Ok, so it was a very long, very rough week for me and I'm feeling generous enough to give you two chapters this week. Mainly because I'm selfish and need the reviews to boost my mood.
So before we go onto the chapter I have a funny story I think you'll all enjoy. I was over at my parent's the other day and I was working on an email to Eva. My mom saw me and asked who I was emailing. Now, without a thought, I responded, "My beta."
Of course, my mother's reaction was, "You got a fish?"
"Yes, Mom, I got a fish and bought it a little miniature waterproof computer to keep in its bowl so it can email me and play games when it's bored."
To which her response was, "They make those?"
So, everyone wave and say thank you for betaing to my fish with comma issues Eva ;)
Enjoy the chapter and remember to review.
.oO***Oo.
Lothering was in their sights, all they had to do was cross a large stone bridge, when the bandits came out from behind the boxes and wagons. The leader asked for 10 silver (10 silver they couldn't spare) as a toll. A fight broke out when Kallia refused to turn over the coin. After killing his thugs, the leader was quickly begging for his life.
Kallia pursed her lips as she put her staff away. "Turn over all the coin you've stolen," she told him.
"O-of course," he told her handing her a medium-sized coin purse that jingled with coins. She would count it later. "The rest is in those boxes back there."
"Good. Now come with us, we're going to turn you in to the proper authorities."
"But you can't! They'll kill me!" he panicked.
"Well I can't leave you here to continue preying on innocent refugees," Kallia told him emotionlessly, suppressing and ignoring emotions was one of the first things new mages learn at the Tower. A mage's control over magic was affected by their emotional state, even an ounce of fear when your instructor launched a fireball at you and your shield could fail. Is it a wonder some of the best mages were also the most confidant in their own abilities? If you couldn't learn to ignore your emotions they were taken away.
"Look I'm just trying to get by during a hard time," he tried to reason.
"Yes, by preying on innocent refugees." Her mind was made up and there would be no changing it. Especially by him.
"You'll never take me alive," he yelled as he moved to attack.
Kallia flinched backward, having already put her staff away, her hand came up to freeze the bandit but all she managed to do was slow him. Despite being slowed, there was no way she would be able to avoid his hit. She felt her back press against an armored chest as Alistair wrapped his shield arm around her, both blocking the attack and pulling her out of the way of the next one.
"A word of advice, don't put your weapon away until you're sure the enemies are all dead," he warned in her ear. One swing of his sword later and the gang leader was on the ground.
It was only then that it occurred to Alistair the position he and Kallia were in. It had been a gut reaction to protect her and there had been no time for thinking. He could feel his face burning up as he stuttered an apology.
She arched an eyebrow in amusement, "You're sorry for saving me?"
"No! That's not… I mean... I'm sorry for..."
Kallia chuckled and took pity on him. "Don't apologize. I should be thanking you, not forgiving you. There's nothing to forgive."
She didn't add that it wasn't as though she'd never been that close to a man before (though admittedly it was the first time with that much armor between her and whatever man she happened to be close to at the time). It wasn't hard to tell that he certainly hadn't been that close to a woman, armor or otherwise, so she changed the subject to avoid embarrassing him further. "Let's check the boxes, see if there's anything worth taking or selling." She made her way to the boxes and started digging through them, letting Alistair check over the body for anything salvageable.
They kept their loot well organized for bandits. It was easy to find the food and other needed supplies. Those were added to their packs. After sorting through the rest of the loot, she chose what looked like it would either be the most useful or would sell for the most and they left the rest and walked into town.
Kallia had hoped to head straight to a merchant when she got to town, that was not to be. Well not to sell stuff, anyway. Morrigan complained that she was wasting time and that she should have taken the 100 silver and let the merchant do as he wanted, but Kallia could not in good conscious let him make money off the suffering of others. Of course then he hiked the prices twice as much for her and her party and refused to give them decent prices on the items she tried to sell to him, so her next stop was the tavern.
Where they were attacked.
Again.
But they gained another companion for their effort. Leliana made her slightly nervous. For one thing, Kallia was convinced the woman was at least slightly insane, what with the visions and all that, but she would not turn away help where it was offered and as Alistair put it she seemed to be more "Pretty Colors" insane then "Princess Stabitty". She eyed the Sister and began digging through her pack without a word. Finding what she was looking for, she tossed the rough leather armor to the other woman who caught it effortlessly.
"You can hardly fight in Chantry Robes. Sorry but this is the best we've got for now," she commented as she pulled out a pair of rough leather gloves and boots.
"It's better than what I have now," the bard answered with a smile. "I appreciate it."
Kallia nodded and made her way over to the merchant. She bartered for better prices on some things, the rest of the group just left her to it. She seemed to know what she was doing and they didn't want to get in the way. Alistair went off to order them all a hot meal while they decided what to do next only to find there was no food to be had, when he returned Kallia was arguing over the price of flasks. The merchant and mage were talking quickly back and forth. Alistair held back a laugh as he saw several people watching them, their heads going back and forth as though they were watching a duel..
"This is the highest price I've ever seen for a single flask," she told him calmly.
"Look, times are hard right now and I'm afraid I can't lower the price anymore."
