A.N.: So, while this isn't the first story I've written, it's the first that I've ever submitted to this site, so I hope you all enjoy it! This will be made up of some choice scenes from throughout the game that I'll give my take on. They'll all vary from how things happened in-game in varying degrees of variety (hehe), and the scenes will jump around a bit, probably skipping huge chunks of the game in places, though I will at least keep things in "chronological" order. The focus will mostly be on the relationship between my Warden and Leliana, though I can't help but write in some action scenes. This first chapter is pretty action/dialogue heavy, and almost entirely lacking in romance, but I promise that the romance will come in time!
And of course, I don't own Dragon Age, I'm just borrowing it to play around in. Catherine is mostly mine, but the rest of them, and especially the snippets of dialogue that are taken directly out of the game, belong to the awesome video-game-creating-entity that is Bioware. Oh, and the title, along with some of the later scenes I have planned, is inspired by the song "Alive With the Glory of Love" by Say Anything. Thanks for reading, I hope you enjoy!
Looking down at the half dozen dead men lying on the ground before her, newly minted Grey Warden Catherine Amell could think only one thing: I just set out on this little "quest" to somehow stop the massive army of darkspawn trying to destroy Ferelden and I'm already sick of stuff trying to kill me. This is not going to be a fun trip.
Rolling her eyes at the lifeless bodies of the bandits that had just foolishly tried to rob her, Catherine turned towards her companions and gave a small shrug before stepping over the bandit leader's corpse and moving down the ramp that led off the raised stone highway they'd been traveling on. Her companions, the only other surviving Grey Warden, Alistair, the so-called "Witch of the Wilds", Morrigan, and the mabari war dog that Catherine had named Izzy, fell into step behind the young mage.
As they stepped off the ramp and began to move towards the small town that stood before them, just off to the side of the road, Alistair stopped Catherine. He began to question her about what her plan was and offered her directions on where they might go to find the different groups with whom they had treaties. He also suggested that they visit Redcliffe first, but left the decision of where they'd go up to her, which rather frustrated Catherine. She was confused and a little angry over the fact that Alistair and Morrigan had apparently elected her to be the leader of their little group.
Wish they would have bothered to let me know about that little decision, Catherine thought with a small sigh, which the sharp-eyed Morrigan apparently noticed. Then, as if she had read Catherine's mind (She can't actually do that, can she? I don't think that's possible, but I wouldn't be entirely surprised either…), Morrigan turned towards Alistair and addressed him.
"I have a wonder, Alistair, if you will indulge me," Morrigan asked, an eyebrow raised towards the templar-turned-Grey-Warden.
"Do I have a choice?" responded Alistair with a tone that suggested he already knew perfectly well that he in fact did not have a choice. Catherine couldn't help but smirk as she stopped and turned to listen to the exchange.
"Of the two of you that remain, are you not the senior Grey Warden here? I find it curious that you allow another to lead, while you follow," Morrigan stated, falling just short of outright derisive. Alistair seemed to hold in a sigh before responding almost resignedly.
"You find that curious, do you?"
"In fact, you defer to a new recruit. Is this a policy of the Grey Wardens? Or simply a personal one?" continued Morrigan, grinning as she delivered the barb Catherine knew she'd been intending to hit the man with the whole time. These two seemed to have immediately and automatically begun to hate each other. Catherine just hoped they'd get over it, though the banter was a little entertaining to the mage right now, she really doubted she'd enjoy hearing them bickering throughout the entirety of their journeys.
I'm sure they'll get sick of it too, before too long. Right?
"What do you want to hear?" Alistair definitely sounded resigned now, as if he'd been expecting this question, "That I prefer to follow? I do."
"You sound so very defensive," Morrigan laughed.
"Couldn't you crawl into a bush somewhere and die? That would be great thanks."
Catherine couldn't help but chuckle at Alistair's retort, which drew her companions' attention from where they'd been glaring at each other, leaving them both looking at her awkwardly. Alistair scratched the back of his head and shrugged. Morrigan simply made an impatient motion with her hand for them to continue onward. Catherine rolled her eyes once more and turned to walk towards the town of Lothering.
After passing through a camp full of rather desperate looking refugees, the group found themselves facing a heavily armored man standing in the middle of the wide lane that led into the village. It was armor that Catherine knew only too well from her many years spent as a near-prisoner in the Circle Tower. Her grip on her heartwood staff tightened as she found herself facing down someone who was trained to kill mages like her. Catherine watched closely as the templar's hand slowly moved to rest on the hilt of his mace, and it was then that she remembered that she was traveling in the company of an apostate mage.
