#coiling time

Chapter 26: Late Goodbyes   

Lavellan and Morrigan return midday on Sunday the ninth of the month known as Solace when my coils are at three, and they both head straight into a meeting with her advisors. I watch the women walk from the stables, and I head into the Herald’s Rest before the last member of their party — who I can sense is close — has a chance to see me.

 The night was long; I did another firing of clay vessels for grenades, and stoked the fire until morning light. The strong tea of my afternoon breakfast isn’t quite enough to wake me, and not even when the Iron Bull sits down on the bench across from me am I able to muster much more energy.

 “Tired?”

 “Mmmh,” I agree.

 “So. Is it nerves, or are you hiding something?”

 The Qunari peers at me with a dangerous smile.

 “Oh, both,” I admit without much ado. “As usual. What do you want, Bull?”

 “I saw you talk to Boss before she left.”

 “Uh-huh.”

 “Also heard your talk with Sera.”

 “Oh.”

 I look at the man. He lifts his tankard to his lips.

 “So then you heard that I’m… not staying.”

 “Yeah.”

 “Have you told anyone?” I ask, gulping down more of my tea.

 “Nah. I figure it’s your choice to tell them you’re deserting. Or don’t,” he adds, but the last two words sound more like a challenge.

 “To desert, I’d need to be a soldier, wouldn’t I? Besides, that’s not why I’m...” I stop myself, as the      calendarium     prickles ominously, “Look, I will tell them. But it’s not like I can just run into the War Room. And I… I think Ellana deserves to hear first.”

 “Mmmhm,” Bull hums.

Chapters: 26/32 Fandom: Dragon Age: Inquisition, Dragon Age - All Media Types, Dragon Age (Video Games) Rating: Explicit Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence Relationships: Solas (Dragon Age)/Original Female Character(s), Minor or Background Relationship(s) Characters: Female Inquisitor (Dragon Age), Solas (Dragon Age), Original Characters, Varric Tethras, Josephine Montilyet, Sera (Dragon Age), Female Lavellan (Dragon Age), Dorian Pavus Additional Tags: Modern Girl in Thedas, Modern Character in Thedas, Slow Burn, Eventual Smut, Canon-Typical Violence, Canon-Typical Racism, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Minor Female Lavellan/Solas (Dragon Age), Background Relationships, Minor Sera/Lavellan, Minor Hawke/Varric, Time Travel, pottery, Viscera, Spoilers, Not Canon Compliant, swearing in elvhen, swearing in Swedish, Older Protagonist, Minor Character Death, Oral Sex, Cunnilingus, Fade Shenanigans, Fade Sex, self-gaslighting, Drinking, Past Relationship(s), POV First Person, Vaginal Sex, Vaginal Fingering, Anal Fingering, Alluded light BDSM Summary:

Coiling Time aka. the Thedosian Pottery fic

New chapter up: Confirmation*

In which Malika wakes up with a gasp, following a rather intense discussion with one particular elven mage.

* Slightly NSFW Chapter

We turn, and end up walking downstairs into the lower hall. I expect Solas to lead me to the kitchens, or perhaps to the more secluded wine cellar, but we take a turn, and then another, and then he pushes a door open, revealing a dimly lit small room.

“What is this space?”

“An archive,” he replies, lighting the candle holders with a flick of his wrist. “Safely kept outside the prying eyes of the Chantry. Books on magic, records of history, both ancient and more recent, and works the Andrastians consider disreputable, are kept here.”

  No wonder I wasn’t able to find anything useful in the rotunda library.  

“The good stuff, hmm? I didn’t know they were here all this time,” I say, tracing my hand along the leatherbound volumes, itching to dig into their contents, as Solas leads me into the heart of the cobwebbed space.

“Few do,” Solas says, quietly. “And I’m intent on it remaining that way. I trust you will keep its location secret?”

A giant grimoire is splayed open on an ancient reading desk, and a high chair that looks positively medieval stands next to it. I already mentioned the cobwebs, but they are quite fetching, lit an eerie blue by the magical veilfire.

“You can depend on me to refrain from mentioning its whereabouts,” I say solemnly.

Solas nods, and looks at me, hands tucked safely behind his back. Not for the first time, I wish I was better at reading his expressions.

The air is dry, and smells of paper. There’s a static in it as well, from the veilfire I suspect, but the creeping tension at the back of my neck derives wholly from the unspoken words between us.

“Well,” we both say at the same time.

I chuckle, leaning on the bookshelf next to me with feigned nonchalance.

