#elisif

Haven was in chaos as Illario returned with Solas, soldiers on the move, Leliana’s agents on the move, some nodding to him as he passed, telling him Nightingale was in the Chantry, he should check in, she’d been worrying.

Leliana rarely showed outright concern where anyone saw it. Illario quickened his pace, Solas following willingly behind him, and as soon as he walked in, he saw Leliana briefing Charter.

As soon as they saw him, Charter backed off and Leliana walked straight over… and hugged him, saying nothing.

“Auntie,” Illario said softly, stroking her hair. “Auntie, I’m all right.”

“The Temple is gone,” Leliana said, voice trembling. “Divine Justinia is gone! And… and Lucanis… I’m so sorry, Illario. My agents placed him in the Temple when it blew up. I don’t even know if there were survivors, there’s demons everywhere, Commander Cullen was taking a patrol up there but there’s no news…”

Illario closed his eyes and held on to her, saying nothing because what was there to say? This was a disaster, they’d lost loved ones, they had no idea who did this, and their only lead was a strange apostate.

Who was still there, watching quietly.

“I found the apostate,” Illario said, letting her go and gesturing at Solas. “He says his name is Solas and he came willingly. He says he avoided the Templars all his life and stayed out of the Circles, and never joined the Dalish.”

“Really,” Leliana said, pulling herself together and coming to look at him. “That sounds unlikely. How did you manage that? And what are you doing here?”

“I grew up in a small village to the north,” Solas said, bland smile on his face. “There was precious little to interest a young man, especially one who could talk to spirits and visit the Fade in his dreams consciously and without effort. Spirits helped me refine my magic, and when I came of age, I left home and took to the life of a wanderer, rarely staying in one place for long. Few ask questions if you’re unobtrusive. I learned quickly to avoid Templars. As for the other hazards of the road, my magic was enough for that. My mission was to explore the secrets of the Fade and I did that by dreaming in ruins and places of import, communing with the spirits there and viewing Fade memories. That was what brought me to the Temple of Sacred Ashes. I knew of the Conclave and knew it would be a place of great importance. I wished to commune with the spirits here, but had concerns about getting close. The mages would not know me, and the Templars would not tolerate a lone mage, and the Chantry hierarchy would not act to protect one apostate. I regret deeply my concerns proved far more valid than I thought.”

“So why come here now,” Leliana asked, and Solas smiled thinly.

“Because I do not think your relative here would have given me much choice in the matter had I said no,” Solas admitted. “But also because we are all in terrible danger, and the explosion ripped a hole in the Veil that will take everything you have to heal. I have expertise in how the Veil functions. Please. Let me help.”

Leliana nodded, still unsure, but not willing to turn down an offer of help freely given. It wasn’t like there was a Circle to send him to anyway.

And then there was a commotion at the door as Cullen burst in, several of his men arriving with a stretcher, and Illario took one look at the figure on it and cried out.

“Lucanis!”

It was all Leliana could do to stop him throwing himself at Lucanis’s prone form as they lowered the stretcher to the floor. But there he was. Passed out. Far too pale. But not dead. And glowing green?

Illario fell to his knees, crawling to Lucanis’s side, reaching out for him and then seeing the green glow and peeling back the blanket to see his left hand with a horrifying green scar glowing out of it, magic spitting out of the wound.

“Merde, what…” Illario gasped, frantically turning to the others. “What happened??”

“Step away from the prisoner,” Cassandra Pentaghast snapped, striding in, eyes glaring furiously at all present. The Right Hand of the Divine, Justinia’s bodyguard and head of security, and she’d always had it in for Illario. Apparently something to do with his father lying to her face and pretending to know nothing about his real father even being alive, and ranting about how the Chantry had lost his father! In reality, the man had been hiding in their house the whole time, and Fabio had been fully aware of this, and Cassandra must have later realised this too, because she clearly held a grudge. Not all Illario’s charm could win this one over, and he’d surely tried.

Right now, he was out of charm and fucks to give. Lucanis was hurt, he’d thought the man was dead! He needed a healer… but they’d arrested him??

