The idea for this story came to me when I was writing one of my chapters for the "Rejoing". I wasn't sure if I was going to publish it...but what the heck- here it is! Just another small glimpse into the relationship between my Alistair and Arianna...hope you enjoy it. :D
Thanks to massivelyattacked for fine tuning the story for me... I can be a bit sloppy with punctuation, so she was a great help!
Once again...my thanks and appreciation to BioWare and the DA writing team.
A Single Rose Started It All
Alistair watched his wife as she sat beside him on the settee, enjoying the warmth that radiated outwards into their bedchamber, from the fire that was burning merrily within the large stone hearth. Arianna shifted closer to him, seeking the warmth of his body, as she stared into the flickering flames, lost in her own thoughts. Alistair smiled as a soft sigh of contentment escaped from his wife. He slipped a muscular arm around her shoulders and drew her closer to his side. She turned her head to him, gave him a sweet smile, and then leaned her head upon his broad shoulder with another sigh of contentment.
Alistair loved this time of the day; when the sun had set and evening had fallen, his daily duties finished. When he could retire to their private chambers and finally have the love of his life all to himself. Their room had become a sanctuary for Alistair; where he could lay aside the cares and burdens that he carried daily as the King of Ferelden, and find comfort and acceptance in the arms of his wife. In this room, he was simply…Alistair.
Alistair tilted his head to the right and leaned his cheek upon the silky, dark auburn tresses that adorned his wife's head, and breathed in her scent- a most intoxicating fragrance that was uniquely hers- a scent that never failed to drive him wild. He lifted his head slightly so he could rest his chin upon the top of her head, and said softly, "A copper for your thoughts, my love…"
Arianna smiled lazily and lightly ran her fingertips along his upper thigh, and then back down again; she felt his muscles quiver beneath her fingers. "I was thinking about that night…" she replied.
"And which night would that be, love?" Alistair asked in a slightly puzzled voice.
While he was quite perceptive about discerning her moods- and he had learned to read her body signals quite well- he was unable to actually read her mind. Though in the past he had often wished that he had been able to read her thoughts…he could have avoided a few bruises that way- and a bloodied nose or two.
Arianna shifted her body slightly sideways as she bent her knees and drew up her legs upon the settee, tucking her bare feet under the hem of her nightgown. She had lived in Ferelden all her life, but she had never gotten used to the frigid climate that arrived when winter came- she was always so blasted cold during those months, despite how warmly she dressed or how hot the fires were kept burning in the rooms.
"I was thinking of that night in the camp…the first time you and I…you know…" Arianna's voice trailed off as she realized that she had begun to blush. Andraste's holy fire! Can I never think or talk about sex without turning three shades of red? Arianna had never understood that small quirk about herself and it always annoyed her to no end whenever it happened.
Comprehension dawned on Alistair and he smiled to himself; he realized that his wife most likely had the loveliest blush spread across her cheeks- he decided to have a little fun at her expense.
"…The first time you and I… nearly died of food poisoning after eating Oghren's cooking? The first time you and I… skirmished together and you stormed off in a tiff because I said I had won the match? The first time you and I- what? Can you be a little more specific, my dear?"
Alistair quickly stifled a chuckle as he heard her frustrated sigh. He lifted his chin from its resting position atop his wife's head and leaned forward slightly, trying to get a glimpse of Arianna's expression as her head lay upon his shoulder.
"Maker's breath...the first time we were together, Alistair," she said in exasperation as her blush deepened to a darker shade.
"Together…? Ummm…I'm still not sure what you are trying to get at…" Alistair replied in feigned ignorance.
Sweet Andraste! The man can't be that daft! Arianna lifted her head from his shoulder and turned it to the left, positioning her upper body so that she could look at Alistair. Alistair saw her look of exasperation mixed with bewilderment and could no longer keep his ruse going, nor could he contain his amusement any longer- he bust out laughing.
Arianna's green eyes widened at the sound of his merriment, but then her eyes quickly narrowed in indignation when she realized that he had known all along what night she had been talking about.
"You're horrible, Alistair! You did that on purpose!" she exclaimed in perturbed annoyance. She sank back against the large cushions of the settee and crossed her arms in front of her, as she looked straight ahead into the hearth of the fireplace. "I knew you couldn't be that daft," she grumbled under her breath.
Alistair sat back, removing his right arm from around his wife, and placed it across the top of the settee's cushions, where her head was now resting. He turned his head to the right and continued to observe her profile as she sat there with a mild look of annoyance on her beautiful face. Alistair chuckled again when he thought how gullible she had been.