Chapters: 19/29 Fandom: Dragon Age: Inquisition, Dragon Age - All Media Types, Dragon Age (Video Games) Rating: Explicit Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence Relationships: Solas (Dragon Age)/Original Female Character(s), Minor or Background Relationship(s) Characters: Female Inquisitor (Dragon Age), Solas (Dragon Age), Original Characters, Varric Tethras, Josephine Montilyet, Sera (Dragon Age), Female Lavellan (Dragon Age), Dorian Pavus Additional Tags: Modern Girl in Thedas, Modern Character in Thedas, Slow Burn, Eventual Smut, Canon-Typical Violence, Canon-Typical Racism, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Minor Female Lavellan/Solas (Dragon Age), Background Relationships, Minor Sera/Lavellan, Minor Hawke/Varric, Time Travel, pottery, Viscera, Spoilers, Not Canon Compliant, swearing in elvhen, swearing in Swedish, Older Protagonist, Minor Character Death Summary:

Coiling Time aka. the Thedosian Pottery fic

New chapter up - Chapter 21: Adamant

The grey light of morning steals Solas from me. He kisses my temple softly, and pulls the blanket over me with gentle hands as he gets up. He’s very quiet, but not quiet enough to not wake me. I open my eyes just enough to watch him put on his tunic and necklace, convinced that speaking would break the spell. 

Despite his plan not to undress, the heat of my body apparently was too much for him. Or maybe he felt some of the same comfort that carried me off into the most peaceful sleep I’ve had in years. Regardless, he’s a beautiful man, lean and strong. I watch him dress with a smile dancing on my lips.

He pauses his hands mid-fastening the belt. Perhaps, as a Fade mage, he has a sense for when someone is awake.

“Solas. Please, be careful. Please come back to me, my wolf,” I mumble.

He looks back at me with half a smile.

“As you wish,” he replies, and I fall asleep.

Chapters: 21/29 Fandom: Dragon Age: Inquisition, Dragon Age - All Media Types, Dragon Age (Video Games) Rating: Explicit Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence Relationships: Solas (Dragon Age)/Original Female Character(s), Minor or Background Relationship(s) Characters: Female Inquisitor (Dragon Age), Solas (Dragon Age), Original Characters, Varric Tethras, Josephine Montilyet, Sera (Dragon Age), Female Lavellan (Dragon Age), Dorian Pavus Additional Tags: Modern Girl in Thedas, Modern Character in Thedas, Slow Burn, Eventual Smut, Canon-Typical Violence, Canon-Typical Racism, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Minor Female Lavellan/Solas (Dragon Age), Background Relationships, Minor Sera/Lavellan, Minor Hawke/Varric, Time Travel, pottery, Viscera, Spoilers, Not Canon Compliant, swearing in elvhen, swearing in Swedish, Older Protagonist, Minor Character Death, Oral Sex, Cunnilingus, Fade Shenanigans, Fade Sex Summary:

Coiling Time aka. the Thedosian Pottery fic

   Chapter 27: The Third Favor    

The battle between the winged beasts fills the sky with ear-deafening screeches and red flames. I jump off the horse and watch as the dragons soar toward the Breach, rising ever higher. Then the dragons — there’s somehow two of them — fall, and moments later a green beam extends into the Breach with a deafening crack, just as I run the last few hundred meters to where the Inquisition stands in the shadow of the airborne ruins of the Temple of Sacred Ashes. Giant glowing crystals of red lyrium protrude from the floor of the sundered temple around me. With a rude disregard for gravity, dust and pebbles float around knee-height, suspended in the air, and this close to the Breach, that familiar disjointedness, the familiar tearing, quite like during a time fluctuation, has me gasping. 

Varric Tethras is the first one to notice me, and as I struggle to stay upright against the stars and green strands dancing at the edge of my perception and my pulse beats in my ears, the man appears at my side.

“Tardy,” he says, “You shouldn’t be here.”

“He’s up there, isn’t he? With those, those dragons?”

“Chuckles? Yeah, he is. Was pretty insistent he’d go with Lavellan to face off with big baddie.”

“Oh fuck that man’s sense of pride,” I swear and stagger against the wave of vertigo. 

“Eh, Morrigan is one of those fire-spitters. Bull and Buttercup are also there.” 

 Varric’s firm hands grab my shoulders. He peers at me from under the brim of his helmet,  a note of concern in his voice.

“You alright there, Melina?”

I can hear voices around me, the brusque commanding tone of Seeker Pentaghast among them.

