"Oh my God, look at the size of those mushrooms!" Holli exclaimed, peeling off and making for them.
Cole watched, a fond smile on his face as she marvelled at them.
"They're taller than me!" She grinned, looking at the others.
"That's not the feat you think it is," Hawke called to her, earning a couple of laughs from some of the others.
She gave him a flat look for that one.
"Are they edible?" She asked.
"They are not. Don't touch them; they're poisonous," Solas warned her.
Her nose scrunched up in disappointment, and she rejoined the walk.
"Not much nature where you come from?" Hawke asked.
"I lived in a concrete jungle, man. The only nature we had were the rat birds. And the actual rats."
"Rat birds? Maker's Breath – is that as awful as it sounds?"
"Pigeons," she quickly clarified. "It's not the pigeons' fault, I guess. That was harsh. And don't act like mushrooms like that are common. I've been travelling with you people for ages now and never seen anything like them."
She was still watching them as they passed. Amazing.
"Mushrooms communicate through, like, these vast mycelial networks, right?" She said. "And they pulse and flicker with electrochemical responses that look a lot like our own brains. So these engineers gave a mushroom a robot to control. And the little robot walked around and sat down a lot; it was amazing. And so fucking adorable."
"I've met some real weirdoes in my time," Hawke said, drawing offended looks from pretty much everyone around him. "But you... I think you might be top of the list."
"It's science," Holli emphasised. "Just because you don't understand it doesn't make it weird."
"I'm not saying science is weird; I'm saying you're weird."
"Maybe if you knew more about science, your opinions wouldn't be so ignorant." She gave him a shit-eating grin.
They reached the war camp; they could hear fighting in the distance. Not distant enough for Holli's liking. Morrigan was already there, and she and Hawke walked off to talk. Holli went in search of the injured. There were always injured at these things. Cole trailed after her, protective, caring. Holli was getting good at finding what counted as medbays in these camps, and so she set to work while she waited for whatever instructions would come her way. They probably wouldn't stay long. Corypheus to stop and all that.
-
"Holy crap, what just happened?" Holli whispered.
She was ducked low behind the crumbling wall of ruins, just having watched Corypheus... blow himself up? It destroyed whatever magical statues had been guarding it too. The elves had run off, followed by what was left of Corypheus's people.
"I have no idea. Did Corypheus just take care of himself for us?" Bull asked.
"Doubt it; he doesn't know how to die," Hawke muttered.
In the silence, they all stood up, making their way down to the clearing below, all torn earth, cracked stone and scorch marks. There were bodies around, corrupted by red lyrium, and Wardens that had still been in thrall to Corypheus. They headed towards the bridge, set to follow the remainder of Corypheus's people and stop them from reaching whatever the Well of Sorrows was. Even Morrigan had no idea what it was, and Holli thought she was supposed to be something of an expert on... pretty much everything with the way she spoke.
There was a sound behind them, and they turned to see the corpse of one of the wardens start writhing. He projectile vomited thick black ooze; it splattered across the ground like oil.
Holli stepped back out of range. "Ew, gross," she muttered.
From the warden's body, the skin started to shed, and underneath they could see Corypheus. "Fuck, across the bridge. Now!" Hawke told them, legging it across the bridge, the others on his heels.
Behind them Holli could hear Corypheus's dragon screeching its way towards them. Holy fuck, she was going to die. She was going to get killed by a dragon. What a stupid fucking way for a person from London to go.
They burst into what could be a temple or some kind of castle, all of them working together to push the massive doors closed. Holli could feel the heat of the power from the dragon's strange power. It wasn't even fire like a normal dragon. They closed and barricaded the door. And once they did, some kind of magical seal covered it, hopefully strong enough to stop Corypheus from coming through.
They continued further in; if it weren't for the fighting outside and the dragon and bodies, this would be a pretty nice, peaceful place. Relaxing even.
"You said Corypheus wanted an Eluvian," Cassandra said, falling into step beside Morrigan. "But Corypheus mentioned a Well of Sorrows. Which is right?"
"I'm... uncertain what he referred to."
"Maybe he just wants two things," Holli shrugged, following a step behind.
"You're uncertain? You said you knew what he was looking for," Hawke reminded her.
"Confidence can carry one only so far, it seems," Solas said, a little snidely in Holli's opinion.
She had bitten back on her own snort of amusement.
"I suspected. I did not know," Morrigan clarified.
