Summary: After the third time the likely well-meaning noble Buri Cousland knocked Alim Surana to the dirt, Natia Brosca took pity on the elf (Ostagar). Set in a universe where Duncan recruited four prospective Grey Wardens at once: f!Tabris, f!Cousland, m!Surana, and f!Brosca. Basically a grand old excuse to get my four Grey Wardens together in one place.
"You've got to learn how to fight!" Lady Buri Cousland had declared, loudly, when the soft looking mage Alim had let it slip that he'd never actually picked up a sword before.
It was only because Natia had been watching for it that she saw Alim Surana wince. The dwarf had heard stories about the elves, about how they were subservient still to the human race, but she had not yet seen it in action. Duncan had been quite adamant that as Grey Wardens they would be equals, that the chain of command was chosen through skill, and while Natia sincerely doubted that, she was still watching closely. Cousland was a noble, and a human at that. She had been very vocal, very authoritative ever since they'd met, and now that they were approaching the Joining... Well, Natia was very interested to see how the Lady would react to a challenge to her authority. It would need to be measured though, cautious. At the right time. From all counts, it certainly didn't look like either of the elves were going to do it. By rights, Natia shouldn't do it either. She should keep her head down and mouth shut, be a good little Grey Warden recruit.
But ever since Natia had come to this place with too much air, people had been treating her different. Like the face brand didn't matter, like they didn't even know what the face brand was. She had been m'lady and honor to meet you and it took all she had not to snort right in their prim, soft faces. Leske and Rica would be having a right laugh, if they could see her now. Like she got airs and shit. Real armor on her back, good steel in her hands.
An equal. Equal. The word tasted strange on her tongue, like the smell of the air up here. Hardly a mineral to it.
Duncan had said it, said to call him by name, not my lord or paragon or nothing, just Duncan, and said they were equal. That she would have status as a Grey Warden. That all Grey Wardens were so, whether they be dwarf or elf or human or casteless. Didn't seem too different from Dust Town. People paid attention to you, gave you shit, special favors, depending on who you were associated with. The Grey Wardens got respect, so Natia was getting the bit of it too. An equal, though? Well, that would require some testing. What better time than when the four of them had been left alone to get to know each other, in some part of the world surrounded by crumbling columns and with her sat on a bench, pretty as you please, right there in front of a noble? Human noble, but still. Victory where she could take it.
So, Natia was quiet for now. The soft mage with the strange markings, like a face-brand but faded, looked about helplessly, but Natia only met his gaze head on, running a rag sluggishly down one of her new blades. He wanted help? Well, there was a price for that. Lucky for him, Natia only wanted to see the show for a little while.
"I really don't think - " Alim started, again, but this was his third time at this, two more than Natia would have tolerated, and the Lady Cousland was ready for him.
"I can teach you, don't worry!" Lady Cousland told him, loudly. Did nobles not hear how loud they spoke? "I insist!" The woman said with a small grin, reaching out to grip his bicep hard for a moment, before releasing. Natia's eyebrows climbed into her hair. Insistence, from a noble? First test to Duncan's whole Grey Warden's are equal theory. Judging from the look on the mage's soft, pretty face, a human noble's insistence held the same threat over him that a dwaven noble's insistence did over Natia. Funny thing was, though, the Lady Cousland didn't... seem to see it. Was grinning, where Alim was grimacing, where Tabris was so tense it was like she was gonna pop.
Alim's mouth worked open and shut several times, gaping like a hungry nug, before he coaxed sound out, "Thank you, but - "
"Nonsense!" Lady Cousland had said, effectively silencing the elf. Natia saw the other one, Tabris, the nearly silent one with misery in her eyes, wince very minimally at the tone. "You're going to be facing darkspawn," continued Lady Cousland, oblivious to much. "They'll have swords. It'll help you face them if you know how they're going to attack you! At the very least, I can teach you the basics."
She had evidently not heard, or chosen not to hear, Alim point out, "But I can set them on fire. From afar. With my mind."
Natia rather doubted he could do as he claimed (though she did sometimes wish that the sun would catch that hideous outfit he wore with one of its firey beams), but what did she know of mages. The inherent ability hadn't seemed to help him as Cousland tried to instruct him in the basics of sword play. For starters, Alim gripped the sword like it might bite him. Those fancy fingers minced at the weapon, as if afraid the merest contact would callous up his soft hand, and Buri barely had to tap at him to drop that sword into the dirt. From where she sat, across from Tabris, Natia could count every twitch, every little wince of hers. Tabris looked like she might have more fire in her blood than Alim, but Tabris was quiet. Just two, quiet little girls, polishing their blades, while a Lady and a Mage played at something too shameful to be called fighting.
