I do not own Dragon Age or any associations to the game or it's developers.

Trigger Warning: Chapter contains a small amount of gore as well as death

After Skyhold was officailly found and established as the base of the Inquisition, Lilliana immediately got to work on preparing allies for our cause with the help of Josephine. Everything was building up to be amazing. Then she got a letter that started a chain reaction.

Dear Inquisition and their leader,

I am located in the southern plains beside the Storm Coast and I bear urgent attention to a rift opened nearby my clan. We have had many gone missing since this began, and request assistance in this. Please, the saftey of my people is at concern and I do not wish to report any more deaths to families. In return for your assistance, you will find us as allies to you and your cause. I pray you get this letter with haste.

~Keeper Nikoya

We came up on the encampment of elven cautiously, stopped just before the first set of tents by two elven warriors equiped with long, curved blades and large wooden shields that were obviously hand carved and laqured.

"Hold, what is your buisness here?" I waited for the word Shemlen, but it never came. I lifted my head higher like Josephine had taught me. In the clan I came from, we always thought lowly of outsiders.

"I represent the Inquisition as it's Inquisitor. I was given word from your keeper to meet her." I heard Solas shifting behind me and Varric slowly moving his hands to grab Bianca at any moment. The only one who seemed rather indiffrent was Bull.

"Keeper? I'm sure your mistaken. We do not take practice in Keeper traditions, Inquisitor." The other Warrior spoke up, her face twisting at the word 'keeper' like it was a poisonous insect. Another woman carying an arsinal of weapons moved up behind them and put a hand on their shoulders.

"Let them pass, I contacted the Inquisition." She spoke. The two seemed surprised, but moved aside for us to follow the woman towards one of the fires at the far end of the camp. She had long black hair that spilled out in waves over one shoulder and skimmed her knee while she walked. As she did, she braided it and secured it with a red ribbon so it fell like a spike down the length of her back. She had two daggers in holsters on either hip, a bow and quiver at her back, crossed with a mages staff made of a solid peice of wood fixed with two large metal sear heads. She had no Vallisim on her face, just like the warriors before, and two rather large white and grey wolves prowled at her sides. A quick look around showed that there were at least ten to fifteen more wolves around the camp, but none seemed to be allied with any of the other elves. They all played and prowled around completely free like normal wolves, only a bit more tamed. They even allowed some of the children to hang on their fur and ruffle their coats.

"Hello, Inquisitor. My name is Nakoya. In any terms other than our own, I would be known as the keeper of this clan, but as you can probably see, we do things diffrently here." She spoke completely naturaly, like she had grown up around humans rather than Elves.

"I see this. None of you bare the Valisim, and there are wolves everywhere." I spoke cautiously, a smile played on her lips.

"You have no need to be cautious here, Inquisitor. We understand our ways are not as widely popular as most dalish customs. These two-" She motioned to the wolves at her sides, " Are Akia and Tiranas. They are the alfa male and female of the pack you see. They are my family of sorts and help to protect our clan."

"Family?" That's an odd way to put it.

"It's a rather long story that I'd be glad to tell you some other time. I'm afraid we must adress the concerns I brought you here for firstly." She seemed almost sad all of the sudden, a wave of grief clouding her features for only a moment.

"You said you had a rift needing closed?" I recalled the letter.

"Yes. There is a cave not far from here where some of the children have been lured in by demons coming from a rift in the center. As requested, the sealing of this rift will reward you ally with my clan with the Inquisition, as well as my assistance if you have need of me." The smile returned to her face as if she was relieved.

"What sort of aid could you bring to the inquisition?" I asked.

"We have soldiers, rouges who can become spies, and many other attributes that would be at your disposal. I'll admit that I've been watching this Inquisition for quite some time with a lot of interest. I've only waited this long to contact you under the basis of not having a lot to offer your cause until recently." She crouched to stoke the fire as she spoke, a gesture that might of seemed informal to most diplomats, but gave me a sense of friendly casualty that made me relax a bit.

"The Inquisition could use you," I smiled, "Where is this cave?"

"It's not far from here. If you need any supplies, feel free to talk to Mika over there-" SHe pointed over to a younger man with short blond hair, "Other than that, just come and see me when you're ready to leave." I nodded and left the fire ring, moving to another section of the camp so I could talk to the others.

"So what do you guys think? Any thoughts?" I pressed my back to the bark of a tree and cracked my neck. My Daggers are feeling so heavy lately.

"Have I ever meantioned that I do not like demons?" Bull grumbled and I gave him a firm pat on the arm.

