Mistaken Identity (Inera)

[Idaris Falheyn]

Within the lands of the Free Marches lied the forest of Planasene that stood behind Kirkwall the city of chains. Inside this lush green forest, life was everywhere as animals of different kinds enjoyed the harmony and peace of this beautiful yet giant forest that was filled to the brim with dense and proud trees while its giant brances reached upwards towards the sky. However animals was not the only ones that lived here, a dalish clan of elves lived together with harmony amongst nature while being separated from the world outside its boundaries. For many years the Falheyn clan were one with their surroundings as they hunted, prayed and told stories to the future generation.

Yet for the first time in the history of the Dalish and perhaps of Thedas itself a shemlen lived within its encampment. Idaris Falheyn a young brunette girl was raised by the Keeper when she was but a mere baby, in truth though she was taken away from her home in Marathons the capital city of the Tevinter Imperium. A thief took her away from her family and fled with his companions to Planasene forest in the Free Marches, luckily there were met by a Dalish scout party and were quickly killed by the more experienced fighters of the elves.

These very Dalish scouts came across a single shemlen baby which cried like there was no tomorrow. This of course annoyed the scouts and eventually carried the baby back to their encampment and went to show the baby to the Keeper, He took pity on the baby while showing compassion. He decreed to his people they would raise the baby until she was old and strong enough to leave their home, nineteen years later that day had finally come.

On the outskirts of the Falheyn Dalish camp, Idaris stared at her brothers and sisters who had come to see her off. The keeper stood in front of his people, they all looked calm but she could see a slight sadness in their eyes especially in the eyes of the Keeper who gave Idaris a calm but heart warming smile. He held out a large backpack and spoke to the very shemlen he and his people had raised in a calm voice.

"The time has come Da'len for you to leave your home and venture into your world. But always know that the forest of Planasene and we the Dalish of Falheyn will welcome you should you return, we have gathered some supplies in this backpack for you Da'len. Always remember what we have taught you, and never stray from the path you were meant to be on"

Idaris gently took the backpack from the Keeper and placed it on her back. Tears welled into her eyes and she couldn’t help but hug the very elf who had been her adopted father for nineteen years, of course the Keeper was surprised by this sudden emotion and the hug from Idaris. But he gave in and hugged her in return tightly, two elves stepped forward to stand beside the Keeper and held out some weapons. The human Dalish pulled away from the embrace and took a bow made out of pure iron bark with Dalish inscriptions on the front, the other elf held out a silverite sword and a few daggers. Idaris again took both weapons while strapping them to her weapons belt which sat around her waist.

With a sigh the young teenager nodded to her brothers and sisters. These very Dalish had been her only family she had known for many years, and now she must fulfil the Keepers last wish and that was to leave the encampment and return to the world of the shemlens. It was going to be incredibly hard but her family had looked after her and trained her well so she was ready to walk towards the outside world of her own kind, Idaris quickly spoke to each and everyone of the Dalish and especially to the Keeper.

"Ma serannas Keeper and to all of you as well. I would not be alive if it wasn’t for all of you, I will never forget each of you. At first I believed myself to be one of you, but I was wrong. However my heart will always be Dalish, so goodbye my dear brothers and sisters and may the Creator watch over you all"

As she bowed to the Falheyn clan she slung her quiver of arrows onto her back alongside her new backpack and gripped her new bow as she slowly headed northwards following the direction of the sun. The keeper and his people watched as Idaris marched bravely into the unknown, many hours passed and as night time made its presence known across Thedas, a small camp was made just north of the Dalish clan. A bright fire burned happily as it provided warmth from the night air. Yet the camp itself was empty as Idaris was away hunting for food to have for supper.

[Inera Felas'nan]

Dor’falon noticed the fire first.

Inera spotted his raised head and upright ears, facing forward as his eyes fixed on a point somewhere in the distance.

Turning, she followed his gaze and saw the vibrant red-orange of a fire glowing at night; the same colour as hot iron in a furnace.

A campfire in the middle of the forest could belong to anyone, and Inera was aware enough of that to be cautious as she approached. Wary, but also weary, Inera crept forward, stepping carefully to silence her footsteps on the leaf-strewn autumn ground. Dor’falon slunk along beside her, dropping his shoulders and rump and flattening his ears to make his profile smaller.

Deserted. Yet the fire was burning strongly; it couldn’t be more than a few hours old from the colour of the wood, and not even an hour since it was last fed. There didn’t seem to be any attempts to have covered it over that had been abandoned, either.

So either the owner of the camp had left momentarily, or they had been in such a rush to leave that they hadn’t bothered to try and conceal or put out the fire.

A familiar snuffling caught her attention, and Inera turned to see Dor’falon nosing at a pack set against one of the trees closest to the fire.

“Falon! Leave it!” She hissed, making a sharp cutting motion with her hand when the wolf looked up at the sound of his name.

He gave a low, disappointed whine and a hopeful wag of his tail, lowering his head in pleading, but Inera merely stared him down until he gave a downhearted huff and plodded to her side.

She rewarded his good behaviour with a quick scratch, which immediately set her back in his good books as he squirmed in delight.

She smiled at him fondly, shaking her head.

“Silly da’len,” Inera murmured before looking around the campsite again, then further out into the darkness of the forest, scanning for the owner of the pack.

