As Astraia woke, her first thoughts were the same as her last. She needed to move, she was in grave danger. Sheer terror coursed through her, the last image she remembered being the horrifying outline of a bloodied, corrupted dragon hungering to kill her.
She moved without even knowing where she was, and it instantly caused her great pain. Her insides ached, her head throbbed, the arm that she shifted felt like it had been stabbed repeatedly. Her heartbeat quickened until it matched the pace of Athim's gallop, each breath making things worse.
"Astraia. Astraia! Hey, you're okay, just—agh!"
Her eyes shot open, and she saw lightning magic arcing from her right arm. Ves was in the act of recoiling away from her, shaking out a burned hand that had touched her. It took her a second to cut it off, to stop the flow of self defense, to acknowledge that Ves wasn't a dragon, and neither was Stel nor Khari. "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry, I'm..." An aching pain forced her words into silence, and she groaned, trying to hold herself still. She remembered... very little. Trying to dredge up the energy for one more spell, trying to hit the dragon's wounds and keep it busy, and then nothing. Pain, weightlessness, and nothingness.
She paused, taking a few moments just to breathe, hoping she'd be able to get it under control and cool off. It looked like just a minor burn she'd inflicted on Ves. No doubt one of the other healers could see to it. Her eyes sought Stel instead, who was next to him. "What happened? The dragon, it... I thought I was dead."
"It was a close call, the way I heard it," Stel admitted, her mouth downturned in a soft frown that didn't quite square with the situation. "I think you'd have to ask Rilien or Leon for the exact details, but... you managed to hold off the dragon for a while, and then Cy—" she cleared her throat. "He kept it at bay a while longer, and by then the reinforcements had arrived. They were able to slay it, thanks to you."
The infirmary was quiet aside from her visitors; quieter even than it usually was, when she worked with the other healers in here. Nearly all the other beds and cots were empty. Stel settled into one of the chairs beside Astraia's, letting out a soft sigh. "It's... been a few days. Since the battle. I'm glad you're all right. Asala said you would be, but..." she smiled a little wryly and shrugged. "Always nice to get confirmation."
So the dragon was dead. They actually killed it. And... and she was in the infirmary, which was quiet and peaceful and that meant that Skyhold was still standing. "We won?" she concluded, not really believing it yet. It was possible this was just a pleasant dream, aside from the side-splitting pain. Or maybe she was dead already, and they were breaking the news to her slowly. Maybe they were all dead. "We beat Corypheus?"
“You're damn right we did." Khari was a little closer to the foot of the bed, sprawled on a chair, one heel propped on Astraia's footboard. She gave a lopsided smile and crossed her arms low over her middle. “Loads of people are talking about our brave dragon-rider, by the way. You're kind of a big deal around here, so don't be surprised if people start treating you like it." There was no small amount of warmth in the words, even if they were a bit teasing, too.
She half-smiled, the expression on her face before she even realized it. Dragon-rider. No, that wasn't real yet. That wasn't going to feel real probably ever. Part of her never wanted to do anything like that ever again. The other part... she refused to consider that part.
"W-what about the dragon, though?" she asked, unable to stop a bit of worry from seeping into her tone. She didn't want to expect that Cyrus would be here when she woke up, or Harellan. They were both quite busy very often, more important than she was by quite a bit. Still, if they'd known she was going to wake soon, she really did think Cyrus would've been here to see her. She checked the other beds nearby, in case she'd somehow missed him. "Where's Cyrus? Is he... he's all right, isn't he?"
"He—" Stel took another, more deliberate pause there, concern seeping unimpeded onto her face. She stared very hard at her hands, clasped on her lap. "We're not sure where he and Harellan are. They vanished a few days ago, not long after the battle, but we have no idea why. I'm pretty sure they went through the Eluvian, but I haven't been able to figure out where, either." She pressed her lips together, expelling a breath through her nose and lifting her eyes to Astraia.
"I think it must have been something they planned. Cy, he told me that he wanted you to know that you saved him. At least twice, he said. He was—he was definitely grateful, Astraia. I don't know why he couldn't wait and tell you that himself, but..." Stel blinked, holding her eyes closed a little too long.
"I don't..." She struggled to make anything come out, her eyes falling to where her toes shifted under the blanket. They felt strange, distant. She wondered if she hadn't almost been paralyzed. "I don't understand. They're gone?" The nod from Ves supported what Stel told her, but it didn't make it any easier for her to grasp. "That doesn't make any sense. They wouldn't—he wouldn't..."
