Mala Suledin Nadas

Chapter 5

Goes alongside Chapter 2 of "In Your Heart Shall Burn."

They had been running errands for the people at Crossroads for what seemed like weeks, though it had only been about four days. Rihari was clearly agitated, she didn't think they had time to be trying to appease everyone. He agreed, but in this time people needed to be convinced, pushing more power and fear wouldn't help. 

All the people at Crossroads were taken with her, as most people were, as he was. She was quite popular among the people, as the Herald of Andraste. A ridiculous notion.  She ate up the attention, of course. Rihari loved having the attention on her, and there was no shortage. She was confident in herself, yet refrained from being prideful. She was humbly confident, and people tended to notice it.

When they finally had a chance to return to Haven, the first thing she did was go to her borrowed cottage and sleep.

He had spent most of the day walking around town, he had bought some new foot wraps at the trader. He dropped off some roots herbs at the apothecary. He spoke with Varric briefly before Varric dismissed himself saying something about "letters to write." Then he sat outside his cottage to observe the Breach and the way it looked as the sun was setting.

She shambled down the path towards the bar, the clothing she had chosen were not hardly warm enough, the snow biting through the soft fabric of her pants legs as she walked. The wind blew white powder under the hood of her jacket, making her cheeks blush against the cold. Luckily she didn't have to walk far.

Solas saw all this from his resting place on a rock near the cottage he shared with some other people that overlooked the village as he wrapped his feet with the new cloth. She made her way into the tavern without noticing him.

He needed an excuse to accidently bump into her there. There was no wood outside of the building. It would be cold once the sun set. That was his excuse to go in, and a good one.

Solas prepped himself to see her, as he made his way carefully down the steps. He had to feel for each step before he took it, being sure he didn't slip. He pushed the door open with his shoulder and entered caressing an armful of firewood. The bartender rushed to meet him as he struggled with the door.

"Oh, thank you again for the wood. I didn't have time today to get any. 'Twas afraid I would be sleeping in the cold tonight." She said as she helped him with half the load.

"I saw. You were quite busy today. I thought you might be in need of some wood for the night." He smiled to Rihari as he passed and dropped the wood beside the fireplace.

"How very thoughtful it was of you, sir!" The tender said. "Please, sit. The Herald is just having a nighttime snack. We were just talking about your journeys in the Hinterlands."

Rihari smiled to the woman, and then to Solas who was already smiling faintly as he slid onto the stool next to her. She offered him a bite of her bread, but he declined having already eaten that evening. He didn't want bread, he only wanted her company.

....
"Are you tired?" Rihari asked Solas as they stepped outside the cavern."I just woke up from a long nap. Want to go chat awhile?" She phrased it as a question, but it didn't seem optional, not in his mind anyway. Solas wasn't tired, but if he had been he would have denied it just to spend time with her.

"Yes. I have some tomes I gathered on my travels you may be interested in." He lead her towards his own borrowed cottage, eager for the attention. There were other people staying there, but they were already fast asleep in their raggedy beds, behind the thin walls separating the beds. Solas was well aware that Rihari loved to talk of the Fade, since of course she could not enter there often enough, her knowledge was limited.