Healing the Dark - Dragon Age Inquisition Fanfic

As the Inquisition grew, there were more and more agents spread about the country, and every time a new rift was discovered, its location was noted and sent to Haven. They kept a list of them in the war room and marked their rough whereabouts on the map. 

The ones nearest Haven, Holli was sent to under the watchful eye of at least one of the inner circle—which had grown with the addition of Iron Bull and Blackwall—and a small contingent of soldiers handpicked by Cullen. 

Iron Bull was her first encounter with a Qunari, and she may have been less than eloquent about it. But he was a fucking minotaur! Granted, his feet were normal, and, ok, his face was not a bull's. But he had massive horns! The dude himself was massive! She couldn't help but stare. Of course she apologised for it, explained she'd never seen a Qunari before, then pestered him with questions about his anatomy, his culture, and his people's evolution. He didn't seem to mind at least. 

Although they had intended to keep her origins between those that had been there the day she'd sealed the Breach, it had gotten out that she wasn't from Thedas. Wasn't from this world at all, not just some foreign country far beyond this continent. Bull had promised to keep it out of his reports, but the rumour had gone beyond the inner circle. No one sought direct confirmation, but others had overheard people talking about it.

After learning that tidbit about her, she had been the one peppered with questions. Some of them—Vivienne and Sera predominantly—hadn't believed it. They'd just thought she was a bit odd and spoke nonsense words sometimes. (Bit rich coming from Sera.) Holli had shown them the books she had and even cracked out a bag of lollies to share. It helped, but it wasn't exactly conclusive proof. 

But Holli had decided she wasn't going to put that much more effort into it; they could believe her or not. But she was fine answering any questions they asked. 

Varric still asked her a lot from time to time as well, and she wasn't sure, but she thought he might have been drafting up another book. She had explained to him the sci-fi genre; would her world be considered that in this one? 

Holli was adjusting to this new life, even if there were still aspects she despised—lack of indoor plumbing and electricity being a biggie. But she was learning and finding her feet. 

When she wasn't travelling, learning with Solas, or practicing her magic, she helped in the healer's hut. She had even managed to get them to start adhering to some more decent hygiene practices—stricter about sanitising tools, washing hands all the time, and wearing masks. It had taken time, but there had been a noticeable drop in infections. 

She had been a bit grossed out by the maggots, but she did know it was something people had used since ancient times in her own world and could actually be quite effective. If disgusting. 

She had gotten to learn how to suture wounds, though, which she was super stoked about. And the physician and herbalists seemed happy enough to show her how to help, especially since she'd proven she knew a thing or two given the drop in infections. 

Learning to heal with magic was the next thing she wanted to learn when it came to her magic lessons. In the weeks since he'd started teaching her, she'd managed to reach a point where she could sort of defend herself against demons if they managed to slip past everyone else somehow, at least stall until help came. And she could summon that shield at will now too; she could protect herself and wait for help to arrive. She was discretely practicing with more offensive magic. While she didn't want to fight and kill people, she didn't want to be completely reliant on the others all the time either. 

"Holli?"

She heard Solas's voice from the entrance to the healing quarters and looked up from her patient. She worked on patients now! They would never let her do this in her own world. 

She gave him a smile, washing her hands with the soap and water provided before joining him at the door.

"What's up?" She asked.

"Cassandra would like you to join them in the war room," he told her. 

"Right now?"

"I believe so."

He walked with her to the Chantry, but she had noticed he tended to keep his distance from it. She wasn't sure she had ever seen him go inside either.

"Solas, how hard is healing magic? I'd like to learn."

Solas had been expecting the request sooner or later. One thing he had come to learn about her was she had a voracious appetite for knowledge, especially the healing arts. But then, her aspiration was to become a doctor, so it was hardly surprising. While he'd had pupils in the past, none were quite as quick or as enthusiastic as her. 

"No harder than any other school of magic, but the consequences of failure are dire."

"Failures will always be dire, or can be dire?"

"I suppose 'can be' would be more apt, at least in your case. You're an excellent student."

She grinned up at him, eyes warm and pleased. He did not give out praise often, but she truly was. And she didn't let his praise go to her head. 

"We can work on the theory of it when next you're free. It would be best if you kept your practice to the inner circle, however."

She nodded. There was still a lot of distrust for magic; she'd seen it in the healing house since she'd started helping out there. 

