makinglies | Blessed are the peacekeepers

Even in the warm hut they shared, the cold could be felt at the edges of the building and it bit into Lannistia's skin as she climbed out from under her covers. She couldn't sleep. There was a demon in her head and she didn't know how to fight it alone.

Her bedclothes felt too thin in the cold mountain air and she went to stand by the warm stove that offered the single room's heat. Every pace their parents had taught them, every exercise the Keeper had showed her could not calm her mind and clear her heart.

'I touched so much of you. But you are selfish with your glory. Now I'm no one.'

Envy's voice was a jagged cut in her mind, helped by Cole's efforts, but still healing. What she'd seen...Dalish did not often fall prey to demons, but it could definitely happen. The elf in the Hinterlands was proof with a slaughtered clan and a murderous Keeper. Could that have happened to her? It likely would have if Cole hadn't been there to help. She'd put herself between Cullen's drawn blade and the strange being more than readily and she'd do it again. If Envy had been allowed to know as much of her as it did without Cole's interference, it wouldn't be her standing here, but a demon. A demon who would've only destroyed everything she cared about.

Gold eyes trailed away from the stove's glow to the sleeping form of her twin, almost lost to her in his own way with the struggles he'd had to face. What if they'd both been lost? One stuck in another time and the other a host to a demon. Would Gianni have seen the destruction she'd caused then? Would he come face-to-face with the Elder One's general, a monster with a familiar face? She shuddered to think of that thing using her magic to strike him down.

'No one knows you better than I, Lavellan!'

Well, it was wrong about that.

Lannisita crossed to her brother's bed and pulled back the edge of the blanket to burrow under it with him like they'd done as children or on particularly cold winter nights. "Gianni? Are you awake?"

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"There's no demon in the entire Fade that could take you, 'Tia." He pecks her forehead with his nose, a familial thing since they were tiny and sharing bedrolls under the moonlight shadows of the aravels.

This is an old fear, one that Gianni imagines any mage could feel, but he remembers after the Keepers lessons about demons, the warnings so dire they rattled even the young rogue, much less his sister who looked near about to cry after their elder was finished. They'd whispered in the night then too, unable to sleep and huddled together as if that would keep them safe from Pride, Rage, and Despair.

But truly, it has so far, and Gianni's not about to test how they'd feel without each other to lean on. "I pity any of them who would try."

She feels a burst of affection at the gesture, but then huddles in even closer. She trusted herself and her strength, she had to, but this was so close. Too close.

"That's the thing, Gianni...Envy almost did. It wasn't like a demon trying to make a deal, I would never, you know that...this wasn't my choice. He was fishing to find what made me me and showing me things to get my reaction so he'd know how to behave when he was me. Just as the Lord Seeker was not truly him, he intended to take my place and nearly took over my head to start it.

He had my voice, my appearance, the only reason I broke him was because Cole told me how and helped along the way. But he was nearly there..." She shut her eyes tight and her fingers fisted tighter in his shirt.

"In Envy's scenarios, the Inquisition followed me blindly, never knowing it was a demon until Orlais burned. It was tyranny and destruction and the others suffered for it." She remembered the stint when the demon had pretended to be the advisers, taunting with Josephine, prying with Leliana and intimidating with Cullen, only to slit Cullen's throat just to see if she'd flinch.

Cullen had spoken with such scorn against her, disgusted he'd let her carry on so long. Still not yet realizing the truth of the matter. She opened her eyes and looked to him, searching.

"You would know, wouldn't you? If I became an abomination, you'd be able to discover it." She would never ask her twin to kill her in that case, if it were reversed, she knew it would be the same as killing herself to lose him. But she trusted he could find the truth and reveal it to someone who could deal with the monster in her footprints.

"Of course I would. Who knows you better than I do?" He pulls her closer, tucking her head under his chin and allowing a rare moment where his snarky attitude falls away and instead he becomes protective, almost daring the world to invade this just so he can prove something by keeping it away.

"Cullen would know too, you know. He's a Templar, he's trained to see those signs." He guesses at that. He's noticed Lannistia spending time not just speaking with Cullen but watching him train the recruits, sign orders, or even just walk from the training grounds to the Chantry. Thing is, when Gianni's guesses are based on his observations, they're pretty damn good. "Even if anything were to get in - which nothing has a hope of doing - I would notice and so would Curly."

That was all she needed. His word and things got a little easier, fears quieted and the voice of Envy went with them. No one knew her better than Gianni, especially not Envy. He hadn't even gotten to see her connection with him before she'd turned the tables on him, it was buried too deep into her core. Envy couldn't touch her and neither would any other demon.

But should they try, their friends and their cause would not suffer for it.

"Must you call him that?" There's a smile in her voice and her whole demeanor is calm as she presses her face to his shirt. Creators save her idiot brother if he chose to say any thing more about the Commander. She was hardly ready to hear anything he might say.

Not that she didn't have her own ammunition, the way her twin eyed The Iron Bull. She was not blind to his 'type' and Bull personified it. If only it would seem he gave Gianni the time of day...perhaps with more time, he was still only recently recruited.

Besides, she wanted some time to watch and learn about the Qunari spy before shoving her brother in his path.

"Varric calls him that and I think it suits," he replies defiantly, a laugh behind his words even if it's not presented in the usual way. He likes to tease her, especially when she gets introspective like this. Yes demons are always a danger, but he knows Lannistia and he knows she does everything in her power to protect herself. He has no doubt she will continue to do so handily.

And if not, he's there to help.

"Besides, I can't help but use every opportunity to make the deadpan Lady Herald blush."

Edited 2016-06-26 06:35 (UTC)

She pulled away from his hold to shoot him a glare, the back of her hand coming up to tap his shoulder playfully.

"I am not blushing, I'll have you know! It's simply getting far too warm with two under this blanket. It's bringing color to my cheeks."

A trickster's smile curled her lips and she narrowed her eyes at him. "Besides, you blush far more prettily than I do, especially when The Iron Bull catches you staring..."

"He's never caught me," Gianni huffs, likely not so embarrassed as his sister had intended, but he's ever been embarrassed to her about his predilections. Granted his parents still don't know he prefers men, let alone of the type that could probably crush him with half a careless thought, but what they don't know can't hurt them. Or him. Or anyone.

Except that that thought does make him blush, just a little.

"You're wicked, do you know that?" He sticks his tongue out playfully.

She bumps her forehead to his with a playful laugh and lets them rest there for a quiet moment.

"What's on your mind? You weren't resting peacefully before I woke you."

She wished she could simply see the problem to fix it, she knew how her twin preferred to keep his concerns to himself. She simply also knew exactly how stubborn she could be in return.

"Just a dream, probably. I don't remember." He gives a little lift of one shoulder to punctuate, smiling reassuringly. "We've succeeded in gaining the help of both the rebel mages and Templars, effectively stopping the war. We have what to do next laid out for us which includes going to a royal ball in Orlais, even if it is to stop an assassination. While the future is still uncertain, I do think things are looking quite a bit more positive than when we woke up in a holding cell after the Conclave explosion."

Which is all true, and all comforting on some level. He's itching to get to Orlais, though. They have to try and close the Breach first, but preventing Empress Celene's assassination is so dire to Gianni. It's the key to preventing the future the Elder One has in store. He's sure of it. But the last thing he wants to do is burden Lannistia with that urgency when she has her own personal demons to wrestle.

Blessed are the peacekeepers

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