or are you emblems of truth?

[heorte]

WHO: Ellis, Ellie, Abby, Vanya, Marcus, Strange
WHAT: Road trip into the Hunterhorns.
WHEN: Cloudreach
WHERE: Hunterhorn Mountains
NOTES: Trying to find a Warden in a mountain range.

THE JOURNEY

Seeking a camp in the Hunterhorns is—

Difficult. To say the least.

In the eyrie, in the midst of saddling the griffins and strapping supply-laden saddlebags into place, Ellis had unfurled the map and spanned the likely places a hidden contingent might be found. It had not looked like such a formidable stretch of mountain range to search, bracketed by Ellis' thumbs.

In practice, it is weaving through high peaks, bundled against cold. It is alternating between dipping low to examine traces that may be tracks or signs of a past camp, and soaring high to avoid less than hospitable wildlife or weave through jagged peaks. It is painstaking work, seeking a trail within even this narrow strip of range.

Each night, they must descend. Find a ledge upon which the griffons can land without scrabbling for purchase and nearly toppling. Hope for a cave that might house them, or a flat ridge upon which the griffons can roost while they sleep in the saddle.

And in the morning, they must do it all over again.

THE CAMP

But eventually, the search ends.

Not in retreat, but in a small camp, cleverly hidden. We'd rather not be spotted by air, their leader says, a self-possessed, serious woman who introduces herself as Mila. She studies each of them intently, lingers on the griffon embossed on Ellis' breastplate.

Yes, they are permitted to stay. And to talk, mingle among the dozen or so Wardens within this camp. Ellis vanishes, first into a tent with Mila, and then later, when campfires are lit and a cask of wine is cracked open in a kind of welcome, into a second tent with a tall, dark-haired man, for a time.

The Wardens around the fire are pleasant enough. They answer questions. They speak frankly, if carefully. Some defer to Mila. Some prefer to speak in tandem with a partner. Some sigh through their recitation. But most speak of the same things when explaining what drove them away from their fellows in Weisshaupt—

Questions that piled up and up, with few answers. Some speak of Adamant and the binding of mage Wardens to demons, and how many of those mages died of it. Or how many of those mages disappeared into Tevinter to be treated and never returned. Some object to the use of darkspawn and demons by Corypheus' army, murmur darkly about the rumor that Corypheus is a darkspawn himself. Some worry after red lyrium, and the new strain of darkspawn that have been reported as fused with the substance. Many speak of their distrust of Tevinter.

One, Reynald, speaks of something wholly new, absent from Riftwatch's records until now: he was tasked once with guarding a portion of the Deep Roads along with an entire contingent of Tevene Wardens. Venatori mages came and went, he explains. He saw nothing of what took place, but he heard darkspawn, and the jangle of chains, and red lyrium had been maneuvered out past the Wardens in near-overflowing carts.

What have they been doing? This is a topic the Wardens speak more freely about.

Setting up a pipeline, they explain. A pipeline to help Wardens, and any others who oppose the Tevinter regime or draw the ire of the new authorities in the Anderfels escape, and join them in the mountains.

They're trying to spread word, they say. They want it to be known that the Wardens are heading in the wrong direction, following bad ideas into worse outcomes. But this is not going so smoothly, because they are still Wardens, and they are occupied with protecting local villages from increased darkspawn activity in the western Anderfels. They have contacts in Hossberg, and in Weisshaupt, and in other towns and cities, and they travel when they can to grow their network and spread word, but they are only a small company, and all this takes time. Sometimes they do not have any time at all.

We aren't leaving, Mila will inform them the next morning. But now you know where we are.

A send-off, of a kind: Mila's decisive answer to an unasked question and the implication of parting on friendly terms before shooing them onto griffon-back and out of their camp.

Comments

[armd]

"Huh?"

Oh, no. Before she can think she says, in a slightly higher pitch than usual, "Wait!"

She's not ready! Ellie didn't give her enough warning and she has to emotionally prepare for this, but Artichoke is already angling his head. He tilts smoothly downward, and Abby's stomach swoops; she whimpers, "Oh fuck me," and clings to Ellie for dear life.

Return of the bone-crushing grip. She needs to though, okay. It feels like they're going so fucking fast, but that might just be the wind whistling in her ears, sharp and cold. She concentrates on that, while she cringes into Ellie's shoulder.

[notathreat]

They're already descending. Ellie locks her arm around Abby's where they wind around her stomach, threatening to crush the life out of her.

Fuck, she's really strong.

"Abby- can't breathe." She bangs her hand against Abby's arm to get her attention, but doesn't otherwise make fun of her. She's seen this enough times to take it seriously, and watched Abby do shit anyway enough times to have some respect.

"C'mon, I need to land this thing."

[armd]

"Then land it!"

Hurry!!

Ellie's hand is on her arm, holding onto her. She did that when Abby almost fell off the side of the cliff on their first mission together, too. It does make her feel a little safer. Abby relents on her grip the tiniest amount, enough to grant a modicum of breathing room, and complains pathetically through clenched teeth. "I'm dizzy."

[notathreat]

Ellie manages a breath, though Abby's still holding her tightly, restricting her breathing, and uses it to speak, trying to keep her voice level.

"Put your head on my shoulder and shut your eyes."

Her ears heat, but honestly, they've been through weirder shit than this. She can endure a little bit of Abby being physically close to her if it calms her down.

