The Calling Read-along: Chapter 12

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THE READ-ALONG

What is this? The read-a-long is an opportunity to do a long distance book club with other Dragon Age fans, where once a week one chapter will be discussed in David Gaider's tie-in novel, The Calling

[Official book teaser blurb]After two hundred years of exile, King Maric has allowed the legendary Grey Wardens to finally return to Ferelden. When they come, however, they bring dire news: one of their own has escaped into the Deep Roads and aligned himself with their ancient enemy, the monstrous darkspawn.

The Grey Wardens need Maric's help, and he reluctantly agrees to lead them into the passages he traveled through many years before (see: The Stolen Throne), chasing after a deadly secret that will threaten to destroy not only the Grey Wardens but also the kingdom above.

If you've read it and have Thoughts or Feels, comment to discuss! Discussion can be serious or snarky, but please keep it constructive and not destructive.

(If itches the first person who gets to this post can start a comment thread entitled 'Serious Discussion' and a second one for 'Snarky Discussion', I would greatly appreciate it. ;))

- Chapter 1 (16-Apr)
- Chapter 2 (22-Apr)
- Chapter 3 (29-Apr)
- Chapter 4 (06-May)
- Chapter 5 (13-May)
- Chapter 6 (20-May)
- Chapter 7 (28-May)
- Chapter 8 (03-Jun)
- Chapter 9 (10-Jun)
- Chapter 10 (17-Jun)
- Chapter 11 (24-Jun)

[Chapter 12--Synopsis]Chapter 12 Synopsis

Though all before me is shadow,
Yet shall the Maker be my guide.
I shall not be left to wander the drifting roads of the Beyond.
For there is no darkness in the Maker's Light
And nothing he has wrought shall be lost.

-- Canticle of Trials 1:14

Maric wakes from a dream to find himself in bed in Denerim, noting the small details of his ordinary life and vague memories of traveling with Grey Wardens eluding him like snatches of half-remembered dreams. Katriel is there, which confuses him, as is her information about Rowan being in Gwaren with Loghain, and how he willed her from dying. He soon realizes what he is experiencing isn't real, remembers Fiona's transformation and his promise to her, and with profound regret turns his back on Katriel to leave the dream shard for the rest of the Fade.

Once there, another Katriel appears to be his guide. Demon or spirit, he can't tell, but she tells him the nature of the Fade and what he needs to do to escape: find his companions, also trapped as he was, but not necessarily as able to extricate themselves from their heart's desires, and kill the demon.

Duncan's dream is that he is back at home, in Orlais, his carpenter Fereldan father, Arryn, and pregnant Rivaini mother, Tayana, still alive.

Kell's dream is of being a Jarl of the Avvars, with a wife and babe.

Utha dreams of her family and a boy named Tam she was proud of and swore to revenge.

Nicolas's dream was of a cabin in the farthest reaches of Orlais, where he and Julien could be together to live out their remaining years. Despite knowing it was a demon-spawned dream, he refuses to leave it, choosing the lie of this death over the truth of a life without Julien. Duncan rails against this decision at first until accepting it, as Kell, Utha, and Maric do immediately, and they leave him there to go find Genevieve.