Title: Safe Keeping
Characters: Zevran and Fem!City-Elf (Kallian Tabris)
Word Count: 500
Rating: PG
Summary: Kallian surprises Zevran with a gift. (We all know what happens when you give gifts to the companions, but I've always wondered what kind of conversations may ensue when you gives things that aren't labeled as "gifts" to them (such as certain pieces of armor, or weapons).
Author's Note: This time gabriel_chaos requested anything with Zevran in it. I was more then happy to comply :-)

Safe Keeping

Zevran swallowed, the action drawing her attention – if only briefly – to the corded muscles of his throat. "But this belonged to your Mother, did it not?"

"It did."

"I can not deny that it is...exquisite." Zevran held the hilt of the dagger in his left hand, a look of reverence on his face as he felt the weight of the blade against his palm. After a long moment, he tossed the blade from one hand to the next, unsheathed his axe, and dropped down into a feigned fighting stance. He moved quickly, thrusting the blade out into the air in an imitation of a flurry, before spinning on his heel, in a whirlwind of metal. Kallian watched: a smile played across his lips, his lithe body a sight to behold. Appearing satisfied, he straightened once more. "And it is supremely well crafted, the balance is perfection."

Kallian broke into a grin, "I knew that if anyone could appreciate it, it would be you, Zev."

"Still, I can not except this." He deftly flipped Fang around, catching it by the blade and holding it out towards her, hilt first. She blinked at him in confusion.

"Why ever not? It's a gift, Zev. I've given you quite a few in the past, if I recall."

"Well yes, and I thank you again for each and everyone of them. But this...I saw your father give you this, Kallian. Why would you give it to me?" His amber eyes were smoldering with something undefinable as he watched her. Some unfamiliar emotion coiled in her belly as she stared back, intimately aware of the fact that she could count on one hand the number of times he had addressed her by name. This time made four.

"Any number of reasons, really. You know how rough I am with daggers. Always breaking them in two, or losing them inside an Ogre's belly. I just don't have your...finesse with them." She let lose a small laugh, and he smiled warmly back at her, "I'm much better off wielding Topsider and Keening like I do. They fit my disposition better. So really, I consider this safe-keeping for Fang. It's either you take it, or it gets stashed with Levi up at Warden's Keep for the foreseeable future."

"Well, we wouldn't want that now, would we?"

"Certainly not."

"Regardless-"

Kallian placed a warning hand on Zevran's forearm, "I insist, Zev. It's a gift. Please?" She squeezed, ever so gently, to press her point home.

Zevran's amber gaze flickered to where her hand rested. "Well, I've never been one to tell a beautiful woman no...especially not one who has insisted." He leered, the action so distinctly Zevran, that it warmed her heart.

"You see? We wouldn't want to mar your perfect record."

"Maker forfend." He smiled, an honest to goodness no leering involved, smile. The action brightened up his face remarkably.