Family Ties, Prologue
Title: Family Ties
Author: EliseArainai
Game: Dragon Age Origins
Characters/pairings: Zevran/M!Mahariel, Alistair/F!Surana
Disclaimer: Galai Mahariel and Aria Surana belong to me. All characters from the game (sadly) belong to Bioware. This is purely for fun.
Prologue
It was about midday in the town of Lothering. The neighbors were gossiping about the latest news, the merchants were advertising their wares to any who passed by, and the Templars were making their usual rounds. A sister of the Chantry was preaching to all who would listen.
That day, among those was three young Dalish elves: two boys barely thirteen, and a girl of eleven. Galai, one of the boys, stared at the sister in complete fascination. It was not what she was saying that interested him, but the reactions from the other humans that caught his attention. The other boy, Tamlen, quietly walked up to his friend.
"Galai," he whispered, "let's go, we really shouldn't be here anyway."
"Just a little longer, I think she's almost done," Galai protested.
Tamlen shook his head. Of course, Galai rarely ever took his best friend's advice. Time to call in the artillery. "Hey Aria, your brother's not listening again," Tamlen said in a mock whiny voice.
Aria rolled her eyes, reached over and grabbed her wayward brother's ear. Galai had to bite his lip in order to not cry out and interrupt the sermon. "Come on," Aria said as she pulled him away from the crowd.
Once they were a good distance away, Galai swatted his little sister's hand away and held his ear in pain. It wasn't as bad as when he had gotten his facial tattoos, but it still hurt like crazy. "Was that really necessary? I wasn't causing trouble or anything!" Galai pouted.
Aria sighed. "Really, and you're supposed to be the role model for me. Why are we even here? We are Dalish, not some flat-ears!"
"We're here because I want to learn more about the humans. They fascinate me somehow," Galai answered.
"Humans were the ones who took away so much from our ancestors and treat us like dirt. That's all you need to know," Tamlen answered simply. "And besides, why drag me and Aria into this?"
"Because, lethallin, it's not as much fun going by myself," said Galai as he flashed his usual mischievous grin.
The dirty blonde elf threw his hands up in frustration. Galai was always like this: full of curiosity and hungry for adventure. He was always causing trouble and dragging his friend and sister into his latest scheme. But sneaking into a human town was the biggest idea he had come up with so far.
Aria gave a concerned look. "Listen brother, I understand your thirst for knowledge, but this is just going to get us in trouble with the Keeper. Let's just head back; we can still reach the clan before the sun sets."
"Aw c'mon, just one more look around. It won't do any harm if I just look, right?" Galai asked.
Aria had to admit, her brother did have a point. Maybe his sense of adventure was rubbing off on her. "All right, just don't do anything stupid," said Aria. "That goes for you too, Tamlen."
"Right," Tamlen answered in utter defeat. What am I to do with these two? he thought to himself.
Suddenly, there was shouting and a ragged boy ran right past the elves. A man with a beard burst through the crowd shouting, "Thief! Someone stop him!" Almost instinctively, Galai took off after the boy, hoping to stop the thief himself.
Tamlen shook his head once again. "That's Galai for you, always rushing into things, caution be damned," he muttered to himself. He turned to Aria, who was already heading into an alley that, by her reckoning, should come out to where Galai was heading. Tamlen reluctantly followed.
Being faster than the younger boy, Galai managed to catch up to him and he pounced, forcing the thief to the ground. "Phew, you're pretty fast," Galai commented as he brushed away some shoulder-length blonde hair that fell in his face. He then noticed that the thief had pointed ears. If there was one good quality about Galai, it was that he could never turn his back on someone in trouble, particularly elves. The young Dalish stood up and helped the city elf up to his feet. He then reached into his pocket, pulled out a single silver that he had found earlier, and gave it to the boy. "Here, use this to pay for what you took," he whispered. By the time the bearded human had caught up to them, Galai had hidden in an alley to see how things turned out. Tamlen and Aria were already in the alley.
