She Came Through Again
Disclaimer: I do not own Dragon Age.
When the human guards came, the elves scattered. Shianni didn't blame them; humans in the Alienage were almost never a good thing – she couldn't say never were anymore as that one human had stepped in to save Ahria and when her cousin had returned to stop the slavers she had brought humans with her. Still, Shianni stood her ground.
Her rashness had caused problems in the past, true, and some of the more downtrodden who resented any efforts to make life better if it involved stirring things up had actually blamed everything that had happened to them in the past year on her. Yes, Soris and Ahria's ill-fated intended had been the ones to invade the Arl's estate and Ahria had been the one to gut Vaughan like the nobly born pig that he was, but they claimed that had she not drove Vaughn off earlier by smashing a bottle over his head then he would not have come back to crash the double-wedding.
That was probably true, Shianni had to admit, but only because then Vaughan and his conspirators would have been far too busy with the women they'd have abducted earlier. Not much of a trade-off, really. Hearing those defeatists going on and on about how this was all her and Soris' fault when Soris was only still alive because Ahria was bold enough to claim to having slaughtered her way through every guard in the estate by herself and as for her…well, she had certainly had an experience. If Vaughn hadn't died then it was possible that the Alienage wouldn't have been purged and the riots wouldn't have started, but after Ahria and Soris walked in Vaughn standing over her, laughing, what else could they have done?
That pig had actually tried bribing them. He saw Soris' bow ready to prevent the continuation of the Urien line and Ahria standing there in her blood-soaked wedding dress like an avenging angel and he realized that his little 'playthings' might actually kill him. Soris, Maker help him, didn't want the situation to get even more out of hand then it already had and would have been quite happy to just rescue her and the others and flee back to the Alienage. Ahria, however, was never one for practicality and no deal that didn't involve ripping out Vaughn's entrails and feeding them to him would have been enough for her.
Ahria hadn't loved Nelaros, had barely met him and no matter how handsome he was she had certainly resented that he was being forced on her. Still, some of that blood on her had been her fiancé's when he had bled to death in her arms after being only one of two people in the entire Alienage who hadn't been willing to sit back and passively wait for them to return in the morning, their trauma accepted as just one of the hazards of being a young woman living in the Alienage. Soris had almost had to come because it wasn't just his fiancée who had been taken but his sister and his hero cousin, as well. Nelaros would have been blind not to notice just how much Ahria resented him just for existing but he came to save her anyway. He died for someone who he barely knew and who made no attempt to hide her feelings and that meant something to Ahria. That she could respect far more than the elves back at the Alienage who clearly wished they had all just stayed put and let Vaughn do whatever he wanted.
In the end, Soris was forced to agree with their cousins more violent methods when that monster couldn't even beg for his life properly. His life was worth forty Sovereigns to him but it wasn't worth an early end to the 'festivities.' That he honestly thought Soris had stormed the estate and Ahria had charged straight towards her would-be lord instead of leaving when she had a chance just for the chance to make a little money? Okay, a lot of money. More money than Shianni had ever seen in her life. Still, her brother and her cousin were made of stronger stuff than that.
Vaughn wasn't willing to allow the rescue to continue and for that, he died. Shianni supposed that to be fair to all the finger-pointers, only Soris and Ahria knew she had been more than brutalized at their hands. Part of her wondered would the popular opinion have changed if they did know. There was no point wondering, however, as she didn't want people to know. Soris got a chance to settle down with Valora and Ahria became a Grey Warden far out of reach for the Arl's men so-called justice. If people started saying that Ahria left because she believed she was better than them and wanted to put her life at the Alienage behind her, it didn't matter. Shianni knew that her cousin had only left to save her life after making sure Soris and the rest of the Alienage was safe by stepping forward. Could anyone else have honestly said they'd have done the same? Admittedly, Ahria was thrilled by the opportunity her confession and the Grey Warden's interference had provided, but why shouldn't she be? This was her best, her only shot to show the world what she could do.
But then came Ostagar. The Grey Wardens were all dead and if Ahria was a Grey Warden that meant Ahria was dead, too. To make matters worse, practically the moment Valendrian finished her funeral service the guards came. Apparently the old Arl had died at Ostagar and there was a new one who didn't appreciate what had happened to Vaughn. He claimed it was a sign of an elven uprising and cracked down…hard.
It was months before the Alienage was opened up again and the signs of the months of being trapped and being attacked were inescapable. Unfortunately, it seemed that the only reason that people were being let into the Alienage was to quarantine people who were never seen again. Shianni tried to warn people, to get them to stop lining up for whatever horrible fate these supposed healers had in store for them, but what could she do? All of this mess was apparently her fault in the first place and she had no explanations for what the healers were doing with all missing elves. The fact that a mere handful of the actually sick elves did return to the Alienage was clearly enough for most people to just bury their heads in the sand and ignore reality. Ignoring reality never did anybody any good but attempting to confront it really hadn't done her any favors either.
