Where Stone Meets Steel
A/N: I'm not a member of LiveJournal, but I saw several 50-sentence stories floating around here and elsewhere for various pairings and was intrigued. I checked out the 1sentence community and had to give it a try. These follow a predetermined set of words, and are not in chronological order.
Also, this is indeed the same Anais of "Liquid Crystals". You don't need to have read that story first, though if you enjoy this one, why not go ahead and enjoy both? :)
"It is difficult to know at what moment love begins; it is less difficult to know that it has begun."
~ Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
#01 – Ring
Anais wistfully eyes the cheap, newly set diamond, remarking only on its flaws; Alistair sees an imperfect diamond, in a different setting, that still has beauty and value.
#02 – Hero
"The exiled princess and the bastard prince," Leliana muses, a soft giggle escaping her lips as she reaches for the night's second bottle of ink.
#03 – Memory
Seeing Alistair's earnest excitement to meet his sister, she pushes aside all thoughts of Bhelen; later, she curses herself, once again, for her inaction.
#04 – Box
That storage chest they picked up in Lothering was the best sovereign they ever spent.
#05 – Run
"You couldn't have waited one sodding minute," an exasperated Anais groans through clenched teeth, "maybe two, for me to finish disarming those traps before you charged blindly ahead into the fray like the archdemon was at your heels?"
#06 – Hurricane
Nobility, Anais concludes, is the eye of a storm, and most of the people there are not fortunate, just complacent, oblivious to the chaos whirling around them.
#07 – Wings
"The open road awaits – with us, if you like," Anais offers with a smile, and seeing the way Zevran's face lights up, Alistair gives her shoulder a squeeze of approval.
#08 – Cold
He sees the quiet shudder as they make their way up the mountain, and in two steps is at her side, holding out a roughly-trimmed, hastily-hemmed spare cloak.
#09 – Red
Firelight spills over the rose's blood-hued petals, gilding their edges, giving the flower an unearthly glow no gem could ever possess, and she knows even the finest smith could never craft something so beautiful.
#10 – Drink
She's choking, spitting, saline drops spraying the sand at her feet, and as she wipes her lips on the back of her hand, she looks up to see Alistair, amused eyes betraying his suspiciously twitching mouth as he says, "As I was just about to say, before you so enthusiastically ran in for a drink – it's salt water."
#11 – Midnight
No matter how exhausted either of them is, no matter how much rest they need for tomorrow, they wait up as long as it takes for just a few minutes uninterrupted.
#12 – Temptation
She returns the elf's flirtations more than once, and thinks about how it would feel to have warm, strong hands touching her in certain places again, but something – or someone, perhaps – always prevents her going further.
#13 – View
On their way back from Cadash Thaig, Alistair notices Anais's sidelong glances at their stone companion, and the new respect in her eyes, tinged with astonishment, soon mirrors his own.
#14 – Music
"Listen," she entreats him, and he complies, closing his eyes to the glimmering clusters of lyrium, and soon enough, in the silence of the cavern, he hears what she does: soft, crystalline singing.
#15 – Silk
Alistair does not know why she insists he should wear the templar armor they recovered from the Circle Tower, but seeing her run eager hands over the skirt, he begins to get an inkling.
#16 – Cover
She is struggling to stand, a gaping gash on her leg seeping crimson, and all she can see is a sharp steel blade in a hurlock's hand headed straight for her…until a shield appears in front of her, there is a deafening clang and roar – though from whom the latter issues, she is not sure – and the last thing she sees is the glint of hair like sunlight and the hurlock's head cleaved from its body, before she lets the darkness take her.
#17 – Promise
When the formerly casteless woman takes Anais's hand in gratitude, pledging her son to their service one day, the young Warden smiles for the first and last time in Dust Town.
#18 – Dream
He's practically going to be king, having lived his life on everyone's terms but his own, and she is the woman he cannot have even in dreams.
#19 – Candle
"Make a wish," he says with a chuckle, holding out the pink-frosted cake, and even as she obliges, she wonders why humans would wish on something that can be extinguished in a single breath.
#20 – Talent
"Aye, the little pike-twirler has the rage, sure enough," Oghren tells Anais when she inquires about Alistair's berserker training, "but until he learns to do something with it, he might as well just shut his eyes and swing his sword blindly for anything I can teach him."
#21 – Silence
When she finally approaches him hours after their argument, she has a thousand apologies prepared, but as he pulls her into his arms, she learns in that moment just how much silence both hurts and heals.
#22 – Journey
The Blight is far from over, but as she stands before Bhelen, daggers shining in her hands, as far as she is concerned her journey ends here.
#23 – Fire
"If that's your Maker," Anais remarks, hearing Alistair's oath at the enormous rage demon that has just materialized before them, "then the Chantry has a lot more to answer for than just the lyrium trade."
#24 – Strength
When Anais returns from speaking with the dwarven merchant, she looks at Alistair with red-rimmed eyes, and he remembers with painful clarity a story he was told as a boy, in which it was said that even stones can weep.
#25 – Mask
She never tells him such, but she thinks it interesting how much more he revealed of himself when he tried to hide.
#26 – Ice
"W-when this is over," Alistair says through blue lips and chattering teeth, as the feeling in his legs slips away, "r-remind me to - to have a w-word with M-Morrigan about C-Cone of Cold…"
#27 – Fall
"Just don't look down," she tells him as they cross the bridge, but he inevitably does, and notes they are a long way up from the molten lava.
#28 – Forgotten
"Atrast tunsha," she whispers to the sarcophagus, and Alistair joins her in bowing his head, before she shows him the insignia and makes him swear that even if she doesn't leave the Trenches intact, this will.
