Chiyo Lavellan. eir’ean- ‘snowbird’. Good girls don’t play with fire.
Fiddling around with the whole aesthetic thing that I keep seeing crop up all over tumblr, again... Who else wants to make these too? @llynnyia @queensoledad @zaralethallan
Another huge thanks to @llynnyia for a silky smooth edit and for being a constant friend on this journey of mine. I couldn’t do it without her! <3
Snippet under the cut!
Dark, wet paw prints dotted the tidy footpath. They evaporated into wisps of steam as each was reached in turn. The wide stride and claw-tipped toes were telling enough, but Chiyo recognized Haol's unique, irregular gait. Healthy as he was with her frequent feedings, the wolf still had an incurable limp though it didn't slow him. He traveled further ahead of her every night they spent searching, but this was the first evening she'd not seen him from the start of the chase.
Her calls had gone unanswered, the fresh, proffered kill untouched. She'd no choice but to follow the tracks and comb the dream alone.
Yet try as she might to keep her eyes focused on the disappearing trail, the scenery around her proved to be most distracting in its simplicity. This place felt too much like a forgotten home, a cozy niche of idyllic design.
It could not have just been the fixated Fade that rendered the boundless forest so brilliantly red. More than magic made the foliage burst bright with scarlet over striking underbellies of golden amber and sun-drenched orange. Deep in fall, not a single speck of a brown leaf littered the floor. Not a twig drooped out of place or root lay exposed. All was alive and eternal, clinging steadfast to succor the vaulted branches high above.
Each sanctioned tree pulsed healthy and strong, feeding on the energy of the rich earth about their roots and the ubiquitously revitalizing air. Crystals glittered from the boughs, hung as dazzling pendulums above the maze-work path. A smattering of light refracted across the clean, limestone tiles, each an ember caught in the unending stillness. No breeze breathed this deeply in any forest's chest.
This rarest of memories was more than a mere dead reflection, a pale impression of what had once been. Solid and sure, one of the most complete and stable she'd ever born witness to. Seamless, gapless, and utterly calm. A return to Haven after its destruction, the shared tent in the Arbor Wilds were the only dreams similar enough to compare. Unwittingly having stumbled across Solas' reveries then she'd come to recognize the weightlessness of her own recollections—and the distinctive features of his. Walking here felt real and lasting, the ground immobile beneath her feet. Most of all, it was empty, solitude his signature even in sleep.
The vacuum vacancy of people and animal alike was the sole telling sign, but that seclusion did not remove the subtle prick of instinct that warned to being watched. Chiyo clenched her jaw and honed anew, picking up the pace on calloused heels. She had to stay alert. Any hidden danger could dwell within such vast tranquility, trespassers lulled to complacency.
Were it not for the thrum that drew her onward, nearer to the vision's heart, Chiyo would have easily lost herself amongst the barely marked byways, all directions indistinct from the others. The open corridors followed the trees without force or measure, bending to the will of nature and the lay of the land. The forest stretched on, crimson and gold, living and fantasy. With no material indications or any discernable change as she moved what seemed like miles forward, Chiyo found it more and more difficult to swallow her growing frustration.
Something was here, waiting to be found, but it was proving to be rather elusive. Even after an extended jog, bare feet slapped sore on the smooth tiles, she felt no closer to the true memory itself.
It was just her luck that the paw prints vanished entirely around the next bend. Maybe the spirit wolf had given up too…
