These people were lucky Cassandra had still been riding high on the victory against Corypheus and thus in generally good spirits enough to not start demanding answers at the tip of her sword. Not that she hadn’t started demanding answers, obviously, but not as violently or impatiently as she could have been.
It was also to their credit that they had worked out a way to explain a mightily complicated concept in a relatively short amount of time, even over claims of blood magic, Tevinter trickery, both at once… If time could be toyed with then so could space, after all. As the people in charge kept assuring her, the magic involved in bringing her here meant no immediate harm. All the same, even after Cassandra was told Varric had been notified of her arrival she decided to sit on the fence regarding the nature of this entire place, and reserved the right to shove her shield in anyone’s face the minute anything seemed remotely nefarious.
After all that was settled, she was shown to a waiting area and told to, well, wait. And so she did, with narrowed eyes and perked up ears, paying mind to all she saw and heard around her in search of any sign of danger. Once she saw Varric finally ambling towards her Cassandra stood up and rushed in his direction.
"Finally! What is this? They told me you are responsible for my being here. Explain."
Varric held up his hands in mock surrender and took one step back. "Hold your high and mighty horses, Seeker," he offered, glancing around at all of the sheer chaos that seemed to be enveloping Intake. "As I understand it, there's some elf pulling people through, so I'm pretty sure I'm not responsible for anything." Really, responsibility was something he avoided anyway.
Still, he'd allow himself to admit that he'd kind of sort of maybe briefly wished Cassandra was around just the previous night when he'd wrapped up the last few chapters of his new Swords and Shields book, even though he'd been telling himself almost literally after every chapter that he was just wasting his time, since he had no editor or publication system available. Writing into his tablet was certainly easier, though. He never had to mix new ink, and it was a hell of a lot cleaner.
"Welcome to Atlantis?" he stated-slash-asked. He figured Intake gave her a bit of the whole entry spiel, but he wouldn't be surprised to know they had to rush it with so many people suddenly showing up because of this elf.
Cassandra rolled her eyes, as was customary, and snickered as Varric blamed it on some elf she had been told about but hadn’t really seen. "Yes, well, they told me you had something to do with this which was why you were being called to ‘greet’ me. You know I have a coronation to be scheduled any time now, don’t you? Probably sooner rather than later."
She crossed her arms, giving Varric a skeptical look. "My thanks, I suppose. What are you doing here? Who is this elf with such concerning magic? This place seems overwhelmingly full of humans. Overwhelmingly full being the important part."
Well, that at least answered the When part of any question he'd have about her point in the timeline. Earlier than him, but that was fine, because she was certainly easier to deal with before the Divine Victoria stuff. "Usually," he began, trying to take one topic at a time. "Usually, when someone shows up they'll either contact the first person the newcomer asks for, or they'll reach out to whomever's first available. So I guess you get me."
"As for the rest," he continued, tapping off fingers as he addressed each point. "Your coronation will wait for you, time kind of stops there while you're here." Another finger. "I'm working on engineering and helping fight another war, because apparently I'm not allowed to have peace. Been here over for about two months now, I think." Another finger. "No idea who the elf is or what they're doing, I didn't even know there were creatures that could choose to pull people in." Another finger. "Yeah, lots of humans. It's not normally like this. Blame the elf." He closed his fist to end the count. "Any other questions, your Holiness, or can I get you out of this place?"
Tilting her chin up, Cassandra observed Varric with a slight smirk. She then nodded at his explanation, while a million other questions popped up. There was no immediate danger, so Cassandra made an effort to be patient.
Her eyes widened at the very concept of time stopping, memories of the genuinely terrifying business at Redcliffe flooding her mind; as Varric mentioned another war Cassandra dropped her arms in surprise and adopted an air of concern. She remained silent while Varric spoke, which could take anywhere from two to twenty minutes uninterrupted, but if she was used to anything it was his voice. Once he closed his statements with a request for more questions, Cassandra huffed.
"Do not call me that. Yet, or perhaps ever." She requested. "I have many questions but they can be asked elsewhere if you prefer."
"Wouldn't be much of a Seeker if you didn't," Varric answered in confirmation. He turned back towards the exit and waved over his shoulder. "Come on, then. You'll like the Dive, it's the perfect amount of shady and respectable. Just like me." If she ughed or huffed in response, he couldn't hear it over the noise of all the other folks coming to meet their new arrivals, but he did spare the occasional glance to see if she was still with him.
