yes, vanilla is a spice

This chapter would not have been possible without the reassurance and hand holding of the lovely @vanillastrange (hi hi! thank you!), who helped me with the whole Solas meets Clan Lavellan's children situation (with which newfound confidence I used to write The Dread Wolf's Heart about the meeting from Solas' perspective after I wrote this chapter and was still wrestling with the rest of it all.) Any inaccuracies are, of course, entirely mine.

She could see other children poking their heads out eagerly from the aravel. She was not surprised that it was Ghillen’s child who was ringleader. Ghillen had always been the brave charmer when they were small. Malen? she guessed. She had always been terrible at remembering the children’s names when they all grew so fast and changed so much, and it was so much harder when she only got to see them in passing as the Inquisitor. She should probably go rescue Solas, though he hardly looked in need of rescue. She looked around for any other responsible clan member.

The Hahren came shuffling up, to her relief, his spare body bowed, too many years of his winter cough catching up with him to be quite as fast at catching an unruly da’len as he once was. The other little heads vanished. She smiled. He had clearly lost none of his quiet, calm presence that kept the children from wanting to disappoint him.

“Well, da’len,” the Hahren admonished with a twinkle in his eye as he swept the child up, balancing her on a bony hip with years of expert practice, “are you pestering Fen’harel when you should be with the other children?”

“Solas, please, Hahren,” he said, “And your da’len is very well mannered. I was only concerned about alarming the children.”

It had been a good guess. If he was incorrect, ‘Hahren’ was always a polite title, among the Dalish.

The Hahren laughed a warm, furry laugh, a little cough at the end.

“The Dalish have often spoken of the Dread Wolf’s lies,” he said, inviting Solas to share the jest with a little smile, “they failed to mention that they were to spare a naughty da’len from a scolding. What exactly was this overly inquisitive da’len asking?”

Solas barked a little surprised chuckle.

The child was irrepressible. And the other small heads were poking out of the aravel again.

“If he’s the Dread Wolf, he should turn into a wolf,” Malen explained, irrepressible indeed, as Ghillen had been at that age. “We… I wanted to see. I wouldn’t be scared.”

She grinned. Nice to see the clan’s children were keeping up the best traditions of covering for each other.

Day1 ✦ Day2 ✦ Day3 ✦ Day4 ✦ Day5 ✦ Day6 ✦ Day7 ✦ Day8 ✦ Day9

Dirthamen — Keeper of Secrets🤫

https://archiveofourown.org/works/85428221/chapters/225658916 Hi everyone! We're back with our twenty-second piece for the Dragon Age Big Bang 2026!

Let's give it up for author VanillaStrange and artist Nateese; they did incredible work! Go check out their efforts over on Archive of Our Own, and we hope y'all enjoy!