A Bard's Best Magic

Part 1:

She dropped the leather glove onto the table and sank into the chair. She had left the Chantry for this?

Dirt and grime encrusted her, bits of blood caked on her skin and in her leathers. This was the honor and glory she sang about… she shook her head.

She'd followed Aedan out of Lothering, and into… well. A mess, really. She looked down at herself, and sighed for the fifth time. She longed for the simple life of the Chantry.

But the Maker had called, and she obeyed.

Aedan came into the room then, "If you're wanting to use the baths, Lady, you should do so."

She had quit telling him not to call her "lady," as it would be easier to get a castle wall to open up like a door. She sighed—again.

He was always so diffident towards her. Almost like he thought she was something she wasn't. He was also nervous all the time around Alistair, as if he expected the ex-Templar Warden to haul him back to the Circle any second, strapped to the back of a packmule or something.

"Thank you, Aedan," she told him.

After her bath, she wandered into her room, and brushed her hair, singing softly as she did. A knock at the door gave her pause. "Come in," she called, as she was decently dressed in a Chantry robe.

"Zevran, how nice to see you," she said, insincerely.

"You love me, I know," he told her. "Someday, I will get you to admit it."

"Save your charm for someone who wants it, Zev," she told him shortly.

He grinned. "But then there goes half the fun!"

"Is that all you came in here for?" she asked him, feeling at least slightly petulant.

"No, actually. Not this time, anyway. After all, I needn't come to your room in order to annoy you."

She snorted. He was right in that much, at least.

"I've come to discuss Aedan with you," he told her.

Part 2:

"Really? Is he okay?"

"Well, no. Not really. I'd say he hasn't been okay since he laid eyes on you in Lothering. But that's just a guess, of course." Zevran leaned back on her pillow, arms crossed behind his head. "Alistair and I have been talking, and we think that you and Aedan need to fix this business between you."

"Pardon?" she replied.

"You can certainly fix his problem, if you decided you wanted to."

"What, he needs new shoes? I do happen to know a—"

"Shoes, Leliana? Really?" Zevran glowered at her. "Not even you can be that dense. You were definitely in the Chantry for far too long. Perhaps you should give this some thought from a Bard point of view, rather than from a Princess-of-the-Chantry point of view, eh?"

Then he sauntered out of the room, leaving Leliana gaping after him.

What in the Darkspawn Horde could he be talking about—Oh!

She turned back to stare at her image in the mirror.

So it was like that, was it? Could it be true? Could Aedan see her as something more, something beyond a useful tool for his mission to rid Ferelden of Darkspawn?

Speaking of Darkspawn… Aedan took that moment to poke his head into the room. "We're off to Redcliffe Castle to see Irving and find out how to save Connor. Are you ready?"

She turned and looked at him, speculation altering the way she saw him entirely. He noticed—something—in her gaze and looked down, red riding his neck. "I'm more than ready," she told him, feeling a response deep in her belly.

She really meant that—though not the way the cloistered Mage most likely thought she did.

"Excellent," he said, another look at her making him blush again and practically scurry away.

Well, well, well… Zevran was right after all. But what was she to do about it? There was no way that Aedan was going to start anything—he hadn't even given her signs or signals! Well, no real ones, anyway. He blushed and hid from pretty much anything without dangly bits down below.

Part 3:

They arrived at the Castle, only to find that a mage had to go into the Fade to fight the demon.

Leliana's heart skipped a beat or two when Aedan determined that he would go. He could be lost in there forever.

She reached out and touched his arm. "Come back to me," she told him softly.

He blinked and then blushed again. "I will," he said, a strangled, nearly inaudible statement. Then he stepped into the mage's rune and laid down. Immediately, his breathing deepened and he was in the Fade.

As they watched, waiting and pacing and watching, scratches and bruises rose on him—what was happening to him in the Fade was reflected on his body. She feared for him with each subsequent cut, burn, or bruise that rose.

Hours passed until he finally stirred. Isolde ran from the room, fleeing to see what had become of her son. Her shout of joy met them even there. Leliana was thrilled and proud.

Bann Teagan began to thank Aedan, even dropping to one knee to carry on in his gratitude.

"Teagan!" she barked at the man, "we need a bed. Can't you see that he needs rest and healing?"

"Yes, yes, sorry!" Teagan cried, and Zevran and Alistair helped the weak, weary mage to a room.

Leliana shooed them out, Zevran winking at her as he left. Then she turned and began to apply poultices to the wounds on Aedan's arms. Then she told him to stand up, and in two simple moves let his robe drop.

He cried out in objection, but she merely pointed to the bed. He laid back down meekly, staring at her as if she'd just sprouted two heads.

Well, he wouldn't look at her that way for long…

Part 4:

Leliana began to apply more poultices, singing and allowing what healing magic she could to wash over him. She applied a poultice to his chest, surprisingly strong for what she would have expected of a mage.

When the poultice was finished with its healing work, she pulled it off, then ran her hand across the spot where it had been. There was a bruise still there, but it looked old, several days gone rather than fresh.

A slight scar ran across it, and she leaned forward to kiss the scar as she let her song fade away.

"Lady?" Aedan said, his voice strangled and surprised once again.

Leliana grinned up at him. "All part of the healing, Aedan."

