet. What if he got infected when we were in the Deep Roads?" She sounds so frightened that Varric has to look twice to make sure that this is still Hawke, terrifying warrior and secret mage.

He puts a hand on her arm. "He's fine and obviously looking for you. Go to him."

She gives him a faint smile and starts running. They run towards each other, coming to halt just a hand-width apart, staring at each other. Varric wonders if he should go over to them to smack some sense into them when, at last, they both lean forward and their lips meet in a careful kiss.

"Finally, thank the Maker," Varric mumbles to himself. He sees the kiss growing more passionate and turns away, looking for a place to set up camp for the night. Once the glasses show no corrupted lyrium anywhere around them, he puts them away in a pocket and sets up a campfire. His friends are still wrapped in a passionate embrace, still kissing, and he just smiles and settles down besides the flames.

He pulls out a piece of parchment and his favorite quill, dips it in ink and looks ahead towards the setting sun. A few stars become visible and something moves fast across the sky before disappearing. "This has been a strange day," he says, and starts writing.

[joesbrownusa]

Houses For Sale in Colfax, CA

1201 Easy Ln

Price: $350000

Private but not secluded 2.8 Acre setting nestled in the mixed forest of pines and oaks. This passive solar designed home features openable sky windows, terrazo tile floors, tounge and groove wood walls and splendid natural air flow. The builder placed picture windows in all the bedrooms and main living area to maximize the beautiful scenery and long distance views to the Sierras, foothills and valleys, not a building or wire to break the spell. Blessed with an oversized deck so you can entertain and share the best nature has to offer. There is plenty of room for RVS, lakes and rivers a re near by as are hiking trails and waterfalls. Come up to the good life, you deserve it.

25300 Campbell Creek Pl

Price: $750000

Nice traditional style home with 3 bedrooms and 3 ½ bathrooms. Sits on almost 10 acres, 1 usable acre.

19680 Sun Valley Rd

Price: $685000

DOUBLE your country comfort here two complete custom homes with attached garages. 3685 sq ft main home PLUS 3-bd, 2-bath 1200 sq. ft. guest home with separate utilities, ideal for family, guests, home office/games, vacation or extra income. Just 5 minutes to I-80; enjoy city water & modern amenities here. Sun Valley Road is a neighborhood of newer, high-quality homes. The main home is great for family, entertaining or vacation. Space for a home office, guests, and more with up to 5 bedrooms. Upstairs is a spacious master suite with lovely bath; huge bonus room, an additional living room. This home has 3 full baths, a great garage & shop space. Squeaky clean … hurry. These homes are shown only with appointment, please don’t disturb occupants.

1060 Robbers Ravine Rd

Price: $479000

Outstanding Country Mountain Farmhouse. Active dormers, full wrap-around covered porch, log siding, all natural stained and oiled wood. large great-room open to island granite kitchen. Separate family room and two bedrooms downstairs. Very usable land over looking neighbor’s large pond. Nice private location with pleasant local views. Separate straw bale insulated guest studio, un-permitted but nicely constructed. Perfect for guests or kids.. This is not a drive by house.

701 State Highway 174

Price: $500000

The Most Desirable Commercial/Residential Zoned Acreage in Colfax has been drastically reduced! 7 Parcels Being Sold As 1 Equaling Approx. 4+ Acres. Site of Former Quonset Motor Lodge which Originally had 21 Units and an Entertainment Lodge (Foundation Still in Place). Spectacular Sierra Mountain View; Hwy/Commercial/Residential Zoning Provides Abundant Opportunity for Development. Property Fronts Hwy 174 with Daily Heavy Traffic Flow. Easy I-80 Access.

960 Eden Valley Rd

Price: $859000

This impeccable, luxurious home awaits in Eden Valley Estates, just 6 minutes from I-80 on the way to skiing, hiking and more. The QUALITY and LOVE are evident. A top-end contractor built this home for his own family, and the present owners have truly invested heart & soul. Elaborate garden, secret wine room, dazzling views, solid wood doors & trim, ultimate commercial kitchen. This home cannot be appreciated via a mere drive-by; make an appointment to be dazzled!

1270 Loggers Trl

Price: $499000

30 beautiful acres.This property is an opportunity to live in the existing home and enjoy the land around it. Or build on the adjoining other 3 parcels, whether for your family or for an investment in your future. The area is beautiful and quiet off country lanes. There is potential here to grow gardens and build and raise horses or other animals. Existing home needs TLC and care, but it is an investment as well as a home.

25990 Ridgeview Ct

Price: $602000

Beautiful, immaculate home nestled among the trees on 3.3 acres in Colfax. At the end of a cul-de-sac in a paved neighborhood. All lots in the neighborhood are at least 3 acres which allows for lots of privacy with the comfort of a neighborhood. One level with three bedrooms, plus a 300 square foot bonus room, and two full and one half bathrooms. Amazing 1100 square foot, four and half car detached garage with adjacent 35 foot covered RV parking. Three sided wrap around deck, with a wonderfully large back deck for entertaining. Great room with vaulted ceiling that contains two tube skyl ights and a stone hearth with a new Blaze King catalytic wood stove. Hardwood floors in the kitchen, great room and bonus room. Gas stove, with lots of counter space in a kitchen set up for parties. Walk-in kitchen pantry, back entrance into a mud room with walk-in closet, and a full sized laundry room. Bonus room with lots of cabinets, a built in desk, and a pellet stove. Central heat and air conditioning and an all-house fan. Spectacular tasting well water with a new well pump, septic system, and Culligan Iron Cleer water filter. Quick access to I-80, near the Bear River and Rollins Lake.