And then…a miracle. Even though she knew it was futile, she couldn't just watch so many people walk right into an obvious trap and so she was standing outside of the hospice begging the people to just go home. People were ignoring her or pointing out the token elf who had made it back when she heard a voice she had never expected to hear again. Standing a few feet behind her was her fully alive cousin, an elf she didn't recognize, and two humans. Ahria had explained that she'd been in Denerim a few times since Ostagar but she couldn't get in due to the lockdown and started pumping Shianni for information regarding what had happened in her absence. When Ahria asked about her father…Shianni didn't want to be the one to tell her that, much like Valora and Valendrian, her father had entered the hospice and not been seen since.
Of course, Ahria, being Ahria, would not let her father's fate remain a mystery and turned to go right then and there. Shianni tried to warn her that it wouldn't be that easy to get past the healers but Ahria had just tossed her hair back and declared that she wasn't planning on asking before disappearing behind the building. Shianni wasn't sure what she was expecting, but a dozen elves running out of the front of the hospice shouting about how the healers weren't to be trusted and Ahria had just let them out of a cage of all things certainly wasn't it.
The crowd scattered as it always did when it looked like there was going to be a confrontation and no sooner had the last of them fled the scene did Ahria herself step out of the hospice and charged straight at the healers. With her companions backing her up, she made short work of them and went back to Shianni. Ahria showed her the note and the key and Shianni didn't understand. How could they be shipping people? And why? Ahria didn't answer, just smiled sadly and said not to worry, that she'd take care of it.
Sure enough, within two hours more missing elves had returned. Cyrion was one of them. Valora and Valendrian were not. Cyrion explained all about the Tevinter Slavers that were operating outside of the public eye but with the full support of the regent. Shianni didn't think she'd been quite so angry before. Vaughn may have been a monster but at least they were free. How many of the people she had grown up with and respected were now or soon to be at the mercy of their very own Vaughn for the rest of their lives?
It was actually a little disturbing to hear just how closely Ahria's second run-in with nobility over the Alienage paralleled her first. The slavers were more out for profit rather than personal gratification, granted, but after Ahria had slaughtered her way to the man in charge, he, like Vaughn, had offered her some incentive to just walk away. Since the stakes were higher than one night and months of nightmares and trying not to flinch when someone came too close, the slaver upped the ante. He would give her proof the regent she was trying to bring down approved the slaving and offer up 100 sovereigns…if she just let him walk away with one last shipment.
Some people, Shianni supposed, might have taken Vaughn's offer. She didn't see how anyone could look their father in the eye and then let some slaver drag him off to the Tevinter Imperium. Ahria tried to offer him his life in exchange for just walking away, but some people are just bereft of common sense and so they attacked. To make matters worse, once everyone but the slaver in charge were dead, he offered Ahria one final deal: he would make her stronger by sacrificing the lives of all of the elves she had come there to rescue in a blood magic ritual. How he thought Ahria attacking because she refused to let him take the elves meant she would be in any way receptive to the idea of killing them for a bit of extra power was beyond her. It was also the last thing he ever did as Ahria promptly slit his throat at the suggestion.
It was like a dream. They'd been having problems for months and yet Ahria had returned for only a few hours and started fixing things left and right. Then again, she did have her Grey Warden immunity going for her when she killed everyone giving her problems. Shianni knew that the Blight was coming and everyone thought her cousin was dead and she could very well die soon and so was ecstatic when she convinced the busy Grey Warden to at least stay for dinner. Soris was a little jealous that Ahria got to be the hero again while he'd been stuck dealing with the riots when he heard a little of her exploits, but mostly he was just glad that the responsibility of saving an entire nation didn't fall on his shoulders. Shianni did feel a little vindicated when Ahria told them how from what she'd seen of Howe – before slaughtering her way to him and then violently killing him, of course – what happened with Vaughn was only his excuse to start what he would have done anyway. That was two nobleman in a position of power over the Alienage who had abused it and died at Ahria's hand as a result. Shianni was a bit apprehensive about what the future nobility might do if they feared ending up like Vaughn or Howe but that would come after the Blight.
In the meantime, Ahria was so busy she left practically the minute dinner was over and life went on much as before. The plague was still a problem but an endurable one, the Alienage wasn't closed down anymore, and the slave-trading had stopped. Ahria was still gone and people were still living in horrible conditions but things could have been – and indeed had been before Ahria showed up – worse.
Two weeks later the Blight came to Denerim.
It was hard to tell what was going on at first. The sky changed and there was smoke and the smell of burning and people were screaming…Once word had spread, people attempted to flee only to be stopped by the menacing sight of an army of darkspawn on the other side of the gate.
Shianni hadn't known what to do. If Ahria were there she would have taken them on single-handedly if she had to but Ahria wasn't there and Soris was nowhere to be found and she didn't know the first thing about fighting. Still, she had a bow and she had a few fellow elves that had also had enough and weren't just going to cower in their homes waiting to die. She knew that they would die but at least they could say that they went down fighting.
Shianni had honestly never been more terrified as she waited for the darkspawn to break through the gates just as she had never been more grateful to her cousin for showing up just then with an army of the Dalish, of all things. Even though Ahria could have won the day without the Alienage elves' help, she told them to stand and fight. Though their chances were a lot better now, this was still way more than any of them were equipped to handle. Still, they listened to the one who had risen from being one of them to the general of the Queen's armies. They stayed, they fought, and they won.
