Chapter Six

Little flickers of embers sizzled into the slowly brightening sky. The bonfire had been kept burning all night, a beacon to help guide any wanderers back home, though the sun that was peeking it's way over the horizon was more of a help than the blaze would be. Still, it was a comfort.

Avianna rubbed her grimy palms together. Fang was snuggled up at her feet, happy little snores coming from his wrinkled nose. At least someone was happy to see the recruits, she couldn't help but think. Duncan had scurried Alistair away almost as soon as they had walked in the gate, both of them muttering about the treaties. It appeared that Alistair would keep them for now, from what she could tell.

She glanced around for a moment, seeing Daveth chatting with the kennel master. The white flowers had been something they made sure to pick up along the way especially for him. Her bones creaked and popped as she stood up, then ambled her way over to the two men. They were discussing the preparation of the tincture that would help with easing the mabari hounds' ingestion of darkspawn blood. It hadn't occurred to Avianna that the hounds themselves wouldn't be able to process the blood like they could other things, but it made sense; after all, people were contaminated by the Taint in the darkspawn blood, why not the hounds?

Daveth nodded at her when she approached.

"This will keep the mabari healthy, and give them a fighting chance. Thank you so much! I don't have much, but I can at least give you a vial of the cure for your own hound, and twenty silver. I know it's not much, but it's better than nothing, right?" The kennel master shuffled through his pockets, plucking coins from pouches and various pockets to pay the recruit. He turned to Avi. "I will have that vial ready for you in a few hours and drop it off in your tent, if that's fine?"

The pair split the money over a small breakfast, chuckling over mugs of ale. Avianna wiped froth from her lips and nudged Daveth in the ribs. Ser Jory was snoozing on the other side of the fire, his chin drooped onto his chest.

"How many pebbles do you think we can set on him before he wakes up?" Avianna asked, winking.

Daveth's eyes widened and then lit up with delight. "I think that is something that we cannot go one more day without finding out, don't you agree?" He chugged down the last of his ale, then hopped to his feet.

They started with the smallest pebbles first, pausing to stare at the knight when his snores took on a startle. His body shifted and his books squeaked as he moved slightly, but Ser Jory did not wake. Two, three, four more pebbles at a time. They were everywhere, on his shoulders, his abdomen, his chest, there were even a few on the back of his hands. How he didn't wake up to the cold stone was beyond Avi's reckoning. A line of tiny stones stretched from his knee all the way done to the ankle, and a few were perched on the toe of his boot. It was hard not to laugh at the sight, when they were all done.

"Do you really think this will aid in defeating the darkspawn? If so, then we are all set for the battle already?" Duncan chuckled. He and Alistair had finished their chat, and were staring at the creation that the two recruits had made, amused at the sight.

"You know he isn't going to be pleased with that when he gets up. However, I think that planting a large rock in his lap would be hilarious, that way he has to heave it off before he hauls after you." Alistair laughed. The thought certainly would be a funny one, Avianna couldn't deny that, but they didn't have time for that right now.

Duncan shook his head and waved for them to follow him. "Time for us to begin. Gather your recruits, Alistair and let's begin the Joining."

His face looked more somber than normal, and Avianna felt her heart twinge just a bit. The expression reminded her of how he had looked right after her family had died, heightening her unease. Maybe this wasn't going to be as easy as she thought. She and Daveth gave each other curious, but discomforted looks. There wasn't much that they could do other than follow Duncan. A holler from behind them signaled that Ser Jory had been roused by Alistair and discovered the gift of pebbles left all over him. Avianna and Daveth took off at a sprint to escape his wrath.

Duncan was waiting for them all at the top of the stairs in the ruins of the old temple. There was a chalice sitting on a stone pedestal in the middle of the ruins, ominous and open to the dawning sky. The recruits huddled together, as if it would make a difference in whatever this eerie ceremony would hold for them. Perhaps it just felt better to have this comradery in being bundled together, and whatever it was, Avianna knew that she felt safer in the group than she did standing alone.

"So, what are we to expect from this ritual, then? I don't care for all this secrecy…" Ser Jory muttered, his brow furrowing.

"I won't lie to any of you. We pay a heavy price to become Grey Wardens. Fate may decide that you pay your price now rather than later, and if that is required, then you answer the call." Duncan's voice rang heavy with the severity of his words.

"Is that why the Joining is kept so secretive, Duncan?" Avianna's voice was soft. Things were falling into place now – she hadn't thought before that just getting into the Wardens could be this difficult. But, with such an elite group, you have to expect such things, Avi supposed.

