Written for Day 7 of Dragon Age Sapphic Week: Alternate Universe/Free Day. Finishing off with some established relationship fluff, and thank you very much to the team that hosted this! It was a lot of fun.
AO3 link
Hanal'ghilan moved among the other halla like she knew that compared to the others she was special. Normally Sera would have rolled her eyes at it, but she felt like if anyone had earned that kind of confidence it was Hanal'ghilan; she was a magnificent creature. Her horns were full and brown, and even from a distance her creamy gold coat could be picked out from the rest of the halla.
Sera had been ready to dismiss Hanal'ghilan as a story, when Ithiren had spoken to Sharon about the creature. Sharon had been willing to go out looking for her though, and no one in the party had argued it; they all saw how different the young elf was with the clan. It wasn't her clan—her clan had been purged with the rest of Wycome—but it was still a clan, and they had welcomed her like she was one of their own despite her title. It was no surprise that after that, Sharon would be willing to do anything they asked.
Wherever Sharon went, of course, Sera followed. Even if following Sharon led her to a Dalish clan in the Exalted Plains.
Still, they were a nice enough sort for elfy elves. No one had tried to convert her into worshipping the Creators and no one had come up to lecture her about all of the ways she was letting down her ancestors, so they were already much better than most of the Dalish Sera had spoken to in the past. She still kept to herself all the same, content to watch the halla herd that milled around the den in the back of the camp.
Sera had always liked halla, truth be told. She wasn't really the naturey sort, but she could appreciate a nice looking animal when she saw one and halla were nice looking and smart. They weren't as large as horses and they didn't scream like harts, and they didn't have weird hands like nugs.
More importantly, being near them meant that no one in the clan would want to bother her. Sera wouldn't rush Sharon to leave, but she wasn't going to put herself out there more than she had to.
She was leaning against the side of the cave entrance, watching Hanal'ghilan as she finally decided she was safe enough to lower her head to start grazing with the other halla, when she heard the soft sound of approaching footsteps. Her ears twitched slightly, and a quick glance over her shoulder made her grin as she saw Sharon approach. "Hey, you. You don't seem more elfy, that's good."
Sharon laughed. "Were you worried about that?"
"A little bit," Sera admitted, straightening up and wrapping an arm around Sharon's waist; Sharon didn't hesitate to lean into her, and her grin softened in response into a smile. "Not a lot, though, you have a pretty head on your shoulders. Having fun?"
Sharon actually looked thoughtful in response to Sera's question, and she loved her for that. "I am," she said. "Being here has been nice, and I just finished speaking with Keeper Hawen. He agreed to let Loranil leave with us."
It took a moment for Sera to remember Loranil as the one who had asked about joining the Inquisition when they had first arrived. He definitely had drive, and Sera couldn't blame him for wanting to leave the clan for something else; a small circle of aravels with a herd of halla and only one merchant wasn't really her ida of a good time, either.
Still, Sharon did look good even from all of the running around they'd done today on behalf of the clan, so Sera wouldn't be as teasing about it as she normally would be otherwise. Elfy or not, finding the clan had clearly been good for her—her shoulders weren't as tense as they had gotten to be lately, and when Sharon leaned into her she was actually letting Sera support her weight instead of holding some of herself back. She was relaxed, guard down, and it was a beautiful thing for Sera to see.
It was a rare thing these days, unfortunately. Sera would take it whenever she saw it, and she would accept whatever caused it. Maybe when they got back to Skyhold, she'd see about arranging some roof time for them; they hadn't done that in awhile. It would be good.
"Good," Sera said, absently rubbing small circles into Sharon's shoulders. "Relaxed is a nice look on you, Inky."
Sharon tilted her head, giving her an amused smile. "Just a nice look?"
Sera smirked, leaning in close enough to speak right against her ear. "If I told you exactly what kind of look it was, we'd need to sneak off for a bit and I don't think anyone would appreciate that."
Sharon actually shivered at that, and Sera's smirk became just a touch smug in response. As tempted as she was to actually do something about that, she'd had sex in the woods before and no thank you. A girl made do when she had no other options, but they had a perfectly good bed waiting back for them in Skyhold and if they really couldn't wait, a tent that was at least warm and private when night fell.
