So, Leah has become my default prompt-Warden somehow... anyways, this piece was written for the DAWC challenge: write a story involving rain, from the POV of someone who has never experienced it before (Amell/Aeducan/Brosca/Surana). This kinda strays from the strict 'first time rain' thing, but I hope you enjoy!
Thunderheads
Leah gathered her robes tightly around herself as she plodded on along the lumpy country road. She could hear the footsteps of her new companions even from her spot at the front, the point of their little triangle. It was the strangest she'd ever felt, but she was the leader. Not Alistair, she had to remind herself, because she wasn't used to being in charge and really, who had ever trusted her to lead anything before? The heavy gray clouds above her were growing darker by the second.
She saw a rippling in the gray grass of the Blight-ridden farmland just before she felt it, a massive gust of wind that made her stumble. She peered into the distance. A line of gray… was that mist?
Leah gasped. No, it certainly was not mist, she realized as the drops of rain thudded into her at surprisingly high speeds.
"We're making camp," she announced, a squeak audible in her voice. She didn't pause to watch Alistair and Morrigan comply; she just raced towards a nearby stand of trees, the only shelter she could see for miles. Leah was drenched by the time she'd finally gotten her stupid tent set up. She huddled miserably inside the mouth of it, watching the rain splash into and out of puddles, like little gray darkspawn trying to reach their greedy fingers into every last dry crevice.
A flash of lightning leaped across the sky, bringing with it a deafening roll of thunder. Leah jumped as she suddenly found Alistair standing in front of her. The gloom seemed to press on her like the cold and the wet that were seeping into her skin. She felt like the rain was choking her. Another flash of lightning and another crack of thunder illuminated Alistair's disdainful amber eyes.
"What, never seen a thunderstorm before?"
Leah darted a look at him, her blue eyes glinting gray in the dim light. She noticed how the drops rolled down his strong cheeks like tears. "Yeah, you might say it's a bit of new experience," she replied, going for 'lighthearted' and coming out flat. He snorted and walked away, souring Leah's mood further. She scooted into her tent and tied the flaps shut. If he wanted to be silly, then fine. Hopefully she could figure out to deal with him before they reached Orzammar.
Another crashing boom of thunder pounded against Leah's eardrums, startling her from her thoughts. With a sigh that was nearly a shudder, she curled up and stuffed a spare set of robes over her head. She drifted off with the rain beating against the thin canvas walls of the tent.
She remembered the first time she'd really felt rain. It had been just days after she'd been rescued from the Tower debacle. Duncan had still been alive and Alistair had still been remotely nice to her.
The sky had been just the same; she could see it now. Overcast skies in the morning, as they traipsed through the disgusting marsh they called the Korcari Wilds. Leah could feel the squish of mud underneath her thin boots and see all the soggy greenery. The wind had blustered behind them the entire way back to Ostagar's drafty old ruins. She remembered—and then felt—the sharp scent lingering in the air before her Joining. Even before blood had tinged the air, she'd felt that foreboding, of something powerful about to break. A distant rumble had echoed through the camp when she'd knocked back her gulp of poison.
And then, as though it had been holding off all day, 'just because', the storm had broken at the beginning of the battle. Leah remembered the shock of the stinging drops knifing against her face. Even far removed, up on the walkway, she could hear the shrieks of the darkspawn she was supposed to fight from that moment on, and she could feel a tingling in her blood. The screams of dying men floated through the rain. She had nothing to compare the sound of the rain to, the closest thing she could think of being leaves of paper scratching together, except a thousand times louder than she'd ever heard.
A crack of thunder that could have ripped the world apart had startled the mage and her fellow Warden into action. They had sprinted across the thin bridge towards the Tower of Ishal, followed by stinging rain and balls of fire and the screams of crushed and bleeding archers. The smooth, worn stone gathered the rain into pools.
"Leah, look out!" She heard his shout as though she were living it again, remembering the feeling of a heavily armored body slamming into her as she slipped. The rain clawed at her exposed face as a giant burning projectile arced into the side of the bridge, taking a pair of crossbowmen with it. She began to slide…
Leah shot upright with a cry that was quickly drowned out by a howl of thunder. Rain still beat against her tent with the force of a thousand war hammers. The sweat beading her brow seemed to be freezing in the cold that crept through her despite the canvas and her robes. She squeaked as a strong gust threatened to blow her tent over.
"I didn't slide off," she muttered to herself. She hadn't fallen. He'd grabbed her back just in time and hauled the two of them over to the tower, where they'd found that everything had gone wrong. Leah grimaced angrily. She couldn't stay in here another second. She pulled on a cloak and pushed her way out of the tent.
"Ugh," she groaned, wincing at the pounding rain at the same time that she saw Alistair keeping watch. He whipped around at the sound and then rolled his eyes and turned back to what he was doing. Leah huddled herself inside her cloak, trying to forget the rain, and that battle. What was she even doing out here? She shivered convulsively.
Alistair stiffened suddenly. Leah's eyes darted to his dimly illuminated figure.
