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Sera had been a friend, despite everything. She and Era were both stubborn and a bit headstrong, and while at times they clashed they always made up for it in the end.
And at that moment Era just wanted a friend. She didn't want anything complicated, things had been complicated enough recently. And Sera was one of the least complicated people she knew. She was predictable, easy enough to be around once you were on her good side. It was a blissful constant to find in a world full of surprises.
Sera was in her room in the tavern as always, semi-organizing the things she'd collected. She half glanced at Era when she noticed her at the door, not noticing her completely.
"Hey there Inky, took your sweet time comin' back," she said, tossing something over her shoulder. "Where'd you 'n Elfy even go?"
Era fidgeted where she stood, remembering the scenario that had occurred. "Nowhere important," she said softly.
"Oh yeah? That why you took so long to come back home?" She sat back on her feet and folded her arms across her chest, staring at the shelf of books.
"What are you looking for?" Era asked.
"A big book," was the reply she got. "I wanna hollow it out and put stuff in it, make it so no one can find any of my important crap."
"Need some help?" she offered.
"No, not right..." Sera glanced at her, doing a double take before actually looking at her. "Holy fuckin'... Your face! What happened to your Dalish thingys?"
Era looked away, almost regretting coming to Sera. "Doesn't matter anymore. They're gone."
Sera scoffed at this. "Like hell it doesn't. Have you even seen what you look like now?"
"N-No..." she admitted. Part of her was afraid to know.
Sera's face pinched into a frown as she turned from Era and started rummaging through another pile, pulling out a mirror. "Here, look."
The ginger haired elf hesitated, but took it. Her emerald eyes widened at the sight. June's vallaslin was gone, the lines that once twisted in the center of her forehead and that fell down her cheeks were gone, leaving behind pale skin. Her eyelids were no longer that blood red color she'd chosen to be marked with, and the sight of her bare throat was almost unsettling.
She’d forgotten what she’d looked like before. Her features were so plain now.
"You look so... normal," Sera commented. She let out a little gasp, smiling. "And just look at all those friggin' freckles." She giggled a little. "You're kinda cute."
Era's face flushed as she stared at her reflection. "My forehead is huge."
Sera laughed louder at this. "It’s massive."
The ginger set the mirror down, stepping further into the room and sitting on the window seat. Sera sat beside her, dropping her legs into the other elf's lap. Era smiled slightly and placed a hand on her friend's knee, enjoying the closeness.
"So... what exactly happened out there?" she asked. "I mean Elfy came back all stoic and silent, hasn't said a word to anyone. And then you come back nearly two days later, freckles out for the world to see."
"I'm done with elf stuff," she said, pulling out the tie that held her hair up and running her fingers through it. She twisted a few strands around her fingers. "I'm done acting like things make sense and I'm done trying to hold onto things that don't matter."
"What are you goin' off about?" Sera asked.
"The vallaslin, my tattoos. They... they aren't what I thought they were." Sera looked at her expectantly, nudging "They... back in the times of ancient elves. Elven nobles had slaves, and they... would mark their slaves with the vallaslin of the god that they revered." Her eyes stung with unshed tears and she palmed at her face. "I feel so stupid."
"Ain't you that's stupid. It's the Dalish," Sera said. "You're like my 'Friends', getting screwed over by the people up top that think they know everything. But they don’t. The only ones that knew anything were the ancient elves, and they’re dead."
Era shook her head, not at Sera but at herself for believing everything. "Doesn't matter anymore."
Sera sucked on her teeth. "If you say so. But how did you even get rid of them?"
"Solas, he..." Era clenched her hands into fists, still furious. "He told me what they were and that he had a spell. I let him take them away, but..." She seethed, almost drowning in her own anger. "He never cared about me."
"You mean he ended it?" Sera said, slack jawed. "I mean. I never liked him, but you did. You were happy with him for some reason, and you're my friend so I was okay with it. But he fucked with your head. And now he's acting like..." Era's anger seemed to be rubbing off on her, both elves feeling little else other than rage. "Ooh, that friggin' pisshead! No one messes with my friends and just gets away with it like that!"
Era held Sera down, holding her legs before she could get up. "Sera, don't. He's not even worth it."
"You at least slapped him, right?" Sera pleaded, looking to her friend. "Please tell me that you slapped him."
"I... no," she admitted. "I cursed him out in elven and he didn't bother trying to defend himself."
"Elves have curses?" Sera commented, not paying much attention to what was said beyond that. "I thought you people were too polite for that."
Era laughed at this. "They're different, but yes. Elves curse."
She nodded. "You've lost pretty much all of your elfyness since we met. Can't tell if I'm rubbin' off on you or not."
"It's not you. I’ve just been through a lot of stuff.”
“Suppose that’s a good thing, innit?” Sera started. “I mean, your family’s gone. You ain’t got nothing to hold you to any of that elfy shite.”
Era swallowed at the memory. She’d almost forgotten how Clan Lavellan had been butchered, how she was the last one. After all that had happened, she really had nothing left.
“Frig, that… that probably didn’t help at all, did it?”
She smirked at her friend. “Not really.”
“See, I’m not good at this stuff,” Sera complained, picking up a little throw pillow and hugging it.
“It’s alright,” Era said, laughing a little. “I may not have any blood relatives left, but I’ve got the Inquisition.”
Sera’s face pinched. “Ugh, now you’re getting all mushy on me. Besides, there’s definitely a part of the Inquisition I would never call family. Namely Elfy and Vivienne.”
Era laughed a little. “And of course they’re mages.”
“Yeah, shouldn’t mess around with them,” Sera said. “Other than Dorian. He’s alright. Bit up himself, like nobles are. Might get a pie to the face if he’s not careful.”
“No one’s stopping you.”
“Yeah, well there’re people that need it first. Like Elfy.” Sera shifted, tossing the pillow aside and pushing herself up and resting on her elbows. “Tell me you want revenge and we’ll go after ‘im.”
She lifted a brow. “I’m assuming you have some sort of plan?”
“Oh lots of plans.” Sera started laughing. “He’s so much fun to piss off, you should see it. The faces he makes…” She grinned at Era. “Come on Freckly, what do you wanna do?”
Era thought for a moment, tapping her fingers against Sera’s leg as she did so. “I’m not as good at this sort of thing as you.”
Sera nodded, moving her legs out of Era’s lap and standing up. “Well, just let me know what you come up with. I’m gonna do something of my own.”
“Don’t kill him,” Era said, getting up.
“Pft, I ain’t gonna kill ‘im,” Sera laughed. “I am gonna have some fun while you keep thinking, though.”
Nodding, Era left Sera’s room in the tavern. Part of her was afraid of what would happen, but the other didn’t really care. Whatever happened at this point would happen.
Josephine had given Era more paperwork than she knew what to do with it, and she hated it all.
“I hate nobles,” she grumbled, looking over all of the requests as she took the work back up to her quarters.
She expected to find her room as she’d left it. What she didn’t expect to find was a box with a red bow sitting on her couch.
Era dropped the paperwork on her desk and stepped over to the box, brows furrowed at the sight of it. She opened it up and found a book with an envelope sitting on top of it.
Since you never told me what you wanted me to do for
revenge,
I went ahead and stole one of Elfy’s big books
and
carved it out. Figured you could find something to
put in it.
Sera