"Two silver is a ridiculous price and I'm afraid if you don't lower it I'll only buy a few. However, if you were to lower it to say... one silver? I could be convinced to stock up now rather than buying the minimum I can get buy on."
"Lady that's half price!"
"Yes but think about it. If you keep the price at two silver I'm only going to buy 10 flasks, but if you were to lower the price to one silver then I'm likely to buy at least 50 flasks. That's a 40 silver difference."
"Ah but if I sold those same 50 flasks to someone willing to pay my price for them I could make 100 silver instead of 50."
"But can you guarantee that you'll sell the other 40 flasks? Especially at that price. Are you willing to risk 40 silver for the chance of 80?"
The merchant was quiet for several minutes as he eyed her. Alistair could see the gears in the man's head working as he calculated totals, "You're a shrew one, little miss, but you know your stuff. I'll give you that." He paused then added, "120 copper per flask, that's the lowest I'll go."
Kallia smiled sweetly at him, "I'll take 40 flasks." she pulled out her purse and handed him the coins. He handed her the box of flasks and she turned to the table with her group. Alistair handed her back the coin she'd given him to get their food with and she put it back in the purse.
"Sooo... Let me get this straight. You don't even know what a rabbit is but you not only know the correct pricing for a flask and you have the bartering skills to talk the merchant down to essentially half price?"
"Two silver per flask was a ridiculous price even if you take the state of the local economy and the desperate times into consideration. He knew it just as well as I did," Kallia told him smoothly.
"The Revered Mother has been trying to talk him down on the prices of those flasks for a week. You're bartering skills are quite impressive," Leliana told her. Kallia gave her a sad look.
"That was hardly impressive. Back at the Tower I managed to talk one of the suppliers down to 25 copper per flask, most of the others I got down to 50. A hundred and twenty is hardly my best work."
"I thought you were just out of your apprenticeship when you joined the Grey Wardens," Alistair wondered out loud.
"I was."
"Then why were you bartering with the Tower's suppliers? Why were you learning bartering in the first place? That's not something they even teach most senior mages, let alone apprentices."
"Well it usually falls to the Tranquil to do the bartering, but Irving wanted me to sit in on a bartering session. Through no fault of his own, Owain was getting nowhere and I knew I could get a better deal so I jumped in and talked the merchant down."
"Oh my, wasn't he offended?" Leliana asked.
"A Tranquil can't be offended. He told me that he preferred that the Tower got the best deal possible and that I got the most of the experience I could."
"But why did whoever want you to have the experience in the first place?" Alistair persisted.
Kallia opened her mouth to answer but found that she didn't have one to give. Irving had simply insisted on teaching her economics and finance along with her magic skills. She had never wondered why until now. She went over conversations she'd had with him in her head, minor comments that meant nothing before suddenly standing out like a campfire on the darkest of all nights.
Irving had intended for her follow in his footsteps. He had intended for her to become a First Enchanter. Undoubtedly with her skills she would have been promoted to Senior Mage. She was well liked among most of the other mages and would have easily been selected.
She might not have been the one directly to follow him (she knew that Wynne had been asked, so clearly they had someone in mind for the next First Enchanter) but he clearly intended for her to follow him at some point in her life.
Her eyes went wide with surprise as the realization hit her, with it all the pain of missing those she had known her entire life. She looked at her hands and forced all thoughts of the Tower away. Despite having told Alistair she couldn't bring herself to wish she had never left, there were times when she most certainly did wish she was still there.
Maybe with Irving's help she would have mastered Fire rather than experimenting with it in secret. She would have mastered all the elements eventually, she was sure of that.
"Warden?" Leliana's voice broke her thoughts.
"It doesn't matter now," she answered then as a thought occurred to her. "I just remembered I need to buy ink, is all."
"Ink?" Alistair was clearly confused by the sudden change in topics.
"Yes. I need to find where to buy ink." Alistair watched Kallia's face as she spoke and decided he simply didn't know her well enough to read her nor did he know women in general well enough to guess what this reaction might mean.
"You needn't buy ink. Had you asked I could have shown you how to make it from soot," Morrigan told her. It was the kindest thing Alistair had heard her say, despite the condescending tone. Leliana made no effort to conceal the concern covering her face. She must be better at reading people than he was.
"Are you alright?" She asked with (as far as Alistair could tell) genuine concern.
Kallia smiled, "I'm fine. So where do we find this Chanter's Board?"
"In front of the Chantry, across the bridge," Leliana told her after looking her over.
"Alright, I'll go check what work is to be had. I'll be right back." She stood to leave and Mangy immediately followed her, leaving behind a rather upset Alistair and a smirking Morrigan.
" 'Tis rather amusing to see you so easily replaced by a slobbering mutt, Alistair," Morrigan told him. "But I'm sure Kallia finds him to be a great improvement over you."
"I thought you liked animals," he commented with every ounce of animosity he felt coming through in his voice.
"I do. The wild ones. Not these domesticated mongrels."
Alistair huffed. Much as he hated to admit it, Morrigan was right. The only friend he had left in this world was replacing him with her dog.
.oO***Oo.
Please remember to review. Because I'm so generous, right? Click, click. *points down*
See you on Monday for Chapter 5