Once outside, it was a by comparison a great deal more quiet. That and an active blizzard. So, you know, an improvement over the chaos of bureaucracy. "All right, this is better. You can ask more along the way, and I'll even promise not to exaggerate too much."
Cassandra did respond with a roll of her eyes and an ugh, but then again shady and respectable were such perfect describers of Varric that she could hardly fault him for using them. "So, how did you come to be here, Varric? And what war is this you’re helping to fight?"
She looked around as they got outside, taking in what sights she could as she protected her eyes against the blizzard. "Not much for sightseeing, is it? You cannot be handling this harshness well. You hate most weathers." Soon enough so would she, if they didn’t find shelter. The cold was biting at her face as Cassandra pulled her shield off her back and held it up in front of her upper body. As she protested with another ugh Cassandra took on an accusatory tone as if this was all Varric’s fault."Well, now all we need are two elves and a horde of demons and it will be just like old times!"
"Come now, Seeker," he admonished, shielding his own eyes. "We'd need to throw in at least a blood mage and a bit of red lyrium or two, first." Despite the barb, she wasn't wrong. He hated the weather here, and all the water besides. But how could he tell her that the weather was the least of the problems around here? If he told her that she could end up trading bodies with Barkspawn tomorrow, or hearing peoples' thoughts for a day, or maybe even turned into a male Seeker for a day, she'd either flat out call him a liar or just turn around and go back out the way she came in. If she could.
"Short version is I picked up a coin and it transported me here. Different for you, I imagine. The war. Well, that'd take a lot longer to explain. I'll cover that once we've huddled at a table with some hot cider or something." Varric plodded forward, like only a dwarf could do through the wind and snow, flagging down a ride to the Dive. "Actually, you've never been in a car or had a cold beer, have you? Oh, you're in for a treat."
"I was referring specifically to that fateful day in Haven but yes, I suppose you’re right." Cassandra conceded. Varric was correct as to the fact that she had picked up no coin previous to arriving here, she simply… had. And then it was time to be more patient still, which did not come easily to the Seeker. She rolled her eyes and deferred to Varric as to what to do regarding the nigh impossible walking conditions. "A what? You mean a cart? I’ve been on a cart. Why would I want cold beer right now? I’m freezing as is."
Whenever Varric promised her she was in for anything, Cassandra’s natural alarms went off. She sighed quite heavily as she watched a strange contraption come to a stop in front of them. "Good, I hadn’t dreaded anything yet today."
She looked at Varric, reluctantly waiting to follow his lead. Whatever he told her to do, she would do it - what choice did she have now?
"Car," he corrected, opening the door to reveal the cushioned seats inside. The heat of the air within also steamed in the air a bit, as he held the door open and gestured to Cassandra. "Like a cart, but a hundred times better. As far as dread goes, there's worse ways to seethe in misery." He offered one of his lop-sided grins and made sure there was enough room for her to get by. It might be a tight fit, since she apparently had it decided for her that she'd arrive fully decked out with her gear.
"Hey!" called the driver. "Sword and shield in the trunk, yeah? And get in, you're letting in the snow!" With that, he clicked something under the dash, which caused the rear of the car to lift up. Varric gestured in that direction with his chin, but whether he was suggesting that she put them in there herself or offering to do it for her was kind of a difficult to tell scenario.
"The… excuse me?" Cassandra was about to tell the man sitting at the apparent front of this contraption that the idea of putting her gear anywhere she wasn’t was preposterous but then Varric motioned for it, so it must be all right. She hoped. With a look of suspicion Cassandra dumped her things into the compartment that had just opened itself, eyes narrowing at Varric as she pushed the loose part down.
Inwardly she told herself it wasn’t like she couldn’t cause some harm without weaponry. Cassandra got into the car gingerly, taking a few tries to find a position like some kind of dog. As far as transportation went, however, it was fascinating. And if king of overreactions Varric wasn’t concerned about his own mortality, then this must really be safe. "There is nothing like this in Thedas. Even with magic. I don’t know whether to be fascinated or afraid."
"You're already getting good at this," complimented Varric, climbing in behind her by gripping the lip of the roof and easily swinging himself into the vehicle. The benefits of being shorter than the average human had some benefits, at least. He pulled the door shut and told the driver they were headed to the Dive. When the driver looked pointedly at him through the rearview mirror, Varric remembered one important part of traveling in a car.