26065 Ridgeview Ct

Price: $625000

HURRY. With abundant quality, privacy & room, this home won’t last. Beautiful long-range sunsets and impeccable updates everywhere. Bright, spacious and versatile. Main level features 2 bedrooms, 2 new bathrooms, open design, plus all new kitchen & lighting. Above boasts a dazzling master suite + new bath with jetted tub, separate office or 4th bedroom. On bottom level 2 more big rooms to use as you wish, possibly a game room, man cave, theater or artist hideaway. Bright garage with skylights, new roof, THE LIST GOES ON. End-of road privacy near Bear River, Rollins Lake/Campgrou nd, Colfax, I-80 & Grass Valley. HURRY. Call Casey to schedule a showing today… . HURRY. MLS#17005304

901 Easy Ln

Price: $469000

Beautiful custom home on 4 acres with an additional detached studio! Home is in a private setting with expansive covered porches, over sized carport, stucco siding, paved driveway and peace and quiet. Inside enjoy a spacious kitchen complete with island, wood floors, fireplace, indoor laundry room, large bedrooms and master suite complete with a large shower and jetted tub.

29210 Bear Paw Ln

Price: $599000

Live the dream of living off the grid in comfort and style, state of the art system. This is no ordinary property, the natural beauty of the views, the quiet, the peace. this property is so well maintained, not just the home, but every out building and garden and outdoor kitchen area, every bit of this property is clean and enjoyable. Borders BLM land. 3 seperate parcels the metal roof and log accents give it that Tahoe feel. There is a large 40x75ft shop with front & back roll up doors, green house, outdoor kitchen, and outdoor bathroom. PLUS 2 wells,1 at 20 GPM + and 1000 gal. hol ding tank. AND 2 500 gal propane tanks. Property boarders BLM – 3 seperate parcels.min from Sugar Pine Lake. Private road to Shirt Tail Creek. Call for a private showing or call your realtor. Thank you.

33 S Auburn Ave

Price: $775000

This historic home was built in 1887. A lovely Bed and Breakfast or a home for large family. 3 Unique guest rooms with private baths with jacuzzi tubs and showers. Renovated throughout, Commercial kitchen with large walk in Pantry. Living room dining room and kitchen with high ceilings. Beautiful flooring with radiant heating. One Bedroom and bath downstairs for owners quarters, great common area with koi pond, an atrium with a wood burning pizza oven. Walking distance to historical Colfax

Geisendorfer Rd

Price: $65000

Parcel is located on Geisendorfer Road that fronts Hwy 80. Great Location to Hwy access. Power is attached to adjoining property owners. Call Terri before going to parcel. Sign is located approximate to center of parcel. No driveway onto parcel.

21915 Oak Ranch Rd

Price: $558000

Single-story living plus guest suite downstairs w/private entry & deck is perfect for multi-generations or potential AirBNB. Spacious open concept, skylights and large deck offer sunset views through the trees from the great room, master bedroom & office. 9ft. ceilings, 2×6 constr., many luxury upgrades of an exceptional quality home. Hot tub deck creates private retreat in a natural setting. Large 10 ft. tall unfinished storage area has unlimited potential. Minutes to I-80 or Meadow Vista.

24740 Ben Taylor Rd

Price: $420000

Vaulted Pine Ceilings blanket this cozy home in Colfax! Beautifully designed & recently remodeled kit & baths, this sngl level home boasts many updated features such as roof & Leaf Guard Gutters, deck, hot water heater, garage drs & openers, & fresh paint inside/out. Plenty of prkg for multiple vehicles, boat & trailer. Prop is fully fenced w/gated entrance. Enjoy sunset views thru the pine trees from back deck. Convenient loc allows you to walk to dwntwn & school; E-Z freeway access too!

138 Sylvan Rd

Price: $324900

: This gorgeous Alpine Meadows property is tucked into a quiet neighborhood with easy access to I-80, 5 minutes to Rollins Lakeand a short drive to both the snow packed ski resorts and all the Roseville Amenities. Featuring a spacious and open floorplan, with a main floor masterbedroom, 2 living spaces, work station, laundry/mudroom and more, this home really does have it all!

1088 Pinecroft Rd

Price: $299000

Darling ranch-style, manufactured home in the beautiful trees of Colfax! This property offers a beautifully updated kitchen, 3 bedrooms, 2 baths on a almost 2 acres. This country property would be a great investment or ready to move in for that first time buyer. Kitchen appliances as well as washer/dryer included.

1540 Dog Bar Rd

Price: $995000

Beautiful 70(+/-) acres along Bear river. Access to property located at Bear river bridge. River Frontage!!

25425 Pineview Dr

Price: $249000

Desirable Colfax Fixer!! Excellent end of the road location on 2.6 beautiful acres with a lovely sunset view over the Bear River Canyon! 2BD, 1BA & Office on entry level with 1 BD Studio, 1 BA & Kitchen on the bottom w/separate entry. Office added & bottom converted W/O permits and adds approximately 600 SF+/-. New roof 10+/- years ago. Dual pane windows. Building Pads leveled for a garage & shop. Great quiet neighborhood close to schools and town. Lots of Deferred Maintenance & deck is rotted. Sold As Is to CASH BUYERS ONLY. Contractors special! Bring your tools and a vision!

21420 Dawnridge Dr N

Price: $349900

Come check out this Magical 5.16 acre property. Once you’re here, take a walk down by the lake and all your worries will disappear. There is a 1200 SF Mobile home on the land that HAS NO VALUE. All the value is in the property. But the location of the mobile would make the the perfect location to build your Dream home overlooking this beautiful 3 acre lake. There is power, septic and well already installed. Long Private Driveway to your home.

from Houses For Sale – The OC Home Search http://www.theochomesearch.com/houses-for-sale-in-colfax-ca/ from OC Home Search https://theochomesearch.tumblr.com/post/157944039355