Disclaimer: Everything belongs to BioWare. Thanks for letting me play!
The light filtered through the leaves in a haze, barely penetrating the shadows cast by the large trees in the Brecilian Forest. Summer was drawing to a close as evidenced by the cooler temperatures at night and yellow-tinted leaves that lined the Dalish pathways. The trails weren't openly marked, but the elves knew them and tread on silent feet.
Raina glanced at Tamlen through the brambles and was pleased to catch him staring at her. He winked cheekily at being caught and she blushed faintly at the attention. They had grown up together and he would always be her best friend, but over the last year their relationship had shifted into romance. Raina was pretty sure the clan breathed an exasperated sigh with how long it took them to realize where their friendship was going.
Tamlen gestured that they should continue to scout the edges of the encampment and she nodded. Moving quickly and easily avoiding low hanging branches or exposed roots, the elves explored the periphery of their camp.
SNAP! Raina's ears picked up the noise immediately. Loud rustling and cursing gave away the shemlens presence. Jumping down from cover and into the path of the shemlens Tamlen joined her, his face a stormcloud and bow already drawn. Raina notched her own arrow and waited for the bumbling humans to appear.
The men spewed out of the tree line as though the forest vomited them out in its haste to be rid of the ignorant humans. One of the men tripped over his feet and almost killed himself on Tamlen's arrow. "It's a Dalish," he exclaimed to his companions.
"And you three are somewhere you shouldn't be," Tamlen remarked. Raina studied the trio and quickly noticed they weren't armed. They didn't even seem to have daggers stashed in their boots; no bulges in the leather to give them away. Psh, only humans would enter the forests without weapons. "Bandits, no doubt," affirmed Tamlen.
"We aren't bandits, I swear! Please don't hurt us," whined one of the humans. Tamlen scoffed in annoyance and obvious disbelief.
"You shemlen are pathetic! Hard to believe you ever drove us from our homeland." He began to move closer, slowly circling around the humans – Raina could tell he was itching to shoot them. Not necessarily kill them, but cause them pain – most definitely.
Another human piped up. "We've never done nothing to you Dalish! We didn't even know this forest was yours."
Raina rolled her eyes. Okay, maybe the shems deserve whatever Tamlen does to them. Disdain dripped from every word that fell from Tamlen's lips, "This forest isn't ours, fool. You've stumbled too close to our camp. You shems are like vermin – we can't trust you not to make mischief." He shot a glance at her. "What do you say, lethallan? What should we do with them?"
She had to admit that even unarmed as they were, having shems so close to their camp made her nervous. What if they let them go and they returned with more humans bent on revenge? They knew where the camp was now…it was too dangerous. "Kill them – the others will never know."
"Ha! I like the sound of that. Anything to say in your defense shems?"
The second human blubbered, "Look, we didn't come here to cause trouble. We found a cave –" "Yes," interrupted another, "a cave! With ruins like I've never seen! We thought there might be, uh…"
"Treasure?" Tamlen sighed. "So you're more akin to thieves than actual bandits."
Raina turned her head to face her friend. "I would like to see these ruins."
"So would I. I've never heard of ruins in these parts."
One of the men presented a stone tablet to Tamlen. He suspiciously lowered his bow and took the tablet from the human. Raina tightened her bowstring and carefully watched the three shems for any sudden moves while Tamlen examined the stone. "This stone has carvings...is this elvish? Written elvish," he exclaimed.
Raina's heart sped up at his words. Tamlen had always been a very proud Dalish and he felt the loss of their heritage more deeply than some of the others in the clan. Their Keeper, Marethari, once told Raina that some Dalish were more connected to the past than the present and had warned her that Tamlen was such a one. He lived for Paivel's stories and could recite many of them by heart – it was widely acknowledged that Tamlen would become the clan's storyteller when Paivel chose to pass on the torch.
"There's more in the ruins! We didn't get very far in, though. There was a demon! It was huge, with black eyes! Thank the Maker we were able to outrun it."
Tamlen scoffed. "Where is this cave," he demanded. Once the shems gave them directions Tamlen spoke to her again, "Well, do you trust them? Shall we let them go?"
