Bittersweet, gorgeous and heartbreaking. I'm truly happy to have found this. It's a beautiful piece.

oh. OH. How have I never seen this before? this is brilliant. I got a little teary eyed there, but it is so gorgeous and wonderful. (AND DWARVES) and nicknames and lovely and I am failing to review coherently, but yes. Good. Thank you.

This was so incredibly beautiful. Simply amazing.

Ancestors...I'm not even sure where to start with how I feel about your story. I've always liked comparing and contrasting Aeducan and Brosca, and you characterized them wonderfully, drawing them both as products of similarly harsh environments, just as much survivors as fighters, believably tough yet vulnerable. Their development, and that of their friendship and relationships, were beautifully and thoughtfully observed - their reactions to snow and the stars, their respective heartaches, Zevran's remark about how the two of them weren't so different.

Then there's the ending - simultaneously beautiful and devastating, yet not overwrought. (Probably doesn't help that, coincidentally, I've only recently started playing my F!Aeducan and am already becoming fairly attached to her.) The details are simply gorgeous: "A thin ribbon of diamond was being carried up like a slender, scintillating rainbow, twisting with the slips of a wind that was never felt underground", Magna's purchase of a diamond with "feather flaws", and, of course, her final farewell.

Outstanding job, all around. I'll definitely be checking out more of your stories. :) Keep up the great work! 8-)

Amazingly well-told story, especially covering so much in so few words. It totally drew me in, and the ending had me in tears.

This is such a beautiful story - the two women so strong and vulnerable, their tragic loves, Magna's valiant promise. Your writing is lovely.

This ending broke my heart. I love your AUs so much.

aww D: .Its so full of unhappy endings but really lovely at the same time...

Keep up that awsome work!

This was wonderfully done. So much told in relatively few words, and yet it didn't feel rushed. The friendship between the two was built up nicely, and the respective relationships likewise. And so heartbreaking towards the end. I felt for all four of them, but Zevran especially. Thank you for writing this!

That was so sad! I'm more used to DN/Alistair and DC/Zevran but I think the reversal here was nicely done and ensured that no one REALLY got a happy ending. After all, if it had been the usual pairings then Magna could have gone back to Orzammar with Zevran and it would have felt out of place amonst the sadder endings. I loved that Kol just up and killed the Archdemon while Magna and Alistair were arguing about it.

I do wonder how long Magna and Kol were estranged for. Manga really should have let her explain as it seems like it went on for quite some time but I suppose that Kol could have just as easily forced Magna to listen like Zevran did so they both messed up. Obviously, there wasn't much room to show the pair slowly overcoming their caste tension (to some extent as it did flair back up on their return trip to Orzammar) but I did like how he saw them being at least vaguely disdainful of each other.

The fact Magna wouldn't use her name because Kol wouldn't was sweet. At first, her refusing to acknowledge she had one because it was stripped seemed a little extreme but since she actually did do the crime she probably thought she deserved it. It was likely easier for her to forgive her father for what he did since it was her own actions that caused the exile in the first place. I also really liked how you wove the diamond/dust symbolism throughout the story. I'm a little worried about what will become of Zevran, though.

I'm sat here crying after reading your beautiful, yet sorrowful, tale. I loved the relationship you built between the two girls, and when I started reading this I thought that you were going to pair them up the other way (K/A M/Z) and wasn't sure about it being the other way at first, but that final scene between Zev and Kol was more beautiful than anything I've ever read, and Zev's heartbreak and leaving was just such emotional imagery. I think for the first time since playing the game and reading the fic, I finally have a true place for Zevran in my mind now!

Thank you for writing this - can't wait to see what you do next.

S

/cries/. So angst

Amazing Shadow, in less than 9,000 words you have painted one of the most powerful blight stories I have read. Truly wonderful. I usually try to say something about my favorite part of a story or chapter but I can't on this one, because every bit of it is outstanding.

Tanith

Wonderful.

I loved this story. The two dwarfs were such unlikely friends who wound up being everything to each other.