Protector Of The People

it's all so tiresome

he knows of the brands. in their journey to crestwood, he asks about hers. he is curious, and they have built a rapport he has come to enjoy. she's a surface dwarf, born far from orzammar, so, why?

she surprisingly admits to him a lyrium deal gone wrong. caught by the guards, and before they tried to take her hands, they held her down and burned it onto her face. she also mentions a daring escape, a furious mother, and a lashing. she laughs at it now, but he can see in her eyes the ancient, unhealed fear.

this is not what he came here for. he had meant to regale her with knowledge of the titans--carefully curated, of course--to give her something to chew on. to keep her focus away from him, where it seems to remain steadfastly these days. but he looks at her and sees the brand and he cannot help himself. "if you like, i know a spell."

she is unfamiliar with magic. could not comprehend that something like this is not possible for any normal hedge mage--that he could take it away. the mistake. restore her. make it all as it once was. she is bewildered, excited. she should not be.

but, foolishly, he allows it to embolden him. takes the naked trust in her eyes that look at him too closely and lets it carry his hands up to her face with a practiced ease. the light from his palm is gentle, flowing like water, and when it is over, she is new. she touches her skin in awe, like the thousands he has helped before her, and what was once a cold place inside him suddenly feels...warm.

ar lasa mala revas. you are free.

she stares, waiting for him to be the mirror through which she sees herself.

the words spill forth, honest and true. "you are so beautiful."

...and so, so unwise.

alternate Trespasser concepts where Solas uses blood magic to explode the Qunari and protect the Inquisitor………..

……….. hot

Dragon Age: Inquisition - concept art - early rejected pitches for multiplayer characters by Matt Rhodes [source]

Art by Matt Rhodes.

Evanuris' theater masks

Something I didn't realise the first time I watched it – and that made me feel much better about the whole thing – is that it's actually Solas who kisses Lavellan, not the other way around!

I slowed this down so you can better see that she stops before kissing him and it's him that closes the distance.

And it's hard to see because of the classic Bioware bad camera framing and all the black archdemon gunk on his mouth, but he is actively moving his lips as he kisses her and leans in.

I'm feeling insane about them and I need to get the flycam mod immediately.

Fen'Harel ma Ghilana

(Solavellan but like an opera)

cadash being able to dream because of the anchor, not knowing how to dream, even, and solas, visiting her in these dreams in harmless forms to see what it is exactly she will dream about--- an experiment of sorts. what will a dwarf conjure up in their sleeping hours when they can? where will they go?

and then he is confronted with the fact that among the visages of the people she has met so far, he is in every one of them. that, more often than not, her dreams are simply images of his eyes while he looks to the sky, or the way his ears catch the sunlight on the plain, or the movement of his hands when casting a spell, all surrounded by echoes of his words, his voice poignant and precise. beautiful recreations of moments stolen when he wasnt paying attention, each one more reverent than the last. a creature that has discovered escaping to the Fade in their sleep for the first time, having the opportunity to explore its rich environments and histories, and yet she is content merely to bask in the memories of him.

“I cannot kill the blight, but I can help to soothe its anger. I will go and seek atonement”

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