The prisoner was tall, and heavily built for an elf, with curves that belonged on a heroine of one of Tethras' novels, was Cassandra's first impression, when she was circling her, hoping to unnerve the being. Coppery hair escaped the elaborate braids to trail into large gray-blue-green eyes, as the woman remained stoic, and monosyllabic, even when threatened. Cassandra prided herself at being able to read people, but the blank mask put over the genuine confusion stymied her, frustrated her, making her more violent than perhaps she ought to have been. Still, it made Leliana's 'nice guard' act, a more effective contrast, or it should have...

"What is this?" Cassandra demanded, yanking on the elf's left arm, forcing her to look at the glowing mark, the same sickly poison green as the rifts, and the Breach. The large eyes, for such a narrow face, but not unattractively so, widened, with horror and disgust.

"I...don't know!" The elf looked at her hand as if it wasn't attached to her, or she wanted to cut it off. Leliana prompted the elf to search her memories, the stylized dragon tattoo climbing the prisoner's cheek to curl around her eye, furrowed as she though, giving an unsettling impression that the image moved on its own.

"There was... a disturbance... I went me to look into it as the one in charge of the Divine's mercenaries..." The eyes drifted shut, as the woman concentrated, lips tightening, then an abruptly panicked look crossed her face for half an instant. "There's a... a gap... like something or someone...cut out my memories!" The elf shook, blanching even paler than she already was, a sick expression twisting her lips, before the mask snapped back in place. She spoke in the same quiet monotone she'd started the recollections with.

"A blast of green...I wake up. Everything hurts, especially my hand, it's like someone put fire essence in a fresh wound... Everything is twisted, blasted... Things are chasing me... like spiders but...worse... I afraid, but they're forcing terror on me...demons. They have to be demons..."

Cassandra realized that the elf was reliving the events as if they were happening now, her face twitching with ghosts of expressions trying to make themselves seen. "No weapons... I have a concussion, at least two broken ribs and a sprained wrist, I can't fight them. I have to run... Maker have mercy, it hurts like dragon-fire...ground twisting even as my feet touch down... I see rocks floating... Eerie green sky...Creators save me, I am in the Beyond in the flesh!" The elf pants, ears flattened to her skull, a response that usually indicated fear, pain or anger, in this case, it seems to be all three.

"This is wrong...wrong, so wrong... Now, I'm climbing... there's a woman, she's glowing golden, so bright it hurts to look at...I feel the demon made fear leaving, she's reaching out to me...the things are closer...She shoves me through the tear as they drag her off..."

Slate colored eyes opened slowly, as Leliana left, and Cassandra unchained her, then bound her hands in front of her, telling the Left Hand that they will meet at the forward camp.

"What did happen?" The elf's voice is quiet, smooth despite the rasp of pain and dehydration, with a raw edge of hidden fear to it. Cassandra felt a surge of sympathy, despite herself.

"It will be easier to show you." the Seeker sighed, ushering her prisoner outside. The way the elf moved, was a clear indication that the apostate elf, Solas, was correct in his surmise that the Mark was killing it's bearer; the prisoner was trying to hide the fact that she was moving as if every bone ached.

The Breach flared, and the elf dropped to her knees, with a cut-off cry. Despite herself, Cassandra was impressed at her self-control, having seen the near-convulsions of agony when the other was unconscious, unable to mask the pain, and a flare occurred, then explained about the connection.

"If they are connected, then it is possible that I can affect it, because it affect me, maybe stabilize the Breach, or close the rifts." The quick leap of thinking startled the Seeker.

"That is the thought, yes." To her surprise, the prisoner sends her a small, tired smile at the brusque reply.

"Then I'd best get on it, then, shouldn't I?"

"Th-then you'll-" Cassandra grimaces internally at her surprise-induced stutter.

"Of course. Humans aren't the only ones who live in this world. Besides," There was a fey, feral look in the ice blue eyes that sent a shiver down the Seeker's spine, "It isn't as if I have anything to lose by trying, whether I fail or not." She'd seen that look before, in trapped foes, who realized thy had nothing left to lose, so death ceased to have meaning beyond ending the fight. They were always the most dangerous, not caring if or how badly they were hurt, as they strove to take down ans many with them as possible...

The townsfolk and soldiers' jeering and threats made Cassandra grit her teeth, as she tried to explain their behavior to the blank-faced woman beside her, feeling it was somehow owed to her, moving to cut her hands free, once they were outside the gate, only for the elf to simply slip the bindings off.

"You-" The elf's lips twisted wryly at her reaction.

"Yes, I could have done that at any time since you bound me, but I didn't. This is hardly the first time I've been blamed for disasters that happen around me. Hazard of being always the outsider." Cassandra was certain that the elf had no idea of the wistful, bitter edge to those words, the loneliness they revealed.