He smiled, to her surprise, though it was a tentative smile. "I don't think so… I have been healed a time or two before, you know. I don't think I'd enjoy Wynne using this method quite so much, for example."

She laughed. "I certainly hope not." Then she let her own robe drop, enjoying his gasp as her body was revealed to him, though still covered by her underclothes.

Climbing on the bed, she straddled him. Then she began to kiss lower, and lower, and lower.

"Leliana, wait," he told her, his hand on her chin. He looked almost scared.

"What's wrong, Aedan? Are you worried about a baby? I have ways—"

"It's not that. It's… I'm… Well. I'm a mage, you know."

She reared back as if in shock. "You are? Why didn't anyone ever tell me?" She pretended outrage until she couldn't hold the face any longer and giggled.

He sighed, and that adorable red flushed over his neck and face again. Now she knew how far down it went, though… and she followed it with her eyes.

"I grew up in the Circle, Leliana. I don't really have… experience…" he swallowed hard, looking away from her.

"Don't worry. It's easy. Tab A to slot B and work it in and out a few times…" his eyes whipped back to hers, and he laughed in spite of himself. "Lighten up, Aedan. It's supposed to be fun, and pleasant."

Part 5:

She touched him, running her hands across his belly, kissing lower until she tantalized him with her breath, pressing against the outside of his undercloth so that heat soaked through it and to his penis.

He drew a ragged breath and thrust upwards, an involuntary movement that pleased her.

She moved so that she was between his legs, and pulled the undercloth down so that his erection sprang free, bouncing slightly from being released.

"Leliana, I—" his words were cut off as she took him into her mouth.

She took him into her mouth, and realized immediately as his hands clenched on the bed that she would have to bring him off quickly, and then keep him at that peak if she was to help him genuinely enjoy and feel good about the experience.

So she slipped one hand around the shaft of his cock, and the other beneath his balls, at the deepest root of his pleasure. She sucked lightly at first, and then with increasing pressure.

At the same time that she sucked on him, bobbing up and down on his shaft, lathing his head with her tongue on the upstroke, she began to press firmly on that area below his balls, letting her hand cup them as she pressed up, and then push again as she stroked down in rhythm.

His gasps and groans sped up, and she matched his pace until he released, erupting into her mouth, arching and jerking. When he was finished, she licked him again, then slowly crept up his body.

He was bright red, and looked apologetic. She knew why, and she knew what the answer was to his problem.

Before he could speak, she pressed a finger to his lips to silence him. Leaning forward, letting her breasts trail across his chest, she whispered in his ear.

"That was just the beginning. I made you do that on purpose. Now, I'm going to climb on top of you and I'm going to ride you. You'll be able to last much longer now that we've gotten that out of the way." She moved against him again.

Then she pulled back and looked at him, turning his face to hers so that he was captured in her eyes.

"And when you cum again later, I will do that again. And when I do, it will be with the taste of us together on you." She smiled as he blushed yet again. Leaning forward again, she told him, "I really want to know what we'll taste like together."

Then she sat up and reached down. As she had known it would, his cock had risen to the promise of the words she'd spoken to him.

Part 6:

Leliana slid down onto Aedan's cock, her eyes nearly turning up in ecstasy. It had been so long. So very long… and he felt so good inside her. He touched her in just the right places, touched her so deeply, so hotly… She started to ride him faster, the sound of their bodies slapping together rising into the air.

He groaned, and she couldn't stop her own moans as she rode him, her hips twisting and swaying in a way that brought her maximum penetration and the best stimulation.

He, being braver than she'd ever have given him credit for, reached up and grasped her breasts, gently, but firmly. He rolled the nipples between his fingers, playing with them, nearly sending her into orgasm that instant.

She rode him faster, meeting his eyes and leaning forward. "That's right,' she told him, as his eyes widened in surprise, "I'm going to take my own pleasure on you, too. It's not all about you, you know."

He surprised her again, "Use me if you must, Bard. It's a burden, but I think I can manage." He grinned, but blushed.

It was an unprecedented boldness from him, and it made her laugh with delight.

He gasped as her laughter made her clench around him, and he thrust up into her in response. She rode him again, harder and faster, until she was practically leaning on the hands that held her breasts as her hips rocked on top of his.

Then she heard him crying out, and knew he was close to release. She pressed deeper and faster, and felt her own creeping up on her. Together, they came, the waves of pleasure crashing around them.

Then, to her surprise, there was a loud detonation. The room rocked and roared as a magical blast swept out from Aedan with explosive force.

A lamp, fortunately not lit, flew off of the vanity as it crashed against the wall. A chair was smashed to splinters, and a chest rolled end over end before thumping against the wall.

She stared at him in surprise.

"Oops," he said.

Still sitting astride him, she started giggling uncontrollably.

The door suddenly burst open, and Bann Teagan, Zevran, and Alistair came flying in, the latter immediately turning red and fleeing the room.

Bann Teagan wasn't far behind him. Zevran, on the other hand, grinned. "Maker preserve us from virgin mages."

"He's not a virgin anymore," Leliana said smugly.

"I'm pretty sure the whole castle knows that," Zevran told her as he closed the door behind him.

"Maybe we should do that… other… somewhere less… inhabited," she told Aedan regretfully.

He grinned. "I'll take that as a promise."