Awkward Alistair on setting up tents the evening after their first night together.
The march along Lake Calenhad from Redcliff towards the dwarf kingdom of Orzammar was quite uneventful aside from the ambush by several blight wolves. This gives Alistair a little too much time daydreaming about the passion-filled night he shared with their illustrious leader just the evening before. The grin seems to be permanently plastered on his face even after being provoked by Morigan. After the brief kiss he stole from her this morning before breaking camp, they haven't intimately spoken to each other yet since as the leader and rouge, Elissa walks ahead of the group to scout the perimeter while Alistair watches the back of the group. However, that didn't stop them from giving each other shy smiles and a wink or two.
Upon arriving at a suitable clearing near a stream, Elissa announced that they would be camping there for the night. They still have a few hours before sundown to set up camps and prepare dinner. As usual, Elissa and Zevran would hunt for game nearby while Alistair and Sten pitch up tents. Wynne and Leliana take turns cooking and collecting firewoods and as always, Morigan would just mind her own business and set up her own camp slightly farther from the group. Alistair finished setting up tents for Wynne, Leliana and about to set up one for Elissa when he wondered if he should be pitching another tent of his own or will they be sharing a tent from now own. They haven't actually talked about he wondered if it would be too presumptuous of him to set up only one tent for them. He knew what he wanted, he wanted every night to be spent at her side preferably making passionate love to each other but he would be just as happy to lie on the hard bedroll holding her close.
"Do you require assistance setting up that tent?"
Alistair didn't even noticed how long he was lost in his thought until the gruff voice of the Qunari pulled him back to the present.
"Uh, no thank you I was just getting to it…."
That's when he saw that Sten had already finished pitching up tents for Zevran, himself and another one for Alistair. Looks like he took too long to decide that the bronze giant made the decision for him. Reluctantly he continued pitching up Elissa's half completed tent and started to loosen his armour for cleaning near the fire pit.
About an hour later, Elissa and the assassin came back with a couple of rabbits and a fowl. Elissa moved to sit next to Alistair after handing their catch to Wynne for cooking.
They smiled sweetly to each other before Elissa noticed the tents arrangement around them. Alistair saw her smiled faltered a little which made awful crawling sensation in the pit of his stomach so he started to rush his explanation,
"I'm sorry I was about to set only one tent for us to share but I was afraid if you wouldn't want to since we haven't actually talked about it yet but then I guess I was thinking about it too long so Sten already pitched the other tents. I actually would really much prefer to sleep in the same tent as you and make love to you all night every night than sitting alone….." the camp fell silent and all eyes were on Alistair. Realising what he had just said out loud, Alistair was frozen and with a furious blush.
"It is true what they say about Grey Warden stamina then. All night every night eh?" Zevran teased with sly smile. The others quickly hid their chuckles even Elissa was trying to repress her giggles. Alistair promptly stood up, announced that he had to get some more firewood and walked away crossing the small stream to get a hold of his blush.
Alistair you idiot! This is why you should really think before you talk. Alistair berated himself alone in the woods. He spent quite a while brooding and pondering on how to face the others again. Maybe he should just stay there until everyone's off to bed so he can slip into the camp quietly and by tomorrow, they would have forgotten his blunder. But slip into which tent? His or hers? She did look disappointed thinking that they would be staying in separate tents which made him grin again. After about half an hour, his stomach roared and he resigned himself to go back to camp and get some dinner before speaking to Elissa again.
Once the camp is within his line of vision, he saw that everyone was circling the fire pit enjoying the rabbit stew and roasted fowl. They didn't utter any teasing words but their eyes hold mirth as they follow him when he scooped up some stew for himself and sat down next to Elissa. Elissa must have asked them to take it easy on him. How he loved that woman. The conversation flowed easily with Leliana regaling them with tales of Orlais and their fancy cultures and Zevran entertained them with stories of his outlandish conquests.
One by one, their companion excused themselves to get some rest. Alistair felt a hand wrapped around his arm and Elissa's soft voice in his ear, "I'm a bit worn out as well. Should we retire to our tent now, love?" Alistair felt a flutter in his heart. Our tent? She did just say our tent right? He looked at the tents again and noticed that his tent was no longer standing next to hers. Grinning his ear off, Alistair eagerly dragged his lover into the tent, giddy at the thought of sharing every night from now on with the love of his life.