#viseriel

Suddenly, she winced in pain, hissing quietly and clutching her wrist with her right hand as a crackle of fade magic shot violently outward from the center of her palm through each of her fingers and up every vein in her forearm. Vinti, who it seemed had not an ounce of fear in his adorable little body, remained in place after a slight imbalance and rubbed his head against her cheek as if to ease her suffering. Vis turned her face to him with a grateful look and stroked his silky head. What a perfectly serendipitous happenstance to find such a wonderful cat during such an unpleasant circumstance as this.

The pain subsided almost immediately, but she knew this would not be the last time she’d feel its bitter bite. The anchor generally caused her no discomfort at all, save for the stinging pricks it generated whenever she used it to close rifts. Yet the aftershock spasm she had just experienced was a new pain she did not want to revisit.

“Inquisitor, allow me...”, Solas offered, extending a hand for her to rest her own upon.

“Your mark is getting worse!”, Cassandra noted with frustration, “We must close the breach in the sky soon, not only for all our sakes but so perhaps your hand can begin to heal as well.” She sighed dejectedly and turned toward the door.

“I am going out for some air”, she grumbled, and as the door opened on her way out, warm daylight flooded into the dimly lit chantry, reminding the few inside that an entire world of choices and consequences still lay outside these walls.

“Come here, Purr-box”, Varric chuckled, reaching out to Vinti so as to become his next mobile cat tree. “You seem to be in tip-top shape for a feline who travelled all the way from Tevinter with supply crates. I don’t think you need any healing just now”.

“Thank you, Varric. Do you think perhaps we could find him some food before we head back to Haven?”

“You let me worry about that. You just let Solas take care of that hand of yours. We can’t have our Inquisitor sparking up all green and glowy in the middle of negotiations, now can we?”

As his feet followed the same path Cassandra’s took out the door, Vinti pranced from Varric’s left shoulder to his right, and back again as though deciding on the exact best way to situate himself upon the dwarf’s strong shoulders. And once again, the creak of the wooden door invited the delightful sunlight back inside to allow its inhabitants another taste of the fresh spring breeze.

“If I may...” Solas again extended his hand out to her.

They were alone in the chantry now, and with the demons expelled, the atmosphere of luminously colored stained glass and steadily flickering candlelight was actually quite pleasant and calming. There was a stillness in the air of peacefulness and contemplation that Visériel remembered having felt during the long walks she used to take through the lush forest near her home. It made her feel at ease and she understood in this moment why humans so often referred to the chantry as their sanctuary.

They sat down on one of the church benches as she laid her hand palm-up in his so he could perform the spell that quelled the feeling of pins and needles which occurred when the anchor was in use. Although the pain had entirely disappeared already, Visériel was not about to turn down spending more time with Solas, (which she enjoyed more than she should), especially in such an enchantingly beautiful setting as this. One might almost call it romantic.

Solas was always so composed and pensive. She could tell there was so much going on inside his mind of which he rarely spoke. So many stories he would tell her of his travels in the fade which showed him the dreams of the past that he remembered in such fascinating ways!

He was always so composed and yet... sometimes... behind his eyes... there were moments... Moments when a blaze of fire and a flash of storm flickered from behind and within those bright pale eyes... And it made her wonder...

But Solas was the first to speak.

“You said you would stop those in Haven should they see fit to punish me for being an apostate. ‘However I had to’, you claimed. Why?”

Visériel was taken aback that he should bring up a conversation from some time ago. She had no idea he’d remembered any of their talks before. The heat of his skin felt comforting and warm as he cast the spell so close to her palm.

“I don’t know”, she fibbed coyly as she felt the soft pressure of his long slim fingers gliding against the back of her own. An agreeable shiver ran through her body.

“I’m sorry. Healing spells. They can have unexpected side effects, I know”.

“No. I mean yes, they can but...”

His spell had finished and yet his hands remained on hers with a gentle caress as though he too lingered in the moment.

“Don’t stop”.

She couldn’t remove her eyes from their hands as the words barely escaped her lips.

And then she looked up, and their eyes met.

And the unspoken confessions between them silently made themselves known through the bold tenderness in each other's gaze and the expectant breath they held between them, as if exhaling would release time to proceed as it naturally did, robbing them of prolonging the intense experience before them.

His breath still held fast, Solas raised an unsteady hand to her shoulder as though asking the question to which they both knew the answer, and her lips parted slightly in response as her heart pounded in anticipation within her chest.

Before time could reclaim the moment, he rushed forward, leaning into her body as he breathed out the suspense of the previous moment to allow the birth of the next.

“Leliana has sent us another raven!!”, Cassandra loudly complained as she burst both herself and the brightness of daylight into the chantry, which was quickly followed by a thunderous crash of wood as the door struck the wall beside it.

Cassandra recoiled at the startling noise she had unceremoniously produced and quickly caught the door before it could swing again, checking thoroughly that no harm had been done to any part of the church.

She released a disgusted noise as she returned to her tirade.

“Leliana wishes to hear how our business in Redcliffe is going as if she does not already know. Are not hundreds of her spies all over Thedas for this exact purpose? What more could we possibly add to her report? Oh, hello Varric. I was unaware you were following me.”

“With all that squawking, I’m surprised you don’t have a flock of birds following you”, Varric jested, watching his step as Vinti dashed between his boots into the chantry, hopped along multiple benches with elegant clumsiness, and raced back out the door before Varric had a chance to enter fully.

“I do not squawk!”, Cassandra retorted abashedly.

“You do, but let’s not argue about this right now. Inquisitor, are you ready to head out?”, he asked as Cassandra huffed exasperatedly back into the village square ahead of him.

“In a moment, Varric”, Visériel called back to him as both she and Solas exchanged lighthearted chuckles at the chaos of their timing and the commotion they’d brought with them.

Her blissful eyes looked back into Solas’ reverent gaze and she felt as though something wonderful had changed between them. It was as if the knowledge that their fates were tied together had only just now been revealed to her. Instantly she had the strange feeling as though she had known him her entire life and somehow also during a time before that even. It was an inexpressible feeling she would never find the words to describe. Unbeknownst to her, Solas had felt a similar yet more complicated pull to her the moment they met, though fear had convinced him to close himself off to those feelings. But no longer. Now he felt the freedom of following his spirit, his heart, and it was altogether euphoric.

A grin appeared on Varric’s face as he held the door open for his exit and replied back into the room behind him, “Alright, but you two love-birds better hurry it up ‘cause that hole in the sky isn’t getting any smaller.”

Both Visériel and Solas’ expressions changed from pure joy to concealed bewilderment as the door swung shut behind him.

“Love-birds?!” Cassandra’s astonished squawking could be heard in muffled form coming from outside the door in the distance. “Varric, what are you going on about now?”