She coughed once, softly, and then more followed from the first, wracking her with pain that took a moment to subside. If she'd had more energy she might've tried to use magic on herself, but she also guessed that she'd been given the best possible care while she was out. Her thoughts were a mess of confusion, her emotions just as scattered. She was thrilled to be alive, to have done something that directly contributed to the Inquisition winning the battle. She'd worried that Cyrus might've died, and she was glad to hear that he was okay, but... she found that against her better judgement, she was immediately questioning what she'd come to learn. About him, about Harellan, about the things they'd said to her. They'd planned something, planned this, whatever this was, and she'd had no knowledge of it.
"Did either of them say anything to you?" Ves asked the question gently, cautiously. "Before the battle, or maybe sometime earlier?"
"No, I don't—well." She exhaled a sigh, reaching up and wiping the first unwanted tear that tried to escape her eyes. "Harellan and I would talk sometimes, after we'd finished training. He'd listen to whatever was on my mind, didn't usually talk about himself. He mentioned he had plans, but I didn't think they would be anything different than what the rest of us had. You know... ideas of where we want to go if we aren't staying here."
Ves nodded, seeming to find that unsurprising. He looked sideways at Stel. "You said Cyrus was acting a little strangely, right?" It seemed to be an invitation to elaborate, for Astraia's benefit.
She nodded, brows knit. "I don't know. At the time I just thought he was relieved that we were all alive, but now that I think about it he seemed distressed about something. I think... I think maybe he was trying to say goodbye, but it was almost like he couldn't. I remember that Harellan broke into the conversation right when I was going to ask if he was okay." Stel shook her head slightly, grimacing.
"I'm not sure what to make of it, but it doesn't feel right. I can't believe they'd just... leave us. Without even telling us why. I mean, they're—they're the only family I've got." Astraia could see her throat work as she swallowed.
“So don't believe it." Khari looked vaguely disturbed by something, and her tone was firm, but honestly a bit kinder than usual for her. She wasn't very good at being gentle, exactly, but she was trying. “We don't know anything, so let's not assume the worst, okay? For all we know they could be back tomorrow. Maybe they went to chase down Leta through the eluvians or something." She sighed, a bit of frustration creeping through. “It was dumb of them not to say anything, but Cy's done some pretty dumb stuff before. Doesn't mean he doesn't care or whatever, right?"
"I'm with Khari on this one," Ves said. "Cyrus has never been the best at, well... people skills. It is strange that he didn't tell you anything," he glanced at Stel as he said it, "but maybe they wanted to keep you from it. Keep all of us from whatever it is they're doing. They know we'd want to follow." He leaned back in his chair, crossing his arms and creasing his brow in thought. "I just hope they're not in any trouble they can't get out of."
Astraia didn't know what to make of it. Didn't know what she was supposed to be feeling. Cyrus was... he was important to her in a way that she didn't fully understand, and certainly had failed to express. Harellan had inspired her in a different way, helped awaken a part of her she didn't know existed and started the process of forging her into someone that she was proud of, not ashamed. She wanted to believe that she was important to them, too, enough that they wouldn't just leave her behind and not come back.
All her worry could have been just for nothing, pointless fretting. But in her gut she felt that this was serious. It wasn't at all like Cyrus to do something dangerous without his sister being aware of it, and Harellan... he was a mystery she hadn't even begun to crack, one she'd been intrigued by ever since she'd started working with him.
"I don't want to be in this bed anymore." She decided it suddenly, and started to push herself out, sliding her legs sideways and fighting through the pain.
"Easy now, your body's been through a lot." Ves reached out as if to restrain her, but stopped halfway when her eyes met his.
"I'm not just... going to sit here. I'm fine, I can do it." She finished the sideways turn, though her bare feet couldn't quite reach the floor. Her eyes found her staff propped against the wall in front of her, apparently having survived the encounter with the dragon more cleanly than she had. "Hand me my staff?"
“Sure." Khari at least didn't intend to stop her; it was well-known in the infirmary that she was a rather terrible patient, mostly because she refused to stay in bed, too. She pulled her leg down from the footboard and stood, retrieving the staff and handing it to Astraia top-first. “We going somewhere in particular, or just out?"
"Out." She planted the butt against the floorboards, using it to steady herself while she got to her feet, though Khari's help was also welcome. There was a small bout of dizziness, but it passed quickly, and the uncomfortable twinges in her legs and chest weren't more than she could deal with. "I just want to look around. See what happened."
