Chapter 3: The Joining
"Join us brothers and sisters.
Join us in the shadows where we stand vigilant.
Join us as we carry the duty that cannot be forsworn.
And should you perish, know that your sacrifice will not be forgotten.
And that one day we shall join you."
If he wasn't so horrified, Rayne would be a little excited. Not only was learning the secret ritual that made Grey Wardens what they were, but he might very well be seeing the very first instance of a qunari joining the Grey Wardens in the history of Thedas.
"Mercy, step forward," Duncan said, holding out the Joining chalice. Taking a sip, Mercy immediately started coughing, just liked Daveth had.
"I am sorry, Mer-"
"Wait," she grunted, holding her stomach in pain. Then, before their very eyes, she began to change. Her already-impressive horns grew even larger and her nails poked through her gloves into sharp claws, her canines following suit. It was at this point that Duncan and Alistair put a hand on their blades.
"Wait!" Rayne said, his wisp circling him erratically in anticipation of what was happening to Mercy. She grew nearly an entire foot, some equipment breaking in response to the sudden change, before she collapsed onto the ground, her eyes having turned completely black.
Staring blankly for a second, Duncan eventually snapped out of his spell. "From this moment forth, you are a Grey Warden," he said before turning to Rayne.
Okay. Okay. He could do this. Grey Warden. Not comfy bookworm in the tower. Grey Warden, bugs and all.
"Step forward, Rayne."
After taking a sip, Rayne nearly vomited the Joining potion back up right away, but kept it down through sheer force of will. As the ground rushed up to meet him he heard Duncan's somber words.
"From this moment forth, you are a Grey Warden."
Note: I scoured the wiki for stuff about a qunari warden, and nothing indicated it was impossible, but we have yet to see one in game or in any extended media. Out of all darkspawn, ogres are by far the most monstrous and most terrifying, and they also differ the most from the qunari. Yeah, they're still strong and horned and stuff, but the transformation from qunari to ogre seems a lot more drastic than from dwarf to genlock, human to hurlock, or even elf to shriek, and I thought there had to be a reason for that. So, I figured qunari wardens would have a reaction as well. I figure it's their dragon blood (which still hasn't been 100% confirmed by Bioware) combining with the taint.