Something didn't seem to set right with you after that day. It really wasn't all that fair was it? All this time, hidding under that lie.
All this time, he couldn't trust you or the inquisition enough just to tell the truth. At the begining...maybe, yeah sure.
But now? After all this time? After all the foes faced, wounds warned, long talks in the night.
Dealing and putting to rest all those insecurities of his just to crack open that Stubborn heart of his and then....this?
Your stood in thought, arms folded as you gazed past Solas' wall paintings.
"Inquisitor?" Solas asked for the third time, finally breaking through your bitter thoughts.
"Ah, sorry Solas. My mind must have went elsewhere." You apologize.
"It is quite alright. I will help you, but only if you are sure. Not many forgive having thier dreams invaded." Solas said with warning.
"I know, I am sure. I couldn't have him killed, I can't send him away and I can't let him go. Locking him away wouldn't be right. But something should be done." You confess.
Solas watches you patiently, to let you continue.
"If it where just me...but he lied to and then tried to abandon all of us. His comrades and friends-"
Solas grimaced "only to set the past right..."
"Hang the past!" You shout, fist trembling.
Solas fell silent.
"You can't make things right by focusing o. What was. Had Blackwall had been honest, we could have helped him find another way to safely come clean and protect what remained of his former men." You ranted.
"All of us have done things Solas, things that would keep us awake at night. Every last one of us. And so far we trust each other with those things. - look at dorian, Vivienne...Bull. hell look at Varric." You sigh.
Taking a moment you try your best to compose yourself. The Inquisitor shouldn't be seen so frazzled.
"His punisent, will be a glimpse of what he could have and very well should have lost." You say.
Solas gives a slight nod. "Very well...so the dream. You want him stripped of his Warden name, the title of Blackwall. To return to a Skyhold were all his friends have forsaken him." He said.
You gave a nodd.
"It won't have the desired affect. I can tell you that Blackwall probably weighed all outcomes before he did what he did. There is a better way to go about this." Said Solas.
"How? What's more personal than a dream?" You ask.
"A heart, a mind, the pain felt in the core of someone or something a person cares about the most." Said Solas.
His eyes wandered to the door as Cole entered in. "I-I am not sure of this. But you say it will help? If it helps, I will help." Cole spoke quietly stopping between you and Solas.
"Cole...?" You say, your eyes wandering from him to Solas.
"I'm sorry to say this will not be easy for you either. You will need to pour out all your thoughts on the matter. Flood your mind with it all and then Cole can take it to him." Solas said.
"He is still in the stables, carefully shinning a griffon shield you had made for him near the begining...its old and worn - just like he feels. But he stands there gently polishing it'it's surface so the dents and scratches don't seem as bad. Just like you do did for him" Cole says.
His words almost enough to make you back out. "Maybe he needs to know...You've got dents and scratches too. New ones, new ones he helped cause bit he can help polish." Cole added.
With a heavy sigh you gave a nodd. "Ok. We will do it this way." You say.
Solas leads you to a chair to take a seat and in an instant Cole had vanished. "Close your eyes and channel exactly what you felt the moment Blackwall disappeared and every moment thereafter." Solas instructed.
Meanwhile, down in the stables Cole sat unseen on the steps to the upper level. He watched Blackwall cared for his old shield.
"Its colder than it was the night before, eyes opening he/she sees that the warmth has left let. Where did he go? Going to give him a piece of my mind or bedding and jetting like that...not in stables, better check Tavern, no? Better check the undercroft....odd, let's check my quaters." Cole spoke.
Blackwall paused in polishing, closed his eyes and sighed.
"Not there either, back to the stables maybe there is a clue. Hands lightly holding a note a playful smile, he is just joking with me - has been spending too much time with Sera. But,....wait...hand trembling, gripping, crushing paper he/she runs out the stables somethings wrong, he must be found. Lelianna can help." Cole said.
With the softness of Coles words Blackwall shuddered at the feeling g on anxiety that fell over him like a blanket of cold snow. "Cole don't. Leave it alone." Blackwall watned.
Cole paused for a moment "I am sorry, I can't I already promised to help." He said.
"Gone? Why? His/her heart pounding, can't sit still. Must make haste and leave - takes his/her best friends, needs the support. What lies in Val Royeaux? Looking up who's that man? Such a large gathering for a hanging what does this have to do with - his/her eyes follow him as he stops the execution. It is him, his face but he seems...different" Cole continued to channel in your thoughts.
Blackwall closed his eyes tighter he could feel his heart constricting with the Inquisitor's emotions...or where they his own? He couldn't tell anymore.
"I do not know this man behind these bars...or do I? Stories and names change but people...what is the truth. Bad or good, something is cut so clean. I want to save him." Cole said.
Blackwall exhaled, eyes opening. "Do it, anything, everything set him free and bring him back. Rainier, Blackwall whatever name - whatever past. One of us. Part of me. He'll be angry, I don't care, he forced my hand, our hands. Everyone in agreement he belongs to and with us." Cole said.
"It hurts. Head, heart screaming. It's done things will be normal...It wish he'd trusted me at least. Let him start over, but he/she can't. It bleeds into him/her she loves a face with two truths, a criminal who cannot see the true crime and fresh victims. I want him feel it, I can't carry it alone." Cole said.
There was clang, Blackwall's shield fell from the work table to the ground as he sprinted out the stables and into the dark.
"It hurts but...he understands now. Maybe things will be better..." Cole sighed.
You waited on the balcony of your quaters. Resting against the railing you didn't have time to react as strong arms wrapped around you.
"I am sorry. I will try....to make this right." Blackwall murmured. Leaving a gentle kiss on your neck. "I....didn't know, how much it hurt. I can't take it back but I can make it go away, in time. It's a sentence I will gladly serve." He whispers.
Tucked with his arms the two of you gaze into the night. With all that had just been shared, there were little words that needed to be said.
With the dawn you could both start anew.