They reached the Chantry, and he bid her a pleasant day before going on his way. She watched him a moment. Solas was kind and a gentleman, but despite that, there was a distance to him, an air of solitude or loneliness maybe. He triggered a mix of compassion and pity in her, like those videos on the internet of abandoned pets who she wished would find a forever home and family. 

Of course she would keep that to herself; she doubted he'd be pleased being likened to an abandoned pet in need of adoption.

She headed into the chantry, making her way down to the war room. Inside the other three were already there.

"Ah, good, you're here," Cullen said. 

"What's up?" She asked.

"Tomorrow we'll be leaving for Therinfal Redoubt," Cassandra said.

Holli looked to the map; she knew the words by heart now thanks to Solas's lessons and a bit of help from the others. Therinfal Redoubt was quite a ways from Haven. She knew it was where the Templars were holed up too. 

"We're ready to try for the Templars?"

"We are," Josephine told her. "We have enlisted the help of ten of Orlais's most influential families. They are all travelling to Therinfal Redoubt as we speak, and we have promised you as our voice in these negotiations."

Negotiations... She could manage that. 

"I'll be negotiating with the Lord Seeker, right?" She asked.

They nodded.

"Do we have any dirt on him? Kiddy diddler? Rapist? Closet furry? Foot fetish?"

"Uh, no, nothing like that I'm afraid," Leliana replied. "What is a closet furry?"

"In this context, I mean the kind of guy who's sexually attracted to anthropomorphic animals. And in the closet is just... hiding it. Furryism's not a thing here then?"

"It is where you're from?" Cullen asked, morbidly curious.

"Yeah. It isn't always about sexual attraction," she admitted. "But it could be enough to blackmail Lord Seeker if it was one of his kinks."

"Let's try and negotiate like normal people," Cullen suggested.

"Fine," she sighed. "But it would be easier if we didn't have to. Got a book on the Seekers I could read before we get there?"

"Several," Josephine said. "I'll have them ready for you when we're done here."

Holli nodded. Maybe there'd be something useful in them that could help her. Not as much as blackmail material, but more knowledge about them couldn't hurt. She would have to get help with the reading; she wasn't quite fluent yet, but she certainly didn't need anyone reading it to her anymore. 

They spoke a little more about the logistics before Holli followed Josephine to her office. The older woman found several books on her shelves, thick, bloody tomes, and handed them to Holli with a smile. 

"Bloody hell," she muttered.

She probably wasn't going to be getting through too much of this before they made it to Therinfal Redoubt. Hopefully she'd at least find something useful.

"And we're sure we've got absolutely no dirt on Lord Seeker?" She tried again.

"None. If he isn't clean, he's very good at hiding it."

Holli huffed a breath but thanked Josephine for the books. She would go back to her place to make a start. 

As soon as Holli stepped out of the Chantry, an arrow struck the ground in front of her, narrowly missing her feet by a few millimetres and startling her enough to drop the books she was carrying.

She heard Sera's cackle from the top of the rocky outcropping nearby and cast a fierce glare her way as she bent down to pick up the books. 

"Sera, you dipstick," Holli called out. 

Sera hopped down, joining her while Holli inspected the books to make sure there wasn't too much damage to them. These weren't bloody hers, and she always tried to be careful with other people's belongings. 

"What was that for?" Holli asked, kicking Sera's arrow out of the ground. 

"Testing you. You failed. Wouldn't take much to kill ya and then where'd we be? Nothing would ever get back to normal."

"Well, I'll be too dead to care, so not my problem."

"Not very heroicky," she pointed out.

"The heroics are for you guys, the fighters. I just close the rifts."

"Nearly died trying to close the Breach last time I heard."

"Not true, just passed out. I was fine. And once we get the templars it should be even easier to close. Hopefully once it's gone, that'll fix my hand, and then I can focus on finding my way home."

"And leave all this behind?"

"Yes."

She wanted flushable toilets; she wanted to make sure her mother was okay, to make sure her friends were okay, to find out what happened to the boy who shot her. Did Katie survive?

"Now, I have a shit ton of reading to make a start on," she was about to walk away before a thought occurred to her. "Hey, your friends, they don't have any rumours or info on Lord Seeker Lucius, do they?"

"I can ask."

"Awesome, thanks, Sera."