"You're evil," Sharon sighed.
"Not feeling guilty about it, either."
Sharon gave her a gentle hip check and Sera laughed, pressing a kiss to her hair. When they settled, the redhead rested her head against her shoulder. "What about you?" she asked. "You've been over here for awhile."
Sera shrugged, glancing back towards the herd. "Just watching the halla. They're the best part of this whole place."
Sharon smiled. "When I first joined Clan Lavellan, I was convinced the halla would eat me."
Sera stared. "Get off."
"I was!" Sharon laughed. "I was ten and the biggest animal I'd ever seen in the alienage before then were stray dogs. I was absolutely terrified of them."
"No shite? How'd you handle that? Some elfy elf you are, being afraid of halla."
"Deshanna would have Margalit's magic lessons in the halla pen, when she was first starting out." Sharon's smile softened at the memory. "She'd invite me to watch and learn about herbs while Peggy was practicing her magic spells, and the whole time the halla would just… graze around us or be sleeping. Sometimes they'd come up to see what we were doing. Eventually I stopped being afraid of them."
Sharon was doing this more, talking about her clan. She hadn't done that for awhile, after what had happened at Wycome; her smile, though fond, was still sad and didn't quite reach her eyes. Sera would take this weird mix of sadness and fondness over her trying to bury her feelings, though. She didn't care what anyone else tried to bloody say about it, her girl deserved to feel things.
Even if they were bad things. Especially if they were bad things.
"You wanna go in and say hi?" Sera tilted her head towards the hall herd. "I know they aren't your halla, but they are halla."
"I said hi to them when we first came here." Sharon turned her head, pressed a gentle kiss to Sera's shoulder. "What about you?"
Sera hesitated, chewing her bottom lip. Once again, her eyes found Hanal'ghilan. "Don't think that's a good idea," she said quietly. "That one's real fancy. Might not like me saying hi to her."
"Why not?"
"Because." Sera shrugged with the shoulder Sharon wasn't leaning on, suddenly not able to look at her or the halla. Unfortunately, all that was left for her to look at was the ground, and that wasn't terribly interesting. She looked at it anyway. "She can probably tell I'm not all elfy and stuff. Don't want to spook her."
Sharon didn't reply, but Sera could feel her looking at her, which made her even more determined to kep studying the ground despite it continuing to be uninteresting. She felt Sharon's fingers brush her cheek and she huffed out a breath, briefly contemplating the merits of biting her so she wouldn't push this—because of course, Sharon would push this. She always pushed stuff like this, gently.
The scariest part was that Sera was starting to realize she wantd Sharon to push her sometimes.
"You won't scare her, love." Sharon's voice was soft. "Do you want to go say hi to her?"
Sera swallowed, lifting her eyes from the ground. She stared at Hanal'ghilan for a moment before she took a small breath, turning her head to meet Sharon's gaze. There was no smugness there, no expectation, nothing she'd come to expect from the Dalish when they realized she wasn't the right kind of elfy—just warmth that Sera still didn't know what to do with. Sometimes it still amazed her that Sharon looked at her like this.
There were so many other people she could have looked at like this.
Fuck it.
Fuck it.
"Yes." Her voice wavered only slightly. "If—if that's okay with her."
Sharon smiled like somehow she wasn't the one doing Sera a favor and pulled away; a part of Sera missed her warmth immediately, wanted to pull her back in and hold her close and say she'd changed her mind, actually. A part of her wanted to stay like this. It was safe and familiar, to just stay like this.
The rest of her felt Sharon take her hand, squeezing reassuringly before she took the first step into the halla herd, and after only the slighest hesitation Sera followed her. Sharon was here, she reminded herself. Sharon was here and that made everything okay. Even if Hanal'ghilan turned her nose up at her, Sharon had still thought enough of her to try this.
Sharon was here. That made this okay. Sera took a quiet breath, and she could still feel the nerves settled in her stomach, but she squeezed Sharon's hand back and followed her into the herd.