“Crafter Melina? This is no place for civilians. More of Corypheus’ demons can appear any minute. Why are you here?”

“I couldn’t leave without...”

Whatever I’m trying to say is lost, as the green Breach far above us gives a deafening low-frequency sound. It expands, shooting beams of green light into nearby clouds, growing almost blinding in strength.

Chapters: 27/32 Fandom: Dragon Age: Inquisition, Dragon Age - All Media Types, Dragon Age (Video Games) Rating: Explicit Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence Relationships: Solas (Dragon Age)/Original Female Character(s), Minor or Background Relationship(s) Characters: Female Inquisitor (Dragon Age), Solas (Dragon Age), Original Characters, Varric Tethras, Josephine Montilyet, Sera (Dragon Age), Female Lavellan (Dragon Age), Dorian Pavus Additional Tags: Modern Girl in Thedas, Modern Character in Thedas, Slow Burn, Eventual Smut, Canon-Typical Violence, Canon-Typical Racism, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Minor Female Lavellan/Solas (Dragon Age), Background Relationships, Minor Sera/Lavellan, Minor Hawke/Varric, Time Travel, pottery, Viscera, Spoilers, Not Canon Compliant, swearing in elvhen, swearing in Swedish, Older Protagonist, Minor Character Death, Oral Sex, Cunnilingus, Fade Shenanigans, Fade Sex, self-gaslighting, Drinking, Past Relationship(s), POV First Person, Vaginal Sex, Vaginal Fingering, Anal Fingering, Alluded light BDSM Summary:

Coiling Time aka. the Thedosian Pottery fic

New chapter up - Chapter 20: Guide into the night*

Author’s Note - this chapter is NSFW (M/E).

In which the Inquisition throws a proper sendoff before venturing into the Western Approach. Also, high-stakes Diamondback.

My eyes fall on Solas, who sits across from me. He has remained quiet and courteous, cold almost, a mystery hand after hand, but he’s a masterful player. It’s only thanks to his insistence on not collecting his winnings that the game has kept going.

 “I raise,” he states calmly, pushing a handful of coin to the pile.

 “We’ll all be maggot food eventually,” Blackwall gruffs and pushes his stake to the middle as well.

 “I’m out,” commander Rutherford decides after a quick glance at the window where the last wisps of night wander. “Good night,” he adds, getting up.

 “Three players, huh,” Varric says with a yawn. “Alright, let’s see some dwarven nobles.”

 I turn up the Queen, hand shaking a little, then immediately drink up the last of my ale. Blackwall grunts, slamming down a King. All eyes turn to Solas. An embodiment of serenity, he reveals a Shaper.

     Could he have another one?    That would be the only combination to trump mine. I drew a Shaper during the high card draw, which means there were only three in the whole deck during play. Unlikely, very much unlikely. But, knowing my luck, that’s his hand.

 “Raise or fold, Melina?” Varric asks.

 “I’m loath to inform you, but I’m fresh out of coin. I guess that means…” I say with a shrug.

 “You could fold… Or stake something of equal value,” the dwarf suggests. His voice is tired and rounded by wine but more than a little intrigued.

 From the corner of my eye I note Solas sitting up a little straighter.

 “So. What will it be this time, Tardy?” Varric asks again.

 “This time?” Solas’s voice is dry. He hasn’t partaken in the idle conversation so far, and my eyes narrow.

 “It’s hardly my first time gambling at a high-stakes table,” I say, keeping my gaze down. I stroke my chin as if I was considering my options.

 “One could think otherwise,” he teases. But two can play at that game.

 “A kiss,” I say without raising my gaze. “Is that amenable to you, mage?”

 I look up at Solas, trying to keep my face neutral, plausibly failing, I search his face for clues, eyes resting on his lips for a moment longer than strictly necessary. Is that a hint of a smile? I bite my lip, trying to ignore the somersaults and warmth in my belly.

 “It was only at five silver, Tardy. Either you’re very affordable, or stake’s now at 50,” Varric comments.

 “‘m out,” Blackwall mutters, and staggers off pint first.

 Solas looks up from his cards, meeting my challenge, and while I feel like a rabbit caught between headlights I don’t look away.

 “I…” he wets his lips, and my eyes flicker down. The way he slowly drags his fingers over the top of his card doesn’t escape my notice. “... fold,” he offers.

 “Ha!” I exclaim, blowing a playful kiss at Solas who responds with a huff.

 “And so the potter takes the pot,” Varric says with a wide smile, but his eyes dart between me and Solas.

