Disclaimer-- As much as I wish otherwise, I do not own DAO. I do not own any of the characters there-in, including the female Cousland origin character, though I would like to think my interpretation of her is my own. I do not own the environment, events, dialogue, etc. I expect and will receive nothing from this story but the joy of paying homage to excellence. (Imitation, after all, is sincere flattery.) Nonetheless, I do work hard on my little stories, and I love them. Please don't repost or reprint them without my knowledge. Further, like all fanfic writers, I am fueled by reviews. If you like and want more, please encourage me by telling me so. If you see something you dislike or think needs to be fixed, I will be happy to learn...but please be gentle!
Note-- This stand-alone is a fragment of what or may not eventually become a longer, more comprehensive fic. If I waited until that fic was in a condition to post, I would never post at all, and I wanted to post.
Elan wasn't exactly certain why Flemeth had decided the two Grey Wardens she'd apparently gone to such lengths to save ought to depart with only a few hours of light left in they day, but—as the witch had reminded Alistair at one point in their odd little chat, it was best not to look a gift mage in the mouth...and so the two of them—and Morrigan—trudged along the path in silence, each wrapped up in his or her own thoughts, though Elan suspected the susbstance of those thoughts was all too similar, in the end.
And all too close to her what hers had been when she and Duncan had fled Highever less than a month before. Less than a month...and more than a hundred lifetimes.
And where was Woofus? Elan knew she could ask one of her companions, but she was too afraid of hearing the answer.
All-in-all, they were a cheery lot—three orphans, each walking out into the world alone...
Elan stopped, leaning against a tree to catch her breath...though she thought it was less about her healing injuries than it was about her grief. Alistair glanced in her direction and began to build a circle of stones, piling twigs and branches inside it with an air of long experience. Morrigan, apparently having had as much of their company—silent as it was—as she could take, began arranging another, smaller pit a few yards away.
Elan sank to the ground near Alistair's fire and smiled awkward thanks. Alistair nodded slightly in reply, and crouched down on the other side, staring into the flames as if the Maker himself might emerge from them and set things right. Elan reached up to finger her hair where it ended just above the nape of her neck with a jolt of deja vu.
None of them slept much. Alistair and Morrigan banked the fires without conversation as soon as the first traces of dawn began to brush the horizon. And the three of them continued on. In silence.
But when Elan's stomach began to grumble, Alistair was suddenly at her shoulder, smiling wryly—a smile that pained her in the way it both did and didn't reach his eyes—as he offered her a handful of thick jerky.
"Oh, thank the Maker!" Elan exclaimed, too relieved to be embarrassed. "I didn't know Flemeth gave us rations!"
Alistair looked a bit sheepish. "She...uh...didn't actually. I put these in my pack before we...before the...before." He pulled another handful from his pack and began to devour it rather absently.
"Why didn't I think of that?" Elan exclaimed. "I'd be lost without you, you know." Alistair eyed her a bit suspisciously, but her voice and expression were not only sincere, but even admiring.
They were passing a small farm just after mid-day when a mabari burst into sight, rounding a corner and running madly.
Alistair tensed and Morrigan raised her staff, but Elan knelt and threw her arms out wide, laughing and crying all at the same time.
Woofus bounded into her embrace, dragging his tongue along her face and making her sputter, before he backed up and raced barking back the way he'd come.
Elan's hands were already reaching toward the hilts of her daggers when Alistair shouted, "Darkspawn! Incoming!" The two of them raced after the hound. Bursts of magic soared over their heads.
Woofus barked and lunged and snapped, whirling and leaping like a berserker at a party. Elan wove around him, her intricate footwork feeding off his in a kind of dance. She'd almost forgotten her two silent companions...until she looked up and saw Alistair was surrounded by a crowd of darkspawn, the heavy press of them threatening to send him to his knees.
"No!" she shouted anxiously, "Not again!" She lunged at the nearest, jabbing him hard in what ought to be a kidney. He went down quickly, but there were so many...
Something white and sticky settled over half the darkspawn like a net covered in foam from the sea. Trapped like fish, they lunged against the webbing, gnashing their teeth. Alistair slammed his shield into the mass, sending up a spray of blood like the crest of wave.
Elan gazed over it, to see the largest spider she had ever seen in her life standing where Morrigan had been. The spider spit something green at several darkspawn on Elan's left, a definite reminder that there'd be time to figure out what had happened later, if they survived...whereas if she tried to figure things out now...well...Elan stepped down on the instep of a darkspawn coming up behind her and jerked her elbow back into its gut. She wrapped her other arm around her waist, repeating the hit with her blade. The darkspawn grunted, falling back.
Soon it was over.
There was an odd, hazy surge of power around the spider, and Morrigan stood in its place, looking only mildly disgruntled.
Elan wiped her blades and slid them back into their sheaths, handing Alistair the rag. Alistair's eyes met hers, the memory of the Wilds playing between them as he took it, his fingers brushing hers. Her breath caught again...but her ribs didn't seem to hurt.
"Who's a good boy?" she crooned, scratching the belly of her blood-flecked mabari. "Oh, you are. Yes, you are such a good boy, you are!"
Woofus grunted happily and wiggled so that her fingers would hit just the right spot.
"I'm so glad you're okay," Elan said fervently. "I was so worried."
Woofus barked emphatically. He'd been worried about her as well. Elan wondered how they had come to be separated, but if it meant he had survived, she wouldn't question it...particularly not now that he'd found her again.
"You remember Alistair?"
A polite, perfunctory bark.
"And this is Morrigan. Alistair and I met her when Du—when we were in the Wilds."
Another polite bark.
"Morrigan and her mother saved Alistair and me. From the Tower, I mean. That's where we've been...at their home...they...helped heal us."
A half-pleased, half-frustrated bark. Woofus was happy they'd been saved, but...Elan got the impression he'd known where she was, but had been waiting to rejoin her after she'd left. That was odd. Perhaps she'd try to ask him about it later, though—smart as he was—Woofus wasn't always easy to understand.
"So now we're traveling with this mangy beast?" Morrigan said, sounding exasperated.
"He's not mangy," Alistair said defensively. Woofus barked happily and bumped his head into Alistair's hand. Alistair took the hint and scratched his ears. Watching them, Elan smiled.