Disclaimer: I do not own Dragon age, you're touched in the head if you think i do.
Chapter one:
Highever was as busy as ever, with new soldiers showing up from all around the Tyrany every day. The Teryn, Bryce Cousland was trying to raise an army to march down to Ostegar where Fereldens King, Cailen Theiren, currently was with Tyren Loghain Mac Tir's men, trying to quell the latest, and largest horde of Darkspawn that had cropped up. This meant that there were far more people in the castle than usual, and everyone was busy doing something.
The Highever library was a wonderful place, it had a wide selection of books on nearly every topic imaginable, and was often used for various lessons, or for men and women who were trying to research various topics. However, with the castle busily preparing the arrival of Amerenthienes army, everyone was running some sort of errand. This meant that the Library was blissfully quiet and unused, as well as a wonderful hiding spot for Elena Cousland.
Elena was the youngest child of Teryn and Teryna Bryce and Elenor Cousland, and was currently trying to stay out from everyone's feet. She had been told off too many times for distracting the soldiers- trying to get them to spar with her- or for her Mabari- Whisper- getting into the larder and wreaking havoc, and felt that she would be better off somewhere that she couldn't get into trouble.
"Elena Cousland, where HAVE you gotten to?" the exasperated voice of her mother floated through the shelves of books to where she was currently curled up with a book in her lap in the far corner.
'Well, so much for staying out of trouble.' She thought wearily before shutting her book and calling out.
"In the Library Mother" she made her way to the isle and peered around a bookshelf to see her mother peering into the room. When Elenor saw her daughter she huffed, looking more ruffled than usual, a clear sign something was wrong.
"There you are! We've been looking everywhere for you!" She said, beckoning Elena over. Elena sighed and walked over.
"Sorry Mother, I felt that I should try to stay out from underfoot. This seemed the best place to do so." She said. Elenor looked at her in surprised dismay.
"Oh love, we didn't mean to make you feel like a nuisance. We just needed you to leave the soldiers alone. And that Mabari of yours seems to be bent on driving Nan insane." She tried to assure Elena. Elena just smiled at her mother to show that she wasn't upset.
"I understand Mother. Why were you looking for me?" She asked curiously. Elenor pursed her lips, back to looking unhappy.
"Yes, the family is being called to your father's study. You'll hear the rest from him when we get there." She said, leading the way. Elena fell into step beside her, walking silently beside her.
"I'm pleased to see you wearing a dress and with your hair up dear. It's much more befitting of a lady of your station." Elenor said after a few moments. Elena wrinkled her nose and looked down to her dark green dress.
"Yes, well, like I said, I was trying to stay out of trouble, and wearing armor and my weapons would just be tempting me." Elena explained. Elenor smiled fondly and tugged lightly and one of her chocolaty colored curls that had escaped the intricate braided crown that Elena had let one of the servants put her hair into.
"You look lovely dear." Just then they reached Bryce's study door and they stopped to knock.
"Enter!" Came Bryce's voice from behind the door. The two entered and Elena was surprised to see, not only her father, two older brothers, Fergus and Aeden, and Fergus's wife, Orana, but also a tall, dark haired and heavily armored man.
"Ahh, good, you've found her." Bryce said to Elenor before turning to her. "Hello pup, you look lovely today." He said fondly. Elena smiled proudly back, she had always been a daddy's little girl and enjoyed any complements from him.
"Thank you, Father." She replied before her eyes wandered curiously back over to the man who was studying her, just as she was him.
"Pup, this is Ferelden's Warden-Commander, Duncan. Duncan, this is my youngest, Elena." Bryce said, clearly seeing the question in his daughter's eyes. Elena's face lit up in excitement.
"You're a Grey Warden?!" She exclaimed excitedly.
"Now you've done it Father, she's never going to let the poor man leave now." Aeden spoke up, his face was serious, but his tone was playful. Elena shot a glare at him as the rest of the group laughed and said petulantly.
"I wouldn't keep him forever…. Maybe just a couple days, until he answers all my questions." Everyone laughed at that, including Duncan, who could clearly see the mischievous twinkle in her eyes.
"I'm sorry, My Lady, while I can answer some of your questions, I'm afraid I'm not here on a social call." Duncan apologized. To Elena's surprise, her parent's expressions sobered.
"Yes, that's why I called you all here." Bryce said. He turned to Aeden. "Duncan is here recruiting for the wardens and has expressed his interest in you Aeden." Aeden blinked in surprise, taken aback from the sudden news, before his gaze shot to Duncan.
"You want to recruit me?" He asked. Duncan nodded seriously.
"Yes, several of us saw your impressive win at the tournament in Denerim two months ago and started to consider you then. However, with this latest darkspawn threat, I hadn't been able to make it here until now." He explained.
"I've given my permission to take Aeden, however…" Bryce explained to the group before turning to Aeden. "In the end I'm leaving it up to you. You're old enough to make this decision for yourself."
"Please think about this carefully Aeden, this is a life commitment, and Wardens usually give up their family names." Elenor said frowning, obviously not wanting him to go.
