"Why does everywhere in Thedas suck arse?" Holli muttered, staring ahead into the darkness of the cave.
"We'll take you somewhere nice next time," Hawke told her. "I promise."
"Does such a place exist?" She asked, digging through her backpack for her torch, her good one.
"I heard you went to Orlais."
Holli conceded that point. "The place was pretty, and the weather was nice. Just... missing home, I guess. Sorry."
She found her light, clicking it on. It illuminated the whole cave around them a fair distance ahead. She'd bought it from Amazon; so compact, but so bright. She loved it.
"What is that?" Fenris asked. He didn't often speak to anyone but Hawke or Varric.
"A torch. How else were we going to see where we're going?"
"This is a torch," Blackwall said, lighting up a fire in a little metal holder attached to the wall.
"Mine's better. It's waterproof," she said, waggling her eyebrows as she held it against the wall where some water was running through.
Blackwall at least looked a little amused.
"Can I see that?" Hawke asked as they started through the cave.
Holli handed it over to him, and he studied it, clicking it off and on a few times, staring right into the beam a second before wincing and pulling it back.
"Maker, it's like staring into the sun," he handed it back to her. "Impressive. Could you make another?"
Holli shook her head. If she could pull it apart, she could figure it out, but no way would the parts be available to do it, especially not the batteries.
"And this kind of... technology is just available to anyone?"
Holli nodded. "I got this one off Amazon, cheap as chips."
"Amazon?"
"It's like-" She stopped, unsure how to describe it without describing the internet, computers, electricity... "I don't even know how to explain it. Trying to tell you about the internet alone... How do I describe it?"
"A vast river, filled with voices, each echoing thoughts and feelings, sometimes so loud. It's made of words, images, information, all flowing from one place to another. But not all of it is real. It's like a room full of people all shouting at once, and no one hears them. Some come to laugh, others to hide, and some just to search for a place where they can finally be understood."
Holli looked at Cole. "You're not wrong, I guess. Not how I would have put it though. Did you get that from me?"
"You flicker and flash, lots of flickers in the space of a second. Thoughts, memories, lots of different voices, but all you."
"You see memories? Like they were your own memories?"
She had always wondered how it worked, but getting comprehensive information from him could be difficult at times.
"Not like I see my own."
"How many voices has she got in there?" Hawke asked, amused.
"Lots. It's hard to hear them all. They all think about different things; I like the one that always sings. I've only ever met a few people who had all that. Sometimes your mind makes my head hurt."
"That's just women," Hawke told him, earning a few chuckles from Varric and Blackwall. "It's easier to nail water to a tree than try and understand them."
"Is that why you prefer the company of men? Not smart enough for women?" She asked snidely.
"I'd like to point out that's why he prefers the company of men, not myself," Fenris said.
"Hey!" Hawke said, indignation dripping from the word.
"Holy shit what's that?" Holli whispered, gripping Solas's arm beside her.
There was a floating glowing orange thing that vaguely resembled a person. It was coming towards them, and the others readied for a fight, except Solas.
"It's merely an echo," Solas told them. "It cannot hurt us."
"So it's a ghost?"
"I suppose you could look at it that way."
It breezed right by them, and they continued on. The cave opened out into a large cavern with water pouring down in the middle. She'd only ever seen places like this on the internet. Honestly, cave diving was never something she ever wanted to do. She'd seen enough horror movies about it.
In a little alcove there was an undead creature Fenris quickly put down. And hanging from the roof was a corpse, long dead. Had he hung himself, or had someone else done the job?
The only way to go was down, deeper underground. She didn't like this. They made their way across the rotten wooden slats, the creaking and shifting of them adding to her anxiety about all this.
Holli heard a too-loud crack behind her and whirled around. Vivienne had frozen, the heel of her boot having gone through the wood.
"Vivienne," Holli whispered, as if afraid being too loud would break the ground further.
Vivienne tried to pull her heel out, but the movement made the wood crack and dip, making the woman freeze again.
Being the closest to her and the lightest of all of them, Holli carefully shuffled closer, holding her hand out for Vivienne to grab. The plan was to pull her forward, out and away from the broken floor.
When she was a few feet away, the whole section they were standing on made another loud clap. It was the two beams holding the slats up; they were breaking.
"Holli, get back," Solas ordered.
She looked back at him, and then the ground gave out beneath her and Vivienne. They both dropped, but she felt Vivienne grab her hand. And then they hit the catwalk below, landing hard on their backs. It completely knocked the breath out of her, and she struggled to breathe it back in.
