Amy Dallon, Herald of Andraste

[Kylia Quilor]

Subtle, Amy's Shard is not.

Click to shrink...

*gestures at the wretch* Nope, not even a little

 

[bob1?]

I am proud to know, you, Amy Dallon."

Click to shrink...

Well, hello new surrogate mother figure, Thank you for the positive reinforcement may I have more.
Amy's inner voice right now

 

[Kylia Quilor]

Author's Note: As I've said before, if you find yourself confused about any of the elements of the Dragon Age setting that have come up, or with questions about Thedas as you've seen, please, ask. The intent has always been that familiarity with Dragon Age is not required, but I'm hardly perfect. In some cases, the confusion might be because the reader (and Amy) have not been provided some vital information, but in some cases, I might have just explained less well than I thought.

---

Miraculous ability to 'cure' the Darkspawn Taint or not, the rifts closed for no one but Amy. So after another few minutes sitting with Cassandra, they set out for the next rift.

Amy spent that silent time they sat there trying to process what Cassandra had said, about being proud to know her. It...

She's not saying she's proud of me... but...

It was the closest thing Amy had heard from anyone not named Victoria Dallon. Carol had never said it to her, but then, she'd never said it to Vicky either.

She looked over at Cassandra as they sat, chest feeling tight. Was -

No. Cassandra was... she was just trying to help Amy. It wasn't - Cassandra wasn't lying she didn't think it was that, but -

I'm just - I'm just pathetic and reading too much into it. Cassandra was just saying Amy was doing the right thing. Which she was... not that it changed much in the long term. She was only doing it because not doing it would feel worse. And because the Darkspawn Taint terrified her and -

"We should join the others and seek the next rift," Cassandra said, standing, extending a hand to help Amy to her feet. Amy took it, trying to push her thoughts to the back of her mind, to focus on - focus on what was happening now, what was important. She could...

She could worry about what Cassandra had said later. Or never. Never sounded good. Because it didn't mean much. It was just - it was nice to hear, but - it wasn't -

God, I'm so fucking pathetic.

Shaking her head, Amy tried to focus on what was happening, and when that failed, she forced her thoughts back to the Darkspawn Taint, and Cassandra's desire for her to keep it secret. That was... safer ground.

As they moved further along the ravine, and towards the cave the rift was supposed to be in, Amy weighed keeping this extra secret about something she could 'cure' or... save someone from. And thinking about the taint itself. She couldn't affect it directly, but... could she do something that...

Could she vaccinate someone or something against it? The problem would be testing it, and that would mean keeping some of that noxious shit on hand and - no. Bad idea. And once they closed the Breach, Amy was going to figure out how to get home anyway.

She was.

So...

I mean, I'm the only one who can do anything to the Darkspawn Taint...

Shaking her head, Amy tried to ignore the knot of guilt that was forming at the thought of just... leaving Thedas without doing something (what? What could she do?) about the Darkspawn Taint and focused instead on the question of keeping it secret.

Cassandra was going to tell Cullen, Leliana and Josephine. They could all keep secrets, presumably, and know who, if anyone it was a good idea to tell. The scouts worked for Leliana and Amy had to assume the spymaster wouldn't pick someone who couldn't keep a secret to work for her. Solas probably already had a thousand and one secrets, and she really needed to ask Cassandra about him.

I'm sure they didn't just trust that this very convenient mage shows up right as it all goes down, so they had to look into him and they obviously didn't find any sign he was up to anything bad...

Amy pushed that question aside - she would have to ask that later - and focused on the other two people who presently knew what she could do to the Darkspawn Taint. Katerina would obey the order, Amy was pretty sure. If nothing else, Katerina looked up to Cassandra too much to disobey the order.

Varric... well, Varric was the question. He was a storyteller and turned the story of his friend Hawke into a book, but he had kept certain facts back - and yet been totally cool with including others. He claimed to be, seemed to be on the same page as everyone else that the Breach was a big deal, the thing everyone needed to be focused on, but...

He was also playing at being the 'rogue with a heart of gold', and those didn't exist in reality. So if it was ever to his benefit, he might try to reveal it. Plus, he reveled in tweaking Cassandra - and everyone else, frankly.

Amy didn't think it was likely he'd spill the beans, at least, not any time soon, but... if anyone who currently knew would, it was him.

Finally, they reached the cave. Though, it was less a cave and more... something Amy didn't know the proper term for. Those hexagonal black rock column-things made up the walls of it, and there were several holes in the ceiling that brought in sunlight and water, leaving the cave full of greenery, including a few trees, and plenty of bushes.

There were no living giant spiders (though they did find a body - the thing was huge, easily bigger than a dog, like... the size of a pony? The demons infesting the cave had killed it, and Amy held back as a series of wraith and shades attacked them before they got close to the rift. Once they found the rift further back, Amy stayed back as well.

In addition to more shades and wraiths, the rift was 'defended' by two rage demons and another terror demon. After having been near several now, Amy was... well, she wasn't curling up into a ball and trying to run away, but she still felt icy fear claw at her, making her blood run cold and her body freeze up.

Every time she'd been hit with it before, she was sent back to that moment, that awful moment of terror when Vicky had been dying, right before she'd triggered and - the fear of losing her, losing her sister...

But this time, she was faced with something else. Something that had never happened and...

Amy gripped tight onto her staff as her mind was assaulted with images of the Darkspawn Taint, consuming, converting, overwhelming all life around it... consuming her family.

Aunt Sarah. Uncle Neil. Crystal. Eric. Carol. Mark.

Vicky.

She couldn't do anything, couldn't reach them, couldn't help them, could do nothing but watch as the red-black nightmare substance slowly consumed their cells, ate their bodies, turned them all, turned her sister into twisted, bloated, mindless monstrosities, barely resembling themselves...

The images vanished from her mind as if someone had flicked a switch once the second terror demon was defeated, and then the rage demon was felled a few seconds later. Amy took several shuddering breaths, feeling cold, clammy sweat on her neck, under her armor - but she didn't let that stop her from approaching the rift and holding her hand out, feeling that stabbing sensation again as it closed.

The act was almost an autopilot one now - not really, but she'd done it enough times that it was becoming rote.

Except for the pain. It seemed impossible to get used to that.

Why... why did the terror demon make me see -

Was it just that the Darkspawn Taint was fresh in her mind? It did scare her, Amy had to admit. It scared her and she hated it, hated it. She'd never hated a disease, because why bother? She could cure it.

She couldn't do that to this one. And she couldn't even really read it - just read it enough to feel she should be able to do more to it, but she couldn't because it - because it was weird magical bullshit that turned other things into weird magical bullshit.

She hadn't been this scared of demons, when she realized they didn't even read as alive to her power - but they were basically projections and... they couldn't turn people into more of them. The abomination had been horrifying, but she could still use her power on it.

The Darkspawn Taint? She couldn't really read it, couldn't use her power on it, and it made more like into more of itself. She was... she was still reasonably confident her power's sort of... automatic protection against disease she had would protect her from the Darkspawn Taint, but...

Did it really scare her that much? Amy wrapped her arms around her waist as she waited for the others to finish exploring the cave. Was it just that it was the first thing here in Thedas that truly, deeply terrified her? That it was fresh in her mind?

