A/N: Antivan translations

Mi dolce: my sweet.

Kirielle

It had been several weeks since mine and Alistair's first experience. There had been more, albeit clumsy at first, but it was getting better. I was with Alistair all the time now; it just seemed wrong to be away from him, and after our first encounter I knew he could make a good mate.

There was only one thing that bothered me: he was unwilling to discuss things. Amongst the Dalish sex was not secretive or taboo, it was like any other part of life: open for discussion. Sex was a way to find a good mate. Someone who you really clicked with, if you couldn't make that connection with someone how could you spend your life with them? It was common to hear elves discussing sex freely; likes, dislikes, which partners they clicked with and which they did not, and most interestingly enough, techniques. I had heard about scratching, biting, and hair pulling during sex and truthfully I liked the idea of things getting a little rough.

I tried biting Alistair once. I waited for him to be completely absorbed in the moment and I reached up to lightly nip the base of his neck. He panicked and quickly drew back from me, asking "What was that about?! Are you trying to hurt me?!" I tried explaining it was a symbol of passion and trust, but he would have nothing of it. I didn't even dare try digging my nails in his back or getting a handful of his hair and yanking his head back.

There was very little variation because of this; anything that didn't strictly include him on top of me was out of the question. While initially having him dominate me was arousing, it was losing its appeal. I toyed with the idea of shoving him on to his back and doing things my way, but even when I hinted at that he called it unnatural and I had no doubt that if I tried it he would just overpower me and push me down into submission.

Besides the increasingly lackluster sex, Alistair really was a good man. He was kind, gentle, caring, honest, and would anything to make me happy, well almost anything. He would make a good, loyal mate and a strong partner.

We would be traveling to the Brecilian Forest soon, the thought of which filled be with both happiness and apprehension. I wanted to see my clan again; I wanted to show them that I was safe and that I was working on becoming strong enough to stop the Blight. I thought about formally present Alistair to my clan as my chosen mate in the hopes that they would accept him even though he was not an elf. But I still worried about how weeks ago, after our first night, how he wasn't able to answer what would become of us after this.

I gazed to the burnt remains of the fire as everyone else bustled around me to pack up camp.

"What is bothering you mi dolce?"

I looked up, not to see Alistair, but Zevran smiling at me.

"That's such an unbecoming look for a woman of such remarkable beauty" he continued.

I had long since learned to ignore or deflect Zevran's flattery and advances. Sure, I was the one who opted to bring him with us, but how was I supposed to know how he was?

"It's nothing" I told the prying elf.

"I can read you much better than that you know. Something troubles you. Could it be that our trip to the Brecilian Forest, your home, is what is troubling you?" he asked.

He was good, he was always good. He was the only person who I couldn't hide things from. Not even Alistair knew my apprehension to visiting the forest and possibly seeing my clan.

"It's about Alistair, isn't it?" he said, raising one eyebrow with a wry smile. "You worry what your clan will think if you brought a shem home with you, and not just any shem but the bastard son of a king, quite the catch, even for a shem" he finished with a short bark of a laugh.

I frowned.

"Struck a nerve, have I? I'm sorry my dear, it's just kind of funny. Usually it's a shem that's scared to bring an elf home, not the other way around!"

"Oh the irony isn't lost on me Zevran. But it is concerning. Face it; our people haven't really had the best dealings with humans and maybe I am worried a bit about my clan seeing me as a traitor for being bedded by a human"

"You know, I could even things out by ravishing you. I know just what you would want, I have… experience. And at least you could tell them you've been with an elf too" he said with a not-so-joking grin.

"I'm going to pass on that" I said flatly.

"Your loss, I'm a delight in bed." He said with a smile.

"Zevran?" I began, "how can you be so casual about sex? It really seems you have no boundaries about anything and truthfully like you really don't care how you get someone to sleep with you."

