A/N: So, here we are, finally at the finish line. Thank you, one and all, for reading this whale of a story. :) And even if this story has reached its finish line, it doesn't mean that I'm done with writing Dragon Age stories. After a little break of few weeks, I will welcome you all back to continue following the adventures of our heroes in the next tale of my Dragon Age series, 'The Dread Wolf's Shadow'.

Epilogue

Two years following the dissolution of the Second Inquisition, the world of Thedas found itself largely in a state of fragile peace and much needed healing and recovery. Much of it was due to the calming influence exuded by the Sunburst Throne of the reformed Chantry, and the personal efforts of Divine Victoria, once known to the people of Thedas as their beloved Revered Mother Giselle. While not all agreed with every single reform she tried to implement, Divine Victoria established herself as a very skilled negotiator, most of the time finding a way to reach a compromise or placate the minds of the concerned detractors… but only to a point, often showing a steely backbone that not many expected of the kind and gentle former Revered Mother, many underestimating her before it was already too late.

The success of Divine Victoria was largely due to her not attempting to do too much at once and not trying to institute all reforms immediately. The mage-templar war had been at the core of the Chantry schism, and as such, Divine Victoria made a decision to address the mage situation first. Working together with mages such as Bethany Hawke, Divine Victoria began to implement her plan and soon enough arcane universities began to rise up across Thedas, institutions of learning for mages with only a loose oversight provided by the local Chantry clerics and the reformed Templar Order, essentially giving the mages a great level of independence. All mages of Thedas who fell under the jurisdiction of the Sunburst Throne were given time frame of three months to register with the arcane university closest to their place of residence, and asked to report in on a biweekly basis, not an unreasonable request in exchange for allowing these mages to remain living with their families.

The Templar Order was also reborn anew, but this time all those who expressed interest in joining were given the option of whether to take lyrium or not, making sure to inform the prospective new templars about the drawbacks of lyrium consumption. About one in five potential recruits still decided to use lyrium because of the abilities it enabled, but many of those who made this choice ended up regretting it and had to go through the painful process of overcoming the addiction when the number of magic-related incidents proved to be declining rapidly across Thedas. While answering to the highest ranked Chantry cleric in a given region, the Templar Order eventually settled into its new role as glorified honor guards of the new arcane universities, many of these men and women unable to hide their surprise when the mages proved themselves very adept at self-governing.

Following the months of Divine Victoria's ascension, most of the former Circles of Magi were reborn as these new arcane universities, the White Spire of Val Royeaux becoming the first and many others following suit. In Ferelden, Kinloch Hold was allowed to fall into disrepair as King Alistair established a new university in Denerim, bearing the name of former Grand Enchanter Fiona. The College of Enchanters was reborn under a different name and purpose, The Bright Hand, where the First Enchanters of all the arcane universities gathered annually not to discuss how to cast off the shackles of oppression, but to instead debate curriculum and compare their ideas of how to best teach responsible use of magic to the young mages of Thedas. With these reforms in place, mages soon began to enjoy a period of unprecedented acceptance across Thedas, despite the dark predictions of vocal doomsayers.

After making their journey to Antiva City, Bethany Hawke and Josephine Montilyet settled in Josephine's family villa on the outskirts of the capital. It took a certain amount of time and patience, as well as some slightly uncharacteristic shouting from Josephine for her parents to finally come to terms that their daughter was truly determined to lock her fates with this southerner mage, clearly not the match that Josephine's parents had hoped for, but after pushing Josephine to the point where she threatened to walk out on her family, her parents finally backed down and never brought the issue up again, eventually coming to accept Bethany. With this distraction behind them, Josephine earnestly immersed herself in the task of rebuilding her family's trade fleet, and with a few bumps in the road, proved to be highly successful in this task, the Montilyet ships soon sailing to every corner of Thedas, every known port and trade route, returning a tidy stream of profits to the Montilyet Family coffers.

