Hi everyone! Long time no see! *dodges projectiles*. Heh... For those of you that follow Forgotten, please know that I will return to that story soon. Aside from the issue of time, I have had some major health issues that I am still dealing with. Also, writer's block is a spiteful bitch and I had hoped that the release of Dragon Age: Inquisition would help me get my path for Forgotten back. Which it has helped some. However, I am a sucker for story plot holes and how could I resist the one as large as Solas? SOOOO... Here we are. A new story.

****IT WILL CONTAIN SPOILERS FOR ANYONE THAT HAS NOT FINISHED DA:I!***** That is the only warning you get from this sentence on.

This starts after the final battle and will lead up to and after the delightfully infuriating after credits scene. This is all speculation of course based on what I experienced in the game and things said between characters. I may throw in some pairings between other companions and some OC's as we reach beyond the game's storyline.

ENJOY! :)

O.o.O.o.O

The first morning light flared all too cheerfully through the stained balcony windows of an upper chamber in Skyhold. Outside, birds chirped their happy songs from along the railing despite the beginnings of winter nipping at their feathers. They fluffed their down against the wind before deciding to seek more sheltered area below in the courtyard. As their fragile wings carried them ever downward, people beyond counting came into view all around the fortress. Warriors trained dutifully in the practice yard while mages lounged upon benches poring over their tomes. Even this early in the morning, a boisterous laugh or a drunken shout could be heard from within the tavern. However, no matter where was looked, the aura of Skyhold was one of triumph and relief.

Corypheus was defeated. The Herald of Andraste, their Inquisitor, had destroyed the evil darkspawn Magister and the world was safe from destruction. However, all of this was lost upon the inhabitant of that high balcony room of the keep. Within that room was a bed with its luxurious curtains closed tight against that cheerful sun. Hidden in the darkness of the bed, a lithe form was burrowed deep within silk sheets and thick blankets. A large pillow over where the form's head would be completed its isolation, this keeping out the wondrous sounds of life from beyond its balcony.

To her great relief as well as torture, Melana Lavellan was not unconscious within her cocoon. Relief because her dreams were full of memories and pain. Torture because her idle thoughts were no different, just less vivid. That was part of her curse as being a mage. Her dreams were real to her and she could not bear to see his face haunt her in such detail that she felt she could reach out and touch him once more. At least her thoughts had a tendency to be vague and fuzzy around the edges.

Groaning at the way her mind had turned once more, Melana brought the top of her head and eyes out from hiding in frustration. A thin crack between two of the curtains had decided that it wanted to allow a strip of light over that exact place. Amethyst eyes and messy almost-white, short hair disappeared once more beneath the blankets. She knew she should get up and face the world. Even though Corypheus was gone, the Inquisition was looked to as a hand of guidance and aid by many of the people of Thedas. There was surely much work that needed to be done. But no matter how hard her mind tried to rationalize her need to face the world, her heart remained the the rubble of the battlefield of less than a week past. It still lingered, waiting at the bottom of the stairs for its other half.

O.o.O.o.O

Melana leaned heavily upon her staff as she realized it was finally over. They had done it. Someone had come to check that she was alive and well, but her answer had been mechanical as she absorbed what had happened. Behind her, she heard the whoops of joy and clapping of backs of her companions. She smiled brightly at the sound. They all deserved this victory, it was not her's alone. Sure, they had injuries to tend and rebuilding to do, but they had accomplished what they had set out to do. Corypheus was no more.

Turning with the smile still upon her face, Melana searched for the one face that mattered most to her. Finding him still in the middle of where the fight had finished, she limped over to where Solas was kneeling on the ground. The Orb was shattered into pieces amongst the other shattered stones and scorch marks at his feet, the largest chunk held reverently in his hand. She knew that he had hoped to recover the Orb after the battle for their People, but she had found no other way to seal the Breach and had acted on instinct. Little did she know that it would destroy the powerful artifact that had been the start of all this.

"Solas...?"

His gaze stayed upon the broken piece as he turned it over in his hand.

"The Orb..." His whisper of anguish was loud despite the celebrating going on just within earshot.

"Are you sure? We could take the pieces. Try to..."

"That would not recover what has been lost."

O.o.O.o.O

Melana shook herself from the memory and steeled herself to face the day. Her conscious mind had suddenly become just as dangerous as her dreams. She could not withstand replaying him disappearing again. Pulling back the curtains before she could change her mind, she brought her bare feet to the floor, finding out quickly just how close to winter it truly was. Picking up her robe from the floor beside her bed, where she had carelessly discarded it the night before, Melana made her way over to her desk. Since she rarely spent any time up here besides sleeping, not much adorned the large wooden surface. This face made the stark, white cloth and and the pieces of stone uupon it stand out all the more. After Solas had disappeared, she had gathered the shattered pieces of the Orb and brought it back to Skyhold with her to study. Something about this Orb had been particularly important to Solas and she had a vain hope that perhaps he would either come to recover it or she could find out more about its origin. Though in what little she had been able to find out through her source, neither seemed likely.

Solas had told her that the Orb was Elven and was used to focus power, but not much more beyond that. Melana had sent discreet agents, through Leliana of course, to see if any information could be found. So far all they had found were a few mentions of such Orbs only in that they existed, which she obviously already knew, and that the markings upon the surface of the one she held was beyond ancient, dating possibly millennia before the fall of Arlathan. This information was sketchy at best as Tevinter had done a fantastic job of destroying all records when they had attacked the ancient Elves.

Sighing, Melana gently picked up a smaller piece and brought it closer to her eyes. Through her tie to the Fade both through her magic and the lingering mark on her hand, she could still sense a small amount of power residing within the small piece. She had examined every bit of the Orb upon retrieving it and though the main power was gone, there was still something here. Something she could not put her finger on, an echo of a stronger power hidden inside.

Solas knew something, he had to have not told her something about what this Orb could do, or used to be able to do. If it could bestow the ability of the Anchor, it had to be more than just a key or a focus. There was something here and she would find it. Or find him.