"I believe I have found something of interest." Solas's voice cut through her anxious fixations and Amy looked around for him, following the sound of his voice. The bald elf was crouched by a little niche carved into the cave wall. Inside there was a glowing green object, the shape and size of a globe (and even on what looked like a little stand), but with a bunch of extra bits on opposite ends, making it almost look like some weird, mutant telescope? There were cracks in it, and that's where the green light was coming from.

"Okay, it's shiny and obviously magic, but what is it, Chuckles?" Varric asked Solas. "Don't keep us in suspense."

"I believe," Solas said in his usual unflappable tone, "That this is an ancient elven ward, of sorts, used for interacting with the Veil."

Amy was not her sister, and as her shitty, usually barely passing grades at Arcadia proved, she wasn't even all that smart (as if she didn't know that already). But she also wasn't a complete idiot. She could retain information sometimes and eventually add two and two to get four. The Veil was the... barrier, thing between the Fade and reality. The Breach and the rifts were holes in it.

"So this is the reason there's so many rifts in the Storm Coast, and why the demons are ranging further from them than normal?"

"That would be my supposition, yes." Solas confirmed, nodding. He gestured to the thing, "In the heart of the device is a piece of crystal that reacts to the Fade. I believe it was used to strengthen or weaken the Veil in a given area. And right now, it is weakening the Veil."

"Will it close any rifts?" Cassandra asked.

"I don't think so. But if I switch it to strengthening the Veil instead, it should make sure no new rifts open, and make the demons left stay closer to the rifts that brought them here."

"Why would they even make something that could strengthen or weaken the Veil?" Amy demanded.

"Experimenting with it, I assume." Solas answered. "Seeing what impact a weaker Veil had on an area, or perhaps to work magics that needed more power than could be easily obtained any other way." He stood up, "Or conversely, strengthening the veil when a given area had a naturally weak veil for some other reason - mass death, for instance. Or some other magical disaster."

Ask a stupid question... Amy nodded. "I guess that makes sense. In a 'let's meddle with forces beyond our comprehension because we're idiots' sort of way," Amy sighed. "You're sure it will be safe and make the Veil stronger?"

"As certain as I can be without trying it,"

"Then do it." Cassandra nodded. Solas crouched back down by the device and reached his hand out, closing his eyes and murmuring a quiet spell before the device glowed a brighter green, a sort of sphere forming around it.

"There. It should be set."

"Good. We should find a spot to make camp for the night, and then set out to close the remaining rifts tomorrow."

"While we look for that spot, Panpan, I think you owe me a story about that 'Garden of Eden'?"

Amy groaned and dropped her head into her hands. She had promised him she'd tell him about that.

"Okay, fine. Once we're out of the cave, I'll start." Amy started organizing what little she actually knew about the story offhand into something that sounded coherent in her head. Once they were out, she took a breath. "This is a - this is a myth or story or whatever that a bunch of people back home believe in. I don't. But... okay, so you guys all believe in the Maker, or most of you anyway." Solas probably didn't, and Varric didn't seem a religious type.

"The big all-powerful being who created everything and all that? Back home, the people who believe in that sort of thing just call him 'God'. One story is that when God created the first man and the first woman, he put them in this... magical wonderful paradise called the Garden of Eden. Where no one could get hurt or sick, and everything was innocent and wonderful and food was plentiful on all the trees and bushes and God even allowed them - Adam and Eve were their names - to eat the fruit of the tree of life. That meant that they would never get old. And because everything was innocent their minds were like children, or something like that,"

"There's a tree that has fruit that makes people live forever on your world and you're just mentioning this now?" Katerina asked, blinking.

"No! I said it's a story! It's - magic doesn't exist back on Earth-Bet, remember? And - if you let me finish the story you'll get why even if it was a thing - and it wasn't - the tree of life isn't a thing anymore!"

"If it was, I hope you'd give it a better name than 'Tree of Life," Varric mused. "A little on the nose."

"Can I finish?" Amy gritted her teeth. Varric gestured for her to continue.

"So God tells Adam and Eve they can do whatever they want in the Garden, eat anything they want, except for the fruit of this one tree. It's a special tree. The Tree of Knowledge."

Varric snorted, "Did he want them to eat from the tree?" Katerina chuckled as well.

"When I was six, my grandfather told me not to pick apples from his favorite tree. So of course I went and tried to," Katerina agreed.

"I don't know what he wanted. But yeah, It - it was pretty stupid to just say it like that." It wasn't like Vicky hadn't gotten up to a million and one antics when they were younger. And then Amy would be right behind her, unable to say no, always trying to at least hold her sister back from the worst of her 'great ideas'...

Amy blinked repeatedly, feeling wetness, but didn't try to stop the soft smile that formed as she remembered... better times, for a moment. Then she exhaled slowly.

"So yeah, you can see where this is going. There's a snake, it can talk, the snake might actually have been the Devil - which is like, God, but evil and not as powerful - I don't remember." She held up a hand, "If you ask me about the Devil, we'll be here all fucking day." Varric didn't look like he was that bothered by the prospect, but he at least didn't say anything.

"Anyway, this snake convinces Eve to eat from the Tree of Knowledge, to know all the things God knows or... something like that. I don't know the details. But she does and then convinces or tricks Adam into doing it. Or convinces Adam and then Adam later says she tricked him." There was a whole lot of 'women bad and evil' baked into the story too, really.

"They eat from it and they understand, like, good and evil and aren't innocent and pure anymore and all that. God figures out they know this now, and so he punished them by expelling them from the Garden of Eden, into the rest of the world where there's deprivation and shortage and people have to actually work to grow enough food and all that. They call it Original Sin and it's why the world isn't paradise anymore and why people die."

Amy knew for sure she was forgetting some details, or maybe hadn't ever picked up on them. Wasn't there something about the snake - if it wasn't the Devil - getting punished? And she was pretty sure the reason childbirth sucked so much was a punishment on Eve or... maybe that was just something people said later.

"Sounds like a shitty move, really." Varric mused.

"The three great sins of mankind against the Maker were worshiping his firstborn children - the spirits that became the Old Gods - before him, entering the Golden City to try and usurp him and burning his Bride rather than listening to her message." Cassandra commented. "It took all three for the Maker to turn from us completely. It seems... harsh of this 'God' to act so cruelly."

"You're telling me," Amy agreed, a little surprised by Cassandra's words, though... she did have a point. The Maker gave humanity more chances than God did, sort of? Maybe not, honestly. Amy didn't really know.

Either way, Varric wasn't wrong. What little else Amy knew about the Old Testament - the flood and Abraham's son and a few errant bits of trivia about like, Moses and stuff - told her God was a fucking dick. She was sure believers had their answers to that argument, but she didn't care and hadn't really argued that point with anyone.

"The Dalish elves tell many stories about the past to explain the state of the world, or to impart lessons. Often both." Solas chimed in. "It would sound as though this 'Garden of Eden' story is another such one. Though the lesson it teaches of unquestioning obedience and a glorification of ignorance is... troubling."

"The Chantry says that when the Chant of Light is heard in all four corners of the world, the Maker will return and make the world a paradise." Katerina mused, uncharacteristically thoughtful. "Is there anything like that for God?"

"I don't think so? Just going to Heaven when you die to be by his side, if you're good and believe in him and eat all your vegetables and stuff." Amy shook her head. "There's a book kind of like the Chant of Light, called the Bible. I've never read it, so I don't know all the details."

