Ghost Story

[Helene Dakesh]

Helene starts, mouth making a small 'o' of surprise. Then nir eyes begin to glow, and ne speaks once more, in a language with a cadence similar to Celestial -- one that Varric, astonishingly, doesn't know. He picks out "Varric" a few times, and one word that sounds suspiciously like "amata", but that's all. 

[Varric]

Blinking rapidly-- futilely-- Varric laughs wetly. "That's a new one, my love. You'll have to teach me so--" He cuts off, the fact of his faith hitting him without mercy. "Helene..."

[Helene Dakesh]

"I know," ne says, with syllables like nothing he's ever heard before, tone carrying meaning clearly. There's more of that unintelligible language, then, followed by a single word delivered with urgency: "Alydra." Another word he doesn't know, then "Alydra" again, tears running down Helene's cheeks.

[Varric]

"I can't," he sobs brokenly. "I can't. I'm trying, but I can't. It's getting better, because-- Emma!" His eyes snap up to nirs. "Emma. I found an apprentice, my love. A real apprentice. She's wonderful. Wounded, hurting and starved, heart and mind, but wonderful. You would have loved her."

[Helene Dakesh]

Again, more unintelligible speech. Tears flowing freely now, Helene says, very slowly and carefully: "puh le ah su. Alydra. oh pe nu." The syllables sound almost Tengu, but the words they don't quite manage to say are in Common. 

[Varric]

"Thank you," Varric says with a more natural laugh. "It's supposed to be 'please and thank you' isn't it?" He swipes at his eyes briskly, not wanting to lose what time he has to look at nem. "I will always love you. I won't give up on us."

[Helene Dakesh]

"Pu lee su," ne repeats, and then there's a bright flash of light. When he blinks his eyes clear again, ne is gone, leaving him alone in the crowd once more. 

[Varric]

Please? "Please what?" he murmurs, not caring enough to rise. "Please... open?" 

[GamesMaster]

Bethany's screams are his only answer. 


Varric wakes himself, coming back into himself in his ritual room well after sunrise. As he cleans up, he finds the runes he carefully laid out in chalk have changed -- three of them have shifted into Alydra's holy symbol where he'd used a generic 'divine power', and the fourth has vanished entirely, leaving his arrangement lopsided, uneven, missing something vital. 

[Varric]

Was that real? Did I (see nem) really see what I did? Or was that a (cruel) conjuration of my own mind? What was that message? What did ne (was it nem?) mean? Please open... Please open what? Open my heart? (Well, mind, given Aldyra.) But for what? Faith? I've been trying for years! But I can't lie, not about this. Not in the truth of my soul. Varric slowly rises to his feet, feeling three hundred, not two. Took longer than it felt inside, he notes, glancing at the window. Not so long Emma will be worried at least. 

A few minutes later, he finally snaps out of his shock. The runes changed. How? Why? Does this mean-- no. Not proof. Evidence, not proof. Could be just a sign of interest. Might not even have been targeted at me (could be Emma, lives here too). But then why the altered vision? Did I feel Alydra's grace in the ritual and-- and conjure nem in response? Blasmephy or not, Helene is Alydra (the worthy parts anyway) in my heart. Fuck. I'm thinking in spheres. Emma. I should talk this out. Looking at the ritual circle one last time, he slips out of the room to find Emma.

Behind him, the three runes remain, the dwarf unable to bring himself to clean them up just yet.

[Marian Hawke]

Emma's surprised him by making breakfast: eggs, leftover porridge, and toast, but breakfast nonetheless. She's even burned his toast for him, toasting hers much lighter. "Good morning," she chirps as he enters. 

[Varric]

"Morning anyway, good or bad is still undetermined," he replies in a tightly controlled voice. He skips the table, heading right for the brewing kettle for coffee. 

[Marian Hawke]

Only to find it already brewing, half done. "How'd your ritual thingie go?"

[Varric]

Roughly sixty percent done (three minutes minimum. Ugh.). "Confusing." A pause. "Heartbreaking."

[Marian Hawke]

"Oh no, what happened?"