 “The Fade calls. Thank you for the game. Master Tethras. Crafter Melina,” Solas says, voice all business, and moves to get up.

 “Stay put,” I say, voice all honey, “the next round’s on me. Victor’s treat. Varric, red wine I assume? And Solas,” I look at the man, “you look like a man who appreciates an aged Jader port.”

 “Hold mine for when we’re back,” Varric says and pulls on his gloves, and gets up, rolling his shoulders. “It’s been a pleasure. Chuckles. Early morning, don’t stay up all night, kids,” he adds with a wink my way.

Crossing my arms in an act of childish defiance, I stick out my tongue at the dwarf, and I can hear his laugh until the door slams shut. Varric was the last of the Inquisitor’s inner circle to turn in for the night, and I suddenly become very aware that I’m left alone at the table with Solas.

Chapters: 20/29 Fandom: Dragon Age: Inquisition, Dragon Age - All Media Types, Dragon Age (Video Games) Rating: Explicit Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence Relationships: Solas (Dragon Age)/Original Female Character(s), Minor or Background Relationship(s) Characters: Female Inquisitor (Dragon Age), Solas (Dragon Age), Original Characters, Varric Tethras, Josephine Montilyet, Sera (Dragon Age), Female Lavellan (Dragon Age), Dorian Pavus Additional Tags: Modern Girl in Thedas, Modern Character in Thedas, Slow Burn, Eventual Smut, Canon-Typical Violence, Canon-Typical Racism, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Minor Female Lavellan/Solas (Dragon Age), Background Relationships, Minor Sera/Lavellan, Minor Hawke/Varric, Time Travel, pottery, Viscera, Spoilers, Not Canon Compliant, swearing in elvhen, swearing in Swedish, Older Protagonist, Minor Character Death Summary:

Coiling Time aka. the Thedosian Pottery fic

I got tagged by one @crackinglamb​ ! It’s Thursday in my time zone, so it’s a WIP whenever at this point.

I’ve been told my tavern scenes are lovely, so, this week you’re getting a little celebratory snippet from a future chapter of Coiling Time, one which I’m currently working on... 

After hours of wine and dance and food, the party has broken off into smaller tables. I set down the two tankards and take my seat between Arcanist Dagna and Maryden, across from Ser Morris, Harritt and Elan Ve’mal. Her and Cabot’s one-year-old, a round-faced and happy little boy with dark curls, bounces happily on her lap. 

“Oh, to be young and betrothed. Well,” the botanist adds, “It’s not half bad being a little older and betrothed either. But look at them, not a wrinkle on their faces. What are they, twenty?”

“Can’t be much more,” Harritt says.

“Twenty and two, I think,” Dagna corrects.

“Practically children,” I say, shaking my head. “Way too young to get married.”

“You got some experience with that?” the dwarf asks, taking a sip of her pint, but then she flinches, and looks to Maryden. Her expression settles on embarrassed. 

I follow the weird exchange, then clear my throat. The table turns to look at me.

“I made many mistakes in my youth,” I admit. “But, getting married was never one of them. I think. How about you, Dagna?”

“You think?” she asks with a laugh.

“It depends on your definition of married. I never made vows, but…” I add vaguely.  “Well, Dagna?”

She blows out her cheeks, eyebrows raised, then sighs.

“My father planned to marry me off for the biggest dowry. Well, that was before I went topside and ran off to a Circle to study. It broke his heart, I think, that I became a surfacer. I don’t regret it, one bit,” she adds with a shrug, “I know everyone shared their stories about how the Inquisitor changed them, but my life would be quite different if I’d never met the Hero of Ferelden. I’d probably still be in Orzammar, married to some… man. I’m more of a ladies’ girl. There’s this Red Jenny I quite like,” she adds, eyes turning dreamy, “and I’m not sure if she’s trying to get with me or trying to recruit me but… Morris, how about you?”

“I am unwed,” Morris answers. “But I am betrothed, since Wintersend,” he adds, picking out a ring on a cord around his neck from under layers of ruffled fabric. “And… Master Harritt? How about you?”

“Eh. Never had much time for a wife. Maybe once this all ends. Had a good offer from one of the Guilds in Orlais.”

“I can’t really picture you in Orlais,” I admit.

“Offer for a wife or for a job?” Dagna asks.

Harritt winks, and turns to greet the tavern keeper who arrives at the table. Cabot sets down the rest of the table’s drinks, and picks up his son, wiping at the jam around his mouth with his tea towel, an uncharacteristically soft expression on his face.

“What’s the word, Cabot?” Dagna asks.