"What about the Second Coming? Didn't you say the return of God's son was supposed to save everyone, according to the believers?" Cassandra asked, curious.

"God's son? Your Maker has a kid?"

Thanks a lot Cassandra, Amy thought sourly as Varric reacted to the latest revelation.

"The Second Coming is supposed to bring all the good people to Heaven, not have paradise on Earth. I think." Amy furrowed her brow. "Don't quote me on that." Amy pressed her hands to her temples. Then she looked over at Varric. "Now, as to what you just said, he's not my Maker, I don't worship God or believe in any of that stuff. As for the whole him having a son thing..." She sighed and set to repeating the story she gave to Cassandra a while back.

---

Another day to close the last three rifts, and then they headed back to Haven. The trip took way, way, waaay too long, and with long days on the road and only firelight to read by, Amy didn't get as much reading done as she'd have liked. That, and Varric kept poking her for more stories about Earth-Bet, like he always did. Amy didn't have much more in the way of stories about 'God' to share, but she did tell the story of Noah and the Flood, which had Varric and Katerina again comment that God sounded like a dick. She also shared more of Vicky's exploits - her sister would love knowing that stories of her heroism were now spreading beyond Earth-Bet.

But she did get to read some, and 'Her Hidden Dedication' was a good book.

She was only about halfway through, but the story was engaging and compelling. The two leads were an Orlesian noblewoman, and one of the knights in service to the noblewoman's father. The knight was of a low nobility, her parents commoners who had bought minor titles, and the knight - not even the first born- had risen as far as she was likely to in Orlesian society of the hundred or so years ago when the story was set.

The knight loved her lord's daughter, and unbeknownst to her, the noblewoman loved the knight, but the two of them pined for one another in silence. It was heartbreaking and beautiful. The knight didn't say anything because she was too lowborn, and didn't believe the noblewoman would return her affections. The noblewoman didn't say anything for fear of driving her one real friend among her father's household away.

Adding to the whole mess was that while being gay wasn't seen as immoral or wrong, nobles were expected to get married and have kids, and that meant... well, the noblewoman would have to marry some nobleman that her father approved of. Of course, as the other friends of both main characters pointed out, political marriages between nobles in Orlais weren't exactly expected to stay faithful.

Which, gross, but it was a romance story, so it wasn't the same thing as it happening in real life. Amy was eating the pining up with a spoon, the knight watching the object of her affections from a distance, and the noblewoman imagined the knight kissing her and more 'indecorous fantasies' - and that was the phrasing she used to describe her thoughts.

And finally, now, at the halfway point she had reached the night before as they rode into Haven now, late in the morning, they had finally kissed. The knight and the noblewoman (among others) had been going to visit another noble nearby, they were attacked by bandits on the road as a sudden rainstorm struck, and the knight had gotten seriously injured - while both had gotten away, they were now taking refuge in a cave, completely lost, and the noblewoman had confessed her feelings, the knight had done the same, and they'd kissed.

Amy itched to just go to her cabin and get back to the book immediately, but she knew there was stuff that needed to be done. Iron Bull and his Chargers were a few days behind, but on their way to Haven nonetheless.

The tents by the walls of the village had been turned into a mix of tents and wooden shelters, probably thrown together quickly, though to Amy's eye, they seemed at least a little sturdy. The whole space was larger now, more soldiers coming to join the Inquisition, Amy assumed. The training grounds were expanded, with more archery targets and mannequins for hitting with weapons set up than before too. The gates of the village were open as carts moved in, loaded with crates and barrels and sacks of supplies. Amy wondered if potatoes or tomatoes were among them, and if not, how hard would it be to get them.

Coffee is probably expensive to get all the way here, I can't just... I can't just demand more stuff. But if it wasn't too hard, or if they were already in the supplies...

A taste of home would be nice.

Once they were inside the gates, Solas and Varric split off. Amy called out to Solas before he was out of earshot. "Solas - I have a question for you, later." She still hadn't talked to him about the whole 'Qunari had dragon DNA in them'. He was the only magic expert she knew, and she had no idea how anyone else would react to the news.

Solas seemed pretty detached from most things apart from 'slavery bad' and 'the elves suffer at the hands of humans', so he probably wouldn't react badly, but she wanted to talk to him about that in private. Same with asking Cassandra or Leliana about Solas - do that somewhere private.

"I shall come by your cabin later, then?"

"Or I'll go find you, once we both have time." Amy nodded, and then she followed Cassandra and Katerina towards the Chantry, presumably to fill Josephine and Cullen and Leliana on everything. As they approached the Chantry, she saw Leliana speaking to a tall, brown-haired man wearing a breastplate over some kind of padded armor. As they drew closer, she got a look at the profile of the man, and he had a beard, the kind that probably took years to develop and very carefully maintain, coming down to two sort of spikey bits.

Leliana caught sight of them and with a gesture, beckoned them over. Or at least beckoned Cassandra, and Amy followed along, with Katerina behind her.

"Cassandra, Amy, Katerina - this is Blackwall, a Grey Warden. Warden Blackwall, this is Seeker Cassandra Pentaghast, Amy Dallon, and Katerina, one of our soldiers."

A Warden?

"Charmed," Blackwall held out a hand - gloved, of course, it was kind of chilly here in Haven and by now Amy had gotten used to the idea that people who used swords and stuff wore gloves a lot, and Blackwall had a sword at his belt, a shield propped up against a crate nearby.

The shield was probably his because it had the bird emblem - griffin? eagle? - that was on his breastplate. Its wings were spread? No, it was two birds, back to back, each lifting one wing. Weird.

Cassandra shook his hand, and then Amy took his as well, itching to grab his arm and pull him closer and touch his bare skin. How were Grey Wardens immune to the Darkspawn Taint? Could she replicate it? Did they have some sort of cure-vaccination thing? Did they take Darkspawn Taint into themselves? If they did, could she drive it out of him quickly, kill it with fire? Because seriously, that shit needed to - it didn't matter, that stuff was - it was nightmarish and if he had it in his body then he needed to -

Amy closed her eyes quickly, taking a breath and pulling her hand back from the handshake quickly, probably looking like she was snatching her hand back from a hot stove or something.

Goddamnit Amy, yes, this stuff scares you but what the fuck is wrong with you? Before she could start making a list, Blackwall - had to be some kind of fake name, or a pseudonym, right? Who had Blackwall as their first name? Or maybe it was his last name? - interrupted her thoughts by asking a question:

"Amy Dallon. As in the Herald of Andraste?" Blackwall said, after shaking Katerina's hand, sounding surprised. "You're - younger than I expected."

"I am not anyone's Herald," Amy tried to say it in as level a tone as she could, her teeth clenched and jaw tight.

"Though many believe Andraste played a role in ensuring Amy was here to be able to close the rifts and, given time, the Breach," Leliana said smoothly, "The Inquisition makes no official claim as to that."

It sounded like something Josephine might have written for everyone to say if it came up.

"I see," Blackwall said. "Still - you can't be older than nineteen."

"Seventeen." Amy answered.

"So you did find a Warden, Leliana." Cassandra observed.

"I did." Leliana nodded. She looked over at Amy, "Since before the Conclave, there have been reports of Grey Wardens abandoning their bases all over Ferelden, Orlais and the Free Marches. I've been looking into it, and Blackwall was the first one I've been able to find."

