9:20 Dragon Age

On the main road, Arl Eamon of Redcliffe was traveling with his sort-of adopted son, Alistair. He was a twelve-year-old sullen boy with blonde hair and hazel eyes. He was angry that he was being sent away to the Chantry to become a Templar. Upon finding out that this news, he threw a horrible tantrum. He didn't want to go.

Arl Eamon tried to talk to to Alistair in an attempt to make some kind of conversation in hopes to cheer him up, but he just remained stubbornly silent, staring off out the window of the carriage. He refused to speak to him, let alone acknowledge his presence.

The Arl didn't want to send Alistair away, but what was he supposed to do? His marriage was already at stake with his new wife, Isolde. She didn't like that he had taken an interest in the boy. She accused him of cheating on her...and this was his bastard son. Arl assured her that Alistair was not, but he made a promise to look after him. She was not moved at all.

It's me or the boy. Arl Eamon kept hearing from her.

"Let's stop here for a moment and rest," suggested Arl Eamon.

The soldiers and servants set up a camp just off the main road. They got a fire going and the servants cooked food for them. The Arl and Alistair sat in front of the fire on a blanket. The boy remained stubbornly silent, hugging his knees and looking down. The arl looked at the blond, frowny boy.

The silence between them was long and uncomfortable. Arl Eamon knew he had to talk to him like he always encouraged him to express his opinion or feelings. With an exhale, he began to break the ice.

"Alistair..."

Before the noble could even begin his sentence, the boy just got up from the blanket and stormed away. Arl Eamon frowned; he figured this was how he would react.

"Where are you going?" he asked.

"Away," Alistair snapped.

Arl Eamon assumed that he just wanted to be alone so he could collect his thoughts. Maybe he'd sulk there for a while.

Alistair went deep into the woods to relieve himself. He thought about running away. Where would he go? He didn't know. All these thoughts were tempting to him.

Twelve-year-old Lillianth Mahriel was being taught to survive while living in the forest. Since her childhood, she had been taught that humans were bad and how they enslaved her ancestors. Yet she was a curious child, so desperate to know why they were bad. Often she wandered away from the Dalish camp to explore the forest, sometimes getting close to the roads to see humans. She wanted to see what they were like since it was rare for humans to pass through the camp...at times, the Grey Wardens or traders would pass. Other humans were driven away by the scouts.

Feeling particularly bored at the camp, Lillianth decided to sneak out of the camp to see if there were any tonight. Luckily there was a group of them that pulled over to stop and rest. She would keep her distance by hiding in the bushes to observe them. Her green eyes squinted as she looked at them, moving a strand of red hair away from her face. The group consisted of a few soldiers, some flat-ears that looked like servants, an older man dressed elegantly and a 12-year-old boy. You saw the human boy walking in the woods. He stopped behind some bushes, undoing his trousers and...

Oh!

Blushing, she looked away and waited until he finished. She wanted to get closer to see the human. Once he finished, she watched the human. The boy was muttering to himself angrily. Then he threw a tantrum, breaking some sticks nearby and throwing rocks (one barely missing you).

Alistair sighed, sitting down near a tree. He was beyond angry. He didn't understand why was Arl Eamon sending him away. He wondered if he did something wrong. Did the Arl hate him? Did he not want him anymore? He felt tears pricking his hazel eyes; he didn't want to cry, yet he was just so hurt. First it was being sent to sleep in the stables by the Arlessa and now he was being sent away forever. It wasn't fair!

His ears pricked up when he heard a snap of a dry twig to his right near the bushes. He looked around to see where it came from.

"Is someone there?" Alistair called.

Lillianth cursed to herself. She tried to be stealthy as possible while getting a closer look at the human boy. She was embarrassed that she couldn't seem to get this right especially while hunting. Her teachers assured she would get it eventually. She stayed quiet, holding her breath so she wouldn't get caught, silently hoping the boy would forget about it. She looked around and saw the boy was gone.

I should get back, Lillianth thought to herself. Hahren will be especially angry if he finds out I wandered away from the camp again.

"Hello," said a voice behind her

Startled, the Dalish elf whipped around and saw...the human boy! He was staring at you curiously. She was too scared to move.

Alistair had seen Elves before in Arl Eamon's castle as servants...but this one was different. Her red hair was too wild to be a city elf and her clothes looked like they were handmade from animal skins.

