hi i'm bee (she/they), i'm over 30 and have loved leliana/leliwarden for over half my life and won't stop now. currently you can find mostly dragon age, women, and femslash being shared here.
and as for my opinion on veilguard:
...i was not a fan. i write/reblog critical posts from time to time and you can blacklist the tags "veilguard/datv/bioware/dragon age critical", "[full dev name]/[last dev name] ie weekes/trick weekes critical", and/or "[character name] critical ie solas critical" to avoid seeing them if you want to follow me.
otherwise welcome! and feel free to like/reblog spam!
(uc) original posts: dragon age | leliana | leliwarden | tabris | toolset finds | collection
Summary: Takes place during the events described in the Inquisitor's letters in Veilguard, when Orlais falls to rebellion. Covers a Divine Leliana and Warden Cousland escaping during said rebellion.
Written for Femslash February Bingo (@femslash-february)
Prompt: Last Kiss
Posted below read more!
TW: Major character death, graphic depiction of violence!
The fires of lit torches illuminated the dim halls of the Grand Cathedral like that of a rising sun. Normally, it would be a beautiful sight. However, on this day, it was a harbinger of doom.
Within her private apartment, Leliana watched in dismay as the light grew closer, almost as if it were bringing the light of day in place of destruction. The warden who’d slept each night at her side, a dutiful wife and protector, had already made off to adorn her armor and retrieve their arms. Cassandra had already begun the efforts to escape the Grand Cathedral with a small force, rather than waste lives defending its sacred walls.
Leliana taught that the Maker could be worshipped equally anywhere, from humble cloisters in Southern Fereldan to grand halls in Orlais. There was nowhere his light would not shine upon those who called upon him with reverence. It was time to put that ideology to the test.
Leliana hurriedly discarded her robes, exchanging them for deft leathers. Her lover, Elissa, who already bore her favored steel Grey Warden armor, hurried to Leliana. She carried an old, but well-maintained bow Leliana had kept with her since their journey together in the Fifth Blight.
“Here, my love.” Elissa said, ushering the polished oak bow into Leliana’s hands. Leliana cursed herself, knowing that years of politicking and worship had rendered her once calloused hands soft. Although, like a favored sword, Leliana knew she hadn’t lost her edge.
Leliana looked around their apartment a final time, ensuring she had retrieved all that she cared to burden herself with in their escape. On her hand was her humble wedding ring, one afforded to her by another one of her teachings, that the Divine need not forsake their mortal loves, as Andraste had not. In her fist was her bow, the string that tied her to her shared past with Elissa. Upon her back, Elissa slung a quiver filled to the brim with arrows. Love in one hand, and strength in the other, was all Leliana needed within reach in the coming fight for her life.
“I am ready to go,” Leliana said, offering a firm nod to Elissa. Watery blue eyes met steel grey ones, coiled in the tendrils of the spreading blight. Both women showed signs of their advancing age, from Leliana’s smile lines and crow’s feet, to the advancing darkspawn taint darkening Elissa’s once lively features. Each black vein that spread through Elissa’s features, and each restless night amid nightmares of the Deep Roads, brought a wretched foreboding fear into Leliana’s heart; soon she would have to live without her lover.
Though, if she didn’t move quickly, it would be a lot sooner than either of them wanted. Leliana followed Elissa out of their private apartment, allowing her warden to take her hand and lead her along like they were in a story of old. Elissa would be the brave knight, and Leliana the fair maiden, fleeing a dragon or perhaps a horde of undead. Though the pair had survived far worse, and Leliana was no maiden by any means, it was impossible to look at the impressive form of the woman she loved and not be inspired.
Elissa made Leliana feel like that foolish girl who believed the Maker talked to her, and believed in star-crossed lovers. With her wife, she felt young. In Elissa’s hands, despite everything, her heart was still soft. Yet, when the pair rushed through the dimly lit halls of the Grand Cathedral, filling with smoke and glowing with the dim light of fire, Leliana knew she would devoutly slaughter any fool who tried to harm her love.
The first assassin attempted to take their lives as they made it to the stairwell. The pair had to reach Cassandra at the Sun Burst Throne, where they would take the secret passage underneath to safety.
The rebel was a gangly Orlesian man, bearing two daggers that were no match for the sweeping dual blades swung by Elissa. In a single swift move, she countered his attack, knocking his blades to his sides uselessly. Leliana capitalized with an arrow to the unprotected throat. The sound of his gurgling blood, and his body slumping to the ground was overshadowed by the roaring of the mob outside. Insurrectionists.
Emboldened by the Sixth Blight, and the return of Elven God’s (That had assuredly had a hand in this disaster), Gaspard’s Loyalists made a potent return. The fools were keen to hand Orlais over to the Evanuris, the Chantry along with it. Leliana knew the villains to the North would impale her head on a pike if she failed to escape.
“Come, love. Down the stairs.” Elissa said, slipping one of her swords back into her belt and reaching for Leliana again. When their hands clasped, and Leliana followed her warden into the dark stairwell, the firm grip of the warden was transfixing. Despite the display of strength, Elissa seemed…Afraid.
