Rica's phyche had been subjected to such a tension that day that when she went to sleep, she had a terrible nightmare.
She dreamt of Bhelen continously taunting her, calling her 'brandie! brandie!' over and over, like he did in their intimacy, like some sort of sexual fetish.
Then, she dreamt of him failing to rule Orzammar and watched as the dwarven empire met its end, swallowed by the ever growing hordes of darkspawn.
She ran to find refuge, but her effort was meaningless, as the beasts were everywhere! And when they caught her in a corner they smiled mischievously, like Bhelen did when he bought her.
They reached towards her and their touch burned her and everything was so horrible why was everything so horrible?
And then Rica woke up, gasping for air. This was all a dream, she thought.
No darkspawn, no danger, just her sweaty nightgown being a fit too tight and her husband snoring lightly beside her.
But this could not be just a dream. She knew, it was a way for her mind to cope with all the stress and Bhelen's behaviour.
After he became King, she thought he'd change. And for a time, her hopes had been proven right, but lately he became selfish and self-serving again, oblivious at the society that he had to rule.
Rica sighed. That had to be remedied, but right now she needed help too.
She got out of bed on silent feet and went out into the corridor, then left and straight to Endrin's room.
In it, her son was sound asleep, carefully tucked under the sheets by his loving mother.
He slept so peacefully, oblivious to the problens his parents were facing.
Rica found it reassuring that at least her son could be happy.
She sat beside him, hugging him and kissing him on the forehead, careful not to wake him.
Then, with this little wish of being close to her son at least for one moment, she carefully exited the room and returned to her chamber.
There, she found a nice surprise, Bhelen all awake and watching her as she entered the room.
For one moment she felt afraid, worried that he'd ask...because she didn't want to explain her troubled state to him. And then, she hoped he'd ask, because he was her husband, and it was a husband's duty to care for his wife, no?
To his credit, Bhelen did ask, but not in a caring way. He demanded to know why in the Deep Roads did she wake him up and then stalk around like a ghost.
To that, Rica apologized, eyes downcast almost like a child given a lecture by her parent, because she did not know she had disturbed him.
Then she told her story, about the night mare, in a vain attempt at explanation. That was a mistake, because that made Bhelen laugh about it and mock her.
"Do you realize how special you are?" he asked incredulous, "normal dwarves don't have dreams. You must be one of a kind!"
And although he meant it as a compliment, he could see she was clearly upset.
In fact, he was going to apologize, but then her last straw has been plucked and she could take it no more.
"Enough!" Rica shouted" Enough, Bhelen! I am sick and tired of your behaviour. You keep me around like some artifact, like a brand that I am, good to show your 'good side' to the people and ..." she closed her eyes for a second" Sex."
Bhelen seemed shocked, having no reply. So Rica continued.
"But I am also a caring mother, and a woman, Bhelen! I take care of your son, so you should respect me, and the people, and rule wisely!"
Now Bhelen's shock turned to outrage.
"How dare you..."
"I dare, Bhelen, because I'm telling the truth. But you've been too busy keeping that crown shiny while the city is in chaos right under your nose!
You're just like your father, whom you blamed for the corrupt society in which you grew up! And now you follow in his footsteps, maintaining the same aloof attitude that could perpetuate our society's economical and administrative problems!"
Wow, it hurt the ruler of Orzammar to hear this . True enough, the relationships with his wife was on the rocks lately, so he was expecting a fight, more or less intense, but he didn't expect to be scolded about his leadership.
Really, he understood she cared about the world in which their five year old son would grow up, but he had his problems, too. He decided to acknowledge those problems.
"Well, what do you want me to do? The stiff necked deshyrs of the Assembly won't let me make any change that matters, the Warrior Caste thinks I 'lack the stones' of my father, and several important merchant families have fled to the surface. At least I got the castless allowed to work legally...that's a progress, right?"
"No" his wife replied matter-of-factly."Because you are not helping them, Bhelen. The men are quickly to be picked mercenaries and the women are made prostitutes, which is no improvement. It's almost worse than before."
The Aeducan ruler seemed dumbstruck.
Then, the dwarf woman continued, "As for the other problems, Bhelen, you can solve them, but first you must draw them to your cause"
For what's worth, Bhelen was glad that at least Rica was supporting him and apparently, still rooting for him.
And her words gave him some ideas...
