Holli ducked to the side, the arrow barely missing her. She'd felt the cut of the air as it whizzed past. She tried to summon the shield, but it only appeared for a second before blinking out. Another arrow hit her in the ankle, the force of it sweeping her foot out from under her and sending her to the ground.
Holli lay there a moment, trying to catch her breath. Sera's smart-arse cackle could be heard.
"How's that ankle?" The other girl asked.
Holli was tempted to go over there and kick her with it, but she would probably just embarrass herself further.
"Up, up, up, my dear," Vivienne said, shocking her with what she had called a 'gentle' bolt of lightning.
Holli yelped and got back to her feet. Vivienne, Sera, and Solas were conducting her battle training. A softer introduction to it at least. Seras arrows were cushioned, felt more like a hard punch—a really hard punch in Holli's opinion. And Vivienne would fire off non-lethal spells, things that made more of a mess than caused any injury.
Her life may not have been on the line, but this didn't feel like a 'softer' introduction. Solas would call out orders or suggestions while the others pelted her. Sometimes he would call a pause to the training and show her different ways she could have blocked, dodged, or used her magic to disperse or deflect.
She struggled to control her magic when she wasn't in a panic, it seemed. It either exploded out of her or didn't come out at all. While her magic classes with Solas had gone well, that was a relaxed environment; it came easy. Even her solo practices went easier than this. While running around, it was a little harder. But she didn't have the panic to fuel her as she'd had at Therinfal or Haven.
"It is nearing midday," Solas said. "We can call an end to it today. Get some lunch, and be ready to go again tomorrow."
Holli nodded, her chest heaving with the exertion.
"Come on," Sera said. "Herald's Rest is serving meals today."
Holli cringed at the name. They had started setting it up the day after they arrived here, another tavern. Bull had been so keen on one he'd had his Chargers help in clearing the place out and getting it set up. That had been their priority.
"At least let me change first," Holli said. "I'm all sweaty and gross. No one's going to want to come near me like this."
"Who do you want to come near you?" She grinned as she waggled her eyebrows.
Holli only rolled her own eyes. Sera had gotten over her anger pretty quickly, at least after she had been allowed to pelt Holli with cushioned arrows. Must have been cathartic.
"No one," she replied. "But I don't want to repel anyone either. Or be known as the stinky Herald of Andraste."
"Ugh, fine. Go get changed then, princess."
She would have preferred a quick shower, but that wasn't going to happen. She made her way to her little office room, getting changed out of the linen and leather that Rythal had provided for her for training purposes. Better than wrecking her own clothes; she had so few of them left. She cleaned up as best she could before spraying on some deodorant and hoping it would be enough.
She met up with Sera outside the tavern, heading in to find it quite packed. How they had managed to get alcohol here so quickly, she didn't know. But it wasn't surprising.
Sera pulled her up to the counter, tossing out an order to Cabot, who gave a nod to let them know he'd heard. Then Sera dragged her over to Bull's table, where he sat with a couple of his Chargers. Krem and Stitches.
"How goes the training?" Bull asked, ruffling her hair; his heavy hand almost had her face planting into the table.
"Great," she replied, fixing her hair. "I'm on track for world domination."
"Planning to conquer the world flat on your back in the dirt?" Sera teased.
"That's just phase one of my plan," she deadpanned.
"When will you be needing a giant, axe-wielding qunari to spar with?" He asked.
"Hopefully never, holy shit. Isn't the point in magic range?"
"Can't always rely on that," Krem told her. "Someone could flank you, sneak up on you, or just fight their way over to you."
"If they really want to teach you, they should be training you with a sword as well as magic," Bull added.
"Yeah, physically I'm a bit—"
"Shite?" Sera asked.
"If we want to be mean about it," Holli said, casting her a look.
"You need more muscles on you."
"I don't make muscles; I just get fat."
"That's what the training is for," Bull pointed out, a bit like he was talking to a moron. "You and Sera both, far too skinny. You two need to eat more."
"Hey, I'm just fine, thanks. Kick arse with the best of 'em," Sera shot back.
Cabot brought over their plates laden with food. Way too much for Holli to finish. That would just back up Bulls point.
She just picked at her food as she listened to Bull tell them a story from his time before the Inquisition. She ended up pushing her plate to the middle of the table to share with the others, earning a look from Bull. But he was the first to partake.
