A Noble Cause

I am Lady Elissa Cousland, daughter of Teyrn Bryce Cousland and Teyrna Elanor Cousland, and younger sister to Sir Fergus Cousland.

I will try to keep this brief. A large horde of Darkspawn is marching towards the castle from the south, our allied noble-family the Howe's army has been delayed and I am to inform my brother that he is to leave at once. Before I could do that however, Sir Gilmore came to me and informed me that my beloved Mabari War Hound had gotten into the Larder once again, and as he only listens to me, I was to go fetch him out of there.

As luck would have it, he was not misbehaving but rather had sniffed out a large quantity of giant rats, nasty buggers those things. After finishing that and listening for the unknownth time a story nan would always tell me, I then came across my mother talking with Lady Landra, with her was her son Dairren and Lady-in-waiting Iona, she was remarkably beautiful. When the two decided to head to the study, I made sure to follow suit, my brother could afford to spend a little more time with his family before I gave him father's orders.

As I entered the study, the elven lady-in-waiting was standing in a corner, I approached her to speak. She spoke kindly of my dog first before looking me in the eye, he acknowledged the compliment with a hearty bark.

"Greetings again, my Lady." She said with her soft and beautiful voice. The fact that she was an elven Lady-in-waiting surprised me.

"I haven't seen many elvish ladies-in-waiting." I said, hoping she would give some insight into this matter.

"Lady Landra has been good to me, I am lucky." She responded, then asked hesitantly, "If I may...I noticed you have no ladies-in-waiting. Is this usual for a noblewomen of your rank?"

Servants, she asked me why I do not have servants, that should be obvious, "I don't like others serving me."

"That is not a sentiment I see among other noblewomen." She said. "They are just too lazy to do things themselves. There is often no need for servants and I for one shall never own one." I said proudly, though I was still curious to know more about her, "How did you come to know Lady Landra?"

"My family has been in service to hers for many years." She began, "Lady Landra elevated my place as a reward for our loyalty, I hope this position might pass to my daughter."

"You have a daughter?!" I said a little louder and shocked then necessary.

"Forgive me; I shouldn't have mentioned her." She said sadly.

"No, that's alright, please tell me about her." I said.

"Her...name is Amethyne. Her father died of a wasting sickness two years ago." Bringing up the girl's father caused her to look down, to hide her sadness.

It was clear she did not wish to speak of these times as it hurt too much, so I quickly changed the subject. The more she spoke, the more I found myself longing to know her...better, my mind was ablaze with thoughts of her beauty until I could not hold my tongue, "You are very beautiful, If I might say so."

Her head shot up and a blush formed across her soft pale cheeks, "My Lady is very kind. Thank you." That had done it, I had to know more of her, to touch her, to smell her, and to taste her...to, be with her. She and her daughter would be servants no longer! I would see to that.

Slightly nervous, I made my intentions known, "I think we should get to know each other better." It was a rather poor line but at least it got the ball rolling.

"Aren't we doing just that? What else did you have in mind?" She asked cautiously.

It was now or never, I took a breath, then spoke so Dairren would not hear, "Something more...intimate, later on in my room." I waited for her to scream out, or at least refuse...but she did neither.

Her face flushed greatly, "I...I think I might like that." Praise the Maker she agreed! She stepped forward, closing the distance between us, I had hoped she would take hold of my wrists but she did not, "If I come to your door once everyone is asleep...would that be agreeable, my lady?"

I smiled then took hold of her wrists gently, "Please, call me Elissa." She uttered a small moan that made my heart melt, "Until tonight, then." She said, then checked to see if Dairren was looking, seeing that he had his nose firmly planted in a book, she gave my cheek a quick chaste kiss. I let her go and rubbed the spot with a smile. The night could not come soon enough.

I had almost forgotten my father's request as I left the study, I hurried up to his room where he was saying his goodbyes to his family. As I instructed him in my father's orders, he readied to leave when my mother and father came in to see him off. My father suggested we all turn in early as the following day would be long and hard. I cried internally for joy as our meeting would happen sooner.