For a few moments, the King seemed to be considering what his beautiful wife explained. Then, he spoke "I know what I must do".
After that, Bhelen tried to give her a grateful kiss on the lips, only to be rejected.
" Bhelen, you must know I am here for you, whenever you need me, but for the moment I won't do ANYTHING with you untill I am impressed myself"
With that, they drifted to sleep.
Both, but especially Bhelen would need the rest for what would come.
(unconventional break)
This was the day, the day of the Deep Roads Expedition. The day when he would prove his worth as king, as fighter, as commander, as well as whatever was necessary to prove to get those warriors and Legionnares to respect him.
Yes, it was a big day and stressful
enough, if his feelings were any indication. Of course, Bhelen was not afraid, but something was gnawing at him. What if he led those strong men who put their faith in him, to their deaths?
Bhelen knew there was much death in the Deep Roads, especially when fighting a swarm of those foul darkspawn, but Bhelen couldn't stand the thought that his force, his elite 200 men could be massacred by those beasts. So, he was worried.
Yes, worry was the word for what he felt then, when he entered Aeducan Thaig.
Bhelen reminded himself the details of the plan. After that, he concluded their job was simple. They needed to purge the Aeducan ancestral thaig of the darkspawn that amassed there after the end of the Fifth Blight on the surface.
They even had a pair of Grey Wardens
comissioned to help them and direct the troops where the larger darkspawn pockets were. But the difficulty was that the thaig was absolutely full of those beasts and the troops needed to eliminate them systematically to ensure progress. That also demanded a strong patience in the monarch.
That reminded him of that story about that sot, Cailan, who lost his life and almost doomed his own kingdom(Ferelden) on the surface, because he didn't have what was needed to be king...
And then Bhelen told himself "No, I will not be like that fool!" and with that promise, he was ready to go.
With Sigrun, the Legionnaire Scout Warden to his left, and Velanna the elf mage Warden to his right, plus Kardol next to Sigrun, and Vartag Gavorn behind him, somewhere close, the Aeducan king ordered the army behind him to attack the veritable terror of a darkspawn horde before them.
"For Honor, for Glory, for Orzammar!" his voice echoed in the dim lit room, signaling the start of the battle.
"For Orzammar!" they all followed.
In the actual battle, Bhelen's close circle of elite did the most damage to the beasts.
The fireballs that hit those beasts did no damage to the magic resistant warrior dwarves, so Velanna could keep supporting the clashing durgen'len without fear of making casualties on their part. In her mind, she smiled, seeing those monsters squirm in agony. It was almost enough to make her forget why she was there - to find her sister...
And as Kardol once said" the duties of one protecting Orzammar never end". This was true in this situation, or at least that's what Sigrun thought, surrounded by genlocks and hurlocks on all sides. Ah, but the dwarf rogue could only revel in the murder of those things as she was, formally at least, dead.
There, one genlock stabbed, another one decapitated by her hand axe and the blood spurting from the eye socket of a hurlock as her dagger twisted and sunk deeper into its head...
Damn, that woman could fight...Bhelen was almost stunned by her warrior appearence, her movements so quick it made it hard for darkspawn to react (and him to follow her movement , somewhat) and that firm grip...
Well, it was understandable to be impressed. He had never seen a woman in a real battle before.
But that was not the only reason he was interested in her. Well, truth be told, as a man, he found her...sexy.
For a couple of minutes, at least, untill he realized he had another thing in common with his, now late, father, and he was disgusted of himself as a result.
He enforced the point of being faithful to his wife by reminding himself that Rica could hold her ground in a fight too. She was definitely very skilled with a dagger.He remembered that sparring session that lasted till late after most dwarves go to sleep, a training bout that led to their sexual instincts being aroused...and that ended with them having love to each other.
Ah, but that's nearly besides the point.
The point being that he shouldn't cheat on his wife, or even allow himself the temptation of having eyes for other women...especially after that visit of his to Dust Town, when he found out (by accident!) that he was an illegitimate son (i.e: bastard) of King Endrin with a castless woman.
Yes, Bhelen's mom had been a noble hunter, like Rica, and if that didn't sound like shocking news, then it sure proved to be shocking when it came from a man who was(or so he claimed to be) the brother of his real mother.
So, Bhelen's uncle was castless, and also was bearing a grudge against royalty since his sister died giving birth to Bhelen, taking her away from him forever.
