Chapter Two
Hello again, everyone! I apologize for the short chapters. My phone can't seem to upload anything much longer. I apologize for the inconvenience. Also, I just published the first chapter yesterday, but I got really excited. So here ya go.
Here's the next chapter, and I'll see you at the bottom!
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She arrived at Ostagar, the massive castle ruins much different than the warm walls of the Chantry. It looked like it had seen many battles, yet had so many more to come.
She went through the stone arch, and found Duncan once more, talking to a young elf mage.
The mage had long, dark hair, and piercing blue eyes that seemed to follow her every move.
"Ser. It's good to see you again." Leliana said, looking down at her feet nervously.
"You mustn't be nervous, Leliana. As I said. You'll make a fine Grey Warden." He said kindly, turning to her.
"Now then. This is one of your fellow initiates, Xavier Surana. Xavier, this is Leliana."
Xavier looked Leliana up and down. She seemed to be small and unassuming. He scoffed.
"A pleasure." Xavier said sarcastically.
"Nice to meet you." Leliana said, not sure how to respond.
"If you don't mind, girl, Duncan and I were discussing something very important." He said, turning his back to her.
Leliana thought back to when she was a bard, and how she would've stabbed him the second his back was turned.
She shook her head to clear those thoughts. She would be fighting alongside him soon enough, and now was not the time to judge.
Duncan gave her an apologetic smile, which she returned, then went back to whatever discussion he was having with Xavier.
Leliana decided, in the meantime, to explore the camp a bit more.
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Leliana wandered through another stone archway, and up a small incline, following the path of apparent arguing.
"Haven't the Grey Wardens asked enough of the Circle?" An average looking mage asked another apparent Grey Warden.
"I've been sent by the Revered Mother to seek you out, Ser Mage." The Warden responded.
"What her Reverence "desires" is of no concern to me. I am here helping the Grey Wardens by the king's orders I might add." The mage responded indignantly.
"Should I have asked her to write a note, then?" The Warden responded sarcastically, a smirk on his face.
That only seemed to make the mage angrier.
"Tell her I will not be harassed in this manner!"
The Warden scoffed.
"Yes. I was harassing you bydelivering a message" he replied.
"Your glibness does you no credit."
"Here I thought we were getting along so well! I was even going to name one of my children after you...the grumpy one."
Leliana chuckled at that.
"I will speak to her if I must. Get out of my way, fool." And with that, the mage walked away.
The Grey Warden noticed Leliana's presence and walked over to her.
"You know, one good thing about the Blight is how it brings people together." He told her sarcastically.
Leliana laughed, and thought back to Xavier from moments ago.
"I know exactly what you mean."
"It's like a party! We could all get together and hold hands! That'd give the darkspawn something to think about, wouldn't it?" He looked away, pretending to be wistful about the idea.
"Where are my manners? My name's Alistair. You're not a mage, are you? I seem to be striking out with them lately. I do wonder why." He asked with a genuine smile.
Leliana laughed again. She liked this man.
"No, I'm no mage. I come from Lothering. My name's Leliana. I'm here to become a Grey Warden." They shook hands.
"I remember Duncan talking about you. The recruit from Lothering who has visions. I should've recognized you sooner, I apologize." He said seriously.
"Oh, it's no trouble at all." Leliana replied.
"Well, as the junior member of the Grey Wardens, I'll be accompanying you and your fellow initiates when you prepare for The Joining." He told her.
"The Joining? Is that some sort of initiation?" Leliana asked.
"Of sorts, yes. Whenever you're ready to get started, let's return to Duncan. I'm sure he's ready by now." Alistair replied.
With a nod of her head to confirm that she was ready, the two set off through the camp.
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On their way back, the duo was stopped by a soldier near the kennels.
"Excuse me, miss, but could you help me out? One of the Mabari ingested some darkspawn blood. I'd ask his owner, but he died in combat not too long ago." The soldier, apparently the Kennel Master, asked.
Leliana nodded her head.
"Of course. What do you need me to do?"
The Kennel Master handed her a muzzle.
"I just need you to put this on him so that I can apply some medicine."
He opened the kennel door for her, and she made her way inside.
She was immediately cornered by a massive looking Mabari. Over the fence of the kennel, Alistair drew his sword, prepared to go in and defend her.
Leliana locked eyes with him and shook her head. She then returned to the animal, who seemed to be analyzing her.
Tentatively, Leliana reached her hand out for the hound to sniff. He inched closer towards her, growling if she made any moves. He sniffed her hand suspiciously.
After a few tense moments, the Mabari rubbed his head against her hand, and she began to soothingly pet his head.
Leliana took a closer look at the dog. It seemed to be in a lot of pain, and had dark marks slashing up and down it's fur.
She bent down, and began to talk to the Mabari.
"Hello, friend. I know that this will be a bit uncomfortable, but I have to put this muzzle on you so that the nice man outside can give you some medicine. I know medicine isn't fun to take, but I promise it will make you feel better." She said soothingly.
The Mabari whimpered, but put his face in her hands, allowing her to put the muzzle on him with no complaint.
"Thank you. We will have you feeling better in no time, I'm sure of it!" She said enthusiastically. The hound barked and wagged his tail feebly.
Upon exiting the kennel, the Kennel Master spoke to her.
"Thank you. Do you mind if I ask just a bit more of you?"
"Of course not. What do you need?"
"Well, if you're going out into the Wilds, there's a flower, it's white with a blood red center. I need it for a medicine to help the Mabari. Would you get it for me?" He asked her.
"Sure! I'll keep an eye out for it if I go out."
"Excellent! You know, he quite likes you. Come see me after the fight, and we'll see about imprinting him onto you." The Kennel Master said cheerfully.
Leliana nodded her head, and she and Alistair headed for Duncan once more.
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And that's that! As I said before, I do apologize for the chapter's being short, but I can't seem to be able to upload larger chunks for some reason. Anyways, I'd love to hear your thoughts on it, and I'll see you next chapter!