fadewalk | RP: Surana

Varric had parked himself in his usual spot in the great hall waiting to see if the kid would show up. No luck there, but he was scrambling a little at the thought of coming face-to-face with the Hero of Ferelden.

It was funny, he mused as he propped Bianca against the wall and waited, eyes scanning the hall restlessly. He could be the best of friends with a Champion--and fucking hero until the end; he would force the world to sing songs about Hawke even if he had to write the bloody sagas himself--and close with an Inquisitor and Herald of Andraste, but he was still nervous meeting someone like Surana.

Funny. Definitely funny.

Kind of pathetic, too, if he let it tie his tongue any. Not that he was planning on that.

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"You entered the Fade in flesh? Creators take me."

Running her fingers through her hair, Neria leaned against the wall, the gears of her mind running wildly; if legend was true, the Taint was punishment for the Ancient Magisters entering the Golden City; maybe, only maybe, she could search the Fade for a cure, physically.

"I guess we should look around, see if we can find anyone else or any clue about this place. I suppose you know Skyhold so if you agree, I'll count on you to point out anything you think is off, while I keep an eye for magical abnormalities. Works for you?"

Creators take me was enough to earn a warm smile. He hadn't heard from Merrill in some time, but last he knew, she was doing okay. As faint as the similarities between Neria and Merrill were, it was enough to make him feel just that much more open to her.

"It sounds like a plan, which I'm in favor of. I can show you were the mirror exploded first," Varric added, hoisting Bianca. He explained about the strange noise and the eluvian and everything that had happened just before he found himself here.

Neria knew Eluvians were powerful tools to the Ancient Elves, but she never thought it could pull a whole building into the Fade. She reached out for a piece of glass, staring her reflection in the broken fragment.

"Is Skyhold inside the Fade, or has the whole Veil being shattered?"

Her question was more a loud thought than a real question. Jäger strode around the place, uneasy and whiny. He hated being around when she conjured her magic, what to say of being inside the Fade?

"This explains why this place feels weird, but still doesn't explain how I was transported here. Unless the problem is bigger than Skyhold, or Ferelden, or Thedas even. You said you saw strange creatures, unlike anything you have ever seen before, right? You see, I had this friend once, who first showed me a functional Eluvian and she said the mirrors were doors the People used instead of roads. Doors to other places and doors to other places, like other dimensions, like the Fade. Maybe, I'm giving a huge leap of faith here, but maybe we are know connected to said other dimensions."

She spoke fast, pacing here and there, gesturing around; excitement, anxiety, curiosity washed her all over.

Varric just whistled. "Maker's breath, I hope not. Holes in the sky and being yanked into the Fade is bad enough. Different dimensions? That's a whole new level of crazy."

It didn't sound impossible though, considering.

"I can try to jot down everything I saw," he added. "Maybe sketch it out a little, put some shape to it. It may not do anything, but who knows? Maybe it'll jostle some more lore free. I don't know much about the eluvians other than I don't really like messing with them. Best left to those who know what they're doing."

Which, if he were to put a name to that would be...no one. No one knew what they were doing.

"Yes, sketching would be just formidable. If we stumble with other people showing them the sketches, maybe, may help to add to this situation. Can we go outside, maybe the battlements? I would like to take a good look in the sky."

Neria had a particular passion for puzzles, since the Circle of Magi. She never imagined, however, she would be involved with a puzzle that big one day. The Blight seemed small near that situation and, truth to be told, she really missed some action.

"Easy enough," he said. "We'll cut through the rotunda and head out to the battlements just off Curly's tower. This way." Varric hoisted Bianca and led the way, holding the door open for Neria.

"Curly?" she raised an eyebrow, curious, following the dwarf with light steps "This place is amazing... is it like the real Skyhold?"

Her eyes travelled from tapestries to the ceiling, to the stone archs and back to the tapestries; everything was so old, so powerful and yet, incredibly warm and inviting. She wondered what kind of person would have build it.

"Sorry, old habits. Commander Cullen Rutherford. Used to be a Templar, but he took over the Inquisition's forces. Did a bang-up job with them, too. As for Skyhold, so far it seems pretty exact. Minus hundreds of living souls, of course."

Even with the main global threat defeated, Skyhold still held a great number of the faithful.

"Oh, Cullen. Yes... he watched over Kinloch Hold when I was a mage there. Never saw him after the Uldred's Rebellion, but Leliana told me about his work in the Inquisition. Nice to know he was doing good."

She smiled, thinking about Leliana. Having someone like her around, or even like Cullen, would surely help to face whatever they were about to face.