"What is it?" she asked softly, her voice nearly swallowed by the rain. Butterflies swam in her stomach and she could feel a strange tingling in her blood. The rain continued pouring down as if it wanted to drown the world.
"Darkspawn," he replied, loosening his sword in its sheath. Leah gulped. Like those beasts at the battle? His glittering eyes were expectant.
Oh, right. She was the leader. "Go get Morrigan, please," she managed. The tingling in her blood now felt like more of a prickling, and a humming at the razor's edge of sound. Was this part of being a Warden, or just the rain playing tricks on her mind? She hardly noticed when Alistair returned with the witch.
"Where are they?" she whispered to him. She blushed as his eyes raked scathingly over her. Her cheeks were the only warm thing she felt as the rain poured down on them. Her blood seemed to wrench within her and she turned just in time to see a hurlock slam into her. She felt terror creep over her as mud filled her mouth and nose and a shapeless blast of power lashed out from her body. It sent the creature flying right into Alistair, who stumbled.
"Hey, watch where you throw those things!" he shouted, fighting to be heard over the boom of thunder that split the air. Barely a moment passed before she felt a strange tingling and smelled ozone and then crack! Lightning arced down from the sky and Leah felt a scream tear its way out of her throat as it struck a tree not ten yards away. It began to sizzle as rain streamed down on its now flaming trunk.
"Pull yourself together," she commanded herself shakily. She was supposed to be the leader. Her blood sang again and she barely dove out of the way of another darkspawn. It had swung too hard; its momentum carried it into the mud, where Leah had no trouble freezing it and smashing its remains with a magically propelled rock. Through the darkness and the pouring rain, barely illuminated by the burning tree and flashes of lightning, Leah could barely make out Alistair being swarmed by at least three of the 'spawn. "Well shit," the mage muttered. Where's Morrigan?
Another crack of lightning answered that as Leah sprinted towards Alistair. She flinched and half turned, seeing a genlock convulsing in the midst of Morrigan's conjured stream of lightning. Its screams were like nothing Leah had ever heard before. A natural crack of lightning arced across the sky again, just as Alistair slipped in the churning soupy mud.
"No!" Leah screamed, and launched all her mana into a fireball aimed straight at the clump of darkspawn. They barely had time to turn before it exploded, sending them flying through the rain with steam trailing in their wake. Leah felt the boiling of the taint in her blood subside a bit. A groan came from the muddy heap of armor that was Alistair.
"Are you alright?" she demanded anxiously. She didn't even notice mud seeping through her already soaked robes when she threw herself down beside him. The almost-templar forced himself to his feet.
"Oh, so you weren't trying to get me killed?" he sneered. Leah's mouth dropped open. The rain was already washing the mud from his hair and face. For a moment, the steady gushing stream of water was all they could hear, but then a crack of lightning split the air again.
"Get you killed? It seems you didn't notice, but I saved your life."
"Sure wish you could have turned on that magic a few days ago," he muttered.
"This is about Ostagar? You're blaming me for that?"
"If it weren't for you, maybe I'd have been in the battle!"
"If it weren't…" Leah gasped her frustration, unable to even finish her sentence. "You're kidding, right?"
"No," he yelled right back, and Leah could read his face like an open book, even through the pouring rain. There was anger there, and grief, and a whole lot of guilt. But he wasn't finished. He advanced on her with rain streaming down his face, waving an accusatory index finger, and Leah forgot the rain as he said, "And you know what? I don't know why he conscripted you! How can you even be a Warden when you freeze up every time we see darkspawn?"
Leah felt tears sting her eyes, and wasn't surprised when thunder rumbled through the air, this time less terrifying, more subdued. Ever so quietly, she replied, "Duncan knew what he was doing when he conscripted both of us, but right now? Even he'd be ashamed of you." Leah watched all the air fly out of her fellow Warden and turned away shakily. I didn't mean it, she wanted to tell him.
But she knew, not so deep down, that she'd meant every word. The lightning and thunder rolled through the air once more, but as Leah fell into her bedroll she found that she didn't care. Her night had gone from terrifying to horrific and beyond, and all she could do now was sleep.
~O~
"Morrigan, are you ready to go?"
"Yes, and 'tis time and past we started moving."
Leah nodded and tugged her pack onto her shoulders. The sun shone in a sky streaked with pale clouds, and despite the mud Leah was hopeful that today wouldn't be as terrible as the day before. The air was lighter and cleaner than any air Leah had tasted since before Ostagar, before the Tower even.
"Alistair, are you ready?"
Leah's fellow Warden nodded, contemplating his navel with an utterly lost expression. She sighed, once again regretting her words, wishing she hadn't been so panicked by the rain and the lightning and the thunder, wishing she'd been more careful. But what was done was done. Leah nodded to herself and began squelching through the mud. Perhaps he'll get better, she thought to herself. It seemed like an utterly feeble hope, but it was all she had. The mage took a breath of clean, crisp air and tried to concentrate on her relief for having survived the storm.
Rain. Leah sighed to herself. If anyone's counting, that's 'fun rain' zero, 'awful rain' two.
"Rain sucks," Leah informed Morrigan as they reached the road, and then led the way towards Lothering.
Please review!