"I find it interesting the way this clan operates," Solas said, smoothing out the cloth of his sleave, " They do not seem to be very traditional in Dalish customs as most clans do, and very few of them have Valisim markings."

"Maybe those who do weren't origionally from this clan," Varric crossed his arms in thought, " That happens a lot with dwarven nobles. They get the crests of their lineage embroidered on their clothes and then suddenly they're on the surface cowering because someone's dying uncle swore them a tyrant or something."

"It's possible," I murmured, "The wolves make me nervous somehow, but I can't really put my finger on why."

"That woman has just about every weapon in Thedas straped to her and you fear the wolves?" Varric chuckled, making me smile.

"It is weird, though." Bull shrugged, "Aren't Elves supposed to fear wolves?"

"We're taught to be wary of the Dread Wolf," I sigh, "It's never really said we should fear wolves in general."

"Still," Bull rolled his shoulders in a way that I knew was him being nervous, "Those wolves are not trained, their still wild. "

"Not exactly," Solas shifted, "They seemed tamed to the Alfa male and female's attatchment to Nikoya."

"Magic?" I raised a brow and he shook his head.

"No, their attatchment isn't feuled by force of magic. The fact that the female is represented as an alfa suggests that they weren't tamed into submission either." He shifted, lost in thought.

"You know a lot about wolves, chuckles," Varric laughed.

Solas smiled, "I've had a lot of experience with them, that's all."

"She said they were sort of like family to her," I said, mostly to myself, "I wonder if that has something to do with it."

"Can we just skip to hiting things, boss?" Bull huffed.

"Yea, let's get going," I sighed, peeling myself from the tree and rolling my shoulders before stepping around Varric and heading back to Nikoya where she was sitting next to the fire, Akia and Tiranas curled up on her left with their heads on her knee. She smiled at them like a mother looking at her children and smoothed their fur fondly. When we were almost to her, they both bolted upright at the sound of our footsteps and nuzzled her arms and back as if in warning, only stopping once she was on her feet.

"We're ready to depart," I stated and she nodded, whistling low. Three more of the pack broke off and came over, nuzzling each other and then the Alfas as they made their way over.

"The others will watch over everything while we're gone," she smiled, just as a shout came from the distance beyond the forrest.

"Nikoya!" A woman burst through the clearing in tears, "Ruby's gone! She's gone!"

"Mina calm down. What happened?" Nikoya's face was stone calm despite the obvious fear reflected in her eyes.

"We were in the field and Ruby started talking to herself. I asked her if everything was alright and she turned to me- Niki it was so scary. Her face was completely blank like she was sleepwalking- she started walking towards the caves and when I tried to stop her I blacked out. I woke up in the field and she was gone." The woman wailed on her knees, pressing her forhead to the ground. Nikoya said nothing, mearly walking around the woman and making her way into the forrest with us and her wolves at her heels.

Once we were far from the camp, Varric moved a bit in front of me so he was in step with her. Akia nuzzled her hand and whimpered softly until she hooked her hand in her fur, a soft and sad sigh escaping her I knew all too well.

"This girl, Ruby, she means a lot to you, doesn't she?" Varric asked softly. She let out a hollow sounding laugh.

"All of the people in my clan mean a lot to me." She gave Akia's head a soft pat, "Mina is like a sister to me, and I helped her when she gave birth to Ruby. That little girl, I've watched her grow. Yes, she means a lot to me."

We walked in silence for what seemed like an eternity before we came up on a rather large field of herbs and flowers. From the edge of the field, I could see the large opening in the mountain wall that I assumed was our target. The wolves growled at Nikoya's side, proving me right in my assumption. Akia nipped and nuzzled one of the younger wolves as we moved as if to tell it to keep going, recieving a whimper in return. I kinda felt bad for him, he must be relativly young still. We stopped at the entrance of the cave and I heard Solas make a weird hiccup sound behind me.

"The veil is thicker here than I would have thought." he said, touching the cave wall tenderly like it were an injured animal.

"The back of this cave is a burial ground," Nikoya said, her face pained, "It's where our old proteas buried my family."

"Proteas?" I wondered, my hands itching to grab my weapons.

"That's what we call ourselves instead of keepers," she said, seemingly unwilling to cross the threshold into the cave.

"What happened to your family?" I asked, regretting the words as they seemed to smack her in the face.