Oh damn. Of course there are templars here to guard the town's chantry, why didn't I think about that? And the others chose me to be their leader? Great start Catherine, inspiring leadership skills.
Catherine gave herself a mental shake to throw the self-depreciating thoughts to the back of her head as she saw the templar tense, his gaze now on Morrigan. The armored man closed his hand around the handle of his weapon and Catherine knew he was about to—
"Mommy, when can we go home?"
Catherine turned to see a mother and daughter walking up the lane behind them.
"We can't go home baby," the mother said softly and sadly, "We have to get away from the monsters, remember?"
The young child's face fell and her gaze dropped to the ground as the pair walked past the Grey Wardens and their companions. They then moved past the templar who stood staring at them, looking dazed as the mother and her young daughter walked through what was nearly a battle area and into the town, completely oblivious to the stand-off they'd interrupted. The Chantry knight then took a look at his surroundings, at the refugee tents that stood all around him and the weary people that walked to and fro. Catherine followed his line of sight and after a few moments both the templar and mage relaxed almost simultaneously, realizing this was not the place or time to be fighting.
The templar seemed to sag slightly, his shoulders drooping and his hand falling away from his mace. Catherine eased her grip on her staff and moved it into a less threatening position. The mage heard a relieved sigh behind her and glanced back to see Alistair and Izzy standing down, and after a short look from Catherine and a few heartbeats of hesitation, Morrigan followed suit.
"If you're looking for food or shelter, you'll find very little of both here," the templar's voice sounded surprisingly youthful to Catherine, despite the young knight's obvious attempt at sounding imposing, "Both the chantry and the tavern are full up with refugees, and we barely have enough food to feed the mouths we already have."
"Are you barring us from entering?" Catherine asked, the tension in the air around them suddenly increasing once more, though it quickly diffused as the templar shook his head slowly.
"No, between the approaching darkspawn horde and the bandits preying on everyone that comes in and out of the town, we have enough problems here as it is. I won't add to them by picking a fight with a group so well armed as yourselves," the templar said warily, his mace-hand staying away from his weapon, "I was just informing you of the situation here, in the hopes that you won't go bringing extra hardship upon the people here." His eyes moved pointedly between Morrigan and Catherine.
"We have no intention of bringing any hardships on anyone, we're just passing through," Catherine assured, then she realized something and couldn't help but add in an almost contemptuous tone, "In fact, we've already taken care of one of your troubles for you. At least one group of those bandits you mentioned is now quite dead. You're welcome." She slung her staff over her shoulder and crossed her arms, her disdain for templars overriding her fear of them now that she didn't have to fight one. She heard Alistair cough slightly behind her.
The templar looked towards the highway, then back to Catherine.
"Oh. Well. Thank you, I suppose," the knight said haltingly, obviously surprised, "Every time we went out after them they just fled, and there's too few of us here to keep order and protect the people here as is without half of us running around the woods looking for bandits."
"Yes, like I said, you're welcome," Catherine started with the same disdainful tone before she felt Alistair step up beside her with another, louder cough. Catherine took the hint and forced her voice closer to somewhat neutral. As much as she disliked templars, now probably wasn't the best time to go antagonizing one, "Um, there wouldn't happen to be a reward, would there?"
"Ser Bryant might have some sort of reward for you. You can find him in the chantry," the templar pointed his thumb over his shoulder towards the largest building in the village.
"Oh, alright." More templars? No thanks.
Gesturing for the others to follow her, Catherine moved forward, purposefully not looking at the templar as she walked past him. They moved through the village, Catherine purposefully guiding them away from the chantry. Along the way she threatened a rather annoying merchant into reducing his ridiculously bloated prices and found a young boy who had apparently lost his parents to darkspawn. Catherine promptly directed the boy to the chantry, for she certainly had no idea what to do with the child, though her conscience refused to let her just ignore the boy's desperate cries. After talking with a few other villagers who wanted the help of the obviously able-bodied group, the four found themselves outside the Dane's Refuge, the town's tavern.
"I could really use a drink, what about you two?" Catherine turned and smirked, looking between Alistair and Morrigan. Alistair gave her a small smile and just shook his head, while Morrigan sighed and mumbled something about a waste of money. "Well fine, be that way, I'm sure Izzy will share a drink or two with me, won't you boy?" The mabari gave a happy bark and then followed his mistress into the tavern, Alistair and Morrigan right behind them.
