Chapter 3 – Leaving the Tower
The next morning she was summoned by another mage, she didn't know her name to the First Enchanters office. She had been afraid that the events of the last few days were a dream, but here she was. Standing in the First Enchanters office once again. Duncan was there and so was the Knight Commander. Duncan and Irving had made their case to the commander to take her to Ostagar but the miserable templar was fighting it. The conversation became heated with the Knight Commander yelling that she was a "barely civilized barbarian, always getting into trouble and that she would turn to blood magic at the least provocation."
She was sorely tempted to turn the man into a pile of ashes right then and there. But she stood quietly as the three argued amongst themselves. Duncan and Irving seemed determined so she thought it best that she not get into the argument.
"Enough" the Knight Commander yelled. "I will hear no more, I WILL NOT let you take the mage, she is not trustworthy!"
Shelina felt her heart drop at his words, he would never allow her out of the tower.
Duncan seemed to lose patience at this, he turned to the commander and said in a quiet voice "I had hoped that you would agree with myself and Irving on this. It seems you have left me no choice, however. I hereby conscript this mage into the service of the grey wardens. She will become my responsibility from this moment forward."
The Knight Commander looked incensed, his eyes had grown wide and he was barely concealing his anger. "I am aware of the practice, but I urge you to reconsider. This mage will be trouble." He glared at Duncan, the two men had their eyes locked on one another in quiet struggle. Neither of them willing to back down.
"I have made my decision, we shall take our leave as soon as she is packed and ready for travel." Duncan replied. The Knight Commander then stormed from the room, his armor and heavy metal boots clanking loudly as he slammed the door behind him.
"Well, that went just about how I expected it to" said Irving, his eyes were twinkling in mirth. He turned to look at Shelina and said "I suggest you go pack your things and ready yourself quickly. Meet us at the entrance when you are done."
She didn't have to be told twice and ran to her room. It didn't take long before she went to the main hall and she saw Duncan and Irving waiting before the main doors that led into the outer chamber. "Are you prepared?" asked Duncan. She nodded her reply.
She looked at Irving, and for once she allowed her emotions to show on her face. She would miss this man, he had been kind and taught her much. "Ah child, do not look at me that way, we both know that this is what you have been waiting for since the first day you arrived here."
"That is true First Enchanter, but, I feel I must thank you." She had no idea how to thank him; he had done so much for her. Her expression became one of confusion. Then suddenly she rushed forward and hugged the man fiercely. Irving was surprised by this show of emotion to say the least. He had become accustomed to her usual lack of emotion, he had always suspected that she used it as a shield to keep herself from getting hurt, and his suspicions were now confirmed. He smiled as he hugged her back. "Now, now, don't want to ruin that reputation of yours." They stood there a moment longer and he said quietly so that only she could hear "I will miss you Shelina, the tower will never be the same without you."
Shelina broke the hug and smiled her biggest warmest smile at him then. It was a lovely sight to see her smile without reservation and without worry. It was just too bad she didn't do it more often Irving thought to himself.
Duncan watched calmly, a slight smile of his own on his lips. So the girl does have a heart after all he thought. It is enclosed by high walls, but if he were to be patient with her, show her kindness and nurture compassion he had no doubt that she would become a strong ally for the grey wardens. That is if she survives.
They left quickly and traveled hard. He kept up a blistering pace and he thought that the girl surely would complain. She didn't. He was beginning to like this recruit a lot. He found a spot to make camp just as darkness was closing in around them. "I will find some wood to make a fire, be wary while I am gone." She nodded to him and sat down on the grass.
Duncan was back shortly after and their camp set. He pulled some dried rations from his pack and shared them with her. She had made no attempt to speak with him so they sat in silence while they ate. Duncan told her to rest as he would keep watch. She was thinking of offering to place some protection wards around their camp, but found that it was much easier to simply lie down on her bedroll. She was asleep within minutes.
The next morning Shelina awoke to bright sunshine. She was disoriented at first. The unexpected sensation of warmth on her skin felt wonderful. She looked around for Duncan and saw him preparing food for them. Did the man never rest?