Just like Endrin took Bhelen(his nephew) and raised him in a lie, making Endrin's wife to be his (step)mother. And the lie was more painful when Bhelen remembered his fake mom really loved him...
If this entire story(that Bhelen could hardly believe, despite seeing things like being treated somehow differently finally make sense) didn't enforce the point of staying loyal(for the sake of keeping things simple, if not for regards to Rica's feelings) then nothing did.
But Bhelen ignored this matter as he remembered he had to look all manly and strong, no matter how much other things occupied his mind.
He took the fight around him as an opportunity to prove himself, to show that he wasn't a bad fighter either.
His favorite weapon, a silverite mace and his silverite shield(with the mark of Aeducan) knew some use, but he had to admit he wasn't an exceptional fighter.
His strategy revolved around dealing with single targets and hindering their moves, if not killing them.
He didn't use devastating, large weapons like his older siblings used to. He never even touched a war-hammer( his brother Trian's favorite) nor he dealt death with a greatsword( like his...other so-called 'sibling' , whose name he couldn't even spell in his mind but he could remember that the blighter's name meant Handsome).
All in all, Bhelen fought well but unimpressive. And he could only remark upon the bitter irony: before, he had played the part of a weak noble and weak fighter to be overlooked and kept from suspicion in his illegal bussines, in order to become King. Only that, in doing that, he ignored the practicality of battle training, which he clearly needed now that he WAS King.
(Meanwhile, in Orzammar)
"Ah, I bet king Bhelen hates my guts!" an irritated merchant yelled from his stall, in Orzammar's Commons.
"Is that so? Why?" another dwarven trader asked from his own stall, close to the other one.
"Why do you think so?" the indignant one said"It's from this stupid new law. See, I'm new here..."
"I could see that..."
"Yeah, well I come from the surface to sell arms and armour. There nobody affords to buy my wares, stupid cloud-heads and their Blight and all, so I thought I could get my fellow dwarves to buy..."
The now intrigued peer now asked"And?"
"It was actually a great idea, since my selling product is higher quality ... but your stupid king ruined it all, ha!" and he knocked down a harmless helmet lying on the counter.
"I've never heard of such a stupid law of equal purchase!
" Now my wares have to have equal prices as those you have, even though mine are generally BETTER! Ah, no offense..."
"None taken, I get your point and I feel your grief. I got some better than mundane stuff to sell too, and now this shit is up and running...and my wife's worried, because now technically we're losing money."
"I'm telling you, this Bhelen guy should better go rub some cock than deal with Orzammar's economy. I'm really wondering why you guys didn't starve yet".
The other merchant, more affable, laughed and said, " Well, we ate some carrots, and kept our sanity, and counted days...you see, that didn't help us much!"
And then he laughed some more, mostly by himself.
"Eh, whatever you say" the other one (the surfacer) said," but I'm going to do more than that."
"Oh?" now the other dwarf was more curious than before.
And so was Rica, who listened and watched their discussion all this time, from under her grey cloak, hidden by the corner of the street where she "happened" to stop.
"I'll start a riot, a big one, bribe guards and do it when the bastard is in town, so I could find him, go to him and smack 'im on the head. That'll teach him..."
"Are you serious? You sound serious. But that is crazy! He is the king!" the fellow dwarf said.
The other one shrugged.
"I am resourceful enough, and don't really have something to lose, except my dignity, which has already been trounced."
That was it! Rica, the Queen, could hear no more of this. She went straight to the Royal Palace, eager for her (dear) husband to return. Oh, the things she wouuld tell him...
Back at the Palace, she was restless. Her family was very likely in danger if this scheme worked. But no, she knew herself, and the stupid merchant probably knew too, that a plan like that would be to hard to put in action. Or it was mad enough to find succes, that thought worried Rica.
Her only confort in the meanwhile was Endrin, her little joyful boy who looked at her with the deepest love and biggest light blue eyes.
(Again in the Deep Roads )
Well, Bhelen didn't know that pain was the price for the good impression of his people.
But not knowing didn't make it easier to take that charge from that ogre that had tried to kill Kardol...
Because, as it happened, the two dwarves had been surrounded by hurlocks and shrieks, and the situation was not quite in their favor. Then, it got even worse as the ground in the area shook and began to crumble under their feet. They fell and landed in a huge pile of debris, darkspawn and darkspawn dead bodies. And then, as the remaining(surviving) combatants resumed their fight , Bhelen could only wonder why their Stone sense didn't warn the dwarves.
