A/N- So this is when rating comes in, because that follows Oghren wherever he goes. Sorry for confusing those who were like Why is this story rated M?
Fenris was Sleeping lightly, as was his custom, when he heard the stairs creaking. He jumped up, not having time to replace his breast plate or tunic, only to grab the balde of mercy Hawke had found for him. He was waiting to attack, albeit with a massive hangover, when Lyna opened the door in a thin robe, that went to about her knees. She was holding a tray of food, and he sighed, putting the sword down.
"Sneaking about this house is a good way to get killed, Lyna." He said, giving her a look.
"Sorry, Does a hangover remedy make up for it?" She asked, and he looked at her suspiciously.
"How did you-"He was asking how she knew he had a hangover, but she heald up her hand.
"You had one Yesterday, and you drank more than that last night, so you, logically, would have one today. If not, it won't hurt you. It's mostly just elfroot."She said, making sure she stressed mostly. If you were to just make elfroot tea, it wouldn't work as well, and it would taste nodded and took the tray, thanking her.
"I could come with you today, if you like."He said, and her eyes opened wide. So she could be suprised.
"Don't worry about me. I may be small, but I can handle myself."She gave him that off smile again, and went out of his room. He got up, anyway, and was waiting for her when she came down the stairs in her normal armour. She rolled her eyes, and kept that smile, but walked out. He follwed her, as he used to with Hawke.
"Why are you walking behind me? Unless you're staring at me like Alistair."She joked. While that was a good idea, it was meerly habit. She was his leader, and so he went behind her, as he'd done as a slave, and with Hawke.
"No, slaves just were always made to walk behind their master."He told her, and she laughed a little. He was about to get angry when she spoke.
"I hold no authority over you, and I"m definatly not your master. If anything, I should be walking behind you, then. I live in your house." She said, and his anger was quelled.
He silently walked forward until he was even with her. He noticed she was headed toward the keep, presumably to check on the gaurds. He wondered if she had met Avaline yet, and if so how they had gotten along. She acted alot like Hawke, and Aveline hated Hawke. Well, she was even less serious than Hawke, always trying to keep the mood light and not allow anyone to really get depressed. And he had tried to. He had tried to be the broody elf, but she just changed the subject and ignored it. Not in a rude way, like somone who didn't want to hear his past problems, but rather just looking on the bright side of everything. Somthing he envied and admired.
The trip was relitivley quiet, until they were in eyeshot of the formidible keep. A red headed dwarf was being dragged out while he shouted about how he was important. Three gaurds were manhandling him, and Fenris saw Lyna's permanent smile shrink.
"I assume their is a good reason you three are roughing up my second in command?"She called and the gaurds looked to her, frowning.
"I told you nug-humpers I was a grey warden."He said, as the men immidiatly put him down after the glare they were receiving from his superior.
"It's been nearly a month, Lyna. This town doesn't seem to prepared. It can't be that you're loosing your touch, eh?" He slurred, drunk as usual.
"I've only been here a few days, Oghren. You can't expect even me to have this city whipped into shape in that time." She rolled her eyes, though both of them were grinning.
"This is Oghren?"Fenris asked, raising a black eyebrow.
"And who's the fancy pants elf? Did you finaly give in and get a boy toy?"
"No, you pervert! He's my landlord, and the only decent person in this damn city, from what I can tell. The rest are all idiots in denial."
"What about twinkle-toes?"
"I havn't talked to Anders, yet, not until I'm ready to tackle the no doubt lacking mages tower. For an institution desighned to train mages to their fullest potential, they really suck."
"Wait, Twinkle-toes?"Fenris asked, already preparing to use the name on the abomination.
"That's what Oghren has been calling him since we all got together."
"So how did this guy make second command?"Fenris was waiting for the burst of brilliance, but he just couldn't see it.
"We fought hordes of darkspawn together in the blight. It was him or Anders, and I knew the mage would split, so I chose an old friend."
"Who are you calling old, woman? Oghren still satisfies the best of 'em."
"You're worse than Zeveran, Oghren." She said, and both seemed to find this amusing.
"Anyway, I really am here to help. Tell me what to do, and consider it done."
"I'll probably need help later, but right now, I think you should just find a place to stay. And tell me if anyone else gives you trouble, but try and avoid it."
"Hey, Snow White, where's the best pub in the city, and not a merchant guild one."
"That would be the hanged man in lowtown, by default. It serves dragon piss for ale, but it isn't owned by the merchant guild."Fenris answered, and the red haired dwarf was walking away when he registered that he had just been called Snow White. He scowled and followed Lyna the rest of the way into the keep.
"Come in!"Aveline called as Lyna knocked on her door. She entered the room, and the captain looked up.
"Hello, Commander. I assume you've come to check on my men." Aveline said, and then she looked at Fenris with curiosity. "And hello, Fenris."
"Oh, yay! You two are friends. This is gonna be fun. Now, I need to either see your men spar with each other, or me. The latter would be preferable, and it would be using dulled blades of course, but I do understand the constraints of time, especialy on one as busy as yourself."She said, and Aveline seemed suprised.