"Did you rest well?" he inquired. "Yes" she said "I had forgotten how wonderful it feels to sleep out in the open and to have the morning sun wake you."
"The novelty will soon wear off, I assure you" he said with a chuckle.
They continued onward for seven days before finally arriving at Ostagar. By that time she was so tired and dusty she thought she might drop. Her robes were a mess and she thought again about the stupidity of mages wearing dresses. One of her first priorities was going to be to find herself something else to wear.
She had no idea if they would give her armor when she became a warden, she didn't like the idea of having to go into battle against darkspawn wearing her robes. She broached the subject with Duncan.
He became evasive with his answer and said that they would discuss it after the joining ceremony. She didn't understand what he implied. "Tell me of this joining ceremony." She said to Duncan. He had never spoken of it before. Duncan became evasive for the first time since she had met him and said "there is a brief ceremony that all new Grey Wardens must go through, although I cannot tell you much of it now, I will answer all of your questions once it is done."
This she could understand, but it felt like Duncan was keeping something important from her. the Grey Wardens would not reveal their secrets before she became one of them. "I will respect your wishes for now, but I expect that once I have gone through this ceremony of yours that you will tell me more of the Grey Wardens and what will be expected of me."
Duncan nodded and said "rest assured that once you are one of us I will tell you everything you need to know and answer any questions you may have." Sheleina looked into Duncan's eyes and believed him, she visibly relaxed knowing that she would have the answers she sought soon.
They traveled along and Sheleina enjoyed the feeling of being outside once again. She had missed the feel of the sun on her skin, the wind on her face. She had almost forgotten these feelings after being locked in the tower for so long. Mages were rarely let outside of the confines of the walls of the tower. Her steps were light and she marveled at the feel of the grass under her feet, how she had missed seeing the ancient forests. At one point when they were walking she caught a sent of something that she could not place, it reminded her of her home and she stopped and closed her eyes just breathing in the smell of clean air. She felt like a child discovering something new with every step she took.
Duncan never slowed his pace however, he insisted that they had to get to Ostagar as quickly as possible. They traveled mostly in silence, Sheleina was never big on small talk and apparently Duncan felt the same.
They made it to Ostagar without incident in good time.
There was a brief meeting with the King of the Ferelden's. Sheleina didn't pay attention much, she could have cared less about their monarchy. She felt no allegiance to the tall blond man in golden armor. These people never really paid much attention to her kind, she was respectful for Duncan's sake but that was all. She didn't speak, merely bowed when she was introduced. She thought it best to simply observe for a time.
As she stood and looked over the ruins of what was once a fortress trying to take it all in. Duncan told her the basic layout of the camp and told her to take some time to adjust and then wandered off without another word.
She wandered the camp wide eyed. It had been so long she had been given even this small amount of freedom she decided to relish it. The people she passed looked at her strangely, she didn't know why they were staring at her so. She kept her face neutral and her head high. She found her way to the cooking fires, following the rumblings of her stomach. She wasn't sure if she was expected to pay for the food or not. She stepped forward following the actions of others and was given a plate with some kind of meat and potatoes. She followed the others and was given a large cup of water as well. Ok that worked well, she thought, now what? There were long tables in a clearing she noted and she made her way over.
She chose an empty table and sat down to eat. She was not alone for long however when a group of armored men joined her. She glanced at them from the corner of her eye and saw that they were templars. By the Gods, would she never escape them? She drank down some of the water finding that she had lost her appetite and tried to leave the table as quietly as possible. She did not go unnoticed however.
One of the largest of the templars stood up and said "Hey, you there, what are you doing away from the mage encampment?" Shelina's blood froze, this was not going to turn out well she thought. She turned to face the man finding that she had quickly been surrounded by no less than four templars. Her fear quickly turned to anger and she spat at the man who had spoken to her "I am a mage indeed, ser templar, but I am here with the grey wardens soon to become one of their ranks. Now if you will excuse me I have things to attend to."
