This is a big chunk that I cannot cut unless I cut my brains in twi perfect halves two looking for a good separation. Hope it's good.
Surrounded by the light of the spell Garrett Hawke was channeling, the Cat raised her head to the human Woman. Blue eyes met and they clashed. They were afraid. What if it didn't work? What if it became worse after it was done? The light warped at their edges and threatened to die down. Until he came. The Cat and the Woman both turned their heads toward him. The blue light danced on his body, igniting his markings. He yelled "FREEDOM!". The spell furiously roared back to life at his words.
The Woman and the Cat took a step toward the man. A mist was rising at their feet as the life of the Elf flickered before their eyes like rapidly changing cutscenes from a film.
What is a film? The Elf asked in his head. The Woman chuckled and the Cat meowed in amusement.
C'est une série d'images se succédant à raison de vingt quatre images par secondes. The Cat and the Woman answered in a chorus of thoughts that the Elf somehow understood.
They took another step toward him.
Where are we? The Elf asked.
Dans ma tête. The Cat and the Woman answered. Enfin, je crois. she added, sounding unsure.
They seemed to be indeed somewhere ethereal. The word "Fade" formed into the Elf's mind as he remembered his dreams and the feeling of his phased body whenever he activated the power of the lyrium in his skin, in his veins.
The Cat and the Woman looked at each other again and then to the Elf.
Le Fade est il sensé faire ça ? they asked
The lives of the Elf and the Cat Woman were playing around them on the light that was acting like an... Ecran of sorts. That was the word that came from the Cat Woman. She thought of the English word. Screen. The light conjured by the grey box. Le portable. The laptop. L'ordinateur. The computer.
The Cat had disappeared, only leaving the Woman. The Elf stepped toward her, taking Its place. They were close. So close at last. A breeze envelopped them and pushed them against each other gently, amorously. Their lips locked together and the world exploded in a myriad of lives.
Leo woke up. He was running late for work.
"Ania. Wake up." he yelled toward the girl's bedroom.
Leo stood up and dressed in his blues, put his hat on. He looked at the family clock. He had to go to the mine and quick. They were scouting a new freshly drilled shaft, all the children would be on it. Ania wouldn't wake up, though Lisa was already fixing his lunchbox. His heart jumped at the sight of her. If he came back alive from the mine today, they were to be wed in a month. Her blue eyes and skin browned from the brick factory smoke were a delight to him ever since he first laid eyes on her a year ago. He felt as if he had known her all his life.
"Ania, hurry." he yelled again, to make himself stop to stare at his betrothed.
Ania finally woke up, drool wetting her chin. And they said she was the clever one. Leo sighed as he got out of the house. Father and Mother were already away, begging higher in town. They were already spent by the years of hard work. Leo was sixteen though. An adult, though he retained his child silhouette for now. That earned him the hazard pay from their boss who was attracting all the working children with the promise of high risk for high rewards. He was the only one in all of England to pay children this much. It was a dream pay, really. Leo had been saving most of it for the wedding. For his sister and future child he intended to plant in Lisa's womb as soon as they were wed, so they could continue to pay school for them. With luck, Ania may land a job as a maid instead of a mine worker. His future child may not have to work there either.
But Leo didn't survivre the new forray.
Lisa married a manservant of the owner of the mine her late fiancé worked at. She died half content, half gone.
Leto always loved cats. Varania hated them. He would aways steal a bit of fish from the dock crates to give to Lion, the big blue eyed Tevinter Short Hair that always came to him. They were fast friends, these two. One day, however, the dockmaster caught the cat stealing his daily meal and gutted him. Leto was sad for days. And even after that, he was half gone until he answered the call for Lyrium Bellator. And he forgot.
That day, Elizabeth woke up feeling empty, half gone. Mom and Dad left to do a big replenishing shopping trip. That must be it, she must dislike having to be alone with her siblings. "Surveille bien tes frères et soeurs. On sera de retour dans quelques heures."
