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[She starts the coffee while Neve explains, but at the mention of that place called The Fade, there is a noticeable pause in her actions, a glance at Neve through the corner of her eye, curious. There is a lot there, but there was one thing that her ears had latched onto from the beginning and she has to ask.]

Can people just... go back and forth between those two worlds?

[Setting the water to boil, she starts working on the coffee itself, breaking down the beans with a hand grinder from the cupboard.]

It reminds me of this place we call the Lifestream back home. Where our magic comes from, and is... basically the life and the blood of the Planet. Use it all up, and everything just... slowly fades away.

[Sort of like a blight.]

[ and of course tifa is smart. she latches onto one of the more difficult points to explain. neve gives a slight shake of her head. it's complicated. ]

Not usually. Your mind does when you sleep; that's how we dream. But physically, it's a lot more difficult. The thing about the Fade is it's entirely raw magic. As a concept, it's difficult for those living to even envision what it once was before the Veil. The Fade itself reacts to emotion, even to thought. Spirits are born that embody emotions. When they are twisted against that emotion, that purpose, they turn into demons. Justice, Vengeance. Benevolence, Retribution. Compassion, Spite. Empathy, Pride. Despair. And many, many more.

[ part of her hates how much she sounds like solas right now and she doesn't even know the full extent of it. but also if tifa is listening closely enough, neve's words "before the veil" are a hint: it didn't always exist. there was a time before the veil. someone created it. ]

Given our connection to magic, our ability to harness it across the Veil, we mages are able to cross, with the right ritual. But it's dangerous. The Fade's raw magic can rip a person apart. Even more dangerous is a mage possessed by a demon. Spirits can communicate across the Veil. Get the right ritual and a powerful enough mage and you can pull demons across the Veil. Happens all the time in Minrathous. Those demons in possession of a mage's body can wreak total destruction. Even without possession, demons are dangerous.

If Emmrich ever turns up here, ask him the finer details about spirits and demons. That's his point of knowledge. I never had the Tevinter lineage — [ it's soft, but there's a hint of a scoff in her voice at the word "lineage," like she very much disagrees with the class system. ] — to grant me a full education. I got enough, but not what Emmrich studied.

So, the answer is "it's possible to cross, but difficult enough that you can't do it at will." Can't be done without a lot of preparation. Meaning those ancient magisters had a whole lot of magic and some big fancy ritual to let them all cross.

[Oh, she is definitely listening carefully, and she catches onto that choice of wording.]

So not quite like the Lifestream, but... similar, in some ways. Really different in others. Sounds... terrible, honestly.

[Her expression is thoughtful as she pours the water over the coffee grinds.]

You mentioned that people didn't know what the world was like before the veil. How long ago has it existed for?

Can be. Like a lot of things, it's perception, too. Knowing how spirits and the Fade itself react to thoughts and intention helps.

[ but there's also a reason, several honestly, that people aren't allowed or able to just cross over at any time. things are already difficult enough with the rituals thinning the veil and allowing spirits to be corrupted into demons and then pulled through to the physical world. and mages have it harder. they're more susceptible to possession, to being altered by spirits or demons. they need willpower, which neve likes to think she has.

as for the question about the veil, neve takes a slow, deep breath. ]

Impossible to say without asking the source and at this point, I doubt he'd be willing to offer it. Not that I have the means to contact him. That's someone else on our team. But it predates the Chantry's recorded history and most of what we have available, so best guess? Several thousand years. The Veil's creation and many events after it wiped out much of that historical period and we're still feeling the effects of that loss. The elves more than anyone else.

[ because she's not going to say it's her history that got wiped out when the elves got the worst of it. they are the culture most reeling and injured since. ]

We learned recently that the Veil, and a prison therein, also holds back the majority of the Blight. What we have seen as catastrophic events have only occurred with a fraction of the Blight's actual power. So you can imagine that keeping the Veil in place has become an important task for my team.

[ which suggests that there are people out and about who want to tear down the veil. but why would anyone want that, if demons would run rampant and more of the blight would consume the world? ]

So then...

[She looks back at the cloud, pausing, before she pours them both a cup of coffee. There is some cream and sugar that she sets on the counter, and slides Neve's cup towards her, frowning all the while.]

How'd that dragon manage to get through? I'm assuming that's where it came from?

[ neve gives her head a quick shake. ]

The old gods, the dragons that became archdemons, were sleeping deep underground on our side of the Veil. We've learned a lot about what they actually are very recently, but it's not common knowledge. And it sure makes everything much more complicated.