#29 – Dance
Everyone else has retreated to safety and shelter, but he stays in his tent only long enough to remove his armor before venturing out to stand with her in the rain, to hold her hands and twirl in circles with her as shimmering drops slip down their skin.
#30 – Body
When the Broodmother's final bellows fall silent, Anais bolts from the chamber faster than blinking; Alistair finds her retching over a rock pile and cradles her tenderly, neither speaking of her probable fate had Duncan not intervened.
#31 – Sacred
He knows Anais will never become an Andrastian, but even in the midst of his reverie, he still smiles at her look of awe when she approaches the Urn.
#32 – Farewells
The doors to the Deep Roads have closed behind her once again, but this time she is not alone, and there is the gentle grasp of a plate-gloved hand around hers.
#33 – World
They spread the borrowed maps on the table, and though Anais is focused primarily on strategy, she cannot help but think that there is so much left for the two of them to see together.
#34 – Formal
"Just to make sure I heard correctly," Alistair says, unable to suppress a grin, "you wish we could swap, so you could wear the armor and I could wear the dress?"
#35 – Fever
She tells herself the nightmares are why he insists on sitting with her through the night, but between the cold cloths he applies to her forehead, the water he holds her head up to sip, and the way he tucks the blankets around her every time she complains of chills, she is not quite convinced that's the only reason.
#36 – Laugh
He almost cannot believe this is the same woman, who so adroitly discussed and debated the current political situation with Eamon just an hour ago, now discovering, happily and vocally, the joy of freshly crunched leaves.
#37 – Lies
She was the princess of a kingdom that chooses its rulers through bloodshed and backstabs, and exiled her through deceit and half-truths; he is a prince shunned his birthright, surrendered to the so-called mercy of religious orders by hearsay and secrecy; perhaps, she thinks, their worlds are not so different after all.
#38 – Forever
They've long since agreed they don't need the Chantry or society to sanction their relationship, yet when he drops to one knee, shows her the rings he picked out on their last visit to Orzammar, and tells her he wants her for always however she'll have him, her exuberant tackle knocks him clean off his feet.
#39 – Overwhelmed
He steps out into the fresh air, relieved to be back under the open sky, and turns to see how Anais is doing, only to hear her telling Oghren, "Take your time, that feeling will pass – maybe – and I promise you will not fall into the sky."
#40 – Whisper
It is always at the back of their minds, hissing in their blood like acid – ceaseless droning that snatches and grasps at their sanity, ghastly lullabies preying on their sleep, keening Calls beckoning them home – but only to each other do they admit they often prefer all of that to the whispers of men.
#41 – Wait
She used to take several extra minutes each morning fixing every strand of hair in place; now, when he lets her sleep several minutes longer, she cares not at all if her hair looks like it was just hit by lightning.
#42 – Talk
She used to be annoyed by his constant chatter; now, she realizes he talks only as much as he listens.
#43 – Search
He's looked, as long as he's known how and what to look for, for her – a woman as brave as she is beautiful, as strong as she is sweet, determined to slay her own dragon but who wants him fighting at her side, who can make him laugh and laugh along with him, who would rather ride beside him than seated behind him, who can accept him for everything he is and is not; and now, standing beside Duncan, in the most unlikely of times and places, and with nothing to indicate such other than a voice somewhere inside him telling him it is so – here she is.
#44 – Hope
"Every new day they see will be because of you," Wynne tells her, and as much as Anais appreciates the sentiment, she does not always fight for the days of others, but for the day she and Alistair will have all to themselves.
#45 – Eclipse
By day, he is a formidable foe, before whom emissaries crumple like cloth, whose sword streams ribbons of blood; by night, he is the friend who brings her a bowl of grey stew and asks her, with a lopsided grin, how her day was; it is only after she understands how these men are one and the same that she falls in love with both.
#46 – Gravity
Despite the ceiling's height, he feels the stone pressing down on him with every step, while the earth pulls on him as if trying to bring him home, even as he reminds himself that home is somewhere…far above his head; after a week or so of this, he comes to a realization: the greater the force, the faster and harder one can fall.
#47 – Highway
As their little group begins to walk down the bridge, she cannot resist one last glance at Lothering, and hopes the villagers' path is easier than hers.
#48 – Unknown
He thinks he's pretty clever, having come up with that turn of phrase, but he's deflated when a puzzled expression creases her brow and she asks, "What's a lamppost?"
#49 – Lock
Learning to understand locks taught her how to understand people, showing her that patience, persistence, and precision will lead to the fateful click; such, in addition to a certain man's smile, are what her own defenses give way to.
#50 – Breathe
They lie nestled together, her head resting on his chest, the thrum of the taint-song hushed by their heartbeats, warmth pulsing through their entwined hands, every breath they take a whisper of life in the narrow space – another instant stolen from the death that trails and surrounds them in silent shadow, and one more gift of a moment shared.
A/N: My thanks to the following:
Selkit, author of not one but two lovely 50-sentence sets (F!Aeducan/Alistair and F!Shepard/Garrus), which first alerted me to the concept and offered plenty of inspiration. (If you're interested, the Aeducan/Alistair one, "Of Stone and Sky", is in my favorites. Also, I swear it's total coincidence that both of our third sentences deal with the same thing. ;)
LoquaciousQuark, whose extraordinary 50-sentence set (for F!Mage!Hawke/Fenris, also in my favorites) "To Build a Home" pushed me to be a bit more daring with mine. I can never thank you enough for that, and have no illusions of my humble efforts being even half as good as yours. :)
slytherinblack, creator of the "Gamma" theme set. (You can find that set, and the four others available, at the 1sentence community.)
Jack Wall, once again, for "Reflections." It figures I didn't write an actual romance fic with this on loop until the second time around. ;)
You, as always. Thanks for reading, and hope you enjoyed. :)