Bethany had at first been busy helping Josephine with her mercantile matters, but when Divine Victoria proved that her promise to resolve the mage situation was genuine, Bethany poured all her energy into helping her old friend from the days of the Inquisition. When the Antiva City Arcane University was finally ready to open its doors, Bethany was flattered but not surprised to receive an offer from Divine Victoria, asking her to accept the role of the university's First Enchanter. She did not even have to think about it, accepting the offer immediately and then throwing herself at her new duties with every ounce of passion she had. In many ways, this was her dream job, accompanying the duties of an administrator with those of a lecturer, doing something that she truly loved in teaching young mages how to control the arcane energies of the Fade. Unsurprisingly, Bethany proved to be a highly popular teacher with her students, because of the combination of her personality, her captivating stories from the days of the Inquisition, and her proficiency at magic that she did her best to impart upon her students.

Even though most of Bethany and Josephine's time went into the duties that they cared so deeply about, the couple always made sure to set aside time for each other, their love enduring and blossoming just as bright and strong as it had been from their first day together. Josephine, who had been shy and hesitant in the matters of intimacy during the early days of their relationship, soon began to come out of her shell to display curiosity and inventiveness that surprised and thrilled Bethany, continuing to make their sex life an indescribable experience that neither of them could get enough of, something that bode well for the future of their love-filled relationship.

Riona Hawke spent the months following the collapse of the Inquisition by adventuring together with her surprisingly loyal and dependable new friend, the dark witch Morrigan. The pair spent a lot of time exploring the grand forests of Arbor Wilds and the Tirashan, braving their dangers while searching for ancient elven ruins, discovering many exciting secrets of old, but nothing that presented clear hints of how to deal with the Witch of the Wilds, also known as Flemeth or Mythal. Riona did her best to keep in touch with her sister Bethany, making sure to send a letter every time her and Morrigan's path came across a pocket of civilization, hoping that hearing from her regularly would soothe Bethany's understandable anger and frustration.

When her belly had swollen to the size where it began to make adventuring too dangerous, Riona successfully managed to persuade the equally pregnant Morrigan to put their adventuring on hold and the dark witch had reluctantly agreed after they had both nearly perished in a particularly nasty and trap-filled elven tomb in the Northern Tirashan. Upon their arrival in Kirkwall, Riona discovered that the Hawke Estate in Hightown was still in one piece, and actually appeared very well maintained by Gamlen, her reformed uncle surprisingly glad to see her even after Riona had stated that she would need the estate for herself.

As a compromise, Riona decided to provide a significant monetary contribution to buy a new, more modest but still respectable and comfy dwelling for Gamlen and Orana, located on the tier between Hightown and Lowtown. Gamlen's daughter and Riona's cousin Charade Amell also pitched in with gold that was most likely obtained in some illicit scheme that Riona decided not to ask about, and Gamlen himself also provided some funds to take advantage of the fact that property prices in Kirkwall were still at the rock bottom, the city sadly still on the wrong end of the list of most desirable cities in Thedas to live in.

Shortly after the turn of Year 9:43 Divine, Riona gave birth to a beautiful baby boy, deciding to honor the prematurely passed away men of her family by naming her child Malcolm Carver Hawke. Two weeks later, Morrigan also gave birth, but to a baby girl, Keira, though she never disclosed whether the name had any special meaning to her, nor did she ever allowed Riona any hint of who might be the father of her child. For the first time in more than fifty years, not since Leandra and Gamlen had been little babes, the walls of the Hawke Estate were filled with the cries of the two newborn, bringing much joy and delight to their caring and protective mothers whose unexpected friendship appeared to grow stronger day by day.

Despite Alistair's fears regarding the Landsmeet, his claim to the throne of Ferelden went unchallenged, and the entire country rejoiced in relief at a descendant of the Theirin line once again ruling the land. It didn't take long for Alistair to realize just why there had been no opposition at the Landsmeet; the country was in utter shambles following years of chaotic governing that stretched from Cailan's death during the Fifth Blight. With a resigned sigh and buoyed by the support of his beloved queen, Alistair got to work on fixing the mess that had been left behind by Maythre and other would-be rulers of the land.