"Ah, yeah." He settled back into his seat and pulled the shoulder belt across his torso and locked it into place before glancing over at Cassandra. "You've got one of these, too. See if you can puzzle out what I just did and do the same. It's a safety feature, like strapping yourself onto the back of a dragon." He grinned at what would hopefully be a vivid image in her mind, though she'd soon find out that it would actually be a smooth ride, no pitched battle, and a lot less fire.
"I am nothing if not adaptable these days." Cassandra retorted, though she was aware of how set in her ways she could be. It depended on the situation, she supposed. Without understanding any of the silent exchange between Varric and the man at the front, Cassandra’s brow furrowed as she listened, then leaned over to observe the sash draped across Varric’s torso. For her troubles she got an eyeful of his so-called glorious chest hair. It was indeed a sight to behold, but as she had seen surprisingly few others there was hardly a fair term of comparison.
Understanding the contraption, Cassandra set about locating hers and strapping herself in, though the comparison Varric made was wholly unsettling. "What have you gotten me inside of, Varric? If this is anything like riding a dragon and we survive I will kill you."
"Relax, Seeker," answered Varric, glancing at the driver and reading the name off of the placard on the dashboard. "Amir and I go way back, he'll get us there safely." The driver glanced back through the mirror again and kind of shrugged in a way that suggested 'sure, whatever for a tip.' He then made a show of getting comfortable and resting his hands behind his head, watching Cassandra's reactions to everything. "Besides, you're adaptable, right? If you kill me, you won't get to read my newest book."
"Amir. Wonderful." Cassandra nodded to the man as she saw him glance through the mirror - a curious way to see behind him - and relaxed only enough to lean fully against her seat, though she still seemed stiff as a board. She looked out the windows of both sides with no hope to see too much, but all she saw was fantastical.
Only the revelation that Varric had been writing brought her out of it. She turned to him, brows raised in curiosity (and barely concealed excitement). "Oh, you’ve been writing? And what is the tale about this time?"
"You'd be surprised how much free time I have when there's no portals opening up in the sky or demons trying to kill us," mused Varric, now completely at ease in the back of the car as it pulled away from the curb, smooth as silk. "I've been working on my memoirs, mostly, but I may have wrapped up a few new stories about our favorite Knight-Captain. Figured I couldn't leave it with her being falsely accused of a crime."
He tsk'd for emphasis and glanced sidelong over at Cassandra again. "Besides, I figured if anything would lure you to Atlantis, it'd be Swords and Shields."
"Would I?" Cassandra inquired, amused. Apart from the occasional missive from this Grand Cleric or that, Cassandra had found herself with free time too. She had easily outlined a plan for the reform of the strongest branches of the Chantry and couldn’t do more until she knew exactly what she was working with. It was irritating. Just like having to settle herself onto the seat with both her palms as the vehicle moved. Her eyes went wide, first at the movement, then at the news that Varric had been writing Swords and Shields. She turned her head fully in Varric’s direction, jaw slack in disbelief.
"You’ve written more of that? But I thought you hated it, that you only did it to humor me!" Her delight was obvious, but then it took on a hint of skepticism again. "You wanted to lure me here, Varric? Whatever for?"
That slack jaw was one of Varric's favorite expressions, if not the favorite. Surprising the unsurprisable Seeker was one of life's true joys. He reveled in it for the briefest of seconds, like savoring a particularly fine meal, before responding. "The Inquisitor's here and could use some sane council, because Chuckles is here, too, and you know how conflicted she is about him. I promised to play nice, but I figure you didn't. Plus Hawke's here, and you know how he gets when he doesn't have someone to properly glare at him. He's a mess, Seeker. And you never got to meet his sister."
He gave a soft shrug and turned to look at her fully. "And you wouldn't believe how hard life is without someone to irritate on a daily basis. It just isn't the same without you around, that's all. So I used the tools available to me."
At this news, Cassandra rubbed her temples as she let out a noise of mild disgust; not about Hawke, with whom Cassandra had no real problem (her problem had mostly been with Varric who had hidden him), but about Solas. "I am hardly an unbiased party. All I would say is that a person who enters some kind of meaningful relationship and then disappears without a trace or so much as a ‘by your leave’ does not deserve someone’s heart. But feelings do not respond to logic."