As the eve came, I had already changed into my nightgown and informed my faithful hound that I was expecting lady Iona and that he was to sleep in the corner and not peek at us. A soft woof confirmed he understood and shortly there after a knock came at my door. I opened it to find her waiting in the same outfit from earlier and I wasted no time in pulling her in and locking the door.

Our lips met swiftly as I wrapped my arms around her tightly pressing her to me, eliciting a moan from her as she hesitantly placed her own arms around me. As we kissed her tongue proved to be more bold as she ran it across my lips begging for entry, something I was eager to allow. She moved her tongue all around the inside of my mouth, brushing against my cheeks, sliding along my teeth, and hugging tightly my own tongue. Soon after it was my turn to explore, though we were forced to part for air.

With a fresh supply of oxygen in our systems, I dove back to resume our kiss of pure passion. I allowed her tongue to guide mine into her own mouth, where ever she moved her tongue mine followed, never breaking contact. She tasted so sweet, unlike anything I had ever known. Pulling away again, I spoke, "M...My Lady Iona, I am so glad you came, ever since I met you this morning, I knew this is how we should end up." This made her blush only grow larger, "Please, you mustn't use such titles on me, I am nobody special."

"Oh but you are!" I said, "You are currently one of the most special people I know, that is why I have asked you here, and why I need you to stay." We drew to the bed and sat down, still embraced in each other's arms.

"Stay?" She asked curiously. I nodded, "You mentioned not having many suitors lined up for you earlier, but yet, right here now is one who would do anything to have your hand."

Her eyes began to shed tears, "B-but, I am just a mere servant of Lady Landra, my family has never been more then that."

I held her closer, laid her head upon my neck, "None of that matters, besides, if we were to wed, you and your family would rise to the rank of nobles just like that. Just imagine what that would do for your people, elvish nobles. True, some would hate it, but most would be unable to do anything about it anyway. Please, Iona, for your people, your family, and for me...won't you accept my hand in marriage?"

She could only hug tighter as she began to sob lightly, "T-that...you w-would do such a thing for me...I...cannot...thank you enough." She eased herself away from me to look into my eyes, attempting to see if my words were not just feeble lies. Satisfied that i spoke the truth, her eyes could only shed still more tears, "Oh...Elissa...I...Yes, I would love to be your bride."

I spun her around in an instant and threw her to the bed, taking her pants and panties along with her. I then tore off my own panties. "W-what are you doing?" She asked slightly shocked but her fear faded instantly when our womanhoods connected.

"Right now," I began, "with the maker as our witness, we are going to bind ourselves together. With this act, I swear to love you and be with you always. We will hold a more official wedding on a later date, but for now that is unimportant." With that I ground my hips against her hard causing the elf to moan my name. Soon I could feel her hips grind with mine, I picked her up and looked deep into her eyes as we road each other, slowly gaining speed. As we continued our ritual, a feeling began to well up within us, it made its way to our groins and threatened to burst forth from us. She looked at me with questioning eyes, to which I nodded, silently answering her question. As our bodies and minds were sent over the edge our lips met once more and stifled our cries of passion.

We collapsed to the bed panting and covered in sweat but full of love. Iona was still worried about the following morning, "Elissa...how will we make this work tomorrow? I am still Lady Landra's lady-in-waiting."

"I will speak with her tomorrow morning and tell her of my intentions, I do not think there will be any problem. My family is very respected and second only to the king, if I want your hand in marriage, Lady Landra can do nothing about it."

"I love you, Lady Elissa." Iona said softly.

"As do I love you Lady Iona." I hugged her tightly as we drifted off to sleep, our spirits joining the fade for a night of fun.

A/N: I have only played this game for two hours the other day and already I'm writing a fic on it ^.~ For those of you that did this with Iona in game, have no fear, for what happened to her in game is the reason I am writing this, changes must be made!!!!!