One of the changes that the people of Ferelden lauded Alistair for the most was his declared support for the Chantry and the reforms pushed by Divine Victoria, a welcome change after the persecution of Andrastians during the reign of Queen Maythre. Chantries were reopened across Ferelden and people flocked to fill them, thirsty to hear the Maker's word after nearly a decade of oppression. The country that had literally become a magocracy during the reign of Queen Maythre, and still had perhaps the largest percentage of mages among its population in all of Thedas, rivaling Tevinter, at first did not react all that well towards the Chantry reform regarding mages, forcing Alistair to crack down and bring some of the more unruly mages in line. Fortunately, the people of Ferelden were firmly on the side of their monarch in this matter, and the pockets of mage resistance were swiftly routed, the remaining rebels eventually agreeing to register with the Denerim Arcane University and submitting to the new order of things.

Having an Orlesian queen had at first been a cause of controversy for the people of Ferelden. Many were suspicious of Evangeline and conspiracy theories about Alistair being merely an Orlesian puppet controlled by the former templar became highly popular. Evangeline changed the popular opinion of her with one fell swoop. Taking part in a knight's tourney held every summer in the lands of the Bannorn, she swept the competition by unsaddling and embarrassing most of the proud Fereldan banns who had no option but to declare her as proud a Fereldan at heart as anyone else. From that day on, Evangeline enjoyed an ever-increasing popularity with the crowds, especially with the male population who were particularly swayed not just by her skill with blade and lance, but also by her remarkable beauty.

As for Alistair, he never forgot his mother and her sacrifice. Mere months after becoming the king, he unveiled a statue dedicated to Fiona, gracing the courtyard of the Royal Palace of Denerim. When faced with questions about why Grand Enchanter Fiona was so important to Ferelden, he recited the tale of her noble sacrifice to save their beloved Orlesian queen and avoided saying anything beyond that.

Lately, news coming from the royal palace have suggested that Alistair and his beloved queen are expecting a child, rumors that have caused the spirits of the Fereldan people to soar, already celebrating the still unborn Theirin descendant, unaware of just how much effort Alistair and Evangeline had gone through to ensure that the Theirin legacy would continue, Alistair's tainted blood constantly thwarting their efforts. Still, considering how delightfully enjoyable these efforts had been for them both, neither Alistair nor Evangeline complained too much, feeling delighted and together with the population of Ferelden looking forward to the day of birth of the next Theirin king or queen.

Varric Tethras and Lace Harding were wed four months following their arrival in Kirkwall, settling into what was formerly the de Launcet mansion in Hightown, standing empty after the head of the Orlesian family had perished and his wife and daughters had returned to Orlais. Varric immediately began to plot and scheme to acquire as much influence as possible in the languishing city. He reestablished his network of contacts, some of the Inquisition scouts also coming over to work for him and Lace in Kirkwall, starting to overturn the power structure of Kirkwall's underworld, eliminating a plethora of smaller gangs and cutting into the overly thick slice of pie enjoyed by the Coterie, Athenril reluctantly agreeing to yield a part of their racket, up to a point. Of course, the wealth acquired through these illicit practices did not go into the Tethras' family vault, but Varric instead invested it into the city's infrastructure, starting from its neglected and poorly maintained harbor, the heart of any city's trade potential. Varric always made sure that everyone knew he was behind these investments and thus increased his political stock in the eyes of Kirkwall's population.

