"So... what now?" With quiet campsite w/ the dawn squad? If you're still doing the prompts
#2. “So…what now? and u. Quiet campsite.
Taking place after the battle of Corypheus. The war is won… but the Dawn Squad can’t help but wonder what it might mean for the Inquisition, and what it might mean for them. (approx 1300 words)
“So… what now?”
The question was simple, but within it were a thousand more leftunasked. The Inquisition had taken the fight to Corypheus. The Inquisitor andher companions had faced him and emerged victorious. While true celebration hadto be put aside for a time as the wounded were gathered and tended to, it stillleft most soldiers in an uncertain daze, drifting from morning to night, notentirely sure of how to process what had happened.
The fight was over.
Huddled by their fire, a few of the Dawn Squad bore their own scars from the combat. Ralon sat with his back against a nearby tree, his right arm ina sling, the bone broken in two places when a terror demon had pinned him.Connors stood and dropped a piece of wood into the fire, sending a cascade of embers into the air, a thick bandage wound around her head from falling rock. Darren, who had asked the initial question, winced as he shifted into a cross-legged position, hand brushing where bruised ribs hid beneath the cotton of his shirt. While thosewere the worst injuries, Lyrene and Cyrus had not escaped without their owncollection of bruises and cuts. However, none of them were complaining. Theyhad survived. That was more thancould be said for others.
“No idea,” Ralon eventually confessed, attempting a shrugbut aborting it halfway through with a wince. “I mean… the war’s done, right?So that means…”
“… we’re done,”Lyrene finished for him, sighing as she plopped her chin into her hands andstared into the fire. “Kinda strange, but… I was starting to like you guys.”
Ralon scoffed in mock indignation. “Starting? Ly. I’m offended.”
She snorted, making as if to swat Ralon, but stopping justshort of his injured arm. Lyrene eyed it for a moment, before letting her handslowly sink back to her lap, the playful spark dying with the motion. “Yeah,well… you know what I mean.”
The group sank into something sombre, then. Not quitesilence, given the crackling of the campfire and sounds of nearby soldiers, but something that gave the air a thick, heavy quality. Watching his squad – his friends– Darren felt a pain in his chest that had nothing to do with his ribs.
He loved them.
He loved them and he might never see any of them ever again.