The Wandering Mage: Thedas
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Chapter 4
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"You!"
"Well fuck."
Harry stood quickly and gave a quick bow to the Inquisitor while Leliana paled and stared at him as though she was looking at a ghost and the others in the room just turned to each other in confusion.
"Apologies my Lady, but I believe it would be best if I left now. Good luck with your council, I will go… find someone to heal or something," Harry said as he moved towards the door. "There must be something around this camp I can do for a while." Right as he began to pull it open, however, the red-head seemed to finally find her voice again.
"Harry…? That cannot possibly be you. What in the Maker's name is going on?"
The others in the room just watched and waited with a morbid sense of curiosity. How did they know each other? Why was Harry attempting to run away? And possibly most important, why was just the sight of him enough to make the usually confident and self-assured Spymaster speak in such a hesitant and even lost voice?
Pausing at the door and staring straight up with a resigned expression and bitter smile, he did not turn around as he responded, "Yes, it can possibly be me. And you really don't want me to answer that question. You will not like the answers you get Lily."
Raising an eyebrow at the clearly affectionate nickname that was so at odds with his tone and words, Rania shrugged at the questioning looks from the others and turned towards her Spymaster as the lost and confused expression quickly turned to anger. She knew no more about what was going on than they did.
"How can you even say that?" Leliana nearly snarled as her anger caused her accent to thicken and color her words. "We all thought you were dead. We mourned you! Your name is on the monument to those that fell to the Fifth Blight. When I last saw you, you had lost an eye, an arm, had a dagger buried in your stomach, and were holding off a horde of darkspawn so that the rest of the group could escape. Now you walk in here like none of it happened, completely whole and saying I do not deserve answers?"
Letting out a horrified gasp at Leliana's description of the past, the silent bystanders to the apparent reunion between previous traveling companions stared at the silent figure in the door in a mixture of awe, concern, and confusion. From how the furious Nightingale was describing the event, there was no possible way for the man to be standing in front of them at all, much less completely uninjured. Waiting with bated breath for his response, the room almost jumped as he whirled around and stalked back to the war table with all the lithe grace of a predator.
"I never said you don't deserve the answers that I will give, I said that you do not want them. You haven't got the faintest clue what you are asking for at the moment, little girl," he glared at the woman opposite of his position.
"That is not for you to decide, Harry. I'm not the little naive bard that you once knew, following you and Aeden around like a lost puppy hanging onto your every word. I'm a grown woman who was forced to mourn the supposed death of my best friend only to find out he's fine and just doesn't care enough to contact me anymore."
"Aedan?" Rania whispered to Cassandra at her side, not able to place the name.
"Hero of Ferelden," was the brief response.
"Will the surprises surrounding him never end?" she thought incredulously to herself as she absorbed that information. How had she never heard of him being a member of the now famous group? It seemed like information that would have been relevant to know when recruiting him. Looking back to the arguing pair once more, she winced as it seemed to escalate further.
"You'll find that it is incredibly difficult to get information out of me that I do not wish to share," Harry promised in a tone as frigid as the coldest of winters. "What will you do when I refuse? Will you have me dragged to the dungeons below the building and attempt to interrogate it out of me? And what would you do if you did manage to get the knowledge you seek and could not handle it? If your entire world view was shaken and everything you thought you knew crumbled? What then? It is not your burden to bare."
Apparently frozen in place and unable to respond at the sheer fury and hint of bitterness in her old friend's voice, Leliana just stared at him for a few moments with her lips parted as she tried to think up an appropriate response to his words. However, she took too long as suddenly the man across from her scoffed and turned around. Lost in thought as she did her best to process the harsh words from a man she once thought she knew, she almost missed his parting words.
"That's what I thought. See you around Lily."
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Cursing his luck more than usual, Harry stormed away from the Chantry building to the outskirts of the camp where less people would be present to potentially bother him.