“He’s my cousin!” Illario snapped. “He needs a healer! You can’t just imprison him, he’s done nothing wrong!”

“He fell out of a Fade rift with that thing on his hand, half an hour after the explosion that claimed the lives of everyone else in that Temple, including the Most Holy, and that should have killed him as well, and we’ve identified him as representing the Antivan Crows. Who is to say this isn’t their work,” Cassandra said, daring Illario to deny the Crow connection.

He could not deny that. But he did know how the Crows worked.

“This isn’t Crow work, they don’t go around blowing up buildings!” Illario snapped. “They get in, knife or poison the target and get out. Why would they blow up an entire Conclave? That was not in the contract! Merde, even Empress Celene could not have afforded a contract on the entire Conclave!”

“So there is a contract then,” Cassandra said, eyes glimmering coldly at him. “Who was the target?”

“I don’t know!” Illario protested. “I’m not privy to the First Talon’s affairs! I’m not even a Crow, I work for the Chantry!”

“But he is your cousin,” Cassandra pressed. “He must have told you something.”

Leliana stepped forward, hand raised to carefully warn Cassandra to back off.

“Lucanis is here as an observer only. If there are other Crows here, they’re well-hidden. I’m not saying this isn’t Crow work, but Illario’s right, they don’t operate like this. Blowing up buildings? Too messy. Too imprecise. Too much risk of getting the wrong person. And even if someone was wealthy enough to pay the Crows to do this, that only means someone hired them, and they’re the real culprits. As for the Crows themselves, the First Talon was the only one who really cared about the outcome of the Conclave personally, the other Talons aren’t that bothered. And she would never have signed off against any plan endangering Lucanis. She adores him!”

Cassandra just frowned, and then the mark on Lucanis’s hand flared again. Lucanis grunted but did not wake.

“Lucanis!” Illario cried, and Leliana knelt to have a look, concerned.

“He does need a healer,” Leliana said softly. “A mage healer. Elfroot won’t fix this.”

“Your mage healers will also be hard-pressed to heal this,” Solas said, coming to have a look, and Cassandra turned suspicious eyes on him next, demanding to know who he was.

“An apostate mage Illario found out in the wilds,” Leliana said. “Who claims knowledge of the Veil and the Fade.”

“And you think he was involved?” Cassandra asked.

“Yes!” Illario snapped at the same time as Leliana said ‘we don’t know that’ and stared reprovingly at her nephew.

“He was found a good mile away from the Temple,” Leliana told her. “Illario found him just prior to the explosion – did you see him make any odd gesture or incantation?”

“No,” Illario was forced to admit. Solas had looked too flustered and wrongfooted to have done anything of the sort.

“Then we have no evidence against him, and his explanation that he’s a mage who studies sites with strong Fade memories and wished to study the Conclave is not unreasonable,” Leliana said firmly. “I don’t believe Lucanis did this either but agree we will need to question him when he wakes up. For that, we need to make sure he wakes up. Take him below and let Solas treat him. Illario, go with him. If Solas is successful, we can give him the benefit of the doubt.”

Meaning if he failed, if his skills weren’t as advertised… perhaps Illario could deal with it for her. Illario liked that idea. He liked that idea indeed.

“There’s the matter of the other prisoner,” Cullen said, standing aside to beckon her forward, and Leliana got her first look at the woman behind them with shackled hands, dressed in strange plate armour of a completely unknown design, long red hair and pale skin, dark circles under her eyes and clearly exhausted, but glaring defiantly at all of them.

“I keep telling you people, I did nothing wrong!” she snapped. “I saved Lucanis’s life!”

“Oh?” Leliana asked, and behind her Illario turned to listen. He had no idea who this woman was either, but if she’d truly saved his cousin he could definitely stand to make her acquaintance. She was a lot prettier than his usual marks.

Of course, staying to eavesdrop would also leave his cousin unattended with a strange apostate, and Illario reluctantly realised this would have to wait. Leaving the Hands to interrogate her, Illario followed Solas out.

“She fell out of the Fade behind him, clearly knew Lucanis’s name and was trying to rouse him and yet no one knows who she is, and she claims to remember nothing,” Cassandra said tersely. “I was hoping you might recognise her.”