She picked at her cereals, drawing a face with pointy ears on a napkin with them. Her siblings were noisy and dirty, Marcelin and Tamara, only one and two, were throwing their bowls around. Epiphanie and Arthur, six and five, were fighting for the tv's remote. They hit the button for MTV Rock and the piano started. She felt the music alleviate her anguish and she grabbed the broom.
Just take those old records off the shelf. I'll sit and listen to them by myself.
When she woke up, she lied in familiar arms. The smell of sandalwood and musky sweat invaded her senses as she let the afterglow take over. Please God, let Andrasté stay asleep and don't make her disturb what Ben and her hadn't had since her birth six months ago: a good night of sleep after a thorough reacquaintance of each other's bodies. Cries echoed in the corridor.
"Your turn." Ben dismissed sleepily, shifting to lie on his other side.
Grumpily, she stood up. She walked to her daughter's room. She was still naked and her companion's semen was starting to trickle down her thigh. She couldn't care less as she heated the milk. That made her even grumpier. The doctors had tried everything but Andrasté had rejected everything they tried. Breastfeeding her had been a dream during her pregnancy. And now it was denied to them, since the pH of her milk or its flavour or something like that was making her cry and her stomach sore. (well maybe little Andrasté had developed tastes of her own already!)
The woman fed her baby and forced herself to relax. No one was to blame. It happened to many women to be unfit to breastfeed for variety of reasons.
She helped Andrasté belch and set her back in her crib. She looked at her tenderly. She favoured her father's fair complexion, but she would have blue eyes and curly hair after her mother's frizzy and tangled African mane. As she bent over for one last kiss on her soon to be gorgeous hair, she felt static on her lips. Or so she thought.
When she woke up, she was chained in a cell, still naked and her privates sore.
"Andrasté?" She whimpered softly.
And in a blur -
When she woke up, she was in her bed. She let out a growl of frustration when she saw that she was late for school. She grabbed her bag and hastily put on some clothes, throwing her trackpants and change shirt in her bag for her sports class in the afternoon. Her whole family was getting prepared, except Daddy who was coming back from work and nibbling at toast in his city worker uniform. Too tired to shower first, he always just reeked, so she grabbed a chair as far as she could from him while he was laughing with her youngest brother Maurice, the only one who had inherited their grandmother's blue eyes aside from herself. She let her mind wander as she poured cereals in her bowl. The chocolate flavoured flakes were drawing strange patterns. It reminded her of her favourite rock song. She should listen to rock again she thought. Screw the baby girls at school, she can listen to whatever music she liked.
A form resembling that of a baby appeared in her cereals as she was stirring the contents of her bowl.
"Andrasté", she thought immediately. "Freedom?" she wondered again as strange swirling patterns appeared in between the dark chocolate corn flakes.
Tamara yelled in her ear, putting an end to her reverie, making Maurice, Epiphanie and Arthur laugh as their eldest squeaked and jumped out of her chair, spilling her bowl.
"Shut up, you cunt" the teen growled in answer to the most unsufferable of her little sisters.
"Elizabeth, it's not a way to speak to your baby sister" her mother scolded in her heavily accented French.
"Gnagngangnagnagnagnaaaa!" She mocked as she stole a croissant from her dad's plate and left, not wanting to eat cereals anymore. The forms disturbed her. She hoped everybody had forgotten how absorbed she was with her breakfast now that Tamara's prank was done. The little brown eyed and fat lipped girl was sticking her tongue out at her big sister and she flipped her her middle finger in answer before leaving for André Malraux High School in a hurry. Mom had seen her and she didn't want to be slapped in the face for this rude gesture.
When she woke up, she was dressed in her pink Sponge Bob top, miniskirt and purple leggings accompanied by her favourite pair of heels. She was dancing next to a gorgeous blonde man with the warmest brown eyes. Ben he said his name was.