"I've no knowledge where they all went, but we don't really stay very visible between Blights," Blackwall said. "I've been alone, looking for prospective recruits for a few years now."

"And the other Grey Wardens never recalled you?"

"Maybe a runner got waylaid, or couldn't find me?" Blackwall offered in response to Cassandra's question, sounding like he was just tossing it out there. "I don't know where the Wardens have gone, but Grey Wardens are about service, becoming better than you were to protect others. We might be most concerned with Blights, but failing that... after one of Sister Leliana's agents found me, I volunteered to be of use."

Doesn't sound like the whole 'the Blights are the most important thing, hurt innocent people if it stops them' mindset Cassandra mentioned... but then, this wasn't a Blight?

"Blackwall was helping villagers in the Hinterlands fight back against bandits." Leliana explained. "Given that, it seemed like he might be of great use helping hammer some of the new recruits into shape and get them fighting as a unit."

"That seems reasonable," Cassandra nodded. She "As long as you are here with the Inquisition, our greatest priority is the Breach. I understand that as a Grey Warden, yours are the Blights, and Darkspawn - if you find those priorities conflicting, then it would be best to part ways with the Inquisition."

Leliana's expression looked strange for a moment, but only for that split second before it returned to normal. Blackwall didn't notice.

"I can't see how it would cause any problems, unless we run into Darkspawn, and it's not as if the Inquisition would just leave them be to attack innocent people?"

"No." Cassandra allowed.

"If we'd had you on the Storm Coast, I would have felt more confident if we'd actually run into those Darkspawn ourselves. But the Chargers - a group of mercenaries helping us secure the region so Amy could close the rifts - found them first." Katerina offered. "I've never actually met a Grey Warden."

"They're - there's not a lot of us these days," Blackwall shrugged. "If you hear about more Darkspawn where you'll be operating, I'm more than willing to be of service." He nodded to them, "I only arrived in Haven a few hours ago. I should go get a feel for the recruits I'll be helping with."

"Of course." Cassandra nodded. Blackwall nodded back to all of them and moved off, back towards the training grounds. Cassandra looked over at Katerina. "You are dismissed for the time being. I will take Amy back to her cabin when we're done."

Katerina nodded and saluted, pressing her fist to her chest, "Let me know when you're done with 'Her Hidden Dedication'," She said to Amy while leaning in towards her. Without waiting for a response though, she headed off.

"You sent word ahead that Iron Bull and the Chargers were hired. I assume they're on their way?"

"They should be, yes." Cassandra nodded. "But there's other matters to discuss. And we have the matter of the mages and Templars as well. Did Lord Seeker Lucius send word yet?"

"Not yet. Given the location of Therinfal Redoubt is, it's possible his men haven't even reached it yet, though they should be drawing close. On the other hand, the mages under Grand Enchanter Fiona have already invited Amy to come speak with her. I see no reason why we shouldn't take them up on and resolve this matter as quickly as possible."

Seems like the simplest option. Amy knew Cassandra wanted to go with both sides, if she could, and Amy could see the logic. But it was also about closing the Breach as quickly as possible.

"We'll need a few days before we set out anyway, to prepare for the negotiations." Cassandra pointed out. "There is another matter that needs to be discussed, however, and it would be best to do it privately."

Leliana looked Cassandra over carefully, then nodded, "Very well. I'll send word to Josephine and Cullen to join us in the back room in half an hour?"

"Very good."

---

"...I didn't include mention in the note in case it was intercepted." Leliana explained. "No reason to risk letting everyone know the Qunari have a spy in our ranks."

"How do we even know Iron Bull will be the only one?!" Cullen demanded. "The Qunari aren't exactly our enemy right now, but they're not our friends either, and they can become enemies in a heartbeat, without any reason."

"Strictly speaking, everything the Qunari do is with a reason... that reason is just often opaque to outsiders," Josephine said. Amy supposed it made sense for a diplomat to have that sort of mindset, but it was also kind of... not the point. "And we can hardly ensure there won't ever be any more Ben-Hassrath spies in the Inquisition, but it's also a matter of trust. Leliana is hardly going to be lax in her security. If the Qunari try to plant more spies on the Inquisition, we'll know they're not interested in cooperation, and can act accordingly."

"Give them enough rope to hang themselves?"

Josephine looked over at Amy, then nodded, "I've never heard it put that way before, but if I'm following your meaning correctly, yes. If the Qunari are willing to work with us then they won't assign any more spies. And we can make sure we don't let Iron Bull or his Chargers know about anything we don't want the Qunari to know."

"We can make it harder for him to find out, but the only way three can keep a secret is if two are dead," Leliana offered. "It's a risk, but a calculated one. The last thing Thedas needs is the Qunari deciding to attack first and ask questions later."

"The Qunari attacked first and asked questions never in Kirkwall," Cullen grumbled. "But I suppose only one of the damn giants is more manageable than the few hundred the Arishok had to work with."

Amy blinked, "Okay, Iron Bull mentioned Kirkwall too. What the hell happened there involving the Qunari?"

"You haven't gotten that far in Varric's damned-" Cullen started, then shook his head, cutting himself off. "Obiously not, if you wouldn't be asking. It's... a long story, and I don't know the truth about most of it. But three years before Knight-Commander Meredith tried to purge the Kirkwall Circle, a group of Qunari soldiers tried to take over the city and killed the Viscount, before Hawke stepped in."

"I thought you guys hadn't been at war with them for a while? Just them and Tevinter?!" Hawke too? Did everything come back to Kirkwall and her?

Well, no, I - the Kirkwall Qunari thing doesn't seem super connected to this, it just kind of came up.

"The Qunari disavowed those involved. It was something of a... embarrassment to them," Josephine clarified. "But we're getting off-topic. I can fill you in on more of the details later, Amy, or you can get them from 'Tale of the Champion'. It's quite accurate to the material facts, on this matter."

I... I suppose I should get back to that eventually. When she ran out of other things to read, maybe.

"Right now, we should discuss our options regarding the Breach. I understand that this is an urgent-"

"No, there is another matter that must be discussed," Cassandra cut in. "I suspect it will take us some time to decide on how to move forward with either the rebel mages or the Templars, but while we were on the Storm Coast, Darkspawn were active there..."

Cassandra outlined the story - the Chargers took them out, or so it seemed, and they found the dead Darkspawn and the dying ram, and Amy's insistence on trying to heal it. Leliana's expression was unreadable, Josephine looked skeptical for a moment, and Cullen did as well, though for longer, until Cassandra explained what Amy had done.

"...if word got out that you could do this, there is no way we could convince anyone you weren't either sent by Andraste and the Maker, or a false prophet sent to damn us all," Josephine murmured, looking at Amy with a combination of concern and... was that awe?

Fuck. I think that's just a little awe. Or reverence. It was something Amy was way, way too used to seeing back home, and she saw it from too many people who called her the Herald here and now Josephine - one of the few people she liked in Thedas - had it too. Goddamnit.

Please don't keep feeling that.

