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A wisp, illuminated further by the flickering of magical flame from a nearby torch, settled weightlessly upon her fingertip.
“Hi, little friend.” She greeted it with a smile. Its little tendrils tickled her skin as it seemingly squeezed in response. An energy manifested nearby, causing gooseflesh to appear on her arms beneath the cloak she wore and she turned her eyes towards it.
“Hi, big friend.”
Another spirit, this one appearing as shifting swirls of orange that changed from humanoid to not, bobbed silently some feet away. She paused, waiting for an action on its part but nothing happened. Sensing it was waiting for her, she turned her eyes back to the wisp curled upon her finger.
“I must go.” Bringing her hand closer, she pressed a delicate kiss to it before lifting her hand up and away- guiding its ascent as her lips still tickled. It always felt like kissing a daffodil and that thought made her smile.
The orange spirit bobbed there still and so she gathered her cloak tighter about her person before heading its way.
The cold wind buffed her despite the hood she wore, her gloved hands tucking to her body for warmth as she stepped high to avoid her feet from sinking too deep. This area of the Crossroads was in a perpetual state of winter with the harsh gusts one expected- the landscape covered in an endless sea of snow and ice stalactites. Elora didn't enjoy coming here, a wasteland of bones, the cold, and broken homes, but something had called her here. Though she was no mage, the long years with Solas in the energies of the Fade had given her a sort of sixth sense for these things- a ‘knowing’ at the back of her eyes. Perhaps this spirit was the one she came for.
“I say again, hello friend.” She repeated as she neared it, stopping only a foot away. The energy it omitted did not speak of harm, though she knew some spirits were able to hide their true nature in a guise of friendship; best to stay on her guard then. “Was it you who pulled me here?”
“We- yes.” It answered in a trembling voice, fear heavy in every word.
“You're afraid.” She said and then frowned. She was starting to sound like Solas more everyday, especially when dealing with spirits. She supposed such things were bound to happen when they spent nearly every moment together.
“Yes.” It answered once more, its form seeming to shudder in terror and shake apart briefly.
“Will you tell me your story?”
It floated silently for a long moment as Elora watched the cool steam of her breath. She glanced heavenward as she felt something wet upon the tip of her nose and found the sky of endless gray clouds had peered open and now snowflakes moved in a lazy descent toward her. She tipped her head back and opened her mouth, attempting to catch a few on her tongue.
“Where have they all gone?” It questioned instead, immaterial voice wavering. “We were…the stairs! The…the requiem! We stood there, on the stairs, and we waited. What…what were we waiting for?”
Elora waited patiently for the spirit to recall its last memories. Solas had explained her own feelings would bleed into a distressed spirit, potentially causing a tear of corruption, effectively changing it just as he and the Evanuris had been changed. She closed her eyes and continued to let the chilly little flakes moisten her tongue.
“What…wait- chains? There were chains? Why were we chained?!” Its voice grew confused, paused, and resumed in horror. “Am ... .were…are we slaves?” Elora opened her eyes, closed her mouth, and directed her attention back to it. “Was I a slave?”
“Yes.” She answered truthfully, gently. Elora knew well now how to spot the spirits of ancient elves lost long ago in the calamity of Solas's spell; the creation of the Veil amounting to the destruction of their world. “Do you remember your god?”
“Andruil.” It faded a bit and then shone brighter, seemingly materializing more now as it answered with certainty. “But…oh no…she had..the chains. They had us chained!” The spirit grew in size, the intricate lines that truly housed its form stretching to ugly geometrical swirls. “Why? Why did she chain us? What did we do?!”
“Please, try to remember.’ Elora raised her left hand, the power of the Anchor still vivid and bright within her- shining as a bioluminescent green through the pink fabric of her gloves. “Focus.”
She was grateful as the spirit seemed to focus on her Anchor, the power its own flicker of comfort and warmth for the many spirits of the Fade. For long years, she had hated its existence- could feel it only held at bay by some ferocious binding, like a limb being tied tight before it was removed with little more than whiskey and a hacksaw. It had grown more painful and spread across her palm to her wrist by the time she had met Solas upon that golden field- the magic uncontrollably erupting from her in waves that sapped her very essence away. Wearing his golden armor and fur, an eluvian shining behind him as he paused not far from her, Elora had learned the truth of him, of their people, and of their past.
She had known that Solas had intended to leave her there- felt it as furious indignation in her anchor-blighted bones- but she steadfastly refused such an ending. He had seemed shocked and then shamed, cowed by her reasoning as she dismantled his every argument against her joining him. In the end, both of them in tears, he had acquiesced and taken her rupturing hand in his. She had felt his magic, the same magic she bore, flush through her as warmth and suddenly the pain stopped as he led her through the Eluvian and into their new life together.
“No, no, no, no!” The spirit cried and Elora returned her attention to it. “We were- oh, oh no.”
“You were to be sacrificed?” She asked with her best comforting voice, watching as the shape of it seemed to fade once more.
“He was right? He…our people sacrificed?” It seemed confused once more. “He warned us- he welcomed us! Why? Why, why, why did we not listen?”
“Fen'Harel?” She questioned softly, finally finding the connection she held to this spirit.
Solas.
“His agents came. They warned us- told us we would be…the Titans dreams would consume us- consume the world.” Its tone was mournful now, seemingly having come to the realization. It flickered, its shape changing in some way she could not explain. “We…”
There was another long moment of silence. Elora was unsurprised by the spirits confession and lowered her arm to her side to wait.
