#felt like sharing some sweet solavellan reunion

[liberaquantobasta]

The blinding white light fades as their feet touch the ground, revealing a place Solas knows only too well. But he barely notices. His mind is still unravelling, struggling to make sense of the events that have just unfolded.

"It's... it's over." He puts a hand to his chest as if searching for the beat of his heart. He lowers his gaze to watch it rise and fall slowly, following the rhythm of his breath. His eyes are confused, disbelieving. "It's over." he repeats.

Ainur'Len nods slowly, just once. She stands in front of him. She takes his hand in hers and lays it gently, carefully, on her heart. Solas shudders as he feels the sound through his skin, the sweet music that is the soul of the woman he loves.

"Can you feel it?" she asks him, smiling and searching for his gaze. The wolf returns to reality, and when his eyes meet Ainur'Len's, he notices that her lashes are trembling, perhaps from the effort of holding back tears. To be strong for him. For them. "Do you feel it, Vhenan? You are no longer alone."

He looks at her, listening to her heartbeat. The tears that moisten her eyes brighten her irises, bringing out the lighter tones and making them vibrate, alive, trembling, dancing before him. These eyes are embedded in a face of peculiar beauty, deep, unique, whose skin is marked by a few more lines, by time and character, by the expressions of love, pain, happiness and wonder that have wrinkled it over the years. The ones he missed, the ones he never saw. He wasn't there to witness the birth of that little wrinkle under her right eye. He wasn't there when a tiny furrow appeared in the middle of her forehead, imperceptible at first but now so evident by the way her eyebrows arch. The new scar on her chin, he wonders how she got it.

Instinctively, he lifts his free hand and lets his fingers trace those new marks as if he wanted to know them better. He doesn't even notice that his lips are curled into the same smile on her face, a fragile, unstable, but sincere smile. He doesn't notice that his forehead is furrowed, just like Ainur'Len's, his eyebrows tremble at the same beat, and his eyes are wet, vivid, just like hers.

"You're not alone anymore," she repeats, her voice cracking with the sentiments, and Solas's smile falters, bending but not breaking. He nods repeatedly, quickly, desperately, as he lowers his head onto hers, and a broken breath escapes his lips, sounding like a laugh and a sob at the same time. He rests his forehead on hers and never stops looking into her eyes. He wants to answer, but he can no longer speak, the lump in his throat tightening.

"Ar lasa mala revas."

And then, they let it go. All of it. Together. They tremble, neither knowing which of them started first. Solas pulls her to him, ignoring the pain from his wounds. All he needs now is to hold her and never let her go. Ainur'Len wraps her arms around his back and clings to him. Their bodies shudder with sobs, crying, weeping against each other's skin, releasing every last drop of adrenaline, embracing the wave of relief that hits them full force, growing, expanding in their souls, exploding, and it is almost unbearable. Unstoppable. Uncontrollable.

"Ir abelas..." the words slip from Solas' lips in sobs, one syllable at a time. In response, she holds him tighter, and he feels a stabbing pain in his side, but he ignores it. "Ir abelas." he repeats, and this time he feels her shake her head against him. She knows. She knows he is apologising for everything. For getting close to her, for falling in love with her. For making her suffer, for rejecting her more times than her heart could bear. For causing pain, suffering, to himself, to the whole world; for bringing the blight, for leaving the fade, for creating the veil and not being able to fix it all. For abandoning her. For not being there when her soul needed comfort. For dragging her down with him into that terrible place, condemning her to a fate of loneliness and suffering.

She shakes her head and whispers only a "no," "ma me lava halani." He wonders how he has ever helped her, but he believes her. He trusts those words, and he cries, he weeps because he finally has her in his arms. He never wants to let her go.

Just as he will not let her fall. Her legs tremble and give way, but he holds her upright. He supports her with his arms as she sobs a little louder and leans against him, loosening her grip. She takes refuge in his chest, body and soul. He embraces her, tight, reassuring, safe. This is home. Wherever they are, they are home at last.

They stay like this for a long time; no one knows how long. Time here flows differently. They remain embraced until their bodies settle, exhausted, and their eyes dry. Solas feels his body burn. Now that his emotions have settled, he can feel the pain of the wounds pulsing beneath his armour. He stifles a groan as he slowly pulls away from her. Their eyes are bloodshot, their cheeks flushed, their noses reddened, but they look at each other, and all they can do is smile.

Here is the whole story.