"Who taught you how to fight?" the Lady Cousland asked, loudly, and Natia didn't doubt that she missed the way that Alim grimaced. He looked for all the world like he would very much have liked to stay down in the dirt. Natia shot a glance at Tabris across the way, but the girl was quiet, stuck in a teeth gritted, purposeful silence that had her hands moving the cloth a bit too roughly over that dagger of hers. Were elves that scared of humans, even the ones they were supposedly to be bonded with? Natia supposed it was akin to her face brand. Elves had the ears instead of the brand, and Lady Cousland was a noble. Human noble, so Natia didn't really understand what that meant in terms of ranking, but it seemed similar enough.
No face brand, better than face brand. Round ears, better than knife ears.
She knew equality was too good a promise to be made for everywhere, but Duncan had said it. Grey Wardens. It was a rule then, if Duncan had said it. Natia Brosca intended to enforce it. Be nice to enforce something that meant something for once.
Still, Lady Cousland hadn't actually hurt more than Alim's pride at this point. Natia had known lessons beaten into people a lot softer than the mage with a lot more cruelty. Though Lady Cousland hadn't done so yet, Natia turned her eyes back to the human, watching quietly from the side. It could turn yet, and quickly. One solid blow looked like it could shatter the darkly tanned elf.
"Surprisingly, there was a shortage of weapons training at the Circle Tower," Alim droned, getting to his hands and knees again. Slowly, Natia put her cloth away, drawing her other dagger. She didn't get to her feet, not yet, but she was tense. Kept an eye on Tabris, across the way, who had stilled. Girl was like her, watching, but now those eyes were locked on Natia. The dwarf gave her a wink.
Alim reached out to pick up the sword on his way back to his feet, still talking, "The Templars amazingly didn't want mages trained with anything that might make us better threats once they take our magic - " That was a mistake. Rookie one, as well; never talk, never talk when you have to fight, when your enemy is armed and bearing down on you. Lady Cousland knew that, saw that, and Alim was standing, sword held loosely in a hand, and the Lady she brought her sword down in a high, wide, are-you-kidding-me arc that Alim would not react fast enough to stop, not even with Cousland going at half speed.
Natia lunged, catching the sword in a dagger and swinging it high, enough to duck under, and slammed her whole body weight in Lady Cousland's shield. The Lady stumbled backwards, foot over foot over foot, armor clanging as she settled back. By that time, Natia had set herself directly in front of the mage, both daggers out. She wanted to check Tabris' expression, but didn't dare, 'cause she didn't know this Lady yet. Natia wasted moments expecting an attack, while the Lady Cousland only stumbled back, settled, and showed no counter. Pity. Tabris' expression was probably something epic.
Wide eyed, the Lady looked at her in confusion. "What are you doing?"
"Who taught you how to fight?" Natia asked, a small smirk playing at her lips. Lady Cousland's face uglied into a frown.
"My father," Lady Cousland said, and the tone was low. Dangerous. Warning. Natia's eyebrows shot up into her hairline, eyes widening, but a small smirk played at her lips. Did Lady Cousland have any bite to back up that venom? Did they teach that voice to nobles special?
"Aye, and nice, slick, and honorable he was I reckon," Natia said, flipping her main hand dagger once. Twice. Any duster would know that she was taunting them - I don't have to keep my hands on my weapons to beat you - but Lady Cousland kept that stare on her face. She ought to be careful before that ugly set in permanent. "And that's all well and good in one of your fancy battles, what like dwarven nobles have in combat in arenas and real nice duels, eh? But these are darkspawn. I ain't never seen one, but I reckon, and I reckon good, that darkspawn will fight like any decent duster. And, Lady, you wouldn't'a lasted one day."
Behind her, Natia could hear Alim stirring, standing, dusting off his great mage robes. He knew enough to keep his damn mouth shut and accept a good thing, though, which was more than Natia could say for Lady Cousland.
"Listen, I don't much care for your tone - " Lady Cousland started, her voice high and mighty like she was used to people shutting up and taking notice. Spoke too slowly for someone who had to fight to be heard.
"My tone? Think darkspawn give a shit 'bout my tone?" Natia said, loudly, speaking over the noble. Oh, and the way Cousland's face pinched to hear it! Made a smirk dance dangerously over the duster's face. "Listen, Lady, you wanna learn how to fight darkspawn? Wanna fight something that don't drop a sword the second you swing at 'im?" Natia turned, giving the mage the full pleasure of her smirk. "Some offense meant."
The mage blinked, hesitating only a moment before dryly conceding, "Some taken."