Leliana could truthfully say she’d never met her before in her life.

“I’ve never even seen armour like that,” Leliana said softly. “What’s the shield?”

Wolf’s head, red on black, nothing like the fancy Orlesian heraldry Leliana was more used to seeing. There was something in it that was vaguely Fereldan but no house Leliana knew had that emblem. And then there was the helm with dragon’s teeth sticking out of it and the glowing fiery sword.

All of it unique, very recognisable, and yet Leliana didn’t recognise any of it.

“That’s enchanted, someone in one of the Circles must know the work,” Leliana said, frowning, and its owner laughed bitterly.

“I doubt it,” she snapped. “Listen, you can either let me out of these chains, give me my stuff back, and we can all go hunting demons together or that things gets bigger and we all die!”

“Demons?” Leliana asked and Cassandra nodded.

“Demons. They’re falling out of the Breach and lesser rifts are opening up everywhere. We encountered a number of them on the way. This woman, Elisif, keeps claiming she could have dealt with them.”

“I could have dealt with them,” Elisif said, glowering. “Look, are you actually going to charge me or what. You have no evidence of anything, you’re clutching at straws, and you’re just lashing out at whoever you think looks out of place. Whoever blew that temple up is long gone, Seeker. It’s on us to fix the damage. Somehow.”

Elisif didn’t sound quite as confident on that last word. Leliana didn’t blame her. Hard to know what to do about a giant hole in the sky. But her gear was telling a different story. Whatever Elisif’s story was, she clearly knew how to fight, and none of this was standard-issue. She might be a noble with the finest weapons of her house, or rich enough to just buy or commission them. But she might also be a genuine hero who’d earned these.

Elisif was also right about them having no evidence.

“So how did you get here then?” Leliana asked. “What do you remember? And how do you know Lucanis? He’s my brother’s nephew on the other side. I watched him grow up! I would know if you were a friend of his.”

“I… don’t,” Elisif admitted. “Back in my homeland, I was trying to do a ritual to summon one of our gods to help my husband. He’s older than me, he’s sick and dying, I wanted to save him. We have a five year old, she doesn’t deserve to lose her father! But it went wrong. This strange woman appeared and said she’d heal my husband if I helped with a crisis. So I said yes, thinking how bad could it be… and she sent me through a portal and I ended up in the middle of this.”

“Is that where you met Lucanis, in the Fade?” Cassandra asked. “Most Holy, was she there?”

“I don’t… know?” Elisif said, clearly struggling. “The portal dropped me off in a corridor of some sort, and Lucanis was there, I remember that part, we got talking and then we heard screaming and I ran to help and… I don’t remember the rest. Next thing I knew I was in the snow trying to wake Lucanis up. And then you lot ran over, dragged me off him and shackled me??”

Elisif raised her wrists, glaring pointedly at them both.

“I swear to Kyne, if this were my homeland, you would all be under arrest right now. As it is, get these things off me, give me my things, and I will help you deal with this. Or I get free myself, retrieve my things if I have to beat down the entire room to do it, and go deal with this on my own.”

“How far do you think you’d get,” Cassandra scoffed, and Elisif just glanced round the room, clearly counting active combatants.

“Do you want to find out?” Elisif said sweetly.

“I want to find out what that voice magic of yours was,” Cassandra snapped, raising her voice as she advanced. “You shouted at a rage demon and froze it solid! And you won’t explain how it works!”

“I was trying to help,” Elisif muttered. “Try saying please?”

Cassandra’s eyes were nearly bulging out of her head.

“How dare – you are a prisoner! You will answer our questions!”

Cassandra had actually raised one hand as if for a slap… but Leliana reacted first, intercepting and catching Cassandra’s wrist, shaking her head.

“I have heard the sound, a song in the stillness, the echo of Your voice, calling creation to wake from its slumber,” Leliana said softly, remembering the Chant of Light. “Are you a mage then? You don’t look like a mage.”

“Oh for- not this again,” Elisif sighed. “I know three spells! That’s it! I’m not a mage. Tell my stepdaughters that and they’d laugh!”

