Disclaimer: I own nothing.
Authors Note
A selection of ficlets, I suppose, rather than drabbles, makes up one complete story alone. Based around my warden, Fortuna Amell, so if you want to copy paste to word, and change Fortuna to whatever you called your Mage Warden (I think it's ok for those who opted for elves also, I keep the descriptions pretty minimal for this reason, but you'd have to change Amell also, obviously) to read it, then that's ok. No physical description of the warden is included, and maybe a slight one sided Amell/Anders hinted at later. Blame it on Lindsay love; she commissioned an Anders plushie for my birthday present, which I very much adore. Anywho, feedback welcome, and please enjoy.
Day Off Drabbles: Prologue
For a woman now in charge of the entire Grey Warden presence in Ferelden, it troubled Commander Fortuna Amell that her experience of the order was so limited. Duncan she had known little more than a fortnight, and he had perished at Ostagar. Alistair, who she fought alongside for most of the year had taken up the (unwanted) mantle of king, and couldn't really find much time for her now because of it. She had spent about a fortnight with the Orlesian warden, Riordan, who had also perished in battle, but most of his attention had been on Arl Eamon and then, on Alistair. Riordan probably would have been a useful person to talk to, but he seemed convinced it should be she who took the taint of the Archdemon and perished if he did not succeed in doing so himself.
Understandably then, that even a year later, all this left her at a bit of a loss as to how Wardens were supposed to act when there wasn't a Blight. It was a mixed blessing there were Darkspawn still about above ground at all; giving her a sense of purpose but the terror to the populace of Amaranthine was an issue she needed to confront.
Despite this, she had more time on her hands than she knew what to do with, even with all the bureaucracy that came with the post. Mistress Woolsey thankfully took care of the Warden reports, but Amell was still accountable to the crown. She could justify the stipends to those under her jurisdiction, but their actions? Maybe how the Wardens were spending their time needed to be looked at too? With the idea of what she wanted to accomplish set in mind, Fortuna reached for her ink stone and quill, and a blank vellum sheet to write a new decree.
Sigrun spotted Amell strolling out of her office with purpose in her stride and smiled. Things were looking up. It was the mood of the Commander that set the morale for the keep, and of late she had been restless, irritable and distracted. This spread amongst the senior staff, and everyone else was feeling the strain. Woe betides anyone who cracked a joke, Anders had tried and she had immediately sent him to patrol in the rain. Nathaniel had a more delicate approach but her response had been to put him on night patrol…in the rain.
With her two favourites getting such harsh treatment, everyone else just kept their distance. Sigrun spent her spare time immersed in a book, or like now, amusing herself with her surface things. Watching through the spyglass, she saw the commander pin up a new decree, and leave for the courtyard.
The spyglass was good for seeing things at a distance, but for small things, such as the commander's scrawl, it made sense just to go down and see for herself.
What follows is the wish of Fortuna Amell, Commander of the Grey in Ferelden.
Every man, woman and spirit under her charge be given one day and one night free of any duty at Vigils Keep, effective immediately. This is so that they may pursue their own interests and obligations of their nature, including duties to their families, the crown, personal businesses and social responsibilities.
"A day off? She's officially giving us a day off?" The dwarf was in a degree of disbelief, but also amused by the idea of it. Since survival was the main occupation in dust town, and the Legion of the Dead meant you were either killing or being killed by darkspawn, there was no such thing as a day off to her. That's not to say she couldn't find a way to use one. The gradually growing stacks of books in her quarters were not going to read themselves.