When she had finished eating, she bid the others goodbye, about to leave when she noticed something on the top floor. Someone. Holli turned around and made her way up to the top floor. It wasn't as furnished and looked more like it might have been used for storage for now. But there was Cole, standing at the railing. He had been watching the people down below, but now he was watching her as she made her way to him.
"Hey, Cole," she greeted with a smile.
"Hello, Holli," he said, attempting to smile in return.
His face didn't often change, not overly expressive, but every now and then she would see him try to mimic an expression or manage a pretty genuine one.
"Don't have to force yourself if you're not feeling it," she told him, coming to stand at the railing beside him, looking down at the activity below.
She knew Cole liked being around people, even if he didn't always like being seen by them. Well, liked might be the wrong word. He worried people weren't comfortable seeing him.
"You could have come down and eaten with us," she said.
He just shook his head. Whether it was because he just didn't need to eat or he hadn't wanted company, she wasn't sure. What Cole actually was, she didn't really understand. Solas was adamant he wasn't possessing anyone, but nor was he entirely human. He'd said he was a type of manifested spirit.
Holli sat down on the floor, patting the ground for him to do the same, which he did.
"You just watch the people from here?" She asked.
"And listen," he said.
"To them talking, or their thoughts?"
"Both. It's hard to help if I don't know what's wrong."
Fair enough. "So you must know all the gossip then."
"Gossip?"
"Never mind." She wouldn't pry it from him either; he knew everyone's secrets. Best he keep it all to himself. Though he did have a tendency to say shit in front of people. He was lucky there didn't seem to be a malicious bone in his body, or he would have been in for a lot of beatings.
It felt weird to say that about a boy who killed people and didn't seem to feel bad about it... And yet he could be super sweet, like with the cook, just to make her smile.
Holli flopped back on the ground, staring up at the roof, Cole imitating the move, his hat flopping off. It was rare to see him without it.
"Solas said you're learning to fight," he said.
"Yeah? I don't know. I think it's more about making sure I can defend myself when a fight finds me."
"Or you go looking for it?"
It might have sounded snide were it from anyone else but him. And then she would have just felt guilty and annoyed. From him, it just sounded like a genuine question.
"It's good you're you, Cole."
"Is it?" He sounded unsure, and she turned her head to look at him.
"Yes? Why? Has someone told you otherwise?" She would absolutely have a go at whoever said that.
He smiled then; it was small, but more real and less stilted than his last attempt.
"Not recently," he replied. "But they're not here. And if they were, you wouldn't be able to do anything because you can't fight."
A laugh tumbled out of her at that. "Okay, if that was an attempt at being a smart arse, you came kinda close to nailing it. And also, I offer to defend your honour, and this is how you repay me?"
His smile fell at that, and she instantly regretted her words.
"I'm joking, Cole, just playing with you."
"Ah. Like friends. Friends play with each other. Rhys was my friend."
Holli had heard him talk about this Rhys before. Rhys, the boy who could see him and who could remember him. The boy who abandoned him when he found out Cole wasn't... normal. What even is normal in this place?
"Are we friends?" He asked, a mix of curiosity and hesitance.
"Yes? Yes. As long as you want to be."
She didn't want to force her friendship on him if he didn't want it. It stung a little that he seemed almost reluctant.
"I—I think I would like to have a friend again."
Holli let out a discreet breath of relief. She didn't handle rejection well; it would bother her for days, maybe weeks. Lying in bed at night, she would recall the memory and cringe so hard it would be difficult to sleep. At least, that was how it used to be. Maybe it would be different now that she had bigger worries and worse memories.
"You were worried."
"Nobody likes being rejected," she shrugged, a little miffed he pointed it out. "Was it on my face or did you read my thoughts?"
"Thoughts."
"You've got to try and stop doing that," she said, nudging his arm gently with her elbow.
"I'm not sure I know how. I don't try; I just hear. Mostly fears and worries."
"So just singing obnoxious songs in my head really loud wouldn't cover them up?"
"I don't think so."
She nodded, turning her head back to the roof. "Damn."
"The songs in your head aren't obnoxious. Most of them."
"Christ, you hear that too?"
She had a tendency to have songs stuck in her head. It was almost constant. At least she was able to tune it out to focus on other things when need be. It was like an annoying background tab. Anything could remind her of a song, and then it would kick off. Hearing 'I don't know' was a common trigger. 'I don't knoooow whoa oh, why does love do this to me? I don't know, I don't know.' For fuck's sake.
He nodded in answer to her question.
"Well, I apologise in advance if it gets too annoying."