“But you froze a demon solid with your voice,” Leliana wanted to know, and Elisif did have to admit that one was true.

“It’s the Thu’um. It’s not the same thing,” Elisif sighed.

Probably not. But what on earth was the Thu’um?

“You don’t know it – of course you don’t,” Elisif sighed. “It’s hard to explain. All the mages I know say it’s not magic. It’s using the language of dragons to command the world, and if you have the gift within you, it obeys you.”

“Language of dragons,” Cassandra scoffed. “That’s ridiculous.”

Leliana wasn’t laughing. She was remembering the Blight, Alistair and Lyra both dreaming of the Archdemon, more than a normal dragon, intelligent, and they both swore they could hear it speaking to them sometimes, they just didn’t understand it. And then it had got weirder after Fabio started having dreams of it too, and he’d not been able to understand it either but he swore it had been talking.

Elisif wasn’t Blighted. But could she have understood it, maybe? The Archdemons hadn’t started out Blighted. They’d been dragons once, worshipped as gods by Tevinter, and their priests claimed to hear them. What if there’d been talking dragons once?

This merited further study.

“Where did you say your home was?” Leliana asked gently. Elisif lowered her eyes, one question probably reminding her how far away it was.

“I don’t know,” Elisif said quietly. “Far from here, I think. It’s called Skyrim. It’s a lot like this. Mountains, snow, ice, pines. Far to the north, half-covered in ice, the Fatherland, the ever-winter. But also home to sea breezes, hot springs, forests and rivers, hidden glades containing wonders, and finest mead you’ll ever taste.”

“I’d like to see it,” Leliana said, not sure about the cold, but there must be stories, surely? Songs and stories and much beauty for a travelling bard to see. She wouldn’t say no to the mead either.

“If I ever find a way back, I’ll buy you a drink and put you up at the palace,” Elisif promised, half-smile on her face.

“Palace?” Leliana asked, intrigued, and Elisif just smiled knowingly.

“I’m a Nordic warrior-queen dragonslayer, of course I’ve got a palace,” Elisif said, grinning. “The bards are going to want to meet someone from a whole new land!”

“And I would love to meet them!” Leliana said with a smile, curiosity piqued.

“Leliana!” Cassandra snapped. “I am beginning to see where Illario gets it from.”

Leliana just smiled, knowing it for the truth it was.

“You can catch more flies with honey, Cassandra,” Leliana said, sly grin on her face as she digested all she’d been told. “So. Elisif. You said your homeland was cold and snowy but it’s in the north? Here, the north is warm and sunny, getting hotter the further you go. How is it different where you are?”

“I… it’s different here?” Elisif asked, alarmed. “Seriously??”

“Seriously,” Cassandra said, glancing round at the other listening in who were all suitably confused by this. “We are in the south of Thedas, in the Frostback Mountains. Most of the continent lies much further north and gets progressively warmer, whereas to the south of here it is mostly wilderness and forest until you reach the dead plains and the great ice fields of the south.”

“Ice sheets in the south, are you serious,” Elisif breathed. “Oh Mara, you’re serious. Oh by the Eight. I’m on the literal bottom of the world??”

“What?” Cassandra cried. “Talk sense! How are we on the bottom of the world?”

“The world’s round,” Elisif said, looking absolutely wretched. “Warm in the middle, because that bit’s closest to the sun, cold at the top and bottom. Skyrim’s near the top. And if you’re close to the southern ice… you’re right at the bottom. Oh Mara. I want to go home.”

She looked like she was about to cry. Leliana didn’t entirely blame her. Whether the world was round or not was hotly debated among scholarly circles, and while anyone with seafaring experience tended to side with the round world theory, many academics and Chantry scholars seemed to think otherwise precisely because seafarers were the ones thinking it was round.

Now here was Elisif very confidently asserting the world was round, and the worst thing was, her world-view seemed a lot more coherent than that of some of the scholars Leliana had met… and aligned perfectly with that model her brother had of a wooden ball with Thedas painted on it, another blob on the northern half, and he’d sit there obsessively rotating it by a candle representing the sun and sketch light patterns and…

Leliana thought of all her father’s things, in a language she couldn’t read, about a homeland he never talked about, but he’d translated his sister’s old cookbook so he could have a taste of home, and the results were… interesting to say the least. Cesaire had just said the ingredients were wrong but he’d eaten it nonetheless.

