"Will you please hurry up!" Morrigan's sharp voice cut through Kalyssa's turbulent mind as the back of her head smacked firmly into the stomach of the witch for the hundredth time that day.
"Then you lead instead!" Kalyssa shouted. "You do realise I have no idea where I am going, and if you want to do all the complaining about my pace than you take the point and I'll follow you!"
Morrigan grumbled to herself and pushed passed the dwarven woman to stomp angrily down the path, leaving Alistair sniggering in her wake as they followed.
"You are walking pretty slowly Kaylssa, is anything wrong?" Alistair asked her, falling into her slow step to walk beside her, her new-found mabari bounding after Morrigan, much to her displeasure.
"Oh it's nothing, it's silly." Kalyssa replied.
"I'm very good at silly things," Alistair grinned.
"I bet." the dwarf chuckled. "But this is a little sillier than suggesting you put on a dress and dance the remigold Alistair,"
"Like I said I might for you, as long as it's a pretty dress. I happen to look quite fetching in a dress."
Kaylssa laughed, the easy humour of Alistair soothing her as it often did. She was beginning to really like her companions, she had never met a human before apart from Duncan, and she was pleasantly surprised by the comforting presence Alistair provided.
"But seriously, something is bothering you. I'd like to maybe help if I can," Alistair went on.
"I told you it's silly. I just feel...frightened,"
"By what?"
"That." Kaylssa pointed straight up into the sky.
Alistair frowned upwards in confusion. Kaylssa waved her hands about dismissively.
"Never mind it's ridiculous." she said.
"No no, I want to know. What's so scary about the sky?"
"Look at it! It's so big and empty and...there's nothing up there! I feel as though I'm about to fall up into it, sucked up into the vast nothingness!"
A look of realisation dawned on Alistair's face. "You're from Orzammar!"
"Well obviously, where did you think I was from the Dales?" Kalyssa rolled her eyes.
"Well, I mean not all dwarves come from Orzammar...you could have been a surface dwarf..." Alistair stammered, rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly. "Sorry..."
"It's alright." Kaylssa dismissed. "I never told you, I just assumed you'd know."
"Well now that I do your fear of the sky makes sense. I've heard of many dwarves who fear falling into the sky. It must be a very different environment for you, not having a ceiling over you,"
"Yes. It's unsettling, and all this green stuff everywhere! And this mucky brown stuff! And this – what is this?" Kalyssa pulled a flower from the ground, holding it up with suspicion.
Alistair smiled, finding the dwarf's confusion cute. "It's called a flower. The brown stuff is mud and dirt, and the green stuff is grass."
Kalyssa tossed the flower behind her as she kept walking. "What's the point of these...flowers?"
"Well, some flowers can be used in medicines or perfumes, but mostly they're just pretty."
"Hm." Kalyssa looked around at the flowers that were growing along the path. She pointed at one bush of flowers a little ways away. "I like those. What are they called?"
Alistair's smile warmed. "They're roses." he said. "Careful, they have thorns."
"Roses." Kalyssa smiled as she carefully snipped one with her dagger and carried it with her. "Oh! Alistair help! It's falling apart!"
Alistair gently took the rose from her hands. "It's alright, when a flower is pulled from the ground like that they all eventually wither. Flowers are delicate, the petals are just getting knocked off that's all."
"I killed it?" Kalyssa looked simply heartbroken.
"Don't worry, where it falls, it will grow back." Alistair assured.
"Oh. That's good." she smiled in response. "You know something, I think I'm beginning to like the surface. We don't have anything pretty like this in Orzammar."
"I think you did," Alistair smiled.
Kalyssa looked up at him, and noticing the look in his eyes, she felt her cheeks flush and she quickened her pace.
"W-We should catch up with Morrigan," she mumbled looking away.
Alistair watched after her, smiling gently. He'd never met a dwarven woman before, but he was beginning to like them.