Solas’s Confusion

Chapter 13

Third POV

Solas stood in the shadows, his form blending seamlessly with the darkness that filled the corners of his chamber. He watched as Elara sat by the pond, her delicate fingers gliding through the water’s surface. She seemed lost in thought, her exhaustion evident in the way her shoulders slumped and her movements grew sluggish. Yet, despite her obvious physical decline, she continued to defy him, holding on to a stubborn strength that both frustrated and intrigued him.

He had expected her to break by now. He had given her little food, no comfort, and nothing but the cold, hard stone to sleep on. Yet she endured. She clung to her resolve with a determination that should have crumbled days ago. But instead of falling apart, she had found solace in the most unlikely of places—the pond.

Solas had noticed how she gravitated toward the water, how it seemed to calm her, offer her some measure of peace in this desolate place. It annoyed him, this small defiance. The pond w