𝙱𝙰𝚁𝙳'𝚂 𝚃𝙰𝙻𝙴!​

     ‘ I… ’ Balfour tried to find the words but couldn’t quite manage. Just as he couldn’t manage to hold Morrigan’s gaze and, instead, raised his eyes to the heavens, as if the Maker would perhaps send him some form of mercy and put him out of his awkward misery. But the Maker had not concerned himself with Balfour’s troubles before now, and he knew better than to think that would change. 

     The words, then. He had to find the words himself. Balfour looked to Morrigan once again and, after a breath: ‘ I don’t. I – I don’t wish to. I think – ’ He swallowed, frowned something harsh, clenched his jaw. Oh, to have half his mother’s bravery. ‘ I think my life would be worse. With you gone. I don’t… I don’t like other people. They’re not like you. ’ He glanced away again for a moment, as if he needed to steel himself. When he looked to her again, this time he kept her eye. ‘ I want… to be close… to you… ’ It was the best he could manage.

          part of her enjoyed watching him lose their battle of wills and look away from her when she insisted on holding his gaze. but another part --- the bigger one --- was impatient to get an answer to the small amount of vulnerability (enough to be excruciating) that she had displayed. 

          it felt like forever, but finally, he said it. 

          ❝ well, then, balfour. straight to it, shall we? ❞ it was barely a step --- they were close enough already that she only needed a small motion to get close enough that they could speak in lower tones and still hear each other.  ❝ here i am. close to you. ❞ she COULD tell him that she felt the same way, of course --- that she also wanted him to stay. that he was special and she regarded him in a different way than she did ANYONE else in a very long time --- perhaps ever. but morrigan wanted to be practical. they needed each other.

@not-born-heroes. ghilas ;

         she took a deep breath and closed her eyes, but --- something was off. it was different. it smelled different, even the rain. it smelled like they were far from home, and it pained her, because the way things were going, they wouldn’t be able to return anytime soon.  ❝ how can you tell anymore? everything smells different here, even nature. ❞ it shouldn’t --- it probably didn’t, really. 

 ~    Vhenan – the word makes his heart squeeze. Never after all that had happened between them did he think he would hear it again. Solas averts his gaze as Linni continues. ~

  ~   “ I am glad to hear that, ” he replies quietly. “ I just… ”. He sighs, closing his eyes as he gathers his thoughts. “ Whenever I look at you, I remember how I have hurt you…I do not deserve to be called your vhenan. ” Finally, he looks up at her, eyes pleading. ~

 ~    “ …How can you forgive me? ” ~

        ❝ vhenan... ❞ she insisted.  ❝ i know it’s hard for you to let go. of anything, but especially your regrets. ❞

“ never, my lady. ”

the queen has always been a warm presence in ceryse’s life - she was so young when she arrived in king’s landing that she hardly remembers a time before elia was there to soothe her restless nights or calm her worries with gentle words and comforting embraces. she has never once left the young girl to struggle alone; a sentiment she is slowly realising cannot be applied to her birth mother.

sighing softly, she allows herself to admit what had occured that morning.

“ she told me that being at court has made me TOO DORNISH. that i should comport myself as a lady of the westerlands rather than running around like a barefoot bastard from the desert… ”

even repeating such words makes her cringe with shame. but elia has asked for the truth and the little girl does not know how to make those insults any gentler.

         ‘never, my lady.’

        so elia waited, only a slight motion of her eyebrows to indicate that she was waiting. nothing else was said until the girl was ready.

        ‘too dornish.’ a compliment, as far as elia was concerned --- one that brought a smirk to the corner of her lips. of course, hearing those wrods from your own mother was harsh and cruel, especially when you were as sweet as ceryse was. 

        ❝ ceryse, when i had rhaenys, i presented her to her grandfather, the king, so he could look upon her for the first time. do you know what he said? ❞ she paused, only for a few seconds, to make sure she had her attention.  ❝ he said she smelled ‘dornish’ and refused to touch her. any other mother would never share that story with her children, but rhaenys knows. i told her. and do you know why? ❞

        another pause. quicker this time.  ❝ because it was true. she smelled wonderful --- of the beaches and the sunbathed gardens. because she is dornish, she has as much a right to her name and titles and accomplishments as my son. because she is dornish, she will be able to love and have children with whomever she wants, should she ever want to, and those children will be regarded, in dorne, as royalty. as princes and princesses, even if they aren’t here. even if they are born out of wedlock. because that is who we are. and you, my dear girl... ❞

@vendettacanons . cole ;

          she tried not to think about it. at the same time, it was always there, in the back of her mind. she was FREE, of course, and that was already better than before. but happy? no, not really. not ever. 

          it was depressing to think that she didn’t even really know what that was like.

          lola frowned --- why was it coming out now? maybe it was the quiet. skyhold’s walls made for a safe haven but a little more isolated from everything than what she was used to. maybe that was it. maybe if she got out of there, it would---

@higheverlost . ellis ;

          if there was any proof of the feeling of devotion, of the bond they had built between them, that was it. killing for each other. doing it so naturally that it didn’t even feel bad anymore. in fact, it felt right. like it was obvious --- what it mattered was that they were safe. anyone else could rot. 

giant  white  wolf  looks  out  at  the  stranger.  red  eyes  uncannily  knowing,  ears  perked.  what  does  he  want  ?    does  he  belong  to  anyone  ?   but  just  as  soon  as  he  appears  he  pads  off  into  the  snow - covered  forest,  as  if  he  wants  the  other  to  follow.