@divinesleft said: ‘ poetry, beauty, romance, love… these are what we stay alive for. ’
THE WARDEN KNOWS SHE’S RIGHT , but it’s also been so long since she had any of those things . adriana smiles a little at leliana , recalling many an evening curled up in the library with books of poems . what’s the point? she remembers one particularly rude templar asking . romance isn’t for mages , knife-ear . the maker cursed you with your magic , and you’ll always be alone because of it . get used to the idea . except she isn’t alone now , and she’d been loved before his words , too . tamlen . the thought of him , how his face looked before the taint , strikes her heart like a blow from a knife . she stopped loving him sometime in the circle , but . . .
‘ i was in love with him once , you know , ’ she says before really realizing that she’s begun to speak . ‘ tamlen , i mean . we grew up together . we kissed beneath the forest canopy . everyone thought we’d be bondmates , until . . . ’ until nirasha’s magic . until a terrified adriana — no , no , she was idrilla then , young and bare-faced — turned away from all she knew to keep her sister safe . happy . loved . and now tamlen is lost forever . she put the blade through his chest herself . ‘ it doesn’t matter , not anymore . but he was my friend , still . i miss him like a rib torn from my chest . ’