Solavellan | E | pre-DAI eluvian time travel feat. hot blooded and cocky young wolf and clan mage apprentice Lavellan | [read here]
Ellana Lavellan is one of two apprentices to her clan’s Keeper, and not the most skillful of the pair. She expects to be sent away after failing to earn a place as First, but when she stumbles upon an ancient shrine to Fen’Harel and inadvertently summons the Dread Wolf himself, she finds in him a wealth of powerful, forgotten magics. He’ll teach her, if she makes a suitable offering: herself.
Ellana returns to the shrine again and again, summoning Fen’Harel to teach her more, but time works differently on the other side of the eluvian; centuries pass for him while only weeks go by for her. As she grows to know him as Solas, she discovers that the Creators are not the benevolent deities she believed them to be, and that the Dread Wolf is a man she can love.
What comfort can a mere Dalish mage offer a rebel god? More than either of them ever expected.
Excerpt below the cut...
The Veil undulated, bringing Ellana up short. Two more droplets spattered the altar and, as she watched, reflected a wavering light that emanated from the surface of the tall mirror. It rippled silver and blue, overpowering the fire in the brazier. Fear gripped Ellana’s throat as a shadow filled the mirror, black against its luminosity. When it stepped out of the mirror and into the chamber, the brightness cut off, leaving Ellana to face whatever had come through it with a broken bow, a stolen knife, and her meager skill with spellcraft.
The brazier’s light caught small shining points set against pale skin: a delicate golden cuff at the top of a knife-sharp ear; a round stud in one nostril of a strong nose; a delicate ring in a full lower lip. Confusion knitted a stern brow over storm sea eyes—gray irises edged with deep blue, oddly like Ellana’s own, yet without any suggestion of her timidity. No, the elf who had come through the mirror had a dauntless bearing and wore fabrics so fine he might’ve walked out of the shrine’s mosaics.
Glancing around the chamber and then back at Ellana, he advanced two steps, speaking in quick, liquid words it took her altogether too long to identify as the ancient elvhen tongue. While most Dalish spoke little more than a few phrases, Keeper Deshanna had studied what remained of their predecessors’ language extensively. She had passed that knowledge on to both her apprentices, and in a rare show of savvy, Ellana had picked it up best.
Yet, for all her lessons, she could barely keep up with the flourishes of this elf’s pronunciation and cadence. His vocabulary far exceeded hers, every syllable fluid and spoken in a deep baritone. He gesticulated for emphasis, Ellana catching every fourth or fifth word—where, expected, misled. She strained to focus, but it was all too much, too fast.
Raising her hands in what she hoped was a universal gesture of stop, she said in the ancient tongue, “Please. Please speak slowly and with, ah”—she sought the correct translation—“short words.”
He cut his tirade blessedly off, eyebrows drawing in again. Ellana despaired for a heartbeat that he hadn’t understood her, but then he said, slowly and in short words, “What is this place? It is not where I expected to be when I came through the eluvian.”
Put in the tags the completely finished (whether cancelled or wrapped up on its own terms) TV series that has YOUR perfect ending, however you define that
Please don’t include huge spoilers for the specifics of the endings, and it would also make me happy if people don’t use this to talk about the shows whose endings they hated
Some things about this post since getting quite a few notes:
1. If you see this post, highly recommend taking it as an opportunity to set a timer for 15 minutes and switch over to ACTIVITY YOU ENJOY. if after those 15 minutes, you want to go back to scrolling, that's okay!
2. Huge shout out to this popping up in my notifs often, bc I do go back to activity.
3. I think there are times where scrolling is fine. Right now, for example, I'm being connected to a machine for two hours to donate plasma and platelets. Yes this is a brag but it is also a time where scrolling is one of the few things I can do. (Though I will probably also read or watch something on phone lol)
Time got away from me (trying to buy a house????? what is my life) so we're doing a twofer this time — April and May recs all together in one post. Star Trek Voyager, Star Trek DS9, and House MD recs below the jump!
Summary: In physics, resonance describes when a vibrating system or external force drives another system to oscillate with greater amplitude at a specific preferential frequency. —Wikipedia
My thoughts: I adore the will-they-won't-they of Janeway & Chakotay — there's a thousand reasons for both sides and its just all so gripping, both in canon and in fic. That said, my favourite version is when they do, but pretend they don't. Best of both worlds, right? Gotta keep the command structure in place, after all, so better ignore the fact we've succumbed to each other and just keep on keeping on instead. That's precisely what this little series is about. It's two fics, short and sweet, about cuddling for warmth during their marooning on that hostile planet in Basics I & II, and the inevitable sex that happens when you put two repressed but yearning characters in that sort of situation. This is a regular reread of mine and I highly recommend it.
