Chapter 1
Bodahn Feddic looked in wonder at the quiet toddler sitting in the midst of the ruins of the thaig. This outlying tunnel had been recently attacked and Bodahn had thought it deserted. The Infant looked up at him with enormous watery blue eyes, uncommon among dwarfs. Bodahn, had no wife or children of his own, but had grown up with plenty of nieces and nephews. He instinctively picked up the child and went looking for his parents. If the child was here and in good health, surely there was an adult with it.
Bodahn looked all over the little settlement. Only the gruesome remains of the previous inhabitants seemed to linger. He began to fret over the child. What kind of monster would leave a babe in a tunnel that had only just had darkspawn activity? The more he thought of it, the less he thought he should give the boy back to whoever would do such a thing.
He placed the boy in his cart along with the meager items he had acquired on the way. Some shovels, a few bits of jewelry, some clothes and a pair of sandals. The babe was immediately fascinated with the shinning baubles, cooing and reaching for them with his stubby hands. Bodahn, seeing no harm in it, handed the boy a gold necklace to play with. The child very seriously examined it meticulously.
"What a curious child" Bodahn commented to no one at all. Travelling alone all the time, he was used to talking to himself. Seeing that the child was well, he made his way to the encampment. These folks had been lyrium miners, barely a step above Dusters in the severely stratified dwarven society. Some baskets of raw lyrium testified to a nearby vein of the precious material. Bodahn quietly moved some of the lyrium to a strongbox on his cart. When the mine owners came, it wouldn't do for them to find everything gone. However, a bit of salvage never hurt anyone. He went into the nearest hovel and looked for any valuables. Picking up a few baubles and curiosities, he moved on to the second hut.
Within he saw a man, a woman and a small girl, barely older than the babe on his cart, all slaughtered viciously by the darkspawn, weeks ago. Bodahn lowered his head in reverence and gave a quick prayer to the Ancestors, commending these poor souls into the Stone. He looked around, finding mostly clothes and trampled food within. He knew better than to take anything organic from where darkspawn had been. He searched the bedrooms and there he made a startling discovery, a crib turned on its side during the struggle.
Bodahn frowned. The only babe, living or dead, he had seen was the boy on his cart. He found clothes, shoes the right size for the child he had picked up. A creeping cold ran down his spine.
"It cannot be that child, surely the monsters took these people's babe with them...surely." Bodahn muttered to himself, absently picking up toys and clothes appropriate for the boy.
Leaving the house he looked at the slaughtered family again and was struck by the woman's fair hair as she lay face down next to her husband for eternity. The girl was fair as well...like the boy.
"A family member, a nephew perhaps? The mother may have been so distraught that she...forgot...her own child?" Bodahn tried to wrap his head around the enigma of the living child. He looked to the cart and there was the babe, still playing with the necklace, carefully running the gold chain over his little hands. The babe seemed to feel Bodahn's gaze and pierced him with his pale gaze.
Bodahn shuddered and looked to the family again. Part of him wanted to know, part of him wanted to run away from all of this, cart, baby and all. However a lifetime of caring for his sisters' babes would not let him do such a travesty. He placed the baby clothes and effect in a box near the lyrium.
He looked at the baby in his cart one more time. "What will I call you? No one here can tell me your name." At the sound the baby looked into Bodahn's eyes for the first time and gave him a goofy smile. Leaving the necklace, the boy crawled towards the other wares in the cart. He sat on the pile of clothes and solemnly picked up one of the sandals there. He offered it up to Bodahn, making an inquiring sound.
"That's a sandal, boy. No need for that now" He said fondly. The babe insisted, pushing the shoe at Bodahn. He took it even as the child picked up the other one and put it on his head. Bodahn couldn't help but smile. "You like them sandals, don't you?" The boy smiled his gap toothed smile again, offering the second sandal to Bodahn. "Well, sandal-boy, I will head towards town and see who is missing you, eh?"
Having decided, he packed up his meager findings and headed back towards the living, letting the dead keep their secrets.