She could hear the others calling out their names above, see their heads peeking over the sides of the wooden pathway.
"Are you both all right?" Hawke called down.
"We're alive at least," Vivienne replied, her voice strained.
There was another cracking shift beneath them as the wood started to give way. The slats beneath Vivienne broke, and Holli braced herself. She was still holding her hand. Holli felt and heard her shoulder quite possibly dislocate with the angle at which Vivienne fell. She cried out at the searing agony in it, trying to keep enough presence of mind to keep holding onto Vivienne. She wasn't sure how much longer she could manage it, though. Jesus fucking Christ, it was agony.
"Sweet Maker," she heard Blackwall say. He sounded so far away. "There's nothing below."
Holli was lying on her back, so she couldn't see. With her good hand, she held onto the slats to stop herself rolling over and joining Vivienne over the edge.
"Hold on, Holli, we're coming down to you," Solas said.
Through watery eyes she could see only Fenris and Cole coming down. They were both light, graceful, and weren't wearing heavy armour. Fenris had even left his massive sword up there with Hawke. They had to be careful, not wanting to cause further damage to the ground and risk all of them falling to their deaths. Cole kept his distance while Fenris crept closer. He lowered himself onto all fours beside her.
"I'm going to take hold of Vivienne," he told her. "Carefully make your way to Cole."
Holli nodded, her jaw clenched so tight it hurt. When she felt the lifting of Vivienne's weight from her arm and shoulder, Holli slowly and carefully crawled to Cole, keeping her injured arm curled into her chest.
Cole helped her stand, and they moved further away from the danger zone. They watched Fenris pull Vivienne up. He had immense strength in such a slight frame.
"All right, any injuries?" Hawke asked.
"I think I may have fractured a rib or two," Vivienne replied.
"Holli's shoulder is dislocated," Cole said.
She hadn't looked at it, a little afraid to. Other people's injuries she could deal with; her own, not so much. Even healing her broken wrist after Haven had been a mission.
"Can you just heal it?" Hawke asked.
"It's best to set it first," she replied, her voice tight.
"All right, carry on down, and we'll do that when we're on solid ground. Tread carefully."
Holli and Vivienne were bruised and battered, so they had to keep a slow pace anyway. Cole was lightfooted; the wood barely even creaked under him. She was a little envious of it.
They followed the path down until the wooden slats ended and it was a stone cave again. Cole helped Holli to sit down on a large enough rock. Vivienne was hunched to the side, obviously in pain as well.
"I can heal you while we wait," Holli told her, making to stand back up.
"Tend to yourself first," Vivienne said. "I'd rather your mind wasn't clouded with pain when you work on me."
"Fair enough," Holli muttered.
The others eventually made it to them, Solas giving her shoulder a once-over. Hawke rubbed his hands together as he looked at her.
"Let's pop that shoulder back into place, eh?" He said.
"You know how?" She asked unsurely.
"Of course, I've done it for Fenris a few times, and my little brother was always dislocating something. I've had a lot of practice. It's going to fucking hurt, though."
"Yeah, I know," she sighed.
Hawke got into place, taking hold of her arm. "Ready?"
"Not really."
She was a wuss when it came to pain. She felt fingers close around her free hand, Cole offering a small reassuring smile.
"All right, let's do it."
She hissed as he pulled her arm with one hand and kept her shoulder stabilised with the other. She squeezed Cole's hand tightly as she felt her shoulder shift, letting out a high-pitched whine. Then there was relief as it settled back into place. Hawke started rotating her arm. It hurt, but the pain had reduced.
"Okay, okay," she breathed out. "I can take it from here."
Letting go of Cole's hand, she healed the damage, easing the rest of the pain. Though the healing itself was painful, once she was done, she was completely pain-free. She felt a little drained – healing always took a toll on the patient, and from the fall and adrenaline wearing off – but nothing that would slow her down too much.
"Okay, your turn," Holli said, looking at Vivienne.
She got up, placing her hand where Vivienne showed her the most pain was coming from.
"Three of your ribs have partial breaks," she murmured.
Cracks like this were quite easy to fix, she had found. And easy for her to diagnose. Bone, in general, was easier to mend. But the other stuff – nerves, blood vessels, tissue – much more difficult.
She heard Vivienne's sharp intake of breath as the healing took. Holli really needed to figure out how to stop it hurting. Her patient should feel nothing but relief. This was magic, for fuck's sake. She had far higher expectations of it than she did modern medicine.
"All right, ladies, let's be a little more careful, hmm?" Hawke grinned at them.
He was angling for a slap.