When she woke up, she was dressed in her pink Sponge Bob top and miniskirt accompanied by her favourite heels. She was dancing next to a gorgeous dark haired man man with piercing green eyes. Fenris he said his name was.
She felt the connection, the taste of fish in her mouth. She smelled the salt of the Kirkwall docks and the heady scent of Tantervale's little brothel where she dove her furry little cat body in the bodice of an elven sex worker. In a blur -
"Mehdi, look, it's the law. If you want you can be there and only women will be present." Elizabeth appealed. "You remember Fatumata, right?"
Elizabeth was wearing her pink sweat that was clashing with her flashy orange armband that read Police de Proximité. The long garment was warm enough to ward off the chill of this early spring day. Medhi and Kenza were shifting from foot to foot. The Brigade Anti Criminalité officers that had stopped them and spotted Kenza had called them. Surville was PP's turf and the BAC didn't want anything to go awry so close to the end of Ramadhan. The day was shining bright. They knew Mehdi wouldn't dare do anything lest he broke his Holy Vow. They had also specifically asked for women, considering the problem. Masking one's face in public was illegal for a few months now. Many burqa wearing women defied the authority, though most accepted to be questioned if they were brought somewhere nobody but the policeman would see her face.
Unless, they were with a relative or worse: their husbands. This time was one of these times and Fatu looked bored. They had seen too much of this already. She was grateful that it was a Ramadhan day. Muslims were forbidden to do any sin. That included assault. Not that Mehdi was a violent man, as far as Elizabeth knew.
She looked intently at Mehdi. He was an old High School acquaintance and he wasn't dumb like many others in their neighbourhood, he had actually had many good marks and the best score of the region when graduating the Baccalauréat with a "Very Good" mention and congratulations of the jury. He could have gone anywhere. Unlike Elizabeth who only did the average scores, he could have attended the best Grandes Ecoles, they'd have given him help money and maybe rented a flat in Paris so he could attend... But Mehdi wasn't interested in anything else than his family and traditions. He did a short sales formation and stayed in his home town like many others before him, working at the local Carrefour advising old ladies about which tablets, phones or computer they should buy.
His wife Kenza was shivering beside him. From what Elizabeth could gather, she was straight from Le Bled and probably betrothed to Mehdi since she got her first period. From her eyes, she guessed she was very young. No wonder Mehdi was protective of her and it was the Holy Month. He had to obey the law, why was he arguing already?! The man sighed and stroke his beard in annoyance.
"Look, Elizabeth... I trust you. Can you do the check yourself?" he asked, looking like he found this situation both infuriating and awkward or as if someone had stabbed him in the stomach.
"Sure, I can." Elizabeth said with a great smile, happy that no one was going to bother with papers, bruises or making up for a a botched Ramadhan with long additional days of prayer and fasting. "Come on Kenza. We'll go get some privacy." she added.
Fatu sighed too. In annoyance. Her orange armband flashed in the shy light of the spring sun. She was staying to make sure the BAC officers wouldn't step in once Elizabeth and Kenza were locked up in the building's private room to arrest Mehdi for an imaginary obstruction. PP and BAC liked to step on each other's toes, sometimes. However, this was strictly PP's jurisdiction as masking one's face was not a felony, you only risked a fine.
The hooded woman turned her head toward her husband and he nodded with a great smile. That reassured Elizabeth about the nature of their relationship. They actually liked each other well enough, then she thought. Elizabeth led Kenza into the building and locked the door behind them. Kenza's gloved hands rummaged in a little dark blue leather bag. Elizabeth's eyes grew wide. She had seen this kind of bags not so long ago. Kenza lowered her veil and Elizabeth could see that she was indeed a beautiful woman, maybe a bit older than twenty, not as young as she suspected her to be. She gave the proximity police officer her papers and Elizabeth was able to check that she was indeed born in Great Britain from her passport. Everything was in order.
"Nice little bag." Elizabeth said in English, handing her back her papers.
"Thanks." Kenza mumbled.
"Where did you get it?"
