A/N: Hi everyone! Sathaeri here! This is my first fanfic, so be nice! Eh heh. Reviews welcomed with open arms :D

I wrote this while wondering what companions say to each other when you're not around or traveling. So, here it is. It's also an attempt to answer "why are there a bunch of tents set up in camp but you're sleeping outside anyway?"

Have fun reading and enjoy :)

~o~O~o~

Chapter 1: After Lothering

"I'm sooo tired," Aetheria complained, her words beginning to slur. "I... feel... like I... can't... take... another step..." She yawned.

"And yet, here you are," Alistair joked.

Aetheria mumbled in reply and subsequently tripped on a rock. She yelped softly.

"Woah, woah!" Alistair caught her before she hit the dirt path.

"Camp..." she murmured.

"Very well, Lady Nobility," he teased. Turning to the others, he said "We'd best find a place to set up camp."

"Food..." Aetheria said feebly, fighting exhaustion.

"Hmm...? Oh, right! We'll need a hunting party, too."

"I'll help!" sang Leliana. "But somebody has to come with me."

Alistair grinned, an idea unraveling in his mind. "Go with her, Morrigan."

"And here I thought you hated leading," Morrigan remarked, glaring. "What does our real leader have to say about this?"

Aetheria muttered incoherently. Alistair sighed. "She's too tired," he said. "She's not even making any sense."

"Ahh," she smirked. "Even her mumblings are too complicated for you to understand?"

Leliana stifled a giggle. "Oh, come on," she said. "Let us go, Morrigan. I promise I won't chant your ear off."

Morrigan scoffed, but relented and walked into the woods with Leliana at her side. Alistair smiled, happy to be away from her.

"We should set up camp here," Sten's voice boomed suddenly, making him jump.

"Oh! Yes, that would be important, wouldn't it?" Alistair chuckled.

Sten simply grumbled in reply and walked towards the clearing. Alistair looked down. He'd almost forgotten that he was still holding Aetheria.

"Um... hello?" he said gingerly. "Err... Aetheria? Can you... uh, stand up, maybe? Or walk over there?" No use, he realized. She was fast asleep.

He looped one arm under her legs and lifted her back with the other. Grunting from the effort, he called, "Sten, lay down one of those bedrolls."

Sten did silently but not without some hesitation. Probably wondering if I'm an able enough leader, he thought. I am... I think.

He bent down to lay her on the bedroll. She was out cold. Not that I blame her, he thought to himself. She's had a long day, after all.

He lifted the covers and placed them on her gently. He was almost tempted to give her a good night kiss. But then he realized he barely knew her. It wouldn't be that gentlemanly to do that, would it?

~o~O~o~

"...and the shoes here! Ugh! So shapeless," Leliana went on.

Morrigan could hardly take it. What sort of fool would have her, a... what was it again... an apostate, travel with this former Chantry lay sister? Only a fool such as Alistair, she thought. No doubt he came up with this just to irk her.

A sudden movement stopped her in her tracks. "Quiet," she interrupted, cutting off Leliana's shoe rant and pointing. "Deer."

Leliana drew an arrow from her quiver and nocked it, pulling the bowstring back slowly.

The deer looked up.

As soon as it did, the arrow was gone. Morrigan shifted her gaze back to the deer. It was on the ground in a heap. She walked up to it. Its eyes were glazed over, as was natural.

"Wow. That was right on target," Leliana remarked, coming up behind Morrigan and motioning towards the arrow that protruded out of the deer's neck.

Morrigan didn't want to admit it, but she was a little impressed. So this Leliana person wasn't as completely useless as she thought. "This will be enough," she stated. "Let us take it back."

As they walked, Leliana said "So, I noticed you and Alistair don't get along very well..."

"You just noticed?" Morrigan retorted, raising an eyebrow.

"No, well, I noticed when I first met you three," she corrected. "Why do you hate him so much?"

"There are many reasons, some of which you wouldn't understand," Morrigan said tensely. "But I will make this short. First, he is suspicious and dim-witted. He also isn't open-minded, and he constantly whines. In addition, he hates me. Is it understandable, then, that I hate him as well?"

"I... suppose so," said Leliana, taken aback by so many harsh words.

"Then I assume we are clear on that," she said.

They walked the rest of the way in silence. When they arrived at camp, Leliana giggled. "Aww, look at him!"

Alistair sat next to Aetheria, who was lying on a bedroll. He gazed at her, entranced. "It's unmistakable, the love in his eyes," Leliana said, chuckling. "He must have a crush on her."

"Oh, wonderful," Morrigan sighed. "We already have fools, now we have lovebirds?"

"It's sweet."

"'Tis sickening."

"Oh, no one said you had to look."

"I'm simply glad they aren't swallowing up each other's faces," she said disgustedly. She went up behind Alistair and hauled the deer on top of him.

He shouted in surprised and threw the deer off. Spinning around to face Morrigan, he growled, "What was that for?"

"Oh, nothing," she answered in an innocent voice. "Just reminding you not to get caught up in her beauty."

Alistair felt his cheeks turn red. Morrigan laughed wickedly. "'Tis a shame you didn't wake her up. I would love to see her reaction to how... intensely you were staring at her."

"I wasn't staring!" Alistair protested, but it was of no use. If he really had been staring at her intently for however long it took Morrigan and Leliana to find a large deer, kill it, and bring it back, then Maker forbid, he must have been staring for a long time. He looked away from Morrigan's narrow amber eyes, frowning.

"Now then," Leliana said, breaking the silence. "Can you cook, Alistair? I'm starving."

He got up, thankful for something to do. He wouldn't get caught staring at her like that again, he told himself. At least, if no one was looking, he wouldn't.