Ellie angles Artie down, gentle circling rather than a plunge. It takes a little longer, and she feels kind of lightheaded, but it won't be quite so terrifying.

[armd]

Abby thinks nothing of it. She drops her head onto Ellie's shoulder and having that anchor, a place where she can make her head be still and stop spinning, helps more than it ought to. Slowly, her arms loosen up a little more on Ellie's waist. A little more, a little more. Now that she isn't shivering like a scared idiot she can feel the griffon's muscles shifting underneath of her as Artichoke lazily angles into the descent.

Ellie isn't saying anything now. Abby wants to ask if they're nearly there, but she doesn't want to embarrass herself any further than she already has. She bites the inside of her cheek to hold it back.

Landing is the worst part, anyway. Once this is done, she doesn't have to do it again for... another couple hours.

The thought makes her sigh petulantly into Ellie.

[notathreat]

As Abby loosens her grip, Ellie gets her breath back, but still holds onto her arm where it's looped around her waist, and as they get lower, she can hear Abby sighing, frustrated, and it almost makes her smile.

"We're almost there," she tells her. "I've got you."

Sure enough, within five seconds they've landed, and Abby will have warning by the way Ellie braces her body for it, riding Artie's galumphing movements as he hits the ground and trots forward for a few steps. While he can stop completely like a bird would and alight on a particular place, this tends to be a little smoother.

"Still alive back there?" she asks, giving Abby's arm a smacking sort of pat with her arm.

[armd]

Yeah it's stomach-churning, jaw-dropping, pants-shittingly terrifying–

but at least it's quick.

It's over before Abby has time to really work herself up over it. One second she's in the air, plummeting, and then she's getting jerked around in her seat by the griffon as he lands roughly, adjusting his great stride to account for the weight of two riders.

She may have yelped once, muffled, into the back of Ellie's shirt right when they hit the ground. Thankfully, nobody but Ellie will know that. Abby sags her weight briefly against her as everything finally slows down, and groans, "Yeah." Allows herself three seconds of that, of being completely pathetic, before she straightens up, and sets about getting herself out of the saddle and off the griffon, onto mercifully solid ground where she can sit, cross-legged. She puts her head into her hands.

Give her a second.

[notathreat]

Ellie braces up as Abby sags against her, overwarm. She feels like her muscles might be misfiring, but at least she doesn't seem like she's about to throw up. She's genuinely miserable but Ellie doesn't exactly have a ton of replacement clothes and this armor's a total bitch to clean.

She pats Abby's arm again before letting her go, giving her a hand down off of Artie's back before sliding off after her.

Artie comes over to nip at Abby's braid curiously.

He's never understood why she hates it so much.

"You made it."

[armd]

"Yeah."

Sigh. Ellie and the chicken aren't gonna walk away from her, are they. She's reminded so intensely of Lev staring at her on the floor of the hotel with that calm, expectant expression, waiting for her to get up. He thought that she could do anything. She misses him.

... Okay. Elbowing Artie out of the way, she pulls herself back up to set about saving face. If that's even possible at this point. Her face is still flushed when she says, "Thanks. I'll – go back up with Ellis next time."

Split the load. Ha ha.

[notathreat]

"Yeah," Ellie says immediately, stepping back to cross her arms over her chest, lean back on her back leg, poke the tip of her tongue into one of the crevices of her teeth.

Awkward silences abound between them, but at least they're filled with more understanding now.

"Is it just heights?" Ellie asks, suddenly. It's the only fear she's noticed.

[armd]

Abby slowly looks at her, brow furrowed. She isn't mad about the question, she's just figuring out how to answer it. And wondering why she cares.

"Yeah." Snort. "And giant, fused-together infected. But that's about it.

I'd tell you if there was something else, you know." Now she sounds testy. "I wouldn't – if we're working together, you'd know." For safety's sake.

[notathreat]

"I didn't think you'd hold out on me," Ellie says with a shake of her head. "Just wasn't sure if there was something I should... y'know. Cover you on."

Because they're doing that now. Not just because they have to, or because they're good at it, but because Ellie genuinely does want to keep her safe. After their return to Fade-Seattle, after taking that bite for her... well. Things have changed. And Ellie might not be entirely comfortable with it yet, but she genuinely doesn't want Abby to die.

It comes out awkward but sincere, as things between Ellie and Abby are becoming.

"Clarisse would be pissed if I let you die," she says, which is an obvious cop-out, but she can't bring herself to give a fuck.

[armd]

"You're already covering me," Abby mutters, embarrassed. "It's fine."

Ellie's been doing a really good job, actually. It kinda feels like she's figured Abby out. Even now, she's throwing some line in about Clarisse so that they both of them can take the out without having to look twice at the actual meaning behind it.

So she snorts. She says, "Wouldn't want you to be in the doghouse for letting me splatter all over the pavement."

[notathreat]

It's the way of things. Plausible deniability. Allyship. Leaning on Riftwatch, and Clarisse, and all of their other connections. It's comfortable now.

None of it accounts for the way that Ellie cracks a smile, her eyes warm with a hint of laughter.

"So we'll find some other reason for me to be in the doghouse?"

[armd]

"Yeah," Abby says, her nose scrunching in amusement. She's relieved, cheered up even, bouncing back from having been up on the griffon. It's kind of insane that they can be this way, with each other.

But Abby's glad for it. "I'm sure you can come up with something."