"I'm sorry my love…" he said softly with a hint of laughter in his voice. He leaned closer to her and tilted his head downwards until his lips were next to her ear. "Forgive me?" he whispered into her ear and then he softly nuzzled her neck; Alistair's warm breath upon Arianna's soft skin caused chills of delight to run through her body.
Arianna gave a small sigh of resignation and pleasure. She would always forgive her husband…how could she not? It was never a matter of forgiving Alistair or not, it was more a matter of whether to forgive him now…or later. Arianna smiled softly as her husband gently grazed his lips, and then his teeth, against the side of her exposed neck.
"How can I not forgive you, Alistair, when you render your apology in such the most delightful way?" she replied, her tone laced with both amusement and desire.
Alistair laughed softly and then raised his head after placing one last lingering kiss against the smooth skin of her neck. He would have continued on with his apology, but he really had been curious about what she had been thinking about. And after she had enlightened him about the subject matter, he was more than curious about what she further had to say about that night.
"Soooo…are you going to tell me your thoughts about that night? Or am I to be kept in the dark?"
Arianna turned her head again to face her husband. She looked at him thoughtfully, as the memories of that wonderful night filled her mind once again. However, her brow soon furrowed as an unanswered question was brought to mind.
"Alistair…why did you wait so long to ask me to…" Her voice trailed off as she tried to think of the best way to ask her question. " I mean, after that day at camp, when I told you that I had chosen you…when I had asked you to be with me…" she paused and gave her husband a questioning look. "You do remember that conversation, don't you?"
"Of course I remember. I believe I told you my answer was 'yes' did I not? And that I loved you and wanted you." He smiled tenderly at her. "At least that's how I remember things."
Arianna smiled back at him and said, "That's pretty much what you said…" She cocked her head to the side and gave Alistair another questioning look. "…But I still don't understand why it took you so long to actually ask me to… you know." Arianna could feel her face growing hot as she began to blush again.
Alistair grinned and gave a small chuckle at his wife's discomfort. He loved that way she always blushed whenever the subject of sex came up. One would think, by the way she always reacted, that she had been the one that had been raised in the Chantry, and not he. Alistair noticed that his wife was still looking at him patiently, waiting for a response to her question.
"I hadn't realized that you felt that I had taken much too long to…" He paused and gave a teasing grin to his wife, before finishing his sentence. "…you know."
Arianna gave him a dirty look and then reminded him that he still hadn't answered her question. Alistair gave a small laugh and decided that he would take pity on her and answer with no further teasing.
"I had told you that I wanted to take things slow... you knew that I hadn't ever been with a woman before and-" Alistair suddenly stopped speaking when he noticed the strange expression in Arianna's face. "What?" he asked as he narrowed his eyes and raised a brow at her.
"It's just…" Arianna began a bit hesitantly, "Are you sure that I was the first woman you'd ever been with?"
Alistair stared at his wife in complete surprise- she had actually rendered him speechless! Arianna looked at Alistair with more than a little apprehension when he continued to stare at her with an expression of surprise that quickly turned into one of indignation.
"Am I sure? Of course I'm sure! Why in the Maker's name, would you ask me such a question? Why would I lie about something like that?"
Arianna could see that Alistair was genuinely upset by her question, so she took a deep breath of air, and hurriedly started talking in an attempt to explain herself.
"It's just that you seemed to know what you were doing and you didn't look all that nervous- in fact your performance was such that I couldn't find a single thing wrong in what you did- or they way that you did it- so I thought maybe I hadn't been your first." Arianna finally stopped talking, inhaling deeply, as she tried to catch her breath.
Alistair stared at his wife in complete surprise again, and for the second time that evening, Arianna had managed to render him speechless. Alistair was pretty sure that somewhere, amidst all those words that she had managed to quickly utter in a single breath, had been a compliment that any man would give his right arm for.
"Sooo… let me get this straight. You're saying that because I performed so well…you couldn't tell that it had been my first time?" Alistair began to grin in the most pleased and smug way. "Really… You're saying I was that…good. Well, fancy that. I guess I had been nervous about nothing then."
Arianna shook her head as her husband continued grinning at her- his expression extremely self-satisfied. She almost wished she hadn't explained herself to him.
"You still haven't completely answered my question, Alistair…" He gave her an inquiring look. "…about taking so long… to ask me..?" She sighed in mild irritation. "I just asked you the question not a few moments ago- how can you have forgotten already?"