Lady Cousland was practically steaming in her armor when Natia looked back to her. "Well, here I am. Dwarf. Best Darkspawn fighters you've ever, never known." Natia raised her arms out to the side, come at me, but the Lady Cousland didn't so much as waver in her stance. Lady was trained, Natia could give her that. But could she think for herself? Natia adjusted her grips on her daggers, assuming a very loose, gentle fighting stance that was as familiar as just standing. "Wanna learn some darkspawn killing secrets? I got a million."
"But you just said you've never seen one!" Lady Cousland protested. Her stance wavered a bit, slacked, and hey, so she wasn't made of some rock or nothing.
"Well, if you're teaching the mage, I ain't letting you just teach him that daddy's honor. Get him killed, get you killed." Natia glanced behind her, as if conspiratorially, then leaned forward a bit, "'Cause the way you swingin' that thing, it looks like you've never been in a real fight before. Else you'd know I'm right with what I'm saying."
If Rica were here, she'd have hit her. Natia had known too many dusters to be scared off by mean looks, but Lady Cousland almost gave her pause. Almost.
Natia shrugged, exaggeratedly. "Look, don't take it from me," she said. "He should learn daggers, not get knocked around in the dirt by some lout with a shield."
Cousland looked flabbergasted, as if confused why there was any defending going on and wasn't that just like a noble, eyes going from Alim to Natia. "That wasn't - I wasn't - that's how you learn! You get knocked down, you get back up again, you - "
"Tabris will back me up!" Natia cut in, even though she knew no such thing. What she did know was, when every pair of eyes swiveled to her, the elf was not moving. Frozen, like a statue, for a good two seconds.
Very slowly, Tabris looked from Natia to the Lady Cousland, her face a little paler than it had been before, Natia could have sworn. Then, looking back to her dagger, Tabris said quietly, "Anyone gets through us to get to him, it'll probably be a rogue. That's what he should be learning to defend against."
"Crazy idea. What if I just light everyone on fire indiscriminately?" Alim spoke up from somewhere behind them. "That way, I don't need to worry about any blades in my general vicinity ever again?"
"You should still learn to counter fighting styles, for when that fire burns out," Tabris said, without missing a beat, and good, Natia was glad to see some fire in her. Whatever it was, the girl was silent and if she was a duster like Natia, then the dwarf's guess would be real bad, pound-ya-in-the-dirt bad times. "Daggers are more versatile."
"Yeah, yeah, yeah!" Natia said, nodding enthusiastically. "I mean, I don't know what that word means, but also, I mean, just - cause y'know, pair of daggers is better than a sword and shield any day. Honestly, Lady, you ever fought somebody weren't being paid to take it easy on you?"
Lady Cousland's face wasn't uglied by anger anymore, she was too controlled for that. Too stiff. Her mouth was a grim line, that barely opened to allow the stiff words, "Let's go a few rounds. Fine out."
Natia laughed, loud and from the belly. "Now you're speaking my language, human. Alim, get your soft butt over there and sit next to Tabris and watch, maybe you'll pick something up."
"Oh, don't count on it," the mage said, moving over to sit. He did sit a little further from Tabris than looked comfortable on that small of a bench, but he did sit eagerly. Like Rica, when Mama used to give lessons, so wide eyed and stiff about reading. "I think that Duncan would prefer it not go too far, though," he continued, and why was it he was saying it more to Natia than the Lady that nearly knocked him over? "But, uhm, if there is, I just want you both to know healing isn't my specialty but I will certainly try my best to -" Alim wiggled his fingers a bit, looking lost even as he did it.
Natia stared at him a moment, to see if he was serious. Then, a grin broke out over her face. "Lookit me, all fancy! Healing spells! My, Alim, you know how to make a girl feel special, but I don't want you taking none from the Lady, now, she'll be needing it more than little old me, count on - "
She was probably asking for Cousland's shield impacting her face, clipping her just under her chin, but Natia was too smiley to even be all that mad about it. At least it was initiative, at least it was something Leske woulda done, but Leske would've been a proper duster about it and done it as soon as Natia looked away. These three got ways to go, but ain't none of them tried to tell her she was less than for speaking, not even when she got really annoying about it. Equals, huh? Natia could get used to that, even if Lady looked pretty uppity still. Maybe Natia ought to tell her later why she did it, tell her that the elves were gonna see things a bit different than Miss High and Mighty and, hey, didn't she get the same equality speech from Duncan? For now, though, Natia Brosca just laughed in that human noble's face.
"Hey, that was hardly noble of ya! What're people gonna think, Lady?!"