"Surely your Clan..." The Seeker said, both probing, and trying to provide comfort, much to her confusion. She wasn't good with emotions. The elf gave an incredulous snort.

"You thought I was Dalish?" The mild amusement, was cut off as another pulse made the elf stumble, and lean on Cassandra for support.

"The style of tattoo indicates as much," Leliana had thought the prisoner was Dalish, as had the apostate, who'd seemed mildly annoyed by the fact.

"I might have been rescued and lived with a Clan long enough to get the start of a vallaslin, but like I said, not my first time being blamed for disasters. In that case, flood, plague, bandits and then a fire. The seth'lin flat-ear I was, was kicked out before I turned thirteen. Since I had the start of a tattoo, that was supposed to bind me to them, I decided that I'd finish it in a way that declared my independence."

"Why a dragon, then?

"What is stronger, or freer than a dragon? Fehendris!"

Cassandra internally agreed with the sentiment, as a bolt from the Breach destroyed the bridge and sent them tumbling onto the mercifully still-solid ice below. It was a bruising landing, but falling into the water in this cold, would be quickly fatal. Less fortunately, the blast carried a number of shades to earth with it.

"Stay behind me!" The seeker bellowed, her sword leaping to her hand without conscious thought, and attacked with a bellow designed to draw the attention away from the vulnerable prisoner behind her. She was occupied with the two shades she faced, when a yelp from the elf, and a death-screech from a shade told Cassandra that the prisoner, their only hope, wasn't safe.

The alarm that flowed through her at that, was enough of a distraction, that she did not recover from killing the first shade quite fast enough. The Seeker braced herself for a blow that would surely take at least any eye, if not her life, when the second shade arched around the sword protruding from its chest, and a second swept through the approximation or a neck, killing it, whisping away, leaving her face to face with the prisoner.

"I think that was the last of these ones... I hope. These things are little better than pot-metal." The elf said, swaying. Blood coated half her face in a grotesque parody of an Orlesian actor portraying a demon, from a cut that narrowly missed her left eye. Beneath it, the woman was paler than ever, the grey undertones a worrisome sign. Cassandra pointed her sword at the woman.

"Lay down your arms." The elf blinked at her, then sighed, slowly bending to place the- indeed they were of very poor quality- swords on the ice, her movements both reluctant and with the care of one who was feeling decidedly light-headed.

"Very well, Lady Seeker. As you wish." the tone was mild.

"Wait." Cassandra sheathed her own sword, hiding the reluctance she felt at making the gesture of trust. "I should remember that you agreed to help willingly, and it is clear I cannot protect you. You will need them."

Cassandra was more easily able to read the prisoner now, the trick was not body-language or expression, but to look in her eyes. The relief, and measure of trust in the cerulean orbs at that instant was nearly as unsettling as the reluctant liking that was hidden beneath.

"You seemed to be doing quite well at protecting me, from where I stood," There was a wicked lilt to her voice, and smirk that warned Cassandra "Just not so great at keeping yourself intact." Cassandra fixed the other with a glare, not at all comfortable with the fact that she was quickly gaining a good deal of admiration for the prisoner, and the burgeoning doubt about the guilt she'd assigned to the elf.

"Take these, we do not know what we will be facing." She shoved half the elfroot potions at the other. The woman gave her a small smile, and tucked them away in a pouch, displaying the fact that she'd -somehow- picked a number of fresh elfroot plants on the way, without Cassandra noticing. Another pulse of the Breach had the Seeker catching the elf, and forcing her to drink one of the potions. Some color returned to the others face, as the facial cut sealed over to a fading pink line.

"Vashedan! Why can't healers come up with potions that don't taste like nug-kaffas?!"

"You've sworn in three different languages." Cassandra noted as they dodged attacks from shades up on the hillside they were trying to climb.

"The Chaos Squalls was primarily Tal-Vashoth and Tevinter ex-patriots, with a few Antivans and Rivani, all of them foul-mouthed. It tends to rub off." Well, Cassandra could hardly argue with that assessment of the effects of the proximity of soldiers...

Translations:

Vallaslin- blood writing, traditional Dalish tattoos, marking adulthood

Seth'lin- 'thin-blood' Dalish insult for non-Dalish elves

Fehendris- Dalish expletive, equivalent to 'crap', 'shit' or 'damn'

Vashedan- Qunlat expletive

Kaffas- Tevinter for 'shit'

_A/N: I'm only going to put translations up for Qunlat, Tevene, or Elvhen that haven't gone up in previous chapters. DAI is the reason to blame for much of my disappearance...Three complete play-throughs... No, I'm not obsessed, what makes you think that? *Winks* ~ EM17