Catherine had only a few moments to survey the inside of the packed tavern before her view was suddenly filled by a handful of armored soldiers. Armored soldiers who were giving her looks that made her very nervous.
Armored soldiers that probably work for Loghain. Uh oh. So much for that drink.
The mage slowly reached up to pull her staff off her back as the apparent leader of the troops stepped directly in front of her. The tall man stared down at her, obviously attempting to use his height to intimidate the shorter-than-average Catherine. The obviousness of this attempt only served to make her angry.
"Well well men, I think we've just been blessed. Didn't we spend all morning asking about a girl by this very description? And everyone said they hadn't seen her," the soldiers' leader said, sneering down at Catherine, "Looks like we've been lied to."
Girl?
"Oh right, because it's not like we couldn't have just come into town or something! Obviously it's some big conspiracy to pull the wool over the eyes of you and your crack team of investigators!" Catherine said scathingly, her voice overflowing with sarcasm.
The soldiers' eyes widened and they all placed their hands on their weapons, their eyes shifting between their commander and Catherine. The commander's sneer turned into an expression of outright fury at the words and he took another step towards the mage.
"How dare you! You need to learn your place, girl!"
Oh that's it! I'll show these bastards what this 'girl' can do!
Catherine was just reaching out with her will to gather the necessary entropic energy to burn away the commander's mind when a red blur filled her vision. She suddenly found a red-haired woman wearing Chantry robes standing between her and the soldiers, with her back to Catherine.
"Gentleman, surely, there's no need for trouble," the red-head attempted to placate the men, "These are no doubt simply more poor souls seeking refuge."
"They're more than that! Now stay out of our way Sister! You protect these traitors, you'll get the same as them!" the commander yelled as he pushed the sister to the side, drawing his sword from its sheath as he advanced on Catherine. He stopped suddenly though, as did everyone else, as the red-haired woman spun away from the shove. The glint of a dagger seemed to appear out of nowhere as she twisted and plunged the sharp metal into the side of the soldier standing just to the right of the commander. The wounded man dropped to the ground with a painful grunt as he clutched at his bleeding side. Everyone gawked for another moment, but then the mysterious Chantry sister spun again towards another soldier and everybody realized they'd just entered into a fight and began to act accordingly.
Morrigan gathered her magic and unleashed it upon one of the soldiers, blasting him with a bolt of electricity which surged and sparked across his armor, blasting him over a table. The rest of the tavern-goers ducked for cover as drinks and magic flew through the air. Meanwhile, the commander advanced the rest of the way to Catherine and slashed his sword towards her. The mage, who had been slow to react as she watched the unknown woman go from harmless Chantry sister to deadly blur of red hair and steel, nearly took the blow to her neck. Fortunately, Alistair had been ready and had immediately stepped up to block the blow with his shield. He then followed up the block by slamming his shield into the commander's chest, knocking the soldier back a few steps. Catherine used this breathing space to fire a spell off at the commander, filling his mind with entropic energy. The big man dropped his sword and shield and fell to his knees, pressing his hands against his temples. Next to him, another of the soldiers had found himself suddenly pinned to the ground by a very angry, and very bitey, mabari war hound.
Alistair moved past Catherine as a soldier charged towards Morrigan, once again interposing himself between a sword and a mage. The sound of metal meeting metal filled the air as both Alistair and the dagger-wielding sister engaged the last two standing soldiers. Morrigan hit Alistair's opponent with a blast of frost, freezing part of his armor and immobilizing him enough that Alistair was able to swing the pommel of his sword in to smack it over the top of the soldier's helmet. The man fell to the ground heavily.
At the same moment as Morrigan fired off hers, Catherine used a spell of her own to daze the other enemy. The man stumbled slightly, his sword swing going wide and missing the red-head completely. The graceful woman used this advantage immediately, entwining one of her legs with the confused soldier's own unsteady pair as she whirled around behind him and delivered a hard, flat-handed blow to the back of his neck. The soldier sprawled to the ground and remained there, groaning as he rolled around slightly.
By now, Catherine's first spell had worn off enough that the commander was able to regain most of his senses. He looked around for a moment, noticing that all of his men were down. He blinked a few times, not comprehending the situation at all, shaking his head to try to clear it. After a few shakes, it worked enough that he was at least able to notice the head of the heartwood staff now being held in front of his face.
"W-we s-surrender!" he exclaimed as soon as he had enough control of his own mind to form the words.
