Ghost Story

[GamesMaster]

Silence's nose dips, her eyes glancing to the floor.

[Varric]

Huh. I was just about to rephrase that to be less complex but... Huh. "So not Alydra but something expressed by Ne's concepts or dogma." He frowns, heading tilting back and forth as he thinks. "Related to communication... Probably not a spell, not much that would give speech or clarity to an undead animal, but--" His gaze sharpens, flicking from Emma to Silence to the symbol and then towards the door.

"Damn. Going to have to entirely reset the ritual room again."

[GamesMaster]

The ritual room reset, he dreams once more, a lucid dream, more awake than asleep. At first he sits beside the well, out of view of the house, sobbing uncontrollably; he is a failure, a worthless failure, worse than useless, it's his fault she's dead, he can't bear one more moment of this, he can't go on--

As he feels a warm furry body press against his side, he snaps out of it, popping out of the body he was in and appearing instead a few feet away. Now he can see clearly that it's Emma he was inhabiting; it's Emma who sobs against Silence's fur, Emma who feels wretched and hopeless. 

[Varric]

I can reach Emma, Silence can reach Emma. Probably going to be a bit trippy, but seems to be working. He carefully doesn't allow himself to dwell on thoughts of 'my fault' and death. "Alright, so this must be shortly after her sister died..."

[GamesMaster]

"This is often," says Silence, her voice simultaneously just a soft 'wuff'ing noise and perfectly intelligible. "Too often. Person hurting."

[Varric]

Varric slowly turns to look at the second Silence, one formed of ghostly blue-green fire and mist. "Working better than intended," he finally says. 

[GamesMaster]

Silence wags her tail, and the scene before Varric fragments. Emma is sitting curled up in a ball at the well; Emma is running to the well, tripping, falling, and just giving in to sobs on the ground. Emma is drawing water from the well, still trying not to cry as she wrangles the heavy bucket. Silence is by her side, between her and the house, in each fragmentary scene; Silence-the-ghost remains still, watching the fragmented clips play out, giving a soft whine of sympathy. 

[Varric]

"Why the fuck is she drawing water?" Varric mutters, trying to piece this all together.

[GamesMaster]

"Alpha dam said to." Silence snorts, clearly unimpressed with Alpha Dam's commands. 

[Varric]

"Bitch," Varric corrects Silence. "And sure as fuck not the alpha." He glances around, trying to take in the setting, not just Emma and memory Silence. "Is this the manor?"

[GamesMaster]

He sees Emma coming out the kitchen door, Emma going into the door, Emma at the upstairs window, Emma climbing down the rose trellis to sneak out of the house--

"Yes," wuffs Silence. "This is Home."

[Varric]

"I'm a fucking moron."

Emma is Marian. How did I miss-- Didn't want to realize she was a ghost. (Please open) Well I'm seeing it now. So Bethie is Beth from the journal. But-- She died in town. Why is her ghost here?

[GamesMaster]

Silence wuffs agreement, but above, the skies darken, and a distant rumble of thunder is heard.

[Varric]

"Emma is Marian," Varric mutters, rubbing his face. Distracted, he doesn't notice the skies and thunder at first. "Emma is Marian Hawke. Or Amell, or whatever."

[Marian Hawke]

"I-- I am?" 

Her voice doesn't come from any of the see-through avatars; it comes on the wind, as if from far away, yet perfectly clear and audible.