Note: This is dedicated to CynderJenn who provided the inspiration. It's about Neria's and Anders's vacation dream of living like regular people, that I briefly mention in The Lyrium War.
Domestic Bliss
Neria went through the Vigil's library looking at the book titles. "Traditional Ferelden Cooking", "300 Stew Recipes", "Managing a Household Made Simple", were the most promising titles. She added them to her stack. Not that she would have time to read them now, but once they got to the cottage she could study the topic. Meanwhile she was still Warden Commander and Arlessa and there was a lot to do before she and Anders went on their six-week long holiday.
"What are you reading these day, Neria?" Varel asked her when she ran into him, her arms loaded with books.
"Oh," she chirped happily, "just books about how to cook and manage things. I've never really lived in an actual house like a real person. It's always been the Tower, the Vigil, the palace, or else camping. No one ever let me do anything when we camped." She shrugged.
Varel looked amused. "And you actually want to live like a common householder?"
She smiled. "Oh yes! It'll be romantic. We'll live off the land. I'll learn to cook. Anders can fish and hunt, well we both can."
Varel smiled indulgently. She has no idea, he thought. "Most people find it rather tedious, I think," he suggested.
"Tedious? I would think it would be freeing, not to be so dependent on others. Did I mention romantic? Waking up at dawn and eating a hearty breakfast and enjoying a hot steaming cup of tea while the sun rises. Then it's off to do chores. After that, we can sit by the seashore and... fish. Or swim, or have a picnic."
Neria practically glowed as she recited what her days at the cottage would be like. Varel was charmed and amused. He had a feeling the two mages would be helpless as babes, but he didn't want to spoil their fun.
Finally the day of their departure came. All their fellow Grey Wardens had been giving them advice on how to survive. Neria had taken copious notes, but she thought Oghren's advice was probably suspect. Sigrun had wisely withheld her advice. She could tell them how to survive in the Deep Roads, but she knew better than give advice on surface living. Just before they pulled away, Oghren loaded one more thing into their cart.
"Here you go, you might need this more than I do." It was a small cask of something. Most likely alcoholic.
Neria beamed at the dwarf. "Why thanks! That's very generous." She climbed up onto the seat of the wagon, next to Anders. They sat there a moment. Neria waited for the wagon to jolt to a start. Nothing happened. She looked over at Anders, he was looking at her expectantly.
"Um, buttercup," he whispered, "how do we make it go?"
The mages whispered together for a moment then Neria jumped down and walked over to Nathaniel. "We don't actually know how to drive a cart, can you give us some tips?"
The Wardens all laughed uproariously while Nathaniel gave them a quick lesson. Neria and Anders were both blushing furiously, feeling horribly stupid.
They got back up onto the seat and Anders slapped the reigns and muttered "Gee" to the horse. At first nothing happened then he repeated it again, louder, and the horse finally started forward. As they pulled out of the gates and disappeared from view the Wardens started placing bets.
"Ten gold they're back in a week," Oghren said.
"Five says they don't actually make it to the cottage," Nathaniel bet.
Varel generously gave them two weeks. They were Grey Wardens, after all. They'd trekked through the mountains to reach Orzammar with nothing but the clothes on their back and a few weapons. The mages had made their survival in those harsh conditions possible, if not comfortable. But what Varel didn't know was that Anders and Neria had made a pact not to use magic, unless they absolutely had to.