"If she can cure the Taint... perhaps she was sent by the Maker..." Cullen trailed off in a soft murmur. "Not to her knowledge, but -"

"One, I can't fucking cure the Darkspawn Taint," Amy said, saying that part very slowly and carefully so maybe everyone would get it. "Two, if your Maker is the reason I am here, then he's -" Amy managed to bite back the tide of insults she wanted to say - of which 'a fucking asshole' would be the start -at the last minute. Everyone else in the room believed in the Maker and Andraste, "If he's the reason I'm here, then I'm really - really - angry with him." Christians were allowed to be angry at God, right? That was a thing she saw in movies or TV shows, right? It was probably safe to say that.

"But he's not, and I don't really see why this is the thing that is getting you to think that, Cullen, or - please - don't look at me like that Josephine. I - I'm the same Amy. I'm still not heaven-sent. Why is this - why is this the one that has you acting like this?" Even Leliana's expression seemed softer than usual. Cassandra at least wasn't looking at her any differently. She hadn't when Amy had saved the Ram either. Concerned, but that was normal.

At least she's not getting all reverent. If that happened Amy might just have to give up entirely... or spend more time with Varric.

"I... Amy, I appreciate you're neither from Thedas nor Andrastian, so it doesn't surprise me that you don't quite understand the situation." Josephine said carefully, setting her little paper-holder with a candle on it down on the table and folding her hands in front of her, holding them by her waist. "And perhaps more importantly, how people will understand it as well. The Chant of Light tells us that the source of the Taint, of the Blights themselves, is the sin the Magisters Sidereal brought to the Golden City, turning it black, and unleashing the Darkspawn on the world upon their return. It is, in essence, a curse of divine origin. And you can save people from it. With a touch, you can undo what many people see as, in some form, the Maker's judgement."

Amy bit her lip, screwing her eyes shut, hands closed into fists by her sides. What Josephine said made sense, when she put it like that. If the Darkspawn Taint was some curse from the Maker, and she could cure it, then what did that say about her?

It said nothing, but - she could imagine how other people wouldn't see things that way.

"The Maker did not inflict the Taint upon us, the Magisters did." Leliana disagreed. "Its origins are still divine - the holiness of the Golden City tainted by mortal sin, corrupted into the Taint and the Blights. To be able to save someone from it, expel it from their body - It is no small thing to be able to do what no other effort has. It is hard to fathom someone who was not touched by the Maker-"

"And who decided the Maker got to pluck me from my home and drop me here, away from my family and - I didn't ask for this?!"

"The Maker never asks for more from us than we can give," Cassandra said calmly. "That said... you have been quite insistent that your ability to heal isn't from the Maker."

"Because it isn't!" Unless he's been the one giving everyone powers on Earth, and I - I really don't see why he'd give some of the worst monsters I've ever heard of powers." Amy's heart was beating quickly in her chest and she closed her eyes again, trying to take another deep breath. "If it's biological, I can use my power on it. The Darkspawn Taint is... well, I don't know about the Black City stuff, but it's like - it's like that Abomination. It's - It's biology kept trying to react to what I was doing to it. But the Taint was even worse - I couldn't get a lock on it. I couldn't read it enough to deal with it."

Amy groped for the right words, "Demons don't read as anything to my power. They're not biological. The Abomination was this... insane amalgamation. The Taint was like that too, but worse. It's physically present, but it's..." goddamnit, what's the word I want... I - "mutable. The Fade is mutable, that's how magic works, right? Bringing the Fade into reality and working your will through it?" Amy did catch on eventually.

Cullen and Cassandra nodded slowly, and Amy went on.

"The Taint kept changing, so I couldn't... pin it down to actually do anything to it. So I just - I just seized control of the ram's entire system and set it to physically forcing the Taint out... like guards ejecting an intruder from a castle." Maybe that analogy would work for them.

She exhaled, "The point - it's just the same power you all knew I already had. It's not - it's not some extra thing I can do because of the Maker!"

"You're asking us to believe a lot that seems impossible." Cullen told her, a cautioning tone in his voice.

"I don't - I don't care if you believe the Maker is behind this, not... much." Amy lied, then "But it's bad enough people keep acting like I'm holy out there. I don't need that from any of you! So please, fucking don't!"

"It is easier to remind ourselves you don't believe you have any special connection to the divine when you act your age," Leliana said with a small smirk. Amy rolled her eyes, but...

I suppose that makes sense. Divine savior can't be a petulant, whiny brat and all that.

"That said, the problem of people 'acting like you are holy', as you call it, will only get worse when word gets out that you can save people from the Taint," Leliana cautioned.

We're not doing that yet though!

"We are not letting word get out." Cassandra said firmly.

"You can't be serious, we can't hide something like this, Cassandra!" Cullen brought a hand down quickly - he didn't slam it down onto the table, slowing his hand a few moments before actually connecting with the table, but the gesture was much the same.

"Why not?" Josephine had picked up her board. Cullen and Leliana looked over at her, the Commander looking confused. "Haven is quite remote, so it's not as if people suffering from the Taint are especially likely to be able to live long enough to make it here. And we can hardly afford to have Amy going to every single person who might be suffering from it." Amy wasn't sure how she felt about Josephine's cold logic, but... she wasn't - she wasn't wrong.

"Think of what this could do for the Inquisition, Josephine. There's many still detractors and fence-sitters in the Chantry and the nobility. A few well placed-" Leliana started, but Josephine shook her head.

"The Inquisition is well-situated for now," the ambassador wove her words quickly, but clearly, before Leliana could start up again. "And I'm less concerned about what it could do for the Inquisition as what it could do to Amy."

What?

"You are not interested in being an object of reverence. There is only so much we can do about that at this point, given what you are, what you represent and what you can do." Josephine explained, looking at her. "But we can make this less difficult for you by not giving people even more of a reason to see you as sent by the Maker."

Amy let out a breath. "Thank you." Her gut churned, knowing it was just Josephine pitying her but - she couldn't help the swell of gratitude she felt towards the ambassador.

"...You do have a point about the limitations," Cullen sighed. "Haven is a poor place to serve as a base for anything, but the Breach is here, so there's not much we can do." He brought one hand up to the right side of his head and rubbed at his temple, his shoulders slumping. For a moment, his eyes closed, he looked like Amy felt after a night out at the hospital, completely and utterly spent, sleepwalking awake. He took a breath and opened his eyes again. "And while it would generate support for the Inquisition, and for Amy as the Herald, among those determined to hate us, and her - it would only give them more ammunition to argue she's a false prophet."

Amy blinked, not understanding how that worked at all, but she also didn't want to question it now that Cullen was coming around. Part of Amy didn't want to hide this, but seeing even Josephine have that moment of awed reverence...

Cold as it is, if people affected by it can't get here and I can't get to them, what does it even matter? If she saw someone suffering from the Darkspawn Taint in front of her, she wasn't going to do nothing. There was no getting away from that. But...

Amy swallowed.

"There is another possible concern." Cassandra added. She looked over at Leliana. "When you travelled with the Hero of Ferelden, did you learn the specifics of how one becomes a Grey Warden?"

Leliana looked at her a moment, then to Amy. Then back to Cassandra. A thoughtful expression on her face.

"I didn't know the Seekers knew. I can see how it might be a concern." She exhaled slowly. "None of the Grey Wardens I knew would be a problem, but... Kaliaus and Alistair are hardly normal in that respect. I'm not sure the risk to Amy is as great as you imagine, but..."

"As far as I'm aware, the Seekers don't know, it was merely one of several theories." Cassandra corrected. "But it would seem that theory is correct. And as for the risk, any additional risk to Amy is too much, under the circumstances.