Well, leaving that aside, the fight resumed and it was maybe the fiercest struggle in which Bhelen participated. And then, it happened that that ogre(which was an unknown creature to Bhelen) struck. It roared and charged at Kardol, who didn't notice the huge beast as he engaged three shrieks with his war-hammer. But Bhelen did notice and quickly pushed the Legionnaire out of harms way, and doing so, he himself waa rammed pretty hard.
After that, Kardol was the one to kill the vicious ogre, but after the battle, the one they cheered for was still the King, because of his courage and swift action, or so they said.
Now they were out of the huge pit, out of the Aeducan thaig, and the ruler was hopelessly trying to convince his men that he didn't need medical care, but his body didn't agree. He was having obvious breathing problems, but the man examining his said he was mostly fine. Only a couple of broken ribs and a fractured bone in his left arm...he would heal.
Well, that was good, he thought as hehe lay on a stretcher. He was also thankful for not receiving any major damage, thanks to his silverite armor and silverite round targe.
And his youth and good constitution helped, too.
And then, they were on their way to Orzammar.
Unfortunately for Bhelen, back home he was welcomed with a cold, formal embrace from Rica and the message about that insurgent merchant.
Bhelen kept tapping his fingers against the table, while searching for an answer in his head. No real one came, so he used a question instead: So what am I supposed to do about it?
Rika blinked, incredulously.
"Well, I don't know, my dear husband..."
Uh-oh. It was bad when she used that exact phrase "dear husband". Always ironic and angry." You're the King, you should know how to gain the favor of your people!"
Okay...now, that wasn't right!
"It's not my fault, I didn'tdidn't think thing would be so difficult, so easy to fall apart...and you...when you came here, I actually thought you came to congratulate me, for my courage and bravery in that Deep Roads affair!"
And then Rica actually smirked.
"Oh, not yet, my dear husband. Not before you solve the problems you caused..." and then she left the chamber althougether.
GGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG
Ah, the food was delicious, the music enchanting, and the frolicking and gossiping maintained the atmosphere, which made the party held in the Royal Palace even more...boring.
Really.
King Bhelen could hardly keep himself from falling asleep. Alas, he had another purpose for this revelry,something more important than mere entertainment.
He thought about it as he passed a bowl of fruit and picked up one of those strange yet full-of-flavor...red and incredibly easy to squish in one's hand when angered...what was it called? Ah, an "apple"! Bhelen bit the surface of his favorite fruit and wondered if this fuss and effort was truly necessary, just to bring the merchants in one place and talk to them. This was the plan he came up with when Rica brought forth the issue. And she reinforced it with what that particularly mouthy, cursing merchant said, word by word. And she had been unphased by the profanity. Strong woman, got him proud.
But again, back at the party. It was a good plan, in theory. But even with the preparation, Bhelen wondered if it was worth it...
Soon, he would find out...
The King walked through all the mass of people gathered there and stepped in front of the Royal Throne. Then, taking his fingers to his lips, he drew all those merchants' attentoon with a loud whistle.
" Right. I needed that", he said with a grin" anyway, I am glad I have your attention, my dear merchant lords.
Some of the guests snorted at the show of sympathy.
"The reason I called you all here is because I want to make an agreement" .The King started pacing in a circle around the Throne, then returned to his spot as soon as his words seemed to sink in even in the most insensible merchant's minds.
"I understand some of you have had difficulties since I began to rule" he emphasized the word 'understand', " and that your relationship with surface traders has been weakened. Well, fear not, because I found a way to make your problems become only a memory from the past."
He took a scroll out of his pocket and read it out loud , as best as his trained for oratory (and deception ) voice allowed.
"I, King Bhelen Aeducan, hereby decree that fluctuating produce prices are re-established for the good of Orzammar and her dwarven people.
However, the bad habit of hoarding treasures by certain wealthy traders via surface relations, is to stop. All dwarven wealth is to stay in the city for safety. The constriction of certain " vaults" simmilar to those employed by noble houses is supervised by the Shaperate.
The Stone may lead her children to progress!"
And the monarch finished.
"The first Shaper already signed it" he announced solemnly" as well as a dozen respected shapers"
He showed them the signed writ.
