Shiny Stones

Shale stood her ground, she could see her foe in the horizon. She held the large stone in her hand, waiting for the right moment to hurl it at her nemesis. It was a vicious fiend, she swore it was straight from the bowels of the earth, set loose upon the land to blight it with its filth. She wound her arm and released her missle.

The little sparrow flew in concentric circles over the field, hoping to see a nice juicy worm to fill her stomach. From the corner of her eye she saw the large grey object hurling toward her. She adjusted her speed and at the last minute banked to the left. She felt the large stone fly past her, ruffling her feathers.

"Haha, you missed," laughed Alistair. "Your enemy lives another day."

Shale turned around," Why does it laugh, does it not know how evil these feathered fiends are."

Alistair tried to keep his composure," You know this unhealthy obsession you have with birds, will be your undoing. You need to find a hobby or something. We can't have you lose your mind every time you see a little bird flit about," he said trying to sound serious.

"What does it mean ,hobby?," snarled Shale.

"You know, doing something you like to take your mind off the negative things in life. Look, here is an example. Wynne likes to read books and she collect them, that is her hobby. She draws great enjoyment from them,"explained Alistair.

"I'd rather eat a book than read it," huffed Shale.

"Okay, so books aren't your thing how about making something. You could learn to knit. Elissa could teach you, she loves to knit. She just made me a sweater the other day."

"Does it mean that three arm thing the other Grey Warden gave it the other day," asked Shale.

"Umm yeah, I said she could knit . I did not say she was good at it.", laughed Alistair. "See, it does not matter if you are good at it or not it is just that you enjoy doing it."

"I enjoy making soft things squeal, " said Shale, taking a step toward Alistair.

"Well, that's a start. I mean not for the soft things, I think we should run and hide but see you are starting to think of things you like,' said Alistair taking a small step back. "How about we start looking for things you enjoy that do not require any crunching, squashing or breaking. Let's see, Leliana likes to sing , Zevran dances, Oghren drinks, Morrigan has her trinkets, even Sten likes to eat cookies. There is got to be something for you."

"I have a question. Why does it care what I like and if I have this thing called a hobby?" asked Shale.

"I was just thinking that maybe now that you are no longer a statue you might want to do things. In Honnleath, you stood there trapped watching life but never living it. I just wanted you to know that you are free to do what you want to do now. You know, find things you like and enjoy them," shrugged Alistair.

"I did not think it could think this way. It might not be as stupid as I first thought . Its staring, why is it staring? Its making me want to squash its head," Shale squirmed, no one had ever cared for what she wanted, especially a flesh thing.

"Whoa there, Shale. No harm meant, I think you might have actually given me a compliment. I'm rather touched," teased Alistair, clutching his hand to his heart.

"I will let it live for now,it has made me think," said Shale feeling more at ease than it ever had with any living thing. "I have another question."

"Ask away, I am here but to serve," Alistair said with a flourished bow.

"What does it do for a hobby?" asked Shale.

"I like to collect things, more precisely I like to collect small statues," proudly proclaimed Alistair.

"Oh it means it collects dolls," stated Shale.

"They are not dolls, they are beautifully hand-crafted statues," scoffed Alistair.

"I have seen it play with them, when it thinks no one is watching. It reminds me of a little girl back in Honnleath. She used to come and play with her dolls in my shade. She would make them dance and kiss and make up voices for them not unlike it does with its dolls," said Shale.

"I.. what.. I do not do that..I..I..I just take them out to clean them and make sure they are not broken," stuttered and embarassed Alistair. "That's it, I give up. It was a dumb idea coming over to talk to you. I and going to go over there now," Alistair started to walk back to the rest of camp.

" I like shiny stones," he heard Shale say as he walked away. He stopped in mid stride and turned around. He sighed and walked back to the large golem. She was so tall and broad, she blotted out the sky when you stood too close to her.

"You like shiny stones you say, why do you like them?" he asked.

"Look at my stone body. It is grey, cold devoid of any colour,"Shale sighed. "There are so many beautiful stones in the earth, why did my maker not use them when he made me?"

Alistair's eyes widened in surprise, was the golem saying it wanted to be pretty? His smile broaden as he took out the small remarkable malachite from his pocket. Elissa and he, had found it on one of their trips. He didn't know why they had kept it just seemed a shame to leave it behind. He extended his hand out to Shale.

Shale looked down at the bright green stone in his palm. She felt a sudden feeling of excitement that she had never felt before. She opened her large stone hand, Alistair let the stone fall into it. She brought it up closer to her face. On closer inspection she could see the stone was banded with different shades of green, from the lightest to the darkest hues. She brought it to her chest and wedged the stone between two rocks the formed part of her chest.

"That looks nice," said Alistair. "I think we have just found your hobby, Shale. Oh and by the way , I think you have some bird ..stuff on your shoulder."

Shale looked up to sky and let out a roar, shaking her fists at the sky. Alistair returned to camp laughing all the way.