Blessed are the peacekeepers

[worldtosave]

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?"

Comments

[worldtosave]

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..."

[smolelf]

"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.

[worldtosave]

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.

[smolelf]

"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.