She shrugged. "The time for glaring at Hawke is past, I think. But I should like to meet his sister. You spoke highly of her." Cassandra couldn’t hide the amusement in her face as Varric described how hard life was without her to annoy. "Oh, it warms my heart to have such an important part in your life. The one you annoy. An honor."
A soft smile tried to fight its way onto his lips. By the Maker, he really did miss having her dry humor around. "Bethany's great. You'll like her a lot. And honestly, I think Atlantis is a natural balm for that Grey Warden shit." Okay, so he'd decided to address a different topic than continuing the line about wanting her here.
With a small smile, Cassandra nodded. "I imagine so. She’s had a hard time of things for a long time now. Unprovoked, too. None of what happened to her was her direct fault. She deserves respite."
"And there's the part where Solas wanted to wipe out everyone and start over for the elves," responded Varric, tilting his head slightly in the event that she hadn't heard about that yet in her timeline. Probably not, if she wasn't Divine yet. After all, he remembered finding a book that he hadn't actually written yet when they were chasing down Solas and/or the Qunari. There was always weird shit going on in Varric's life.
"WHAT." Exclaimed Cassandra forcefully, tone of voice raising though not in pitch, enough to make the driver huff and look back at them through the mirror again. Ignoring him pointedly, Cassandra turned almost entirely towards Varric. "Explain."
Varric looked to the roof of the car above his head, almost as if he were looking to the sky beyond it for the words for an answer. Then he pursed his lips for a moment. "I don't know if the Inquisitor can, or already has, changed his mind. But he admitted his plan was to restore the world of the elves to what it was, which would wipe out life on Thedas as we know it." Varric knew it'd be a long story, so he tried to cap it a bit. "I'll explain more later, since it sounds like we've got a lot more to chat about than I'd originally expected. Short version is Chuckles gave that orb to Corypheus and is actually the old elven god Fen'Harel. The Dread Wolf."
The fact that Solas had 'reasons' for the things he did, and some of them actually made a little sense when you stepped back and took a long look, still didn't remove any of the sting that he'd lied to and betrayed every damn one of them for his own ends and knowingly put them all in serious danger, with too many dead to count, because he made a few stupid mistakes - some god.
"And so he would doom us all and build his world on our ashes?!" Cassandra swallowed the million insults she wanted to hurl against Solas, including some that she had learned from Sera. But she had no time to dwell on the sheer insanity of this "plan", as Varric decided to drop yet another fireball on her that left Cassandra void of air in her lungs for a moment. Gobsmacked, Cassandra stared ahead, seemingly expressionless except for extremely wide eyes. "H-how did you find all of this out?"
Nevermind that in her mind she was screaming about how come he was still alive, as if such a junction of circumstances didn’t make him entirely too dangerous to be left to his own devices.
"Well, time's a weird thing, Cassandra," he offered by way of almost useless explanation. "Take, for instance, when I arrived here from my time. You were already the Divine and we stopped a plot on the Winter Palace. Ran into Solas there and learned a few things." He shrugged and rolled his shoulder once. "Now whether Ellana talked him out of it or he's just not ready to do it, who can say? He admitted his plan, though, and there's a reason I don't go out of my way to drop in and say hello."
As he finished talking, the car rolled to a stop outside of the Dive and the driver looked expectantly in his mirror again. Varric pulled out his tablet, looked at the bill and doubled it as a tip. It was important to leave a good impression with the service workers around Atlantis. He tilted it sideways to show Cassandra what he was doing, as it was another thing he knew that would be totally new and nearly magical for her. Then he reached to open the door, noting the distinct sound of the trunk being opened again as he did so.
Pinching the bridge of her nose, Cassandra took a long, deep, belabored breath that turned into a sigh that was just as long, deep and belabored. Making a point of asking Varric for details on their futures later, Cassandra shrugged. "I would really be disappointed if you did, Varric."
Sometimes, loathe as she might be to admit it, Cassandra might be too judgmental and make up her mind about people much too quickly. But she was capable of growing and admitting (with difficulty) that she had been wrong, and correcting her behavior. Right now, however, Cassandra saw no reason to even leave that possibility for the future when it came to Solas. Quick of thought as she was it didn’t take her long to realize that while Solas had posed as a random apostate who had come to Haven to hear what transpired in the Conclave he was most likely there because of what was to happen. He might have known all along, then offered his aid to absolve himself of guilt. It was infuriating to think about.
