#post datv

Thank you for the tags @serialsforbellara @mushrooms-x-moss @sandcastlekings @kogarashi-art and @woundedsoul12

Immediate Post DATV after the Veilguard descends from the Archon's Palace

No one knew where Rook had gone. Neve figured the rogue had to be somewhere nearby. She must have slipped away to find a quiet spot to take a few moments to herself. Still, she wanted to find her Trouble. While they'd lost a lot getting here, they'd finally won, and that was worth celebrating.

She made her way through the throng of celebrating allies, eyes searching.

"Ah, Neve, you are looking for Rook?" It was Illario, his eyes knowing.

"Illario," Neve greeted him. She still wasn't entirely fond of Lucanis's cousin after what he'd done, but she could be civil. "Yes, I'm looking for Rook. Have you seen her."

Illario gave her an uncharacteristically somber look and nodded, then pointed down a nearby hall. "She's with other Wardens," he advised.

Neve frowned, following his direction. At the second door she could hear a soft murmuring of voices, one she was certain sounded like Rook. She knocked lightly on the door. "Rook?"

The only answer she heard was something like a strangled sob. She threw the door open.

In one corner of the room, she saw Rook, still in her armor, with her head buried in her sister Sunshine's shoulder. Sunshine looked exhausted, tears streaking down her face as she held Rook. A man in Warden mage armor and graying blonde hair had his arms wrapped around both women, expression tight with grief.

Ashur had very few moments to himself in the days after Elgar'nan's fall. With so much of Minrathous in shambles, there were some unsavory characters who sought to take advantage of either the chaos or the power vacuum left by the death of most of the Magisterium. Giving Dorian the support of the Divine as well as guiding the Chantry to help the wounded and displaced took up most of his time. Most nights Ashur would collapse onto his bed under Tarquin's watchful eye and fall into an uneasy sleep, still plagued by nightmares of the Blight.

Through all of it, he could feel the thrum of Rook's beating heart. But as each day passed with her friends taking shifts at her side, they worried more that she might never fully recover from the injuries Elgar'nan had inflicted during that final, harrowing fight.

Some part of Ashur feared seeking his soulmate's side. The memory of her stuttering heartbeat as the healers fought to keep her soul anchored to her broken body haunted his nightmares as often as the Blight.

The sound of seagulls and the bustle of everyday Docktown had woken him up. Rook considered staying in bed, his beloved snuggled against him for awhile longer, but he was awake now. Slipping quietly out of their bed, he opened the window of the fourth floor apartment and considered the view beyond. Much of it was buildings, this was Dock Town after all, but in the distance you could see the docks and the water.

A few steps took him to their tiny stove where he filled the kettle with water. Humming to himself, Malcolm watched the water heat as he spooned grounds into the press and set it up. He watched eddies of steam rise as he poured hot water into the press and made his morning cup of coffee. He cradled the coffee cup in his hands as he walked back over to he window staring at the water in the distance.

Sometime later he felt the press of a body against his back and elegant fingers fastening around his stomach Emmrich encircled Rook with his arms. The necromancer buried his head in Malcolm's long hair, more gray now than brown.

"You didn't have to get up yet, Amatus," Malcolm told his husband. "Dorian isn't expecting us until this afternoon.

"Mm, the bed was cold without you in it, darling," Emmrich murmured sleepily.

Malcolm chuckled softly and shifted his husband until Emmrich was at his side and wrapped one arm around the other man's waist. He kissed the sleepy professor's forehead. "Alright, love, I'll hold you then."

For once it wasn't raining.

Tarquin sighed as he sat on the edge of the fountain and watched water pour from the serpent shaped spouts. The fountain itself was masterwork of piping and physics, designed to take water that collected on rooftop cisterns and brought down to street level. The fountain was tiled in beautiful glass tiles of deep blue and red, paid for by a magister and a member of House Dellamorte of the Crows.

The fountain sat in the Dock Town Chantry courtyard, a recent feature that had been added as they rebuilt and repaired parts of the city damaged by Elgar'nan's invasion and the Siege of Minrathous.

Tarquin removed one of his armored gloves and ran his fingers along the surface of the water, droplets splashing up from his fingers, the same size as the tears that slipped unbidden down his cheeks.