"I'm sure you do, now enjoy your painful death," Catherine said icily as she once again gathered her energy, but before she could release the spell on the commander, she heard a cry of "Wait!" and suddenly found her staff being wrenched upwards. The spell fired off at the ceiling, burning a small furrow into the wood.
"What do you think you're doing?" Catherine yelled, rounding on the red-head who had just misdirected her spell, the mage's purple eyes ablaze with anger and unspent arcane energy.
"Please, the fighting is over, they surrendered, you won. Show them mercy!" the sister pleaded, a plaintive look on her face. A face which Catherine suddenly noticed was quite beautiful, and, now that Catherine was looking, she thought the rest of the woman looked quite good too— Wait, what? Where did that come from? Focus, Catherine! Now's really not the time for that sort of thinking! She gave herself both a mental and physical shake and suddenly realized that her face must look extraordinarily silly with her jaw hanging down dumbly and her facial expression a mix of anger, awe, and confusion.
"Um, mercy? You mean, uh, the mercy they would have shown you when they killed you for simply trying to stop a fight?" Catherine fought to compose herself, her voice regaining its confidence and getting louder as she spoke, her anger reasserting itself in her mind, "I appreciate the help, Sister, but this really isn't your fight, so let me handle this," She turned back towards the commander, who was still kneeling on the ground, watching Izzy warily as the giant dog stared him down from a few feet away, teeth bared.
"No!" the red-head persisted, quickly moving to stand between Catherine and the surrendered man, "You are a Grey Warden, Grey Wardens are honorable, no? There is no honor in killing a man who has surrendered!"
"I never got the chance to attend the Grey Warden seminar on honor before they all got killed, thanks to this guy's boss!" Catherine growled, gesturing her staff towards the commander.
"Please, hasn't there been enough death? Won't there be far more than enough in the days to come?" the sister implored, and the look on her face alone was nearly enough to make Catherine change her mind.
"I think she's right, they have surrendered, it… it wouldn't be right to kill them now," Alistair said quietly, finally deciding to make his opinion known.
"They would not have spared us if the situation was reversed, why should we give them what they wouldn't give us?" Morrigan added her opinion in as well, though Catherine wasn't entirely sure if that's what she really believed or if she just instinctually disagreed with Alistair.
Catherine stood glaring down at the commander for a few moments, rubbing a knuckle back and forth along her chin until she came to a decision.
"Take a message to Loghain. Tell him that we know the truth, we know about his betrayal. And we will make him pay for it. Got it?" Catherine glowered down at the kneeling man, her voice dangerously quiet as she took a fair amount of dark pleasure from the irony of her now being the one towering over the man. The commander nodded quickly and moved to stand, but Catherine pushed him back down to his knees with her staff, "Oh, and make sure I never, ever run into you again. You will not get another chance. Got it?" She lifted her staff off his shoulder, but kept her glower focused on the man's eyes.
"Y-yes," the soldier stammered out, scrambling to his feet and rushing out the door without even waiting for his surviving fellows, who quickly stumbled after their leader once Catherine threw them each a deadly glare.
As the last soldier exited, Catherine turned to the man that, judging by the angry expression and the hands planted on his hips, was the tavern keeper. "Sorry about the mess," Catherine said as she fished out a few coins to hand him before turning and heading towards the door. She stopped at the exit, turning towards her companions and the red-head, who all stood awkwardly in the middle of the room. Fighting the urge to roll her eyes, Catherine gestured for them to follow her outside, locking eyes with the sister as she did so.
Beautiful eyes...
Catherine shook her head at her own thoughts as she headed outside. She took a moment to look around, noticing that Loghain's men were already nowhere to be seen. She then moved towards a relatively empty corner of the village, her companions catching up to her and falling into step, the red-haired woman a few steps behind, looking confused and more than a little nervous. As they reached an area where Catherine felt they could speak in privacy, she turned to the sister and spoke.
"So, mind telling me who you are?"
"My name is Leliana, I am, or rather I was, a lay-sister here in the Chantry," the woman replied, smiling brightly.
Such a radiant smile, it's like it got brighter out— Ack! Stop it you mushy idiot! Concentrate!
"A lay-sister, hm?" Catherine's eyes narrowed in suspicion after she had cleared her mind enough to consider what the woman had said, "I wasn't aware the Chantry offered combat training to lay-sisters."
Leliana's cheeks flushed slightly, her eyes dropping to the ground.