Leliana urgently needed to write to her brother, but first she needed to get this woman onside.

“Give me the keys,” Leliana said, holding out her hand.

“The keys?” Cassandra repeated, before it dawned on her what she was asking. “Leliana, this woman is our lead suspect in the Divine’s murder, other than your nephew from the Crows! You can’t be serious!”

Growling, Leliana reached into her belt-purse for her lockpicks instead and set about undoing the shackles, getting one open in about five seconds.

“This woman didn’t kill the Divine,” Leliana said confidently. “What we do know about her for sure is that she’s a long way from home, but she turned up while all hell broke loose and managed to bring Lucanis back to us. We thought we’d lost him. Thank you.”

“You can’t just set a prisoner free on your own, Leliana!” Cassandra cried. “You need authorisation!”

“Who from, Cassandra, the Divine is dead!” Leliana shouted as she freed Elisif’s other wrist.

Cassandra flinched, glaring at Leliana, but the truth was, she was right. No leader, no one to make the decisions. No one to tell Leliana she couldn’t release the prisoner, who was massaging life back into her arms and reclaiming her weapons.

“You’re Leliana!” Elisif was saying, beaming at the surprised spymaster.

“Yes – you know me?”

“No,” Elisif said, shaking her head. “But I was supposed to tell you something! Oh… dammit.”

The memory was clearly gone, but Cassandra realised that made Elisif’s story more likely, not less. Bits remained. Elisif remembered she knew Lucanis and had tried to protect him. And now that someone had told her to tell Leliana something. Had she met Divine Justinia as well??

Elisif didn’t remember and Cassandra would never know. But now the self-proclaimed warrior-queen from the furthest north was free, and Cassandra could do nothing about it.

Solas emerged from the cellar below, still troubled.

“Well, the mark is stable. Lucanis is still unconscious for now, his cousin is with him. But there’s no mistake. It’s linked to the Breach somehow. As if it and the Breach came into being at the same time. I think it might hold the key to our salvation.”

“The mark looked like it was killing him earlier,” Elisif said, relieved to hear some good news. “You got it under control so quickly! Thank you. I’m impressed, you must really know your stuff!”

“Oh, a few basic manipulations of Fade energy,” Solas said awkwardly, going a little pink. “I cannot heal it. And it is still linked to the Breach. Until the Breach is brought under control, there will still be problems. But there’s hope. I believe the power in it might be able to seal the lesser rifts. With assistance, it might also be able to seal the big one. Lucanis should be waking up soon. If he’s well enough to walk, we can take him to a rift.”

If it helped with the current crisis, Leliana would round up every stimulant in the whole of Haven to get him up and out there again.

“How bad is it out there,” Leliana said, knowing the answer.

“Bad,” Elisif said softly. “There were demons all over the place. If there were other survivors from that temple, chances are the demons got to them. We need to be out there containing them.”

Cassandra huffed but couldn’t rightly disagree.

“Cullen, mobilise your soldiers. Take Solas with you, he might be able to assist with the rifts. Rouse Varric as well, that dwarf might as well help. And…”

The door to the cellar opened again, and this time Illario emerged, arm round a barely conscious Lucanis. But he was up and walking and looking healthier than before.

“Lucanis!” Elisif gasped, brightening up to see him, and Lucanis saw her, pink blush on his cheeks as he gasped… and then smiled shyly.

“Elisif,” Lucanis said, subtly straightening up as if not wanting her to see how exhausted he still was, and then he winced as his hand flared again. “Mierda, this thing is giving me no relief. Illario tells me it was worse until that mage, Solas, stabilised it.”

“Is it true what he said?” Illario asked, not letting Lucanis go even if his cousin did seem to be rallying. “That Lucanis’s mark might be able to close rifts?”

Solas himself had already left with Cullen and the Inquisition soldiers, but Cassandra confirmed it.