"I'd wondered if Leliana was still in contact with you," Varric admitted. They were heading through Cullen's study (strange to be there when the man himself wasn't) and through to the other side, where they'd have an unobstructed view of the gate and the chasm and the unsettling sky. "She and Alistair have been fairly closed-lipped about where you were lately."

"Oh... isn't like they knew where I was, exactly. To write them more often could be risky since the First Warden isn't exactly happy with my search."

She changed her weight from one leg to another, staring at the tempestuous-looking sky, making the Breach look good in retrospect.

"Well... that looks bad."

That surprised a rasping laugh from him. "No," Varric agreed, leaning against the high stone wall (high enough that he could barely see over it, though he refused to rise up on his toes) and looking up. "It really doesn't. Any insight?"

"Aside from the obvious? I find it really curious to see a storm that big brewing... I mean, I know mages, that have mastered their domain over lightining, capable of conjuring storms that look just like that, but definitely not that huge. There is a chance this storm is magical, so there is a chance we can find a way to clear it from the sky. Maybe this is connected with the Eluvian too..."

She stared at the deep nothing down the battlements were, she supposed, there should be the Frostback Mountains.

"I don't suppose there is a safe way down, but maybe I could take a look."

"Safe way down into...what, the pit?" He felt a sudden cold sweat, the same he'd sometimes get with Hawke or the Inquisitor--so clearly the Hero of Ferelden really was cut from the same cloth. On the one hand, that improved his grasp of the hero mindset for his stories greatly.

On the other? It meant he was three for three when it came to following crazy people.

"That's a no, right? That is not happening?"

Neria observed better the great nothingness bellow Skyhold, then took her eyes back to Varric.

"Yes, I think it may be foolish but... never know, right? Let's save it for another time, perhaps when we find more people. Now, if everything started with the Eluvian I guess we should go back for it. How much do you like puzzles, Varric?"

A loop-side smile grew on her face.

"I'll admit, Neria, I like them better with a glass of ale next to a roaring fire." He grinned back. Yep. She was mad as a hatter--all the truly great heroes probably were. Otherwise, they'd find something safer to do with their time. "Preferably ones that don't hold my life in the balance--but I'm discovering my preferences don't often come into play in these sorts of things."

He tipped his head back toward Cullen's tower and the main castle. "After you."

She walked throught the office and then down the stairs, back to the rotunda.

"I guess a huge place like this must have all the ale you could possibly want. Not sure about making camp fires on the garden, but we can definitely drink while we try to put the Eluvian back together."

Jäger whined, uneasy. She rolled her eyes.

"I know you don't like elven stuff boy, but you're following the wrong master for your whole life, I must say. This is probably our only door out of here."

That earned a laugh. He definitely liked the pair. "How did the two of you end up together?"

"Oh, me and mister whiny here?" she scratched behind his ear, sweet smile on her face "When I went to Ostagar, to become a Grey Warden, the Kennel Master asked me to help him muzzling Jäger. He was sick due darkspawn blood and needed to be tended to, but he was biting anything on sight. He didn't rip off my hand and I can say it was love it first sight, if you believe such things. The battle of Ostagar tore us appart but he found his way back to me near Lothering and we are together since. 10 years with my whiny beastie, isn't it boy?"

Jäger strode around her, proud as a lion and barking his old, rusty barks.

"Smartest mabari I've ever seen. Most stubborn too."

He barked again, this time as if scolding Neria.

"Mabaris are smarter than most men I know," Varric said with a slowly growing grin. "I owe my ass to one, several times over. It's a pleasure to meet you, Jäger."

The hound approached the dwarf and barked, touching his should with his forehead as if making acquaintance with him.

"Owe you life to a mabari? Don't do we all?" she laughed "Did you use have one?"

"Oh, not me. Only true heroes have mabari," Varric said.

"Only true heroes huh? Guess that's why the dog lords freaked out when they saw me and Jäger." she smiled, stopping by the great hall. "So, where can we find your ale?"

"The tavern or the kitchens will do." He'd been joking earlier, but honestly? Yeah, today really was shaping up into one that required a drink. "Kitchen's closer. You know," Varric added as he led the way through the back corridors, "the first week or so we were in Skyhold, Solas was the only one who didn't get completely lost trying to go anywhere. The rest of us awkwardly smiled--or grunted, depending on the person--as we bounced around from room to room together, trying to figure out what the hell to do with ourselves."

"Off to the kitchen then." and she glanced the mabari "And you, behave."

The place was, indeed, huge. And she was sure she had just seen a small part of it.

"You see, I lived for six years in Vigil's Keep and I'm pretty sure there are still rooms in that fortress I can't even dream of." she shrugged "I wish I could have met the rest of the Inquisition. Leliana really told me the nicest things about them and the Inquisitor."