"Of fucking course someone who knew me from back during the Blight would be present at the Inquisition, why would things ever be easy? Not only that, she's a core member and unavoidable if she truly wishes to be. Now the others will ask questions that I really don't wish to answer."
Lost in thought as he was, he barely registered the fact that he had exited the main gates already and was headed out towards the actual wilderness. Stopping suddenly as a mountain of muscle placed itself in his path, Harry took a deep breath with his eyes closed in an attempt to calm down before looking up at Iron Bull.
"Yes?" He nearly spat out before regretting his temper and tone somewhat. Bull had nothing to do with the situation and didn't deserve that. Before he could formulate his thoughts and apologize, however, the much larger man was already speaking.
"No need for that, I was just going to see where you were headed in such a state. Care to share? Need any help?"
"I… yes. You're right, you have done nothing to deserve my anger. I apologize. And I just learned that someone I was close to in the past is here at the Inquisition. If I know her, and I'd like to think I do, she will give me no peace now until I answer questions I would rather avoid," he sighed in a weary voice while rubbing the bridge of his nose.
Bull nodded in a sagely way, looking up as he mused to himself, "Ah, a previous lover? Well I can see how that would be awkward.
"No," Harry snorted at the incorrect assumption, "We were never together romantically. Her heart belonged solely to another. We traveled together for a while though and became very close. I'd like to think I played at least a small part in her growth from a naive young woman of the Chantry to the person she is today."
"Well I suppose I won't pry then, your business is your business," was the easy reply from the friendly Qunari as he began to turn away. "Hopefully you manage to sort it all out."
Suddenly, a thought struck Harry like a lightning bolt and he quickly said, "Wait, if that offer to help was sincere, there is a way you can help me out Bull. You can't solve the problem, but you can help me unwind a bit."
"Sure thing, what do you need?"
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"Well that was a pretty good waste of time, we accomplished almost nothing," Rania mentally grumbled to herself as she left the Chantry building some time later. The normally focused Leliana had been out of it for the entire meeting, absently nodding along to whatever the other advisers present had been saying. While initially funny to watch the Spymaster 'agree' to mandatory cavity searches twice a day and similar nonsensical suggestions, it quickly became apparent that nothing much would be getting done without arguably the most important member of the Inquisition's leadership not participating or sharing information. Hopefully she would be back on task tomorrow and not focused on Harry when they reconvened.
While on that particular topic she then decided to go out and find the enigmatic newcomer to the Inquisition. Not to sound arrogant, but as the de facto current leader of their merry group of misfits trying to save the word it was partly her job to make sure there would be no problems among her traveling companions that could jeopardize the mission of sealing the Breach. So clearly it fell to her to get answers from Harry about just what he was hiding and what his relationship with Leliana had been.
"For the good of the Inquisition, of course. Not because I'm insanely curious and want to be the first to figure out how he ticks. Not at all… well maybe just a little bit."
Setting out in the direction of his… wait a moment. Just where did the man stay when he was relaxing or asleep? Pausing for a moment and scrunching her face up in confusion, Rania realized she had never actually bothered to figure it out. Despite him only having been with them a few days it was no excuse to just ignore him like that.
"Someone must know, he has to sleep somewhere and have a place to unwind. One of the others must have figured it out. Maybe Dorian, he's made no secret of his attraction."
Mood lightening once more as she silently pledged to herself to pay more attention to him in the future and be a better host, she made her way over to Dorian's usual spot behind the Apothecary. It was sad to think about, but she understood very well why he stayed in such an out of the way location. Despite having helped immensely out in the field and giving them the intel about Alexius' time manipulations that they would be acting on soon, the average Inquisition member just didn't trust a Tevinter mage. When she first learned of the rude mutterings and unfair treatment to the man who had been nothing but helpful she had wanted to crack down on it and publicly punish those who had done it. Dorian had talked her out of it though, it wasn't wise to potentially lose the trust of the common soldier that made up the bulk of the Inquisition's forces. Additionally, there were just too many people that did it. None of this made it less of a bitter pill to swallow, but Rania knew that there were battles you just couldn't win. They would be forced to see the truth when Dorian hopefully helped to seal the Breach, but until then nothing could really be done.
