Grey Warden Tryouts Begin--Recruit 1

Duncan considered himself lucky to have any hint of a wandering Dalish clan, even if the hint came from three fleeing men. Seeing those men run as fast and far as possible proved amusing to him and Duncan asked himself why he stopped the men for directions in the first place. Clearly, one of the Dalish clans was being territorial and drove them off. All Duncan really had to do was set for the opposite direction of their retreat.

Nonetheless, he followed the men's directions and ignored their warnings. He continued west.

He traveled with his party of Grey Wardens for a while, until Duncan had smelled fire. The fire could only mean there was a camp nearby, most likely the Dalish camp. Duncan decided to set up camp a distance away. Knowing the Dalish, they would not allow humans to camp with them. He preferred to reduce that hostility before meeting with them. While the other Wardens prepared their camp, he left to look around at the surroundings.

Eventually, Duncan noticed that the forest had gone quiet. No birds chirped or sang their songs, no wolves howled, no sign of movement... He unsheathed his sword and his dagger, now alert. He sensed darkspawn. But the darkspawn weren't nearby...at least, not yet. Currently, the question he felt he had to answer was: where did these darkspawn come from?

He followed that Warden sense to locate the source. Outside a cave entrance was a body. Duncan approached and examined it. It was an elf, male and still breathing. The young elf was pale, and Duncan sensed the darkspawn taint in him. The boy had survived it! He could become a Grey Warden! However, Duncan thought, this was no time to consider that. What mattered at the moment was the elf's health and life. With little difficulty, Duncan slung the weakened elf over his shoulder and left the way he came.

At the Grey Wardens' camp, he asked one if he had spotted the Dalish camp. The Warden confirmed it and led Duncan to the Dalish camp. When they had arrived, Dalish hunters aimed their arrows at them, but Duncan did not flinch. He calmly explained the situation and asked for their keeper. More concerned for their kin than of a human's intrusion, the hunters let him pass and indicated the location of their keeper.

The keeper had pure white hair, showing her age. Though withered, her eyes showed wisdom and her demeanor showed strength worth admiration. But that wisdom in her eyes slightly dissolved when she saw Duncan and the elf over his shoulder. The wisdom turned to concern and panic. Quickly, she lifted a cloth serving as a door into her aravel and beckoned Duncan to place the elf inside. Duncan did so, laying the boy on a futon. The keeper rushed next to Duncan and kneeled to examine the younger elf. She asked Duncan about what happened and he gave the same explanation he gave the hunters.

"I see... Thank you for rescuing him," she said after calling for her apprentice. "I am Keeper Marethari. What is your name, Warden?"

"My name is Duncan, Keeper," he replied. "Might I ask who this boy is?"

"He is Amraphel Mahariel, the son of the previous keeper," Marethari answered. "He has been under my care since he was an infant."

Her apprentice entered the aravel with a selection of herbs in pouches. She kneeled next to the keeper, handing her the herbs she asked for. While the keeper worked with the herbs, the apprentice examined Amraphel. Her expression mixed professionalism and worry in a higher magnitude than Marethari.

"Where's Tamlen, Keeper? I did not see him outside," she noted.

"I don't know..." Marethari trailed, pausing her work. "Duncan, did you see anyone else around Amraphel?"

"I'm sorry, no."

Marethari sighed heavily. If there was no sign of Amraphel's hunting partner and friend, something had happened. Tamlen was likely gone. The keeper massaged her forehead before mixing the herbs she had crushed.

"Merrill," she addressed her apprentice, "tell the hunters to search for Tamlen immediately. If Amraphel is deathly ill, there's no telling how Tamlen is. Go."

"Yes, keeper," said Merrill, bowing her head before swiftly exiting the aravel to fulfill the task assigned to her.

"And, Duncan, no doubt you are planning to investigate that cave. If your camp is nearby, my hunters will not chase you off. But the sun soon sets and I urge you to prepare tomorrow before you do whatever you intend to do. Feel free to trade with my crafters should you need supplies."