"My family- my mother, father and elder brother- were all killed in these woods after a demon took hold of my father who was a mage. My mother was gravely ill after giving birth to me and sent my brother out with me to keep me safe. He hid me in a tree hollow just before my father- or what used to be him- caught up to him. Once my brother was dead, my father was torn apart by a pack of wolves. My Proteas- Lilly- said she found me three years after that incident amongst those same wolves. They had taken me in as their own and managed to keep me alive. She brought the wolves fresh meat from a hunt and they allowed her to take me into the camp and raise me. The wolves never left me."

"That's horrible," I frowned, "How did they find you? Know who you were?"

"They knew my mother had been pregnant and was supposed to be coming to their clan. A hunter witnessed the massacre, but did not know where I had been hidden. They searched for me." She looked into the mouth of the cage and her hands came to rest on the two wolves' heads.

"Parimeter" She said and the three wolves dodged into the trees. Tiranas and Akia howled, responded in all directions by the other wolves, hidden. Tiranas nudged Nikoya's hand and she grabbed her small daggers from either holster. They had long cords hanging off of the hilts that she coiled up the length of her forearm before stepping into the cave with a huff of air.

The first thing that hit me when we entered the cave was the silence. The sounds of nature completely halted the moment we entered the cave, even our footsteps made no sound what so ever. My heart thundered in my chest like a war drum and I felt my head grow heavy with every breath. I could hear my own breathing as well as the others, but everything else was empty. The anchor began to glow and warmth spread up my arm slowly, signaling that we were close to the rift. The silence seemed to press harder against my ears and I suddenly wondered why no one was speaking. Surely Bull expecially wouldn't let the silence keep going like this. I looked over to him to see that his lips were moving like he was talking, but heard nothing.

The glow peirced through the cave walls, it's bright green hue flooding the entire cavity it was suspended in. A horrid screaming echoed off the walls, hurting my now-sensitive ears and nearly cripling me. Demons began shifting out of the glow and hurtling towards us.

I grabbed my daggers and let the shadows swallow me, moving cautiously towards the center. I looked over to see two tiny daggers embedd themselves into a shade next to me and said beast being twisted through the air right into Bull's giant awaiting sword. Nikoya was using those cords like grapling hooks, twisting them in patterns through the air after throwing them to slice up unsuspecting demons and pulling them into range of fire, arrows and swords, or tearing them limb by limb with the help of her two wolves. It was simply incredible to see her move with such accuracy, stoping every now and again to cast a spell or dodge an attack.

Once I was centered, I broke free of the shadows and aimed the anchor at the rift, willing the mark to seal the tear, invisioning a giant needle and thread slowly stitching it together again. Once it was closed, I pulled the mark free, causing all the remaining demons to wail in pain and seek their fate at the end of a blade.

The hue died down and I could hear the sounds of nature again. The wind whistling through the cavern mixed with the sound of running water made my sore ears feel better. The others came bustling towards me and I had to swallow bile at the sight of the two wolves bounding towards me with Nikoya, blood plastered to their jowls and dripping in semi-coagulated chunks from their fur. Nikoya was instantly on her knees, combing her fingers through their coats and checking them for wounds, nuzzling their necks.

Once she was certain they were okay, she straightened up.

"Okay find Ruby," she ordered and the two fell in sinc with her on either side.

"Can they find her?" I asked, settling my daggers back on my strap. She headed towards a cavern in the floor and sighed, stepping out on a rickety staircase that creaked under her weight. Bull shifted uncomfortably and I resisted the urge to laugh.

"Their wolves, not bloodhounds" she said, wrinkling her nose, "But this cave is only one straight path. It shouldn't be too difficult to find them."

"Alright, I'll come with you, you guys stay here" I said to the others before falling into step with her, keeping my distance to three steps above her the whole way down. We dropped down into a clearing with a little girl in the center of the giant room. She had short, choppy red hair and was wearing a ragged white dress. She was laying on her side with her back to us, clutching something in her hand. Akia and Tiranas growled.

"Ruby?" Nikoya called out to the girl. She stirred, moving so very slow to a sitting position that I felt like the world had been set in slow motion. When she turned to face us, I screamed.

Her eyes were missing and it looked as if her mouth had been burned shut with a fire poker. A black substance dripped from her empty sockets and nose. Thats when I realised she had been laying in a small pool of blood and hair that looked like it was cut from her head. She whimpered softly, her eyelids twitching as if they were trying to close. Her forhead was creased in pain and her breathing was irregular. I heard retching beside me and tried not to look over at Nikoya.

"I'm so sorry, Ruby" She cried, "I couldn't get to you in time, I'm so sorry." An arrow flew through the air and crashed in between the girl's eyes. I looked behind me to see Varric making his way forward from the stairs. He pulled his scarf off and draped it over the girl's head.