"I was not always a lay-sister, I learned to fight before I joined the Chantry," the red-head said as she brought her face back up, her bright blue eyes meeting Catherine's dark purple once again, sending a small involuntary shiver down the mage's spine. Catherine could feel a slight blush forming on her cheeks as her whole body seemed to get suddenly very warm, her mind filled with… something she couldn't quite understand. As she struggled to get her emotions in check, Catherine thought she noticed a matching blush upon the other woman's cheeks, but, if it existed at all, it faded quickly as the red-head began speaking once again, "As you saw in the tavern, I am quite skilled, even more so with a bow than with blades. I can handle myself quite well in a fight, and I have a few other skills that are quite helpful as well. That is why I am coming with you."
Catherine's brow shot up as the woman said the last part with the certainty of undeniable fact, and she heard an incredulous laugh from Morrigan and a few coughs from Alistair behind her.
"Um, what? Why would you want to come with us?" Catherine asked, a bemused look on her face.
"Those soldiers said you are Grey Wardens. You will be fighting the darkspawn, yes? That is what Grey Wardens do. I know that after what happened at Ostagar you will need all the help you can get. That, and the Maker told me to join you," Leliana said, once again speaking with absolute certainty that what she had said was the truth, even if it sounded completely insane to Catherine's ears.
"More crazy? I thought we were all full up," Alistair mumbled quietly, though judging by the way Leliana's eyes suddenly shifted over to him, not quietly enough. Catherine could hear the creaking of Alistair's armor as he shifted uncomfortably. Morrigan just scoffed.
Oh great, a Chantry fanatic that wants to tag along? Just what we need, someone to spout Chantry nonsense at us while we're trying to save the world. I'm sure Morrigan would just love to listen to that, Catherine thought as she eyed Leliana warily, Then again, I might not mind hearing even Chantry bullshit if she's saying it with that lovely accent of hers— Oh stop it already! She's clearly a Chantry nut, and you're a mage who hates the Chantry! Not exactly a good match!
"Uh, the Maker… told you to join us? Would you, um, care to elaborate on that?" Catherine asked slowly. Even though she knew it was preposterous, she was actually curious to know why the woman thought the Maker had spoken to her.
"I know it sounds insane—" the red-head began before being cut off by Morrigan and Alistair simultaneously saying "Yep," after which they both turned to glare at each other, "But it's true! I had a dream, a vision! Look at the people here," she gestured her hands at the village around them, "They are lost in despair and darkness, the Maker doesn't want this! What you plan to do is the Maker's work, and that is why I wish to help, why I believe the Maker wants me to help."
Despite wanting to tell the woman no simply because she was associated with the Chantry, and despite the possible craziness, Catherine forced herself to think about the offer logically. What Leliana had said about them needing help was true, very true. And Catherine had been rather impressed by the woman's skill in the fight back at the tavern.
Alright, I'll let her come along, what harm can it really do? If she starts talking Chantry nonsense too much, I can always just tell her to shut up, if Morrigan doesn't beat me to it. And it's not like those of us already in this little group are exactly 'sane.' I suppose you have to be a little insane to be trying to stop a Blight like this.
"Okay, fine, you can come with us," Catherine said simply, much to the surprise of her companions. Alistair sputtered slightly and Morrigan scoffed again.
"Perhaps your skull was cracked worse than Mother thought," the witch said sarcastically. At this, Catherine turned to the other two and frowned.
"She was right when she said we that we need all the help we can get," Catherine said, putting her hands on her hips and putting as much authority into her voice as she could, "As it is we're four against an entire horde of darkspawn, not to mention Loghain and his army! I'll take whatever help is offered."
"I suppose you're right, Grey Wardens take allies where they can get them," Alistair shrugged and nodded, looking sheepish beneath Catherine's hard gaze. Morrigan glared back defiantly for a few more moments, but then she too shrugged.
"Do as you wish, Warden, but don't come complaining to me about whatever nonsense she decides to bring up next," Morrigan grumbled.
Hmph, they wanted to let me take the lead, now they'll just have to deal with it! I'm taking these reins and running with it! Catherine thought with a small snicker before turning back to the red-head, who was frowning towards Morrigan. Catherine smirked at her newest companion, "Well, Leliana, welcome aboard. I hope you know what you're getting yourself into."
A.N.: Wow, that turned out longer than I originally planned, but I just couldn't find a good place to split it, so oh well, hope you made it through all of that! :P Hope you enjoyed! Please feel free to review, it'll encourage me to continue with the next part sooner! And if anyone is interested in beta'ing for me, send me a PM, it'd be great and much appreciated! Until next time!