A few moments later she found herself frowning again as she reached the usual spot to find him and he wasn't there. Perhaps the tavern instead then? Looking around for a minute as though he was hiding behind a barrel and would pop out at any moment, she turned to leave when Adan's voice cut through the frigid mountain air.
"If you're looking for Dorian he's not here right now. Probably down outside the gates with the others watching the show," called out the normally grouchy man.
"Show? What show?"
"Now that would be telling," smirked the Alchemist. "Just go down for yourself and figure it out, Herald."
"You know, for someone know as the Herald of Andraste I certainly don't get enough respect from my peons around this camp," she groused at the man with a little smirk to show that she wasn't truly offended. "Thanks though."
Adan just turned back to his Apothecary and headed inside with a little wave over the shoulder to signify the end of the conversation as Rania set off once more, intensely curious about what kind of show was going on. Perhaps Josephine had set up some kind of competition or performer to raise the morale of the troops? Whatever it was must be pretty impressive to draw Dorian out of his self-imposed exile and into the distrustful crowds.
Approaching the main gates leading into the camp, her sensitive ears started to pick up the sounds of cheering, loud conversations, and… was someone fighting? Growing closer and closer the sounds of flesh impacting against flesh and grunting soon became unmistakable. Abruptly she flushed red and stumbled as she realized another reason two people might be making those noises before guiltily glancing around as if someone nearby might have been reading her mind.
"Get your thoughts out of the gutter, that wouldn't be happening around here out in the open. Although it would explain why this crowd would gather and be so entertained over here."
The crowd in question was by no means massive, but considering the Herald's small elven frame she had significant problems with trying to see what was going on. Jumping was so undignified that it wasn't even an option, so Rania began pushing her way through the grouped up soldiers with some difficulty until she reached the center of the onlookers and froze at what she was witnessing.
Her initial guess of a fight had been mostly correct it seemed, because in the center of a roughly ten foot clearing in the middle of the crowd were Iron Bull and Harry engaging in a hand to hand combat spar. Despite the nearly freezing temperatures of Haven's location in the Frostback Mountains, neither fighter wore a shirt and their breath frosted in front of their faces as they slowly circled each other looking for an opening to continue. Suddenly she understood what Adan had meant by calling it a show; there were quite a few women and the occasional man in the crowd that seemed to be watching a bit more intently than the others, eyes hooded and darkened slightly as they enjoyed the half naked men clashing over and over.
"Not that I can really blame them," Rania mentally fanned herself as she really took the time to look at both participants. Iron Bull's figure was no surprise, practically everybody had seen him shirtless before since his usual attire didn't really cover his torso. Powerful expanses of muscle rippled and glistened with sweat as he continued to move, bulging and clearly built with time and dedication for overwhelming strength and massive weapons. Each bicep was practically as big as her head and he looked like he could rip a man in half with no effort but despite his huge size he still managed to move far quicker than you would expect.
Harry, on the other hand, had the kind of swimmer's build that excelled in pure speed. Lean and well-defined, he clearly did not fall prey to a relatively common mistake of the typical mage and neglect his physical fitness. Even though he was barely half the size of Iron Bull, nobody who saw him right now would be able to make the mistake of thinking he wasn't just as dangerous of a predator. What his lean frame lacked in pure power and muscle mass, Harry made up for with finesse and lightning fast reflexes. He moved with a fluidity that a larger person like Bull couldn't hope to match on their best day, not a single movement or bit of energy wasted unless necessary.
"Quite the sight, isn't it?"