He heard the distinctive clink of Neve's leg as she approached. Another Shadow, Rana, followed the detective, and the two of them took a seat beside Tarquin on the edge of the circular fountain. Neve placed a gentle hand on Tarquin's shoulder, offering him a teal colored handkerchief. He accepted it and wiped his cheeks.

Rana glanced up at the sun shining in the courtyard. "She would have liked this," the former Templar noted.

"Yeah, she would have," Tarquin replied. He gave a sad laugh. "And she isn't here because the fool woman had to go and be a hero."

"She always was a little impulsive," Neve's voice was full of melancholy.

"Impulsive, short tempered, and brave," Rana added.

"Maker I wish she were here to see the city now," Tarquin murmured, "She'd see how it shines.."

She'd told them not to build any statues to her. Build something useful, she'd asked, something to help the people. So the fountain at, a source of water for anyone who came to the Chantry. His eyes sought out the plaque on the fountain.

Alright y'all, we are about 2/3 of the way through the planned story now. Chapter 18 is up.

Rook makes a visit to see old friends in Lavendale and Arlathan, and makes promises not to disappear again.

Snippet:

Antoine was standing on a platform with Evka and another Wardens, the three of them built over what Rook guessed was a map or building plans. The other elf happened to glance up and see her, and he waved in greeting. “Ah, Rook, welcome back to the Wetlands,” he said cheerfully. “It has been quite a while.”

“So it has,” Rook agreed, deciding it was better not to tell them that she’d visited the Hossberg Wetlands a few times since the fall of Elgar’nan, they’d just simply never noticed her because she’d used magic to hide her presence. Once she’d come here to check on the old manor and ensure that no more demons had taken up residence in it to bother the villagers. Another time she’d returned to simply scout the area and check for places where the Veil might be thin. Given the amount of death that had occurred in the Wetlands over the years, she hadn’t been surprised to find a few place, places that she’d worked on carefully repairing to the best of her abilities based on information she’d gleaned from the Lighthouse library.  

“What brings you to Lavendale?” Evka asked curiously.

“I find myself with a bit more time on my hands, now that I am no longer dedicating so much time to researching freeing Lace,” Rook replied. “And I thought it was time to visit some old friends.”

The latest chapter of the Blood Crow is up on AO3

Or you can start at the beginning here

Snippet:

Emmrich stiffened, remembering the exchange he’d had with Manfred a few months ago, when he mentioned seeing Rook. The necromancer gave Rook a careful look. “Did you visit, Rook? To come and see Manfred?”

Rook heard the undercurrent of hurt in Emmrich’s voice, and she felt a flash of anger. He and the others had left her alone to begin with, what right did they have to be hurt she’d left, she-

Rook forced herself to take a deep breath. “I visited the Necropolis from time to time, but I didn’t visit any of the living,” she told him. “The Memorial Gardens are peaceful, more so than some parts of the Fade I traveled through.

“Rook, you would have been welcomed by me and by any of the Watch,” Emmrich told her.

The latest chapter of the Blood Crow is up on AO3

Rook and the Veilguard continue their reunion, and Rook starts to visit her friends again.

Snippet:

Things felt right for the first time in three years, and that was a dangerous feeling.

Rook regarded her friends as she sat with them around the dining table while Lucanis made pancakes for breakfast. Everyone was here, for the first time since before she’d broken down, her friends were around her, and the Veilguard felt complete again.

She knew that all too soon everyone would need to go their separate ways again, back to their lives. She’d be alone in the Lighthouse once again. But that was okay, Rook told herself. She could rely on herself. She did not need to lean on her friends like a crutch.

This time she would stay at the Lighthouse, though, save for trips she made to complete contracts or to visit someone. It seemed likely she would have more free time than her friends, so she’d have to take it upon herself to visit them instead of the other way around. That was far better than being forgotten again.

For now, she would just enjoy the company of her friends, for as long as she could.

tagging below for visibility

This wasn't the way the Shadows had planned this op.

Visitors to some of the poorer neighborhoods had gone missing over the last view months. The Shadows had finally tracked it to a Magister's heir who had taken over his father's seat in the Magisterium. While he'd mouthed all the right words and phrases in support of Archon Pavus's anti-slavery laws, he'd been secretly trying to turn a profit on the subject he claimed he didn't support.

The Viper and Tarquin were supposed to be on this op, but last minute politics from Grand Clerics kept Ashur and his Knight Divine away. But they had to pull this mission off tonight. They'd received a tip the Magister would be moving his victims in the next day or two.