Chapter Text
When we walked back into the Crossroads, the difference was almost tangible.
The bodies from the fight the other day had all been moved, though blood still darkened patches of dirt. Whatever buildings had been ruined were in the process of being rebuilt, and nothing seemed to be on fire that wasn’t meant to be.
There were more people milling about, some trading with one of the traveling merchants who had stopped by. There was an uncurrent of constant conversation that provided a background of noise.
And the smell of roasting meat told me that they had gotten the food.
“I’m going to check with the injured,” Sehari called, already heading in that direction. “I wasn’t able to earlier.”
Solas turned toward where the injured were, too. “I will attend to them as well.”
A moment later, Cassandra was walking off to talk to Corporal Vale.
“Well,” I looked at Varric, who was still at my side, “I’m hungry, so I’m heading back to the camp. Are you coming with me?”
He nodded his head and stated, “I need to take care of Bianca anyway.”
After making the fifteen-minute hike through the hills, we headed to where our tents were set up.
As I started a fire to make our early dinner, Varric set about looking over Bianca with a series of tools produced from his tent.
“Now that we’re alone,” I started as I built the fire. “I don’t know what to make of him.”
Varric paused in his tinkering for a moment to look up at me. “Something is off about him, but I can’t deny that he’s helped the Inquisition. He showed up shortly after the Breach. Between helping us maintain some control in the valley shortly after the blast and then helping the injured in Haven… He has been a big help.”
“Leliana said that he was also responsible for keeping Sehari alive.” After I had gotten a decent blaze going, I set about deciding what to fix. “So, he’s been an undeniable help to the Inquisition. Perhaps the shiftiness is due to him being an apostate.”
Varric shrugged and went back to focus on his crossbow. “I suppose being alone for so long is bound to make you weary. Not to mention, you have to have been able to hide in plain sight. Blondie was like that, though he was a special case.”
I hummed in acknowledgment.
It was true enough. Anders had always been able to blend in with a crowd and knew how to draw attention away from himself.
Perhaps I just wasn’t used to what was probably a habit for him.
“Have you gotten any news from Sunshine?” Varric asked as he moved from one tool to another. I think he was checking the tension, but I wasn’t sure. I’d only seen him do this a handful of times in the ten years I’d known him.
“Don’t you have contacts in the city?” At the small smirk on his face, I laughed. “She sent a letter shortly before we left. She says that the dogs are doing good and that the clinics are running at full capacity. Aveline is still holding the city up on her shoulders and the news of the Breach hasn’t seemed to cause absolute chaos. Yet. There has been an increase in crime, though.”
“I heard that too,” he sighed, now moving to put his tools away and pull out a small thing of oil. “More gangs, robberies, and I even heard that someone was trying to start a cult.”
“I imagine Aveline has already squashed that or is working on it. I didn’t get a chance before we left, but I’ll send a letter once we get back. Anything from the others?”
Varric had told me why Cassandra had really arrested him. She wanted Garrett. Or rather, the Divine did. She wanted him to lead the Inquisition, but Varric and I could both agree that Garrett had been through enough already. It would be like asking Elissa or Alistair to take up the mantle.
Of which, I had no doubt the Divine probably asked. What better person to lead a holy army than someone who is already viewed as a hero?
The Divine may be the head of the Chantry, but that place was filled with political intrigue and betrayal. I didn’t know the woman personally, but Cassandra and Leliana made me think she was a good person. Still, you didn’t get to the top in that place without knowing how to play the Game.
They’ve saved the world once already. It was time for someone else to do it. And, as much as I hate it for her, Sehari would likely be the one to take that place.
It would be hard for her, but I would help support her in any way I could. I’ve seen what the stress of everyone’s expectations being placed on you does to a person. The sleepless nights when Garrett would pace around his home. Or how Elissa and Alistair only seemed to find peace with each other.
Sehari was young and untested outside of her clan, but that didn’t mean she couldn’t do it. She had the Mark, and even if they didn’t realize it yet, people were already looking toward her for direction.