"Apple Market in Covent Garden." she answered in a soft voice before putting her veil back on her face.
Elizabeth smiled.
"Yeah, I saw them there a few years back. I was visiting my cousins. Couldn't buy one, though."
Kenza looked at Elizabeth. Only her eyes were visible beneath the burqa. Elizabeth led her back to her husband.
A few days later, Elizabeth crossed Mehdi's path again during one of her evening patrols with Sergio from the BAC. These patrols were an effort to allow the two departments to work together and more peacefully. Fatu didn't like her partner. He seemed to think he was supposed to protect the long limbed Ethiopian girl with his live weapon. Elizabeth had snorted and Fatu had imitated Cédric's macho behaviour for a few minutes over a coffee. Elizabeth snorted at the memory.
"Hey, Elizabeth!" someone hailed.
He was in his white shirt and red waistcoat from work and had a big parcel under his arm and Kenza wasn't there. Night had fallen already. Sergio tensed. BAC dudes weren't really popular like the PP and directly depended of the Police Department while Elizabeth didn't have to adhere to all regulations (saving Mehdi and Kenza the fine two weeks prior) and didn't wear any weapon except for a non-lethal Flash-Ball gun. Sergio was a cool guy, though a bit tense whenever he came in the Cité. His regulation kevlar jacket made him a target.
Mehdi ran to her and they exchanged pleasantries. He deliberately ignored Sergio who looked around, not seeming to care about the man's ignorance.
"Kenza wanted to give you this. To thank you for the other day." Mehdi finally said, handing the parcel to her.
"What is it?" Elizabeth asked, curious as to why a woman she barely knew would want to give her a gift and what if was.
"Open it." Mehdi said with a huge grin.
It was a cute little pink leather bag with a note that said "cheers, mate". Elizabeth roared with laughter.
When they were a bit farther along their patrol, Sergio grinned at her.
"So that's how it's done in PP... Do you actually use those Flash-Balls of yours or do your smiles do everything?" he chuckled.
"Nope. Last resort, Mister "I'm-BAC-We-Shoot-First-Ask-Questions-Later"." Elizabeth smiled.
When she woke up, she heard a baby crying.
"Andrasté!" She called.
And she called again. And again. She cried and shouted her little girl's name in between tears of desesperation and exhaution.
Her breasts where sore as if they had been sucked for hours. Ben liked to do that. However he was nowhere to be seen.
"Please give me back my little girl, give me my Andrasté back, I beg you." She whimpered alone in her cell.
She was starving, but she couldn't really feel it as she was worried sick about her little girl. That was the only thing in the world she wished. She was drained of milk in the dark tiny cell that reeked exactly like Daddy when he came back from work every morning. She didn't know how long she stayed there, but she clawed at her captors whenever they came to milk her like a cow.
"No! You can't give it to her, the doctors said..."
The punch that interrupted her sent her flying.
When she woke up, she was a cat.
It was the strangest thing. She was collared and leashed and she was a cat. She meowed instead of talking. She had a hard time feeling her body. It felt so alien. She slept most of the time. She thought it was fitting when the panic left her chest.
Next to her, was a man covered in blood. His white hair was caked with it. In a few meows, she tried to wake him up, but he was in a deep slumber. And when he woke up, he couldn't understand when she asked if he knew where her baby was, of course.
She noticed his makings and how they glowed in her cat vision. She wobbled on her tiny little legs. Her tail was swinging left and right but she couldn't control it really. She decided to walk and walk in circles until she was used to it. Why a cat? She wondered. It was a fast and nimble animal. Maybe she could escape then. But how would she rescue Andrasté or hold her in her arms or sing her her favourite lullaby?
She wailed. Andrasté. Andrasté. She knew her daughter was there, somehow.
The man was handsome. He had a strong nose and fine traits around it. He looked like Ben, only with white hair and a darker complexion. Something else was also different. His pointy ears, olive green eyes and white tatoos. Ben only had a black dragon on his right arm.
