Temple of Sacred Embers

Letters of Love from Thedas

[daicamgirl]

Winterwatch Tower

[sacredembers]

[sacredembers]

A Crumpled-Up Letter

[Though the Inquisition left the campsite weeks ago to occupy a more permanent base, the arid desert climate has preserved many signs of their presence, including a crumpled draft of a letter, found tangled among a patch of hardy brush.]

Dear Amatus, Oh, the very scandal of putting that endearment down in writing! Makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside- I shall have to do this more often! Let me see, where to begin? Well to start with, I am still very unhappy with you for sending me so far from your side! It’s unforgivable, really, except that you have this way of making me feel unusually generous… that, and even I understand that the mission is important. Venatori presence, severe temporal distortions, need an expert, blah-blah-blah. So I console myself with the knowledge that in all likelihood I will accomplish something impressive here, and then when I see you again, both of us safe and sound, you will look at me with that starry-eyed face you make (yes, you do, you don’t fool me at all). [There is a drip of ink on the page where the pen has hovered in thought, or indecision.] I’m not like you, Amatus. I’m not a brave man, though I wish to the Maker I was. But instead I just sit here, sulking. I want you here, where I can see you. I want you in my bed when I go to sleep at night, and to wake up with the smell of you still on my sheets in the morning. I want your lips, and your warm hands, and the feeling of your fingers in my hair. I want living, breathing proof that you are safe, and haven’t slipped through my fingers the moment I looked away. Selfish, isn’t it? To want to throw a tantrum over that while the fate of the world hangs in the balance. But you can’t be surprised… I warned you from the outset that I am not a nice man. You chose me anyway. Well, since there’s nothing else to be done, I suppose I will simply have to grin and bear it. Don’t worry- the soldiers won’t suspect a thing. You don’t get far in the upper circles of Tevinter without learning how to put on a good face when the situation calls for it. I know wherever you are, you’re being terribly inspiring and courageous and looking too handsome for words while doing it. So I shall try to do the same (I have you matched in the last category, at least). If I do one brave thing in my life, let it be loving you. And if the best way I can do that is to be here while you’re there, being the person you can rely on to see this done, I can’t refuse that. I won’t. Dear me, that was sentimental, wasn’t it? Let me try this again. I’ll write something to make you laugh, and you’ll write back teasing me, and all will be well. You’ll never read these silly words… but I hope you know the truth of them even so. All my love, and kisses, and lots of naughty whispers. Your Beloved, Dorian

[elvyn]

Crow

[the-upper-shelf]

Since there’s a bit of Dragon Age craze around here at the moment,  here’s some Varric with the lovely @birdgoddee ’s oc: Chicka! Thank you for commissioning me! ^^

[sacredembers]

Yessss, let Varric be happy!! <3

[sacredembers]

Letter Left Behind

[A note found in a remote Grey Warden outpost near Tantervale. Though the outpost is shabby with disuse, the paper and handwriting on it are fresh.] Dear Val, ‘Val’ is still alright, isn’t it? You never did like titles. How have you been? I’ve been meaning to ask for… so long now. I could never seem to find the time. That’s life on the run for you. Only now I’ve run to a place where there’s not much to do. Except hide, and try to find something decent to eat, and argue with the neighbors (a very disagreeable clan of squirrels. Honestly, I prefer cats). And between all of that, I think. I seem to have a lot of time for thinking these days. I guess I’m writing now because mostly, I think of you. Do you remember back at Amaranthine? The way we’d talk and hours would pass? We made all those pretty plans about running away to Antiva or Rivain. You wanted to swim in the ocean and dive for pearls. I told you I’d just sit on the beach with a pretty girl or boy to pour me chilled wine. The things we would do when we finally slipped our bonds and got away! Only we’re responsible, aren’t we? There’s so much to be done, and we have to be the ones to do it. No slipping that bond… and if you did, how could you ever live with yourself? I don’t know where you are– a little silly to write a letter to someone you can’t find, isn’t it? –but I hope you got away. I know you probably didn’t. The funny thing about you, Val, is that you’re not very nice to yourself, and it keeps you from seeing how nice you really are. You look at your own hands and only ever see the blood and bruised knuckles. But in five years, I could never get this memory out of my head of a woman who just wanted to save the world and everyone in it. Even if you never actually do it, you still think it’s worth doing, just for its own sake! Isn’t that beautiful? You’re beautiful. I should have told you then, and kissed those knuckles and taken those hands. So I’m telling you now, before anything else happens. I’m sorry it took so long… but I think of all people, you understand. You always did, and I will always be grateful to you for that. Wherever you are Val, I hope you’ve found your freedom. With love always from Your Idiot, Anders

