rocky41_7

Fandom: Dragon Age

Pairing: None

Summary: The Dread Wolf's rebellion learns of the newest use of Elgar'nan's Helm of the Solar.

Length: 3.5k

AO3 | Pillowfort | tumblr

Excerpt:

Solas had liked the sound of “we don’t leave people behind.” It felt noble and it improved morale and it meant not giving more wins to the Evanuris than were wholly unavoidable. Yet the uglier and more protracted this rebellion became, the costlier “no man left behind” was as a policy. Eventually, over the sound of Felassan grinding his teeth, Solas officially cut it off. Rebelling against would-be gods was hazardous—anyone who joining them had to be aware. He would not risk more lives—and more fighters—on suicidal rescue missions.

There were, however, exceptions.

On a personal level, it was a dick move and it's not invalid of Rook to be unhappy about it, but in the practical scheme of things, its very easy to see why Solas deceived them about Varric's death. Cruel to Rook, of course, but with Elgar'nan and Ghilan'nain loose in the world, ready to blight Thedas to regain their power, and Solas trapped in the Fade where he can't effectively combat them, and this one random mortal who barely grasps the situation being the only one standing against them...I see why his calculus landed on the side of deeply hurting this one person in order to better prevent the destruction of the world and its subjugation to god-like tyrants he barely defeated last go around.

(Can you tell I'm crossposting this week?)

Fandom: Dragon Age (post-Veilguard!)

Pairing: Solavellan

Summary: Solas and Lavellan find their way back into Thedas, briefly. Naturally, Lavellan wants to visit the clan.

Look all I can say is this is one of the most self-indulgent things I've ever posted, but if you wanted some meaningless post-canon Solavellan family fluff with a side of minor angst, here it is.

Length: 6.1k

AO3

! Dragon Age Veilguard Spoilers Below !

When Solas tilted his head to deepen the kiss, Lavellan delicately withdrew, as she had done repeatedly since they had entered the Fade. She had made no complaints, nor reprimands, nor in any other way indicated he was behaving inappropriately, yet in the past he had known her to have more tolerance for such things. Unable to suppress his concerns any further, Solas probed carefully.

“You are distracted,” he observed, keeping his tone light. Lavellan was looking off into what constituted the horizon of their world. “What has ahold of your thoughts?”

Lavellan hummed. “Nothing,” she said, matching his lightness, looking up at the sky as if there were something there of surpassing interest which he should also find compelling. Solas had grown accustomed to the tells of Lavellan’s lying, even if she had managed it more adeptly in this instance.

Using a tack which was generally reliable for getting information from her, while keeping his voice gentle, he said: “I wish you would tell me what troubles you.”

There was a lengthy pause, while Lavellan tugged at the sparse Fade grass around them, debating whether to make another effort at lying. Finally, she spoke.

“Do you remember when I drank from the vir’abelasan?” Solas snorted in disapproval.

“Yes, I would not forget.”

“Well, that piece of Mythal…she is with me still. She does not make herself known often, but she is there. And she is…most …vocal when you and I are close.” They were close more often than not these days. There was no one else for company but the spirits.

Solas cocked his head to the side, intrigued.

“Perhaps it—the fragment—is responding to something,” he said. “A memory of Mythal’s, or some association she once had?”

Lavellan hummed again, in the way she did before she drastically understated something. “No, I don’t think that’s it,” she said, still picking at the grass and not looking at him. Solas studied her profile a moment.

“What do you think?” he asked, since she was the one with a bit of Mythal in her head.

“Ah…” Again, he watched her consider lying. Again, she eventually fell out on the side of cautious honesty. “I believe she is…uncomfortable developing such an…incarnate knowledge of you.”

As usual, Lavellan phrased herself so obtusely that Solas had to consider her words a moment before grasping what she was putting so tidily.

And when he realized, he could not stop himself from laughing.

“Has the fragment spoken to you?” he asked.

“No,” Lavellan said. “But the sentiment is present.”

“And what is the sentiment?”

