Title: Kadan
Author: skybound2
Characters: Alistair, Leliana, Sten, Fem!City-Elf PC (Kallian Tabris)
Word Count: ~1200
Rating: G
Summary: Leliana and Alistair have a little heart-to-heart about their fearless leader and local qunari.
Author's Note: So, my current PC and Sten are total BFFs (not romancable, what the hell?!); and I find myself wondering what others at the camp might think of that fact. And so this piece was born. At some point, I'll need to invest in a beta. But this is short, so hopefully there's not too many errors ;-P Originally posted over at "Swooping is Bad" on LJ.
Kadan
Alistair hadn't even realized that he'd been staring, honestly. He was just sitting – innocent as could be – trying to shuffle the gruel that Oghren claimed was an Orzammar delicacy down his throat (apparently, the dwarf took Alistair's thoughts on cooking to a level even the former Templar couldn't quite stomach), and for some reason, his eyes had just locked onto her retreating form. Completely against his will, mind you. (Despite what Wynne had suggested, he didn't always watch Kallian's retreating form because of those hips. Okay, that was part of it. But sometimes it served other purposes as well. Really. Warden's honor.)
Regardless, he truly had no idea how long his gaze had lingered until Leliana's soft and lilting voice cut through the hormonal haze suffusing his brain.
"I think it's sweet. Don't you, Alistair?"
The choking that occurred on Alistair's end at that was less then dignified. "Wha –" The bard whapped Alistair twice on the back, for which he gave her a sheepish smile in return. "Pardon me, but sweet? Reeeally? Are you actually implying that our dinner tonight doesn't resemble Darkspawn stew? Because, if you are, I might just have to ask what herbs you've been eating, and whether or not you could spare a few for a poor, starving Warden."
"Oh, have you rethought your earlier stance on Orlesian cooking perhaps?"
"No, but I may have rethought my stance on recreational root abuse."
"Hmm, I'll be sure to keep that in mind the next time Zevran comes back from a procurement trip." Alistair felt heat rising to his cheeks, but Leliana – mercifully – paid it no mind. "But no, tonight's meal does indeed rival your best, Alistair." Leliana settled herself on the stump to the left of him, and gestured to their leader across the camp, who was currently heading towards a stoic (as always) Sten. "No, what I was referring to was your fellow Warden and our dear qunari companion. The way they are with one another. I think it is quite sweet."
Alistair frowned slightly at that. His gaze concentrating on the pair (and focused a bit north of where it had previously been). There Kallian stood, her dark hair swept into a loose bun at the nape of her neck (and what an enticing neck it was), tendrils falling out to frame her face in that ever-so-lovely way of hers. She shuffled the contents of her hands a bit, passing a bowl of the aforementioned meal to an already sitting Sten, who accepted it with a subtle nod of his head. She then joined him on the log, the elf's smaller frame looking so tiny in comparison to his, and began to eat. No words passed between them. They just sat, eating in quiet, companionable silence. Alistair's eyes narrowed a fraction as he noticed the angle of Kallian's one knee bent beneath her, the point of it pressing close to the qunari's own, but not quite touching.
The scenario did not invoke the same feeling of sweet in Alistair as it did in Leliana, it appeared.
Leliana tilted her head slightly, a soft smile on her face as she watched the pair. "He really seems so...content, when she is around, no?"
"Content?!" And no, Alistair's voice most certainly did not crack like a Chantry boy's when he said that. No ser.
"Hmm. He…glares less. I know he may deny it, but he really is just a big ol' softie. And it is obvious that he cares for her." Leliana appeared unaware of the turmoil that her statement caused within Alistair. His breath hitching in his throat the moment the words passed her lips.
He watched, food forgotten in his hand, as Kallian bent over, settling her bowl by her feet and rummaging in her pack, Sten's gaze as unreadable as ever. "Cares? Exactly what kind of caring are we talking about here? Because there are several levels of meaning that can go along with that word."
"Oh, you know." And no he most certainly did not know. But she gestured with her hands again, an act that seemed to imply to Alistair that he really ought to know what she was talking about. True, he had noticed the…closeness between the two. But he had always taken it for something that had just developed naturally, due to their circumstances, and not something that involved actual emotions. The thought that it might be something more, well…
"For one, he calls her 'Kadan'…" Leliana's voice broke Alistair from his internal reverie, her large eyes focused on him, as if that statement cleared things up at all. He nodded once, briskly, all the same.
"So I've heard. What..." He cleared his throat – strictly because of the stew, you understand – and tried to disguise the worry in his voice as he asked, "What does it mean?" Alistair had heard the word spoken more than a time or two, but Kallian had been quite tight-lipped on the subject, and Alistair had done his best to let the subject lie.
"I can't say for certain, but my understanding of it is that it refers to something a qunari holds close to his heart." Leliana gave Alistair a kind smile at that, hoping to smooth the deeply furrowed brow that had appeared in the past few minutes.
Alistair rolled the word over in his head, a stony weight settling in his stomach as the various implications – some innocent, and some very much not – marched their way through his system. Across the way, he watched as his beloved (for that is what she was, even if he had not yet gotten up the stones to say so, but by the Maker, there had been kisses!) found what it was she was looking for in her pack, presenting it to Sten with a very subdued flourish.
Sten's mouth turned down in a frown as he received the package, opening it slowly, looking as if he expected a poisonous spider to jump out and bite him on the hand (to Alistair's credit, he did not find himself hoping that were the case). A moment later, Alistair could swear that he saw the other man's lips twitch, as if suppressing a smile, before he nodded his head in thanks, a few unheard words passing between the two. Kallian beamed up at him, looking entirely pleased with herself, as Sten reached into the package and extracted one of the treats that lay inside.
"Cookies?!" And okay, so that time, Alistair's voice most certainly did crack. But really, he was over here, trying to digest possibly the worst tasting thing he had ever had the misfortune of encountering and they were eating cookies?! Oh, no. Maybe he could learn to be okay with Kallian having 'quiet time' with the camp's resident solemn man, or with this whole 'Kadan' business (and he really, really didn't want to think about that), but he was absolutely, one-hundred-and-fifty-five percent not okay with the two of them having cookies and NOT sharing them with him.
He was up, and heading over to the other side of the camp faster than he could yell 'Darkspawn,' Leliana's twinkling laughter echoing behind him.
~End