Startled out of her observations quite suddenly and coloring slightly as she realized she'd been staring at the two gorgeous specimens of the male form for far too long, she turned to the side and saw Dorian looking at her with a knowing smirk.
"No need to be embarrassed, my dear. I was in the exact same position you're in right now when I first got here, they are quite pleasing to the eye if I may say so myself. It's a pity that they both seem to finally be losing a little steam and it will likely end soon, there is so little in the ways of good entertainment down here in the rustic lands of the south."
Snorting a little at the grinning mage's usual comments on how barbaric they all were and his open admittance of ogling the pair fighting, she relaxed and turned a critical eye back towards the fight rather than the participants this time.
Dorian was correct, Rania quickly realized. While neither combatant looked ready to stop just yet, the signs were clear to anybody experienced with fighting experience. Iron Bull's skin was slowly beginning to darken in countless small areas over his body as bruises formed and his chest heaved with exertion as though he had recently sprinted a mile nonstop. That wasn't to say that Harry was spotless by any means though. The smaller man was beginning to noticeably slow down just a hair as they continued, his left leg was starting to show a limp, and he was favoring his ribs heavily after a solid punch from Bull connected with a crack. Thanks to his speed and fluidity, Harry landed five or six hits for each one that his opponent did but the sheer damage of those heavy strikes from Bull seemed to be too much for him at the moment.
Finally, it happened. Harry was just a touch too slow in moving out of the way when Bull suddenly dove forward for a grapple and got caught. Immediately wrapping up his opponent in a form of headlock that left no real options for escape without somehow overpowering the Qunari, Bull tightened the grip slightly as his opponent tried to struggle.
"Yield, it's over Harry," he panted.
Muffled curses could be faintly heard as the man in question struggled for a few moments before going limp and tapping the huge arm holding him. As he was released and stumbled before straightening up, various onlookers from the crowd groaned or cheered as money was exchanged and swapped hands. As Rania hid a smile behind her hand and Dorian openly chuckled at the people cursing the outcome, they realized that the betting seemed to be relatively evenly distributed and more people had bet on the smaller underdog than would normally be expected for a purely physical fight.
Slowly but surely the crowd began to disperse and thin out as everybody saw there would be no immediate encore, and Rania made her way over to the two that had caused such a scene with Dorian close behind. Out of the corner of her eye she noticed Vivienne watching with a small sneer on her face as though such a boorish physical display was beneath her before turning and leaving. Shaking her head with a sigh at the snobbish woman's actions towards their newest member, the arrival next to the two men as well as Varric showing up forced her to put it to the back of her mind for now and focus on the conversation.
"While you're very quick and skilled Harry, I don't see why this would change my mind about you fighting up on the front lines with your size," Varric was saying with a small hand gesture to his injuries. "Not to be rude, but you're completely busted up while the big guy here is just winded and bruised. Our healers need to stay safe in the back to be available for us if needed, not smashed to pieces by larger fighters."
Before the healer in question could respond, Iron Bull surprised them by immediately jumping to his defense.
"No, you missed the point Varric. I won, sure, but this fight was unarmed."
"What difference does that make?" Varric questioned in confusion while Harry wordlessly nodded in agreement to the side.
"Because weapons make all the difference in the world," Bull elaborated with a patient tone. "Using only fists I got bruised at worst, but normally he would have those daggers in his hand. At the beginning he got me nine or ten times in a row before I started adjusting to how fast he was and managing to get some pops back. Now assuming a couple of those would be turned aside by my armor that's still four or five times he stabs me before I touch him once. Instead of just being a little sore I would be openly wounded and bleeding, slowing me down and making it even less likely I get that first hit altogether."
Understanding dawned on the rogue's face as he listened to the Qunari's explanation before he turned to Harry again with a more appraising look on his face.