She started to walk away when one of the templars grabbed her arm. That was a mistake, her hatred of templars flared and she threw a mind blast spell before she even took a breath, knocking all of them to the ground. More templars came running forward one of them reached out his arm and drained her manna quickly. She found herself on the ground panting and shaking. She was shaking out of anger because these blasted templars had assumed that she had done something wrong, when in fact she had not. She heard people around her yelling then and felt herself being dragged to her feet, fingers digging into her arms painfully as they started to pull her along.
A man Shelina didn't recognize stepped in front of the templars and said "What in Andraste's name do you think you are doing with the new grey warden recruit?"
The lead templar came forward and explained that they were merely returning a wayward mage to their compound. "And what exactly did she do that convinced you she had escaped the mage encampment, did she attack you?" he asked.
"She did indeed." The tall man frowned at them. "I was watching the whole time, she did not attack you until your goons grabbed her and started hauling her off by force." The man turned to her then, he asked her if she was allright. She yanked her arm away from the templar who had been holding her and said "I'm fine." The barely suppressed anger apparent in her voice.
Lowering his voice slightly, the man spoke slowly and carefully to the templar. "Did you not stop to think that by grabbing a young woman and attempting to take her by force that it would be thought of as a threat?"
"Uuhh, well, you see messer." Was all that the templar was able to stutter out.
"You are in the camp of the Kings army, not in the circle tower and you have overstepped your bounds. This woman is indeed to be a grey warden and if you come within ten paces of her again I will see that the Commander of the Grey himself takes care of your punishment." The threat in his voice was obvious as he glared at the templars.
The templars sauntered back to the mage compound leaving Shelina alone with the man who had intervened. He turned to her then with a grin on his face "Allow me to introduce myself, I am Alistair a member of the Grey Wardens."
Shelina recognized the name, it was the man Duncan had told her about. Great, she thought, I've made quite the first impression as a warden recruit; these people are going to think me an incapable idiot.
Sheleina grumbled and spoke some choice words in her native language knowing that the man would not be able to understand her. Alistair just looked at her strangely.
"Duncan told me that the newest member of our order was to be a circle mage, but I did not expect you to be a woman."
Shelina's eyebrows went up at this. She wondered why the man had stepped in then, perhaps he thought of her as some sort of damsel in distress. By the Gods, this day was not turning out the way she had planned.
"I am Sheleina" she said, "I thank you for your intervention, but it was not necessary." "Oh" said Alistair, "so you were planning to attack four fully armed templars right here in the middle of camp then?" He said with a grin.
She was not sure how to respond to what he said but was angry at herself that the templars had taken her down so easily.
She looked more closely at the man who would be her ally soon. He had short blondish hair that sort of stuck up in the front above his forehead. His features were strong with a square chin, strong jaw, she found his features pleasing. They were very… masculine. She looked him in the eye then, noting that his eyes were the color of warm amber, they were expressive honest eyes, she could not find even the hint of deception in them. She saw only his curiosity.
She felt Alistair grow nervous underneath her gaze and she gave him a faint smile. She found she had to look up at him, he was tall, and she was not considered short for a female. "Are there not other women grey wardens?" she asked.
"There are none here in the camp, although I have heard tales of women grey wardens and seen pictures of them. You know, I never thought of it before, I wonder why there aren't more women grey wardens?"
"So, you wish there were more female grey wardens do you?" Shelina said with a teasing tone. She was actively flirting with him now. What in the heck was she doing, she met this man only five minutes ago. She reigned her emotions back in, she did not want the wardens to think her a fool. Ha, if only they had known her at the tower. But it was different here, she was free and it was having an effect on her. She was almost drunk on all the new experiences. The handsome young man whose company she now found herself in included in those new experiences.
"Would it be so bad if there were more women?" he said. She looked at him again. "Not that I'm some kind of letcher or something, please stop looking at me like that" he said.
"Anyway, I was just coming to get some dinner myself, if you want to finish yours you could join me."
Shelina looked to her uneaten plate of food and decided she was hungry after all. They ate together, she noticed that there were no more templars nearby and she relaxed her guard. After they finished he showed her around the camp and eventually they ended up near Duncan's fire. She settled down in a tent that had been saved for her. She was tired after the forced march and quickly felt her body relax, she fell asleep with a smile on her face. Freedom tasted good she thought.