Aniiee's inane ramblings
The Veil Jumper's camp in the forest was still mostly asleep. The few in it who had started their day nodded, waved, and called their "good morning"s to Asriel. These were his people. The young mage responded to their greetings but jovially sidestepped any attempts to lengthier conversation. As he and his friends wandered deeper into the forest, leaving the camp and its people behind, Asriel grew quiet. Walking with some purpose, they reached a lake well past midday.
Ever attuned to the world's spirits and the feeling that was death, Emmerich let out a breath. This place felt akin to the Grand Necropolis. Familiar, but different. Death lingered here, not grand and majestic like there, but quiet, unassuming. By this beautiful lake in the forest, there was a keen sense of sorrow, loss, and longing.
"Beautiful place", Lucanis said cautiously, studying Asriel's profile carefully. "But where are we?"
"This is where I died", Asriel replied, and there was nothing left of the jovial, cheerful young man from this morning.
The other two stared at him, Lucanis' heart pounding in his chest. With all they had seen in the last year, Asriel might actually mean it.
"Rook..." Emmerich began, but Asriel cut him off.
"Not literally." Asriel stared out over the lake, the expression on his face a mix of sorrow and determination, as if he was steeling himself for a fight with a dragon. "After Varric recruited me and I had squared the thought of going up against one my own gods, I came here", he turned to Emmerich. "We talked once, briefly, about what I wanted to happen to me after my death. I said I hadn't thought about it, which is true in a fashion. I just always took for granted that the same would happen to me as has happened to everyone in my family for thousands of years", he turned back towards the lake, eyes burning with unshed tears. "Our bodies are burned, the ashes collected, and once we again pass this lake on our travels, those ashes are spread on the lake. It's what happened to my mother, to my father, to my older brother.
It is what I did when I came here last. I made an effigy of flowers, burned it, and let the ashes spread with the winds, across the lake." Lucanis' heart ached when he saw a tear make a trail down Asriel's cheek. He desperately wanted to reach out to him, comfort him. "Asriel Aldvir died", Asriel continued, "and I became Rook. And Rook I will be until this is over", he was fighting against tears now. "I don't believe I will ever see this place again."
For a long moment, they were quiet. A gust of wind came to them across the lake. Lucanis could swear he smelled smoke and wildflowers on it. He came to realize just then that that was what Asriel smelled like, wood smoke and wildflowers. And ice magic. And again his heart ached for this young man that he loved so dearly after such a short time of knowing him.
"If it comes to that", the mortalitasi said somberly, "I will see to it that you are brought here, to rest with your family."
Asriel didn't reply. More tears spilled down his pale cheeks. Lucanis wished hotly that Emmerich had been somewhere else.
"Come, Lucanis", Emmerich said. "Asriel needs some time." Was it the first time he had used Asriel's real name? Asriel couldn't remember. But rather than letting his friends leave him to his miserable reverie, he shook himself and said:
"No. I'm fine. Let's head back or we won't get home before midnight."