Chapter 2

DAYBREAK

"he writes it and walks from the house the stars glitter he

whistles his dogs up

he whistles his Jews out and orders a grave to be dug in

the earth

he commands us strike up for the dance…"

-Paul Celan, 'Fugue of Death'



DISCLAIMER

I do not own Dragon Age, any of its canon characters, any of its concepts, lore, or other such thing.

I do, however, own the concepts/characters that I myself create.


AUTHOR'S NOTES

Argh, my chapters are much too short. Worry not, I intend to fix this once the plot begins to thicken a bit. It's bothering me far too much for me to leave it alone…

I probably should've noted in my first chapter that this is my first attempt at a fanfiction. All reviews and comments are appreciated but spare me not; flay me alive if I need it.

You guys are the best. Thanks for reading.

[It has just occurred to me that the guy who you get the password for Shale from had a daughter named Amalia. Totally unintentional. I hated the little brat. 'Butterfly', pfft.]


Daybreak did not come here in Orzammar.

At first, Ibby had not noticed it, but slowly she had found herself waiting for the first rays of sunlight to announce the coming of a new day. It seemed to her that time did not seem to move in Orzammar. It was truly the essence of stone, unchanging, an endless monotone. Ibby had once been pretty good at guessing the time, where ever she happened to be. This dwarven city had destroyed her perception of time, however. Years could have passed on the surface and she would not have noticed. She no longer knew when to sleep or when to wake. Orzammar had been fine enough at first, but slowly it had become a prison. The world outside was endless and expansive. This would was forever walled in, tiny, miniscule, finite.

She lay looking up at the stone ceiling, taking her rest when it seemed all of the dwarves had retreated to their homes. Her mother lay a short distance away, snoring softly. She envied her mother's ability to sleep anywhere at anytime, almost on command.

"So are you going to do it?" Ibby jumped at the sound of Ilse's voice. Her twin lay on her side, watching her with obvious curiosity, and Ibby sighed.

"I dunno." She put her arms beneath her head, her bedroll lacking a pillow.

"What do you mean, you 'don't know'?" Ilse gaped as if her sister were mentally incapacitated.

"Exactly what I said. I don't know."

"Ibby," Ilse said, and Ibby sighed, recognizing the tone in her sister's voice. She braced herself for a lecture. "You are being offered tutelage in an art you show obvious love for but little skill. The woman who is offering you this opportunity is obviously experienced, well respected among all races, a member of the fabled Grey Wardens, and she's the Queen of Fereldan. Not only that, but her traveling companion is easy on the eyes."

Ibby scoffed. "I pray you're talking about her dog. Because I'd be afraid to catch the many diseases that elf no doubt has. Did you hear the Queen? 'You shouldn't assume her to be the maids at the castle'? Imagine how many maids the palace must have. Ugh."

Ilse grinned. "Plus, you'd probably break the poor dear's nose."

"I'd probably break the 'poor dear's' neck."

"I don't doubt it. But really, you should do it. This is a once in a lifetime opportunity! I'm amazed you weren't clinging to her leg as she walked away."

Ibby scowled. "I'm glad you're so excited."

Ilse frowned, clearly confused. "I'm surprised you aren't. What's to consider?"

Ibby sighed. "The way she looked at me. Like… like inspecting a horse or something. I have a feeling that she wants me for something more than to just train."

"Like what? She's married, and I doubt she's a closet lesbian."

Ibby rolled her eyes. "I'm not talking about sex, Ilse. She looks at me like I'm useful to her or something."

"Is it so hard to imagine? You're strong willed and not afraid of a fight. Maybe you'd be good as a body guard or something."

"Because every noble woman wants a sharp tongued elf who's likely to bloody any shem who looks at her wrong."

"Your self awareness is admirable."

"I'm serious. It makes me uneasy. I like knowing where I stand with people."

"She's the Queen. No one knows where they stand with her."

Ibby sighed.

"Look, just go and try it out. She seems honorable enough, so it's not likely she'll drag you off to a life of eternal servitude without at least warning you first."

Ibby closed her eyes. "I'll think about it."

Ilse rolled over, putting her back to her sister. "Just don't blow this off all over some look that might have held deeper meaning."

Ibby only sighed again and began reciting the Paragons in alphabetical order, hoping it would ease her into the Fade. Perhaps there she could make some sense of it all.

In her dreams, Ibby walked through darkness.

At first, she thought she was simply walking through a void, a vast and empty plain, but then she realized she could feel stone beneath her feet. And the stone was unbearably cold, the kind that comes of stone that has never known the touch of the sun.

Ahead in the darkness, she heard singing. It was not singing as one might imagine, with a human voice and clear syllables, but rather like a whale, low humming that thrummed through her bones and poignant high notes. She had never heard whale's song before, though, and so had nothing to compare this to.

The singing stopped abruptly and the silence that filled the gap left by its absence was heartbreaking. Ibby pressed on, desperate to find the song again, desperate to find the creature that made such wondrous music.

A tongue of flame leapt through the air and a lantern hanging atop the tunnel that she was walking through was lit. A great and scaled beast sat before her, but she could not fully take it in, for its glowing eyes enraptured her.

"They come. To make me theirs. They seek a mother once more and I am too weak to deny them."

The voice boomed loud, but within her rather than in the air about her. Her words fled and her eyes still lay captive to the beasts' own.

"Oh, little Fade spirit. I would happily travel beyond the veil if I thought it would end my troubles."

In the corner of her eye, Ibby saw the beast's great gaping maw, lined with hundreds of teeth.

"Wouldn't you?"

"Ibby? Ibby!"

