Chapter Text
Her fingers traced the outline of branches above her head, sunlight filtering through the leaves and resting on her creased brows. Her long silvery hair lay loosely upon the ground, contrasting her tanned skin, eyes burning blue like the cold mid-winter, she felt the low hums of winds on her skin knowing that the weather was going to drop, bringing about a cool change. She hummed to herself an unknowing song, and sighed. Just then a voice called out to her from a distant.
“Alysia.”
She didn’t respond, instead she turned her gaze to the tuft of grass before her and stared blankly at the way the long grass and patches of dandelion ruffled against the mild wind. The land she was lying on was large, acres of it was filled with flowers and farm animals- the estate she grew up in was beautiful but Alysia couldn't help wonder what it was like to not live here anymore. She loved her life, she could not complain about it but there was something inherently missing in it and for the longest time she could figure what it was.
“Alysia, father is looking for you.”
“Why,” she asked uninterested.
“You know why!” She hissed back. “You left Duke Langsley's son outright embarrassed when you told him to stick his large fortune up his arse!”
Alysia got up from the comfort she was in and straightened her dress out. She shot her sister a exasperated look, “I’m sure he will get over it.”
Aurelia groaned inwardly, “Must you always act like such a child?!”
"And must you always do what father tells you to?" Alysia asked her sister mockingly.
"Oh! Don't you dare play the "favourite daughter card" with me."
Alysia lifted her arms in protest. “It’s not my fault that father prefers you over me. Not like I care."
But Alysia knew that she cared. She cared about many things in her life, most of which when it involved her inadequacy. Alysia was afraid of the judgement she was surrounded with, even as a child, this fear was deep rooted. It's not that her sister never had her fair share of it but she felt it more when people perceived her as pathetic or ill. Many a times she had overheard people in the estate whisper tales that involved her and her bad decisions. She was never an insecure child to begin with, but over time her insecurity moulded into her mind and everything around her made her feel empty. And unwanted.
Aurelia looked at her sister and felt her temper flare; she groaned at her sister and roller her eyes.
Enjoying the exasperated look on her sister's face, Alysia grinned at her sister and locked her arms around her.
"You know I love you," Alysia said as adjusted her hair.
Aurelia raised her eyebrows at her sister and giggled at her sister's demeanour; for all of her sister's foolishness, she meant well.
“…Do I really have to go back in there?” Alysia whispered to her sister.
“Yes… and maybe apologize to the Duke's son? For father’s sake at least,” she said as she squeezed Alysia’s fingers and disappeared into the crowd.
Alysia sighed, irritated at her sister. Her father. More so, this life.
As soon as the ball was over, Alysia shuffled right up to her room glad to be rid of the cumbersome guests that came every summer. It’s not that she did not love the lavish parties, or spending days idly; she was more worn out by the routine life that she has held on to for so long.
She fell flat against her bed and stared out the window, intently listening to the chirping of cicadas that came with each summer evening, it was her most favourite sound. For as long as she could remember, the chirpings soothed her ever since her mother died. After that bleak autumn, Alysia learned something very important. And it was that she had to keep moving, she could not rewrite her past, nor could she fix it. She had not faith in the future, but she could damn well try to look forward to it. She was not striving for any form of happiness or life free from any suffering- rather she wanted to be unapologetic, living her life in perfect imperfection. To her, that was the true essence of living.
Her breathing grew shallow, as were her thoughts; soon sleep took over her, drifting Alysia to another dreamless abyss.
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Her eyes opened slowly, awoken by the sound of men shuffling against the floorboards.
“What…?” she began to ask, stirring under her sheets.
Alysia rubbed her eyes and rolled out of her bed, steadying her feet against the cool surface. Shivering slightly, she grabbed a dressing gown and peered out of her door. She looked down both of the hallways and found nothing but darkness on both ends, but she was certain that there was someone or something talking from further down the hallway on her left. Walking on her tiptoes, Alysia made sure to make her presence unknown, she slid lithely across the hallway, stopping barely at the turning of the stairs.
She heard two men, maybe three, deep in conversation, one of whose voice was her father.
“I can’t just send her away! It’s too soon!”
“Of course you can. She will be safely locked up there are her abnormality will be hidden.” the other man spoke with slight disdain in his voice.
“But… this was not what we discussed.”
“Hush! There is no other choice. Not after the threat that came after Kirkwall.”
Her father exhaled heavily.
"We have kept her secret long enough. We must send her away before she ruins this family," the man spoke again.
