Move the Chains (ch5-end)

[queenlua]

Hello there! If you've been linked this, you're presumably interested in the ending of my Dragon Age: Inquisition longfic, Move the Chains.

I'm unlikely to return to writing this story—my interest waned and other projects took up my time—but, what follows is a chapter-by-chapter summary/outline/excerpts of where I was planning to go with this. Hopefully that satisfies at least a bit :)

Brief recap of chapters 1-4: after the events of DA:I, Dorian is dawdling about at Skyhold when someone uses Dreamer magic to try and kill him in his sleep. Dorian and Leliana eventually apprehend the assassin, who turns out to be Brielle, an old acquaintance of Dorian's. She was basically-the-equivalent-of-valedictorian back at his old Circle, and he remembers her as prim and insufferably self-righteous, so he's baffled as to why she'd be part of an apparent Venatori plot against him. She refuses to talk; Leliana tortures her a bit; and then Brielle strikes a covert deal with Dorian: she'll teach him how to Dream if he promises to help her escape Skyhold after. He accepts.

Chapter 5

This chapter was juggling three major threads:

1) Dream sequence training montage! Brielle teaches Dorian some Dreaming magic, with the agreement that he'll set her free once he's learned enough to get by. It's a mixture of them-growing-closer (he teases her a lot, but he's a very serious student even if he has absolutely no knack for Dreaming magic whatsoever, and it's hard to dislike someone who's trying very hard, and it's particularly hard to dislike Dorian when he's actually being nice), plus them-stepping-on-each-other's-toes (sometimes Dorian shares some "golly gee remember when"-type memories from when they were both in the Circle, and Brielle just has to quietly grit her teeth, because he was such an ass to her back then and he doesn't even seem to remember it!!!).

There's also a beat where Dorian gets pissed off because he thinks Brielle pried into Dorian's mind (via Dreaming magic) to find out something about his past that no one knew about (that is: Dorian's secret gay lover back when he was in the Circle)... but Brielle didn't do that! she just paid way more attention to him back in the Circle than he thought!

Their every conflict is laced with Brielle being like "ugh I can't just SCREAM at this dude because he's my ticket out of here but I am SO annoyed."

There's also some foreshadowing in the form of "don't go over to THAT part of the Fade" and they're DEFINITELY gonna go over there at some point.

Throughout all this, Dorian's dragging his feet on "actually asking Leliana what Leliana is planning to do with Brielle" and "coming up with a reason for the Inquisitor to commute Brielle's sentence," y'know, the thing he'd told Brielle he'd do. Dick move! We'll get back to that.

2) Brielle and Samson continue having cute (..."cute") little chats about life and stuff while they're locked away in their cells. Samson is definitely dying, which sort of harshes the already-mediocre prison vibe. At some point, Brielle sheepishly asks Dorian, "can you do something to ease his pain," and when Dorian is dismissive, she yells at him. More on that later!

3) Finally, there's a liiiittle bit more of Leliana interrogating Brielle, and there's an exchange that makes it clear that Leliana thinks there's something going on with Brielle that's more complicated than a simple "she was hired for a one-off hit job" kind of deal:

"You certainly were audience to a great many meetings," Leliana pronounced, "for someone who was paid for only a single task."

There it was.

Leliana knew. And Brielle knew she knew.

"That's all," Leliana said, and snapped her fingers to have the guards take Brielle away.

Chapter 6

The Inquisitor is imminently returning from his travels and is planning to hold a day of judgment upon his return. Brielle loses her shit when Dorian's vaguely like "yeah yeah, I'll talk to him" instead of "yes I have a concrete plan for fulfilling my part of the bargain":

"I've taught you enough," Brielle said slowly. "You should be able to go on learning on your own, from here. It's time you uphold your end of our agreement."

Dorian gave an airy shrug. "The Inquisitor's not due back for another two days—"

"Hang the Inquisitor, it's Leliana you'll have to convince." When Dorian's expression remained blank, she rolled her eyes: "Don't you talk to her?" Then she nearly rolled her eyes again: of course not. Of course a man who grew up with household servants wouldn't pay any mind to someone so quiet, so out-of-the-way.

