Char: Dorian & Noah
Notes:
-Vimmarkan = Place of Vimmark. It is Vimmark Mountains in the Free Marches, north of Kirkwall.
-This story is kind of AU'y as there is very little following of the main-main plot, mission by mission. HOWEVER, There will be instances where there will be heavy spoilers. Some missions will not be completed or followed as they progress in the game.
-English is the main language of Thedas.
-Most Elven, especially when spoken in long lengths, will be underlined like this
-Aeradhen Clan's way of life is tremendously different than that of other Dalish clans. Aeradhen's way of life share elements of the Qunari and Dwarven's way of life.
Shattered Glass
Letters From The Dead
Dorian sighed. There was nothing he liked better than lounging about in the Inquisitor's bedchambers, as naked as the day he was born. Noah's bed was much more comfortable than his own. The added perk of having the inquisitor himself all but draped about his body was in his 'this is nice' list too.
Noah's head was tucked under Dorian's chin. Short, soft puffs of his breath tickled the mage's neck indicating the elf was asleep or nearly there. A naked, strong, lightly muscled arm draped across Dorian's chest, thin fingers tucked under the mage's back. A pale, naked thigh kicked over Dorian's hip, tangling through his legs.
Dorian let out a light sigh. Even if he wanted to move, he couldn't.
"Stop sighing," Noah said, voice thick with sleep. Dorian chuckled.
"I cannot help but sound like a love sick puppy around you, amatus," Dorian said with a light grin.
"Puppies don't sigh."
"They would if they had someone like you on top of them."
"Are you calling me fat?"
Dorian sniggered, "You are far from fat, amatus."
"You really are calling me fat, aren't you?"
Dorian snorted. "You always find an insult in everything I say to you, don't you?"
"I only do so because it annoys you, ma vhenan." Noah pulled his hand from under Dorian and lazily traced random patterns into the mage's chest. He gave off a large, loudly exaggerated yawn.
Dorian rolled his eyes and sighed again. He let out a surprised breath when Noah poked him on his nipple. "Hey, hey! Watch those claws of yours, those buds of mines are rather sensitive."
"Claws?" Noah sat up to look at Dorian with a mock miffed look. "My nails aren't that long!"
"Do you wish to see my back, amatus?" A slow, sultry grin graced Dorian's face when the elf's face flushed a dark scarlet.
"No."
"Do not be embarrassed, my little cherub. The scars you inflict on me are only just trophies of war." Dorian's eyes darkened, his grin widening as Noah's flush darkened. "Not to mentioned the little battle scars are always accompanied by your lovely screaming voice."
"You're so perverse…"
"It amazes me that someone your age-"
"Dorian, there is a balcony railing with your name on it," Noah warned, his flush lessening and his eyes narrowing. Dorian smirked, leaning over to place an open mouth kiss on Noah's cheek.
"I only jest, amatus." Dorian sighed.
"Stop sighing."
"I cannot help it, as I've said before, amatus. How's about you give my mouth something to distract it from its current problem, hm?"
Noah rolled his eyes. "If you wanted a kiss, why didn't you just say so?"
"Because I know being very wordy annoys you to the point of violence. I like a feisty Noah." Dorian smirked as Noah glared at him.
"So you do, do that on purpose! You bastard!" Noah growled. Dorian laughed before placing a hand on the nap of Noah's neck and pulling him towards him, crashing their lips together.
Noah grabbed Dorian's hand from his neck and slammed it next the mage's head. He grabbed Dorian's other hand and slammed it on the other side of his head. Noah pulled away from the mage's lips, his own eyes now a darker green from lust. "My turn to make you scream," He said as he maneuvered himself to straddle the mage.
"Hmm, I like where this is going," Dorian purred.
"Inquisitor, I have urgent n- Maker's breath!"
Noah let out a frustrated groan and let his body fall limply against Dorian, burying his face back in the mage's neck. Dorian grunted at the sudden drop then rolled his eyes and looked towards Cullen who was shielding his eyes with a clipboard.
"Really, must you ruin a good moment at each turn, Commander?" Dorian said. He sighed and pulled the blankets tossed to the side up to cover their naked bodies.
"I did not know the inquisitor would have…company again," Cullen said. A noticeable shudder shook the commander, causing Dorian to smirk.
"I've been in here everyday for more than a month."
"Yes, well, a letter just came in for the inquisitor and it is urgent that he gets it." Cullen pulled a roll of parchment from…Dorian wasn't so sure where he pulled it from.
"Go away, Cullen," Noah said, muffled slightly by Dorian's neck.
"It is urgent that you read this, Inquisitor. I believe it is from your clan."
"Tell them I'll visit Wycome later…I just want to sleep for the rest of this week. I'm still sore from last week's mission. I fucking hate dragons, you know."
"I don't think thats the only reason you're sore, amatus," Dorian said with a chuckle which was interrupted by Noah smacking him in the gut.
"Shut up, Dorian," Noah grumbled.
"The reports all say you sustained little to no damage," Cullen said, flipping through the papers on his clipboard. Noah pulled away from Dorian's neck and glared at Cullen.
"Hello! Look at my hair!" Noah growled, pointing at his head. His hair was, indeed, shorter than Cullen had ever seen it. Instead of it flowing over the elf's slight, broad shoulders, it was cut to the nap of his neck. His bangs were even snipped a bit shorter than he remembered them to be. "I had to cut it, it was so singed."
"Correction, I cut it," Dorian piped in.
"Shut up, you." Noah turned his glare on Dorian. Dorian gave him a closed eye smile but said nothing farther.
"This isn't from clan Lavellan," Cullen said. Noah nearly snapped his neck turning to look at Cullen.