"Come on, let's get out of here," I said because the silence was starting to make me feel worse. I put a hand on Nikoya's shoulder without looking at her, heading towards the stairs. I didn't even pay attention if they were following me, I just kept walking until I was at the edge of the field and was stopped by the younger wolf from before. Without thinking, I got on my knees and pressed my face into his fur. He stumbled a bit and made a little growling noise, but didn't try to stop me or harm me in any way. His coat was soft in the same way wheat is soft. It's hard to describe, but it felt nice and warm against my skin.

By the time I composed myself and stood up away from the little wolf, the others were behind me. Nikoya seemed a little better than before, and the two wolves beside her howled for the others to join them back to the camp.

"Hey, Nikoya?" I asked on our way.

"Yea?" She replied, sounding sad but not to bad.

"What's the little one's name?" We came up into the camp faster than it seemed when we left.

"Fen" she said, sitting down next to the fire from earlier and pouring some water on Tiranas' snout to clean it.

"How old is he?" I asked, sitting across from her. Bull crounched to a sit in front of a tree, Varrac left to go talk to Mina and Solas seemed content sitting cross-legged next to a rather large female wolf who was nursing a breed of pups.

"He's three as of yesterday. He's one of Akia's pups." She motioned for Akia to come over so she could have her snout cleaned next. Tiranas seemed to like the water, but Akia huffed and growled at it as it was smoothed through her fur and removed the remnants of battle from her.

"He let me ruffle his fur earlier. He didn't seem to mind it too much. He only growled a bit at first." I rambled, pulling my knees to my chest and resting my arms on them.

"He doesn't usually like people touching him, but he tolerates it." She smiled sadly, "When he was a pup, he bit me when I picked him up. I was trying to give him medicine for his leg after he got caught on a briar bundle." She rolled up her sleave to show me a tiny U shaped scar right above her wrist that wrapped from the front to the back of her arm.

"He held on for a long time and wouldn't let go. I just held him there untill he calmed down before giving him the numbing drops. He hasn't bitten me since." As if on cue, he trotted over and nuzzled his mother's neck before dropping on his belly between us and putting his head on his paws.

"Has he ever bitten anyone else?" I asked, reaching out and gingerly touching the tips of his fur.

"He's snapped at a few of the little kids who've tried to ride on him. He nipps sometimes, just hard enough to tell you no, but he doesn't bite anything I don't tell him to." I smoothed my hand in his fur and rubbed small circles into his back. He huffed and I got a little bolder, running my hand up to the base of his neck. He growled and I moved back down to his back.

"He's calmer," Nikoya smiled, "he sees you as an equal right now, someone who's neither an threat or a command. That's how it was for me and my pups," She ruffled their fur in emphasis. Varric came over and plopped down on my other side with a sigh.

"How'd it go?" Nikoya asked, biting her lip.

"Well you were right about having me tell her. She's calmed down for now and said she's glad Ruby found peace. She says it'll be some time before she'll be willing to talk about it with you." He stared into the coals as he spoke, his shoulders sagging a bit with each word.

"I expected as much. She usually needs time to cope before coming to me. It's either that or we feed off each other's grief and completely lose our minds." She moved to the side and flattened to the ground on her side, facing the fire. Tiranas nuzzled his way under her head like a pillow and a few wolves came out from the woods or trotting over from the tents and settled down around her like a circle of protection. She closed her eyes and pulled her face in towards Tiranas' fur before drifting to sleep. I looked over to Bull who was fast asleep against the tree and to Solas who was cupping a tiny pup in his arm, the mother's head on his knee watching his every move.

"I'm gonna retire," Varric yawned, getting up and heading towards one of the cream colored tents covered in the Inquisition symbol. I followed suit not long after, ducking into the one right next to Varric's and curling up under one of the covers. I didn't even bother undressing or taking off my boots before heading to sleep.

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Okay guys! I decided on a whim to start a series in Dragon age since it's my main obsession as of late. I recently finished my first runthrough and started a new game when I started coming up with ideas for additional characters, weapons, dialouge and such. I feel that the Dragon Age games are absolutely amazing, but I wanted to make a more realistic picture of it in my mind (such as how people react to stuff, talk and such.)

The Point of View is probably going to jump a bit here and there, but I'll be sure to note who's POV it is at the begining of each chapter to clear up confusion. I'll also be sure to tag any trigger warnings at the top as they are needed :)

So, enough of my rambling. What do you think so far?

Thoughts, ideas, requests and general critique is always welcome!

Please R&R my lovelies!

~Yulie