The Inquisition may not have had a formal leader, but Sehari was the one unknowingly directing people.
Aside from that, something told me that Sehari was meant to be here. She was strong in her own right, and with the support of everyone else, she could become the leader that the Inquisition needed.
Varric’s seen this. He’s noticed how people have started to revere her. Though there is still a lot of animosity, those at Haven see her as a beacon of hope. She is the possibility that the world isn’t going to end.
We both knew that Garrett would have accepted the position if the Divine had offered it. He would have been unable to walk away. But, seeing those looks on people’s faces? Knowing that he would be responsible for everyone's lives and the fate of the world? It would have killed him.
That’s why, despite knowing where he is, Varric didn’t say anything, and neither would I.
“Last I heard, he was heading north toward Tevinter. Blondie’s with him. I think they met up somewhere in Orlias. They’re looking for a cure for his…condition. Rivaini is roaming the high seas. She’s an Admiral now. Said she had a really big hat, too.” I was grinning at this despite my irritation with Anders. Until Varric brought up the last name, “And…Broody is in Tevinter, hunting down slavers. Last I heard, you could find him by the trail of bodies.”
I scowled down at the stew I was making, my heart twisting.
Tentatively, like he was unsure how I would react, Varric said, “He keeps asking about you in his letters.”
Like he has a right.
But the bitter thought wouldn’t leave my mouth, no matter how much I wanted to spit it out. “Kindly tell him to stop asking. I’m fine.”
We both knew the words were a lie, but Varric didn’t comment on it.
The stew bubbled at me as I stirred it and added in some prepped potatoes.
I couldn’t forget the way he just walked out on me. Told me he was done and just…left.
Then, as if that wasn’t enough, he ran after Meredith’s defeat. While I was unconscious, he tucked tail and ran because he couldn’t face me.
One year. One. Whole. f*cking. Year.
And I still missed him.
“We’re back!” The sound of Sehari’s youthful voice thankfully snapped me out of my headspace. “What smells so good?”
Varric gave me a long, concerned look but turned to answer the mage as she and the others walked up. He said, “Storm is cooking again.”
Sehari’s face lit up as she eyed the pot. I almost laughed at the sight.
Cassandra also glanced at the stew as she made her way to sit on another overturned log. Solas just glanced around for a moment before placing himself beside Varric, with direct sight to everyone.
I really would need to talk to Leliana about him. I had my own habit of liking to keep my back unexposed, so it wasn’t too surprising to find that he did the same thing. Still, something was just…off about him.
Moving on, I started passing out the stew as the sun began its descent, though night was still an hour or so off.
“Sehari?”
Her dark head popped up from her bowl when I called her name. Through a mouthful of food, she mumbled, “Yes?”
“I would like to train you in close-quarters combat.” Leliana and Zevran did the same thing for me. They built on what I already knew and created my own form of combat. It gave me an edge when fighting others because they had never seen something like it before. It also helped that they had shown me how to defend and attack against many other combat techniques used here.
I wanted to pass this along to Sehari. She would be facing enemies far more powerful than we could imagine, and this might just give her an edge. It would also help ease the growing worry I felt for the young girl.
“What do you mean?” If the tone of her voice was any indication, her curiosity was peaked.
“I’ve…got my own style of fighting. It uses flexibility, agility, endurance, and quick strikes to take down opponents,” I explained, noting the interest from Cassandra and Solas. Varric, on the other hand, had seen me fight countless times before, so he understood my style. I continued with, “It’s not something that many people know about. And, as far as I know, I’m the only one who actively uses it, but I could be wrong. Your magic is your primary weapon and tool, but there’s no harm in learning something else.”
“Don’t let her fool you,” Varric started, grinning up at me with a proud tint to his voice. “She is deadly with her daggers, deadlier with her bow, and lethal with her body. I’ve seen her break out of a Qunari compound without a single weapon.”