"Ah, well when explained like that… look, I'm sorry. I promise to not harass you anymore about this, you'd certainly demolish me in a fair fight. Doesn't mean I want to see you get brained by somebody that gets in one lucky hit with a broadsword though"
"Why waste time fighting fair," Harry chuckled in response as he waved away the apology. "Fighting isn't like a spar. Cheat and play dirty all you want if it means you survive and your opponent doesn't. No need to apologize though, you were just concerned and I get that. I really am a good healer though, so there's nothing to worry about. I'm pretty tough to get rid of."
"Got that damn right," grumbled Bull in response to the last bit. "Little shit just doesn't know how to stay down. You got up after three hits I could have sworn would end the fight and kept going. This better not be a one time deal, you hear me? Best spar I've had since being sent here to Ferelden, I don't want to lose my edge."
"Sure thing Bull, I'll let you be my punching bag as often as you'd like within reason," smirked Harry in response. "Thanks for helping me unwind, I really needed that."
"We really needed it as well," Dorian finally chimed in with his usual aristocratic drawl. "The lack of entertainment here is truly dreadful. Clearly the only solution is for the two of you to be shirtless far more often. Preferably around me."
"Oh hush Dorian, leave them alone." Rania laughed at the incessant flirting with seemingly anything with a pulse. "Although he does have a point about good entertainment, that fighting was incredible. Where did you learn that, Harry? I know Iron Bull learned his technique in Par Vollen but I don't recognize yours."
"Oh, here and there. Probably more there than here," was the blithe response given by the man in question along with a small grin as though he enjoyed being frustratingly vague.
"Fine then, be difficult," she shot back with a smile to let him know that she wasn't truly angry. "I'll figure out all your secrets eventually, just you wait."
Rather than deny her statement or give another vague non answer, Harry looked pensive and introspective for a few moments.
"Perhaps you will, you do seem like the frustratingly persistent type. You and Leliana seem to have that in common, unfortunately," he said before perking up again. "However I live to be frustrating and obnoxious so you'll have to suffer failure for quite some time before getting there. Now, I'm going to disappear for a little bit to heal myself up. I'd rather not be coated in bruises for the next few days, so I'll see you all later."
Waving over his shoulder as the others said their goodbyes, Harry headed off in the direction of the abandoned cabin that apparently once belonged to a man called Taigen according to the medical notes located inside at the desk when he found it. The cabin was perfect for his needs as it was out of the way and not too many people knew about it, so after making sure that nobody was coming back to inhabit it he had decided to move in.
Making his way inside of the warm, fire lit room and locking the door shut behind him, he finally dropped down into the bed with a hiss of pain while he gripped his side. Bull had been correct in his assumption that some of the hits Harry had taken should have ended the fight, he had cracked at least two of the ribs on the left side.
"Next time maybe take it a little easier, damn giant doesn't know his own strength."
He felt a little bad about his abrupt departure from the others, but it had to happen that way unfortunately. While no stranger to severe pain by any means, his last few years of relaxation in the wilds of the Hinterlands had left him softer than he'd like and he didn't want to let the others know just how badly he was injured by mortal standards. They would insist on getting him another healer just in case the pain screwed with letting him fix it himself and then he'd be stuck in an awkward spot when forced to explain why conventional healing didn't work on him. It would appear that he'd need to rebuild his pain tolerance up at least a little bit, which the sparring with Bull would likely help with as long as it occurred regularly.
Suddenly, a spike of pain that Harry had become intimately familiar with over the countless centuries he had wandered flared up and he briefly gritted his teeth before it left just as quickly. It was an incredibly disconcerting situation to be able to feel the numerous shards of his shattered ribs knit themselves back together, but at least it didn't last long. The few cuts and scrapes he had accumulated during the fight sealed themselves as well while the bruises disappeared and his injured leg returned to peak condition.
While he knew he wouldn't be able to hide what he was forever, Harry had no intention of letting carelessness ruin his place here a moment sooner than it had to. Right now, he was just an eccentric mage who had quite a bit of skill with knives to the others. The moment they found out about just how different his curse made him, that sense of normality would be gone and he wasn't looking forward to it a single bit. There would be exactly four reactions, like there always were in every place he had been since his eternal journey began.