Deciding to wait, she backed up to sit against the broad trunk of an old tree, shielding herself from view and arrows from the back and letting her scan everything in front of her. She drew her bow and an arrow just in case, knocking the latter but leaving the weapon resting across her knees, no tension in the bowstring. Dor’falon snorted before flopping onto his side next to her, apparently unconcerned by his surroundings.

No one was nearby yet, then. If they were, then the wolf would notice.

[Idaris Falheyn]

Planasene forest had become her home for eighteen years, Idaris knew it so well that she knew the best places to gather food and water to drink. It was a very useful to know this if she was to survive on her own in the world of the Shemlens, deep down her heart was heavy with a burden of truth as it was revealed she too was a shemlen. And never was a elf, but strangely she didn’t understand why the Keeper had taken her in despite her race. All that mattered right now was to get some much needed food and fill her water skin should the time arise to quench her thirst, being careful she hand her hands on her ironwood bow and an arrow ready to fire while her feet slowly moved forward.

She bent forwards to hide herself in the undergrowth of bushes and even hid behind trees. Eventually her eyes caught the glimpse of a few rabbits enjoying the company of each other, with her prey in sight she lowered her breathing slightly until it was shallow while her fingers held the trusty arrow and pointed the bow at one of the rabbits. With her eyes like a laser sight on her prey she breathed in and then out while at the same time let her grip on the arrow wither away as it fired forwards letting the sharp tip of the flying arrow pierce the rabbits very own flesh, sure enough her prey leapt through the door of death.

However others were soon escaping causing Idaris to roll forwards and moved as fast as possible to reload and fire another shot which caught another in the head, finally she threw a dagger at one last prey and like the others it was no match for her weapons. With a sigh of relief she gathered her arrows and dagger while at the same time gripped the dead carcasses of the three rabbits by their long floppy ears as she marched back to camp. As the night dwindled onwards she soon entered her temporary home and set her food and water skin down near the backpack, yet something wasn’t quite right as examined her camp site.

There she saw that several parts of the grass had an indent in it just around a part of the border. She knew this forest well and before she left the camp sight there wasn’t a indent in the grass at that section where she now was standing, taking out her bow and arrow her eyes slowly looked around her as she kept quite calm. Someone or something had entered the camp site! As she remained still the young Idaris called out in her elven language in hopes to lure out the intruder from hiding.

"Reveal yourself intruder! Ar'din nuvenin na'din! ENA!"

[Inera Felas'nan]

Perhaps a quarter of an hour had passed before Dor’falon lifted his head, ears pricked, staring intently out into the night.

Inera rested a reassuring hand on his head, glancing the way he was looking before standing silently, the great wolf following her as she backed slowly away to the edges of the fire’s light.

Satisfied she was indistinguishable from the blackness behind her; Inera crouched again and watched as a young woman walked into camp.

Inera’s first, pleasantly surprised thought was Dalish. The girl was about Inera’s age, pale with long brown hair that covered her ears and reached her shoulders. What had caught Inera’s immediate attention was that the woman’s clothing was of distinctly Dalish make.

There was a brace of rabbits in her hand, and a bow and quiver slung over her shoulder. No vallaslin, Inera noticed with a small frown. It was unusual to let apprentices out alone and unsupervised, even if they were on their first large hunt.

Inera grimaced slightly. Or maybe that had just been her clan after what had happened to her.

Inera watched in quiet approval when the girl noticed in just a few seconds the subtle signs of visitation she and Dor’falon had left.

She was a fast draw, with good lines. She’d been well trained, at least. She couldn’t be far from attaining her vallaslin, then.

Inera couldn’t help but grin silently at the challenge.

“So do not kill me, lethallan. I am right here. I ask you do not shoot my friend either; he does not take kindly to being attacked,” she called, standing slowly but keeping her eyes pinned on the other woman. She was ready to dive out of the way should the woman jump and accidentally fire. Some of the best shots Inera had seen had been accidents.

Inera stood and stepped forward so that the other woman could see her, smiling but still holding her bow and arrow just in case. Dor’falon slunk along at her side, contriving to look as unthreatening as possible.

It was only when Inera stepped into the circle of light shed by the fire that she could see the details of the young woman’s face, and her brows dipped then flew up in shock. She jumped back and drew her bow taught as Dor’falon began to bristle beside her in response to the tension jolting through her body.

“What trickery is this, human?” She snapped, realising now in the structure of the woman’s face and body that she was no Dalish elf. “Where did you find that armour and those weapons?” It would be possible – not easy, but possible – for a human to ambush a lone Dalish and steal their gear. The girl knowing Elvish was harder to explain, but Inera couldn’t care right now when everything about this was abruptly looking like a trap designed to lure her in.

So who was she? A Templar agent sent to trick and kill her? A human bandit?

“Who are you, human, and why are you here? Speak quickly, for unlike you, ar tu na’din if you answer poorly,” she snarled, lacing her Elvish with venom in a vicious mockery. Though she didn’t remove her eyes from the woman, she strained her ears for sounds of a larger ambush around her, and remained aware of where Dor’falon’s attention was in her peripheral vision.

He was staring dead ahead at the woman, his black lips peeled back to show gleaming gums and teeth, fur bristling along his spine to apparently increase his already impressive size. He kneaded the ground with his forepaws, hunching as he restrained the natural urge to leap forward until Inera gave the signal.

Reassured for the moment, Inera let her whole attention focus on the imposter, her eyes cold, muscles taut as she held the arrow steady at the woman’s heart.