"Oh, and any power of the law, of making it or breaking it, has been transfered to thr Shaperate, where shapers can write both memories and laws...under my watch" the King concluded.
Needles to say, some of the merchants were gaping. Others were angry.
"You can't do this!" one of them shouted.
"Oh, I can't ? " Bhelen asked ironically.
"But I'm the efective ruler of Orzammar, oh, and don't bother taking this matter to the Assembly. It's been disbanded this morning."
Now, ALL the merchants were stunned. And as the Shaper representative walked in with their own paper to sign; the King said:" I leave. I'll be in my chamber for the rest I need".
GGGGGGBhelen had to welcome them properly, after all, you don't receive Grey Wardens on a daily schedule.
Yes, here they were. Oghren (ex) Kondrat and Zevran Arainai. The former was indeed a Grey Warden, while the latter had been..."only" a companion to one, and the elf was an Antivan Assassin.
"Hey, there! " Bhelen greeted, " Welcome to Orzammar, city of dwarves, and a huge head ache to me lately."
"Hello, there, too! " the others said, rather proud of being welcomed
by the king.
Well, Zevran knew, from the message he received that they shouldn't feel flattered. They were guests, indeed, but they were also direly needed.
"Ah, the place brings memories!" the assassin said suavely, without letting their host/employer know what he thought.
"Wait, when have you been here?" the dwarf, Oghren said.
"About when you were too drunk to notice!" the elf joked.
Then, the two companions laughed good heartedly.
"Ah, I'm glad you're here in good spirits", Bhelen spoke again
" You're gonna need it."
Oghren looked at the other dwarf and raised a brow. "Right, since we're here already, I was wondering what is this job about, boss...I mean, my king."
"Yeah, I was wondering the same thing..." Zevran was quick to back up.
"Well, here's the deal. Orzammar has become a very dangerous place lately, and my family, my wife and child, require protection. And I figured out nobody is better at providing it than a Grey Warden /veteran Warrior Caste member and an assassin, both of you old contacts of mine"
The two companions before Bhelen exchanged meaningful looks, then nodded to the king.
"It's a deal", they said in unison.
GGGGGGGGGGGG
Now, the last and hardest part of the plan was in motion. To make those forgotten to be remembered, and those " vile" to show their goodness.
This, strangely, appllied to Bhelen himself...
But this was about somebody else than him, his...kin. It was about those casteless who have been turned into lower and dirtier than dirt for only one reason: they didn't fit in The Caste system anywhere.
But with The Assembly disbanded, and with the Shaperate doing what he dictated, he could ignore the caste system entirely if he wanted...
And now, the blow to Orzammar's foundation. To shake their beliefs and reveal the truth.
In front of a grand gathering, the King declared : "I am casteless".
And then, chaos errupted... but it was still according to the plan, because he had foreseen this possible outcome and prepared, by talking to and convincing the most reasonable figures to sway the mob that he was still a worthy king, after all hell went loose.
And, perhaps by a miracle, it worked.
Then, in the following months, things settled. The casteless were allowed labor as cooks, nannies, or other simmilarly fit jobs for the women, and men were allowed to work as smiths, builders or miners. And because they were somehow related to the king, they were even shown some respect.
In the Deep Roads,in a couple of years, dwarves aided by a couple of Grey Warden Squads and Legionnaires were able to push the darkspawn away and destroy most of the broodmother nests. The roads to Kal Sharok were free now, and the dwarves prospered. For a long, long time.
And all that was needed was a change or two and the wheels of the world worked better. At least for the dwarves, and Bhelen has his share, too.
He was one of the protagonists, after all...
GGGGGGGGAfter the big reveal, Bhelen returned to his room for a small reprieve. He didn't expect to see Rica and Endrin happy and waiting for him. Finally, he got to hug his beloved boy and dear wife and the current ruler of Orzammar couldn't be more accomplished.
The End
Okay, here's the author's Note. It took much more than I hoped to get this posted. some bug ocurred and I couldn't login with my facebook account so I was so dissapointed that I nearly forsake this site.Anyway, about the story. I wanted to write a fic about my favorite Dragon Age lore part: dwarves. And about my favorite ruler: Bhelen.I did it in a trial of courage and skill, kind of. I hope Bhelen saving Kardol isn't too much of an ass pull. After all, main game protagonists always do this kind of selfless/stupid acts of heroism.Hope you enjoyed.