Normally, Elissa stood at Leliana’s side, her devout protector and advisor. Having a Grey Warden in her court was quite useful. Leliana had deployed the remaining forces of the Inquisition, surrendered to her, to aid the wardens in their endeavors. In return, there was no push to return Elissa to the field. The alliance between the Wardens and the Chantry was far too valuable.
As such, Elissa still served as her most fierce protector, offering concerned glances back to Leliana as the pair bounded down the steps. Suddenly, Elissa stopped mid-step, frozen in fear.
“What is it?” Leliana demanded, moving closer to the warden.
“Blight. Darkspawn. In the Grand Hall, if I had to guess.” Elissa answered grimly.
“That’s where Cassandra and Josie are waiting for us. We must hurry!” Leliana said, pushing past the warden, bounding down the steps quicker than ever.
When the pair reached the bottom, two more loyalists, a former chevalier by the looks, and a nimble rogue immediately assaulted them. Leliana immediately let loose a volley of arrows to the armored chevalier’s legs, a weak point in the armor. While the man howled in pain, Leliana glanced at Elissa. The warrior was beating down the rogue with blow after blow of her twin blades, that the loyalist seemingly lacked the strength to stave off. Leliana notched an arrow and fired it quickly into the Chevalier’s helm. The arrow flew right within the eye slit of his bucket like helmet. A spray of blood erupted from the helm before drenching Leliana and Elissa in a volley of red blood.
The loyalist rogue launched herself toward Elissa in a mad attempt to get the armored warrior off her feet. Having succeeded, the rogue landed atop Elissa, who discarded her blades to stoically hold the rogue’s twin daggers at bay. Elissa twisted the arms of the rogue back further away from her vital organs. Leliana joined in the fray with a swift kick to the rogue’s side, knocking her off of Elissa.
Elissa immediately scooped up one of her blades, and brutally launched it into the loyalist’s chest, silencing her movements.
Elissa slid off the corpse, arming herself with her second discarded blade, before rising to her feet.
“Not far now,” Elissa said hurriedly. Leliana saw the ghosts of her past written all over Elissa’s face. The flames and the invasion must have brought forth memories of that fateful night at Highever when the Cousland’s fell. The hall’s of the Grand Cathedral filled with licking fire and the sound of mournful screams as the pair carried on toward the main hall, the only hope of escape, yet the source of the spreading Blight that permeated the air that had once hung heavy with holy oils and incense.
Stained glass windows lay shattered beside them as the two approached the Grand Hall. They could hear warfare within. Cassandra likely held a line to defend their escape, ever the brilliant commander.
Elissa cast a pained look to Leliana outside the thick wooden doors that promised a finale to their struggle. Either they would escape, and live to spend another day by each other’s side, or die in each other’s arms.
Standing in blood-soaked steel armor, dark brown curls falling loosely around her hardened features, and the shadows of blight licking her pale skin, Elissa never looked more beautiful to Leliana.
Wordlessly, Elissa took Leliana’s jaw into her armored hands, smearing blood on her alabaster skin. Elissa pulled Leliana close, bestowing a passionate kiss upon her lips. The way Elissa’s lips felt was the same soft, intoxicating sensation it had been twenty-three years prior, under the enormous pressure of the Fifth Blight. During that hopeless time, Leliana had known love and acceptance for the first time. Most importantly, she had known this feeling. She had known her warden.
Elissa pressed the kiss for a last drive, pouring every ounce of the devotion that defined their union into it. Leliana felt swept up for a moment before Elissa broke the kiss. It took a mere moment for the heady love that had infiltrated Leliana’s mind to dissipate, and for the foreboding of their doomed fates to seep back in.
“When we enter, I will lead, cutting through darkspawn, and you will stay close.” Elissa commanded, earning a nod from Leliana. In most ways, Leliana led in their relationship. Her station as Divine had shifted the power dynamic in their relationship. However, at this moment, it was the Grey Warden who called the shots. No one was better qualified to orchestrate their survival than the Hero of Fereldan.
Kicking the wooden doors open, Elissa launched through, Leliana at her back, bow ready. What awaited them was a swarm of darkspawn, as Elissa had foretold, writhing and moving like one massive beast. Elissa wasted no time in cutting them down to form a path through the reaching hands of the darkspawn. Leliana joined, launching arrow after arrow into the waiting flesh of the darkspawn. Luckily for the pair, the creatures were fledgling, meeting death easily, with little resistance.
Though the swarm was thick, the pair cut through it, progressing toward the Sun Burst throne. Leliana didn’t have to see it to know Cassandra awaited her with the dominant force of guards, holding off the darkspawn for Leliana’s escape. The sounds of Cassandra’s orders rang above the snarling darkspawn that surrounded Leliana.
Elissa tirelessly carved away at the darkspawn, leading Leliana slowly but surely out of the swarm. It didn’t take long for Cassandra to make out their forms among the darkspawn, and dispatch herself, with a force of guards, to cut through the darkspawn from the other side, to reach the pair.