[ she notes tifa's attention on the cloud that formed her memory but her own is stolen by the coffee that makes its way to her. she takes a little cream into her cup before she answers again. ]

The dragon that attacked Minrathous in that memory wasn't an archdemon, but it was Blighted. Corrupted. Touched by the same entities that corrupted the old gods into archdemons. The Evanuris — [ and she is very careful not to call them "ancient elves" or "ancient elven gods" or even just "powerful elven mages". the elves have more than enough trouble as it is and that's not her story to tell. ] — were once ancient mages, immortal, and powerful enough to bind dragons to their will. Called themselves gods and demanded worship. They were all sealed away by the same ancient mage who created the Veil. The two Evanuris still living now control the Blight and were released during a massive ritual not that long ago. A ritual intended to tear down the Veil; one Lace and I tried to stop. [ and varric, but his disappearance reopened that wound and she's not ready to talk about it unless she has to. she might have to. she definitely should. ] Elgar'nan and Ghilan'nain. Ghilan'nain corrupted the dragon you saw and commanded it to attack Minrathous while another attacked Treviso.

[ if tifa has met lucanis, she might have heard that city name. ]

Our leader, Rook, chose to help Treviso first. You saw what became of Minrathous.

Edited 2026-02-12 20:58 (UTC)

We can't all be in two places at once, unfortunately...

[The sadness in her voice is drowned out by the cup of coffee, and she sips hers, leaving it black and bitter.]

Was there really no one else who could save Minrathous while your leader was fighting off in Treviso?

[ it's something neve has needed time to come to terms with. it was a terrible choice and she can't say she's sorry treviso was saved; but the fact that saving one came at the cost of the other...

she's accepted what happened, and she doesn't blame rook any longer, but it still hurts. it's the kind of event that sticks in one's mind. it doesn't go away. ]

They sent a few of our teammates to help, but there wasn't time to mobilize anyone else. We barely had allies at that point and they were all dealing with their own problems. The Shadow Dragons fought as hard as we could, but we're a resistance group. We're not an army. And let's be honest: no one outside cares enough about Tevinter to help, even if they knew in time.

[ being who she is, neve is still very muted as far as emotional responses go in this moment, but for someone who knows her as well as tifa does, it's easy to hear the tension and pain in her voice and to see the same in how she holds herself, the way her arm gestures as she speaks. this event changed her, in ways nothing else has before or since. ]

One of our leaders, the Viper, was blighted. We don't know how long he has until he turns. The Shadows, the only resistance in Minrathous, are now scattered. With the Venatori cult in power, Elgar'nan and Ghilan'nain now have the entire Tevinter Empire in their grasp.

[ there was no good choice. neve knows this well. but the picture she's painting now is that the choice ended up being save the civilians in one city at the cost of handing the ancient mages in charge of the blight an entire empire of power. they still haven't seen the full ramifications of that she's sure. ]

[Even if Tifa did not know Neve that well, like recognizes like. Tifa is someone who holds her own emotions close, reins them in and keeps herself leveled and steady so as not to burden others with her feelings. Her anger.]

You did what you all could. I know that much.

[She would never think that they didn't, but it still hurts nonetheless to hear that they couldn't save them all. Especially hearing that no one besides those who did try to help didn't care to step in and give their aid.]

You guys sound like us... Avalanche, I mean. Not the crew here, but back home. We were... a kind of resistance group, too. Fought as hard as we could to save a lot of people, but... there's only so much you can do in the end.

[That is something that Tifa is very clearly still trying to come to terms with, as she brings the coffee to her lips to hide her frown and sips.]

We did. But it's never enough, is it?

[ to the rest of thedas, tevinter is the land of slaves and blood magic. not many would think it a nation that deserves to be saved. and like rana had said when she and rook crossed paths after the attack: if rook had been in minrathous instead, maybe it would have made a difference, or maybe they'd be dead, too. there's no way to tell.

tifa's soft tale gives neve a moment to breathe, to bring herself out of the memories and the pain of explaining everything. something else to focus on. someone else's tale. ]

What were you fighting against?

[ she hasn't talked specifically about the shadows and the parts of tevinter culture they were fighting against, but maybe that's something they can slowly get into together. tifa's first, though. ]

Not quite the same, but... it's always the people who think that they've above the rest of us.

[A crooked smile at Neve before it vanishes behind her cup.]

They're called Shinra Electric Power Company, but the name doesn't really say much. They're a corporation who takes up all the life blood of the Planet, killing it.

[And while she doesn't agree with Avalanche's more extreme methods, she joined their fight for a different reason. Something a little more selfish than fighting for the Planet, but she won't get into that. Not here.

As she goes on, she makes a very concerted effort to keep her tone even and calm.]

They're selfish and don't care about the people. They'd let all of us rot if it meant that they had more power, more money.

Edited 2026-02-22 18:28 (UTC)

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