Can't we just be happy?
Ardyn was up, in the center of the Tranquility Cave, working magic streams like she had been using magic all of her life. She had stepped out Varric's soul when she sensed he was better.
Her mind was only on being stronger, understanding her magic, and understanding how to create new magics. She had moved to the center of the cave and instantly began practicing.
She sensed Elsa and stopped to look in her direction. Elsa smiled and stepped to her. Adryn stopped and looked, she could see Elsa in a totally different way.
She saw Elsa move as light and music and she was awed. As she watched her arms moved and she made practiced steps and she felt the magic well up from the Cave around her. The magic rushed up and her being quickly drank it up.
[Magic Well Refill]
Elsa paused, her smile falling. She watched Ardyn and once again saw how miraculous Ardyn was. She nodded as Ardyn finished her final moves.
"Slow down, you need to allow your body a chance to catch up to your magic." She came before her and released dense natural magic into the center of the cave. The cave responded. Flowers and mosses grew and evolved.
The flowers twinkled with color, their fragrance became stronger, and they all seemed to turn to Ardyn. The moss thickened, rose, and seemed to curl and sway as if it all tried to move toward Ardyn. All the while the cave became more and more tranquil.
Elsa nodded as she looked around the cave. "This cave truly is yours Ardyn."
She looked to her student. "It shall be your treasure room as well." A small mound of items rose in a far corner.
Ardyn frowned as she looked at the mound grow.
"Please tell My Lord…"
"Are you still calling him lord even now?!" Elsa laughed as Ardyn froze. "Oh I see. It is still a habit, that is different, no, no, this is all yours by birth. Your uncle used what he stole from you to obtain it." She paused an jutted her chin toward the pile.
"Go. Some of it belongs to your parents. Those items will rise and seek you out. They will be found easily.
Ardyn had frozen – in a shock that she had thought was lost to her.
"But teacher I… My… My family would never want…"
"My dearest student." Elsa stepped closer and forced Ardyn to look at her. Tears were swimming in Ardyn's eyes and confusion stirred across her face. Elsa sighed. "Ardyn this is yours. You may still have a bit of apprehension, but your "family" as you call them – and sure you share blood but these people do not treat you with love nor respect – stole from your parents and then from you.
"You were loved and then that love was taken away, then you were brutalized by the thieves, and their offspring, themselves." She looked to the pile.
"Much of this was acquired by them but some came directly from your parents – coveted items – go, give yourself a chance to truly heal. Allow this new magic welling within you to show you the way.
"Varric and I will be here. We will make sure that no harm ever comes to you again."
Ardyn listened to it all. She believed her teacher but faced with this all the old sense of unworthiness – that she thought she had conquered – flooded back in.
She looked at the pile, licked her lips, and swallowed hard. Her breathing became labored and still she took that first step forward. Elsa nodded and something within Ardyn swirled softly as she heard Elsa quietly speak to her through her soul.
'Good. Listen to your magic and your soul. And remember who you actually are, not who the made you to be. And that which is now yours, and who you have become, is what you leave for your children and the world you and Varric create together. Don't be afraid.'
Ardyn nodded, as she stepped up to the pile and looked down at it. She slowed her breathing and followed her teacher's instruction and several items began to sparkle or draw her attention. She knew what they were as soon as her eyes fell on them. Her magic, or her soul, defined them and registered their importance to her.
They rose and came to her – even as tears welled in her eyes. Two pairs of earrings and a pendant that she always thought belonged to her aunt – some of her mother's favorite pieces. A medallion – for her father's military service – and an ancient, intricate, watch - a Stronghood family heirloom passed to her father.
They all wanted her and her soul wanted them.
She closed her eyes, the unworthiness rising up again. She wanted to deny it all. She wanted to say she didn't deserve any of it – but all though her mind had not fully understood her worth her soul had.
Her soul would not allow her to let these five items go.
She turned from the rest, a tremor flowing through her body, and Elsa nodded as she watched it all.
"Please return this to them teacher. It is the past. None of this is important anymore. I have Varric, you, and the Serpent Clan now. You all are my family now."
Elsa nodded her eyes watching her quietly.
"Varric tool the scars from your back – he could not stand them on your skin – when will you heal and remove the scars from your soul? I know you are capable of this now."
The entire space paused.
'Can I truly heal myself? How much do I deserve?' Her mind froze at the question – realization spreading through her as she knew she still needed to work on herself.
Elsa nodded and decided to allow her time. As she disappeared from the word she asked her one question. One question that shook Ardyn to her core.
"How will you ever truly love Varric if you never learn to truly love yourself?"
Ardyn's heart shook as her spirit called out and her soul lamented.
A wave of deep sorrow flowed from her and quickly found Varric. He sat up, fully awake, in the medical pit. He immediately moves to her without any thought or hesitation.
He is by her side, his new form sparking with kinetic energy, and he draws her into a deep embrace. Ardyn melts into him and they both feel a soft click between them, as if a lock had been turned.
Even as she felt this doubt flowed from Ardyn like a stone swiftly flowing river.
"Teacher is right Varric. I don't truly love myself. How will I ever love you. You deserve so much. You deserve an equal. My aunt and uncle have destroyed me.
"You deserve perfection, to match the perfection of your soul. I…"
Varric is furious. She had come so far and now she was falling further from him then ever before. He spoke to her softly, his hands softly gliding over her hair.
"Ardyn, you are part of me now. How can I not deserve what is part of me? How do I abandon what is part of me. Because of you I have evolved to an existence that has be out of reach, for my kind, for eons now.
"You are my strength and my future." He kissed the top of her head and then hugged her tighter.
His fury was growing and he was thinking of a long talk with Elsa when Ardyn suddenly pulled from him. He was startled, internally, but he simply smiled to Ardyn.
She wrung her hands before her and turned from him – unable to think clearly while he was in her sight.
Her confusion grew, what he said was all true, her soul told her it was, but her heart and mind kept telling her there was no way she could be any help to him.
This emotion built up and as she spun around to tell Varric that she couldn't allow herself to ruin him the Tranquility Cave sensed her deep emotion and that it was directed at Varric.
When Ardyn spun around the cave pushed Varric from the space.
[Unique Cave Repulsion]
Varric had been pushed completely from Ardyn's Cave system. Ardyn blinked several times, her eyes focused on the spot where Varric had just stood.
Varric could only smile – she was getting more and more powerful. He took a deep breath and turned to Elsa's Cave.
Ardyn sighed, her emotions still keyed up and raw. She laid down in a patch of dense moss and looked at the five items that belonged to her parents.
The moss calmed her and she was soothed into a deep sleep – even as she slept the earrings, pendant, medallion, and watch spun above her – as if they were the drivers of this magical dream.