The man stared at her groggily. She didn't know how long they were rotting in the cell, but after a long moment of silence, the man started to talk. Fenris. Slave. Danarius. Mages.
And she understood. Elizabeth understood that this wasn't a nightmare. That her daughter was in the hands of this magister in this strange other world. What did he want with her? How did he bring her there? It looked bad. Really bad and she felt her heart sting in her now tiny chest. She had to get out of there. She had to find her daughter.
The guard came with water and bread. She was so furious in her cat form, so frustrated. She lunged at him with such force that her leash broke and she was free. While he was busy trying to get rid of her, Fenris got free of his chains with his powers.
Elizabeth ran. She sniffed the air, looking for the smell of her daughter. There, she had it. She followed it, Fenris close on her heels, killing and maiming anyone in his way. The smell stopped at a door. Her newfound friend opened it.
Andrasté wasn't there. Elizabeth called her name, meowing endlessly until she saw her bag. Her old high school bag with the stupid garish colours and Nicki Minaj's face drawn with whiteout and equally stupidly colourful highlighter. The bag reeked of Andrasté's smell. Or was it simply her smell? Elizabeth sadly moaned. She felt like she had lost her baby. Would she ever see her little Andrasté again? She climbed on the bag and rolled up into a ball. She wanted to stay there and sleep until this nightmare was over. She'd wake up, Andrasté screaming for food at undue hours again and Ben would hold her near.
"There is no time, cat." Fenris said. "We must flee before Danarius returns."
Elizabeth looked at him. He seemed like a good guy. He was willing to help a cat. She stood up and tugged at the bag with her teeth. Fenris understood the message and took it. He also took a sword. Only now Elizabeth realised it was an armory. They wouldn't have let a baby in there with so many sharp edges around.
Time had run out. She was now on the road with Fenris.
And her heart felt like it had been ripped away as surely as the guard's hearts had been.
To cheat the pain that was a constantly plaguing her head and her heart, she focused on Fenris'. She noticed how he wouldn't trust anyone human or any of the other races she heard about. He would confide in her because she was an animal to him until he opened her bag and he realised she was probably more than met the eye. When he decided to name her Freedom, she wondered why he didn't use her name as he had stumbled on her wallet. Then she realised that maybe as an escaped slave, he didn't know how to read. This strange place looked like a medieval fair, she was probably going to meet more illiterate people as education was hard to go by at this time.
Another thing she noticed in an inn was that they weren't using any alphabet she knew of at all. Well... Thet was going to be interesting to find her way into her human form and her daughter.
Fenris had the bad habit of stealing, but Elizabeth couldn't do much about it. He however also slept outside of cities beneath the stars and fled everytime someone got closer than ten paces. She started a game with him. She'd try to get him to meet actual people. Usually girls. Tried to force naughty encounters by finding a brothel and hiding in ample cleavage. That was always a fun thing to do. She'd always attract the sympathy of one of the younger performers and leave a significant trail for Fenris to follow (not that she actually knew how to hide her trail anyway).
She managed to get him to lose his relative celibacy at least with one very pretty whore that understood him a bit and silently talked to his despair and offered real comfort.
After that, he started to relax. He ran, but not because he was scared. He ran now because he had a real taste of freedom that hadn't turned into ashes in his mouth like with this Fog Warriors he had told her about.
Elizabeth really liked Fenris. She liked how he smiled, how he would hold her close in his embrace when she was looking for comfort. She didn't know exactly how time passed in here, but they saw two horrible winters, at least by her standards, pass. Those made them spend the very few coins they had to sleep in barns and working in farms cutting wood and chasing rats. Elizabeth blessed her fur. She was still clumsy, but she started to feel good as a cat...
Until Kirkwall.
She only half listened the long speeches about transfiguration, magic and animals. So she was startled when Garrett laid his hands on her that she didn't actually feel the magic.
