#once he offered to remove her vallaslin I lost my damn mind

[solavellan--hell]

It is important to me that people know that, in the Crestwood cutscene, Solas does not take Lavellan there with the intention to drop the vallaslin lore bomb and then dump her.

I don’t know why, but I keep seeing comments talking about this scene in particular like it was all some kind of master manipulator move on his part, like he planned for things to happen the way they did.

I’m going to be paraphrasing Trick here, this is not just personal interpretation. Solas took Lavellan to Crestwood with the intent to tell her the whole truth, because she mattered that much to him. But his resolve breaks once he starts telling her, so instead of telling her the truth about himself, he tells her the truth about the Vallaslin. He gets scared and backs away.

Now, in the interview, Trick says that after Solas kisses Lavellan, he is “ready to lose himself and forget about the past”. But he realizes that he has to break it off, or he would have betrayed himself. Personally, I think “himself” means more himself in terms of his self-perceived purpose and responsibility, because we know leaving is not what he actually wants. The Veilguard letter confirms it, but we kinda already knew.

Anyway. I know this hurt. Trust me, I still ugly cry to this one cutscene. But he did not take Lavellan there because he had nothing better to do than emotionally traumatize her. Doesn’t change the outcome in the end, but intentions are an important part of any character.

[ramblinganthropologist]

“i want to either kiss you or kill you right now.” Cherche/Sten

Summary: Sten takes a hit for that special woman in his life. Cherche worries, and Dog offers valuable advice.Pairing: Sten and Cherche, pre Orzammar Word count: 1.7k

“That fucking asshole... if hedoesn't die I'm going to kill him!”

There were few times that Cherche hadever felt this upset in her life. Her father dying was on top of thelist, followed by losing Tamlen only months prior. Now a third personwas trying to join the list, and all she could do was sit outside andwait for the inevitable.

It wasn't supposed to turn out likethis. When Alistair had run back to camp reporting a sudden group ofdarkspawn was nearing a small village, it was supposed to be an easyfight. There were no ogres, no alphas to worry about. It should havejust been a simple beat down that they'd all come back from smellinglike shit and laughing about.

In fact, it had gone like that untilSten had dropped to the ground to her right, practically impaled onno less than five arrows fired from a small group of hurlock archers.He hadn't said a word, just fell like a stone. The ground had shookwhen he landed, almost knocking her off her feet.

Cherche didn't remember much afterthat. When she had asked Cahel, the boy's face had turned white. Hehad managed to mutter she'd ripped them apart as he began to siftthrough the corpses, unable to meet her eyes. No wonder her hands hadbeen so bloody, along with the rest of her armor.

Sten hadn't died on the battlefieldthanks to her practically holding his guts in while they carried himback. Now they were all at camp, waiting outside Wynne's tent fornews on whether or not the Qunari was going to pull through.

The dirt around the tent was churnedup she had paced through it so many times. She could smell the sicklysweet aroma of blood sticking to everything, herself included. Dogwhined as he sat at her side, similarily coated.

“Perhaps you should wash off.”Leliana's accented voice caused her to whip her head around. The bardwas standing a respectable distance away, cleaning off her bloodstained daggers. “He is in good hands, Cherche.”

The elf's barbed tongue began to formsome insult, but it died in her throat. Instead, she sighed andnodded. She did smell pretty bad, and if she knew the healer therewas no way she was going to let her in like that. Something aboutcontaminating the wounds; it all went over her head.

“Come on, Dog. Let's go.”

There was a small creek near the campthat served as her wash site. It was hard to strip out of her armor,sticky and gross as it was. A few cuts and bruises stung as sheremoved her clothing, but none of it was life threatening. Naked, sheplunged into the water, coming up for air with a gasp.

It was damn cold.

Next to her, Dog paddled to a rock inthe creek, shaking off once he was clean. She would have normallylaughed at that, but not today. Sighing, she settled in to washingoff, staring down at the blood that ran off her.

There had been a lot of blood. Hisblood, darkspawn blood, it had all mingled together into a foul soupthat turned the hard packed earth a dark red. It had squished underher feet as they had carried him back, his face ashen and visionunfocused. She hadn't even know one person could bleed that much andstill be alive.

Groaning, she plunged below the waterto assault her senses a second time. When she came back up for air,Cherche shivered. At least she was cleaner now, but she could stillsmell the blood as it ran off her in rivets of dirty water.

“Why the fuck did he do that?!”

Her shout caused a few bird to leavetheir nests with surprised squawks. Dog to his eternal credit didn'teven look over; he just wagged his stumpy tail and made a littlenoise to let her know he was listening to her. It helped a little,but not much.

Cherche groaned again as she scrubbedoff the last of the dirt from her skin, revealing the lines of hervallaslin as she did. “I could've handed those archers just fine?Why the fuck did he jump in and get hit like a pin cushion?!”

She turned to face Dog, exasperated.“Did he think I wouldn't see them?”

The Mabari didn't answer; there wassome Ferelden wording that was lost on her at the moment that theywere too smart to speak. Instead, he just cocked his head to the sideand barked once. That was about as good as she was going to get fromhim.

Sighing, Cherche slid deeper into thecold water. It was losing its bite now, which was a sure sign sheshould get out soon. “That dumbass... I'm going to give him a pieceof my mind once grandma finishes with him.”

