She listened to their stories around the campfire: Zevran's kills on the road, the men Leliana had seduced, life in the Chantry as Alistair learned to be a templar, Wynne living in a tower held under Chantry control, Oghren being a respected warrior and a wife who loved him. The only thing she didn't hear was Sten and his stories. That's because he is never one to talk about personal things without being drawn out. She knows this and yet she still wants to know him better.
Kadaani excused herself and walked to Sten's tent where she knew he would be sleeping. She pulled out a small totem statue she had found in the Temple at Haven and gently laid it outside the flap. She turned to head to the river for a short clean up swim when a hand shot out of the dark and grabbed her arm.
"Thank you, kadan. Is it you that left the painting of the girl the day before yesterday?" Sten was standing with his hair slightly tousled from sleep, but alert as ever.
"Yes. I thought you might enjoy them. I…I hope I didn't wake you. I know you have second watch." Of course second watch is the most difficult; going to sleep early, waking up for watch, and then trying to get back to sleep. She kept staring at his thick hair, enjoying the site of it loose in their braids.
"It is time for me to get up anyway. Are you headed to the river? Do you need some company?" Sten asks, sounding bored.
What would he say if I said yes? Kadaani thought laughingly. "No, I am fine. Thank you, though."
She could feel him watching her as she walked through the trees to the river. He seemed to be acting a little strangely the last couple of days; more attentive. Perhaps he is watching to see when I "fall." Still, Kadaani liked him a great deal. He was a very interesting man.
After bathing and washing some of her clothes, socks, and under things, Kadaani heads back to the camp. She thinks she will hang her socks, tunic, and pants by the fire; and her unmentionables inside her tent. She pops into her tent to grab her brush and hang up her clothes, then, heads to the fire to hang the rest and dry her hair.
Everyone seems to be in their tents, Kadaani thinks. But then she sees Sten over talking with Shale. That is a very funny friendship. Ah, well. She grabs her line and hangs it next to the fire and puts up her clothes, then sits next to the dead tree Shale had brought to the fire to brush her hair.
She feels Leliana sit behind her and smiles as she puts the brush in the waiting hand.
Starting off with, "You know he is attracted to you, do you not?" The Orlesian begins brushing Kadaani's hair.
"Hmm? Who is attracted to whom?" Kadaani loves it when Leliana brushes her hair; it makes her think of days when she was a young girl and her mother would brush her hair each night.
"Sten...attracted to you…did you not know this?"
Kadaani laughed. "Sten…? Really? How can you tell something like that?" Thoughts and mad desires only half formed fought to take precedence in Kadaani's mind.
"Ahhh…I see. No, you did not. He cares for you, but not in the way you would like. However, his desire matches yours, I think, in other ways. Be wary, I would not see you hurt in this."
"What do I do, Lel? Should I do anything? I have a duty, and… ARGH! There is always duty; duty to my family, my country, my friends. When is there time for any kind of duty to me? Help me…" But Kadaani cannot find the words for what she wants or needs.
Although she dislikes the qunari, Leliana knows that he is trustworthy, honest, and much softer than he appears. "I cannot tell you what to do, but I can tell you that your personality is all it will take. Your softness and hardness is what attracts him to you; it is the contradictory traits in your character. Do not orchestrate anything; rather, let circumstances take you where they will."
