You've Been Staring

Disclaimer: I do not own Dragon Age.

Note: The prompt was something to do with Zevran and hair.

"You are staring at my hair," Zevran Arainai announced at camp one night on the way to Denerim.

"Am I?" Aunn Aeducan asked, blinking.

"Yes and for quite some time as well," he confirmed. "See anything that you like?"

"Clearly I must have or I would have looked away," Aunn replied. "Well…either that or I really hated it and couldn't tear my eyes away. As it happens, you were right: I like your hair."

"I must confess, that's the sort of thing that I would expect to hear from coming from Leliana rather than you," Zevran told her.

"Well, she's already had the 'I like your hair' conversation with me, Alistair, Wynne, Sten, and Morrigan so I'm sure she'll get around to talking to you about yours sooner or later," Aunn assured him.

"Unless, of course, she doesn't like my hair," Zevran pointed out.

Aunn laughed. "Please, Leliana likes everyone's hair. You'll get your turn."

"If she likes everyone's hair then clearly she's not very selective," Zevran reasoned. "And as such, I don't know how mine compares to other peoples'. You, however, don't normally go around gushing about how much you love other peoples' hair so you'd probably be a more telling judge. Of course, you also wouldn't have told me that you liked mine if I hadn't caught you staring at it. You don't seem to go around staring at other peoples' hair, though, so maybe you are selective. Or maybe I just didn't notice."

"Or maybe you are seriously over thinking this," Aunn told him, rolling her eyes.

"That's always a possibility," Zevran conceded. "But in my line of work I've found that it pays to over think things rather than risk under thinking them."

"In my line of work it does, too," Aunn agreed. She paused. "Although I'm not really sure that being a Princess was a line of work…"

"So what say you? Do you like my hair or not?" Zevran inquired.

Aunn tilted her head. "Does it really matter?"

"Not so much that I'd go around randomly asking strangers or even my companions, no, but since you were already staring and I am getting quite curious I would like some sort of answer," Zevran replied.

Aunn shrugged. "Alright then: yes, I am fond of your hairstyle. I always have been and it reminds me of-" She cut herself off.

"It reminds you of?" Zevran prompted.

"My brother," Aunn replied quickly. "His hair was like yours and, now that I think of it, Cailan's was, too. It's always seemed to be a very regal style and I do so like regal things."

"I thought you said that your brother had hair like Alistair's," Zevran reminded her.

Aunn shook her head. "Oh no, that was the other one. He always looked much less regal and I suppose that may have helped him keep up his façade of harmlessness all these years…"

"Since I seem to recall you saying that your evil brother looked like Alistair, does that mean that your other brother was not evil?" Zevran asked.

"Trian wasn't exactly evil just….well, Trian," Aunn attempted to explain. "Very presumptuous, certainly, and never very fond of me but that's hardly a crime. And lest I be forced to correct myself later…I'm not entirely sure Bhelen's evil although since he did try to have me killed and framed me for Trian's death I reserve the right to call him that."

"So if your brother who had this hairstyle died and your King who had this hairstyle died-" Zevran started to say.

"Yeah, Cailan was hardly my King," Aunn interrupted. "My King was my father – who had a completely different hairstyle – although now that I'm exiled I suppose I don't have a King anymore. I know that I will certainly not accept that a human would have sovereignty over me."

"That might make it a little difficult to live in Ferelden," Zevran pointed out.

Aunn shrugged. "Who says I plan on living in Ferelden? I'm just here until the Blight's over and then I'll go find something more interesting to do and somewhere more interesting to live."

"Try Antiva," Zevran advised. "It's a fascinating city and so long as you can handle yourself with a sword – which you most certainly can – you won't have any problems."

"I'll think about it," Aunn said noncommittally. "Although I've got to say that living on the Surface at all really doesn't appeal to me so I doubt I'll be too thrilled about any of my options. Those are thoughts for later, though; you were saying something about how Trian and Cailan are both dead?"

"Ah, of course," Zevran said with a nod. "I was saying that, while my hairstyle is pretty phenomenal, if the people you know who had it all died then maybe having this hairstyle isn't great for my long-term survival plans."

"Not everyone I know with that hairstyle has been killed," Aunn countered. "Although the other person I really knew who had it did get crippled so perhaps that's not the best example…Cailan died because he was on the front line of a battle that turned into a massacre and I really doubt Trian's hair played much – if any – a part in his death."

"That may be true but given that assassins don't have a very high life expectancy and the Crows are already after me, I'm really not sure that I should risk jinxing myself," Zevran told her.

"You're not seriously thinking about changing it, are you?" Aunn asked skeptically. "What would you even change it to, anyway?"

"That is a good question," Zevran remarked, tapping his chin thoughtfully. "I've always been so very fond of this style that it really hadn't occurred to me to change it. How do you think I would look with Alistair's hair?"

Aunn attempted to picture it and promptly started giggling. "That…that style is hard to take seriously and…well, I just don't think it's you."

"Maybe not," Zevran agreed. "That's how Taliesin wears his hair, anyway, and I wouldn't want him to accuse me of copying him should I ever run into him again and he attempts to kill me. How about that one style the tortured Templar had? Cullen, I think it was."

"Better than Alistair's style but still…weird," Aunn declared.

"Sten's style?" Zevran suggested.

"That would be really very bizarre," Aunn nixed. "Plus your hair doesn't seem long enough for that."

"Jowan's style?" Zevran was clearly running out of ideas.

Aunn made a face. "That's fine if you're good with me pretending I don't know you."

"Wynne's style?" Zevran asked, looking a little desperate.

"I'm thinking no," Aunn told him. She paused, considering. "Although…while that ponytail is far too no-nonsense to fit you a ponytail might not be a bad fit if you're really looking for a change. You could get one like Duncan's easily enough."

"Duncan?" Zevran repeated blankly.

"He was the Warden that recruited me and Alistair's surrogate father," Aunn explained shortly. "Don't bring him up around Alistair unless you want to start a very long conversation."

"I'll save that for when I have more time or am really bored then," Zevran decided. "But since I have never met this 'Duncan' character then perhaps you can describe to me how his hair looked?"

"There's…really not much to say, really," Aunn told him. "And I've never been very good at describing things anyway. It was just a low medium-size ponytail that looks like it could be pulled off with hair about your length. It was pretty badass, though. Part of that was just because of how awesome Duncan was but the hair definitely helped."

"So…like this?" Deftly, Zevran scooped his hair up into a low ponytail very similar to the one Duncan usually sported.

"Pretty much, yes," Aunn agreed.

Leliana walked up to them then, looking mildly distressed. "Oh, but I was just coming to talk to you about how much I loved your hair! Although, I do like this style, too…"

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