The rest of the halla paid them no mind as they passed, and at first Hanal'ghilan didn't even lift her head; Sera saw her ears briefly flick once she and Sharon were right next to her, but the golden halla only paused for a moment to peer up at them before she decided they weren't a threat and went back to grazing. Sera laughed, something quiet and nervous. "I'm not gonna get struck down by your Creators for this, am I?" she asked, and it was really only half joking.
Sharon smiled reassuringly. "You won't be," she promised. "If they try I'll protect you from them."
Sera shouldn't have believed that. She should not have believed that. The fact that she did believe it, that Sharon said it so quickly and so certainly, was something she could untangle at another time, preferably when she wasn't surrounded by halla. "You're crazy," she muttered, and to the sound of Sharon's laugh she steeled herself and reached out with her free hand, tentatively resting it against Hanal'ghilan.
Sera waited.
Nothing happened.
She wasn't suddenly struck down by the Creators. She had the sense that they were being watched, but they'd been watched constantly since finding the clan's camp, and no one was ripping Sera away from Hanal'ghilan screaming that she had somehow sullied her with her touch. Hanal'ghilan herself continued to graze, completely unbothered.
Sera hesitated, then after a moment she just—gave Hanal'ghilan a light pat, running her fingers through the golden fur carefully. "Huh," she said. "D'you think she likes it?"
"I don't think she minds it," Sharon replied, and if Sera hadn't been so focused on Hanal'ghilan she would have seen the way the other elf was looking at her like she was Mythal hanging the moon in the sky. She was focused on Hanal'ghilan, however, and she couldn't help the soft giggle when the halla actually seemed to shift slightly, leaning into her touch.
"Okay, she definitely likes it," Sera said, and now she was smiling. "I get it, no one here'll give you a good scratch, huh? Good thing I'm here. I'll give you some scratches."
"See?" Sera could hear the smile in Sharon's voice, and sure enough when she turned her head to look at her she was smiling; something small and warm and just a touch smug. "I told you you wouldn't scare her."
Sera rolled her eyes, but she still leaned in and kissed her lightly. "Shut it, you."
Okay so your girlfriend lies to you about how everything related to Mythal and the Elvhen pantheon is fake to make you feel better. But she's still got a job to do, so two days later she tells you that you need to, umm, hike back into the Wilds south of Orlais to find a dragon at an Altar of Mythal after listening to the magical voices of the Elvhen people in her head. And would you come with her, pretty please? And because you still have a job to do (and also you worry when she leaves without you) you're like 'uuuugh, fiiiine'.
And then you get somewhere in the jungle when she's randomly like "It’s here. I can feel it." And Solas, the fucking worst elfy egghead, is also there and he's also going, "Yes. I feel it as well." And because you're feeling a little bit PISSED about this whole situation you go, "Probably just a pile of rocks." But your girlfriend just completely IGNORES YOU because she's not in the mood for your passive aggressive bullshit, "I’m sure it’s here. Just keep an eye out."
And then you fight a dragon, but halfway through your gilfriend does some totally swag mind control trick to call off the fight and make the dragon do her bidding and come to your aid in the future. And this is just soooo cool that you completely forgot what you were upset about for maybe five minutes.
Been readin a lot of undeserved hate to Sera now that the hype of DATV is reawakening old DAI discourse so as a Sera romancer (with a Lavellan inqui nonetheless), allow me to shout my take
Look at it this way - Sera values freedom and reality. She sees Dalish culture (whom Solas also despise) as a shackle towards an unknown past that doesn't benefit anyone. She hates nobles partly because of how alienage are treated. She understand the reality that EVERYONE is equal on this maker-given earth of all kind, and decided to free herself from any shackles to liberate as many people as possible through deviant act againts rulers and, in extend, even gods.
In a way, Sera is an elf but refuse to be dictated by only her birth condition - her ears, her eye shape, her physical being. She wants to be her own autonomy. She is an elf but not elvhen. She sees all it as bullshit social dictation, construct, and contracts. Why should she be an elf just because she is born as an elf? She is, Sera. Tbh that's beautiful.