Just then, a hacking cough rose up again from Samson's cell, with an unpleasant texture that made Brielle wince. "Andraste's sake, you won't even lift a pinky to help him," she hissed, gesturing toward his cell. "And maybe you hate me, alright, fine, but you haven't got any quarrel with him—"

"You know what he did, yes?" Dorian asked, his voice suddenly cold. "You understand he rounded up every templar from here to the ocean, fed them red lyrium and called it glory? All to make them tools in his little army? It's an unpleasant way to go, you know. You should've seen the corpses." He watched Brielle's face. "Ah. You didn't know that." Dorian sighed. "I know you fancy him, Brielle, but—"

"It's not like that," she hissed. "It's just decency. Maybe you have to fuck a person to give a damn about them but—"

"That's what you think of me?" He laughed, once. "So what is it you call whatever you were doing with Valerius?"

And that's when Brielle realized he'd never meant to free her at all, not really. Sure, he'd try to talk to the Inquisitor. Maybe he'd even do it, and make a case for her, but only in the vaguest, most desultory, sure-to-be-shot-down way. Then he'd call his duty done and go on Inquisiting, or whatever it was he was doing there—

"Vishante kaffas," Brielle snarled. "You think you've any right to stand here high and mighty just because you're there and I'm here? We can't all be born an altus. Maybe to you, it's—"

"Is that what he offered you?" Dorian interrupted. "A title? Admission to the Tevinter elite? Were you hoping for tea with the blood ritualists and and the murderers? the other murderers?" He scowled. "I swore I'd wipe the Venatori from all of Thedas and yet here I'm colluding with you. What was I thinking?"

Then Dorian storms off. And on the way out, he runs to Cullen and is all:

"Andraste's sake, man, do something about that ward of yours," he shouted, pointing downstairs. "Can't hear yourself think over all the moaning. Just because you want him dead doesn't mean you drag the whole affair out."

Anyway. At this point, Dorian stops bringing Brielle the drugs that help with her dreaming, and he doesn't return to visit her. The Inquisitor returns and is going to pass judgment on Brielle any day now.

Dorian runs into Cullen at the tavern. Turns out, Cullen decided the best way to end Samson's pain was to execute him, big oof, and that's why the normally-teetotaling Cullen is at the tavern at all. Dorian convinces himself it's for the best that Brielle's going to die, in a lady-doth-protest-too-much kinda way.

EXCEPT. At this point, Leliana casually pulls Dorian into her study—she needs his help with a few scholarly matters. She eases him into it, has him translate a scrap of Tevene for her and such, and then finally she says, "Hey, have you seen this mark before?" and slides a sketch toward Dorian.

It's a mark of House Valerius, a sort of magical mark/tattoo-thing that you'd only ever see on a slave. Dorian asks how Leliana came across it, and Leliana's like, "oh, it's on the inside of Brielle's wrist, I guess you never noticed it?"

Dorian goes all pikachu_face.jpg. People selling themselves to pay off a debt is not uncommon in Tevinter, but Brielle was basically the valedictorian of his Circle. How on earth would she have wound up in such dire straits that selling herself off made sense?

So the night before her execution, he rolls up to her prison cell, busts her out, and announces They Are Leaving Together. (Can't turn off his stupid Big Damn Dramatic Hero instinct even when he's being decent for a change!)

Chapter 7 onward

Dorian and Brielle are booking it out of Skyhold under the cover of night, and Brielle's very "wtf" but she's sure not gonna argue with Getting The Hell Out Of Dodge. Dorian leads the way and stuns a couple guards on the way out, and they successfully hike Very Far North. After they've traveled together in silence for a while:

Finally, at a crest miles away from Skyhold's northern edge, she broke the silence: "Thank you for holding to—to our agreement. I know the way from here. You can go back now."

"No need," Dorian said. "I'm coming with you."

"What do you mean?" she asked. Except every word had an edge, she could hear her heart pounding in her head, so it came out more like: What. Do. You. Mean.

"I'm heading to Tevinter. And you're coming with me."

"No. No, you're not. And I'm not. What are you—"

"Leliana told me about that little mark on your wrist."

Brielle jerked her hand back, into her cloak—which was evidence enough. She scowled.

