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[dawnwillcome]

Leave me a message if something has happened that I should know about.

If this is about saving the world, press 1.
If something needs to be done about Dorian, please press 2.

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[serpentis]

When he saw me, and when we parted ways, he called me something. I hadn't heard it before, but...I knew what it meant. The implication of it.

[The words echoed in his empty heart.]

Ma vhenan, he called me.

[dawnwillcome]

[She just can't seem to keep her hands still because now one flies up to her mouth, covering it as she gasps. Another Inquisitor, with the name of her clan, and he's going around calling Dorian my heart.]

You're certain that's what he said?

[serpentis]

[Dorian nods, his limbs feeling heavy. He just wants to crawl under the blanket and sleep for ages, sleep until all of this is sorted out around him.]

Completely certain. I...couldn't bring myself to ask if he and I...

[He sighed softly.]

[dawnwillcome]

[A Dalish elf calling a human from Tevinter ma vhenan. There's so much meaning behind it, a weight to those words that Dorian has no way of knowing, but is it anywhere near her place to tell him so soon? She wants to, desperately, but she doesn't even know this other Lavellan, this... Arhen, was it? It's entirely possible he wouldn't want Dorian to know every single thing.

Dorian deserves something, though. Some sort of comfort, of reassurance.]

It isn't something any Dalish would say to a human lightly.

[serpentis]

I thought not, least of all a Tevinter. I've understood the gravity of our relationship, you and I, but this...

[He lets out a shaky breath.]

Perhaps there's a world where I knew love. True love, not...whatever I've felt, before. But I couldn't ask him. We only spoke briefly. Vinhedis, I should have asked him more, but...I couldn't. The worlds wouldn't leave my lips.

[dawnwillcome]

You'll have other chances, Dorian. [She'll see to it, she'll kidnap the other Lavellan if she has to.] After such a shock, it was better to take time to think of what you'd like to know.

[Her heart aches for him, truly, because hadn't she just been insisting he would have that, exactly that? Real love from someone who deserved him, someone who knew the cost and the gravity of it. Who better than an elf from her own clan? It feels too strange to think who better than herself, even if he is another Inquisitor, but if he feels anything like Jove does about Dorian, it's a very good start.

She pulls Dorian closer, leans in to hug him.]

If there's anything I can do to help you, you'll tell me, won't you?

[serpentis]

[He would like to lean back on her a bit, to put something into the hug, but he kind of just sits there, a bit limp in her arms, like his limbs had lost all inertia.

He sits there, feeling her arms around him, and he can only wonder if Arhen's arms would feel the same. If that was something he knew, in another world. What did they have? Why couldn't he have brought himself to ask? Was it fear that perhaps they did, or fear that his hope was misplaced, foolish? That they were nothing but friends.

He treasured his friends, certainly. But he had spent years wishing for someone to love him.

Dorian nods softly, and finally stands after a few moments, unclasping his robes and taking off his boots, leaving on a tunic and pants.]

I should rest. I certainly hope you don't mind me commandeering half of the bed tonight. I've been told that my snoring is charming.

[dawnwillcome]

It is your bed.

[She stays mostly silent as he moves around the room, watching him with a sense of sadness she can't seem to shake. This situation is either going to be incredibly unfair and painful or something beautiful and wonderful, but there's absolutely no way to tell. Not yet, and maybe not even for weeks.

There's no quick fix for a broken heart that hasn't even had the chance to fall in love yet.]

[serpentis]

[It takes a great deal of trust for him to climb into bed, and he lays on his side, away from her. Bitterly, he thinks, if his father had gotten his way, every night would be like that. Laying facing away from a woman, as if there were a line that they could not cross between the two of them.

But he trusts Jove, and he cares for her. But even if all the women in Tevinter were like her, he still could not live a lie and marry one. Jove is exceptional, and his closest friend. She is the only person to truly understand him.

Perhaps there's one more person here, now, that knows his heart, but he can't be certain. He wants to reach out to Arhen, to demand to know, but he can't bring himself to do it. His heart is fragile, and there are already spidery cracks running through it.]

Goodnight, Jove. Do rest well.

[He says nothing more, but closes his eyes and finally gives in to the exhaustion in his soul.]

[dawnwillcome]

[She won't leave him right away. She'll make sure the covers are pulled up over him so he'll stay warm, but once she hears his breathing change over into that of someone that's fallen asleep, she'll retrieve her boots and slip out of the room they've agreed to share.

Something about forcing him to share a bed with her now just didn't feel right, and she thinks it might be good for him to have some time alone to process what's happened. He knows her well, if he wakes and finds she isn't there she doubts he'll worry. He might even guess where she's gone.

It shouldn't take long to find another Dalish elf, one from her own clan, not when it couldn't have been long since Dorian ran into him.]