“It may be so,” was all Cassandra was prepared to say. “We will need to test it. For now, you are still under suspicion. Both of you.”

“I did not do anything,” Elisif snapped. “I am trying to help!”

“She’s innocent,” Lucanis said firmly, narrowing her eyes. “She saved my life. I don’t remember it but I know it’s true. Elisif senora. I’ll follow where you lead.”

“You will both come with me,” Cassandra said firmly. “I want the pair of you where I can see you.”

“Then I’m with you, Lucanis,” Illario began, until Leliana took his arm.

“Illa. I need you with me. I need someone I can rely on. I need to get to the forward camp, they told me Chancellor Roderick wasn’t in the Temple at the time and they’ve got him there.”

“You mean all those Grand Clerics and Revered Mothers with a gram of intelligence perished but that puffed-up bureaucrat made it? Unbelievable,” Illario sighed. “The Maker truly does claim the best of us too soon.”

“Don’t blaspheme, Illario,” Cassandra said tersely, even as Leliana grinned.

“Roderick does not trust me, but he’s not seen much of you, and he will be trying to take charge. I need someone with me possessed of unfailing charm who can perhaps… win him over. Suck up to him. So to speak.”

“Merde,” Illario muttered, before turning to Lucanis. “Will you be all right. I don’t like leaving you.”

“I will be,” Lucanis promised, glancing at Elisif, seeming reassured to see her. “I’ll have Elisif. She’ll see me through. Of course, I would be better if someone had not taken my wyvern-tooth knives! They were a coming of age gift from my uncle!”

“Of course LaRose believes in giving his children knives,” Cassandra said, rolling her eyes. “When I am convinced you can be trusted with weapons, I may return them.”

“Yet you let the complete stranger keep hers,” Illario pointed out. “Not that I don’t trust her, but you do??”

“Rearming her was not my decision,” Cassandra said, still sullen over this. “But Leliana is right in that we have no evidence she did this. She says she can handle demons and has slain dragons. Let us see if she can back her words up.”

“There isn’t a dragon out there, is there?” Lucanis whispered, looking pale. Lucanis knew many ways to kill a man by this point, but dragons?? He was trying to remember all Fabio’s tales of the Archdemon, and it wasn’t as helpful as one might think.

“No. At least not yet,” Cassandra admitted. “But Elisif claims to be a heroic warrior, so let her prove it. She cannot do that unarmed. You on the other hand are an Antivan Crow. I have every reason to distrust you and would prefer you without your knives. Your utility is in the mark that may be able to close rifts. Elisif will clear the way. And I will watch you both.”

Lucanis turned to Illario, who took Lucanis’s right hand in his and then his left found Lucanis’s wrist and gently ran fingers over it, and then Illario grinned, embraced Lucanis, kissed his cheek and let him go.

“Andraste keep you, cousin,” Illario said, before turning to Elisif.

“And you, madame Elisif. Fight well. Keep my cousin safe, he’s like a brother to me.”

“I will,” Elisif promised, and Illario filed out after Leliana, telling her he’d do what he could to placate Roderick but was not seducing him, much to Leliana’s amusement.

And finally, it was left for Elisif and Lucanis to follow Cassandra out.

Elisif took Lucanis to one side on the way out, hand on his back.

“Are you really all right,” Elisif said quietly. “You were not well earlier. I’m amazed you’re up now.”

“I never did like lying idle in bed,” Lucanis said, trying to smile and gave it up as the mark flared again.

Green light bathing everything as Elisif helped Lucanis outside, and Elisif swore that thing had got bigger.

And outside the village was quiet, healers tending to the wounded, a few rookie soldiers around, and some non-combatants, including a few women with their children. Presumably everyone capable of wielding a blade was out in the field.

And those that remained were looking very suspiciously at Lucanis and Elisif, Lucanis in particular.

“The people have decided your guilt,” Cassandra was saying. “They need it. The known or suspected Antivan Crow? All too likely a scapegoat.”

“I’m not…” Lucanis had given his official reason for being here as a neutral observer from Antiva, but realistically, a man in dark armour covered in knives who spent most of his time brooding quietly in the corner if Illario or Varric didn’t drag him off to socialise was going to be assumed to be a Crow by most people.

