The Rowa Marchers
"Apparently there's a new initiate joining us today" yelled Branka.
El, who was leaning back in a tree failed to hear what she said over the sounds of her sword clashing against the chain clad practice dummy and her heavy panting. Too lazy to leave his resting perch within the apple tree he simply rolled his head in Branka's direction and grunted. Branka ran her sleeve across her forehead collecting the beads of sweat before entrenching her sword into the earth. She strolled over to the tree that El was slouching in and repeated herself whilst trying to catch her breath.
"I said, there's meant to be a new initiate joining us today".
Even from up in the tree Branka still looked short, her stubby dwarf legs seemed to almost disappear into her torso.
"Yeah I know" replied El with a dismissive casualness before rolling his head back to face the sky, his arms tucked away behind his short tousled sandy blonde hair.
Branka's jaw dropped as she was consumed by both a rush of anger and a spell of curiosity.
"Why on Thedas didn't you say anything?"
El's reply came in the form of a shrug followed by a grunt.
Branka sighed with frustration and pressed the human for details "How did you find out?"
He shrugged again but added a smirk "Eh, you know, I just know shit".
Branka could feel the fiery anger that El had conjured inside her, though she calmed herself knowing all too well that stoking the flame was what he intended. In fact she believed herself to have become immune to his lazy demeanour and constant baiting. Branka took a deep breath and recomposed herself. "Did Vashkarri or Galvin tell you?"
He shook his head whilst flicking off an insect from his white shirt.
"Well can you just tell me then?"
Sensing that Branka was steadily becoming more irritated with his coyness he chuckled to himself.
Suddenly El was shook off balance as Branka began thumping the base of the tree with her heavy boots. Clutching the nearest branches around him, El began to protest "Alright, alright, stop!"
Branka took a step back, folded her arms then raised her eyebrows and waited for her reward.
El sat upright, his legs dangled over the branch he sat upon. "Geez if I knew you wanted to know about her that much I'd have just told ya".
Branka's eyebrows furrowed "How do you know it's a woman?"
El formed a cheeky grin "Because I met her."
As soon as El began laughing Branka whipped into a fury and began booting the tree again.
Raphael was writing a note declaring that the Mangrove's accounts had now been signed off by himself personally when a heavy thud at his door disturbed him. He beckoned the intruder and in immediate response his office door was opened and two figures entered before one of them closed the door back shut. With the exception of Raphael's metal tipped quill scratching at the parchment, the room returned to silence.
"Speak" muttered Raphael without offering the common courtesy of his full attention as he continued scribbling away.
"Executive Auditor I have escorted the new recruit for debriefing as ordered." Declared a strong focussed voice. The voice was accompanied by the clattering of metal on metal as the intruder saluted. Raphael matched the voice to Vashkarri, the qunari who had been long serving the Rowa Marchers. Raphael pulled open the draw from his desk, removed an envelope and tucked his note inside it. "Your name recruit" he said without looking up from his work.
"Er, Shinnasha" replied a soft monotonous yet slow voice.
A man of little patience for uncouthness, Raphael rolled his eyes. "Your full name."
"Erm, I don't know, just Shinnasha."
Guessing from the name or lack of one, Raphael presumed the recruit was an orphan and moved on. Without sealing his letter with a wax seal he placed it aside and pulled out a scroll. He unrolled the contract, dipped his quill in the stylish ink pot and scribbled the recruit's name. As he prepared the contract a crunching noise stole his attention. His eyes flicked up for the first time to gaze since the intruders arrived and was met with an odd image. Unlike the many elves he had seen over his somewhat fifty years of life he stared at a giant of over six feet and a female at that. Like all elves her ears were pointed and elongated, her eyes large and her face slim. Raphael spotted what was emanating the crunching noise as the tall elf dipped her hand into a pouch, clutched a handful of baked snacks and fed them into her mouth. Shinnasha began chomping the crunchy snacks, her mouth displayed the mushy contents inside between each bite though, it was not the lack of manners that Raphael wrinkled his nose at as the room was suddenly permeated with the stench of cheese. Raphael watched in horror and disgust at the freak show that had begun to unfold in his office. The display of vulgarity continued when the elf reached forward and snatched one of Raphael's quills and began to pick her teeth with it. With a quick glance he managed to spot Vashkarri's commonly expressionless face wrinkle in disgust, baring his fangs.
Raphael leaned back in his chair and attempted to carry on the introduction as professional as possible. "What training have you had?"