Duncan understood, nodding to indicate so. But he had one more question to ask. This Amraphel boy was now tainted by the darkspawn, and the taint was something rarely survived. If the keeper's herbs and healing hindered the taint's effect at the very least, Amraphel had a chance of surviving. Whether he would truly survive was the question. Duncan asked her this question. She replied that her work would hinder the taint for the night, seeing as she was currently using rare herbs, but tomorrow would have her working constantly to heal Amraphel enough for him to wake up.

Satisfied, Duncan left the aravel, though still concerned as the Dalish outside. The elves in the camp were quiet at the news Merrill or the hunters had told them. Tonight, they face the possibility that two of their kin might be lost to them. The Dalish clans, like the elven alienages in Ferelden, were closely knit communities. To one another, they were family and one in the same; they were all a part of each other.

Two days passed. At the Warden camp, darkspawn had appeared in few numbers. Miraculously enough, no darkspawn attacked the Dalish camp at all. Unfortunately enough, Amraphel had not recovered yet, to Duncan's knowledge, and no Tamlen had been found. The day before, Duncan explored half the ruins in the cave, passing long-since-been activated traps. Duncan concluded that Tamlen and Amraphel had activated those traps when they were there. Less work for him. Many times, he encountered darkspawn, though they were weak and easy to deal with. Today, Duncan planned to explore the rest of the ruins to find the cause of the taint within Amraphel and the disappearance of Tamlen.

He did this task. With the help of one other Grey Warden, he fought through the ruins again, ignoring anything he had inspected the day before. At the final room, he had yet more darkspawn to fight. As he did, he heard sword clashes besides that of his own sword and his companion's. Someone was there, fighting darkspawn that came from another area or the ground. Just as both fighting bouts had finished, Duncan looked at the mirror in the middle of the room. It was completely unharmed and looked as good as new if you wiped the dust off. Within a minute, whoever was fighting the darkspawn outside came in.

Three elves came in, all who he recognized. One was the keeper's apprentice, Merrill. Another was one of the hunters and of Amraphel's most frequent visitors in his recovery; he was a friend of Amraphel, Duncan was told. The leader of the trio was Amraphel himself. He still seemed pale and sickly. His light brown hair, presumably well kept before, was dead. His green eyes were tired and reflected his surprise at Duncan's presence.

"You're...the shemlen who saved me, aren't you?" he asked. Duncan knew "shemlen" was the elven word for "human".

"I merely found you and brought you back to your camp. Your keeper healed you, but I am surprised that you recovered at all," Duncan added.

"Still, I must thank you," Amraphel insisted before bowing his head. "Ma serannas. I am Amraphel."

"It is a pleasure to finally meet you, Amraphel. My name is Duncan," he introduced. "Now, why are you here? I told your keeper I would be in no danger."

Amraphel glanced at the mirror and answered, "We're looking for our brother Tamlen. Have you seen him? Please tell me you have." He was pleading, his eyes filled with worry and pain...and grief. He seemed to know somehow that Tamlen was gone, as if he felt it, even though he did not know what was going on. But he searched for hope. Duncan tried to avoid the subject, though it could not be helped.

"You and Tamlen both entered this cave?" Duncan asked. "You saw this mirror?"

"Yes..." Amraphel said reluctantly. He explained, "He looked into the mirror, said he saw something, and he came too close. He touched it and said he couldn't look away. After that...I blacked out."

Duncan turned to look at the mirror.

"I see. That's...unfortunate." He paused, as if giving a moment of silence to mourn the dead. "The Grey Wardens have seen artifacts like this mirror before; it is Tevinter in origin, used for communication," he explained. "Over time, some of them simply...break. They become filled with the same taint as the darkspawn. Tamlen's touch must have released it... It's what made you sick--and Tamlen, too, I presume."

"Could Tamlen still be alive, then?" The elf's energy seemed to return, but only briefly. And so, the subject of loss returned... Duncan sighed sadly, grabbing Amraphel's shoulders so he would pay close attention to what the Grey Warden leader was about to say.

"There is nothing we can do."

"But--!"

"There is nothing we can do for him," he stressed the second time. "He's been tainted for three days now, unaided. Through your keeper's healing arts and your own willpower, you did not die. But Tamlen has no chance. Trust me," he emphasized, "when I say that he is gone."

Gone. That word hit Amraphel and his friend hard. They looked down in sorrow, until Amraphel broke the silence.