And then she was a woman again. She immediately thought of Andrasté and flexed her fingers, extending her hands, as if she could reach out and take her in her arms.
It's fine, my little girl, mommy's there, she thought. Mommy'll soon be there and she will never ever let you go again. She almost cried.
And just like that, it was over. She was back in cat form. This time, Elizabeth broke for good.
She would never hold her little girl again. She would never see Ben again. She was stuck in here forever.
That's how she gave up. Six months. Six months she had taken care of that baby, the highlight of her seven years relationship with Ben.
She let herself fall down into depression. The worst was that she couldn't talk about it, indulge in her talkative nature. How much she wished to talk to Fenris or anyone about her plight. But cats don't speak and Fenris was always away anyway, gathering lyrium or so she was told. Wasn't that the thing on his skin? She didn't really know about lyrium, just that it was magic related.
If she had been seventeen again, she'd have loved to be there, cat or not. To escape the reality of her lack of means that shut her the good school's doors even when her Daddy had worked his ass off taking care of the White Men's garbage as he'd say in his native tongue.
Sometimes thoughts like that brought a metaphorical smile on her lips. Remembering her family, the good in it. Tamara, Marcelin, Epiphanie and Arthur. She used to hate their out of fashion names, at least Tamara was a cool one, but Elizabeth and her weirdness as a child only brought her clumsy and cruel puns from her classmates. This name had almost foretold of her predicament after all!
She wanted to say to herself she longed for Ben. And she did, several times. She was a sniveling cat. A sniveling cat that was taken care of a band of ridiculous live action RPG fans with a weird sense of humour. Garrett and Isabela were the cute libertine couple that teased her about what Garrett saw of her body. She didn't really like being with them when they discussed that, but they were nice enough (when they weren't making out when she was with them, overloading her heightened cat senses with the smell of sex and sweat. Also, gross.)
Anders was nice. He really reminded her of Ben. He always had good jokes and none were at her expense. He was caring and seeing him tend to the sick and wounded of the Undercity made her heart beat fast. Ben would have totally agreed with Anders' plan to cure the poor free of charge.
She wanted to talk to Fenris so badly, though. He was her friend. They've been together for those two years and he told her so many things. He deserved to know her. Maybe he'd even help her save her baby daughter.
Usually, thinking about Andrasté made her fall into another spiral of darkness and terror, but today she didn't. Fenris took her in his arms and whispered about the Deep Roads and transforming her back to her human form. She felt numb as she let herself be carried into the dark tunnels filled with zombie-like creatures of rot and metal with much more capacities for fighting without losing limbs. The first time she saw one, she felt like choking. When she saw it, she hid in Anders' satchel.
It was way safer there and the herbs he kept to grind into poultices helped her gtting rid of the smell. Soon, she couldn't get rid of it as it glued to her fur and she really hoped she would be turned back soon so she wouldn't be cursed by her animalistic sense of smell anymore.
When she woke up, she lied in familiar arms. The smell of lyrium and musky sweat invading her senses as she let the afterglow taking over. Then dread. What had she done? She didn't remember anything beside the light, then the kiss. How fitting, she said, a smile dancing shyly on her lips. She was no toad nor prince, but it was funny. She was in his embrace and he was looking at her with eyes filled with awe and wonder. She wanted to speak, but her throat was sore.
"Fenris." she managed to croak.
That would suffice for now. She looked at him until a scream rang behind her.
"DARKSPAWN!" Anders bellowed, his magic swirling around him.
Chaos ensued. Fenris shielded Elizabeth as she made herself little and crouched to the floor. She was greeted by a strong cat scent as she saw the garish sorts clothes. Had she really wore that as a teen? How was she supposed to fit in there after giving birth and being ten years older and stuff, she had absolutely no idea, but an extra layer of protection, even mere cotton and polyester, was welcome. She put on the pink t-shirt (that stopped beneath her breasts and pretty much acted like an oversized bra) and yellow vest, and managed to put on the jeans, though she didn't dare fasten them. She couldn't stay with Fenris, as he was a melee fighter, she'd only get in his way. So she took her chances, seeing as Varric was pretty much left alone unlike the two mages that were attacked from everywhere. She ran and tripped toward him.