Cullen looked from Leliana to Cassandra, "What in Andraste's name are you on about? I would think Grey Wardens would appreciate anything that could be of any harm to the Taint."

"Many might, but there are certain details about the Joining, the ceremony by which one becomes a Grey Warden, that are kept secret for a reason." Leliana said. "Kalaius and Alistair told myself and those they travelled with, but swore us to secrecy... under the circumstances, I think they would both forgive me for providing the full details now. But it must be kept secret - there will no doubt be more Blights in the future, but if word about it got out, the consequences for the Grey Wardens could be dire."

"What could be so concerning? There are many rumors about the Joining, I remember hearing many when the Fifth Blight began and in the aftermath, but they're usually quite salacious, and all scurrilous," Josephine sounded delightfully scandalized as she referenced a few, "Orgies, sex with beasts... ritual sacrifice." She laughed, "All nonsense." The humor left her voice. "But what could-"

"Blood magic."

"Blood magic?" Cullen's hands closed into fists.

"Blood magic?!" Cassandra grimaced.

"Blood magic!?" Amy blinked, "What the fuck does Blood Magic have to do with this? The Grey Wardens kill people to -" That wasn't - that wasn't okay. No matter how terrifying the Darkspawn or their Taint were

"No," Leliana interrupted. "One might not survive the Joining, and the Grey Wardens kill to protect their secret. Kalaius saw Duncan - the Warden who recruited him - kill a man who knew what the Joining was, and tried to back out. He tried to stop Duncan, but it happened too quickly."

Well, fuck. Cassandra had said Wardens would place everything else below their cause.

"If the secret is blood magic, I can certainly see why they'd keep it that way. What do they do?"

"Drink darkspawn blood," Leliana said blandly in response to Josephine's question.

If Amy had been drinking Coffee, her robes would be covered in hot brown liquid as she sputtered. Everyone else looked shocked, but-

"Are they insane? What the - That-" Amy jabbered incoherently for a minute, swearing at the absolute, complete, total and indeed infinite stupidity inherent in doing something like that. If anyone else was reacting to that, Amy

"They don't drink it directly from the vein, or unaltered," Leliana finally interrupted Amy, raising her voice a touch to be heard. "I do not know what they add to it, beyond knowing it involves lyrium. The concoction can be lethal to those who drink it."

"Well, yeah, because that shit is vile and toxic. It will eat you from the inside out! What - when Cassandra said there was a theory about Grey Wardens having the Taint I thought - I thought it was like... vaccines, or some magical exposure therapy or something, not fucking drinking Darkspawn blood!" She didn't know what Darkspawn blood would have looked like to her power, but she had to imagine it was even more full of the Taint cells.

"It isn't a slow death like the Taint. It is instantaneous, according to Kalaius, or close enough. Those who survive are immune to further corruption by the Taint, until it claims them decades on, and can sense nearby Darkspawn... and most importantly, are able to kill the Archdemon."

"How does drinking darkspawn Blood make it possible for someone to kill the Archdemon? It's a giant dragon, it's hard to kill but -" Cullen cut himself off. "I thought Grey Wardens knew some secret technique or... strange magic of the Blight that let them kill the Archdemons, not -"

"I do not know the how. Only that the final blow to an Archdemon must be laid by a Grey Warden, or the Archdemon will be reborn in short order." Leliana answered flatly.

Cassandra, Josephine and Cullen all piped up with questions or exclamations, but Amy tuned them out for a moment, trying to work out what she'd just been told.

Okay, so - how did someone discover how to do that safely without dying? In a world where magic was a thing, and blood magic was a thing, Amy could begin to see how someone might figure the key to fighting darkspawn, or the ever-respawning Archdemon, was in the blood. But... drinking it?

They had to have tried other things, first?

How did they stop it from consuming them? The whole thing about Grey Wardens going into the Deep Roads when they've Wardens for long enough to go down fighting fit into this - whatever they added to the darkspawn blood must have delayed it but...

If I could figure out how they delay it, maybe I could figure out how to...

Amy's hands itched again, and she wanted to go and find Blackwall, grab him, get a look at his biology. How close was he to that deadline? Would he need to go underground soon? Was it a set number, or did it vary? How did they know? Could she get any of those answers from him? If she revealed what she knew, would he try to kill her?

I mean... he might... Amy bit her lower lip, swallowing. Even if she had Katerina or Cassandra or someone else with her when she talked to him, if Blackwall was as fanatical as Cassandra implied Grey Wardens could be, he might be willing to go down fighting.

Start by getting a look at his biology. And don't try to expel the Darkspawn Taint from him and then burn it.

Of course, she couldn't just grab him and touch his bare skin like some weirdo freak. Amy's hands twitched. She needed to find out how it worked, but - how - how could she -

"-off topic. This is a terrifying revelation that I think we all might want to revisit later, though I can certainly see why the Grey Wardens keep it so secret even if... I might abhor their willingness to resort to murder to keep it. But I'm not quite sure why that relates to keeping the knowledge of Amy's ability to expel the Taint from someone a secret. How is it a risk to her?" Josephine asked.

"Because not every Grey Warden is a willing one, and even some of the willing ones might like the chance to get out of that eventual death sentence in the Deep Roads," Cassandra supplied. "And if that is a possibility we can imagine, then it is one the more senior, more dedicated Wardens can imagine."

"We already have people trying to kill Amy, and probably just as many people wanting to abduct her." Cullen sighed, looking and sounding bone-tired again, shoulders slumping, looking down at the floor, rubbing at his temples. "We hardly need to add disgruntled Grey Wardens, or paranoid Warden officers to either list."

"Five active plots to kill her, just two to abduct her, that I'm aware of at the moment. More than a dozen groups are contemplating killing her." Leliana's hands were behind her back as she supplied that information, as casually as if she was ordering dinner.

"Jesus Christ, I didn't need to know that!" Amy protested. Five active plots to kill me?

"None of them have any people here in Haven." Leliana promised, as if that was any reassurance. "They've all resolved to do it, but have not left the planning and preparation stage. I am, as you put it, giving them enough rope to hang themselves with."

"And the guy who sent the assassin on the boat? You knew about him?"

"Not enough to know how close he was to acting, or that he'd be foolish enough to act the way he did." Leliana admitted. "But Sera's arrival in Haven has already provided my people some useful information regarding the Inquisition's enemies. I suspect the Ben-Hassrath reports Iron Bull will fill things out even further. I take your safety quite seriously, Amy."

Amy bit back a petulant 'someone still got within inches of killing me' because... she believed Leliana was doing her best. Whatever else - and she really didn't trust Leliana, though she could hardly say why for sure - she believed Leliana was sincere about closing the Breach. And that meant keeping her alive.

"That's why you have a bodyguard." Cassandra pointed out. "Katerina did catch the man out."

"Yeah," Amy exhaled slowly. "She did." She rubbed at her own temples now. "So we've talked about Iron Bull being a spy, what I can do about the Darkspawn Taint and why we need to keep that a secret...?"

"There's merely the matter of deciding when we send Amy to Redcliffe-"

"We have hardly all agreed that Amy is going to Redcliffe, Leliana!" Cullen cut in. "Lord Seeker Lucius hasn't even had a chance to send word to Haven yet."