They had survived the darkspawn invasion without losing any of the volunteers who had stepped forward to defend their homes and Shianni had never thought it was possible. They had survived where others had died for the very reason they were able to be locked down for months so effortlessly. They had fought while others had fled and that meant something. Shianni had no idea what these soldiers wanted. In the nearly two weeks since the Blight had ended no aid had been forthcoming and it would be naïve to expect any now. Still, Shianni stood her ground.
The human guards scanned the Alienage as if on the look-out for concealed attackers behind every corner. Finding none, they stepped aside and Ahria came into view. Her long red hair was down like it usually was – no matter how practical it would be up when she was, say, slaughtering her way through places – and she was wearing what even Shianni's untrained eye could tell was some very expensive armor.
"I told you guys, this is highly unnecessary," Ahria was protesting. "I killed the Archdemon; I can handle some hungry neighbors."
"Be that as it may, my lady," one of the guards answered. "We have strict orders from the Queen not to let you out of our sight until we can determine the condition of the Alienage."
"Then maybe you should have looked into that before I decided to go looking for my cousin," Ahria suggested, somewhat reprovingly. Her eyes met Shianni's and a huge grin formed on her face. "Shianni? Oh thank the Maker, I thought I would have to scour the Alienage for you."
"No, I'm right here," Shianni replied. "We all made it through the Blight thanks to you. Soris and your father will want to see you."
"Maybe they can come to the Palace," Ahria suggested, eyeing the guards. "I'm staying there right now and I don't think anyone would appreciate it if I lead soldiers through the Alienage and caused a huge panic for a family reunion."
"Then why are you here?" Shianni wondered.
Ahria's grin widened. "I was looking for you, actually."
"For me?" Shianni frowned in confusion. "Oh, to see if I was alright? Your father should have been able to tell you that I was; he said he saw you at the King and Queen's coronation."
"Did he tell you what Anora offered me for defeating the Blight?" Ahria asked, unable to hide her excitement.
"He didn't," Shianni informed her. "He said I'd find out soon enough. He also said the King was that guy you were with when you stopped those slavers so why is the Queen giving you things instead of him?"
Ahria made a face. "He's just mad that Anora's father's not dead. He'll get over it. Probably. If nothing else, Loghain is kind of old and can't live forever…" Noticing the look on Shianni's face, she quickly continued, "But that's a long story."
"What did the Queen give you?" Shianni asked dutifully, deciding she both probably didn't want to know and would hear about it in good time anyway.
"She offered to make me the Bann of the Alienage!" Ahria exclaimed.
Shianni's eyes widened. Their very own Bann? The first non-human Bann since, well, ever as far as she knew. She guessed that meant she could officially stop worrying that their new lord or lady would take vengeance for Vaughn and Howe's deaths since she would have been the one to kill them. "So I should be calling you 'Bann Ahria' then?" she teased.
But Ahria shook her head. "No, I should be calling you 'Bann Shianni,'" she corrected.
That stopped Shianni cold. "W-what?"
Ahria shrugged. "I already have what I wanted. I'm the Hero of Ferelden, everyone loves me, and I'm fabulously wealthy. The Queen adores me for keeping her on the throne, ending the Blight in a timely manner, and keeping her father alive. The King is pissed at me but I did what I had to do so he won't act against me. Loghain is off to go rebuild the Grey Wardens so I don't have to feel guilt about not doing that. I just don't think I could devote the time and energy to the position that you could and this way we'll have two elves from the Alienage in the public eye showing people we're not worthless and fighting for our rights."
"I don't know what to say," Shianni said finally.
"Say yes, Bann Shianni," Ahria urged.
"Don't call me that!" Shianni cried, reddening.
"Why not?" Ahria challenged. "You are officially part of the nobility now, you know. Everyone will be calling you that soon enough."
"And you're sure you don't want the title?" Shianni asked, just to be certain. Her cousin was the one to make all of this possible and by all rights the Bann should be her.
Ahria snorted. "More than sure."
"But why me?" Shianni pressed.
"Why not you?" Ahria demanded, suddenly serious. "The Bann of the Alienage needs to be someone who is not afraid to butt heads with the humans and fight to get us fair treatment. Who was the one who refused to let Vaughn take us without a fight? Who was the only one to call those slavers on the fact they kept taking people? Who organized the Alienage's resistance? Face it, Shianni, when I think of someone who will fight for our people, I think of you, every time."
"Thank you, Cousin," Shianni said softly. "I still think you would do a far better job than me but I'll do my best."
Ahria shook her head, smiling again. "In some ways what I do is easy, you know? People give me a hard time, I kill them. You've never had that option and while you could definitely use some work being civil to humans it is understandable and I have faith in you. You'll serve our people well."
"You're always coming through for me, Ahria," Shianni told her. "This time, I'm going to come through for you. I'll make things better for our people if it kills me."
Ahria looked concerned. "Let's not go that far. Maker knows that if you die then we'll have to make Soris the Bann and he'd kill me so we'd have to make Loghain the Hero of Ferelden so Alistair would murder my corpse…"
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