The dual groups made significant progress until the floor of the grand hall quaked. The chandeliers above clanged against each other, with some falling to swarm below as they came loose under the force. Elissa’s head whipped around to glance behind them, to the massive doors into the hall that had been forced open by the darkspawn force. The colossal form of an ogre burst through the shattered doorway, stomping over its own comrades to reach Leliana and Elissa.
Elissa grabbed Leliana roughly, and traded places with her, launching Leliana toward Cassandra, who’d just broken through the swarm to meet them. Her guard assembled around Leliana and Cassandra, giving them breathing room to escape.
“Most Holy, we must escape now!” Cassandra shouted, grabbing onto Leliana’s arm and pulling her away from the warden. Leliana looked to Elissa, whose feet remained firmly planted into the intricate tiled floor of the grand hall, now marred with blight and blood.
“Elissa!” Leliana called, urging her lover to follow.
Elissa looked to the approaching ogre, then to Leliana, before responding.
“In death, sacrifice.” The warden said, offering a sad smile, before rushing to meet the ogre, and the renewed swarm that followed it, in battle.
Leliana immediately moved to follow, to protest, or to launch herself into the throes of death beside the woman she loved. There was no world in which she would let Elissa throw herself into death’s embrace so wantonly. However, a firm grip from Cassandra prevented Leliana from following Elissa into the swarm.
“The warden is covering our escape. Do not let it be for nothing, let’s go!” Cassandra commanded, yanking Leliana away from the approaching swarm of darkspawn.
Leliana wanted to fight. To kick, and scream, and force herself to her wife’s side. Despite the will of her heart, something beyond Cassandra held her back, for she knew how vital she would be to fixing this mess if there was ever to an end to these end of days. Still, she dared not take a breath as she helplessly watched the warden take on darkspawn after darkspawn. Eventually, as Leliana made it to the throne, obscuring a hidden passageway underneath, she looked up for a last time to see her warden.
A catastrophic number of darkspawn lay dead at her feet, including a bloodied ogre. Yet, the darkspawn persisted, throwing themselves on Elissa to bring down her impressive form. It took four darkspawn hanging from her limbs to bring the warrior down. The disgusting creatures piled atop her. Leliana screamed as she was pulled away, begging the Maker to do something, to intervene, to save her love from certain death.
Like many times before, her prayers fell on deaf ears. Leliana watched in horror as one pulled away a vital organ, discarding it uselessly, before digging back into the pile of darkspawn atop Elissa. The warden had fallen.
“Leliana!” a firm voice called, tugging her toward the small passageway. Leliana looked unused to hearing her real name used by anyone other than Elissa. It was Cassandra, a mournful look in her eyes. “We must go,” Cassandra declared.
Willing away the tears, and shirking the pain that threatened to undo Leliana if she dwelled on it, Leliana followed Cassandra to safety. Her mind wandered to their last kiss. If she closed her eyes, she could swear she could still taste Elissa’s soft lips. It was a memory she’d hold on to until the tears she’d shed for Elissa were vast enough to build a bridge that would return her to her warden’s side.
Another celebration for Dragon Age The Veilguard. This pair represents Emmerich and Manfred. Emmerich is a necromancer, and his assistant is
Another celebration for Dragon Age The Veilguard. This pair represents Emmerich and Manfred. Emmerich is a necromancer, and his assistant is a skeleton named Manfred. I haven't been able to play as of listing this, but from what I've seen in the trailers, Manfred wears goggles that appear made from green gems. Emmerich colors are green, dark wine red, gold, and off-white. I think there's blue on his list, but I opted for these instead. The skull piece is 11.5x12.75 inches, and I used insulated batting for it. This gives you the option of having it serve as a really big mug rug, hot pad, or pot holder. Plus, as big as it is, it could be a placemat, hence the coaster. The coaster is 5.25x5.25 inches, and the same design used for the eyes. Lay it over one of the eyes, and it sort of blends in.
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hmm im not sure what ships are your favorites!!! how about leliana and josephine? or isabela and merrill? literally any combo of dragon age ladies that you like haha :)
you guys really like this ship huh
tagging @aslinncosplay who also requested leli/josie!
i was gonna do a bigger write up on my Thoughts irt this post i made yesterday but i landed on a much better bit of "rook is written as the hero of the story, while the warden/hawke/inquisitor are written as the protagonist of the story" and really i can't come up with anything better to get my point across than that.
ive been struggling for yearrrrs to draw morrigan bc she looks different in every game and idt any of her facial features are super distinctive idk idk i've tried to make her a little more characteristic here what do we think. do we like her is this anything
Making my first prints, yay for me! UWU I'm running an interest check, cause being a tiny, unemployed artist doesn't let me stock up on merch ^^; Since I'm not going to order a large amount besides what is submitted in the form, so if you'd like anything, please, let me know here:
https://forms.gle/EGgsJMNvDVc8BVXW8
Reblogs and spreading the word in general are very, very much appreciated <3