"You read the same reports my agents sent, you read the message Cassandra sent about what the Lord Seeker said. He's hardly suitable for an alliance."

"And the rebel mages who don't trust the Inquisition because it's too close to the Chantry are?" Cullen snapped back. "And there's still no certainty that more mages wouldn't just make the problem worse."

"It's a problem of magic, one way or another mages will be the only viable solution-"

"Do I need to be here for this?" Amy raised her voice over the two before they could go further. "I'll go wherever you decide we should go." All things being equal, she'd rather the mages - but Lucius had been the first one to make the offer, and his creepy main character syndrome aside, he had been very earnest to help.

Grand Enchanter Fionia's letter had been polite, and said all the right things but... noncommittal.

And of course, both groups wanted Amy to come to them, where they had power. Which totally didn't read 'possible trap'.

Sure, it's possible it's just a power play thing or whatever, like Carol making people come meet her in her office. But it could totally be a trap.

Not that they had much choice, did they? They had to go to one of them. Mages seemed like the better people but...

Whoever agrees to help first right? Both would be nice, sure, but - how could they do both?

"It will likely be a long discussion," Cassandra allowed. "I'll take you back to your cabin, and then I'll return here, and we can... resume the debate." She looked at the others, grimacing.

"A short recess to prepare would do us all some good," Josephine agreed.

The others all agreed to that, and Amy let out a sigh. They all left, and Amy paused by Josephine, waiting for Cassandra to get out.

"I - Thanks." Amy said after a moment, "For... for agreeing on the whole... not - not giving people more reason to look at me with awe, thing."

"You've made very few requests, despite your vital position, Amy. Your desire to not be the center of attention is quite evident, and I see no reason to subject you to that without very good reason. Like the confrontation in Val Royeaux... or the eventual meeting with either Grand Enchanter Fiona or Lord Seeker Lucius." Josephine reached out and put a hand on Amy's shoulder gently. "You're bearing up under quite a lot of pressure you're not used to, Amy. It's impressive that you have, but I don't want to make it worse for you."

Amy swallowed. Her chest felt tight all of a sudden, and she blinked repeatedly.

"Thanks," she said again.

"You are quite welcome." She looked back at the room they'd just left - Leliana and Cassandra just now stepping out, Cullen behind them. "I suspect this discussion will take quite a long while, perhaps into the evening. But perhaps we could have lunch together tomorrow? I did miss our discussions."

You did? Amy stared at Josephine, feeling like an idiot and then, "Yeah-yeah, of course." Amy swallowed. "I like talking with you too."

"I'm glad to hear it." Josephine said with a smile. Cassandra approached, and the ambassador nodded, stepping aside.

"I had a few questions I wanted to ask Solas. So we can just go over to... wherever he is?" SHe blinked, realizing she didn't actually know where in the village Solas was staying.

"We can." Cassandra nodded. "I must return here afterwards,-"

"I can - I can get to my cabin myself." Amy said. "I should be pretty safe in Haven now, by this point?'

"It's less your safety and more that you will be asked by people to give some sort of blessing you do not believe yourself capable of giving, if you travel unescorted." Cassandra cautioned.

"...right." Amy inhaled. She could have protested that she could handle those people on her own, but she didn't want to handle them on her own, and... that just -

"I'll have someone send word to Katerina," Cassandra offered.

Amy nodded. "We should... we should also see if anyone in Haven needs healing or - there's more people here now and it's been a while since I was last here, if anyone's gotten hurt or sick... I should heal them, since I'm here."

Cassandra looked her over for a moment, then, "Something can be arranged, but only if you agree to stagger the healing out. If there's too many, do not force yourself to do them all at once."

"Fine, fine, fine," Amy agreed after a moment.

"I'll hold you to that, Amy," Cassandra said almost sternly, but... somehow not? It was like, stern but concerned and warm but - also expectant, but expectant in the sense that she expected Amy to actually do what she promised and -

Amy swallowed, a tightness suddenly in her throat. She nodded.

---

Amy wasn't sure where Solas actually stayed or slept in Haven, since Cassandra didn't take her to a specific house or tent or anything. Instead there was a little hill next to the village where Solas stood. There was a small table and a chair set up on the hill, but he wasn't sitting at the moment, instead leaning on his staff as he looked out over the village.

"Has a verdict been reached about the Inquisition's next steps?" Solas asked, turning to look at them.

"Not yet," Cassandra answered tersely. "I... do not have much hope we will come to an agreement quickly."

"The Breach remains quiescent for the moment, at least, so we do still have time." Solas assured her.

"That doesn't mean we should waste time as we are," Cassandra sighed. "Amy wanted to speak with you, so I'll leave you both to it." She turned and moved down the hill.

"It is unfortunate that the Inquisition is stalled out, unable to pick a direction." Solas mused. "It has momentum, but it cannot afford to lose it now."

"What do you think we should do? Go to Redcliffe?"

"I am not personally affiliated with the rebel mages, but I am sympathetic to their desires. Locking mages up and limiting their freedoms is not an effective solution, nor a moral one. But," Solas shrugged slightly, "I am not the person that gets to decide."

"I... I agree with you, but... not up to me either." Amy sighed, "Anyway. That's not what I came to talk to you about."

"Have a seat," Solas gestured to the single chair.

"There's only the one chair."

"It occurs to me that it would be good to check on the wards on your mark again, and it would be easier to do that if you're seated. We can discuss what you wanted to while I do that."

It has been... right before we went to Jader the first time, I think? Her hand hadn't gotten any worse, but she'd rather he touch the wards up rather than let them fail first. She sat down and let Solas take her left hand in one of his, while he held the other hand over it, glowing a little, doing whatever... magical examination he did on the mark.

"So - I've been wanting to find a moment to talk to you about this since the Storm Coast. I think - I think one of Iron Bull's ancestors, like, a lot of generations back, somehow like... crossed their biology with dragons."

Solas's glowing hand stilled in its movements. "...come again?"

Wow. Something genuinely surprised him.

"When I got a look at Iron Bull's biology, it was - it was fucking crazy. It was like it was stitched together from a bunch of parts that shouldn't really work, but did. Or parts of it was like that, anyway. Other parts were more okay. But he also had these weird... vestigial organs that I couldn't figure out what they were for, and some of his biology - it felt... reptilian." Amy explained.

"Vestigial?"

"Useless. It's a thing. Most living creatures have them, some sort of... leftover thing, they don't use anymore. Like - does Thedas have ostriches? Or emus?" Amy gestured with her free hand, above her head. "Big, tall, flightless birds? Long necks, really long legs...?"

"I believe there are creatures of that sort in Western Orlais, among other places," Solas nodded.

"They have wings, but they can't fly. Vestigial wings. They don't do anything, they're just... there. That's what Iron Bull had. - Not wings, just - useless organs that were just... there. I couldn't figure out what they were ever for, until I touched that dragonling, and got a look at how it breathed fire."

"Given the Qunari's rather boastful nature, it seems he'd have mentioned if he could breathe fire." Solas's glowing hand resumed its movements, and Solas pressed the thumb of his other hand into the back of Amy's hand, digging into it. Amy grimaced a moment, and Solas stopped.

"Apologies." He stopped pressing the thumb, but still poked at her hand as Amy let out a sigh, then explained.