"Speak to her. Aurelia cannot look after her anymore, she will be busy preparing for her trip to the Conclave,” another spoke.
“Now, now… ruined is far too extreme of a word…”
“Need I remind you of what happened? She--" he stopped mid-sentence when he heard the floorboard above him creak.
“Someone's listening,” said the man as he eyed the stairs warily.
She peered at the men, one of whom was holding the hilt of his blade, she saw him turn and nudge at someone who was obscured by the darkness. Feeling sweat roll down her neck, Alysia was certain that something terrible was about to happen tonight, and she wasn't sure if she wanted to find out what it was. Disgust took over her as she started to realize that maybe her father had been lying to her all along; her stomach churned at the truth that was slowly unravelling before her. For as long as she could remember, her abnormality was sealed away after that unfortunate event happened. She wondered if her sister Aurealia had anything to do with it?
No, there wasn't a possibility there.
Alysia walked quickly down the hallway, feeling her heart pounding with each footstep. She made her way to the other side of the estate and quickly walked up a flight of stairs; rushing down the carpeted hallway, Alysia stopped outside a wooden door. She was uncertain if she should just barge into her sister's room or wait, but she knew that if she did wait there was a possibility that those men downstairs would realize that she was awake and that she was the one who had been listening to their conversation.
Alysia flung the wooden door open and rushed into her sister's room, she looked around the room and found no one- oddly the bed had been untouched. She had a bad feeling about this, for the life of her she did not know where her sister was. Alysia proceeded to look through her sister's belongings, an indication to tell her what could have happened to her sister. She prayed dearly that nothing terrible had befallen her, finding nothing, Alysia clenched her jaw and felt hot tears stream down her face. She heard footsteps from outside of the room; unarmed Alysia knew that she was no match for whoever it was that was after it- she had no choice but to run or hide. She pushed the windows open and peered outside, she could jump but Alysia's room was much to high up for that, and even if she could jump there was nothing that could break her fall. Alysia looked around the room, adrenaline rushing through her blood- a loud thump on the door made her jump with fright; she had no choice but to hide, there was nothing in this room that could be of use to her.
She opened her sister's closet door and shut it tight. She slumped down on the wooden surface and covered her mouth with her hand, she tried her best to breath as quiet as she could; she shut her eyes thightly and chanted in her head.Her body grew more tense when she heard footsteps shuffle around the room, Alysia could hear the sound of her own heart beating; she opened her eyes slowly and saw a shadow hover over the room through the slight cracks in the wardrobe. She saw it's body turn towards where she was hiding, Alysia was certain that she had been caught. She braced herself for whoever it was to yank her out of the closet, but she would not go down without a fight.
It wasn’t my fault, she repeated to herself over and over again.
It wasn’t.
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Alysia awoke, stirring slightly, she felt her back aching from her poor choice of bed. Stretching herself—wait. She felt her hands bound by manacles, head covered by a cloth bag. Her body slumped against the wooden chair, from the ache in her back and lower body, it told her that she had been out for a quite a while. Trying to discern her surrounding she could tell from the musty smell floating about the room that she was in a basement of some sort.
Her head pounded as she tried to recall the events that took place prior to her capture but alas, nothing came to mind. The last thing she remembered was being back at the estate. Alysia had no idea why she had been imprisoned nor did she know who her captors were.
Could it be the men that her father was talking to? She thought.
But of course it couldn’t be. He wouldn't go to such extremes to take her away from the Free Marches. Or would he?
Why did she leave the Free Marches again… she could not recall. Wait—the Conclave! That’s it! She remembered. She had snuck her way into the Temple of Sacred Ashes, pretending to be her sister.
Alysia ticked the time slowly in head, deciding what her next move should be. She felt sweat roll down the bridge of her nose, it was then that she decided that she had to get out of here no matter what. She knew that if she tried to pick the lock her slight movement would rattle the chains binding here alerting the guards that she was awake.
But it was now or never.
Being the resourceful person that she was, she tried to pick open the manacles on her wrist with a pin she stitched into the hem of her sleeves. The chains connecting the manacles began to jangle and she knew that the guards had heard her.
Fuck.
She heard footsteps walking towards her, Alysia’s breathing grew quicker as she tried to work the lock—she heard them walking closer. Any minute now they would arrive. Knowing that she would not escape in time, Alysia was prepared to dislocate her thumbs to pry her hands free out of the manacles.Or worse, use her "gift".
The footsteps stopped before her, keys clanking near the iron bars.