Shinnasha shrugged "Er, I don't know" she replied then chuckled.
Raphael's eyebrows knitted together in bemusement "So you have no skills?"
She continued to chuckle moronically. Vashkarri suddenly released a tired growl "She's good with a bow sir."
"Oh yeah" she said enthusiastically as she withdrew her longbow and began shaking it like a wand.
In a hurry to move on, Raphael took Vashkarri's word as evidence and proceeded with the induction.
"Where do you come from?"
"I don't know" she began to laugh again though, she clearly felt embarrassed.
Feeling dumbfounded, Raphael found it difficult to form a reply "you seriously don't know where you're from, where you lived?"
She just smiled hoping to cover her further embarrassment.
Raphael began expressing his frustration through his body language "Your parents, brothers, sisters, a pet for Andraste's sake, do you not know anything about yourself? It- it – it's as if you don't have a background at all".
Vashkarri intervened "Sir, I will take her into my unit, let her be my responsibility".
Raphael waved his hands in defeat then pushed the contract towards Shinnasha, who continued to stare at him. The stacks of stress broke his patience and he snapped at the elf. "Well sign it then!"
She chuckled again and scribbled her name onto the contract. Vashkarri saluted, opened the office door and gestured at the elf. Shinnasha bowed and shuffled out the room and was followed by the qunari. Emotionally exhausted the elderly man fell back in his chair and sighed in relief. He slid the letter he had been working on to the centre of his desk and grabbed his quill. He began to write the name of the addressee before he felt a wet fragment drip onto his hand. He threw the quill in disgust as soon as he noticed the piece of drool coated cheese baked snack resting upon his hand.
Branka continued stomping the tree, hopeful that El would fall. The human resisted and clung to the branch like an ape, his fit of laughter ever fuelled by the dwarf's efforts though, his giggling was his undoing as for a short moment, he lost his balance. Just managing to regain control he reinforced his grip however, noticing his dangling leg like a cat watching another cat's tail, Branka took the opportunity to pounce and latch onto it. Unable to sustain the additional weight El slipped further from the tree, clinging on with just his hands. The dwarf now tucked in her legs and concentrated her weight into a large dwarvish ball. The two were far too pre-occupied to notice their officer, Vashkarri, bearing down at them from the other side of the garden.
"Attention!" The Qunari barked.
Branka immediately dropped to the ground and whipped herself into a militaristic stance. El, on the other hand, continued hanging from the tree. Vashkarri growled and stormed over. "Get down Corporal".
To Vashkarri it seemed as if the human were ignoring the order however, his sleeve had snagged a branch. Feeling a sensation of panic, El now began frantically trying to pull himself free.
"Get out of the tree Corporal El or I'll drag you down". Growled the Qunari.
"Sir, I can't". El now began jiggling about which to the others, looked like he was performing some strange tree dance. Vashkarri grit his fanged set of teeth and with his muscular arms, clasped the human's leg and yanked him down. El's sleeve tore clean off as he cursed then thumped to the ground.
Vashkarri's shadow loomed over him "Get-in-line-now!"
El scrambled to his feet and jumped to attention alongside Branka.
"We have a new recruit joining us on the next mission" Vashkarri gestured towards Shinnasha who in return displayed a dopy grin. Branka and El were lost for words at the sight of the lanky elf, it was not her freakish height, unthreatening posture or her outright odd ball aura but a combination of those things applied to the statement that she would be becoming a mercenary.
"Our contract is in a village in the far South of Fereldan called Hopsfield, the settlement's mayor has hired us to investigate a potential murder and sightings of bandits, it's not known if the two are connected." Vashkarri turned and before entering the Rowa Marcher's building he declared "we leave at sun rise."
There was an awkward silence between the three mercenaries remaining in the training yard, El and Branka exchanged dumbfounded glances. Branka whispered "Why do you look so surprised, I thought you said you met her."
"I wasn't serious, I just overheard the officers."
Branka smashed the human's knee with a quick blow from her metal clad elbow, he began limping on the spot immediately.
"Well- nice to meet you- erm, what's your name?"
Shinnasha shrugged.
Branka attempted to disguise her confusion with a false smile as she thought to herself "She doesn't know her name….."
With no regards for personal space El perched his arm on top of the dwarf's head "I get the feeling the next contract is going to be good one."
El was then violently thrown to the ground by the angry dwarf. "Let's just get this over and done with."