“I imagine it is similar to how I might feel about suddenly sharing a mind with my sister-in-law,” said Lavellan, and Solas let out another burst of laughter, briefly consumed with the thought of Mythal’s expression at having to be party to Lavellan’s experience of his romantic advances, then sobered as he realized the problems this presented. “I am working on soothing her,” said Lavellan. “But she is still…fussy.” She exhaled loudly. “I must admit you were correct when you warned me that there would be consequences to drinking from the vir’abelasan of which I had not yet conceived.”

“And I will confess I had not foreseen this particular consequence myself,” Solas replied.

“Well,” Lavellan sighed with some chagrin, at last turning her attention back to him directly. “At least we have quite some time to sort it out.”

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Everything new we learn about Solas casts his first meeting with the inquisitor in a more terrifying light. I simply do not believe he wouldn't have just killed them and taken the anchor if he'd been able to do that; what was this one person's life in the grand scheme of his plan? They were going to die anyway!

So when he's smiling and offering introductions and doing everything he possibly can with his body language to indicate he's not a threat...he's thinking about how much fucking easier this would be if he could've just killed this person in the prison and taken back that tool he needs.

For Inquisitor Lavellan, they ARE meeting the Dread Wolf. Here he's come in his humble disguise and he's just had his teeth around their throat but of course they don't know it, and they have no idea how close to death they've already come at the hands of Fen'Harel. Here, in this moment before he knows them at all, before they're a person to him, they are the ignorant, foolish protagonist of any tale about some poor sod who wanders into the Dread Wolf's path.

It's so tasty.

! Dragon Age Veilguard Spoilers Below !

I'm sure other people have already said this and will continue to say so in more eloquent ways going forward, but the inquisitor really is a far better foil to Solas than Rook, whether friended, romanced, rivaled, or none of the above. The inquisitor is someone pushed into a difficult position, who chose to take on a leadership role they maybe weren't ready for because they felt they needed to for the greater good, and was then hit with decision after world-altering decision. Side with the mages or the templars in an ongoing war. Choose whether to let them join you as allies or forced conscripts. Decide what happens to the Grey Wardens, an organization centuries old and possibly critical to Thedas' defense but also possibly incurably corrupt. Pass judgement on Blackwall, on Florianne, on Erimond, on Warden Ruth. Are you going to claim the mantle of the Herald of Andraste or not? Too bad, the people around you have already decided that's what you are, what they need you to be. Prioritize: Saving a group of people close to one of your friends (possibly your lover), or saving an alliance with a world power who may help you save the world. Sit in your castle and manage these hundreds or thousands of troops who are now ardently devoted to your cause, willing and even eager to kill and die in your name. Inquisitor would you--? Inquisitor, what do you think about--? Inquisitor, we need--!

And people will be angry with you about these decisions! They all have opinions about how the world should be and if you act in opposition to those they will not hesitate to express their displeasure. You cannot make a decision on the Grey Wardens that both Blackwall and Solas will approve of.

The inquisitor little by little is forced into leadership beyond what they likely ever intended, and the consequences of their actions will ring across southern Thedas for years, possibly generations, and they will have to live with choices they made in the throes of a desperate war for survival, and so will everyone else.

By contrast, Rook primarily deals only with their small circle of friends and rarely makes any significant decisions outside of saving Minrathous or Treviso (which was not much of a choice--obviously they can't be in two places at once, so one city is going down no matter what) and there are no real consequences to any of their choices, besides the first one--disrupting Solas' ritual and unleashing Elgar'nan and Ghilain'nain, something no one ever blames them for. They complete their entire quest to stop Solas without ever commanding or being responsible for more than seven people and are never pressed into having to make a truly difficult or unwinnable choice. Rook doesn't know what it's like to even be in the inquisitor's position, let alone Solas'.

Fandom: Dragon Age Inquisition

Pairing: Lavellan/Solas

Summary: Lavellan thinks Solas needs to relax, and Solas is fighting a losing battle.

Length: 3.8k

AO3 | Pillowfort | tumblr

Excerpt:

The sounds of travelers dining and chattering—and occasionally, of Iron Bull’s booming voice in particular—sounded so clearly through the floorboards it was as if Solas had never left the room at all. Normally he might have even enjoyed being amongst them—there was, at times, something comforting about being lost in a sea of voices, unobserved, unnoticed. But that night he preferred the space to himself, and he suspected it would be hours before his companions retired to join him in either of the rooms Lavellan had booked for them there.