"How you, of all people, wound up on the auction block, and why you didn't just tell me, is a Maker-damned mystery that I will demand to hear all about later, but for now, for now—wouldn't you like to do something about men like Valerius? Jab back at those damned Venatori?"

"I would like nothing whatsoever to do with men like Valerius. If I have learned anything at all, it is to stay as far as possible from men like Valerius."

"Not to put too fine a point on it, but—you are technically a runaway, yes?"

Then it clicked.

Dorian didn't mean to free her at all.

Dorian wasn't angry; he was jealous. Of what Valerius had had. And he saw a chance to get even. Like every other fucking altus she'd ever met.

You're a runaway, this is an estate sale, let's pick up some unclaimed property—

"We had a deal," she roared, in a voice that shocked even her, more animal than human. She became more animal than human; before she knew what had happened, she'd leapt and tackled Dorian straight into the ground, slammed his head against a rock, and pinned him down, her hands around his throat. (A bit of unconscious spellcasting weighed her down, made her heavier, or else she'd never been able to hold him.)

"We had a deal, you piece of shit," she shouted, getting spittle in Dorian's face and not caring, "and just because Valerius is dead doesn't mean you can just swoop in and steal me; not for anything and especially not for your damn Inquisition. I may have wound up on the block once but I'm not going to be passed around, least of all to you, we are eight hundred miles from any Tevinter authority." She felt herself gathering mana around her, unconsciously, and a thought occurred to her: "If I kill you right here then no one will even know—"

"Brielle. Brielle. Stop. Stop!" Her hands had been warming, the precursor of a spell. She stopped it—only barely, but Dorian still heaved a sigh of relief. "I only meant you can't possibly have anyplace to go in a hurry. And that maybe I could help. I didn't mean—Maker. I don't need a slave."

Don't need a slave, always about what he needed. Brielle hissed and kneed him in the chest. He wheezed, and seemed to try and say something, but Brielle didn't hear it, because she tightened the grip around his throat—surely he'd fight back, surely he'd struggle—

He didn't. He just lie there, staring into her eyes, until his eyelids started to flutter, and, no, she thought with annoyance, she couldn't do this—

"If I see so much as a spark of magic," Brielle snarled, loosing her grip and standing up again, "just a spark—"

"—you'll kill me," Dorian wheezed, tired. "Yes. You have made yourself clear." He just lay there, wheezing, for the next few minutes. Brielle wondered, dully, how close she'd been to killing him.

Presently, Dorian pulled himself onto his feet, only a little unsteady, and dusted himself off. "Brielle, I want to help you. I only meant I could wrangle you a safehouse, some coin, get you on your feet again. I've still some favorable connections in Tevinter. And I imagine if you had any of your own, you wouldn't be here at all."

Dorian cleared his throat. "That's all if you want the help, of course, I mean—you're not going back to his son, surely? You aren't—you don't—"

Brielle smirked to hear the sudden faltering in his voice. What did he know about her?

Dorian looked her over, appraising. Then he announced, "I don't think you are."

Brielle rolled her eyes and started walking.

Dorian trotted after, like some yappy dog. "Listen: you're going to Tevinter, at least. So we're heading the same way. It's a damn foolish idea to travel on your own anyway; I should know, I've done it. Let's go together."

Brielle kept walking, silent.

"Let's try it a week," Dorian went on. "If I'm too wearisome after that you can always go back to the dream-assassinating-me plan."

"Why?" Brielle asked. "Why would you—" She rolled her eyes and made a guttural sort of noise. "Fine. Only because we're going the same way. Don't talk too much."

Dorian beamed, clapping his hands as though they'd finally decided on what to have for brunch. "Lead on."

Brief aside, as to "why was Brielle secretive about all this": a combination of (1) "fuck letting Dorian know how far I've fallen, he'd probably be ridiculously smug about it", and (2) "if I die here, whatever, at least no one can say I didn't try to kill Dorian, and my family will still be safe because of what I've done." Brielle becomes more interested in staying alive when she learns Valerius is dead, because she sees an opportunity there: if she can smash that phylactery and wriggle out of the whole slave agreement and become a free woman somehow, then that would be enticing. So that's why she decides to try and teach Dorian stuff in a bid for her freedom. But it's also why she's so cagey about it! she's pretty sure if she told Dorian the sob story he wouldn't care and she'd just die anyway!

