Haven

Kendra woke in a cabin, on the softest bed she'd ever laid in. Her bloody, torn clothes lay in a pile by the door, but the elven servant she was used to startling wasn't in the cabin. Kendra sat up, leaning her weight on her hands, before remembering she was The Herald now.

She looked at the mark on her hand. She had always expected it to look like a slice across her palm, but no. It looked like a huge, partial fingerprint that covered half of her hand now. It looked like the design of his orb.

When Kendra decided to get up, she wore only what she believed passed as underwear and a nightdress that looked like a large shirt. Pink scars littered her right arm, one right through the phoenix tattoo on her shoulder. Now she laughed. The phoenix, a bird which never died, and is instead reborn from its own ashes. The black and red tattoo covered her entire right shoulder and her shoulder blade.

There was folded clothing on a chair next to the mirror. The clothing, thankfully, wasn't all tan, and seemed very practical for the weather. Dark breeches with a fur lining, another loose shirt with a vest that matched the breeches, and the same boots she had been wearing with some socks.

Even with the wind blowing into her cabin from the glassless window, she wasn't cold. She dressed quickly, foregoing the shirt and just wearing the vest. Kendrick would probably crack a biker joke if he saw her in this, and that made her smile. She also found a pile of hygiene products; a comb, folded up sewn pads, which she was thankful for, but would she even have a period? She didn't know if the radiation treatments she endured when she was a human would affect her reproductive organs in Thedas. She had never even had a period. Extra socks and undergarments were also in the pile as well as four bars of soap that smelled of lilac and sandalwood. It was heavenly. She quickly took one of the bars of soap to the basin of water and washed days of grime from her face and hair.

When Kendra stepped out of her cabin, however, someone leapt at her. It was a child, who hugged her around her waist. She smiled and gave the small human child a hug back, after calming her racing heart.

She walked through Haven. The small village was full to bursting with tents shoved in every available space. The Chantry was easy to locate, it was the largest structure and Cassandra stood by the doors speaking to a few people.

"Cassandra." Kendra said, respect in the tone she used as she nodded.

"Herald, it is nice to see you have largely recovered. Come." Cassandra began walking into the Chantry.

There was indeed a table covered by a map of Thedas. Cullen stood and stared at the small woman, Josephine had to elbow him out of his gawk. The meeting went more or less how Kendra expected it to. The Inquisition was reborn.

Kendra met with so many people after her meeting. But the one she was most excited to see was the blacksmith. Harritt was an older gentleman, and was hammering out a horseshoe bend when she reached the forge.

He had been instructed to make her a set of armor and whatever weapons she would need. She chose a set of silverite double bladed daggers. She didn't know why that was what she chose, Kendra didn't even know how to use daggers.

When she finally sat down in the tavern, it was time for dinner. The atmosphere was jovial, but no one but Varric would sit with her. "Hey Sparky. Seen you running around earlier, get everything done?" He asked as Flissa brought each of them a bowl of questionable contents. The food smelled heavenly, so she ate it.

"I think so? I don't know how to fight, so one of the soldiers will be helpful in my training starting tomorrow." Kendra said between bites. She could feel someone staring, and that's when she saw Solas looking at her.

She quickly averted her eyes and just focused on eating before she could escape the tavern. Once she was out of the tavern she found a way up the wall and just sat watching the sun sink behind the mountains. She hummed a song that she wouldn't dare sing aloud. A fan made song called Let The Dread Come In.

It was a song about loving Solas. About his deception.

When I was a child sat upon my mother's knee

by firelight she spoke of rights, and ancient history

and one phrase she repeated though I knew not what it meant

be safe, da'len, young lethallan,

may the dread wolf never catch your scent and as I grew I thought I knew the path my life would take

but when the dream broke open, only I was left awake

and then you took my hand and taught me how to turn the key

I held it, how was I to know,I'd let the wolf catch wind of me?

I took up arms, I lead the charge, some called me prophet, blessed

and by my side you guided, wise and seemingly guileless

but the truth isn't always obvious, not written on the skin

sometimes to let the truth come out,you have to let the dread come in.you called me "ma vhenan" and showed me worlds I'd never known

lands of mists and memories, of faded sky and stone

then with words so soft and sad, you left me in that glen

and though you brought me low I know,I'd let the dread wolf in again.my love has vanished through the veil so now I'm stark and bare

at night I go to sleep and dream and hope he'll meet me there

he wandered from the waking world, I know not where he went

but I'd be with my dread wolf now,if I could only catch his scent.

She couldn't be deceived by him, but he didn't know that. And she didn't know what she was going to do, it was only a matter of time until he realized she wasn't Dalish. She didn't have Vallaslin, nor did she shy away from humans like most Dalish did.

Kendra lay her head on her knee as stars began to dot the sky. She kept humming the sweet lament about a woman who would let the Dread Wolf claim her heart time and time again.

"You love him. Even knowing what he has planned." A voice said as she sat.

"What, who are you?" Kendra asked.

"I am Love. Your heart called to me." The elven woman said as she sat next to Kendra.

"You're a spirit of Love? Here?" Kendra looked around at Haven, but the breach wasn't in the sky. "This is the Fade." Her realization came and she smiled.

"Haven is important to you. A home that you know you must leave soon." Love said, dangling her bare feet over the stone wall.

"And he dreams of you. Bright eyes, hair the color of sand. Who is this woman. Why do I feel a connection to her?" Another voice said, and she actually spun around. A young man with a wide-brimmed hat sat on a Mabari statue.

"Cole. Is that you?" She asked, and the pale boy smiled.

"You know me, you haven't forgotten. My friend." He said, nodding happily.

"I will always be your friend Cole." Kendra said, smiling. Compassion and Love. Things Kendra exuberated in life. There was no hate, no anger, no sorrow until she died.

"I watched you die, Kendra. Tried to hold your hand. You thought I was an illusion, trick of the medication. I was there, but only you could see me." Cole said and Kendra's heart was full. Cole had been her friend for years, then. He had come to her when she started chemotherapy, she had thought it a hallucination from the morphine.

Bells rang from the Chantry and Kendra's eyes opened. She was in her bed, they were leaving Haven for the Hinterlands today.