Stories in the Ink

Past and Future

"You know what? I always wondered what Qunari babies looked like." Solona spoke, voice slow and thoughtful as the young woman nibbled upon a doughy cookie with a gooey center. She nipped at the pastry with her front teeth, slowly chiseling the treat as if a beaver gnawing upon a tree. Crumbs and filling had stuck to the very corners of her mouth, though the girl paid no heed as she grabbed another with her flour caked fingers.

"Qunari babies?" Cole questioned, watching Solona, the kitchen table caked with sugar and flour along with an occasional clump of dough. The heat of the kiln was dying, and numerous pastries upon pastries lay upon a metal platter.

"Yeah...Quna-na be-bies." The blood mage tried to speak with a mouth full of cookie, pausing to swallow, "I mean...I see Iron Bull and Herah together all the time. And sometimes I try to picture them as babies. Like...that must hurt-with their horns. Herah told me she has a baby-a daughter-I think, but the Qunari took her baby away from her at birth, and she never saw her again. That sounds very sad. It reminds me of how Templars come to take mages away from their families. But I just think...I don't know. Now Herah is away from the other Qunari and the Qun. Maybe if she wanted, she could have a baby with Iron Bull, and things would turn out like how she and her daughter were supposed to be?"

The odd boy frowned slightly, ignoring the sweet scent of cinnamon, "I'm sorry you still miss them."

Solona paused, looking towards him, tongue swiveling about to collect the crumbs upon her lips, "What?...My parents? Oh, it's okay. I just think of what might have been, could have been. I don't remember much of them, but I like to think they would be happy for me. Well, what I'm trying to do. I made a lot of stupid, dumb mistakes. I'm trying to do right with them." A smile steadily grew upon her face, canines clumped with dough showing as she laughed.

"I mean...it's stupid, really. All of it. 'Cause when I was little, I remember thinking I was good for something, or going to be someone important and special. But not like Herald special, important. Like fairy tale special, important. Like everything would always turn out okay, and go good. And I would meet a prince in the Free Marches, and we would fall in love and get married-on a unicorn-and I would be a princess, have babies, and live happy for the rest of my life. It's funny, now, looking back. I think that's what every little girl wants to happen when she grows up, but then finds out it can't happen. Like...maybe that's what Herah's daughter thought, once. And now her dreams of a happily ever after are just...POOF! Gone."

"But you can still be happy, Solona. You can still be happy, if you try." The blonde spoke, Solona reaching for another cookie, nodding.

"Oh, I am happy, don't worry. I just think about what will happen, after all this, I mean. Or if we'll live. I mean, Herah is like an ox shaped battering ram. She can survive anything. And even if we do survive against Corypheus, she has more of a reason to just...be, I think. She had Iron Bull, and can start a new life, with a new family. She isn't bound by the Qun anymore. She isn't marked. But I'll still be marked as an Apostate-or a Blood Mage. The Chantry won't be weak forever. It will come back, and any death sentences it carries with it. Maybe Herah and Iron Bull can get married? I mean...I don't know if people who aren't Andrastian can get married...but that would be nice. I think that would be very nice. Something to look forward to." She smiled slightly, Cole not taking his eyes off of her, "...What? Do I have something on my face?"

"No. You just seem...sad. Why? Why do you make yourself sad?" Cole questioned, head cocking as Solona's nose scrunched.

"Why? Because I am done with stupid fantasies. No man in his right mind would marry a mage-a blood mage-or Maker forbid even fall in love with one. The Chantry would never allow it. And even if we stop Corypheus and survive, the Circle will return, and I will be hunted once more. That is why I am make myself sad-because I think of the future now more than ever, and see how bleak it is. Just as the Chant of Light says-even Blood Mages shall get no rest once death claims them. But it's okay." Solona paused, smiling once more, "I may be thinking of the future, or the past and wondering what could have been, but it's okay."

The young man looked upon her, perplexed, "Why is it okay, Solona?"

She laughed slightly, stuffing another cookie into her mouth, "Be-cus...I wouldn't have met you." The girl paused to chew, then swallow.

"You know, I used to be scared of what would happen, if all the rifts were sealed and the Veil better. I was afraid you would just...disappear, and I wouldn't even remember you. But it's okay, now. Because you're still here, with me, and real. I'm glad I won't forget you." Solona smiled, the boy faintly returning the gesture. The mage's eyes then fell upon a cookie near him, the girl pointing with a slim finger.

"You gonna eat that?"

Cole shook his head.

Solona snatched the pastry, and inhaled it like her life depended on it.