Hawke shot her a look.
Morrigan rolled her eyes. "Yes, I was wrong. Does that please you?"
"Probably more than just him," Holli muttered. Not quietly enough, going by the narrowed eyes the woman cast on her.
"Whatever the Well of Sorrows is, Corypheus seeks it, and thus you must keep it from his grasp."
Yeah, she was probably right about that.
"Let's get to this Well of Sorrows," Hawke sighed out.
As they walked through the sun-dappled path, Cole fell into step beside her at the back of the group, close enough his fingers brushed against hers. They exchanged a small secretive smile.
--
Holli looked up at the hooded elf and around at the other ones in similar garb, their arrows pointed at them. The one on the platform ahead addressed them in Elven. Holli's elven wasn't so great yet. Solas was still teaching her, but they didn't devote nearly enough time to it. There were even days in between lessons.
They'd said they were unlike the other invaders, hopefully as a good thing.
"What is your connection to those who first disturbed our slumber?"
"They're my enemies as well as yours," Hawke replied.
There was a long silence, the elf weighing his words, measuring them.
"I am called Abelas," he finally said. "We are sentinels, tasked with standing against those who trespass on sacred ground. We wake only to fight. To preserve this place. Our numbers diminish with each invasion."
How many times had they been invaded?
"I know what you seek. Like all who came before you, you wish to drink from the vir'abelasan."
"He speaks of the well," Morrigan whispered.
"It is not for you," Abelas warned, his eyes steel. "It is not for any of you."
"Solas, perhaps he'll listen to you," Hawke whispered.
"Oh my god, Hawke," Holli stared at him in amused disbelief. "You can't say that; that's so racist."
Hawke shot her an annoyed glare.
"What shall I say, Hawke? Shall I sway him from a millenia of service by virtue of our shared blood? He clings to all that remains of his world because he lacks the power to restore it," Solas said.
Hawke sighed. "Look, we knew this place was sacred. We've respected it as best we could," he addressed Abelas again, realising his companions were no help.
"I know," Abelas said. "Trespassers you are, but you have followed the rites of petition. You have shown respect to Mythal. If these others are enemies of yours, we will aid you in destroying them. When this is done, you shall be permitted to depart. And never return."
"This is our goal, is it not? There is no need to fight these sentinels," Solas pleaded.
"Consider carefully," Morrigan said. "We need to stop Corypheus, yes, but you may also need the well for your own."
Hawke appeared to actually be considering it.
"Dude," Holli hissed. "We can't just go stomping into their place and take their shit."
"Always so eloquent, Holli," Hawke chuckled. "All right, we accept your offer."
"You will be guided to those you seek. As for the vir'abelasan, it shall not be despoiled. Even if I must destroy it myself."
He turned away from them, disappearing down some shadowed hallway behind him.
"No!" Morrigan stepped forward, shifting into a bird and flying after him.
Holli's jaw dropped. She so wanted to learn that. She looked to Solas, and the look he gave her in return clearly said - not now.
Fine, fine.
They turned and followed their guide through the temple and hoped Morrigan wouldn't make a mess of things.
The temple was a mess of fighting between the Venatori and the elves. They avoided most of it, being guided straight to the well. When they got there, there was more fighting and the mage from way back at the bridge. Calpernia, if Holli remembered rightly. She turned towards them with a long-suffering sigh, like they were the inconvenient ones.
"Stand aside, Inquisitor," she huffed. "The trials you set me, I have overcome. As a courtesy, leave now. Or not at all."
"No, Calpernia. I think we need to talk," Hawke told her.
"True. I did not think you so civilised. You serve your people. You have one last chance to save them. The Well of Sorrows overflows with knowledge. Power abandoned by those the elves worshipped as gods. To walk the Fade without the Anchor. That is what the Well of Sorrows will give Corypheus."
"Why would he think entering the Fade would work any better than it did last time?" He asked, amused.
Calpernia shook her head in disappointment. "Speech without understanding. I knew you would take the well for yourself. To ransack its wisdom to try to defeat Corypheus. But you'd still be just a child playing with a sword."
"It's a pretty big sword though," Hawke muttered.
Holli snorted in amusement, and he shot her a grin. Honestly, at times they were each other's target audience.
"Corypheus will wield it as a master."
Holli tried to fight back her laugh at that, her mind having dropped into the gutter at Hawkes' comment and Calpernia only making it worse. Hawke snickered as well, trying to keep his face straight.
