Thanks to everyone who is reading my story. I also want to say thanks for the review, I went back to chapter one and fixed my spelling on Herald, for some reason I kept spelling it as Harold.
Chapter Two: Where Am I?
The chantry was the only building that stood out among the town. Walking into the building, I felt warmer and the freedom from the chilly air was a huge relief. Now to look for the two large doors that would lead me to the room that Nenril talked about. She said backroom, so I wondered down the corridor until I reached the end of it. Before I opened the doors, I hear people speaking on the other side.
"Herald," a masculine voice spoke, "It's not right to allow her free reign around Haven. I can have one or two of my soldiers supervise her."
"I agree with the Commander," it was Cassandra's voice, "We just started the Inquisition and we can't have someone, with her circumstances, moving around unsupervised. Leliana still hasn't found any information on her."
"Cassandra's right, I can't find any family or city records of her," I recognized the voice of the woman that had worn purple. She must be this Leliana. "This is very troubling."
"You had the same suspicions abut me." Nenril spoke, "Give her a chance."
"That may be true Herald," another female voice spoke, her voice held a different accent compared to everyone else. To be honest, everyone had a unique accent. "But you have proven yourself, this woman has not."
"She fell through the rift," Nenril said, "Like I did, and I believe she means no harm. I would go as far to say that she may be in the same situation as I am."
"But she doesn't bear the mark as you do?" Cassandra interrupted.
Nenril was really defending me in there, however it gave me more questions than answers. I thought I would be better informed, but I am more confused then ever. A shadow fell over me. Dammit, this cannot be good being catch eavesdropping. I looked behind me to find a bald man with pointy ears.
My face heated up and I could only guess that it was red with embarrassment and shame at being caught.
"I…was just…waiting for them to finish their meeting…." I stuttered out. Mentally face palming myself. I did not need to give this guy an explanation. For all I know, he had no idea if I was listening in or not but now he knows. I cannot stop myself from looking at his ears, despite trying to maintain eye contact with him. His whole person was very intimidating and gave off a very powerful air about him, despite how humbly he was dressed.
He noticed my staring and seemed to be annoyed at it. "Are you the one who also fell out of the rift?" He spoke in a stern voice. Reminded me of a professor.
"Umm…yeah," I struggled to speak, "That's…that's what has been said." How could this get anymore awkward?
Someone cleared their throat behind me causing me to jump. Please dear God don't let this moment get any worst. I brought my full attention to this other person. The door was open now and there stood another tall man, but he had normal ears and was broader. His blonde hair brushed back but it was his eyes that were intense and caught me off guard, with their golden color. My nerves were going haywire and I could feel my heart in my throat. What am I to do, I thought.
Nenril came around the blonde man.
"Ruth, glad you could find us." She spoke kindly to me, "You had me worried that you got lost." Her smile eased me a little in this weird and awkward situation. She grabbed my arm and pulled me into the room. A huge table stood in the middle of the chamber and it looked like a map was placed on it. Different markers were set at different areas. Torches lit up the room, like it did most of the Chantry. I noticed there was no electricity or any type of modern technology in this place or any where in the town.
"I wanted to introduce you to everyone and give you a chance to tell us about yourself to the advisors." She smiled, treating me as a friend and not as an outsider like the others viewed me as. "This is Leliana," she proved me right, the lady in purple was indeed Leliana. This woman had suspicion written all over her. "She's our spymaster." I did not know how to respond to that, so we moved on. "Josephine is our ambassador." There stood a lady in fancy clothing with ruffles. Her dark complexion and hair were beautiful. She had an exotic flair about her.
"A pleasure to meet you." She gave a little bow.
"You too." I said, awkwardly.
"Commander Cullen," Nenril now was talking about the blonde man, "oversees our forces." He gave a curt nod to me. At least he acknowledges me, I guess. There was a sword attached at his hip along with the armor he wore. There was something unique about his armor, besides the fact he was wearing armor, there was a cloak that had fur attached to the shoulder part.
"You've met Cassandra earlier," Nenril pointed out the woman with the short hair from earlier, "Hopefully this is a better encounter." I hope so too. She did throw me against the wall. I still am confused on the answers she wanted from me. "Last but not least this is Solas, our Arcane advisor."
Arcane advisor? Like magic or something like that. I feel like I have stepped out of time or outside of my world. I felt a drop in my stomach. I do not get anxiety about things too much but this place, these people how can I not. I took a deep breathe and realized everyone was looking at me.
"Nice to meet everyone," I spoke in a bit of a high pitch voice. Rubbing my hands together, this feeling of being helpless and unfamiliar situation had me more unsure of myself then I have ever been.
We all stood around the table, I was between Nenril and Cullen. I leaned more towards to Nenril, I felt more secured with her. "We wanted to discuss more about you," Nenril broke the silence, "and to discuss more about where you are from." She gestured to the map. I looked over it and saw unfamiliar lands. I had never heard of Ferelden or Orlais.
"I don't recognize any of this." I said, not looking at anyone's faces. "I am from a place called America or rather to be more accurate, I am from Oregon."
"That is not a place that I am familiar with," Josephine spoke, "but that does not mean it does not exist. I will look into it."
"How do you not recognize any of this map?" Leliana questioned me. "This is the most basic map of Thedas."
"Thedas?" I was confused, the word sounded weird, "Is that the country that we are in?" It was everyone else's turn to look at me confused. That's not good.
"Thedas is what the world is called," the Commander spoke, " We are in the country of Feralden." He looked for recognition in my reaction but I am sure he only found me in disarray to this information.
"That doesn't help," I whispered, baffled by all of this.
"Maybe we should call it a day," Nenril noticed how jumbled up I was, "I planned on it being longer but I think that we should reconvene in the morning. That way Ruth can get some proper sleep and food." I could not agree more.
"The Herald is right this can wait until morning," Cassandra was quick to agree. I would have thought she would have wanted to interrogate me more. No one seemed to disagree, however the Commander did have one last thought.
" I still believe that she not be allowed to more freely among Haven," the Commander was serious in his speech, " I can assign a guard to oversee her." Great an armored babysitter.
"No, I will accompany her throughout Haven," Nenril said. "She will also stay in my cabin till we figure out what to do."
"Well that's settled." Josephine said, trying to quietly close the discussion.
"Very well," the Commander rubbed the back of his neck, clearly not happy with the idea.
Solas never said a word during this meeting and I wondered why. He only spoke those few words towards me.
Everyone slowly left the room till it was just Solas, Nenril, and me. Solas approached us and spoke to Nenril.
"How is the mark?" Solas looked towards Nenril's hand, "Does it pain you anymore?" Nenril removed her glove to show a green mark on her left hand, which glowed brightly.
"Whoa!" I exclaimed, alarmed.
"It's fine Solas," Nenril had a sad smile on her face, "It stopped hurting after I closed that rift towards the breach."
"Do you have any mark similar to Nenril?" Solas directed the question to me. As far as I knew I was not glowing green.
"No, I think I would have noticed," I nervously laughed. "What is the mark?"
"It helps close rifts and with any luck it can close the breach in the sky." Nenril just made me more confused, but I just nodded my head. "Let's head to the tavern now, I could use a drink after this meeting." After saying bye to Solas, Nenril led me out of the Chantry.