Ibby gasped, drawing in a lungful of air she had not been able to take before, and opened her eyes to find her sister sitting over her, forehead creased with worry. Ibby smiled weakly. "Just a bad dream, Ilse. Nothing to freak out about."

The creases deepened. "You weren't breathing, Ibby, and you were getting cold. I thought you were dead."

Ibby noticed that her eyes were rimmed with red and took her sister's hand.

"Come on, sis, I just got offered training by the fabled Grey Warden Warrior Queen of Fereldan. You think I would just give up and die?"

Ilse gave a tiny smile.

"What did you dream about?"

Ibby stopped for a moment, suddenly getting the feeling that she shouldn't speak of it. "I… don't remember," she lied, but her sister didn't seem too worried about it.

"Well, you're alright now?"

Ibby smiled with what she hoped was reassurance. "A-OK."

Ibby glanced over and was startled to find the Commons already bustling. "Have I really been out that long?"

Ilse's lips thinned to a grim line and she nodded. "We thought at first you were just sleeping in, so we left you alone. But then everyone started coming by and you didn't even twitch, when you're practically mother's watch dog… And you were so pale…" She bowed her head.

" I really thought you were dead, Ibby."

Ibby gripped her sister's hand. "Well, I'm not, so don't worry about it. Whatever it was, it's over now." Ilse took a deep breath and composed herself, nodding resolutely.

"You're right. Anyways, get ready to go train with the Warrior Queen."

With a sigh, she rose from her bedroll, stretching. "Fine, fine, I'll go. I just hope she has spare daggers." She sighed, wishing she had woken up earlier; now she would be sharing the public bathhouse with dwarves who would probably attempt to drown her while she was rinsing her hair. "I'm off for a wash. I'll probably head straight to the Diamond Quarter after that, so I guess… see you later?" Ilse nodded, smiling, but as Ibby turned to walk away, Ilse gripped her wrist.

"I love you, sister. Take care of yourself."

Ibby was taken aback. It wasn't as if they never expressed love in their small family, but it normally wasn't so fierce… or sudden. "Of… of course, Ilse. I love you, too." Ilse looked into her eyes before the smile reappeared and she released her sister with a nod. Her sibling blinked and walked away, towels and spare clothes in hand, along with some soap.

She reached the bathhouse, pulling a copper and handing it to the attendant inside along with her clothes, the bit assuring her that the clothes would still be there when she finished. The steamy, cavernous room was stifling and she quickly lowered herself into the warm waters to make the humidity a bit more bearable. A few dwarves turned pointedly away from her, but she ignored her, scrubbing quickly. Looking on the ashy patches of her skin, she was reminded of the scaled creature she had seen in her dreams.

'It was probably nothing,' she told herself sternly. 'It won't do you any good to dwell upon it.'

But still she had to wonder on the cryptic phrases it spoke.

"They come. To make me theirs. They seek a mother once more and I am too weak to deny them."

A mother? Why would anything seek out something so large and terrifying and… scaly to be a mother? How could it be too weak to deny them?

"Oh, little Fade spirit. I would happily travel beyond the veil if I thought it would end my troubles."

That made her wonder. Was it truly a dream if that… thing had recognized her as a spirit of the Fade? Had she been traveling in her dreams, cloaked not in flesh but in the shroud of the Fade?

No. It was impossible. There was no precedent of such, not that she knew of, not beyond mages. And she was no mage; she would have shown signs well before now. No, this was simply a strange dream in which her mind created a thing that would have spouted cryptic thoughts because of what was hidden within her mind. It happened all the time. It was all that had happened this time.

How silly that she could not convince herself of it.

"Ibby!" The voice cut through her brooding and she turned, half expecting to see her mother or sister. Instead, to her utmost shock, the Queen of Fereldan was striding through the bathwater towards her. Ibby was glad that the water was covered by bubbles so the encounter could not be made any more awkward than it already promised to be.

"My Queen," Ibby said, looking down, flushing.

"Oh, that's quite enough," the Queen said, rolling her eyes. "Amalia will do, thanks. I get enough 'my queen's back at the palace."

Ibby was shocked, to say the least. "Forgive me, my-… Amalia."

Amalia grinned. "Much better. Anyways, I came to wash myself of the filth of journeying and saw you. I figured you'd be better conversation than the Dwarven ladies."

"I'm… honored. But why not just take a bath in the inn? Surely you had enough money to purchase a bath in your quarters."

Amalia shrugged, grin remaining. "I dunno. I just… sometimes I just like to be… common."

Ibby blinked. "You must be joking."

"Well, all I've ever known is being a noble, and sometimes I just wish people would shut the hell up and say what they mean. I find that's a lot easier when I give up all of the royal sensibilities."

Briefly, the elf wondered why this woman, who she had just recently met, would be telling her all of this. 'It must be to put me at ease. She wants me to do something.' She tried to dismiss this thought, thinking of what Ilse had said the previous night, but it persisted.

"Well, it's… refreshing," Ibby tried.

"I'm glad you think so," Amalia remarked with a grin. "So, have you considered my offer?"

'Bingo.' This seemed like confirmation, but she had to wonder… why would the Queen of Fereldan waste time trying to train her? "I have. I… accept, if my… you would have me."

Amalia clasped her on the shoulder, a friendly gesture that startled Ibby. "Great! Sounds like fun, don't you think?"

The commoner looked into the Queen's eyes and suddenly abandoned any preconceptions she'd had about her. 'This woman is different. I know it.' She grinned back and clasped the Queen's shoulder in return, a gesture that she seemed to appreciate greatly. "I could think of nothing better."