"Once you've drunk from the well, Corypheus will use a ritual on you," Hawke told her, like he was speaking to a particularly slow child. "You'll be a mindless tool enslaved to his will."
"Honestly, how do people keep falling for shit like this?" Holli muttered.
"I know, right?" Hawke asked softly.
"That—" Calpernia honestly looked a little shaken. Had this really not occurred to her? "Where I come from, idle tales must be proven."
"Solas, you have that page?" Hawke asked.
Solas took it from his pack and handed it to him; Hawke tossed it to Calpernia.
"Here, his binding ritual. He tried it on your master."
Calpernia read it before glaring at them over the scroll. "How could you know? And these runes... no one has written in these since..."
They saw the second the penny dropped; she started pacing in agitation, ranting about the promises he'd made. Honestly, why would you trust someone who looked like Corypheus? His very appearance screamed, 'Don't trust me.'
When Calpernia started ranting about Tevinter, Hawke gave her an out. Walk away, fix Tevinter herself. At least she was smart enough to take it.
And then Abelas and Morrigan turned up, apparently racing for the well. The magical forming stairs Abelas built under his feet as he ran were fucking impressive.
They followed, climbing the stairs after them. Morrigan cut Abelas off from the well, and they came up behind him.
"You heard his parting words, Inquisitor," Morrigan said. "He seeks to destroy the Well of Sorrows."
Abelas backed off as Hawke made his way to Morrigan. "So the sanctum is despoiled at last."
"You would have destroyed the well yourself, given the chance," Morrigan pointed out.
"To keep it from your grasping fingers. Better it be lost than bestowed upon the undeserving."
"Fool," Morrigan spat. "You'd let your people's legacy rot in the shadows!?"
"Enough," Hawke told her.
"You cannot honestly—"
"I said enough," Hawke said, more exasperation than anything.
Silence settled over them, Morrigan exchanging a look with Abelas, who looked a little surprised himself.
"The Well clearly offers power, Inquisitor," she said in that calmer, almost coaxing tone. "If that power can be turned against Corypheus, can you afford not to use it?"
"Do you even know what you ask?" Abelas asked, turning to the well. "As each servant of Mythal reached the end of their years, they would pass their knowledge on through this. All that we were, all that we knew… it would be lost. Forever."
"It can't be easy holding on to what's left," Hawke said.
"You cannot imagine. Each time we awaken, it slips further from our grasp."
"There are other places, friend, other duties," Solas said. "Your people yet linger."
"Elvhen such as you?"
"Yes," Solas said. "Such as I."
Abelas paused a moment, considering. Eventually, he spoke. "You have shown respect to Mythal, and there is a righteousness in you I can't deny. Is that what you desire, to partake of the vir'abelasan as best you can? To fight your enemy."
"Not without your permission," Hawke told him.
"One does not obtain permission. One obtains the right," he said, turning to walk towards the stairs. He paused before he reached them. "The vir'abelasan may be too much for a mortal to comprehend. Brave it if you must, but know you this: you shall be bound forever to the will of Mythal."
"Bound? To a goddess that no longer exists?" Morrigan practically scoffed. "If she ever did."
"Bound as we are bound," Abelas told her. "The choice is yours."
Holli watched quietly as more words were exchanged between them, about Mythal, about the Dread Wolf. She couldn't help but wonder how much of it was true. She looked to Cole, wondering if maybe he had some weird Fade spirit insight. He just looked back, a sweet smile playing at the corners of his lips that she couldn't help but return. Ugh, she always melted for him.
Solas and Abelas spoke to each other in elven, nothing Holli could understand yet. And Abelas left them to it.
Hawke and Morrigan turned to the well.
"You'll notice the intact eluvian," Morrigan said. "I was correct on that count, at least."
"We'll throw you a parade when we get back to Skyhold," Hawke told her.
A little argument broke out after that about who should drink from the well. Morrigan wanted to, Solas didn't want her to, and Hawke seemed hesitant to do it himself.
When Hawke asked Solas, he declined to drink as well. Hawke looked at Holli, a questioning arch to his brow.
Holli laughed. "Get fucked."
"I absolutely will when we're done here," he told her.
Holli scrunched her face up. After a very long silence, Hawke finally sighed.
"Have at it then, Morrigan," he gestured for her to go ahead.
Holli wondered if that was a mistake. From the looks on the others, they were all wondering the exact same thing.