“What happened to us?” It asked, resigned and meek.
“You died.” She told it, going with Solas's script as closely as she could remember right now. “Whether sacrificed to your god for power or in the fall after, I can't say.” She clasped her hands in front of her chest. “To stop the world from destruction, to save his People, Fen'Harel destroyed Elvhenan. Many of the People perished in the fall, but many more survived and rebuilt in the new world.” She didn't feel it was necessary to tell the spirit that that empire had also fallen, since it had nothing to do with the gods. “They're my ancestors.” She smiled at the orange mist as it brightened and reformed into something more like her. “I am, if you think about it, the child of your children.”
The mass of the spirit changed, something in the middle becoming more full somehow. Another silence before she felt the brush of its tendrils in her mind.
“You are his.” The spirit, sounding sure and calm, said. “You are his heart.”
“Yes.” She answered simply, the word easy for the weight of truth behind it. “We are bonded.” Elora pressed her left hand to her chest, feeling comfort as she listened closely to the piece of his spirit within her. If she focused, she could feel the steady beat of his heart no matter where he may be in space or time.
Another silence as the spirit considered her and Elora stood still, watching and waiting.
It changed again, taking form and settling on the frigid ground before her. A female elf clad in ancient robes, blue in calm, stood before her. The spirit bowed to her and she did the same to it.
“Thank you, Fen'vhenan. You have brought peace of mind.”
She nodded, always unsure of how to respond to the gratitude she felt like an embrace as the spirit thanked her in the closest construct it had to a hug.
“The world is one again.” She informed it, the cold beginning to settle into her bones. She needed to get home soon before her body decided to replicate the effects of a cold. “Reunited once more. You're free to be as you're meant to be now- here or there. Do you know the way?”
The blue elven spirit nodded and then swept into a low bow with a lavish sweep of her arm, disappearing into sparkling flakes as she felt a tender touch to her cheek and heard whispered words of thanks in the air.
She was alone again- in true silence this time. Elora shivered and pulled the hood that had fallen to her shoulders back over her dark ringlets before she turned back the way she had come and began the walk home.
The boat wasn't far and as she approached, the Caretaker came into form.
“Is he waiting for me?” She asked him as she settled on the little wooden seat.
“Always.”
Elora smiled, feeling giddy as she always did when she could return to him as they soared back to the isle that held his Vir'Revas.
It had changed over time, thorns and blight replaced with flowers- wooden skeletons turned to verdant trees living as though it were eternal spring. She clambered out of the boat and hurried up the steps to the structure that once seemed daunting but now felt like home, her skirts held in her gloved hands so she didn't trip.
The sensation of being pulled apart, familiar now, and then she was at the Eluvians chamber- at the Lighthouse. Another flight of stairs and she was in the common room which had been redecorated to suit their life of domesticity and less the coldness of war and refuge.
She heard his footsteps from upstairs then, light and sure as he moved to be by her side. Removing her gloves, she had managed to push her hood back before his arms were around her- his lips taking hers."Vhenan." the only word managed.
Elora moaned at the passion in the kiss, her belly already quivering with the promise in it. His hands reached between, plucked at the tie until it came undone, causing her cloak to fall at their feet. With little preamble the simple leather belt was pulled from her waist and quickly her dress went with it, creating yet another pile of discarded clothing as they worked together between kisses to strip him as well. As he laid her upon that pile, his hips nudging hers apart, Elora was awed anew by the bounty of her hunger for him- of their need for each other.
Forty years had passed since the death of the last Evanuris- Elgar'nan, a stain erased. Forty years since the destruction of the Veil and the reunification of the world as it were and was always meant to be. Forty-seven years since she had followed him through the Eluvian.
Forty-seven years they had been making love.
As his lips met the piercing at her belly, she arched and gasped- always feeling like the first time, every time. And when his lips went lower and lower yet still to find his favorite feast, a dessert between her thighs, she writhed with pleasure so familiar and yet always new.
She was quick as always with him. Solas pressed at the invisible seams of her with his mouth and fingers, pushing and plucking until she was sure she would burst beneath his attention. Then, as she began to unravel, he would start anew inside her- the burn of him stretching and filling the sensation she most needed.
Elora came as she always did- wild and loud and desperate- and Solas worked her through it in rolls of his hips and a voice made husky with desire. His lips pressed to hers. Not in a kiss but in much more.
Need.
He took her air in and she did the same for him, sharing their breath as they shared their bodies. Solas could share words of poetry, love, and devotion for eternity but this? This is what she understood.
This is how he spoke to her. This is how he loved her.
“Solas!” She cried, hips spreading and lifting as he cupped her face with one hand and held her there to him. She would break apart soon, again. She would collapse. She would be consumed by her love and her need for him. She would become a constellation amongst the stars. She would-
Solas whimpered against her lips and shook, hips stuttering, and the sudden heat of his cum pumping deep inside of her-
Her voice rose again, a feminine echo reaching to the highest tome above them as she grasped his ass and crossed her ankles- locking him into place as he whined and moaned his pleasure in a mixture of Elvhen and Common into her open, panting mouth. Relief and pleasure and love and heat consumed her, burning away all but her spirit and him.
Them.
Maybe more than them one day. Maybe many, many more.
Elora smiled at the thought and its implications as violet eyes opened to know hers. A thought stole through her. Delighted in her blissful aftermath, she laughed; speaking out loud to no one in particular.
“Maker willing.”