"Maker's breath I never thought I would miss the bloody rain this much." A human said as she slipped by him. Lothering was full of humans, most worked in the fields on the town's outskirts, though Neria rarely saw them as she lived in the Chantry. Except on days like today where the templars sent her out to the market place with a coin purse to buy some bread for the morning service. She ducked past another group of humans who were arguing about their crops. She had never seen the market so busy.
Finally she made it to the bread stand, a crowd had gathered and Old Pete was yelling at them "You either pay or yah go without! Ain't nothin' more I can do for yah." The crowd moaned and most of them moved away.
Neria stepped up to his table, she could barely see over the top of it, not that it mattered Old Pete knew she always bought the same thing. "Hello." She said to him.
"Eh, who said that?" He lifted his hand to his eyes and looked around dramatically, pretending he couldn't see her. A game he always played.
She giggled. "I'm here!"
He looked down, finally seeing her "Aha! There yah are! Want yah usual poppet?" She nodded and handed him the coin purse. He emptied the coins out and shook his head "Sorry sweet'art, this ain't enough today. With the drought, bread like this is gunna cost them templar's more than this. I can offer you half a loaf?" She looked down at her feet, half was better than none she knew, but they wouldn't be happy with her.
Another voice spoke up next to her. "I'll pay the other half" His voice was deep, she looked up at him. He had wrinkles around his eyes and his big black beard was tinged with grey.
He smiled down at her and she looked away blushing. "Thank you" She said quietly.
"Alright then." Old Pete said handing her the full loaf.
She turned to leave but bumped into a small boy who was standing behind the bearded man. "Sorry." She mumbled.
"You're an elf." He pointed out.
She tried to stammer out a reply but didn't really have anything to say to that.
"Now Garrett that's no way to treat a lady" The bearded man said. She looked up at the boy, he had green eyes and dark hair, like the man's.
"Oh, sorry." His cheeks flushed.
"It's okay. I am an elf." She smiled at him, she looked back at the man "Thank you again."
"No problem, you best get back to that Chantry of yours."
She ran back through the crowds of people and up the Chantry steps, she gave the door a big shove but it wouldn't budge. "Still haven't mastered opening doors I see" Ser Harrison said beside her with a chuckle. He pushed the door open for her.
"Thank you." She blew a strand of her curly blonde hair away from her face.
"Enjoy the service Neria." He said as she walked in. She grinned back at him.
The Chantry had been her home for as long as she could remember, she had no parents so they looked after her instead. She spent most of her time cleaning and reading because she was too young to do much else. She didn't like cleaning much but the books were interesting, she liked all the old stories, some of them had big words though, but the Revered Mother often helped her with those. She was a nice lady most of the time but when she was angry her face scrunched up and made her look really scary so Neria tried not to make her angry.
"Can I come with you?" Neria asked Ser Harrison as he headed for the Chantry doors. She looked up at him with her big brown eyes and pushed her lips out into a pout.
"Those puppy dog eyes won't work on me Neria."
"Please! It's so boring here."
He let out a sigh. "Alright. But stay close."
They walked out the doors and down into the courtyard, a man was shouting at a crowd of people. "The end is nigh! The drought is punishment for our sins! Repent, we must repent!" Ser Harrison tutted and directed her towards the gate.
Ser Harrison stopped to speak to a few people before they moved on, walking over the bridge. There was no water below though, not even a trickle and the ground was hard and dusty. It had been months since the rain had come, it was all anybody talked about at the moment.
"When do you think it will rain again?" She asked the templar.
"Only the Maker knows, child."
"What will happen if it doesn't rain?"
"I wouldn't worry about such things Neria, this is Ferelden, it will rain again. Believe me." A loud shriek echoed across the field, a woman's scream. "Wait here!" Ser Harrison ordered as he ran off drawing his sword. Neria stood there in the field as more screams carried across the tall grasses. Her breathing was hard as she stood alone, people were running towards the commotion.
She heard another scream then, Ser Harrison's cry of agony. Her feet were moving before she realised what she was doing. She sprinted through the grasses and out the other side. She gasped at the scene in front of her, Ser Harrison was on his back, his head was bleeding, there was a woman lying on the floor covered in blood but it was the animal in the centre of it all that made Neria's eyes bulge. A huge black bear reared up on its hind legs, over Ser Harrison. The town's folk were trying to draw it away, she could hear other Knight's running in behind her but none of that was helping, it was just making the bear angrier. It roared before it began to fall forward.
Neria ran between the bear and Ser Harrison. She felt a strange pulling sensation in her gut and a silvery wall materialised in front of her, the bear slammed down into it causing it to shimmer slightly. But it couldn't hurt her or Ser Harrison. "Mage" People in the crowd cried as the Knight's charged in, their swords slitting the bear's throat, killing it.
Her shoulder's sagged and the wall dissolved, she turned to face Ser Harrison, he was looking at her wide-eyed with blood dripping from his temple, she dropped to her knees in front of him.
His facial expression softened. "I thought I told you to stay where you were." He smiled at her.
"You also said, to stay close." She said between pants. "You're hurt."
"I'll be alright, you saved my life Neri."
"But I'm a mage." She sobbed. They would take her away to the Circle Tower.
"Hey, don't cry" He lifted her chin with his hand "It'll be okay."
"I don't want to leave though." She said as tears ran down her face.
"You'll like the Circle, they have lots of books. Hundreds even and you'll make lots of new friends."
She wiped the snot from her nose. "Will you visit?"
"Absolutely." He smiled at her.