To the Wild and To the Both of Us by Gefionne (aka @gefionne)
Fandom: Star Trek: Deep Space 9
Rating: E
Length: 50k
Characters/Relationships: Damar/Kira Nerys,
Summary: Six months after the end of the Dominion War and Captain Sisko’s leavetaking, Kira Nerys is running Deep Space Nine. Considered neutral ground, the station will host treaty negotiations between the Federation and the war-decimated Cardassian Union, now under the leadership of Damar. During her time with the Cardassian Liberation Front, Kira learned to respect him, and they shared one fevered night together that still lingers in her mind. When he returns to DS9, Kira is drawn into memories of those weeks and pulled to Damar once more.
My thoughts: I read this as it was being posted a few years ago, and I went back to it this month after thinking about the last arc of DS9's season 7 and how much Damar changes. I'm... picky about fics that pair Kira with a Cardassian — I need a good explanation, good character growth, and/or a slow burn to back up her choices — and this fic clears those hurdles with barely a blink. I really like the non-linear nature of the story, how it jumps back and forth between the post-canon and the last days of canon to show how the relationship builds, and the differing political nature of both situations colouring how everyone interacts. And Garak shows up occasionally to be mercurial and sassy and pointed, which is delightful.
Old machines by applecrumbledore (aka @applecrumbledore)
Fandom: House MD
Rating: M
Length: 15k
Characters/Relationships: Gregory House/James Wilson
Summary: Wilson said, “So we’re just two friends who want to have sex with each other, who aren’t going to do anything about it.”
Spoken with the incredulity of a beautiful person with low impulse control. House shrugged.
“We’ve been that for years. Why mess with success?”
Wilson was looking at his mouth. He sounded strained. “I don’t think what we’re doing qualifies as success.”
My thoughts: I have a fraught relationship with House MD canon — came for the medical mysteries and unhealthily intertwined load-bearing friendships, left due to the show's inability to let anyone experience real growth, y'know? That said, fic is where the characters can and do grow in ways that I find both interesting and satisfying. This fic is a prime example of exactly that. House's interiority here is fantastic; he desperately tries to be so thoroughly logical in how he thinks about his relationship with Wilson, and I absolutely adore how Wilson uses that against him. Truly love a fic that reminds you that Wilson is House's best/only friend for a reason — he's smart and quick and vicious when he needs to be, and can hold his own against House even when he's lashing out and at his most defensive. Also, the phone call with Foreman made me fucking cackle.
Altruism by silversolitaire
Fandom: House MD
Rating: E (not for sex, though! Read the tags!!)
Length: 27k
Characters/Relationships: Gregory House/James Wilson
Summary: In the hands of the Jigsaw Killer, House finds himself faced with the biggest challenge of his life: finding out what's killing Wilson before it's too late. READ THE WARNINGS.
My thoughts: I like horror — movies, books, podcasts, whatever — and I love the first Saw movie. I won't turn this rec into an essay on the nuances of that movie, but it's safe to say that it's the sort of thing that is often imitated but rarely duplicated (including within its own series, heh). But this fic? Is an excellent pastiche. Hoo, it's fun. The author has absolutely nailed the undercurrents of what makes a good Saw trap, the whys of character interactions and personality quirks and secrets kept, and it meshes the medical mystery part of House MD canon so beautifully with the terror of being trapped in a puzzle with only shitty, life-altering ways out. If that sounds like your sort of jam, please check this fic out.
That's all, folks! If you end up reading anything I rec here, feel free to let me know! And let the author know!! There's nothing like learning that a new influx of kudos came from a recommendation!
Thank you so much for the lovely review of To the Wild! It’s probably still my favorite fic I’ve done and by far the one I’ve reread the most. I’m happy it holds up for you too!
It's such an amazing feeling when someone picks up on something in your writing that you 100% intended but didn't think people would notice. Like, YES!! My writing properly conveyed the thing it was supposed to!!! You are so awesome for noticing that!!! I am so awesome for writing that!!! I feel so good about my story now!!!!
I sat on this for days going pondering the foot fetish implications in mild confusion, but then remembered that one line in These Hands where I said Felassan's toes were long and @sandetigerrr called me out lmao. Not my fetish, but not about to kink shame. But if she has a favorite toe, it's gonna be the second one on the right foot.
