Zevran and Kellian Discuss Her Wedding
"A wedding? So, there is a secretive side to you after all."
"I was betrothed. It didn't end well."
"No? Ahhh, you left him at the altar, didn't you."
"There were rapists, we got the wrong cake. It was a disaster."
"Intriguing."
"We'll talk later Zevran. Back in camp,"
Kellian looked up from her stew pot as a slight yet strong hand gripped her forearm.
"Mi amore. We must talk." She nodded and poured two generous measures of golden Antivan brandy.
"So – your betrothed – was he as handsome as I?"
"Oh, far better looking. Brave, and strong…" she teased, as she took a sip of the burning liquid. "He's also dead."
"I… I am sorry. I don't know what to say."
"I was conscripted into the Grey Wardens on what was meant to be my wedding day. It was an arranged marriage – I only met Nelaros that morning. But he was kind, and skilled, and attractive; he said he'd spend the rest of his life figuring out how to make me happy. I felt hopeful." She smiled wryly. "Imagine – instead of slaying dark spawn, brokering treaties and dallying with a golden skinned Crow, I could have been the wife of a smith in Denerim Alienage. Probably taking in washing and nursing infants by now."
Zevran pulled a face. "Forgive me if I cannot see that, my warden."
She laughed, before her face fell. "I had just received a gift from a couple who had known my mother. 15 silvers toward my future life... that seems like nothing now, but I was overwhelmed at the time. My cousin Soris and I were preparing for the ceremony when we heard the commotion. Our other cousin, Shianni, had attacked the Arl of Denerim's son with an empty wine bottle."
Zevran laughed a genuine, exuberant sound in the quiet camp."Ah, I remember Shianni! The fiery redhead, no? She would be a fine consort – were I not already spoken for, of course." Kellian gave him an affectionate, exasperated look, and continued. He responded by tugging her soft buckskin moccasins off and putting his skilled fingertips to work on her arches.
"We hoped that Vaughn would keep quiet, humiliated at being bested by a small even woman. But just as the Chantry sister began the service, he returned. He and his men kidnapped the women of the wedding party."
"Your men were idle through this?"
"Of course not. But you have to remember they were not warriors or hunters. My betrothed, Nelaros, was a smith, and my cousin Soris a tailor." She smiled. "Which makes it even more remarkable that they broke into the Arl's estate to rescue us."
"Bold indeed," he commented, deftly massaging her instep.
"When I came to, Nola was praying. My cousin's betrothed told me we had been locked up until the Bann was 'ready' for us. My bridesmaids were all for submitting to the shemlen scum," she spat, before taking a deep breath, "I cannot blame them. They were afraid, unarmed and used to being powerless. But Shianni was full of fire, as usual. When the guards turned up to 'escort' us, I was surprised that is was Nola, the bridesmaid who had been praying, that defied them. They cut her throat." She squeezed her eyes shut, memories of her deout friend flooding her with sadness.
"The other women were dragged away. Two guards were assigned to take me. I played the coquette in order to distract them. I don't know what I thought I was going to do, in an embroidered tunic and bare feet. But it worked – in my dress and freshly painted face I must have looked very vulnerable, very appealing."
"Fortunately, at that moment Soris appeared at the door, with a borrowed long sword. You should have seen their faces. My mother had taught me all her skills and I made short work of them, before stripping them of their armour. Soris told me that Duncan, the Grey Warden, had given Nelaros and he weapons. They had fought their way in, just the two of them. Together, me and my cousin fought our way to Nelaros, just in time to see him cut down by Vaughn's captain." She yanked a handful of stunted grass from the earth, crushing it within her fist.
"He risked censure, reprisals and death to save a woman he had just met. The ultimate price paid for a bride he never even got to bed."
"Ah, a fate worse than death," Zeran spoke lightly, trying to distract Kellian from her self recrimination.
"I found what was to have been my wedding ring on his body. He had forged it by his own hand. I keep it with me still, to honour his courage and sacrifice."
"I would have butchered the man who slew him," the blond elf stated, meaning it.
"Oh, I did. And took his belt as a trophy." She said, raising her shirt to display the intricate fencer's cinch, scrubbed clean of it's preious owner's blood.
"We burst into the Bann's chamber and found Vaughn and his men laughing at Shianni. She was on the floor, beaten bloody and begging them not to hurt her anymore. Can you believe that Shemlen bastard tried to bribe me? Forty sovereigns to leave my cousin, my friends, to be gang raped by the entitled shem?" She spat. "I cut him in half, and did not spare his men. I had to carry Shianni out of there… she was so broken."
"When we returned to the Alienage, the guards arrived almost immediately. Valendrian, our elder, tried to shelter us, but I stepped forward and took responsibility. I wished to prevent a purge, but Duncan intervened, and as you saw today, the purge was wrought soon after I was ripped from my home and kin by the crimes of a noble brat." He started toward her and she crossed her arms, warding him off.
"Now can you see why I would not prefer the embrace of Ferelden's future king? He is kind, innocent; goodness shines from him. He cannot relate to what I have suffered; he can barely conceive of what we have been through. And his height, his body, his size – it induces harmonics of fear."
This time, he unknotted her limbs and drew her into a fierce embrace, rocking her as she cried into the night.