Oh jeez, I haven't submitted anything in two years...
We can fix that, right?
Anyway, I got inspiration from this story by thinking, "I wonder what I would have done with the mage origin"... Let this fester in my mind for a couple days and VIOLA! Campfire Musings was created! I'm actually proud of this one. If I get enough ideas I might turn this into a one-shot collection (I'm very bad at writing novels). But we will see. I hope you all enjoy!
I don't own Dragon Age: Origins.
"I remember my family."
Solona Amell says this in the dead of night when most her camp is asleep. The only sounds were the sounds of Oghren's snoring and drunken murmurings. Solona and Alistair were the second ones to keep watch that night after Morrigan and Leliana. Solona sits next to Alistair and looks at the stars above her.
"Huh?" Alistair asks. Little did she know her fellow Warden was falling asleep right next to her. She does hear a snort and sees the sudden movement in the corner of her eye.
"I remember my family, even though it's been a very long time since I have last seen them." The mage sighs, not looking at the brown haired not really-Templar, but instead at the stars.
She doesn't know why she begins to tell Alistair these things. She knows he's a Templar.
Except he's not a Templar. Alistair is a conundrum. He is confusion. How can one be a Templar and not? He admits to have the training for it. Solona has even seen him use his Templar abilities in battle!
Despite that…
Despite that… she still feels the need to be close to him. Solona doesn't exactly know why. Perhaps it was because they were the only two Wardens left. Perhaps it was because he was one of the first people to show her kindness outside of the Tower.
She could hear Anders nagging in her head, 'Templars are all the same. They will hurt you when you are most vulnerable. They will break you'.
She wants Alistair to be different. She really does.
But somehow, she thinks she already knew he was different…
"Did you have a hard time remembering before?" Alistair asks, rubbing his eyes to get rid of the sleepy.
"Sort of, I remembered snippets… I remember a woman with the same colored hair as me," Alistair sees the way her eyes change, "and the same eyes too."
"Oh." He honestly doesn't know what to say to this. She has never opened up to him like this before. Even when they first met in Ostagar she was almost cold, always addressing him as Warden Alistair instead of just Alistair. Having her address he in such a way was too formal. It was always uncomfortable. Hearing her say it was like someone was scratching their talon-like nails on a chalkboard made of tears and death. The not-quite-Templar would secretly fantasize what he would hear if she just said his name.
"It's… Remembering is very strange, Warden Alistair…" There it is again, Warden Alistair, "I remembered very little back at the Tower. But under all these stars? I remember almost all of it before I was taken away from them." Solona looked to the distance, lost in thought.
"I see…" for some reason, he feels a small smile forming on his face. He wonders if she will continue to do things like this. He likes it.
"I apologize, is this bothering you?" She is worried; he probably thought she was bothering him.
"No! Of course not!" he stammers, "It's just… This… You've never really done this before."
"You wanted me to?" she tilts her head in inquiry.
"Yes," he says, thankful for the low lighting to hide his red face, "only if you wanted to, though… I would understand. Remember? Bastard son of King Maric? I know what it's like to not have a true family, but I at least had Arl Eamon for a while. But it's great that you remember yours."
She begins to laugh, remembering the conversation. "Thank you, Warden Alistair."
"Alistair."
"What?"
"Just call me Alistair. There's no need for formalities between us. We may be Grey Wardens, but me… I want to become a good friend to you as you have been to me on our journey." He feels himself turn an extreme amount of red. As red as the rose he picked in Lothering, something he won't tell anyone about if he wants to keep his manliness.
He sees her smile and it lights a fire in him that he has never felt before. Before he knows it, he smiles too.
"Alistair," she says this like it's foreign.
But way she says his name is truly music to his ears. He wants to do everything he can to keep is that way.