Dalish Roots

by Raspberry-Milkyway

After being infected with the Darkspawn taint, Aedalan finds himself tossed into a... not-so-brief foray into a more civilized wilderness than he's used to. An Antivan assassin that once sought to kill him decides to help him a bit with this transition, and knowing Zevran he has a lot more on his mind on what he wants to do. Male slash, rated M for later chapters.

To foreigners, Ferelden is a cold, hard land that raised her people to be harsh and unforgiving with a fine love for dogs. These impressions weren't all that untrue either. The land itself was hard to plow, and when it wasn't hard it was so muddy that you sunk to your knees whenever you tried to tread the wrong path. This country was unkind to her people, and raised them to be just as cold and inconsiderate… but either way this is where our story begins.

There are several clans of Dalish elves that live in Ferelden, but the one of which we speak suffered a great loss. Two of its young hunters suffered poor fates. One was returned to them, delirious with fever and on the very brink of death. The other was missing. No hunters could find him, and none dared look to hard and risk themselves being infected with whatever it was that was wrong with the hunter that was returned to them. The man who had brought this hunter back was none other than a Gray Warden, and in the end he saved this hunter's life twice. The first time, bringing him back to his clan, and the second time taking him away from it.

In the end, the Dalish boy fought a battle that wasn't truly his to fight. The battle was a disaster. The King perished with all the other Gray Wardens that had been there, and they were all betrayed by Loghain. The General fled from battle, taking his men with him at that crucial moment when they needed reinforcements and labeled any surviving Wardens as traitors instead of pointing the blame where it needed to be. By chance, our hunter had been plucked from the very fires of war. Rescued by none other than Asha'Bellanar, more commonly known as the Witch of the Wilds.

While under her care, the two remaining Wardens' path was set. It was up to them, and only them, to take the treaties and bring their allies under their banner. The road would be long and difficult, but to bless them with their task, the witch pushed her only daughter to go with them. Morrigan was less than pleased with this development, but she went with them nonetheless. Their first stop was Lothering… and on the way there the hunter picked up another companion. A strong mabari that he had rescued while in Ostagar.

Leliana, a chantry Sister who was a little off the deep end also joined them. She had said that the Maker told her to join in on this quest, and as long as she believed that, the Dalish Warden was happy to let her come along with them. Sten, a stoic Qunari warrior that was caged for killing an entire family of farmers with his bare hands. It was feared that he would just remove them as well, but they had a glorious enough of a purpose that he was willing to follow.

The first order of business was to seek an audience with Arl Eamon of Redcliffe. What they found was a right mess. Undead creatures attacked the village at night and none had heard anything from the castle. And that was the start of the Warden's very long career of helping everyone else with their problems. He stormed the castle, removed the corpses and forced the demon-possessed child of the hold flee. Instead of dealing with it right then and there, the hunter decided it would be best to wait, to see if the circle would do anything to help them.

And so to the circle they went. The tower was overrun with abominations, and the templars had already sent request for the Right of Annulment. Stepping up to the plate, the Wardens fought their way up, promising the mages that they would save as many of them as they possibly could… and in the end they rescued the First Enchanter and defeated the madman who had incited the riot. Thanks to what he had done for the circle, Irving decided to give him aid to help the boy in Redcliffe. On the return trip is where we really begin.