"So they can tell the other shems we are here and attack our clan? No, kill them." Tamlen nodded and they quickly loosed their arrows on the humans, leaving the bodies for the forest to dispose of.
"Lets go to the cave, lethallan." Raina was tempted to suggest they go back and tell the Keeper of what they'd learned, but seeing the childlike excitement on Tamlen's face stilled her protests. The two of them headed west, following the directions the shems had given them, killing a few wolves along the way. And then, down a slight incline they saw the large cave entrance – black and empty like a giant maw intent on devouring any who entered.
The elves hesitated outside the opening. "I don't remember seeing this cave, do you?" Raina shivered as a cool blast of air wafted out of the cave. "No," she replied, "and it makes me nervous, Tamlen."
He smiled gently at her. "We don't have time to backtrack and tell the Keeper now and we're already here. Let's check it out. We have each other, Raina." She ducked her dark head and blushed to the tips of her ears. Once inside they were set upon by spiders, which they eliminated with ease and took a moment to look around. "Hey, weren't you supposed to be assisting Master Ilen today? How did you end up scouting with me?"
Raina chuckled lightly and sidled closer to Tamlen. "I wanted to be with you." He was surprised to hear her admit her feelings so obviously, but his heart leapt at her words. His fingertips brushed hers lightly, blue eyes warm and inviting, as he leaned unconsciously closer to her face – drinking in her chiseled features accented beautifully by the faint markings of a tree dancing across her forehead and down her nose. She smelled of the damp earth and sweat and something so faint he couldn't even name it, but it was Raina's scent and it warmed him all over.
Their lips were millimeters away when they were forced apart by more spiders. After a short skirmish, the moment was ruined and both of them were too embarrassed to maintain eye contact for long, so they continued through the ruins. In one of the corridors they found an elven statue that Tamlen told her was a representation of the spirit who aided Dalish souls into the Beyond when they died. Raina smiled as he walked ahead of her – the nuggets of information about the ancients and Dalish lore he shared with her were endearing. Tamlen was such a prickly personality, but underneath he was a brilliant elf and fiercely protective of those he cared about.
In the middle of the corridor they found a door, but when Raina got too close she triggered a poison trap that woke the skeletons in the ruins. "Creators!" Forgoing her bow, Raina unsheathed her daggers and quickly tore down the skeletons nearest to her before running to help Tamlen with the others.
"By the Creators," he gasped with wide eyes, "were those walking corpses?! This place is haunted!" She could only nod in fright. Tamlen took her by the shoulders and checked her over. "Are you alright, lethallan?"
Raina smiled, running her fingertips lightly up and down his forearm in reassurance. "I'm fine, lethallin. Are you injured?" He shook his head and sadly released her from his grip.
"Well, lets see what they were guarding." They shoved the heavy door open and immediately regretted it. "What is that?!" A large bear-like creature with patchy fur and bony spikes lunged at them from the back of the room. Tamlen struck the creature with his longsword while she backstabbed it relentlessly. Both of them were lightfooted enough to avoid it's massive paws, but it was more hardy than any bear they'd ever encountered and took much longer to kill.
When it finally fell at their feet, the elves were shaky from exertion and fear. This…place was haunted. Around every corner, behind every door, there were creatures intent on making this cave their tomb. Dancing lights on the crumbling stone caught Raina's eye and she looked up on the dais to see the most beautiful mirror. She gasped and Tamlen followed her gaze curiously.
He rushed up the dais and Raina was right behind him. "Look at the carvings, lethallan. They're the same as the ones on the tablet. It's elvish!" He laughed giddily. "I wonder what it says…"
"Tamlen, please lethallin, be careful." She bit her lip worriedly. "Let's bring the Keeper here so she can see it. We've cleared the cave now."
"Just a minute," he whispered. "I can see something inside. It's showing me things...places…underground?" He pressed his fingers reverently on its shifting surface. Raina gasped and reached out to yank his hand back, but it was too late.
"There is something, someone dark inside. Ah! It saw me. Creators help me, I can't look away! Lethallan!" Light and force exploded at the same moment and sent her careening off the dais and into the wall. Darkness descended.