"Then...we have to destroy the mirror."

Duncan agreed. "So long as the mirror exists, it is a threat to anyone nearby."

"I do not fear this sickness," Merrill piped in confidently. "The keeper knows how to cure it."

"She may have weakened it, but she cannot cure it," Duncan retorted. He looked at Amraphel again. "You recovery is only temporary. I can sense the sickness in you, and it is spreading. Look inside and you will see."

Amraphel closed his eyes for a moment, and then he turned his gaze to Duncan. Something in eyes insisted that Duncan do what he came there to do: destroy the mirror. Duncan complied. After he destroyed the mirror violently, they returned to the Dalish camp together.

The elf trio reported to the keeper that nothing of Tamlen was found and that the mirror was destroyed. The keeper ordered Merrill to warn the hunters of darkspawn and requested that Duncan speak privately with her. She sent Amraphel to Haharen Paivel to prepare a service for Tamlen before retreating into her aravel with Duncan. He explained the mirror and its effects. He explained why he destroyed it. Then the conversation came to Amraphel's illness and its cure.

"What do you propose?" the keeper asked as Duncan brought it up.

"The only way he can truly be cured is if he becomes a Grey Warden." Duncan hesitated before continuing. He explained the Joining ritual of the Grey Wardens, something rarely revealed to anyone outside the order. Surely, Duncan thought, this situation was an exception.

"The taint itself will completely cure the taint inside him? Quite ironic, but being an herbalist, I see why," the keeper said. Indeed, with her experience as a healer, she would know that even poisons could be effective cures. But she was hesitant; parting with one she had watched over for his entire life was not easy. Amraphel was practically her own child.

"Coincidentally, I am searching for recruits, keeper."

Marethari thought it over. "He might not want to part from the clan, nor do we want him to leave us. But it is a matter of his life or death, is it not?" Duncan did not answer. Technically, she was talking to herself, and that was a rhetorical question. "He might not be able to join us again, let alone see us. Yet I speak for the clan and myself when I say that never seeing him again is better than a second death." She paused. "He is skilled, Duncan. He has trained hard to become one of our best archers, to follow in his father's footsteps. He would fare better with you, as a Grey Warden, I believe."

"Then we have an agreement?"

"We do."

They left the aravel to see Amraphel sitting on the grass a distance away. Fenarel, the friend who had accompanied him to the cave, was standing next to him with his hand on Amraphel's shoulder in comfort. Amraphel saw Duncan and the keeper come out and immediately stood up while Fenarel left to help prepare Tamlen's service. They told him what they had discussed. He was warned that he might never see the clan again and he became hesitant but agreed. He did not want to leave his kin--his family, his friends. But they would be happiest if he survived. Marethari gave him a ring of Dalish make as a metaphorical way to stay with the clan.

"It is your heritage," she said, "and will protect you against the darkness to come."

Amraphel put it on his right ring finger. He held his right fist to his heart to indicate that he would always keep the clan in his memories, dreams, and thoughts. He would always be one of the clan. Duncan recognized the willow ring as the keeper's. Perhaps it was Amraphel's father's, too. Perhaps it was an heirloom of some kind, a memoir of his father, the previous keeper.

The young elf decided to stay for Tamlen's funeral and Duncan respected the decision. If he were in Amraphel's shoes, he would also spend the time to mourn a dear friend. The clan had sung an elven song, beautiful and sad. They gathered around a bonfire. Once Amraphel paid his respects, he walked down a line the clan had formed. He glanced at all of them, sometimes with a longer gaze or even stopping at a few. Particularly, he stopped at Fenerel, Merrill, and the keeper (in that order). He gave Fenerel a brotherly embrace. He looked at Merrill sadly and reached out his hand to caress her face. She wrapped her arms around his neck and he wrapped his arms around her waist. He buried his face into her shoulder and whispered a few words Duncan could not hear (not that he should or wanted to). All Duncan could surmise was that Amraphel and Merrill were lovers...and they would now be apart, possibly for the rest of their lives. Merrill kissed Amraphel on the cheek before he ended the embrace and moved on to the keeper. Marethari simply layed her hand on his shoulder and gave him a look that seemed to request, "Remember who you are."