Finding Purity while dwelling in doubt
Ardyn woke with her cheeks damp and her lashes sticky from her tears. She had cried all night, and she was feeling a bit confused and slightly ashamed.
She really didn't know what she should do when it came to Varric. She buried her head into her pillow, wanting to admonish herself for even thinking his name. Did she really have the right to think of him in such terms? Shouldn't she only feel he was her lord, and nothing less than that?
The cave around her was still, painted in pale light that pressed softly upon her bed in a circle of light with no true origin. Her cave system was a magical place, a gift he gave to her like it was nothing—a gift for a servant who made a sacrifice. Her thoughts paused. Her heart felt heavy—like it was holding something it didn't know how to let go of.
She quietly pressed her face harder into the pillow, and Elsa watched, shaking her head and pursing her lips at the girl, understanding her torment but only slightly sure of what should be done. Elsa stepped from the shadows and silently glided across the moss-covered cave. Her mind was focused on the broken human before her and how she saw the clear love Varric had for her last night.
"Explain to me why you cry, child."
Ardyn sat up slowly, not shocked by the tortoise-human's presence in the least, as if she had been expecting her the entire time. She brushed a hand across her face and looked to her. "You know why, my lady. I have gained so much, it is only a matter of time when he understands the mistake he has made."
Elsa touched her face, and a warm green glow spread across her pale skin. Ardyn couldn't help but smile as she felt revitalized. "Calm yourself, child. Let's focus on other things. I have decided to take you as my new student. Let's work on finding your magic today."
"My magic?" Ardyn whispered.
"Yes," Elsa said with a faint smile, her emerald green eyes shining with an ethereal light that felt beyond Ardyn's understanding. "Come with me. There's something I want you to see."
Ardyn cocked her head, her inner strength bold and ready, but her mind weak, timid, and refusing to imagine what could be. Her eyes cast down to the ground.
"I am just a human, my lady. We are not really prone to having magic."
"And do you think these old eyes lie? I see the spark within you. It is true there is more that I can teach you, but I want you to see this. I want you to feel that spark and understand how and why it resonates within you. Trust me, child. This will help you." She smiled broadly, her eyes twinkling as she shrugged. "If you still feel all is lost, we will let it be."
Ardyn didn't believe her one bit, but she still rose and followed her out of her main cave and into the cave system.
They descended further into the cave system bestowed upon her. All of it was wonder before her eyes, and her heart swelled at the thought that it was all hers now, that he had given so freely, without hesitation.
They reached a cool, vast cave. It seemed to be a focal point of the cave system, and Ardyn felt drawn to it somehow.
The walls were mirrors of living glass—smooth and shimmering, reflecting soft waves of blue light as if the sea itself breathed here. The ground was covered in clear water no deeper than her ankles, rippling with each hesitant step she took.
"Where are we?" Ardyn asked, voice hushed.
"The Cavern of Reflection," Elsa said. "This is where purity is found—not in perfection, but in truth. The walls here show what lies beneath the surface. Not what the world sees—but what you hide from yourself."
Ardyn turned slowly, watching her reflection fragment and reform across the luminous walls. In one, she saw herself as a baby—safe in her mother's arms. In another, she saw herself on her knees scrubbing a floor already clean. Then, faintly, a reflection she did not truly recognize: herself strong, serene, and alight with power that came not from anger or acceptance, but from an innate sense of truth and worth. It was so utterly foreign to her.
"I don't understand," she murmured. "How can purity come from all this… pain?"
Elsa touched her shoulder. "Because purity isn't the absence of pain. It's the ability to look at it and still choose light. It is the ability to weed through what you believe and understand your truth."
Ardyn's throat tightened. "I don't know if I can."
Elsa looked at her for a long moment. "Do you mean, you do not want to try?"
The question was soft and devoid of accusation and malice. Ardyn took a trembling breath. The cavern seemed to hum around her, the reflections pulsing faintly in response to her heartbeat. She took a deep, steadying breath.
"What do I need to do?"
Far away, in his war room, Varric sat at a long table covered in maps and scrolls. Advisors argued around him about border patrols, tariffs, and troop positions. Marcus watched him keenly, and he didn't hear a word.
His gaze drifted aimlessly about the room, and in the quiet between the noise, her face appeared in his mind again—Ardyn's soft expression, her eyes heavy with emotion yet still somehow luminous.
He clenched his jaw, forcing his attention back to the table. "Focus," he muttered under his breath. "You're losing focus."
Marcus nodded in understanding and began leading the discussions as his lord collected himself.
Varric's chest tightened, betraying him, as he fought for calm.
She haunted him—not like a ghost, but like a heartbeat he couldn't silence. Like a vital moment he couldn't quite understand.
"She's human," he thought, almost bitterly. "Fragile. Short-lived. Unpredictable. I should know better."
But then another thought whispered beneath it—gentle, unbidden.
"She is wonder, and she allows something deep within me to awaken and thrive."
He dragged a hand over his scaled face, exhaling a low curse as his advisors droned on. He didn't care about trade routes or army formations. All he could think about was the way she looked when she smiled, the strength in her voice when she spoke unfettered.
Maybe he didn't understand humans, but he understood this—he wanted to protect her. He wanted her to know she was loved.
For the first time in his long life, he felt that unbidden rich emotion.
"I'll make her see," he thought. "I'll make her understand she deserves to be loved. She will know that she is now the magic that fills these ancient caves."