"And here Hawke said you were a bitch."She mumbled.
"That's because to her I was. She holds the petty opinions of the nobles to which she caters above their saftey, and the safety of the rest of the city. You are different. I can see by your posture that you are a warrior, and by your face that you care more about the citizens themselves than their opinions. That's why you get respect."
"You realize that Hawke is viscount, the equivelent of a king."
"And in matters of darkspawn, I trump kings. That's what is nessicary to protect the world. Now, those men. Where are they?"
"Most of them are on duty right now, but we can set you up with those in the barracks right now." She said, and Fenris was suprised to see that the two seemed to be getting on well. Until Lyna did something illigal, which he was sure she would. People like her went by their own law, instead of the written ones, and it usualy turned out better, so they never got in trouble.
The pair of redheads went outside, to the training field right outside the keep. A group of the off-duty gaurds followed, and one of them was carrying wooden practise swords.
"First off, Captain, is yourself." Lyna said, replacing her metal blades for the wooden ones. Aveline did the same, but kept the sheild Hawke had given her. The one that had supposedly belonged to her namesake.
They stared off, and circled each other, each waiting for the other to get impatient and strike. As Fenris had expected, the first to move was the elf, striking forward with lightning speed. Aveline was used to fighting thugs who used the same tactics, however, and easily blocked it with her shield, retaliating with a swing of her sword. Lyna flipped back, making the acrobatics look simple. This time her attack used only one sword, which aveline swung away with her own, ready to bash Lyna's lights out when the smaller woman stepped to the side, ducked under a sword swipe and launched her leg out, making Aveline stumble. She cought her balance quickly, but was definatly on the defensive. BLocking blow after resounding blow with her wavering sheild. The purple paint was beggining to fly, and that was from sheer force. Whoever thought rouges were weak had obviously never met this one. She was straining re-enforced wood with the single-handed attacks. This time Aveline didn't notice the foot go out, as she was too focused on Lyna's inceasent onslought. She fell to the ground and a wooden blade was to her throat in moments.
"You win." Aveline conceided, but Lyna shook her head.
"In a real situation, You would have won. That took not only way too mcuh energy for one opponent, I had to focus too mcuh on you. One of your comrades would have had me before I could actually hurt you. Assuming I didn't have enough of my own to keep me isolated. You win, Captain." She said, really shocking everyone. They all thought she would take victory and move on, and deserve it. Instead she points out why she lost, and rebutes her own win.
"In a real situation, my sheild would have cracked like a twig."
"These are probably sharper than darkspawn blades. They don't know how to actualy sharpen them, and so they are rusty peices of junk. That much force would break one of there weopons."
"Can we just call it a draw and move on?"Fenris suggested. The two women shrugged and nodded.
"Well, who's next?" A large man with a big sword strapped to his back stepped up, replacing it with a wooden counterpart. He looked nervous, as well he should be. They all considered their captain not only the best among them for her psotition of leadership, but the best among them in fighting as well. If she couldn't beat this demon elf, who could?
"I am." He said, trying to look brave in front of his friends.
"Hey Fenris, watch him and tell me if he makes any technique mistakes. I don't know much about big weopons like that."She said, and the darker elf nodded.
"I'm not taking orders from him."The big man stated, and Aveline was about to chastise him when Lyna's expression went dark.
"And why not?"
"He's an elf. I don't take orders from elves." The man said dumbly.
"I'm not a dwarf, idiot. And besides, this is the only man to ever beat me in one on one combat, so give him some respect." She lied. She'd never sparred with Fenris, and had lost to Zeveran several times, though it was mostly after getting drunk with Oghren.
"No way." She didn't know if the man meant that he had only just realized she was, in fact, and elf, or that Fenris was a better fighter than her. He was pretty dumb. He didn't even notice the look on Fenris' face that made it obvious this was untrue.
"Yeah. And besides. If I tell you to do what a blind elven child with no arms tells you, you re damn well going to do it."She said, going at him, hitting him in the stomach with her fake sword. He doubled over, and she kneed him in the face, before elbowing him to the ground, unconscience.
"I think he made tha mistake of not drawing his sword on that one, Commander." Aveline joked, and she was already thinking of how to repremand the idiot.
"Indeed Captain. Now, who wants to go next?"
She finished with all of those present, and would come back each day to evaluate those who were on patrol. She had been failry considerate to the rest of the gaurd, and they had damn well been comsiderate of offending her. They did whatever she or Fenris told them, treating them with the same respect they did Aveline. She commented on this, saying that she was the only person they had ever taken orders from in the past, and that it was definatly a good thing that they now gave her repect, even if it was born of fear.
The elven duo went back home, and Lyna actually had timeto start the cleaning she had promised. Fenris didn't want to clean, but felt like an ass just watching while she cleaned his house, so he went to his room early, without any wine drinking for the evening. After cleaning the foyer, and bandaging her hands from the broken glass, she went to bed as well, hoping that she could get the city ready to fight without her.
A/N Oky guys, sorry for the wait. I'm on vacation right now, so I really don't have much time to write. Thanks for reading, hope you enjoyed, and hope you reveiw.