“Do you think I did this to myself??” Lucanis snapped, flexing his hand. It still felt weird. Like it was about to explode any second. “I told you. I was sent here to observe. My skillset is knives, not explosives!”

“I don’t think it was intentional,” Cassandra conceded. “Something clearly went wrong.”

“You don’t say,” Lucanis muttered, and they fell into silence, Elisif looking around her, observing with interest.

“Curious about something?” Lucanis asked.

“You two aren’t from round here,” Elisif said thoughtfully. “You’ve both got light brown skin. But most of the others I’ve seen are really pale. Like that Commander, Cullen, who seemed too shy to talk to me.”

“Oh, there is a man with even less social skills than me,” Lucanis said, sounding a little contemptuous. “And I do not rate mine that highly. Illario and his sister Rosa are the social butterflies of the family. They get it from their father. He’s a professional entertainer.”

“He’s a professional liar and a snake,” Cassandra spat, and then she noticed Lucanis’s frown and sighed.

“I should not hold you responsible for the sins of your guardian. But nevertheless. He’s not trustworthy. He has so many secrets, I wonder he hasn’t lost track of the lies a long time ago. Empress Celene clearly trusts him, but I do not think she should. And all Val Royeaux lives in fear of his wrath coming their way.”

“He saved me from a rival Crow house’s agents when I was six,” Lucanis said, scowling. “He took me in, raised me alongside his own children, never treated me like I was lesser. Whatever he may do professionally, he was the most loving guardian I could have asked for.”

“Him fulfilling his familial duties is the least he could do,” Cassandra snapped. “But to answer Elisif’s question. I am from Nevarra, a kingdom to the north-east of here, on the other side of the Waking Sea, although my work for the Chantry takes me all over Thedas. I have mostly operated out of Val Royeaux, protecting Most Holy, and Divine Beatrix before her.”

“Divine was her title,” Elisif realised. “Well, that makes more sense. She was a priestess?”

“She was the leader of the entire Chantry,” Cassandra sighed. “Incomparable in her compassion and wisdom. Her death would have been a loss regardless of the circumstances. This is nothing short of a disaster.”

“Who’s in charge without the Divine?” Lucanis asked. “Does she have a deputy?”

“The Grand Clerics who could have provided leadership all died in the explosion,” Cassandra said thinly. “We will deal with the clean-up. After that… much remains to be seen.”

“No one’s in charge,” Elisif said, wondering if that had any upsides whatsoever. “I mean, it’s the reason I’m not a prisoner. Leliana set me free and there was no one to overrule her.”

“You didn’t stop her?” Lucanis asked Cassandra, who just grunted.

“What choice did I have. I attack or arrest Leliana, her nephew will avenge her, and we will be doing our enemies’ work for them. Truth be told, I may not agree with Leliana on many things, but she and I do at least have the greater good in mind when we act. She is trying to do the right thing, as am I. We simply do not always agree what the right thing is.”

Lucanis rolled his eyes, clearly unimpressed, safe in the knowledge Cassandra couldn’t see his face. And then a green blast of Fade energy hit the bridge up ahead as Cassandra set foot on it, sending her falling into the frozen river valley below right as two demons materialised.

Elisif cursed, leaping down in after her to go for one demon while Cassandra engaged the other, and while the demons were strong, they were also not very bright, and Elisif easily fended it off with her shield.

And then a black shadow smacked into the demon, steel flashing as Lucanis spun round, knives slicing it in half, and then Lucanis was sliding on the ice into the other one, knives sinking deep.

Both demons dead, and Lucanis casually spun his knives before slipping them back into the hidden compartments in his leather gear.

“What the… where did you get those?” Cassandra demanded, sword pointed at him. Lucanis just smiled up at her, chuckling quietly.

“You took my fancy knives and the other external ones, but did you really think you had everything?” Lucanis laughed, sounding unbelievably smug. “I’m an Antivan Crow, Seeker. We come prepared. You would have to strip me down and you still wouldn’t find them all.”

