Chapter Text
Rain was gently tapping at the window of the apartment. Cat, 25 year old grad student that she was, just laid back on the couch and watched the drops hit the glass. She had a book open in one hand and a wine glass in the other, just breathing and contemplating life in the quiet of the early morning.
Her phone chirped and she stretched, setting down her glass and reaching for it.
I made it to Hong Kong!
The message was from Renee Browning, her best friend, a travel journalist and her roommate.
Great to hear! Enjoy your trip and take lots of pictures! Stay safe! Talk to you tomorrow!
With the message sent, Cat curled up onto the couch, yawning. Whenever Renee traveled somewhere new, Cat would wait up to make sure she arrived safely. The wall clock showed it was almost 2 am.
“I have got to get better about late nights.” Cat grumbled to herself, setting her phone alarm. It didn’t help that she had to go into work early, but then grad students were supposed to be sleep deprived, right?
At least Renee arrived safe.
Cat reminded herself as she drifted off, her eyes finding the Kirkwall sticker on her journal set on the coffee table, that she wanted to get Renee to play Dragon Age when she got back. She was really curious to see what choices her friend would make and to be able to talk about it with her and for her friend having some point of reference.
With that final promise to herself, Cat drifted off to sleep, the sound of rain and her book in hand.
***
Her dream was fragmented, stranger than usual. Cat had always been a vivid dreamer, but this seemed different. She felt overwhelmingly like she was being watched. She slowly turned in her space, trying to figure out what landscape her tired mind had led her to. It took her a moment and then she realized she was in what looked like the Fade, a la Dragon Age: Inquisition, with lots of glowy rocks and green. She relaxed, it was not uncommon for her to dream about Dragon Age, although this was decidedly less steamy than many of her dreams.
She decided to just go with it and see what happens, her sub-conscious mind often delighted her, so this just another adventure, it would probably shift to something else soon. She wandered for a bit, seeing wisps and maybe demons in the distance, but nothing came close. She walked for a while, until she started to get frustrated.
This had to be the most boring dream she had ever had. Cat stopped walking and sat, cross legged on the ground. She closed her eyes and she focused on changing her surroundings. If this dream wasn’t going to get interesting, she might as well try lucid dreaming.
She concentrated for a few minutes and opened her eyes, hoping to see her bedroom, where she usually started if she managed to lucid dream. But when she opened her eyes, it was just the same green environ around her. She let out a frustrated sigh. At least this should make waking up easier.
“Is the dream not up to your standards, little human?” Cat whipped her head around to see the owner of the voice, letting out a small gasp when she saw the glowing golden body of what looked like, in her mind, to be an angel.
“Who are you?” Cat asked as she stood, backing up a bit from the strange figure.
“Who I am is not entirely germane to the current situation. What is important is that your soul is drifting, dear. You are just lucky that I found you and not some other enterprising spirit.”
Cat shook her head in frustration. Of course she would dream up an uncooperative spirit. Completely on brand.
“Since this is my dream and I am in “the Fade,” I assume you are supposed to be Andraste or something? Maybe the spirit of Mythal?” Though she could not actually see any facial details, she could sense the smirk directed at her.
“Something like that.” The figure floated closer. “I think you will do just fine for what I need.”
Even though she knew it was a dream, the certainty and intensity of that statement made Cat’s heart palpitate. “Okay, nice glowing lady, I am just going to wake up now. You know, important things to do and all that.” Cat pinched herself and then let out a yelp. It hurt. Things in dreams are not supposed to hurt, at least not physically. That’s how her nightmares were always revealed to be dreams, the murder or whatever would try to hurt her and then nothing would happen. And if it did hurt, she should be awake.
“Now now, don’t be rash, dear. I have great plans for you.” Cat felt another smirk. “And you dreamed about such an opportunity before, even wrote about it.”
Cat looked at her in disbelief, quickly catching up. “So, let me guess, you are going to drop me in Thedas?”
The figure positively radiated smugness. “Such a smart little human. Yes, I think you will upset things quite well.” The figure considered for a moment. “But first, I think a make-over is in order.” She, they, it (?) (she thought it was a woman, but who really knew the gender identity of random glowing DA inspired dream figures?) waved their hand and a mirror appeared in front of Cat. The first thing that was startling was that she looked like herself. Usually in dreams, she looked entirely different, with just the sense that the person she saw was in fact her. But now, her own untamed short brown hair and tanned skin were clearly reflected. She stepped closer and her own dark brown eyes looked back.
It felt wrong and all too real.
“Now dear, I think I know just the form you will like. Let’s see.” The figure waved her hand and Cat’s features suddenly shifted. It was not painful, but very disorienting.
When she looked at the mirror again, a different figure looked back. An elven figure. The rest of her features were mostly the same. She reached up to brush her now elongated ears, eyes running over the slightly sharper features of her face. Cat wondered if this was what it felt like to use the mirror in the Black Emporium. It wasn’t so bad, looking at her elven form.
“Yes, that looks good. But I think this will be better. No point in staying so close to the original.”
“What do you mean-” Cat started to ask and then the figure waved her hand again. A lesser disorientation gripped her and when she steadied herself this time, she didn’t recognize the figure looking back at her at all. The figure was slimmer than she was, with long black hair pulled back into a braid that reached her lower back. Bright green eyes and skin a shade darker than her own, like she had during the summer, added to the image before her. Her nose, mouth, everything was different, leaving a stranger in the mirror.
But the most striking feature was the vallaslin that now graced her face. It was branching across her forehead and down across her nose. One of Mythal’s then.
“No vallaslin.” Was Cat’s immediate response, the thing she could latch onto, dream logic was well, dream logic.
The figure chuckled.
“Is that the only complaint?” Not giving Cat time to respond, she continued. “Excellent. I can work with that. Perhaps it is better if you don’t look Dalish.”
“Excuse me, but I think I would like my old body back. You now, the ‘little human’ one.” Cat was confused, frustrated, and a sense of dread was building in her stomach and her snark was coming out. “I would also like to wake up now.”
The figure circled her, evaluating.
“I am sorry, dear, but that won’t be possible. However, you mentioned your old body…little human…hmm…” Cat did not like the tone that the figure was using. With the amount that she was panicking, she should be waking up. Something wasn’t right. Several things weren’t right.
“Yes, I think I like this idea.” Without another word, the figure waved her hand and another wave of disorientation flooded Cat, sending her to her knees. This the worst of them. “There, perfect! What will they think!”
Cat looked into the mirror and was floored. An elven child looked back at her. An elven child with black hair and green eyes looked back at her. She raised her hand and the child raised their hand as well, eyes wide in shock.
“Why am I a child? What the fuck is going on? Why can’t I wake up?” A stream of questions poured from Cat, eyes darting between the mirror and the figure.
“Hush, dear. This form will help you.” That same smirk showed up. “Or at least it should make things very entertaining. Now dear, time for you to go.” With a final wave of her hand Cat’s clothes changed to a simple wool dress and leggings. Small leather boots and a fur lined cape completed the ensemble. “Try to have fun dear!” The figure practically singed at Cat as a flash of green enveloped the now small child and she was gone.
***
Cat felt herself falling and then there was cold. She pushed herself up and she realized she had fallen into a snow bank. She raised herself up gently, unfamiliar small limbs supporting her. She looked around and saw a road, or rather a path.
Might as well see where I am.
She reached the path, with a gate and it looked a little too familiar. As she walked further, tents started appearing. As she rounded the corner, she stopped and starred, mouth agape. She was looking at Haven. She quickly looked to the mountain and yes, there in the nestled in the distance, the Temple of Sacred Ashes. Very much not destroyed.
Well, Shit.