DISCLAIMER: Dragon Age is a product of Bioware, not me.
NOTES: I don't know where I am going with this if anywhere at all. It was a thought I needed to flesh out and push into the ether. I have a slowly growing desire to write a F!Cousland/Leliana fic. Who knows, Maybe this is the making of it?
Breaking Demesne
The night air was cool, breeze gentle as a curious Orlisian sat beside her ragtag team of makeshift heroes' commander. The warden with her knees up, forearms resting atop them, staring lazily at the fire before her. Her long thick black hair hung as velvety curtains framing her face; blushed lips full, olive skin darkened by long days of travel, eyes black in the night. Leliana could easily imagine this young, supple woman in elegant gown beguiling suitors as the daughter of a Tyern.
She wanted so much in her desperate curiosity to pull stories from the warden, but knew better. The young Cousland kept her history and feelings cinched close to her chest. Any attempt to untether those secrets would end badly. Hell, the only reason she knew of her noble upbringing was due to Alister's loose lips; he could always be counted on for inadvertent gossip. If not for the naive warrior Leliana would know nothing of the fairer warden at all. And it was not due to lack of effort on her part. She had approached the warden in the past using her charms honed from years of surreptitious acts, but was only ever rewarded with questions rather than answers. Before she knew it, she had revealed her mysteries. The placid, intent expression on the wardens face as she spoke made her trust the listening ear the woman offered, perhaps against her better judgement though the erstwhile bard saw their meeting as divined by the maker himself.
"I was surprised by the way you handled Redcliffe." Leliana began.
The way I handled Redcliffe, the warden pondered quietly to herself. That I risked a great deal to save a young boy? That I freed a blood mage? That I pushed Morrigan into the fade alone? For all her reflection, Cousland's face was unreadable. She allowed the silence to pass over them, using it to prompt the Orlisian to continue.
"When you spoke to Murdock, to the smithy, every person you came in contact with... you never presented yourself as someone there to save them. Maybe that seems unremarkable, but I have been on many journeys with all sorts of people. It is unusual to see someone with so little... ego. You rallied those people, and convinced them they had the power to save themselves!" Leliana said, her voice musical in quality, rising and falling casted by the pitch of her emotions. Elissa wondered briefly if it was her ability to emote that gave the bard purchase to manipulate others in her trade.
"I am not here to save people. I am here to get support against the blight." the warden replied evenly.
The young Orlisian thought for a moment that her companion closely resembled Sten at times. "I know, it was curious of you, that's all."
The warden sighed, "Leaders leave holes in their absence. People should have the ability to determine their own futures."
"Ah," Leliana replied, she sensed there was more than one tale behind those words, but she would not be hearing of it tonight.