This is just a quick little thing I wrote as I was struggling to put pen to pad (or rather finger to keyboard) on another story. It documents the first meeting of Alistair and the Dalish recruit Mikayla Theron at Ostagar, with a few liberties taken on my part.
As always any characters, locations, dialogue, etc. that you recognize from the game is owned by BioWare.
Alistair took a deep breath as the furious mage stomped off away from him - good riddance he thought, the man can't even take a joke. "You know one good thing about the Blight is how it brings us all together," he said to no one in particular.
"Andaran atish'an – greetings, do you know the Grey Warden Alistair? I was asked by the Warden Commander Duncan to collect him."
He turned to see a female elf unlike any the youngest Grey Warden and former templar trainee had ever seen before. This must be Duncan's new Dalish recruit, Alistair thought to himself. He had never seen a Dalish elf before and had only heard the stories that said they were heathen savages who wander the land stealing children to sacrifice to their dark gods.
News of her arrival had spread like wildfire throughout the entire camp and the Chantry was up in arms over her presence, especially after the incidents. Rumour had it that the Dalish recruit had knocked out anywhere from one to all of the Quartermaster's teeth after he had mistaken her for a servant and tried to beat her with a switch. The other incident, which Alistair knew was true, occurred last night after two drunken idiots tried to force themselves upon her. While she didn't kill them, it was a near thing and only the intervention of Warden Reliq, a hulking giant of a man, and some mage healers had saved those villains. The Wardens had closed ranks around their new sister and had Duncan and King Cailan not arrived when they did the situation would have escalated further. Under the King's questioning a few men stepped forward and said it was self defense, that she had been attacked by the wounded men. Alistair had been far from the centre of the scuffle and hadn't managed to catch a glimpse of the new recruit though a brother Warden had filled in the details. According to rumour King Cailan and Duncan had spent the remainder of the night punishing her for daring to attack a human and teaching her how to act properly – this Alistair doubted strongly as in his experience it was in neither man's character.
"You're not another mage are you?" Alistair asked.
"Do I look so stupid that I would wear brightly coloured robes into battle? Only a fool asking to die would so give away their location for all to see."
Alistair chuckled as he had often wondered at mages preference for brightly coloured robes and whether templars wore their elaborate armour to compensate – they never explained it during any of his lessons. Taking her words as an invitation Alistair took in the female elf before him. She had the same lithe form and grace that all elves seemed to possess and was of typical height for her race, standing about a head below his shoulders.
Her hair was the colour of spun gold and was tied back, exposing her pointed ears, and fell to below her shoulders. There were several tight plaits in her hair that appeared to have coloured rings of wood and bone worked into them. Her hair was tied back in an intricate fashion by a braided leather cord that wove through and around her hair and was itself decorated with eagle feathers.
He saw a delicate face with high cheekbones and full lips. Her eyes were a deep green and conveyed intelligence and something else he was unsure of – sadness? Her skin was bronze from the sun and there was a pair of matching tattoos on her face that went from high up on each cheek, upwards and across her forehead were they met. It looked like a pair of trees and he thought he could see a hawk but without a closer look he wasn't sure. A pair of thin lines ran from her bottom lip to her chin and seemed to end at an unfamiliar symbol high on her sternum. The tattoos, though unusual, did not detract from her obvious beauty but rather flowed with and enhanced her features.
She wore a two-piece set of armour that to his mind resembled a set of small clothes, albeit a shade larger and made out of leather. Her 'armour' consisted of a sleeveless tunic that ended just below her bosom and matching skirt that sat low on her hips and ran to mid-thigh and left her taut midsection exposed. The armour emphasized her femininity and she certainly wore it well, though it didn't seem very practical nor was it something a Grey Warden should wear. In truth, her armour reminded him of an outfit a dancer might wear or possibly one of the women in the seedier parts of any town whose company could be purchased for coin – not that Alistair had any experience with those types of ladies, or with any type of lady to be truthful. However, if one had the idea that this woman was a trollop the sword and dagger on her belt and the longbow on her back should give them fair warning to reconsider. He suspected that there might be a cultural aspect to her armour of which he didn't know and not wanting to risk offending her he didn't ask.