"Don't you ever say that!" he snarled, his playful eyes narrowed "I do have boundaries! I enjoy sex like any other person, and yes, I have some interesting preferences, but there is a line that I will never cross: I would never force myself upon someone who was unwilling." He sat down with his legs crossed. He crossed his arms over his chest and scowled at me.

I crossed a line and struck a nerve this time. "I'm sorry Zevran, I wasn't trying to offend you, and I just genuinely don't understand you. I'm going to ask you something, something very personal to me and if you ever repeat it I will make you regret it."

"That's ok, I like a bit of punishment to liven things up" his sly smile returned.

"This is serious Zevran. And I'm really going to make an attempt to get to understand you better."

"Really? You would want to know about me? I don't think that is the best idea in all honesty"

"And why is that?"

"I've done things I'm not pound of. Things that probably would make you not want me around anymore. Things that would make you view me differently, and not in a good way."

"Then only say what you want, but I want your opinion on a personal matter first."

Zevran looked up and met my gaze, he looked concerned and serious. His almond shaped golden eyes were open very wide and his lips were parted slightly. I had never noticed that maybe under his sleazy personality there might be a real person under all of it. Maybe even a handsome man.

"Zevran, how can you get a person more open to try new things?"

"As in sexually?" he said raising an eyebrow.

"Yes Zevran" I said flatly "sexually."

"Alistair just isn't cutting it anymore is he? You someone more experienced to show you know how it's done" he said as he scooted closer.

"That is close enough thank you very much. I just want you your opinion on how to get him to be more receptive to new ideas."

"Let me get this straight" he said with a smile "you are coming to me, with a request, for sexual advice, for you and the shem man?"

"Don't call him that, he's different from them. He respects me".

"Is that why he won't let you on top? Out of respect?"

"I'm not even going to ask where you got that idea".

"He's loud, you're not. He's obviously enjoying it quite a bit, you… a little less so. It is not difficult for an expert such as myself to connect the dots." He was grinning ear to ear at this point. "He won't let you have any fun, like how I would. You know I've picked up skills one can only learn when one grows up in an Antivan whorehouse. I know how to please a woman, and maybe let her have her way with me instead…" he trailed off with a slight smile playing on his lips "I'm no stranger to letting someone tie me up and have some fun"

My interest piqued at tied up. I couldn't imagine Alistair consenting to this though, even if I was the one being tied up.

"Are you going to be helpful or not, because if this whole conversation is going to be thinly veiled advances then I'm cutting it off here."

"Fine, fine. Just try what you want if you ask me, sometimes you don't know what you like until the option of 'no' is taken away" he said with a shrug.

"I don't think I like that at all. Alistair wasn't fond of things like that. I bit him once and he freaked out and tried to tell me to not to do it again".

"And you just listened? He 'respects' you and 'treats you like an equal' and you let him push you around?" Zevran was visibly angered. "He won't let you have fun and you two only do what he wants. Yeah, that sounds real equal" Zevran crossed his arms and scowled again. "Typical shems, think that they can order around anyone they want, that their way is the only right way. Makes me sick." His eyes had narrowed and I could tell he was scanning the campsite for Alistair.

"I should give him a piece of my mind" he continued. "Where does he get off getting to order you around like that! If anything you should be ordering him around, you're the leader after all, you should have the power and he just needs to deal with it"

"Zevran…" I began, "I'm sorry. I don't know what just happened, but I can tell this is upsetting you a lot. He's not disrespecting me or looking down on me, he's just resistant to change, that's all".

Zevran took a deep breath and steadied himself. "No, I'm sorry mi dolce I shouldn't get so worked up over things that are in the past. What's done is done and now I have a new life here in Ferelden with you, of whom I own my life to. And you won't even let me thank you properly" he said with a cocky smile.

"Zevran, first off all, I'm not 'mi dolce' whatever that means. Second, I'm not sleeping with you. Not now, not ever. The end"

"Ahhh, that is what they all say, and it never lasts." He winked.