"No, he can't... but one of his ancestors could have, maybe. I don't know how it's possible, but... at some point, someone mixed the ancestors of the modern Qunari - which were at least close to human, even if the Qunari have pointed ears - with dragons." Amy gesticulated wildly with her free hand. "It's fucking crazy. I wish I could put how batshit Iron Bull's biology was into words. It was - it worked, it produced a fully functional, living person that is healthy- but it was two things that would never have naturally ever been able to combine... but they did. And the result is just...I mean, there's Tinkers back home that might have been able to make something like that," You could do it, with a bit of experimentation.

Amy swallowed and tried to ignore that thought, screaming the obvious at her as it had every now and then since realizing what was going on with Iron Bull's biology. It would have taken a lot of experimentation before, but now that she knew what it looked like...

"Tinkers are those who can make objects that do impossible things, like the... Bakuda, whose device brought you here?"

"Yeah. And there's some Tinkers that can do that with biology. But - you guys don't have parahumans here, as far as I can tell." She'd hardly touched enough people to get a sample size, but... magic wasn't a power in the parahuman sense, no one had even a dormant corona polentia, and the really damning thing to Amy's mind was that as far as she could tell, no one flew. Flight was one of the most common, really visible powers. If there were parahumans (or paraelves or paradwarves and so on) here, people flying should be a thing, at least a little.

"And you couldn't have had them however many generations - at least five hundred, six hundred years? More? - ago. So... I mean, it had to be magic, right? Can magic do that?"

Solas didn't stop examining her hand, and said nothing for a long moment. Amy was about to speak again, wondering if he'd gotten distracted, when he finally spoke up.

"It is possible. Through magic, much is possible, and the Fade holds many memories of magics that should never have been practiced. I have seen echoes of memories of old magics, Tevinter and Elven alike. Using magic to create new life or changing existing life is possible. But it would take rare power for it to be something capable of reproduction, and lasting hundreds of years forward."

"Most things would be sterile?" From what little she knew about Blasto, his creations were sterile, but when Vicky had mentioned that, she'd said it was probably so he didn't get a kill order. But maybe with the way magic worked, it was a lot harder to make them... stable?

"What I saw of Magisters with more cruelty than sense when they set to create strange hybrids, as much to see if they could as anything else... many of their creations were misshapen, broken things. Pitiful creatures that couldn't last for more than a few days, in most cases. Even those successes that lasted seemed to be unlikely to be able to survive to reproduce." Solas shook his head, letting go of her hand. "I've touched up the wards around your mark again. They continue to hold well."

Amy looked at her left hand. These days, she almost didn't notice the dull ache - almost - that was her constant companion. She wasn't getting any more used to the feeling she got when she closed the rifts though.

"Thank you."

"And some of the memories I have seen in the Fade... echoes that suggest that the elves of Ancient Arlathan did much the same, though their creations were more stable. It is said in the oldest stories, long-forgotten by the modern Dalish, that Ghilan'nain, the patron of guides and navigation to the Dalish today, once created many monstrous and twisted beasts, in the ancient days. So great were her creations and so terrible were they in their awfulness that the Evanuris - those known as the elven gods today - offered her membership among them, if she would destroy her monstrosities and put her skill in creation of life to more productive use."

Amy blinked. "Someone who wasn't a god could become one? That seems... odd?"

"If the Evanuris were indeed gods, then perhaps, but that raises the question of what defines a being as a God." Solas looked down at her, hands clasped behind his back, his staff sticking upright in the ground.

Great. Philosophizing.

"I... I don't know. Being really powerful?" She blinked, changing tack as she registered the meaning of something else he'd just said, "You don't worship the elven gods?"

"Sorry to disappoint."

"I'm not disappointed, I just... I kind of assumed you did, since you obviously weren't Andrastian."

"I have a great deal of respect for Andraste, what she preached and what she achieved. There is much to like about the Maker, if he exists, though his followers... less so." Solas explained, speaking slowly, with as much care as he usually did. The man probably carefully chose every word he'd ever said in his life.

If he had a power, he'd be a Thinker. And he'd be smug about it too. But he wasn't a Thinker, and while Amy would hardly say she liked or trusted Solas, she was at least pretty sure they were on the same side right now...

"I believe that the Evanuris were beings of great power - mages, perhaps, or spirits, that there is some truth behind the legends. If great power is enough to be considered a god, then perhaps they were such. I wouldn't agree."

"Okay..." Amy was surprised to learn Solas was basically an atheist - didn't really seem like the kind of world where that was a thing - but it wasn't an issue. She just... didn't know what to do with it. "Are any of the things this... Ghilan'nain," Amy stumbled over the word, mispronouncing it despite her best efforts.

"Ghilan'nain," Solas corrected.

"Ghilan'nain," Amy tried again, and Solas shrugged a little, as if to say 'good enough'. "Is anything she created once she was Evanuris still around?"

"Ghilan'nain is known as the mother of the halla, and the halla are still used to this day by the Dalish to pull their aravel - carts, essentially.." Solas supplied.

"And are halla monstrous?"

"No. They're quite beautiful in appearance, actually. They look much like deer, but their fur is the purest white, are larger, and have many more horns. In the days before the Dales were overrun, the border guards of the Dales rode halla into battle, much like human knights ride horses. The Dalish revere the halla, considering them members of the clan."

"Huh." Amy felt that itch again, to touch something. Were the halla like elves, in the whole 'not even having the right proteins' thing then? If elves were made from scratch by magic and that was why their biology was so wrong, then if halla had the same thing, then it would be a sign they were also made from scratch by magic, or close enough?

Or had they been made from deer, and so might look more like the Qunari?

"As for the Qunari themselves, I admit... I know little about them. Nothing about their past before they arrived here in Thedas in the Steel Age. I imagine if I could travel to wherever they came from, the Fade there might have memories of their past, including possibly the merging of the essence of a dragon into their form."

"How could they have done it? I mean... how did the Tevinter Magisters, or Ghilan'nain make their things?" What other weird animal and plant life did Thedas have? It was weird, and... upsetting, the way she was reacting to this. It was like when her power was new and fresh and she didn't realize all the horrible stuff she could make, but she did realize now. So even with this weird biology, she shouldn't be so eager to...

I'd ask what the fuck is wrong with me, but I know what the answer is. Amy swallowed.

"There are a number of general possibilities. Few that should ever be replicated." Solas brought one hand to his chin for a moment, then turned away to look at the village below. "Tell me, your abilities... they could allow you to do this? Combine dragon and Qunari to create the hybrid being that Iron Bull's forebears might have been?"

Amy stiffened, heart pounding in her chest, breath catching. Amy started at his back, light-headed a moment before she managed to force herself to breath. "I'm a healer. I heal. That's what my power does. What - what makes you think it could do that?"

"I didn't suspect until you said you manipulated the ram's body to expel the Taint." Solas explained. "That implied a far greater level of control than mere healing. And then your revelation about the Qunari... I don't claim to understand your power, but given everything... it seemed odd that you might be able to read all that, but not... recreate it. And your... poor denial rather solidifies it. You are indeed capable of creating all manner of hybrids and even monstrosities, no?"

 

[Katana_Master]

Oh boy. Solas, are you about to get the mother of all breakdowns.

 

[bob1?]

oh ya Solas just hit that trigger button full throttle
But honestly i think Solas can actually help Amy through this hurtle, one he's able to calm her freak out.