Disclaimer: None of it's mine. Seriously, even the mage name is the default one by Bioware. *mourns pitiful creativity*
Liar, Liar
xxx
She asks about Antiva.
Zevran is startled for a moment, because surely she wants to question his motives for joining their merry little band of misfits further? She'd seemed hardly convinced he was telling the truth earlier that day, when she towered over him and asked if he thought her a fool.
The elven assassin is slowly becoming more and more certain she hadn't been directing that particular question his way, though. He glances discreetly at the other Grey Warden in the camp.
Alistair glares back.
"I would very much like to know about it," Solona presses, shifting so that Zevran's attention is suddenly on her again. Her face is so open and earnest that he can't help but grin and open his mouth to regale her with tales of the greatest city in all of Antiva.
"Leather? Really?" She can't hold back her snort of laughter, jerking a thumb over her shoulder and toward Bodahn's cart. "We've got plenty of leather here in Ferelden. I can go and get you some right now, if you'd like."
He'd think her simple were it not for the sly slant of her lips that lets him know she is merely teasing.
"Ah, but you see, Antivan leather and Ferelden leather are two very different things. I would know, I've the privelege of having smelled both."
Solona outright laughs this time. "I can just see that."
Zevran chuckles himself. "Me, sampling the scents of different leathers from all over Thedas as though they were exquisite samples of fine wine?"
"Nah. I was thinking more along the lines of you sneaking into some poor Ferelden noblewoman's home to rifle through her smallclothes, only to come across some of her husband's old leather armor and taking a great big whiff of it just as the lord of the house comes crashing into the room."
Zevran raises a brow. So the mage had quite the imagination, did she? That could prove to be very, very promising...
"You wound me, Grey Warden. Likening me to a simple thief of mundane objects! I steal women's hearts as well as their clothing, you know."
"Oh, I don't doubt it," she grins, and as she turns to leave, he belatedly calls after her, "I wouldn't be caught so easily, either!"
"I know," Solona replies breezily, but with a hint of something far more serious hidden just underneath her surprisingly even tone.
She knows.
Was that why she'd decided to recruit him? Because she was aware that he wasn't trying his hardest to kill her? Because she knew he could do better? Zevran suddenly wishes she'd just asked the questions he'd expected her to ask. Their... relationship, as it stood, would be so much easier in such a situation.
Maybe this could be better, Zevran slowly decides. Maybe he could, for once, actually respect the person he worked for, so long as she chose to trust him despite knowing he wasn't exactly the sharing type.
He watches as she sits near the fire, turning to engage the Orlesian bard in a conversation about shoes. He doesn't know what it is about this mage that made him want to join her. Despite not having given it his all today, he did set up a trap that would have obliterated most other men. She and her little group had been surrounded on all sides, and yet she'd kept a cool head throughout the entire ordeal, shouting orders even as she single-handedly took down several of their attackers.
She is a powerful woman, no doubt, and an excellent leader of men to boot. But neither of those qualities had been on his mind when he made his proposal to her.
Mostly, the idea had come from all of her questions on his loyalty to Loghain and his loyalty to others in general. Zevran pauses when his mind conjures up a rather strange notion.
Had her intention been to recruit him the entire time? Was that why she hadn't killed him?
Zevran startles from his thoughts when Solona bids him a good night, and he nods at her in response. It does not escape his notice that she is the only one who addresses him, while the others wish each other sweet dreams and like sentiments. Even the qunari is included, Zevran notes with something akin to mirth.
What an odd group.
That night, as he lay in his tent, the questions return to him. What did she see in him to make her want to spare him? What did he see in her to want to be spared?
Perhaps, Zevran thinks summarily, he'd simply wished to join her because she had been the first person to show him mercy. Ever.
Satisfied with his conclusion, Zevran rolls over and sleeps soundly his first night serving the Warden.
It isn't until several days later that she asks the question he's been waiting for.
"Why did you want to leave the crows, exactly?"
Why were you willing to die?
Zevran almost breathes out a sigh of relief. He can finally give her the answer he's been unconsciously practicing all week.
"In a way, being a part of the Crows is like living in a cage, if you can excuse the horrible pun. A gilded cage, of course, but a cage nonetheless."
It's only a part-truth; not the entire reason, but reason enough.
Solona's gaze is distant and clouded.
"I can understand that feeling, definitely," she murmurs, and he nods his acknowledgement of her status as a Circle mage. Ex-Circle mage, as it were.
Maybe that's another reason he'd wanted to join her on her righteous quest (which is starting to seem a more and more ridiculous and more and more impossible task as day after day passes, battle after battle, and still the land is covered with blighted darkspawn).
They aren't so different, after all, and maybe he'd realized that, sprawled before the woman who'd shown him mercy when he would have shown her none.
More alike than anyone could have realized.
Right.
Zevran snorts internally. He knows better than to try and figure out the reasons behind his own actions. He's much better at discerning other people's feelings and motives, specifically those of his targets.
Except maybe for hers.
Ah.
Revelation.
"That's not the entire reason, is it?" Solona decides to risk asking, and he grins the grin of an enlightened man.
"What other reason could there possibly be, my Grey Warden?"
She shrugs and offers him a warm smile, that earnest look on her face again.
"Alright then," she says, accepting.
She walks off and Zevran can't help but feel like he doesn't deserve her trust, even though he has been more honest with her than he's been with anyone in a long, long time.
Including himself.
He feels a twinge in his chest.
Liar.
xxx
So I always wondered why - if Zevran's true aim in taking the contract on the Grey Wardens had ultimately been to die, or technically, kill himself, I suppose - why was he so quick on the offer to join forces with the Grey Wardens, hm? What could he possibly have been thinking, other than I so want to tap that delicious Warden ass like a week-old keg of slimy ale? I tried answering my own question, and this is what spewed forth from my brain. Just look at that mess. Mop and bucket, anyone?
Not beta'd, or edited, or whatever, in any way, shape, or form. Like seriously. So please feel free to point out any spelling or grammatical errors. Also, let me know if there are any lore/game errors. Been a while since I've played, and the exact details of the Zev romance are all fuzzy to me now.
Also, I'm pretty sure Zevran never technically outright lies to you, but his history was so utterly eye-opening and unexpected to me that it felt kind of like he had lied to my poor character, making her believe he was just a libidinous elf out for as much sexy times as he could possibly get.
Not that he isn't. Libidinous that is. (Is that even a word?)
*flails*
Ah, nevermind. Anyway, mind leaving a review and letting me know if any of this made sense? And letting me know exactly how OOC Zevran was? Man, I really should re-play the game or like, try to do legit research before writing these things. :U
Ciao, lovelies.