"What? How is it from my clan if its not from clan Lavellan?" Noah asked. He pushed himself up from Dorian, the blanket sliding down to pool about his waist.
"It says Aeradhen of Vimmarkan." Cullen held up the parchment to show the symboled seal that held it closed. It was a large tree cradled by a circle. It nearly resembled the tree of life that was hailed as the symbol of Mythal, except the branches were thicker and less in abundance. There were four flowering branches at the top of the tree with a single thick one at the bottom of the circle, presumably the trunk of the tree.
All the color drained from Noah's skin. He stared at the parchment with wide eyes filled with an emotion neither Cullen or Dorian had ever seen displayed on the elf's face. The light colored vallaslin adorning his face, depicting Elgar'nan, stood out starkly from the almost sickly, pallor color his skin took. He wasn't just frightened, he was horrified.
"Inquisitor?" Cullen asked slowly.
"G-Give it here," Noah commanded thinly. Cullen made his way to the side of the bed and held the parchment out. Noah took it from him with shaky hands. He broke the seal and opened the parchment. The entirety of the letter was written in elven. This was definitely not from clan Lavellan. The Keeper knew an amazing amount of elven, but it was still watered down to the point it seemed as if she spoke in short utterances like the rest of the Dalish clans.
Noalanniel Paimael Aeradhen,
We have been searching relentlessly for your person. We had given up hope some time ago that your life had been ended by some means that could have been preventable had we been able to find you. We are glad that you have found somewhere that has provided you with a place to rest your head that was safe enough for you to have lived on for as long as you have. Please, do not take that the wrong way, as we know you and you know yourself well enough to get the gist of what we speak of. Now that we have learned of your whereabouts, we plan to send members of the clan to make sure all is well in the place you hold residence. Please note, we do this only because we are concerned about your well-being. If the members do not think where you are now is acceptable, they are instructed to bring you back to the city immediately. The group who've volunteered to journey so far from our city is led by Cylan. The group contains those you should be familiar with.
Warm regards,
Keeper Taerand Sothon Aeradhen
"What does it say, amatus?" Dorian asked. The elf had went stiff, the letter slipping from his hands. Dorian picked it up from his chest to look it over but sat it down when he realized it was in elven.
"Inquisitor?" Cullen asked, frowning. "Theres another one addressed to the inquisition itself. I did not open it as I thought it would be for you as well." There was no response. Noah was stiff, staring down at the bed with wide, unseeing eyes. "Inquisitor?"
"Noah?" Dorian placed a hand on the elf's waist and shook him. "Noah, what does it say?"
"They're coming…oh Creators, they're coming…" Noah whispered lowly. "How did they even find me? Why would they go through so much trouble to find me? How did they know…"
"Inquisitor, who are these Aeradhen of Vimmarkan? Are they enemies?"
"Isn't Aeradhen the name of your clan before Lavellan?" Dorian asked. He furrowed his brow. "That makes no sense. I thought you said your clan was destroyed." Noah was silent. Dorian sat up, causing the elf to slide into his lap, and raised an eyebrow. He looked at Cullen who just shrugged.
"Inquisitor, what shall our next steps be?" There was still no response.
There were so many questions and thoughts exploding through Noah's head, he was beginning to feel lightheaded.
"Inquisitor?"
The two were shocked into silence when Noah's eyes rolled up into his head and the elf fell limply against Dorian.
"Did he just faint?" Cullen asked slowly.
"What does the other one say?" Dorian asked, looking up from Noah's limp form. Cullen opened the parchment Dorian didn't even notice he had in his hand.
Inquisition,
You have in your possession someone of great importance to us. We have not the slightest clue as to how you acquired one Noalanniel Paimael, but it is essential that we know about his well-being. Paimael is a young and promising member of our clan and it has been a hard few years without his presence within the city. Our clan's city is a well-kept secret only allowed access to very few people. We do not wish to disclose the location by letter, least the letter fall into the wrong hands. We will, instead, come to visit your hold in Fereldan that we have heard so much rumor about. As this letter is being sent, a group from our clan has already started the journey towards your hold. We have entrusted this mission to our most knowledgeable and talented warriors. If rumor holds true, then we believe that our assistance to your inquisition would prove to be very helpful. Cylan Sothon leads the group. He is one of our finest warriors. Cylan is joined by Athevera Panonril, a very promising arcane warrior; Thelris Sardis, one of our finest archers; Arvari, a loyal Qunari warrior; Gethrahel Cyrmet, another of our finest warriors; and Shiasiara Panonril, one of our finest hunters. We hope these new additions to your army will make a difference with your cause.
Regards,
Keeper Taerand Sothon Aeradhen
"It seems like they believe he is held as a captive," Dorian said, massaging his chin with one hand while the other rubbed circles on the back of the unconscious elf in his lap.
"His reaction was odd, though," Cullen said, frowning. "He has spoke little of the Aeradhen clan. I only knew in passing that it was the name of his clan. This Aeradhen of Vimmarkan…The letter says a city. Could it be an elven city?"
"With a Qunari?" Dorian raised a brow. "This, my good general, is one of those wait and see moments."
"I will run this by Josephine, in the meantime." Cullen nodded his head at Dorian, turning to take his leave.
"Hold on a minute."
Cullen turned to look at Dorian who was holding out the letter the elf had read.
"Maybe Solas could translate that. He's the only other elf in the hold that is trustworthy, hm?" Dorian said. Cullen nodded and took the letter.
"Whenever he gets up, tell him we should call a war room meeting about this."
"As you say." Dorian nodded. Cullen nodded back and took his leave. "Why, in the Maker's name, would you have such a negative reaction to all this?" Dorian mumbled against Noah's neck.