"Oh…right… that question." Alistair became silent for a moment as he tried to form his reasoning into the right words. "I guess I wanted to make sure that you were incontrovertibly…the one." He noticed that Arianna was looking at him with a slightly bemused expression on her face. "You know… the one person in the entire world that is for you…that, without a doubt, you are meant to be with forever- in other words… the one."
Arianna mulled over his reply for a long moment. She had never really believed that there was only one person that you were destined to be with…that out there somewhere was the perfect mate. Arianna had always believed that you could fall in love with a lot of different people, but in the end you simply decided which one to spend the rest of your life with.
"I'm not sure that I believe that a person is meant to be with another particular person… that for each person there is only one perfect match."
Alistair gave his wife a thoughtful look; her view wasn't such a surprise to him, given the feelings she had- has- for a certain elf. "So…are you saying that I'm not…the one?"
Arianna frowned as she contemplated his words and her own feelings- she didn't know what to say. She loved Alistair with every part of her being…she loved him more than any other person in this world… she never wanted to be parted from him for as long as she lived… and she had chosen to give her life to him- but did that make him the one?
Alistair smiled inwardly at the confused expression that crossed her face- he already knew the answer to his question to her, but he wanted her to finally realize it for herself.
"Why did you choose me, Arianna?" he asked her softly.
"Because I loved you…love you…more than anyone in this world… I didn't want to live my life without you... I wanted to be with you always."
"And how did you feel the first time we made love?" he asked her with a fleeting smile.
"I felt…you made me feel… like no other person ever did. You touched me in a way that was more than physical… you made me feel…complete…whole…"
Her voice trailed off as she remembered that night…that first time she had given herself to Alistair…how he had made her feel. How no one but him could ever fill her so completely: her body…her mind…her soul. There could never be anyone else- no one but him.
Alistair had been watching his wife's face intently, as she sat facing him… lost in the emotions and memories of that night, waiting for that moment of realization. Arianna raised her gaze and looked into Alistair's amber-colored eyes in wonder as she finally had an epiphany- Alistair was, in fact, the one.
"I never really had a choice in the matter did I? The only choice I could make was you. You would always be…the one for me. Even if circumstances had not allowed us to be together and we both ended up with other people… neither of us would ever be complete without the other, would we?"
Alistair reached out and placed his hands on either side of her lovely face and gently cupped her cheeks. He smiled at her and gazed lovingly at her as he searched the depths of those familiar emerald-green eyes. Arianna returned his smile and his gaze, trying to fathom his thoughts.
"Do you remember the first rose I ever gave you, love?" asked Alistair.
"You mean the one that you picked when we were in Lothering, right? The one you gave me in camp." She smiled as she remembered that single rose. "I remember that it was red and it smelled so wonderful," she replied.
"It was that night that I realized how much I really loved you…and when you accepted the rose, I knew then that you had fallen in love with me as well. So I guess you could say…that a single rose started it all."
Arianna looked at him in surprise. "How could you have possible known that? I couldn't even admit it to myself at that time- that I was in love with you- so how did you know?"
Alistair gave her a fleeting smile and replied, "It was the expression on your face and the look in those beautiful green eyes of yours, when you accepted the rose from me. You can never hide your true feelings-your eyes always give you away."
"I suppose you're right. When I was a little girl, my father would always tell me that my eyes were the windows to my soul. He said I would never be able to tell a lie, because my eyes always told the truth- even if my mouth said otherwise," Arianna said with a gentle laugh. "And you're also right about that rose…that small gesture…that small gift, made me see you in a totally different light. I still have the rose, by the way. I took one of Wynne's books and pressed the rose between its pages. I carried that book, with the rose within, in my pack wherever I went."
Alistair touched by her revelation, pulled her face towards his and gave her a kiss so tender, so filled with love that it caused Arianna's green eyes to fill with unshed tears. She pulled away slightly and looked deeply into her husband's eyes as a single tear fell from her eye and slowly trailed down the curve of her cheek. Alistair tenderly wiped the tear from her cheek with his thumb; he leaned his head forward until his forehead rested gently against hers.
"I love you, Alistair," she whispered to him, her voice revealing the depth of her love and desire for him.
"And I love you, Arianna. Always." His voice wavered slightly as his emotions got the best of him. His wife was everything to him and he would always be thankful that the Maker had sent her to him. She was his beautiful rose- thorns and all.