Mala Suledin Nadas

Chapter 7

Solas had been up since dawn studying and shuffling through books in his study, looking for hints or clues to this so called "rift in time". If this even truly existed, he had found no knowledge of it. He was going absolutely mad with all o this unknown knowledge that he couldn't tap into, that he couldn't find any whispers of in the Fade.

He groaned as he rubbed his eyes and sat back in the chair. His mind reeled as he pondered the possibility that she was crazy. He couldn't accept that, though. She seemed so convinced of her story, and she knew him. It was possible they had met somewhere before and he just didn't remember it, but the mark.. he just didn't know what to believe right then.

He needed a break from this work, he was becoming irritated the longer he searched and found nothing. It was almost noon and he assumed that Rihari may be looking for him.

He strolled out of the study and saw some servants slouching around. He snapped his fingers at them and they almost jumped out of their skin with embarrassment and fear. He didn't have the patience to deal with them at the moment so he just continued to the stairs.

On the second floor, ballroom, he saw her. She was looking out the window on the far wall. He walked over on soft feet and wrapped his arms around her waist. She smiled and touched her fingers softly to his arms.

"What are you looking at?" he asked.

She sighed and turned in his arms so she faced him. "The city," she said softly, "it's  beautiful." A smile.

He kissed her softly, barely brushing his lips against her own. "Ma ina'lan'ehn da'ean." He brushed some stray hairs back from her face as he spoke. She hid her gaze as her cheeks turned bright pink, a soft smile pulled at the edges of her mouth. His heart was so full.

That memory always seemed to stay with him, the way her skin seemed to shine in the sun from the window. The glint in her eye when he called her beautiful, the softness of her hair against his cheek. Everything about that moment was perfect. It was such a simple moment, yet one that stayed with him.

He was clearly lost in thought when Varric strode over. He almost didn't hear him speak.

"My apologies. What did you say?" Solas asked.

"We're going to Val Royeaux. Gather your things." He repeated.

...

Solas saw her shaking her head and canted his head slightly. "What is it?" He whispered loudly as he approached.

She laughed. "This is ridiculous, yeah?" Heavens, he loved when she said that. When she added that "yeah" on the end of a sentence, making it a question. However, he didn't know what she spoke of so she continued, "this city, the people. It's like a show." He nodded his head in agreement.

"Well, would you look there," she said walking over to the edge of the upper city, peering over the ledge. "The Chantry sisters have finally arrived."

"What will you do?" Solas asked. He hadn't thought of it before, but now he was curious of her actions.

"Ask them to join or die." She looked over at him dramatically, and then laughed, a bubbly laugh that dragged a smile from him. "No. I will try and reason with them, maybe they can see that I am not against them."

"A fine plan." He nodded to her. Her smile was blinding in its beauty. It was hard to not like Rihari. His heart squeezed everytime her joyous eyes looked at him, everytime her smile lit up the day with the light of a thousand suns. It was hard to see past her, it had always been hard to see past her.