The younger boy looked up to the man and held out the silver. "I-I'm sorry, here's the money for the bread," he stammered.
The man just spat in the dirt. "Heh, you think you're off the hook because you cough up the money now? You tried to steal from me, knife-ears, and you're gonna pay for it in a whole other way!"
Galai rushed out of hiding, despite Tamlen's warnings, and shoved the boy out of the way just before the man could strike him. "That's enough! He just said he'd pay for it, now just take the money and go!" he shouted.
"P-please, you've helped me enough, it's okay," the boy pleaded. Galai just gave a kind smile and looked at the boy.
"Just go, I'll deal with this shem. We elves have to look out for one another." The boy nodded, then ran off.
The merchant then punched Galai right in the face. "You little upstart! You protect a thief, you get the same punishment!" he yelled before striking Galai again. The young elf tried to fight back, but the merchant's punches were disorienting, and he couldn't land a hit.
Aria clenched her fists. She couldn't bear to see her strong older brother getting beaten by that shemlen. Sparks of electricity surrounded her fists, and before Tamlen could stop her, Aria jumped out of the alley. "Stop it! Leave him alone!" she cried as she released an Arcane Bolt on the merchant, knocking him unconscious.
Tamlen dashed out to help his friend. "Are you alright?" he asked, holding a hand out to Galai.
He responded with a joke. "Whoa! Tamlen, I didn't know you had a twin!"
Tamlen just let out a short laugh and hauled Galai onto his feet. He then turned to Aria. "Think maybe you overdid it a little?"
Aria shook her head, causing her long silver hair to swish back and forth. "No way, that shem got what he deserved."
Suddenly, three men in armor forced their way through the crowd. Judging by the emblem on their chest plates, Galai figured they were Templars, knights of the Chantry. "Alright, which one is the apostate?" shouted a man with slicked back hair and an eye patch. Galai guessed he was the leader.
"She's the one, the knife-ear with silver hair!" shouted someone in the crowd.
"Seize her!" the Templar commanded, and his two subordinates walked straight towards Aria.
Galai had completely regained his senses, and he and Tamlen stood between Aria and the Templars. "You will not lay a hand on my sister!" he growled, glaring at the armored men.
"My apologies, young man, but your sister can use magic. She must be taken to the Tower of Magi where she can learn to use her abilities properly," Eye Patch explained.
"Like hell she's going!" Galai shouted, reaching for his knife only to remember that he had left it outside of town. A quick look at Tamlen confirmed that he too was without a weapon.
"Please understand," Eye Patch continued, "this is the safest way for her to develop as a mage. She will be with others like herself, and the Templars will be there if there is any trouble. If we just leave her alone like this, then I can't guarantee that another incident like this won't happen again."
Galai wasn't sure what to believe. Aria had been just fine using magic before whenever she practiced with her friend Merril, and yet this man was saying that she could go out of control if she didn't go to the Tower. Before he could say anything else, the Templars shoved the two bewildered boys aside and picked up Aria.
"No, put me down! Let me go!" she screamed, trying to kick the men holding her. She tried to use her magic, but the Templars were already draining her mana.
"Aria!" Galai cried out, reaching out for her only for him and Tamlen to be held back by two other humans.
"Brother!" Aria cried, tears falling from her eyes.
Galai struggled and pulled for all he was worth, but he was held fast. After a minute or so, the Templars and Aria were gone, and the boys were released. Tamlen walked up and put a hand on his friend's shoulder. "I'm sorry, lethallin."
Galai was devastated. First his parents died when he was a child, and now his precious sister was taken from him… and he had been powerless to stop it. Blinking back tears, Galai ran toward the edge of town, pushing his way through the humans until he got there. There, he shouted as loud as he could, "Aria! I wasn't able to protect you now, but someday I will become strong! We'll meet again! I PROMISE!" And then he fell to his knees, releasing the tears he held back.