Cabot hoists the boy up to give him a good sniff, much to the child’s delight.

Chapter 23: The Dread Wolf and the Bone   

Carefully, I pick up the jug and wet the brush, picking up more ground iron oxide.

 “One time, it’s a mistake. Two times,” I make a decisive stroke next to the accidental one, “A coincidence. But three times,” I add one short stroke under the two, “and it’s a pattern,” I finish and set down the pitcher.

 Solas hums, his hand moves up my arm to my shoulder.

 “And if I were to apply that same theory...” he says.

 He leans in, and presses his lips to my neck. A shiver runs down my spine, and I swallow.

 “A mistake,” I breathe, a smile forming on my lips despite how wrong it feels.

 He chuckles, and his lips move up my neck.

 “A coincidence,” I whisper, as his teeth graze my skin, not hard enough to hurt, but hard enough to make a mark. He lightly brushes his tongue on the bite, and his hand moves up my side to cradle my breast.

 His mouth moves higher up, to the divot under my ear, and I sigh my eyes closed.

 “Yes?” he whispers.

 “Well… It wouldn’t hold water scientifically, but with a few more data points to judge from...”

 “You are a tease,” he whispers, and takes my face into his hands, leaning in to kiss me.

Chapters: 23/32 Fandom: Dragon Age: Inquisition, Dragon Age - All Media Types, Dragon Age (Video Games) Rating: Explicit Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence Relationships: Solas (Dragon Age)/Original Female Character(s), Minor or Background Relationship(s) Characters: Female Inquisitor (Dragon Age), Solas (Dragon Age), Original Characters, Varric Tethras, Josephine Montilyet, Sera (Dragon Age), Female Lavellan (Dragon Age), Dorian Pavus Additional Tags: Modern Girl in Thedas, Modern Character in Thedas, Slow Burn, Eventual Smut, Canon-Typical Violence, Canon-Typical Racism, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Minor Female Lavellan/Solas (Dragon Age), Background Relationships, Minor Sera/Lavellan, Minor Hawke/Varric, Time Travel, pottery, Viscera, Spoilers, Not Canon Compliant, swearing in elvhen, swearing in Swedish, Older Protagonist, Minor Character Death, Oral Sex, Cunnilingus, Fade Shenanigans, Fade Sex Summary:

Coiling Time aka. the Thedosian Pottery fic

Chapter 22: Feels Like Home

The moon stands high above the Riverside camp as I take the last three of the stone stairs and step out on the ramparts. Among the sharp and blue shadows, it takes a moment for me to spot the dwarf. 

Varric doesn’t move as I lean onto the wall next to him, staring out over the mountainous landscape, and the river upon which the moon has painted a sallow bridge. His aura always struck me as strange; a low, orange flame, the most stable I’ve ever seen. Except for tonight, when there’s a syncopated pulse to it. 

“Tardy,” he says in acknowledgment of my presence after a while.

“Varric,” I reply, and offer him the bottle of wine in my hand. 

He chuckles, but shakes his head.

“Let me guess. Lavellan told you,” he says.

I take a mouthful of the wine. 

“Our Lana? Not in any shape to explain, I’m afraid. No, I thought I’d go right to the source,” I say. When Varric doesn’t say anything, I add: “She mentioned... Hawke.”

“Mmmh,” Varric grunts, shifting his weight from one leg to the other.

I pull my knitted shawl closer on my shoulders.

“Want to talk about it?”

“Want to? No.”

Chapters: 22/32 Fandom: Dragon Age: Inquisition, Dragon Age - All Media Types, Dragon Age (Video Games) Rating: Explicit Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence Relationships: Solas (Dragon Age)/Original Female Character(s), Minor or Background Relationship(s) Characters: Female Inquisitor (Dragon Age), Solas (Dragon Age), Original Characters, Varric Tethras, Josephine Montilyet, Sera (Dragon Age), Female Lavellan (Dragon Age), Dorian Pavus Additional Tags: Modern Girl in Thedas, Modern Character in Thedas, Slow Burn, Eventual Smut, Canon-Typical Violence, Canon-Typical Racism, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Minor Female Lavellan/Solas (Dragon Age), Background Relationships, Minor Sera/Lavellan, Minor Hawke/Varric, Time Travel, pottery, Viscera, Spoilers, Not Canon Compliant, swearing in elvhen, swearing in Swedish, Older Protagonist, Minor Character Death, Oral Sex, Cunnilingus, Fade Shenanigans, Fade Sex Summary:

Coiling Time aka. the Thedosian Pottery fic