Whatever free time Varric enjoyed that was not devoted to pleasing his wife went into writing. In the first few months since his return to Kirkwall, he released three books, an account of the Inquisition's achievements with incredible and embarrassing embellishments that sold better than anything he had written before, story about the final adventure of Inquisitor Ameridan, similarly divorced from reality, and then he found a literal pot of gold with his third story, a collection of conspiracy theories about the Tevinter Imperium's alliance with the Moon Men and Orlesians working together with the vile and manipulative Snake-Kings. This book became immensely popular, and as expected, people across Thedas took it deeply seriously, prompting both Empress Celene and Archon Radonis to write angry letters to Varric, demanding that he issued a statement that the theories described in the book were purely fictional, both rulers besieged by dozens and dozens of demands to come clean about their alliance with the Moon Men or Snake-Kings. Of course, Varric was not going to issue any such statement, bursting from laughter every time he imagined Celene or Radonis angrily tearing up yet another letter demanding answers.

With Varric investing more and more resources into rebuilding Kirkwall's infrastructure and enjoying the popularity of the masses, Viscount Bran did the only thing he could under the circumstances, offering Varric the lucrative position of seneschal before the dwarf's popularity had become too great and placed him firmly in the viscount's seat. Varric magnanimously accepted the offer, though nobody truly believed that he would be content to remain a seneschal when he had so much more to offer to this city and its people than the middling and indecisive Bran.

To generate more funds for the final push towards the viscount's seat, Varric decided to once again tap into the market he had once described as the most cutthroat of them all, the market he had not touched since the publication of his infamous 'Three Mages and Their Dwarf' novel. His newest offering was titled 'The Hightown Apostates' and focused on two mages living in secret in a Hightown mansion and spending their days indulging in various sexual excesses, featuring but not limited to fetishes such as breastfeeding, foot fetish, extensive toy usage, magical gender swapping and body transformation. Unfortunately for Varric, two very real mages living in a Hightown estate saw way too many similarities between themselves and the physical descriptions of the book's protagonists. While the sovereigns continued to flow in from the immensely popular book, Varric was forced to go underground after a very irate Hawke and an even more outraged Morrigan made threats to his life, not pleased about aspersions being cast about their relationship transcending mere friendship. With Varric still in hiding five months after the publication of the book, his chances of becoming the viscount appear remote. When asked about his whereabouts, Lady Lace Harding-Tethras appears evasive, giving the impression that she has a way of reaching Varric, at the same time not appearing at all pleased with the situation that has been entirely of her husband's own making.

With her life completely turned upside down and everything that she had once known to be true and unquestionable lying in tatters, Cassandra Pentaghast needed a significant amount of time before she began to feel grateful for this new purpose in her life provided by her service as a Grey Warden. With King Alistair serving as Warden-Commander of Ferelden and writing many letters of recommendation to the First Warden in Weisshaupt Keep, during the summer of 9:43 Divine, Cassandra received a formal letter from Anderfels, promoting her as the Warden-Commander of Orlais. Despite her relatively short experience with the Wardens, the Orlesians rallied behind her and fully approved of the First Warden's choice for their new leader.

With this formal recognition and increased discretion, Cassandra's motivation to restore the Wardens to their former glory only grew and grew. Enjoying the support of her fellows, she enacted an aggressive recruitment drive across Orlais, and by the end of the Year 9:43, the numbers of Orlesian Wardens had risen to healthy three hundred, around to what they were at the time of the emergence of Corypheus. Cassandra used their swelling ranks to rebuild the long neglected Grey Warden strongholds across Orlais, starting with but not limited to Adamant Fortress and the Griffon Keep.

Of particular help to Cassandra was the support and friendship of Senior-Warden Ruth, the two women becoming closer and forging a bond that stretched back to their meeting while serving with the Inquisition. With Ruth finally having come to terms with her actions during the madness induced by Corypheus, she became a steadfast and valuable advisor in her role as a second in command to Cassandra, stationed in the Grey Warden archives at Montsimmard while the Nevarran oversaw the operations from their headquarters in the capital. Still, the two women would not be content with ruling behind a desk, often traveling together to lend their hand in the reconstruction efforts throughout Orlais, their presence always boosting the morale of the Grey Warden recruits.