There were a few places she had in mind to look first. But she didn't expect any answers. Disappointment was an old acquaintance, one she'd foolishly allowed herself to think she'd gotten rid of for good.
She moved without even knowing where she was, and it instantly caused her great pain. Her insides ached, her head throbbed, the arm that she shifted felt like it had been stabbed repeatedly. Her heartbeat quickened until it matched the pace of Athim's gallop, each breath making things worse.
"Astraia. Astraia! Hey, you're okay, just—agh!"
Her eyes shot open, and she saw lightning magic arcing from her right arm. Ves was in the act of recoiling away from her, shaking out a burned hand that had touched her. It took her a second to cut it off, to stop the flow of self defense, to acknowledge that Ves wasn't a dragon, and neither was Stel nor Khari. "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry, I'm..." An aching pain forced her words into silence, and she groaned, trying to hold herself still. She remembered... very little. Trying to dredge up the energy for one more spell, trying to hit the dragon's wounds and keep it busy, and then nothing. Pain, weightlessness, and nothingness.
She paused, taking a few moments just to breathe, hoping she'd be able to get it under control and cool off. It looked like just a minor burn she'd inflicted on Ves. No doubt one of the other healers could see to it. Her eyes sought Stel instead, who was next to him. "What happened? The dragon, it... I thought I was dead."
"It was a close call, the way I heard it," Stel admitted, her mouth downturned in a soft frown that didn't quite square with the situation. "I think you'd have to ask Rilien or Leon for the exact details, but... you managed to hold off the dragon for a while, and then Cy—" she cleared her throat. "He kept it at bay a while longer, and by then the reinforcements had arrived. They were able to slay it, thanks to you."
The infirmary was quiet aside from her visitors; quieter even than it usually was, when she worked with the other healers in here. Nearly all the other beds and cots were empty. Stel settled into one of the chairs beside Astraia's, letting out a soft sigh. "It's... been a few days. Since the battle. I'm glad you're all right. Asala said you would be, but..." she smiled a little wryly and shrugged. "Always nice to get confirmation."
So the dragon was dead. They actually killed it. And... and she was in the infirmary, which was quiet and peaceful and that meant that Skyhold was still standing. "We won?" she concluded, not really believing it yet. It was possible this was just a pleasant dream, aside from the side-splitting pain. Or maybe she was dead already, and they were breaking the news to her slowly. Maybe they were all dead. "We beat Corypheus?"
“You're damn right we did." Khari was a little closer to the foot of the bed, sprawled on a chair, one heel propped on Astraia's footboard. She gave a lopsided smile and crossed her arms low over her middle. “Loads of people are talking about our brave dragon-rider, by the way. You're kind of a big deal around here, so don't be surprised if people start treating you like it." There was no small amount of warmth in the words, even if they were a bit teasing, too.
She half-smiled, the expression on her face before she even realized it. Dragon-rider. No, that wasn't real yet. That wasn't going to feel real probably ever. Part of her never wanted to do anything like that ever again. The other part... she refused to consider that part.
"W-what about the dragon, though?" she asked, unable to stop a bit of worry from seeping into her tone. She didn't want to expect that Cyrus would be here when she woke up, or Harellan. They were both quite busy very often, more important than she was by quite a bit. Still, if they'd known she was going to wake soon, she really did think Cyrus would've been here to see her. She checked the other beds nearby, in case she'd somehow missed him. "Where's Cyrus? Is he... he's all right, isn't he?"
"He—" Stel took another, more deliberate pause there, concern seeping unimpeded onto her face. She stared very hard at her hands, clasped on her lap. "We're not sure where he and Harellan are. They vanished a few days ago, not long after the battle, but we have no idea why. I'm pretty sure they went through the Eluvian, but I haven't been able to figure out where, either." She pressed her lips together, expelling a breath through her nose and lifting her eyes to Astraia.
"I think it must have been something they planned. Cy, he told me that he wanted you to know that you saved him. At least twice, he said. He was—he was definitely grateful, Astraia. I don't know why he couldn't wait and tell you that himself, but..." Stel blinked, holding her eyes closed a little too long.
"I don't..." She struggled to make anything come out, her eyes falling to where her toes shifted under the blanket. They felt strange, distant. She wondered if she hadn't almost been paralyzed. "I don't understand. They're gone?" The nod from Ves supported what Stel told her, but it didn't make it any easier for her to grasp. "That doesn't make any sense. They wouldn't—he wouldn't..."