There was an image. Elisif shoved it out of her mind, he was far too young for her, also she had a husband. Maybe Madanach was sick and dying and barely recognised her. But she still loved him and wasn’t running off with a young Antivan barely in his twenties.

Cassandra grimaced and backed off, clearly flustered, and Elisif made her way over and helped Lucanis up, and now she’d seen him fight, she had a fair idea who the Antivan Crows were.

“So you’re an assassin then,” Elisif said, seeing hidden knives, fast moves, clear practice at killing things quickly and without warning, and an easy scapegoat if someone actually was murdered.

Lucanis nodded, smile fading.

“Yes. We’re the most skilled assassins’ guild in Thedas. Antiva’s wealthy but it’s that way because we don’t waste money on a standing army. We’re a nation of traders and merchants. How else do we protect our assets but by sending the finest assassins in Thedas to handle our enemies. No tedious bloodletting and slaughter of young men. We go in, we kill the leaders behind the trouble, no more threat. And sometimes we take contracts from third-parties to finance operations.”

“Did you have one here?” Elisif wanted to know, and Lucanis shook his head.

“No! I was sent as an observer! My grandmother, Dona Caterina Dellamorte, First Talon of the Crows and leader of House Dellamorte, sent me to report on the outcome of the Conclave. Her consort’s an apostate mage. She has an interest in the proceedings.”

“Her consort is a wanted criminal who is in Antiva because he has nowhere else to run,” Cassandra snapped. “The larceny, murder, thieving and espionage he was originally arrested for was only the start. After the Empress of Orlais granted clemency and arranged for him to be released to his son’s care, he bided his time and then helped start this whole crisis by raiding the White Spire. And now he’s hiding behind the skirts of the First Talon. Pathetic. I am amazed a seasoned assassin-master like Caterina has fallen for it.”

“She loved him for years, they had a son together!” Lucanis snapped. “He didn’t even go to Antiva, it was me who found him hiding out in Llomerynn and persuaded him to come home to Treviso. Cesario LaRose is one of us, Seeker! You come for him, you come for all of us!”

“Was he involved in this?” Cassandra snapped, undeterred. “This sounds like something he might do. Take out all the Chantry leaders at once, get revenge for being made Tranquil?”

What the hell was being made Tranquil. What was the White Spire? What was an apostate mage? If there were secular authorities, why would this Cesario want revenge against the religious leaders?

“I am so confused,” Elisif whispered, and Lucanis did soften a little.

“I will explain later,” Lucanis said kindly. “But this I know – the Black Rose did not do this. He has been like a grandfather to me. He would not send me as an observer then blow it up. If he’d been planning to blow up the Conclave, Leliana and Illario would have received word of him dying to lure them out of range. We none of us would be here. We are assassins. Targeted surgical strikes. We’re not terrorists.”

“Just criminals,” Cassandra spat. “Ugh. Come on. I suppose you do have skills. If you are attacked directly, you will need weapons. Here. Your ridiculous wyvern-tooth knives. Have them back if it will stop you complaining. Also both of you should have these. Healing potions. In case of injury.”

Lucanis took his knives back, delighted to see them again, and Elisif got a good look. They weren’t exactly like a Dovah’s tooth… but they were very similar, honed to a point and if you needed to stab something, these would get it dead.

Elisif wondered what Cicero would make of them. He’d definitely be impressed by Lucanis’s skills. Fast. Agile. Elisif hadn’t even realised Lucanis had been there until he struck. Lucanis knew what he was doing.

Elisif did not right now have Cicero. Her favourite little jester was far away, probably finding out she was gone by now, probably worried and heartbroken and making it everyone else’s problem, oh dear gods, she hoped he hadn’t stabbed anyone.

Well. Probably not. Only if he held them responsible for her disappearance. Perhaps that might fall on Keirine or Valerica, but Cicero was unlikely to stab either if he thought they could track her down.

Maybe they could. Maybe she’d have reinforcements and help before long.

But in the meantime, while she didn’t have a Cicero, she did have a Lucanis. Sweet. Kind. Loyal. And very good at discreetly stabbing people, it turned out.

It wasn’t a lot. But it was more than she’d had earlier. All she needed now was a mage.

~~~~~~~~