I rolled my eyes with a fond smile, filling my own bowl. “Thank you, but he is exaggerating.”
“So, what I saw was a hallucination?”
“No, you saw right. But I had a weapon and only had to fight, like…four or five Qunari by myself. And not at the same time. That’s the point of sneaking.”
“Bullsh*t,” he laughed, waving his spoon in my direction. “A horn does not count as a weapon.”
Sehari’s curiosity broke us from our playful bickering. “Is this another story?”
Varric and I grinned at each other, but I moved the conversation on, “A story for another time. What do you say, Sehari? Would you like to be my second student?”
“Second?” Her head tilted to the side, green eyes alight. “Who’s the first?”
“My sister, Leena. I’ve been teaching her for the last six months.” I had insisted that she learned how to defend herself, and she, surprisingly enough, agreed. I had thought she would refuse, and I wouldn’t have forced her if she didn’t want to, but she was taking to the lessons like a fish in water.
“Sure, I think that would be a good idea,” Sehari eventually agreed. “When do we start?”
“Right now,” I stated, sitting my own bowl to the side. “If you’re done, follow me.”
And so, we broke off from the others and headed down to that abandoned hut a little way down the path.
I wanted the privacy the hut offered for several different reasons. One reason was that I wanted Sehari to be more comfortable, and I knew that failing in front of others could be nerve-wracking. However, the main reason I wanted privacy was so that Solas couldn’t see us.
He may have helped with the Breach and was staying to assist the Inquisition further, but I didn’t really trust him. He had a sharp mind and was a quick study. I had seen him watching when we were helping the injured earlier and how he adapted his techniques to match my own to help them.
I wasn’t keen on giving him an advantage over me in a fight. I had the ability to negate his magic, but I wanted every bit of leverage I could have if it ever came to a fight between us.
You could call it paranoia, selfishness, or survival. But I wouldn’t give him this advantage. Besides, if we fought beside each other long enough, he would learn enough. Thankfully, that went both ways.
“My fighting style isn’t like Cassandra’s, where she uses strength and head-on tactics to take down enemies. It isn’t like Varric’s, where he pins opponents and keeps them away so he can take them out. And it isn’t like yours, where you corral your enemies to one place and take them out at once.” It made me a little nervous to admit this next part. “If anything, it’s similar to Solas’.”
Sehari stood in the middle of the hut, watching me as I sat on a desk that was halfway rotted. “How so?”
“His attacks are precise, not flashy like some mages. He attacks with a purpose, and each move serves that purpose, whether it is to disable, kill, or defend. As you can see,” I held up my arms and flexed, “I have a minimal amount of muscle, and I’m not that tall. I can’t hope to overpower an opponent physically. My strength in battle comes from my ability to move around them and attack with quick, precise movements.”
Sehari looked at her own arms, noting how despite slinging a staff around that was taller than she was, she didn’t have as much muscle as Cassandra or Varric did. “Okay, that makes sense. What else?”
“Like I said back at camp. I have to be able to move around an opponent quickly, and that requires agility and endurance. And, once there is an opening, I take it. It doesn’t matter if it is a cheap shot or what some people would consider dirty fighting. Surviving isn’t about playing fair. There’s a time and a place for that. A life-or-death situation isn’t it.”
That seemed to throw her off a little bit, but she still listened intently, nodding her head.
“I know that sounds strange, but this is something that you should know. You have the stature to learn this. Being shorter helps, but you also have the flexibility. Now, we’re just going to start building on that. And then, we’ll move into fighting with daggers. If, at any point, you don’t want to learn this, I won’t make you. Fighting in close combat is different from long-range.”
I shuddered, thinking about the first time I killed someone up close. In the haze of rage that I was in and the survival instincts that had kicked in, I had almost cut entirely through a man’s neck. Thankfully, Zevran noticed my spiraling afterward and, along with Leliana and the others, helped me come back from that.
Sehari’s answer put a little bit of my worry to ease, “I want to learn.”
“Very well, then. Let’s get started.”
