This is my first attempt at any sort of fan fiction, so constructive feedback is appreciated.
Disclaimer: Bioware owns Dragon Age and its characters. I am just glad to be able to play.
Chapter 1: Finding a Friend
She loved being among the flowers. She hated wearing dresses. The pretty 3-year-old was doing both, her silver-blond hair shining like silk in the sunlight. Her Nana-lin, as she called her mother's mother, was coming for a visit and her mother wanted her to look pretty. Starrelena wanted to find the prettiest flowers to give to her beloved Nana-lin. Excited as she was, she was also being careful not to mess up her dress because it would disappoint her mother, and she knew her mother worked hard to make it, and that new dresses were special, even if she didn't like to wear them. If she had to wear a dress, at least it wasn't too frilly, it was comfortable and her favorite color – a deep purple. Her parents looked at her with such pride and love after she put it on that she almost wished she had more.
Starrelena was too busy examining the flowers to see the group of 5- and 6-year-old boys coming into the meadow behind her house. They were laughing about something they had done, pushing and shoving each other the way boys do. They saw her, and formed a circle around her, all of them smiling. However, she knew these boys; they were troublemakers and always teased her. If she had seen them she would have hidden, but now all she could do was keep an eye on them and look for a chance to get away. She would fight them if she had to, but she was still hoping to keep her dress clean. Chances weren't looking good.
The sturdy 5-year-old boy at the bottom of the path was angry. He knew he was the one who would get in trouble when he got home covered in mud and pie. The other boys close to his age liked to torment him, knowing that if they were just a little careful they could get away with it. He didn't know what he was going to do, but he chased after them even if it meant he got in more trouble. "You're supposed to be better than that." "Why can't you get along with people?" He always got in trouble, It didn't matter if he was at fault or not.
When he got to the meadow, he saw them. What were they doing in a circle? They started moving around and he saw her. She was standing up, watching them. He was stunned. At first, all he could think was that her hair was like moonbeams, and then realized that he had seen her before, usually with her parents. They always had a kind word for him. The gang of boys were yelling at her now, "stupid girl," "elf lover," "brat," "witch." She just stood there, glaring, hands clenched around the flowers she was holding. Then one of them pushed her, then another one and another one until she fell on the ground. They started kicking her, and every time she got up, they pushed her down again.
Then the boy got really angry, and charged them. He punched and kicked and hit. At first, they were too surprised that their usual target was fighting back that they just stared at him. Then they forgot about the girl and attacked him. He was so angry he didn't feel their hits. "Leave her alone!" he shouted.
Those bullies hurt her and ruined her dress. Her parents were going to be so upset. She didn't know what to think, at first, when she saw the other boy. She watched him charged into the bullies, knocking some of the down. He was defending her! Her dress was already ruined; she wasn't going to leave her defender alone. She was small, but quick. She tripped them, she threw rocks at them – she was surprisingly accurate. Some of them left, but two remained behind attacking her knight, now down on the ground. She jumped on the back of one and bit him. He tried and tried to get her off, but couldn't. Meanwhile her knight got up, one eye swollen, lip cut, and tackled the leader. With the odds more even, he got the leader of the gang down and started pounding on him. "You think it's funny to gang up on someone? To hit a little girl?! It's NOT!" He gave him one last punch and got up. The bully ran away. He turned to the remaining bully, the girl jumped off his back, and he ran away, too.
The boy and girl looked at each other until she sat down and started to cry. He didn't know what to do, so he just sat down next to her and patted her shoulder. "I wasn't supposed to get dirty, Nana-lin's coming and my parents will be so mad at me," she sobbed.
"I'll go with you and tell 'em what happened," he offered.
She looked at him, "You w-w-will?" He nodded, noticing that her eyes weren't grey anymore. They were getting blue. She smiled at him, and really looked at him. She looked at his swollen and bruised eye. "M-mommy always kisses me where it hurts," and leaned over and kissed his eye. It hurt, but he wasn't going to tell her that. She smiled at him again, and when he smiled back, she thought the sun came back out. Hand in hand, they walked to her parents' house.