Warden-Commander Cassandra Pentaghast was a woman of action who could only be happy when confronted with a heavy workload and difficult challenges. Fortunately for her, she could always count on facing a plethora of challenges in her role as the Warden-Commander… and that was the way Cassandra liked it.

Just as the Iron Bull had promised Dorian, the Bull's Chargers spent the next couple of years operating in northern Nevarra and Free Marches, their stellar reputation making sure that they always found plenty of work even in this less populated corner of Thedas. Having lost more of his Chargers than he could count during their service to the Inquisition, Bull was content to spend most of their days dealing with less dangerous tasks, not that it meant that he would ever back down from a challenge when it presented itself.

Many hours were spent conversing with Dorian through the sending crystal, and at least once every month the two of them made a journey to a quaint little town on the border of Tevinter and Nevarra where they could meet in secrecy and reconnect properly in ways that left them both, but particularly Dorian, very sore when facing the long return journey. It was not an ideal status for their relationship, and neither of them was certain for how long they would be able to sustain it, but for the moment they both appeared highly committed to make the effort.

Bull's remaining veteran lieutenants, Krem and Lusia, remained loyally with the Chargers. The Inquisition minstrel Maryden Halewell had left with the Chargers when they departed Skyhold, eventually tying the wedding knots with Krem and becoming the group's first official traveling minstrel, a position she took great pride in. Lusia, or Dalish as she is still known to most Chargers, still makes jokes about her staff being a bow, even if she is no longer considered an apostate, at Bethany's request having registered with the Antivan arcane university and dutifully writing letters to her friend every other week to inform Bethany of her whereabouts, Bethany never a reply short.

Shortly following Dorian's return to Tevinter, he was confronted with a personal tragedy when the political rivals of House Pavus assassinated his father before he and Dorian had managed to reconcile for good. After a period of mourning, Dorian eventually took his father's place in the Magisterium, together with Magister Tilani and Magister Alexius forming a faction that came to be known as the Lucerni, vowing to oppose the corruption and try their best to redeem Tevinter in the eyes of the rest of Thedas. With Calpernia, now married to Magister Alexius, working to support them from the shadows, the Lucerni set out to accomplish their daunting task.

The four conspirators agreed strongly that trying to do too much too quickly would attract the sort of opposition that they were not prepared to handle. The Lucerni chose their targets well, making sure that they did not attack someone personally favored by Archon Radonis, spending considerable time to subtly gather evidence and then exposing the corruption of one official after another, disgracing them and forcing these corrupt men and women to step down. Ever so slowly, the Lucerni began to rise to prominence and many were expressing interest to join their ranks, but most of these applicants were found lacking by their rigorous vetting procedures, finding questionable dealings during extensive background checks, usually Calpernia's task to handle. Even Archon Radonis appeared to have taken notice of the Lucerni, but for now the most powerful man in the Northern Thedas did not appear to view them as a direct threat, occasionally supplying them with helpful information when it served to eliminate his rivals.

Early in 9:44 Divine, Alexius revealed to the other members of the Lucerni that he and his wife would be temporarily stepping down from their involvement with the group on the account that Calpernia was heavy with his child. While Dorian understood their decision of not wanting to take risks and endanger themselves and their unborn child at this time, privately feeling happy for his former mentor and his new wife, it could not be denied that this development was certain to slow the group's progress. Still, despite everything, Dorian's optimism would not be daunted, and even when it became hard to see the silver lining of the cloud over Tevinter, a brief chat with the Iron Bull through the sending crystal quickly restored his good mood and motivated him to work towards a future where he and his beloved qunari would no longer have to frequent backwater border towns to hide their relationship.