Swiftly, she scrambled and took off running, her heart pounding wildly. Oh! If she had been caught, who knows what Hahren would do? As if Lillianth was enough of a troublemaker already. Hahren Paivel and the Keeper often scolded her for being a little hellion; making jokes during stories, playing pranks on the other children, wandering away from the camp and so forth.

"HEY!" called Alistair. "Wait! Come back!"

The Dalish elf kept running and he ran after her. She tried to evade him, but he was pretty fast...and of course, she tripped over a branch. Creators above! She was nothing but an embarrassment to the Dalish tribe!

"Are you alright?" the human boy said, panting as he caught up.

Lillianth's mind scrambled for a plan to make him go away. She spoke in Elvish, pretending not to understand him. She hope this would make him leave. It wasn't a very good plan, but she was still a da'len.

Alistair frowned. "Sorry, what did you say?" he asked.

She just remained silent, staring at the human boy. She was panicking and had no idea how to handle this. If the scouts were here, they would've driven him off already. But she was miles from camp and had no weapons. Oh Creators above! You were in big trouble now!

"I'm not going to hurt you," he promised.

The Dalish elf blinked her emerald eyes a few times, listening to him. She decided to trust him and decided to take him back to his camp so she and the human wouldn't be in so much trouble. She nodded and stood up, dusting herself off. She began to look at the trail where they were running, tracking the footsteps and disturbances of the forest floor. You were glad the hunters taught you this in case you got lost.

"What's your name?" asked Alistair.

"Lillianth," she replied.

"I'm Alistair."

Another silent nod, she was trying to concentrate on the tracks so she could take the human back to his camp.

"Why are you here anyway?" asked Alistair. "I'm gonna guess you're a Dalish. I thought they stayed away from humans."

"I dunno," she replied with a shrug. "I want to see what they're like, I guess. I don't see anything bad about them."

Alistair chuckled a bit. "What do you mean 'bad'?"

"It's...not important," she said abruptly, not wanting to offend the human. "Besides, you need to get out of here before the scouts come this way. I'll take you back to your camp."

"I don't want to go back," said Alistair sulkily.

Lillianth raised her eyebrow a bit. What human wouldn't want to go back? This certainly odd. She glanced over towards the direction her camp was, praying the scouts wouldn't be heading this way. Creators above if they found out that she had not only wandered away from camp, but were caught interacting with a human boy.

"Still, you can't be here," she said.

"Why not?"

"The scouts will kill you."

"Well, honestly, I don't care anymore," he said. "Nobody cares how I feel."

Lillianth frowned at the boy's petulant stubbornness. Yet she wished she could understand how he felt. Sometimes she did feel like that, but knew she had to follow traditions of the Dalish. After all, her adopted mother, Ashelle,did love you. Yet she wondered what really happened to her parents, but the Dalish way was to not look back into the past. It was to keep moving forwards.

"Why?" Lillianth asked.

"My..." he began, rubbing the back of his neck, unsure of how to address the arl since he didn't want to confuse the young Dalish. "My guardian is sending me away to the Chantry to become a templar, but I don't want to go."

"Why don't you want to become a templar?" she asked.

"It's not about that. It's the fact that my guardian is abandoning me. He won't tell me why. He just said..." Then mimicked Arl Eamon's voice. "'It's what's best for you'."

Lillianth wasn't sure how to respond. "I'm...sorry?" she replied a bit awkward.

"You think I could come and live with you and your tribe?" asked Alistar; he really wanted some excitement.

"As much as the idea is tempting," she chuckled. "But it's not a good one. My tribe won't hesitate to kill humans."

"Oh really?" Alistair challenged. "How come they don't kill Grey Wardens?"

"Because they are heroes. We respect them enough to allow them to visit. They only come to seek recruits anyway."

"Well then, I'll just have to become a Grey Warden and seek you out then," he replied with a smirk.

Lillianth rolled her eyes at the blond boy's humor. "For you to become a Grey Warden would take you YEARS," she answered. "I doubt we'll see each other by then."

"Well, I won't forget you," said Alistair.

"Well, should I become a Grey Warden," she answered playfully. "I'll pay you if I lose that wager."

"It's a bet, Lillianth." Upon arriving at his camp, he pouted a bit, looking there and at the Dalish elf child. "Well, I suppose...see you in a few years then...if it does happen."

"Sure, Alistair," she said. "I'll have my bag of gold ready when the time comes."

She watched Alistair go back to his camp safely. Then swiftly dashed away, hoping to be back to the camp before the scouts could find out, going back to the Dalish camp. She had a feeling she probably wouldn't be seeing the human boy named Alistair again.

...then again...who knows?