"What is that?" She asked weakly. Cassandra had no coherent thoughts to offer on their conversation or what the strange tablet in Varric’s hand was doing. It was all too bewildering. An open exit was an open exit anywhere, though, and Cassandra managed to loosen up her strap and scoot over to exit the ‘car’ after Varric, making a beeline to the back for her weapons before realizing the door of the car hadn’t closed on its own. Made sense. Sheepishly, she pushed it closed. After strapping the shield to her back, she did the same to the little luggage compartment, then turned to Varric. "I can’t believe I need to depend on you for what to do in this place. You have entirely too much power right now."
"At least you don't have to push me into a chair and ask a bunch of questions this time" he joked, gesturing to the inviting entry that was the front door to the Dive. He was both greatly amused and a bit empathetic to Cassandra's plight with coping with all of these new experiences, considering he'd done the same not too long ago. As they walked towards the tavern, he pulled the tablet out again and offered it to her to look at.
"I'm sure they'll give you one here before long, once they find out how many they need. We use them for maps, currency, communication, information gathering. Why, Seeker, you have just about the entirety of human knowledge sitting in your hands." He quickly reached over and opened the Google app. "Go ahead, say 'Hey Google,' and then ask it any question you'd like."
Stopping dead in front of the entrance, Cassandra gave Varric a pointed look and rolled her eyes. They would be old and gray and he would still hold the Kirkwall questioning against her. He held a grudge, and this was why Cassandra still wasn’t sure, after everything, whether he tolerated her or treated her well due to extreme sarcasm.
The contraption in his hands sounded complicated, not to mention too good to be true. When he told her to ask the contraption a question, Cassandra snickered, and turned to look squarely at Varric. "Hey, Google," she started hesitantly, "when is Varric going to stop holding that one incident from many years ago against me?"
Varric held the door with a thin smile and a pointed look as the device chirped to life and displayed a screen of results. With a bright female voice, it responded to Cassandra with "Varric Tethras. Dialogue. Inquisition. Dragon Age Wiki. Fandom." A hitch of a pause, then "Here Lies the Abyss. Dragon Age Wiki. Fandom powered by Wikia." Another hitch. "Dragon Age Inquisition was Bioware's Worst RPG to Date. Escapist." Another hitch. "Road to Inquisition One-shots Chapter 2: Childhood, Anderfels, and…" Another hitch. "Days of Our Past Chapter 1: Act 1 Start, a Dragon Age Fanfic. Fanfiction."
Leaning against the door, Varric waved a hand to let Cassandra enter before he did as the tablet continued. "Would you like the next five results?" Before the Seeker could respond, Varric reached for the tablet while answering in the negative. "See, information overload."
As expected Cassandra understood about a quarter of those words, and none of their context. But the contraption had not answered his question and so she supposed that was a win. "Yes, useful. What is that, a record of your life? You did say you were writing your memoirs."
With that she walked into the place they had arrived to, which despite its unfamiliar decor, music and surroundings had all the makings of a tavern. Just the place she’d expected Varric to make his favorite. She waited for him to walk in and guide her to his preferred seat. "I see your tastes haven’t changed much."
Varric let the door close behind them, shutting out the freezing temperatures outside and waved in the direction of the bartender to signal for a couple of drinks. As he moved towards his favorite table, he chuckled. "I'm a creature of habit. Set in my ways. But no. And yes. It's got some of my life. Some of yours, too. Some of everybody's. Like I said, the whole of human knowledge. But," he paused as he was briefly interrupted by two glass mugs of beer being placed on their table already.
He smiled up at the bartender and took a quick pull on his mug. Even the greatest storytellers need to take a break and refresh themselves on occasions. "But, they don't know everything. Just what was revealed from their brief glimpse into our world. It's hard to explain. Like, they know a lot of what we've said and done that made an impact, but it doesn't really know how often you relieved yourself and did before going to bed. The big stuff only, basically."
Before sitting down Cassandra found a place by their table to lean her sword and shield against something. No one batted an eyelash at it, which bode well, she supposed. As she took a seat at the table, she blew hot air onto her palms and rubbed them together to chase away the frost from her hands. "How does it have all that knowledge? Why? That is what I don’t understand."
Belatedly, Cassandra realized she had more pressing matters to care about. She nodded in thanks as the beer was set in front of her, then waved her hand in dismissal of her own question. "Nevermind. Tell me about this Solas mess."