“Shit, hurry up Alysia,” she muttered under her breath begging her fingers to move faster.
Click.
“Alert the Lady Seeker, tell her that our prisoner is---” a man said with a thick Fereldan accent.
The man with leather looking armor scanned the room and found the cloth bag and manacles lying at the corner of the room. Dumbfounded his breathing grew shallow and he spoke.
“—gone. Tell her that our prisoner is gone! Alert the guards!” the man yelled, unsheathing his broad sword.
The man scurried out of the room and was greeted by a cold Nevarran female voice.
“Why does this not surprise me?” she spat.
“Come now Cassandra, I don’t think she has gone far,” said another velvety female voice.
“We cannot take any chances Leliana, she is the sole survivor who knows what happened to the Divine. Her death will be brought to justice,” Cassandra said with a harsh tone in her voice.
The Divine Justinia? Dead? How? Alysia thought while breathing in air deeply.
Little trickles of dust fell onto the floor from where Alysia had mounted her body. Trying to steady her legs and arms against the wooden pillars on the ceiling proved to be difficult; she felt her sweaty fingers slipping from its grip. Falling was the least of her problems; it was trying to fight a group of armed men while having nothing to defend herself with.
Alysia tried desperately to quieten her breathing when the Seeker scanned the room quickly, praying to the Maker that her throbbing left arm would not give way. Soon enough, her left arm betrayed her and gave way, but she quickly recovered by digging her nails deeper into the wood, causing her to bite tightly on her lower lip from the pain.
Cassandra swiftly turned around to face the exit of the door when she heard something above her shift slightly. She instantly pulled out her sword and jerked it towards the ceiling. She met a pair of deep blue eyes and long silvery hair escaping from its loose tie.
Alysia promptly fell to the ground and steadied herself with a swift motion. She counted the number of people in the room in her head, knowing that she was clearly outnumbered. She stepped backwards and eyed the broken manacles on the floor, wrapping the iron chains around her hands and using it as a makeshift weapon.
She crouched into her defensive stance, placing all of her weight on each foot, right leg forward bent at the knee, and the rear leg straight. She raised both of her arms, the left pulsating from pain—ignoring it she let out a battle cry, ready to lunge forward.
“Put your sword down and I swear I won’t hurt you!” she yelled, faltering at the thought of actually being able to defend herself with broken shackles.
Cassandra’s mouth twitched to a snarl “You would do well to put your weapon down now or so help the Maker I will kill you right now,” she hissed.
Alysia’s stomach dropped at the sight of the Seeker’s face, she knew that a combat with her would bring about her inevitable death.
“Cassandra, this is not how we treat our prisoners. We aren’t even sure she had anything to with it,” the velvety voice spoke again, face coming into view.
She was a slender redheaded woman with a cloak covering most of her short hair. Her eyes now boring into Alysia, and she recognized immediately who she was. Who the both of them were. They were undoubtedly the Right and Left Hands of the Divine.
“Tell me why we shouldn’t kill you now?” Cassandra asked bitterly.
Alysia clenched her manacles tighter and gritted her teeth. No way was she going down without a fight. “I don’t know what I did or what you want from me, but I have done nothing wrong,” she said.
The Seeker raised her eyebrows and lowered her gaze and sword, with a swift motion she grabbed Alysia’s left arm and motioned it towards her face.
“Don’t lie to me! How do you explain this?!” the Seeker yelled back.
Slightly revolted by the sight of the sickly green gash on the palm of her hand, Alysia thought long and hard at the Seeker’s question but all she could remember was having the summer ball and how she was at the Conclave, but ensuring she never told them that she was a Trevelyan. She did not know how this information would be relevant to the raving lunatic before her.
Another memory popped up in to her head. She recalled being chased by things… with many eyes and a woman… yanking her hand to safety. But that information alone was enough to remove the suspicion the both the Divine’s hands had of her.
Leliana studied Alysia's face carefully and decided, “We need her, Cassandra.”
That decision alone sent a wave of relief across Alysia. She would have rather had a purpose in this maddening situation rather than rot in prison with no idea on what she had done.
Cassandra sheathed her sword and stared squarely at Alysia, still not removing any hint of suspicion.
“Go to the forward camp Leliana. I will take her to the rift,” Cassandra said while returning her gaze to Alysia.
“What happened at the Conclave?” Alysia asked the Seeker, trying to uncover something from these absurd strings of events.
Cassandra clenched her jaw together.
“It will be easier to show you.”