As she led him back to the aravel, Ennari looked back over her should at Gideon. He looked confused. "Are you alright?" She asked.
"I'm… not sure." Gideon answered. "Please… don't take me for being ungrateful, because I am thankful for what you've done. You've saved my life twice now. But, I'm not sure what to make of what just happened. What does it mean? I know that you made me part of the clan… But… what does that really mean?"
"It means that you will be safe here." She answered. "And that no one can force you to leave. You're part of the clan now, and you have a home with us for as long as you want, and we will protect you."
"Does it mean that I have to stay here?"
"No…" She said, and now she was the one who was confused. Why would Gideon want to stay with the clan so badly if he only planned on leaving? "Why? Do want to go?"
"No." Gid answered. "Not until I am ready. My family is dead, and there is someone who has to pay for that."
As she pushed the door to the aravel open, she turned and said, "I think it's time you tell me the story about that. I didn't pry into it before, but after what has happened here tonight, I think that I deserve to know."
"Yes, you do." Gideon answered and they entered the aravel. Ennari took her seat across the tiny room from the bed, and waited for him to sit and begin his story. "Ferelden fell into civil war not long after we parted ways last time. Teryn Loghain, the man that my father had been going to see, killed the king in cold blood with his own hands. Soon afterward, Ferelden divided, half behind Loghain who is styling himself as king, and half behind my father, who led the fight to depose the usurper and put a ruler on the throne chosen by the nobles.
"Throughout the war, our strongest ally was Arl Rendon Howe, an old friend of my father's from the war with Orlais. Just before I came back to your forest, Rendon and his son, Nathanial were at my home, Castle Cousland, with their own army. I was just preparing to go to bed when I heard the sounds of battle." Gideon stopped in his story as tears began to well-up in his eyes again, and he forced himself to steady. "We… couldn't figure out what was happening until Howe's forces had already murdered half my people."
He stopped again and ran his hands back through his hair. "I fought my way to where my father was, just in time to see him drive his sword through Rendon's treacherous heart! I fought alongside my father, killing the last of the Howe soldiers in the room with them, but just as the last one died, Rendon's son, Nathanial appeared in the doorway with his bow and shot my father through the throat.
"I should have gone after him!" Gideon growled, "I should have killed the bastard! But I… I… couldn't! I stayed with my father, even though he was already gone, and then I ran away!"
Ennari could put the rest together herself from what she'd heard from the two soldiers in the forest when she'd found Gid, and what Gid had just told her himself. "And so you came here to recover and to hide away from Nathanial and your other enemies, and once enough time has passed and you have passed from their memories."
"Yes." Gideon answered, and then he winced, and the look on Ennari's face confirmed that she was feeling what he was afraid of. "Ennari…" He said, "I know that… that it might seem selfish… and that I am only using you… but I assure you, it's not like that! I never lied about-" He stopped when he saw Ennari holding up a hand to silence him.
"It's alright." She said. "I understand how you feel." Ennari stood up from her seat. "If another of the Dalish clans had come to mine under a flag of friendship then attacked us, I would do much the same thing that you are now." She sighed, "But you should have told me from the beginning."
"I know." Gid nodded. "And I would have. But in my defense, I have not had much time to tell you, and I have not recovered from it myself."
"You have no need to defend yourself, lethallin… I understand." She started to leave the aravel.
"Hey, wait." Gid called after her, and Ennari stopped. "I never said thank you for all this… Thank you Ennari, I'll never be able to repay you for what you've done for me now. Ma serannas… ma serannas!"
She flashed the same smile that she had when they parted ways three years ago. "I don't want you to repay me, lethallin. I just want your friendship." She turned to leave again, but stopped again just short of opening the door. "Gid…" She asked as she turned to look at him again, "Did… did you think about me over the last three years?"
Gideon nodded. "Yes. I thought about you a lot right after it happened… then less and less as time passed. But you were never far from my thoughts, you were there at the very least a few minutes of every day."
Her smiled lessened, but she didn't look any less happy, and now she seemed somehow relieved. "It was the same for me." She replied, "And… it might seem cruel to say this now… but I'm happy to be with you again."
Gideon stood up as well. "The circumstances weren't much better the first time we met. Only now the table has been reversed, and I am the one at your mercy."
The room inside the aravel was so small that it only took Ennari two steps until she was in front of Gid again. Their eyes met for a few seconds before their lips came together, and they let the moment last for a few seconds, and then they both pulled away from each other.
"I'm sorry." She said.
"Don't be." Gid answered. "But I know it was…"
"I know." Ennari said, and then she was gone.
The next few months were hard on both Ennari and Gideon. As lead hunter for the Sabrae Clan, Ennari was still responsible for leading her fellow hunters, or organizing her hunters into smaller parties and designating the area of forest they were to cover. It was a busy job, and in addition to all that, Ennari also had to teach her Bloodkin how to speak the Elven language, archery, hunting and tracking, Dalish traditions and customs, and answer the hundreds of questions that he had about each of the topics. And most frustrating for Ennari was breaking up the constant confrontations between Gideon and numerous Sabrae elves. Ennari wasn't sure if she should have been happy that wasn't Gid who was starting the constant headaches, or if she should have been ashamed that it was her fellow elves who were always picking fights with Gideon.
At first, the only two elves aside from herself who readily welcomed Gideon into the clan were Master Ilen and Daegren, better known by his family name, Surana, because it was a more elvish sounding name. Ilen treated Gid in more or less the same way that he treated the rest of the clan members of that age, telling his own brief stories as he made equipment to help Gid in his daily life.
