Prompt: Friendship

Disclaimer: I do not own Dragon Age.

Zevran eyed the post-coronation celebration speculatively. He doubted that anyone would try anything here but in his experience he found that there was no such thing as too careful and even so much as believing that there could be was enough to get you killed.

His eyes eventually fell upon the Hero of Ferelden herself, Sereda Brosca. Sereda hadn't so much as looked Alistair or Anora's way since she had received her boon – aid for the dwarven people, surprisingly enough – and he couldn't say that he was surprised. Her break-up with Alistair was pretty fresh, after all, and so making polite small-talk with her ex-boyfriend or his lucky betrothed would be like rubbing salt into the wound.

Sereda had spent quite awhile talking to her sister and the smile on her face then was genuine. The moment she turned away, however, there was a certain hollowness in her eyes that Zevran wasn't sure anyone else recognized but that he knew quite well. She caught him staring and headed over his way.

"I can't believe it's over," she told him, not sounding nearly as happy as one would have expected given that they were no longer in danger of being eaten by darkspawn or executed as traitors to the Crown.

"Neither can I but I suppose that it had to end sooner or later, one way or another," Zevran replied. "Have you given any thought to what you'll be doing next?"

"I've been doing nothing but that since the moment I jammed my sword into the Archdemon's brain and killed it," Sereda replied, almost bitterly. "Anora and Eamon want me to stay at court. They say I'll have much influence. I'm a sodding duster, what do I know about using influence? They say I'll learn but I don't think I can stand to be around all of this. There's been talk of making me Arlessa of Amaranthine, you know. I honestly don't care enough about Ferelden or politics to even try me hand at that. Then, of course, Rica wants me to go back to Orzammar with her. She sees this as a fairy-tale ending. Her son is the only child of the king and now she's a noble herself. She says we could finally be happy there but there's just too many memories. Even though I literally decided Orzammar's fate, they still won't acknowledge I even existed before I underwent the Joining. Those people are not my people and that place is not my home. I don't want to go back."

"You keep talking about what other people want you to do," Zevran observed. "But you've yet to mention what you want to do?"

Sereda looked thoughtful. "I haven't, have I? You might be the first person who has ever thought to ask me that. Everyone else has just told me what I ought to do but I've been doing what they think I should for as long as I can remember. Keep your head down, join the carta, go with the Grey Warden, save Ferelden…I don't know what I want to do," she admitted, sounding almost desperate. "I almost wish that I could disappear."

"I know the feeling," Zevran admitted. "Both feelings. I'm rather new to this whole freedom thing, too, if you'll recall."

"Taliesin died over a month ago so I think you're a bit more experienced with this whole concept of freedom than I am," Sereda pointed out.

"Since my first decision was to continue following you around, I'm not that much more experienced," Zevran countered. "Well…not about that, at any rate. There are a lot of ways to disappear, you know. You could be assassinated – but I am not about to let that happen – you could be kidnapped, or you could even just decide to take off in the middle of the night without telling anybody and leave them to run around like chickens with their heads cut off looking for you."

"That sounds chaotic," Sereda remarked. "I like it."

"So is that your plan?" Zevran asked her bluntly. "Are you just going to take off in the middle of the night and not tell anyone where you're going?"

Sereda shrugged. "I don't know. I might. There's nothing for me here, or in Amaranthine, and certainly not in Orzammar. It doesn't feel like there's anything for me anywhere but Thedas is a big place and I guess I shouldn't write it all off until I go there personally."

"Oh, how daring," Zevran teased before his expression turned serious. "Take me with you."

Sereda drew back, surprised. "What?"

"Take me with you," Zevran repeated dutifully.

"Zevran…I told you, I'm not going to hold you to any stupid oath you made me. I told you that you were free to go and I meant it," Sereda said firmly.

"That is all very well and good but I meant it when I told you that I intended to stick around," Zevran replied seriously.

"But what about the Crows?" Sereda reminded him.

"I think the Crows will have a much harder time tracking me down if I'm sneaking around Thedas than if I were to openly stay in any one place," Zevran told her. "And staying with you is really far safer than wandering about on my own. The Crows are scared of you, remember?"

Sereda was clearly fighting a grin at that. "I don't want you to feel that you're obligated to take care of me just because I don't know what I'm doing or because I saved you."

"It's not an obligation, believe me," Zevran assured her. "I told you that if I were with you then I would willingly storm the gates of the Dark City itself and I meant it. I still do."

Sereda snorted. "I think we can be friends without you having to go quite that far."

"Maybe, but if there's one thing that you've taught me it's that friendship can mean whatever it is that we want it to mean. I've always wanted to travel. I want to travel with you. That's my definition of friendship," Zevran declared.

Sereda stood silent for a moment before nodding slowly. "Alright then. I may end up regretting this but…you can come with me."

"Oh, excellent," Zevran said gleefully. "Laughing at all those panicky Fereldens will be far more fun together than alone, after all."

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