The two years following the dissolution of the Second Inquisition saw many other changes across the political landscape of Thedas. In Nevarra, the bumbling leadership of the ailing and elderly King Marcus Pentaghast had drawn much ire from the country's population, especially following the humiliating peace treaty with Tevinter which forced Nevarra to give up considerable territories along its borders. But before the much-maligned king could even decide whether to abdicate or not, he suffered a massive stroke and died, leaving the country leaderless. Naturally, the Pentaghasts assumed that the next ruler would rise from their ranks, feeling rather surprised when the majority of the country suddenly rose up in disagreement, fed up with the Pentaghast rule and demanding for someone else to be given a chance to prove themselves in ruling Nevarra, the Pentaghast opposition led and financed by the second most prominent family of Nevarra, the Forsythias.

When news about the secrets of the Titans and a large thaig named Kal Repartha founded on the surface by Paragon Fairel began to circulate in Orzammar, leaked through some of Varric's Merchants Guild channels, the orderly dwarven society of Orzammar temporarily lost its collective mind. Revelations of the Shaperate intentionally suppressing all this important knowledge, literally rewriting history to serve their agenda and that of the kings of Orzammar, sparked outrage that quickly became violent. Expecting the protests to eventually die down on their own, King Bhelen did not move to protect what was essentially a holy shrine of the dwarven history, but he clearly underestimated to what extent these news had affected the very identity of dwarven society. When the violent, animalistic crowd tore down the Shaperate, destroying ages of gathered and forged history, brutally slaughtering all the Shapers on premises, King Bhelen was forced to reconsider, bringing in his soldiers to disperse the crowd. While the lyrium trade with the surface continues, even if at a reduced volume, Orzammar has been closed for visitors for the past year and a half with no news coming out about the political situation in the great thaig, recent events turning Orzammar just as insular as the thaig of Kal-Sharok.

Guided by Empress Celene Valmont and her beloved Marquise Briala, Orlais was enjoying a rare period of peace stretching across the past two years. While never short of detractors, Celene had grown much more aggressive in silencing her opposition, having learned her lesson at the Winter Ball during the War of the Lions, when she had nearly lost her throne to Florianne's machinations. The most common criticism of Celene was still the uncertainty surrounding her heir, but now at the age of thirty-eight, the empress remained silent on the issue, insisting that this private matter would be attended to in due time, an explanation that essentially placated no one. In the meantime, Marquise Briala was working on consolidating her grasp of the Dales, using various means, both legal and less legal, to persuade the remaining Orlesian landowners into selling or exchanging their lands for similar territories elsewhere. Elves, and not only elves, throughout Orlais and elsewhere in Thedas were subtly persuaded by Briala's network of agents to return to their ancestral lands and rebuild them under the marquise's leadership.

For a while, Briala experienced a welcome responsiveness, mostly from elves, but also from many humans flocking to the region and gladly picking up their tools and working hard to restore some of the glory of the Dales. However, as time passed, Briala began to notice a disturbing trend. More and more of the elves that returned to work for her, ended up… simply disappearing, leaving completely unnoticed by others. Suspecting some kind of foul play at work, Briala asked her agents to keep an eye on alienages across Orlais and beyond, soon receiving reports that chilled her to the very core. All across Orlais and the whole of Thedas, elves seemed to be disappearing, not only from the alienages, but also the free citizens working as servants, traders or of any other occupation. Having brought these alarming news to the empress, they both agreed that the subtle elven retreat was worrying, even if neither of them could even make a guess as to what was happening, resolving to watch the situation closely.

And what of the former members of the Inquisition who had disappeared from Skyhold under mysterious circumstances? What of Solas, the soft-spoken and secretive elven mage? What of Merrill, the infinitely curious blood mage with unhealthy interest in things that sometimes were better left buried? What of Cole, remembered only by Bethany because of the tattoo on her wrist? They were on the minds of only a very few people in Thedas, forgotten by the rest, nobody having seen even a hint of them for two long years.

And even those who did remember Solas, Merrill and Cole could not imagine that they would be at the center of the upcoming events that would once again rock the world of Thedas.

THE END