As for Surana, if he had been born into a Dalish clan, then he would possibly be a Keeper, and if not, then he would certainly be a First. But in the words of Surana himself, he'd had the bad luck to be born a mage in the shemlen world, and had been dragged off to some place called the Circle of Magi. Ennari had talked to him several times about his life before running away and finding the Dalish, and had likened it to being something between a performing animal and a slave. The Sabrae had welcomed Surana with open arms, even more so because of his magical gifts, and while he seemed happy enough to be with the Dalish, Ennari had the distinct impression that always felt more like a guest than an actual part of the clan.
As the months passed Gideon's skills only improved. The Dalish were natural archers, but generally poor swordsman, which gave him an advantage over the other hunters. Teaching him how to use a bow properly was a bit more difficult. Gid had also hunted before, although if what he did was called hunting, then Ennari was surprised that shemlen had managed to successfully hunt anything! He made so much noise, and was so much bigger and more clumsy than the elves, that more than once she lost her temper and started yelling at him that he was completely hopeless, none the less, Gideon eventually improved enough so that Ennari allowed him to accompany the clan hunters on their own hunts.
One of the things that Endrin found particularly surprising was how quickly the halla took to Gideon, reacting to his emotions and even seeming to sympathize with him, even most of the Dalish lacked the strong bond with the creatures that Gideon seemed to have. As Maren saw how quickly the halla received him, she soon followed suit and opened up to him.
"You're ready." Ennari said in her native language as she finished cleaning their assortment of skinning tools in the water of a stream.
Gideon had just finished cutting up the meat from the deer they had just killed and wrapped it up in cloth. "For what?" He asked in badly accented elven.
"The trial." She answered, and Gid only raised his eyebrows in response. "Everyone has to go through the trail, regardless of what their task to the clan is. As hunters, we have to venture into the forest alone with a weapon of our own choosing, and you must bring back the pelt of a beast that you have slain."
"Any animal?" He asked, and Ennari nodded.
"Almost any animal." She laughed lightly, "A rabbit or squirrel pelt will not suffice. Most hunters will go after a deer, or wolf, or wild ox."
"I've already hunted all those things." Gideon said.
"Your elvish is improving very well, lethallin. And yes you have, but you've never hunted alone." Ennari began packing their gear in her light pack. "Admittedly, deer are easy if you can be quiet, wolves are harder as they too are predators and are hardly ever alone, and wild ox while relatively slow are incredibly powerful, and bringing them down without being trampled or gored to death is hard enough."
"What did you hunt for your trial."
Ennari chuckled again, "A sabertooth cat."
Gideon's jaw dropped. "You… hunted a sabertooth… alone?!"
"Yes." Ennari laughed harder, "That is why when our clan's former lead hunter resigned to become one of the Hahren, I was chosen to succeed him." She couldn't help but to brag a little. "And I was only seventeen years old at the time."
He stared at her, but he managed to keep his mouth closed this time. "Only a year after we first met."
She nodded and smiled happily. "Gideon." She said, "I know that… while you've been content enough with the clan, you have never truly been happy here. Don't worry, I know that this isn't your world, and that in time you will returning to your own. But… when that time comes… I will miss you… very much."
"Oh…" he said absently, still speaking in elvish. "Yes, I actually hadn't thought much about that for a while. Strange." He tied down the packed meat to a frame, ready to hoist it onto his back and carry it back to the camp. "Yes I… I suppose I will be leaving when the time is right."
"When will that be?" Ennari asked, and Gideon thought he might have detected a note of hopefulness in her voice.
"I don't know." He said. "Probably not for another six months at least. For all I know, the Howes and their allied traitors are still looking for me. I have to wait until they truly believe that the name of Cousland is gone forever." Gid reached down to hoist the load onto his back.
"And when that happens, when you leave, will you come back?"
Gid set the frame and its load back down. "It's hard to think that far ahead." He answered. "But are you asking if I will come back for the clan? Or if I will come back for you?"
Ennari laughed, but this time she laughed nervously. Then she stopped laughing and was silent for a moment. "For me." She said seriously.
Just as seriously, he answered, "Yes. I will. For the last six months… ever since I woke up in your aravel and saw you again, my feelings for you have been… changing. You're more than a friend to me now, and the more time we spend together, the more I realize that I don't want to be away from you at all, and that I'm falling in love with you."
Ennari came closer to Gideon. "So I'm not alone in my feelings for you." She said and she closed the last of the distance separating herself from him, and Gideon gathered her up in his arms, bringer his lips to hers, and feeling her body pressed against his own. It felt so good, and so natural, that he didn't want it to end.
Ennari herself couldn't help but to whimper as she felt Gideon move his kisses to her neck. All her life, Ennari had been a dedicated huntress of the Sabrae, and an orphan at that. She had never allowed herself to feel loved, had never given herself the time for a loving relationship, and the closest person that she had to family was Ilen, for the stories he told her and the small trinkets and other gifts that he made for her. And now there was Gideon, a shemlen, a person would always be a stranger to her people, no matter what trials and tests he passed. And Ennari found that she didn't care about any of that. She only wanted to stay with this shemlen, Gideon.
As the two of them separated, Ennari once more looked up into his eyes. "Stay here." She said, "Just stay with the clan, with me! We are both from different worlds, but you could my world your own!" When Gideon didn't answer, she took his face in her hands and kissed him again. "Just stay here with me, Gideon… please!"
"I… I will…" Gideon backed up a few paces, "I will have to think about it, Ennari. And… we have time. I'm not going anywhere for a long while.
Ennari nodded, and as she did so she saw a patch of ferns at the bottom of a large tree move, followed the soft padding sound of footsteps on the forest floor. Being the skilled huntress that she was, Ennari could tell the difference between the timing of something with two legs, and something with four legs as it ran, and this had two legs. "I think one of my hunters just found us." Ennari said quietly.