He had to make it. There was no way acouple of arrows would be enough to take down a Qunari warrior,especially one of his level. She might not have known much abouttheir traditions, but he had explained that much to her one night inbed. He was more than just a basic soldier. Something like thisshouldn't have phased him.

Approaching footsteps caused Chercheto turn her head, reaching across for a sharp looking rock just incase some of the darkspawn had returned. However, she dropped it atthe sight of Cahel standing on the bank, Tamlen wagging his tail athis side.

“Da'len? Did something happen withSten?”

The boy nodded as he reached for theclothing she had piled at the side of the bank. “Sten wants to seeyou.”

Her heart exploded as she rocketedout of the water, pausing only to grab her offered clothes. Gettingdressed as she ran wasn't new to her, but being wet complicatedthings slightly. Dog kept pace with her as she sprinted, all butleaving her son in the dust.

“Hey, would you-” Cahel shook hishead as he went to collect her forgotten armor. “Never mind. GuessI'm on cleaning duty tonight.”

Cherche never heard any of that.Instead, she was focused on heading back to camp as fast as her feetcould take her. At least she was dressed as she thundered into thering of tents, dripping water with every step. No doubt she was quitethe sight then, but she didn't care as she ran to Wynne's tent.

The healer was waiting outside forher. If she had something to say about the elf's state of dress, shekept it to herself as she wiped off her blood covered hands. Oncethey were clean, she held open the flap of her tent.

“He's resting now. Please don'tpunch him, it took quite a lot of effort to patch his shoulder up.”

By that point, the elf had formed asmall pool of water just from standing there. However, she splashedthrough it in order to go inside. Like she would have expected, Stenwas laying on a bedroll on the floor. He was shirtless, and probablypantsless under the blanket, and his entire torso was wrapped inheavy bandages. Luckily, none of them were stained pink yet.

“Kadan.”

The Qunari's eyes were a littleunfocused as he looked over at her. Whatever Wynne had shoved downhis throat – probably with much protest – for the pain he was nodoubt in seemed to make him a little sedate. It was downrightpathetic to see him lying there.

That didn't stop her from reachingout to slap him across his damn face, but it did stay her hand for afew seconds.

“You gods damned idiot!” Chercheheld her sore hand, tears brimming in her eyes anew. “I don't knowwhether to kiss you or kill you right now!”

She did the former before he couldreact, almost shoving their lips together. It wasn't easy with theangles, but she managed. Sten's support came in with wrapping hislesser damaged arm around her until she stopped shaking.

“You are soaking wet.” His voicewas as level as ever. “It is unpleasant.”

Talk about a mood killer. Cherchepouted as she backed up to sit on the ground next to him. Sten wasrubbing his sore cheek while she created another pond inside thetent. Their eyes met briefly, but she looked away.

She was still mad at him.

When he spoke again, the Qunari'svoice was a little confused. “Why am I being slapped? Is this forsaving your life?”

Saving her – Cherche rounded onhim, eyes on fire. “Are you out of your mind?! You were stuck moretimes than a pincushion! You could've died!”

Sten shook his head in response. “Andyou would have. They were aiming for your head.”

It was a simple sentence, but itstruck the elf dumb as she sat there in the middle of the newlyformed Lake Dalish. The shiver was back, but it wasn't from the cold.The highest of Sten's arrow wounds would have been where her headwas, now that she was looking at the bandages better.

“Couldn't you have just pushed meout of the way?”

He turned to face her, reaching outone large hand. “Then you might not have been able to dodge. It wasthe most logical choice.”

Well, fuck logic. Tears began to brewin Cherche's eyes anew as she reached out to fit their fingerstogether. It was always a clumsy match between them, but the warmthof his palm was all she needed right then.

“I will be recovering from mywounds for some time. The mage has brought me out of danger.” Hiseyes were beginning to sag. “You do not need to stay here to watchme sleep, kadan. Go dry off.”

The problem is, Cherche didn't wantto move at all. However, her little pond was about to become a lakeif she decided to keep sitting there. Rather than risk Wynne's wrath,she nodded and stood. Releasing their hands was one of the hardestthings she had ever done, but she did as she carefully stepped aroundhim to leave the tent.

Unsurprisingly, the group's healergave her quite a look as she exited. “I said no hitting him.”

“I slapped him. There's adifference.” The elf frowned as she headed towards her own tent.“He's sleeping now. I'll be back once I'm dry.”

Her heart still pounded uncomfortablywhen she sat in her tent a few minutes later drying herself off.Knowing how easy it would have been to lose the Qunari wasn't sittingright with her. What scared her more was that it wasn't.

“I'm a mess, Dog.” The Mabari,ever wise, didn't respond to his master. Cherche sighed as she laidher towel aside, finally dry for the moment. Her face still felt hot,even as she sat there. He might have been against magic, but Sten haddefinitely laid a spell on her.

And, to be honest, she didn't want tobreak it anytime soon. Break him, maybe, for being so stupid, but shewas happy to stay under.

Shaking her head, the elf stood.“Come on. Let's go bother Sten. Grandma's probably trying to pumphim full of healthy food again.”

This time, Dog answered her with ahearty bark. Together, the two headed off to where they would nodoubt be spending the night. After all, Sten hadn't said anythingabout hanging around after she had dried off.