Skinner sat on a stump sharpening one of her many knives as she waited for supper to finish cooking, Krem was cooking tonight which meant that the food would be great tasting. A sound alerted Skinner and she turned to face the tree line near their camp site, she saw several others grabbing their weapons as they had all heard about the Dalish clan that had been attacked by slavers two days ago. A elven woman burst through the bushes at the tree line running straight for their camp and Skinner tensed before cursing loudly at the sight of slavers on horseback riding the woman down, it quickly became clear that the woman was a mage when she hurling a mana bolt over her shoulder but it was also equally clear that the woman would not make it to the camp before the riders overcame her.
Ignoring the cries of her fellow chargers she ran forward drawing her throwing knives and without breaking stride whipped one into the eye of the leading horseman, she threw another knife into the throat of another the woman ran past her not even glancing at her just running for the fire. Skinner threw one more knife before a large horned mass slammed into the nearest horsemen while a smaller human shaped battering ram named Krem crashed into the last one. The two fighters made quick work of the remain horsemen while Skinner went to retrieve her knives and to make sure the bastards were dead, after cleaning of the knives the chief and Skinner walked back to camp while Rocky and Krem went to deal with the bodies.
They found Grim and Stiches tending the woman who sat by the fire shaking, when chief cleared his throat the woman jumped up whirling with hands now coated in an icy aura. "Whoa there girl! I am not going to hurt you, we just want to make sure you are okay and find out what happened." Chief said in a calming voice holding his hands up in a peaceful gesture, the woman relax sitting down again and letting Stiches patch her up. Skinner moved to replace Grim in helping the woman, the woman turned to look Skinner in the eye and what Skinner saw made her shiver as her eyes seemed to glow with an inner light. "Ma serannas knife thrower, I owe you my life Lethallan." She said with a solemn bow of her head. The was complete silence except for the fire crackling, Everyone in the charges knew each other's soul marks and given Skinner's ran down her shin everyone had seen it on hot days.
Kara even in her exhausted stat noticed the change in the air and she looked around but saw them only looking at her. "What is the matter?" She asked in her heavily accented voice, the other elf at this point seemed to break out of her shock and spoke quietly. "They are just shocked and rude fucks for starring at my soulmate like a piece of meat!" the last part she raised her voice to carry to the others who all found other things to do besides the large horned man who only started laughing loudly, it was Kara's turn to be shocked as the words the Simra had told her many year ago were on her left but cheek came out of the other woman's mouth. It was all too much to handle and she broke down crying, finally letting the tears for the loss of her clan and best friend fall.
Skinner was scared (Not that she would ever admit it!) when her newly found soulmate broke down crying, Skinner looked around helplessly at her team mates for help as she did not know what to do she never dealt with crying people often as she usually left that to more comforting people. The men including the chief looked away or in the case of stiches when he finished patching all he could at the moment as she only had minor wounds and was mostly starving and tired, thankfully Krem came up behind her and whispered in her left ear. "Just hold her and let her feel she is not alone right now, she is probably one of the Dalish whose clan was just wiped-out." Skinner cringed at the thought of her new soulmate feeling alone after surviving the death of her clan, making a decision she gently wrapped her arms around the woman and led her into Skinner's tent asking for Krem to leave two meals at the entrance when it was ready.
Skinner awkwardly sat the woman on her cot and began gently removing the damaged robes, the woman tensed briefly but then relaxed to help her remove everything but her loin cloth and breast band. Skinner heard Krem leave the meals outside the tent, she rose whispering that she would be right back and quickly grabbed the meals and placed them on the ground next to the cot before stripping down to her own under clothes. She awkwardly got the woman to eat the food with her before getting her under the covers and pulled her into a tight hug, this made the woman break down again even harder and this left Skinner feeling unhappy at not knowing how to make this better for the woman while she rubbed her back until she fell asleep.
Kara came awake to the feeling of being hugged tightly when she stirred to see who it was the whole last three days came crashing back making her whimper, she felt the arms tense then tighten gently before a soft voice drew her away from her memories. "Hey please don't cry! I don't know how to deal with that and then I might start crying and that will ruin my rep!" the voice sound like it was trying to joke and despite herself she chuckled, at her chuckle the woman's tension lessened and for whatever reason had made Kara relax as well. "Are you to decent?" a voice called from outside the tent, the arms around her tensed again before she heard a whisper. "Are you ready to speak with my chief and my team mates about what happened, we might be able to help." Kara nodded gently before speaking her voice rough from her tears. "Y-Yes I think I can as long as I don't need to go into detail." The woman called they would be out in a moment.
Kara went outside after dressing in clothes the woman who introduced herself as Skinner loaned her as they were very close in size and build the clothes fit perfectly, the group that greeted her were very kind and that helped her tell the story of what happened to her clan. At the end of her tale the Chargers were determined to take her back to the site to see if they could find anything to help her remember her clan or in the slim chance catch up to the slavers, she nearly started crying again at their kind words. No one asked her name and she did not offer it as she could not yet figure out who she was after all that happened she no longer felt like Kara Lavellan.
They reached the site and found everything either burned beyond recognition or missing from either the slavers or scavengers, she was about to give up hope of finding anything when skinner called out. Skinner was wandering the camp site looking for anything that would make her soulmate feel better when she came across a burned strip of earth the was at the start of a broken path, she called out to her soulmate to point out the path to her. When they started following the path her soulmate became more and more tense so Skinner not knowing what to do just took her hand and gave it a gentle squeeze that helped the Dalish woman relax, at least until them came across an area that looked like a war zone with broken trees and scorch marks everywhere. Then Skinner saw the huge pool of dried blood on the ground and gently steered her soulmate away from the area, a flicker of light made her stop and look just past a small ravine and again saw a small glimmer there. Leaving the woman in the hands of Krem she leapt lightly over the ravine to examine the sparkle and found it to be a bow shaped staff, picking it up she carried it back to the woman.
When she returned she knelt in front of her soulmate who now sat on a log looking on the verge of tears again, she gently move the staff into her view and asked gently. "Is this yours? I found it over by the ravine." With tears falling freely now but to Skinner's relief a small smile on her lips the woman shook her head. "No this belonged to my young cousin Simra she saved me by throwing me with a spell over the ravine." The woman took it gently and rose telling the group she wanted to leave as there was nothing left for her here. That night Krem looked at the Dalish and asked. "What is your name? I just realized we did not even ask you." "I don't have one anymore the woman I was died with my clan and cousin." "How about Dalish?" the chief asked and the woman agreed smiling slightly as she settled between her soulmate's thighs and closing her eyes to listen to the sounds of the group that hoped would one day become her new family.