"Nice to finally meet you, Princess." Varric drawled as Bianca sang her deadly tune. "There's rubble over here. If you know your way around a sling, I got one!"
Sling... It took her while to realise what he was talking about. The weirdest part of all this world to Elizabeth was the English. It assured her that she was not dreaming. Or else, people would have spoke in French, her native tongue. That's why for several minutes she had the picture of a makeshift armcast until he seemed to interpret her confused face and threw her a piece of leather.
Une fronde. Ok.
She was instantly reminded of her little brothers mischief as young boys harrassing their sisters and the other young girls of the poor neighbourhood they inhabited and smirked as she chose a good stone.
She did hit one and smiled before mimicking Freddy Mercury in his triumphant pose. Without closing her eyes. She was still moderately scared. She also never had to kill anyone and the most dangerous weapon she ever held was her regulation Verney-Carron Flash-Ball gun. She had to apply the force to the stone herself though. And unlike with regular persons, she actually aimed at the head instead of the legs and chest.
The darkspawn were getting their asses handed to them, though. Thanks to Elizabeth's swift "let's get out of the way" action, Fenris managed to fend of the enemies from around Garrett and Anders, whispering provocative threats and hacking his way through the mages that had been overwhelmed.
Once they had regained the upper ground, they could systematically push back their opponents, though and the fight was soon over.
Fenris ran toward Elizabeth and stopped just in front of her.
"Are you hurt ?" he asked.
Her throat still felt sore still as she tried to answer and she winced as she couldn't manage to get her accent right.
"I'm fine. Feet hurt, though. I need shoes."
"How wonderful! Another Orlesian!" Varric chuckled.
Elizabeth frowned as Fenris went to retrieve her bag.
"No wonder your first concern is about shoes." Anders said. "It's more proof that she is indeed feeling better."
"What the fuck is an Orlesian?" Elizabeth managed to say before coughing. Fenris helped her drink some water from a flask. He gave her the bag and she rummaged through it finding her old pair of Sponge Bob Converse shoes that slightly pinched her toes, customised with glitter to match the golden heart on the shirt she was wearing and fit her ridiculously since her chest had largely outgrown it in ten years and a pregnancy.
"It's a country." Garrett provided. "Specialising in fancy ruffles, intrigue and very bad tastes in cheese."
"Is it ruled by a king?" Elizabeth asked.
"No, an Empress."
"How Second Empire." She said as if they could understand the joke. They still laughed.
"The country I grew up in is called France. The Second Empire is an period of its history. There was more ruffles before this era, though. Second Empire dresses are somewhat tasteful."
She had drunk sips of water in between sentences. Her throat now able to vibrate properly, she lost more and more of the accent as she went on, using her usual American brogue peppered with Londonian vocabulary and Californian slang.
"The more you go on, the more you sound like a Nevarran." Varric noticed. "How weird..."
"I suppose it's another country? How do you call the language you're speaking."
"The common tongue? The trade tongue?" Anders said. "We don't really have a name for it. I know it's even spoken in the Anderfels, where I was born."
"It's so convenient and so close to what English is back home that I'm starting to think Ben's going to wake me up saying it's my turn to feed Andrasté..."
She said. But the joke turned bitter in her mouth and she frowned again.
"Andrasté?" Fenris asked.
"My daughter. She... We were both transported here and Danarius separated us." Elizabeth explained at last. Tears were stinging her eyes now. "Guards kept coming for my milk at first. Guess they reached the same conclusions my doctor had. She always rejected breastfeeding. One day I must have fought or cried too hard and the next... Well I was a cat... My memories are all hazy. All I know is that somehow he transported my daughter and I in this country or world or past alternate timeline or whatever. I think he tried to send me back but got the time and place wrong. I was sixteen again and I was about to go to school. I think that's how he got my old bag and laptop. I had given those away ages ago..."