ANYWAY. So, Dorian and Brielle become reluctant travel buddies, and Brielle chills out a bit when Dorian demonstrably does not pull any fast ones.

She is a little wary of Leliana having some hand in all this, when she finds out that Leliana was the one that indirectly prompted Dorian to leave:

Dorian pulled [Brielle] into an alleyway. "No trouble," he said breezily. "It'd just be a mite awkward if the Inquisition noticed me, is all."

"But they know you're here, surely?"

"I didn't exactly make a public announcement of, oh hey I stunned a few guards and broke an assassin out of a dungeon and fled for Tevinter, no."

Brielle pursed her lips. "But Leliana knows."

Dorian tilted his head. "Does she?"

"Of course she does. Are you stupid? She told you about the mark on my wrist—maybe she even played a little stupid, asked you to translate—but she knew what it meant. She'd pieced it together a while back."

"Did she, now."

So this was new information to Dorian, Brielle thought. More's the pity. "If she didn't tell you sooner, there's a reason she told you right then."

"I hadn't thought of that. Maker. I was so angry I didn't think. Oh, she's good."

"Good at what she does? Yes. But she's dangerous. You know that, right?"

"I know she knocked you around a bit, but, she's very devoted, you know."

"To the Inquisition? Yes. May not be the same as what you want."

From there, the major plot beats are:

* Eventually Brielle tells Dorian the story of how Valerius bought her. (Brielle comes from a really poor family of farmers and she's the only mage in their line. The family had an unkind lender, and her parents + cousins were about to do the whole debt-slavery thing themselves, to get out of it—but Brielle beat them to it, because she knew a mage with her talents would fetch the highest price in like a century, and this means her family is now set for life. One might ask why an amazing mage couldn't use other talents! and, well, uh. Brielle is not enormously financially savvy herself, and her sparkling personality has not endeared her to many rich friends who could tell her How To Finance, so. This seemed like the best option. Very "why do so many NFL players end up destitute" sort of deal.)

* Brielle's game plan, now that Valerius is dead, is to go back to Valerius's estate and smash the phylactery, because Valerius's son is dumber and less vicious than his father, and if he loses the means to track Brielle down, he probably won't bother doing it, and won't threaten her family's livelihood and all that.

* Dorian is like "this is a dumbass plan," though Dorian's idea of a "good" plan is rather flashier than Brielle cares for (it's along the lines of "first, Dorian will go to the magisterium and pick up that magister title that's waiting for him; then he'll publicly humiliate Valerius's son," and so on).

* They learn to ~*~understand each other~*~, and they do some kind of buddy cop adventure to bust apart the phylactery, and while Brielle's not free exactly (she's made herself infamous), she's able to start a new life elsewhere and do dream-assassinate-y stuff, but on Dorian's behalf and against the Bad Guys or whatever. (One version of this I played with was: "Brielle's never killed anyone before and really doesn't actually want to kill someone; however, the heist on House Valerius goes badly and Brielle ends up having to kill Valerius's son to save Dorian's life; afterwards, Dorian is like "good riddance, one more dead venatori" and Brielle flips her shit on Dorian, and is like "I know you didn't like him but, Christ, he was a person and now I'm the one who has to live with killing him.")

* I think I had some vague notion this all had to be A Part Of Leliana's Plan but I did not have a clear idea of what she was planning beyond "it's better to have an ally in the senate than not-having-that" or something, idk. Leliana's cool she should get to do cool things.

* Final scene was some kind of quiet dialogue between Dorian and Brielle, where she's skulking around at night doing assassin-y things nearby, and they're both wryly reflecting on their lives, and Dorian feels pretty bad for accidentally fucking up Brielle's chance at freedom by choosing the BIG HIGH DRAMA way of dealing with Valerius's son instead of the quieter, more competent approach Brielle suggested; Brielle's like "yes that sucked. but it is what it is. whatever. do some shit that's worth the sacrifice though."

And that's a wrap! Thanks for reading.