CH. 3 Two Merchants and A Coin's Mission.
Edin was half asleep by the time they travelers made it to camp. The two men had done an amazing job of hiding the campsite, so well that the three women and Vidar could barely find it themselves. The duster had never been so happy to see a fire with a log for a seat. The girl stumbled over and plopped down on the log with a content sigh. Spotting her lute, Leliana went about laying out her small amount of belongings before starting on a simple soup for dinner.
The group was fairly close together, everyone crowding the fire, but there was one member of the caravan that wasn't anywhere near. Edin noticed the absence of the group's mage and set off to find where the woman had disappeared to.
Morrigan was busy making herself at home in the far corner of the campsite. She had built a small teepee-like hut by the cliffside. The mage even went as far as to stoke her own fire so she wouldn't have to share with the rest of the group. Edin did her best to hide her amazement at what the mage had managed in such a short amount of time as she approached the woman. "Hey." the dwarf managed a smile when Morrigan turned from her herbs and poultices to face her.
"Yes? Can I help you, Warden?"
Edin couldn't help but feel a bit upset. They'd been traveling together for almost a month and the mage still wouldn't use her name. "Please Morrigan, call me Edin, it's my name, so use it." The taller woman sighed and waved off the dwarf to continue what she was doing. Edin frowned slightly and started heading towards the camp fire again.
About half-way to the campfire, two wagons caught Edin's eye. She had no idea how she had missed them earlier, but she couldn't ignore them now. Edin silently crept towards the wagon closest to her. As she got closer, the girl pulled out her dagger. "Careful with that, Sandal!" Edin nearly dropped her blade in shock. That voice...it was the voice of the dwarven merchant from the Imperial highway.
"...hello...?" The girl heard a box crash to the ground and she fought to keep a straight face as she rounded the wagon to face the two dwarves. "Am I bothering you?" she asked to the elder.
"Not at all!" The older man floundered over the awkwardness of the matter. Edin sheathed her dagger and leaned against the wagon as the man in front of her stumbled out his excuse for following her and introductions for the two of them.
Edin smiled at the pair. "I'm Edin, I'd go through the whole 'blessings on your house' bullcrap, but neither of us have a house."
The older man, Bodahn, stared wide-eyed at the girl. This was really what a casteless was like? He hadn't noticed the brands on her right cheek and forehead till now. By the name of my ancestors' ancestors...if this is what all casteless are like, what a fool I've been to judge... "Yoo, hoo! Mister Merchant Dude! Are you okay?" The brand was up in the merchant's face, waving her hands about to grab his attention. Bodahn noticed his adopted son, Sandal, practically in tears with laughter. He managed a smile. "Of course, warden. Thank you for allowing us to stay you."
The warden girl smiled. "No problem, I'm lucky to have company among these cloud-heads. And besides," Edin turned to Sandal, who was currently enchanting her mace with a lightning rune,"Sandal here is as cute as a little baby nuglet!" she grinned at Sandal, who was deeply focused in his work.
Bodahn smiled fondly at the boy. He was always happy, but he seemed to shine when he was able to work on enchantments. This seemed especially to be the case with the 'nice, pretty lady', as Sandal tended to call her. While Sandal worked devotedly to the mace's enchanting, the other two dwarves talked of Orzammar. Edin was eager to learn of as much news from her home as possible, and was nearly silent at times.
After a long while of chatting, Edin felt her tent calling to her. She had completely forgotten about the other wagon. She shrugged of her worry, deciding on just waiting to see if it was there in the morning. If it still sat, she would deal with it and it's driver the next day. "I'll see you both tomorrow." the dwarf turned to Sandal. "And don't work yourself too hard, you hear, Sandal?" With a small nod from the boy, Edin stumbled her way towards her tent, collapsing onto the mat that had been laid out for her.
The following morning, Edin rolled out of her tent to the sun beaming down on the camp. She had been kept up most of the night by nightmares. The archdemon was summoning the horde, and she didn't know how to stop it. Despite, Alistair's comforting words the night before, the young dwarf still felt on edge. Dwarves weren't supposed to dream, everyone knew that, it was unsettling to do so, especially with the lack of positives in her visions.
Edin slowly willed herself to approach the fire pit, where most of the caravan was already settled, waiting for breakfast. To the warden, it seemed Bodahn had already started making his profit selling food supplies to the group. As the girl plopped down sleepily on a log, a bright voice with a slight Orlesian accent spoke up. "Good morning, m'amie!"
She looked up at the girl with an attempt at a scowl. "It is too damned early to be that cheerful, Leliana."
Leliana pouted slightly, not raising her gaze from the food she was cooking. "No need to be so grumpy, Edin..." The dwarf flashed an apologetic smile at the rogue. She wasn't awake yet, and spent much too long a time with Bodahn the night before. She looked over at the the wagon where the two dwarven men were chatting happily when she noticed the other wagon. Shit! I completely forgot the other sodding wagon! The girl shot up, earning a slight swoon before she adjusted and raced over to the other wagon, leaving her teammates speechless.
As she rounded the unknown wagon, Edin found herself stopping just short of walking into a dark haired man. His clothes were dust-covered and he seemed to have just gotten up himself. "There you are, Warden!" He had a heavy accent, though the dwarven girl couldn't place it. "You've proven to be a difficult woman to find." Edin nodded slightly, staying alert in case the man tried anything.
"What do you want?"
The man looked shocked. "You mean Duncan didn't mention me? Levi of the coins?" The man, Levi, sighed when she shook her head no. "You see, Duncan,bless his heart made a promise to help me. However, poor Duncan isn't with us any longer, see?"
Edin was visibly unamused. "So, you want me to make up the debt? What exactly is it that Duncan promised you?"
Levi flushed slightly at the bluntness of the girl's words. The man had never dealt with dwarves and had no clue that they were so upfront with their wording. Well you see, my grandmother was Warden Commander during Maric's time..."
The man's story ended a while later and for once, the dwarf who always had something to say was silent. "um...well, I'm going to say that we'll help you. If you were truly Duncan's friend, I think he'd want it. If not, I'll kill you." She grinned as Levi swallowed the lump in his throat.
"Thank you, Warden." Edin smiled childishly and ran back over to the main fire pit where her breakfast was ready and waiting for her. "Oi! We're gonna have to head North at some point, okay?!"