She couldn't stop talking now that she could. Her throat felt as if it was used and reused, but the words couldn't stop flowing from her mouth. It had been so long. It felt so good to have it out of her chest.
"And I'm here. Without my six months old daughter that is probably three or maybe even four now, all walking, making pasta necklaces and saying Mommy to an other woman if my best nightmares are to be believed."
Her throat tightened. This time from anguish and anxiety. The words stopped, the tears started to stream down her face in earnest.
Fenris' hand shyly caressed her back and she leaned against him. he shifted in an awkward manner, but he didn't seem too fazed by her human form.
"We should go back." Elizabeth said. "I... I need to sleep it off..."
"We could all use some shut eye." Garrett yawned.
And suddenly, Garrett closed his eyes and started to snore. He had fallen asleep on his feet and it was the weirdest thing in the world.
"I am so incorporating it in the Legend of Garrett Hawke." Varric chuckled.
"If you say that his eyes were actually opened, it might add some more danger to the character." Elizabeth sobbed, wiping the tears away.
After dragging him to the camp that had mercifully not been attacked as well, Varric had to explain to Bartrand who she was and why she was there spinning a wonderful fairy tale in which, Fenris, heavily wounded, had gently kissed her muzzle, starting her transformation. She was now a Nevarran Princess that was cursed by a Dalish Keeper (whatever that was) to wander the world as a cat because she had been mean to her elven servants and had made the Dalish miserable. She had now found true love in Fenris and been transformed back...
Right... Seemed legit.
"If she's a Princess, she may be valuable. Her parents could pay a ransom."
"It happened centuries ago, brother. She still thinks Orlais are they're allies. Hell, she was supposed to marry one of those sodding ass lickers. She speaks with a marvelous Orlesian accent and has no idea of Val Royeaux's latest fashion. She did ask first for shoes when the elf and her where done eating each other's face at last, though."
Elizabeth scowled and decided to watch Fenris set two bedrolls side by side and unbuckle his sword sheath. He placed it in between the cots. She felt her heart squeeze.
"You don't have spew that much nug shit in one go, Varric. I won't let such a sweet piece of ass like that to die down there. So shut the fuck up, this is rest time."
Elizabeth smiled at these words. She was always receptive to flattery. Just in case, she decided to let through a little French in her speech when around Bartrand. She went to the cot Fenris had set and sat on it. Fenris sat on his. And they stared at each other a while.
"Thank you. For helping me." He finally said. "And for... I don't know. Your company. I... When I look at the man I am now, the man I was two years ago can't believe his eyes. Thank you."
"Seriously, it was nothing. I wanted to escape as much as you do when I realised they had moved Andrasté." Elizabeth whispered.
She felt strange, all light and fluttering now that he was near. It was strange to be a human after such a long time in a cat's body, the feeling of arousal felt different when you had experienced a female cat's heat period.
"Had I known about your daughter before, I could have helped. Danarius was away from the mansion for a party with local authorities and nobles. He didn't bring me along because he didn't have the time to break me properly. The guards were talking about Danarius being blessed by Andrasté and showing off his future bride. If this is true, your baby may be alive."
Elizabeth whimpered and but bit back tears of despair before whispering.
"I think I will go to sleep. If that's okay."
"Sure. I am first to stay guard. I should..."
He stopped mid sentence and looked away as he sat up. He seemed to want to add something else, but he changed his mind and left.
Elizabeth embraced her knees and watched the camp as it went to sleep. She wasn't tired. Mostly because she was overthinking. She wanted to talk, to sing, to marvel at the return of her voice. She had always liked singing and her music teacher had often told her that she should have gone to a music school, but living in the kind of town she lived in... Well, she was no better than Mehdi in that regard.
She sighed as Fenris looked her way from afar. This was not going as she had hoped. But at least she was human. That ought to count for something, right?