Kirkwall

That was part of commish for one DA fan. I was inspired by image of this mighty city from DA:2, towering on a great mountain, at the foot of which splaches Waking sea...

Gianni Benvenuti - King Arthur's Knights (1965)

A Secret Chord is a lyrical, slow-burn resurrection fic exploring the aftermath of Ellana's death, Solas's unraveling grief, and the otherworldly bond of a love that endures...

Chapter 1 - A Sullied Defeat She lay like a vision lit by gentle blue lights, eyes and mouth closed, her chin upright and proud in death as it had been in life. ---- Chapter 2 - From Fear to Hope When they had fought their way to the broken Veil, she gasped. It glittered in the sky and in her eyes alike and Solas could see her vallaslin shimmering in and out of focus on her face. ---- Chapter 3 - The Haunting He stood over her when he was done, gazing at her frozen features in the light. He stroked her cheek with one hand, ran a finger along the bridge of her nose, leaned down and kissed the corner of her mouth. ---- Chapter 4 - From First to Last With the loss of Ellana, it wasn't a searing pain of lingering emotion or a gaping wound. It was a mindless numbness that overtook him in his grief. He felt unable to reflect, felt reduced to his most basic emotions. ---- Chapter 5 - Misery Unfolding For a brief moment he wished the Evanuris were truly gods, benevolent ones, and that they would allow Ellana to live again. He would bargain with them, trick them if he had to, if they were able to bring her back he would do anything, would fall to his knees and rise only when they commanded it. ---- Chapter 6 - Echo of Her Shadow A sliver of green light fed to the floor before them and he saw her there, coalescing. Bare feet, her long slender legs, narrow hips, her thin torso and then her face as he remembered, free of vallaslin. ---- Chapter 7 - Crestwood was Foreplay - Solas Speech Above "...my heart never learned such restraint. It did not truly beat until you, and it ceased when yours did. Now it drifts, motionless in my chest… nothing more than a weight without your touch." ---- Chapter 8 - In the Quiet Spaces She does not look at him like he is a deceiver for all he deceived her. ---- The amazing art was a commission request from me by @evermorelore, who is so talented and kind.

Tumblr's going to neuter the quality but LOOK. AT. THEM. @evermorelore completed this commission for me and I am obsessed. OBSESSED.

Some Solas photos I took in Veilguard recently.

I love them.

I think there must have been a period of time between when Solas decided to tell Lavellan who he was and the Crestwood break-up scene.

I think there must have been a couple of days or maybe even a couple of weeks where all Solas felt was this sense of relief. He is going to tell her. Everything. He is going to rid himself of this lie that exists between them, that keeps them apart, and just be completely honest with her.

Maybe, during that period, he was more free with his affections than he had ever been before. Because he has decided to let go of this thing that was keeping them apart. Maybe he does not even care what she'll do with the truth after she has it, as long as she finally has it.

He thinks, I will tell her the truth and she will save me. Even if she stops me, she will save me. And he's so happy in that period just before Crestwood, and he kisses her freely and holds her and he's just more expressive with his feelings than he ever has been, because this weight has fallen away. He's going to tell her, and whatever happens, happens.

Then at Crestwood, he's holding her hand, walking with her like they've done that a thousand times. They're in an established relationship at that point. Game mechanically, the romance lock signifies the point of no return and, when Solas breaks up with you, that it is the point where there is no backtracking out of this relationship anymore. You can't untangle your hearts after that. Its not a commitment, its the opposite in fact, but I don't think Solas ever loved Lavellan more than he did at the moment when he realised that, because he can't bring himself to tell her the truth, he has to try and let her go.

And I think that the period of blissful hope just before Crestwood makes the despair they feel afterwards all the more profound. It all comes crashing down, so fast.

I distracted you from my duty, Solas says, knowing full well that she has distracted him from his.

💋rafayel

Bday boy 🐟 (not new art bc im a little busy😔)