#its canon now to me that he commissioned solas to make this for her and just.

[secret-smut-sideblog]

hey. I just noticed this mural in blackwalls quarters at skyhold

like that's them. actually. I'm going to throw up

[notkirstinetheartist]

“Mel em su tarasyl, vhenan...”

I told you all I would flesh (heh) this out, and here we are.

Check below the cut for details shots and me being an art history nerd, because I put way too much thought into a pin-up of an elf.

Commission Info

First, wanna get this out of the way right away, because I am a Grade A Weenie:

You’re goddamn right she’s covering her junk with a copy of Hard in Hightown, I’m a man of culture goddammit.

Besides the fact that angling Solas’ necklace just right to make sure the shadow of it cupped Mellan’s breast (we love a visual metaphor in this house, folks), it might look a little funky with the leather straps at first, and that would be the point! It is actually a reference to cultural practices I grew up with (which I love putting into art, and I really love seeing other people do it, too. Its actively my favorite thing in the community.) as well as a practice from across the globe that became especially popular in the houses of well-to-do people in the Victorian Era.

What Mellan has done is taken one of her own leather straps and intertwined it with Solas’ in a sudo handfasting band. I had it not fully tied to show a few things:

Obviously its not around anyone’s hands, lol. But, it is still an offering. We can reach that step in our relationship someday, if you would be open to it as I am.

This would be the first canonical time we’ve seen Solas’ necklace untied. This was done with purpose to show a willingness to let go and be himself around Mellan. She knows he is Fen’Harel, but she only sees Solas. He is able to let his guard down without fear of her judging him; there’s a safety there.

Mellan has a phobia of things being tied around her neck, to the point wear she could not even wear a turtleneck shirt. By dangling the necklace like this, she too is showing her trust in Solas, because he is well aware of this phobia and she knows he will not use it against her. In a way, the laying of the necklace/handfasting band is exposing Mellan a lot more than her nudity is.

Now, for the Victorian Nerdry! 

Across the globe, over the course of... well, forever, flowers have meant different things. But, in the Victorian Era, this became a huge fad. I mean, people were obsessed. Think passing along memes that contained notes for your friends, extreme mode.

Different flowers meant different things. And the colors of those flowers changed the coding entirely, too! And if you paired one flower with another? Oh, my god, the things you could imply.

Take for example, you just had a lovely evening with a suitor. You want to send them a flower to tell them what a great time you had! So, you pick a carnation. Better pick the right one, though! If you pick white, that’s great; you’re expressing the pure, innocent love you feel budding for them. But, you pick yellow? Congrats, you loath them.

And if you pair either with pink? Well, pink on its own means “I’ll never forget you!” Pink with white? “My heart will never forget this innocent love that I feel for you, hopefully it will continue to blossom.” Pink with yellow? “I will never forget how much I fucking hate your guts you absolute piece of shi--”

So, yeah. There’s a lot you can say with flowers! On @little-lightning-lavellan there plans to be more writing about flower politics in Dueteragony, because the possibilities for Orlesian politics, don’t get me started... but I digress.

The flowers on Mellan’s band are red tulips. Tulips are generally associated with budding (HA) passion, and red ones specifically refer to a declaration of love. Well, at this point, Solas already knows she loves him, but it never hurts for your sweetheart to remind you, does it? 🌷❤️

And then just a last close-up of my baby girl, because I’m really pleased with her smirk (and her little hair wisps. She clearly tried to get a little bit more put together... but, come on. Its Melly.)

Big thanks to @fenxshiral​ for the Elvhen translation, which means: “Take my to the sky, my heart.” Which I had to use for the obvious Mel pun. ❤️