[sacredembers]

A Mysterious Letter

[You awake slowly from a dream in which you found yourself struggling to comprehend words called to you, or perhaps written, made murky by the waters of the Fade. There is a letter on the table by your cot- the Avvar runners must have gotten through, now that the rift is closed and the Veil is healing.]

Dear Da’len, After all our time together, no doubt by now you know that among my failings is a certain ineptitude with time. I have seen the passage of long ages, lived moments from a thousand lives, and seen the ways they echo across history. One would think that such perspective would give a person the knowledge of when to act, which moments to seize and which should be allowed to pass. They would be wrong. These words have come too late, and for that, I apologize. You must have questions (as always). You deserve the answers. To begin, you must know that my departure had nothing to do with you, da’len. The failure was not yours, but mine, and I will always regret having done so at the moment of your greatest triumph. Ever since you first became known as the Herald of Andraste, you have heard it said time and again that your people look to you for guidance. To my honor– and, initially, my surprise –you have looked to me, as your hahren. I have watched as a frightened and uncertain young girl became a woman grown, as a lost child became a beloved ruler of many. I say with some authority that such a ruler only comes about once in an age or more. It was my privilege to help you along your way, to offer what knowledge I could and to guide you in your growth… even in those moments when you have grown in spite of me. Perhaps especially in those moments. Which brings me to what I must tell you. The truth, da’len, is this: You do not need me any longer. In this world, the old give way to the rise of the young, and the teacher must always leave the student in the end. You have grown strong and wise, and while I regret the manner of my leaving, there is a strange solace to be found in the certainty of my own obsolescence. You have triumphed in the face of great adversity. Now you must rule a land at peace. And although you will not see me, I will be watching. I am eager to see what you will do with it. All the rest will be made clear in time. Until then, know this: I am proud of you, da’len, and always shall be. In Atish’an, Solas

[sacredembers]

Letter from the Front

[An official report from the Inquisition military front in Emprise du Lion arrives accompanied by a modest, nondescript letter, privately addressed, in the Commander’s handwriting]

My Dear Annan, Today marks the first chance I’ve found to sit and write to you like I promised. This letter comes later than I would have liked, but know that in that time you have never been far from my thoughts. They are a comfort to me, in a place where there is little other comfort to be found. Your last letter made me laugh. The drawings are very good, I keep them with me to look at when I could use something to lift my spirits. What can I say about Emprise du Lion? My report will have told you much already: it is cold, we struggle against the terrain and the unfavorable season as much as we do the Red Templars. The fighting is heavy, and the enemy is desperate, dug in but with nowhere to run. It will be a hard fight to win. And win we must. For now, I am safe and well. Our forces will prevail, and they say they will do it for their Inquisitor. Although I admit, I find myself smiling when I hear that, and they have no way of knowing why. They fight for a cause– a worthy one. And I believe in what we are doing, here and across Thedas, but it’s different this time. [There is a dot of ink where the pen rested thoughtfully]. I am different, because now I’m not just fighting for a cause. I’m fighting for the woman I love. For a future where this doesn’t have to happen anymore, all the absences and the waiting, catching each other in stolen hours and minutes between one crisis and the next. I'm not gifted with words like some are. Another man might court you with better grace. But if there is some virtue to be found within that flaw, it is that when I say that those moments sustain me, that the thought of you is my warmth and light in the long nights, you may trust that I mean it with all that I am. I won’t look too far ahead. It’s better to remain focused on what’s in front of you in a place like this. For now I keep your letter close, and trust that a day is coming when I will take you into my arms, and there will be nothing to hurry either of us away again. I trust in us. Until that day, I remain Faithfully Yours, Cullen