Fear would be the majority. Those who felt that he was a monster and a danger to everybody that he was around since he couldn't be killed or controlled. They would demand he be sent away with no rational thought as to how this would be accomplished if they couldn't harm him in the first place.
Awe would be the next largest group. Some would inevitably view him as a God and probably start a cult, while others wouldn't deify him but would expect him to solve all of their problems. Then, when he refused to be their guardian angel they would hate him for not living up to their expectations.
The next, and most dangerous in his opinion, would be those who would want to study him to figure out what made him tick and how to replicate it. No matter how many times he said it was not possible or that they weren't even in the original universe where it occurred, they would not listen. Their greedy minds would only focus on the word 'immortal' and would ignore all else. Then they would begin trying to capture him for study if he was stupid or careless enough to be caught. He shuddered in muted horror as brief memories of labs, dissections, and endless testing flashed before his eyes from the worlds where he had not succeeded in avoiding these types.
Finally, the smallest group of all, would be those who genuinely did not care and would still see him as a person. These were the people who helped preserve his sanity in every new universe, the main reason he did not truly give up on living and stopped trying. The only downside to this group of people was that he would eventually have to leave. No matter how short or long a lifespan their species had, he would outlast them. It was inevitable. Then he would have to bury them and move on once more to repeat the cycle. On days where he allowed himself to brood, he occasionally cursed them the most of anybody he encountered as strange as that sounded.
He had learned that the average person was just a sheep who would follow the loudest voice or the popular opinion no matter what before he had even turned 20 years old in his original world. From their point of view, he was an impossibility that they could think of no solution to, so they looked to others for how they should think or react. No matter how obnoxious they were, Harry did not hold this against them. It was simply the nature of things. But the people he grew close to, the ones he genuinely bonded with, could actually hurt him like nothing else was able to anymore. Whether through betrayal, thoughtlessness, or simply dying like he never would be able to, they would eventually leave and he would be alone once again. This was the part of his curse that he hated the absolute most.
Shaking himself out of his morbid cynicism, he sighed before getting up and starting to fix himself some food. While he didn't need it anymore, he could still enjoy a well cooked meal and it was the little things that got him through the day. Sleep was the same way. His body could get as little as an hour of sleep a day and it would just power on, but he still enjoyed simply relaxing at times. The only times he would truly sleep were when his body was so damaged that it took extended periods of time to heal itself.
Belatedly realizing that he didn't have any food left that he had packed and brought from his home in the Hinterlands, he decided to just go to the tavern for some of their horrible food and alcohol that he couldn't get drunk on. It would be nice to just surround himself with people and lose himself in the conversations. Pretend to be normal for a while.
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Author's Note: I got my first flame review! I know it probably sounds weird to most of you but I've actually been looking forward to that since I decided to start trying to write this thing. Feels like an important milestone of becoming a writer on this site. As usual, let me know what you think about the writing style or story in general!
Sorry if the scene in the War Room with Leliana and the chapter ending comes off as a little bit edgy on Harry's part, but it's just how I'm going to be writing him to a certain extent in this. He views his immortality as a curse for the most part, not a blessing, and it's going to show in how he acts when people find out about it and start to question him about it. I don't want to make him super angst ridden and depressed all the time though, so let me know if I'm taking it a little too far and I'll see if I can't improve.
Additionally, sorry to those of you who like Vivienne, but I don't really care for her character and neither will Harry. I'll do my best to avoid all out bashing and turning her into a caricature of how she's written in the actual game but she just never really clicked with me and I need some kind of strife when it comes to the party members because everybody being happy and getting along all the time would be boring in my humble opinion. There will be at least one other that doesn't get along with Harry so that she isn't just constantly getting ganged up on, I promise.