"Come now mother, I think it's wonderful that my baby brother's being recruited." Fergus said, throwing an arm around Aeden and capturing him in a head lock. Aeden struggled for a moment before Elenor broke them up.
"Boys!" She said sternly, "That's no way to behave in front of a guest." Fergus let Aeden go and gave her a charming grin.
"Sorry mother. It's true though, Aeden has obviously been restless being cooped up here in the castle all day, and court life has never agreed with him." Fergus said. Elena saw Aeden throw him a surprised look.
"Don't be too surprised, brother dear. Your late night prowling's have happened more and more." She said. She knew that he was spending his nights with women and not really prowling the halls, but she didn't want her parents or Duncan to think badly of him, and she was pleased when Aeden gave her a grateful smile.
"I would like to be a Warden, Mother, then maybe I will have a purpose beyond looking for a wife and possibly being a Bann or Arl." Aeden said. Elenor sighed, obviously not up for arguing and put her hands up.
"Very well, if it's what you truly want."
"So it's decided then," Bryce clapped his hands together once and rubbed them together. "In that case, I have a few things to give you before you go pack your things." He walked over to the weapons wrack that he kept in the corner of the study and grabbed a large broadsword that looked almost like it crackled with electricity, and handed it over to Aeden, who took it, looking surprised.
"Your mother and I commissioned this after you won the tournament, but didn't get it until recently. It has two Master rune stones in it, a lightning rune and a Silverite rune. We also wanted to give you this amulet." Bryce added, opening one of his desk drawers and pulling out an amulet that had the Cousland family crest on it. "The amulet also has Master Immunity and Hale rune stones in it."
"Thank you. How did you know to put the Silverite rune in the sword?" Aeden asked. Bryce smiled while Elenor just huffed.
"Duncan might have come and informed us of his intention to recruit you while we were all still in Denerim." Aeden blinked and rose an eyebrow at Duncan who just shrugged.
"Your parents asked for some time to think it over, another reason for the wait to recruit you." He said, shifting his weight and crossing his arms and adding, "I don't mean to rush, but it's important for me to be at Ostegar and I have somewhere I need to be before that. If we could leave before tonight, I would appreciate it." Aeden nodded.
"Then I'll go grab my things, it won't take me long."
"I'll be waiting in the Great Hall then." Duncan said as he nodded and strode for the door, before he left he turned and added ". "If I might be so bold, your daughter would also make an excellent Warden." He said to Bryce. Immediately everyone but Elena started to protest the notion.
"Be that as it may, Elena has only seen 17 summers and I would not wish to see all my children in war just yet." Bryce said, raising his voice slightly to be heard over everyone else. "Unless you wish to invoke the right of conscription?" He asked, his tone low and dangerous. Duncan shook his head and put his hands up in a calming gesture.
"While we need all the Wardens we can get, we're not so desperate as to recruit one so young."
"Oh… so close." She pouted, to everyone's amusement. She looked up with puppy eyes at Duncan. "Maybe you can come back in a few years and try again?" She asked. Duncan looked at her in amusement.
"Possibly. Somehow I don't think your father's answer will change." He said, looking over to see Bryce nodding emphatically.
"Sorry Pup. You're stuck with us." He said. Elena shrugged and smiled back, showing that she wasn't upset with anyone.
"Good bye then, Duncan, it was a pleasure to meet you." Elena said. Duncan bowed his head to her.
"You as well, My Lady." He said quick goodbyes to everyone else and left the room.
"I better pack then." Aeden said, also making his way to the door.
"Congratulations Aeden, and please don't forget to say goodbye to Oren, he'll be awfully upset if you don't." Orana said. Aeden nodded, and then left. Elena also started to inch her way to the door when Bryce stopped her again.
"Hold on pup," Elena looked over to him curiously and came over to his desk again when he signaled her to sit down in front of it. "One last thing. Next week, Arl Howe will be arriving with his troops from Amerenthine and Fergus and I will be leaving to Ostegar. Your mother and I have made the decision to leave Highever in your care, Elena, so your mother will be leaving to stay with Lady Landra while we're gone." He said. Elena's eyebrows shot up in surprise.
"You're leaving me in charge? What about Orana?" She asked, looking over to the older woman.
"I'll still be here to offer you any help you need." Orana said reassuringly to her. Bryce nodded.
"That's right, Orana knows how to run the castle and has had practice before, think of this as a test of what you have learned already and putting it into practice." Bryce explained. Elena bit her lip, looking doubtfully at her parents.
"You truly think I'll be fine? What if something were to happen?" She asked them. Her parents both smiled at her.
"Don't worry dear, we have the utmost faith that you'll do fine." Elenor said, walking over to give her a hug. "But if you like, we can go over what your duties will be when we're all gone." She offered. Elena nodded gratefully.
"I think I'd like that." She accepted.
"Then let's go dear, let's go over what you need." Elenor said, grabbing Elena's arm and gently leading her out the door. Elena sighed, 'somehow I feel I'm going to regret this by the end of the week.' She thought as she allowed herself to be pulled away.