Silksieve

In Your Heart Shall Burn

I think about the Inquisitor stumbling through that mountain pass, desperately searching for any survivors, a very normal amount.

Still version:

hunt well

The amazing @loquaciousquark graced me with another request for a fic illustration, and I did my best to match the magical atmosphere of her writing! This is a Solavellan post-Veilguard story, and the painting captures one of the more solemn moments between the two.

This is from chapter three of The Heart Where I Have Roots. When I was first writing it, I actually imagined this moment in Lethy's style in order to land the tone I wanted, and getting to see it illustrated like this, actually real and actually here, just makes me wish I could have written it as beautifully as this scene deserves.

Lethy, thank you! You're such a gem and I'm deeply grateful for the affection you put into these characters I love so much! <3

Simple question, right?

Except… he suddenly got defensive. His tone changed. I could feel tension building, and I had no idea why. So I took a breath and asked, “Wait, what did you hear me say?”

He paused, thought about it, and said, “I thought you meant ‘Why aren’t you doing anything?’ Like you were mad I was being lazy.”

But that wasn’t what I meant at all. I’d genuinely just been curious.

And that moment reminded me how easily things can go sideways when we assume intent. Our brains, especially when we’ve had messy pasts, trauma, or relationship anxiety, tend to fill in the blanks with the worst possible meaning.

But that one question, “What did you hear me say?”, turned what could’ve been an argument into understanding.

It gave both of us a chance to clarify before our brains made up a story that wasn’t true. I was able to explain, and he was able to listen. Understanding what I meant changed his tension entirely.

Sometimes the fight isn’t about what was said. It’s about what was heard.