Alistair knew his glance had become a stare when the elf turned to fully face him and brought her hands to the well used hilts of her weapons.
"Forgive me my Lady, I meant no offense," he said quickly and he could feel his face flush from embarrassment. "I am indeed Alistair and it is my pleasure to meet you. You must be Duncan's newest recruit. As the junior member of the Order, I will be accompanying you when you prepare for the Joining."
"I am Mikayla Theron of the Elvhen, what you would call the Dalish," she said proudly. "Recruited by the Warden Commander Duncan from my clan and sworn to join the ranks of the Grey Wardens. I will tell you this once Warden Alistair to be clear and it is just as I told Duncan. I am here to join the Wardens and represent my clan and my people fighting darkspawn. I will see no service like some flat-eared slave who has forgotten what it means to be Elvhen. Nor will I see any upon my back with open legs, and anyone who thinks otherwise will die at my hands."
"I'd never...I would never force..." Alistair stammered his words. Never would he force himself on a woman, surely there must be a way for him to prove to her that he was not that kind of man.
"Abelas, my apologies," Mikayla said after noting Alistair's discomfort and remembering that Duncan had spoken highly of this shemlen. "Many of my experiences so far in this camp have only reinforced the beliefs of my people regarding the treatment my kind at shemlen hands. However, surely not all of you are counted among the worst of your kind."
As apologies went it left a lot to be desired, but considering she had almost been raped last night and it appeared that she didn't think he was that kind of man Alistair would take it.
"I was truly sorry to hear of the attack against you last night," Alistair said, hoping she could hear the truth in his voice. "I am glad you are uninjured."
"Ma serranas...thank you. It is probably best that Warden Reliq prevented me from killing those..." Mikayla paused as if trying to remember the proper word, "...bastards."
While Alistair never enjoyed hearing anyone called a bastard, what with being one himself, he knew the spirit in which it was said and in this case couldn't agree more. People like that brought dishonour on legitimate bastards like him.
"You'll find that we Wardens tend to look out and help one another, especially when one of our sisters is attacked and falsely accused."
"As Duncan told me when we left my clan; he said the bond between Wardens can be as strong as between clan-mates. I was happy to see that was the case last night," Mikayla said sounding somewhat relieved.
"May I call you Mikayla?" After seeing her nod he continued. "Please call me Alistair. We should probably head back to Duncan now," Alistair said as he gestured for Mikayla to walk beside him. "Have you encountered darkspawn before Mikayla?"
Alistair listened as Mikayla told him of how she entered an abandoned temple and fought darkspawn and how she had met Duncan. He suspected that she didn't tell him the entire story even though her words had the ring of truth, but that was okay, a Grey Warden's past was his or her own and those that survived the Joining were all born anew into the Order.
As they walked through the camp together Alistair noticed a few of the stares directed their way and Mikayla's utter indifference to them. It suddenly dawned on him what was so different about her. While other elves seemed to shrink back and fade into the background here was an elven woman whose appearance, dress, and mannerisms both subtly and forcefully proclaimed her pride in being Dalish and said that she would not cower in the background. She carried herself with what he could only describe as an air of nobility and it was clear that Mikayla would never accept being treated as anything other than an equal.
A rough looking soldier crossed their path, stopped and looked ready to say something. From the corner of his eye he could see Mikayla stare daggers at the man as she subtly moved her hands near her blades. He watched the man's jaw shut like a steel trap, evidently deciding it was safer not to comment. Alistair watched as Mikayla turned to face him. She rolled her eyes and gave him a little smile that he quickly matched.
He decided right then that whatever his journey with the new Dalish recruit would hold it would never be boring.