She coughed once, softly, and then more followed from the first, wracking her with pain that took a moment to subside. If she'd had more energy she might've tried to use magic on herself, but she also guessed that she'd been given the best possible care while she was out. Her thoughts were a mess of confusion, her emotions just as scattered. She was thrilled to be alive, to have done something that directly contributed to the Inquisition winning the battle. She'd worried that Cyrus might've died, and she was glad to hear that he was okay, but... she found that against her better judgement, she was immediately questioning what she'd come to learn. About him, about Harellan, about the things they'd said to her. They'd planned something, planned this, whatever this was, and she'd had no knowledge of it.
"Did either of them say anything to you?" Ves asked the question gently, cautiously. "Before the battle, or maybe sometime earlier?"
"No, I don't—well." She exhaled a sigh, reaching up and wiping the first unwanted tear that tried to escape her eyes. "Harellan and I would talk sometimes, after we'd finished training. He'd listen to whatever was on my mind, didn't usually talk about himself. He mentioned he had plans, but I didn't think they would be anything different than what the rest of us had. You know... ideas of where we want to go if we aren't staying here."
Ves nodded, seeming to find that unsurprising. He looked sideways at Stel. "You said Cyrus was acting a little strangely, right?" It seemed to be an invitation to elaborate, for Astraia's benefit.
She nodded, brows knit. "I don't know. At the time I just thought he was relieved that we were all alive, but now that I think about it he seemed distressed about something. I think... I think maybe he was trying to say goodbye, but it was almost like he couldn't. I remember that Harellan broke into the conversation right when I was going to ask if he was okay." Stel shook her head slightly, grimacing.
"I'm not sure what to make of it, but it doesn't feel right. I can't believe they'd just... leave us. Without even telling us why. I mean, they're—they're the only family I've got." Astraia could see her throat work as she swallowed.
“So don't believe it." Khari looked vaguely disturbed by something, and her tone was firm, but honestly a bit kinder than usual for her. She wasn't very good at being gentle, exactly, but she was trying. “We don't know anything, so let's not assume the worst, okay? For all we know they could be back tomorrow. Maybe they went to chase down Leta through the eluvians or something." She sighed, a bit of frustration creeping through. “It was dumb of them not to say anything, but Cy's done some pretty dumb stuff before. Doesn't mean he doesn't care or whatever, right?"
"I'm with Khari on this one," Ves said. "Cyrus has never been the best at, well... people skills. It is strange that he didn't tell you anything," he glanced at Stel as he said it, "but maybe they wanted to keep you from it. Keep all of us from whatever it is they're doing. They know we'd want to follow." He leaned back in his chair, crossing his arms and creasing his brow in thought. "I just hope they're not in any trouble they can't get out of."
Astraia didn't know what to make of it. Didn't know what she was supposed to be feeling. Cyrus was... he was important to her in a way that she didn't fully understand, and certainly had failed to express. Harellan had inspired her in a different way, helped awaken a part of her she didn't know existed and started the process of forging her into someone that she was proud of, not ashamed. She wanted to believe that she was important to them, too, enough that they wouldn't just leave her behind and not come back.
All her worry could have been just for nothing, pointless fretting. But in her gut she felt that this was serious. It wasn't at all like Cyrus to do something dangerous without his sister being aware of it, and Harellan... he was a mystery she hadn't even begun to crack, one she'd been intrigued by ever since she'd started working with him.
"I don't want to be in this bed anymore." She decided it suddenly, and started to push herself out, sliding her legs sideways and fighting through the pain.
"Easy now, your body's been through a lot." Ves reached out as if to restrain her, but stopped halfway when her eyes met his.
"I'm not just... going to sit here. I'm fine, I can do it." She finished the sideways turn, though her bare feet couldn't quite reach the floor. Her eyes found her staff propped against the wall in front of her, apparently having survived the encounter with the dragon more cleanly than she had. "Hand me my staff?"
“Sure." Khari at least didn't intend to stop her; it was well-known in the infirmary that she was a rather terrible patient, mostly because she refused to stay in bed, too. She pulled her leg down from the footboard and stood, retrieving the staff and handing it to Astraia top-first. “We going somewhere in particular, or just out?"
"Out." She planted the butt against the floorboards, using it to steady herself while she got to her feet, though Khari's help was also welcome. There was a small bout of dizziness, but it passed quickly, and the uncomfortable twinges in her legs and chest weren't more than she could deal with. "I just want to look around. See what happened."
There were a few places she had in mind to look first. But she didn't expect any answers. Disappointment was an old acquaintance, one she'd foolishly allowed herself to think she'd gotten rid of for good.