"I wish such secrecy was unneeded, and that everyone understood the necessity for such sacrifice. Unfortunately, we live in a world in which that will never be so." Duncan looked forlorn at that thought.

"The more I hear about this Joining, the less I like it!" Ser Jory muttered.

"There you go, blubbering again!" Daveth shook his head.

"Why all these damn tests, though? Have I not proved my strength and resolve in battle? Have I not earned my place? Now some secret meeting? It just seems so idiotic and pointless." Jory was sounding more and more like a quibbling child to Avi, and it was making her anger burn. If she had known this kind of drabble had been a knight in her father's service, she would have made sure to have had him dismissed from the service.

"Did you ever think that it's a tradition, you idiot, or that maybe they are just doing it to see if you could keep your cool?" Avianna spat at him, giving him a dirty look. "I swear, I am the bravest one here, and I am a woman!" She threw her hands up in the air, completely disgusted with them by this point.

"Look, I only know that my wife is in Highever with a child on the way. If they had warned me that all of this nonsense was going to be going on…" Jory began, but could not even finish, for Avianna cut him off.

"Let me guess: your honor and courage is dependent on how quickly you can get through a ritual, how fast you can join an elite group, and probably how much money you would make. You, ser, are little better than mercenary thugs, it would seem." The sneer that crossed her face, the complete and utter disgust that she felt, was rivaled only by the intense hatred that she felt for Howe. Such slimy creatures shouldn't be allowed to join groups like the Wardens, especially if they are as weak-willed as Jory.

The knight could only stare at her in shock, stammering out something about how it wasn't fair, and Avianna only shook her head.

"I swear, I am the bravest one here, and I'm a woman!" It was hard to admit bravery when you didn't feel brave. Maybe she had done well enough in Highever Castle, but fear had been leeching into her heart the entire time. Every corner turned, every swing of her sword, it had all been laced with an edge of terror that no one had been able to see. "Would you have joined if they had warned you about all this? Maybe they don't so that they can see the true nature of the men they recruit." She gave him another hard look. "My father wouldn't have been pleased with you and your cowardly behavior. The Wardens do what they must do, all right?"

"Oh really? Including sacrificing us? Does that seem honorable to you at all?" Ser Jory was in her face now, and the two were puffing up, nearly screaming at each other. This was obviously not going to end very well.

"I'd sacrifice a lot more if I knew if it would end the Blight, not that anybody is asking me…" Daveth piped up. He looked a bit nervous about the two that were squaring off at each other. His fingers opened and closed, fists ready to step in and help stop the brawl that was sure to erupt between the two that were so eager to kill each other already. "You saw all those darkspawn, ser knight. Aren't you willing to die to save that pretty wife from them, or do you not love her that much?"

Ser Jory paused long enough to look at Daveth, then sighed and stepped back. The knight nodded.

"Look, maybe you will die – maybe we'll all die. If no one is there to stop them, we will all die for sure. The Grey Wardens are there to keep the land safe, and despite the reason why I was conscripted, I am proud to take up arms with them." Daveth said, his voice resolute with his surety.

Ser Jory's face was covered in discontent. "I just feel that we are walking into a battle, and I have never faced a foe that I could not engage with my blade. This is nonsense to me that is beyond unnecessary."

"Enough! We have more important matters to attend to right now, and this squabbling won't help anything." Alistair snapped.

"Now, it's time for the Joining. The Grey Wardens were founded during the first Blight, when humanity stood on the verge of annihilation. So it was that the first Grey Wardens drank of the poisoned Darkspawn blood and mastered their taint." The seriousness in Duncan's voice rumbled through each of their bones. It touched Avianna in her heart, and she dropped her head, weighing every word carefully.

A startled croak came from Ser Jory. "You can't be serious. Are we really going to drink the blood of those creatures?" Avianna had to admit that it made her feel sick to her stomach as well.

"As the first Grey Wardens did before us, as we did before you: this is the source of our power and our victory." Duncan thundered on.

Alistair's quieter, yet still solemn voice filled the silence left behind in Duncan's wake. "Those who survive the Joining become immune to the taint. We can sense it in the Darkspawn and use it to slay the Archdemon."

Avianna felt that heated grip of fear around her heart once more, the burn that would not subside, but squeezed tighter and tighter in the middle of her chest. "Well…" She muttered. "Let's get on with it then." No sense in wasting time, was there?

Duncan nodded. "We speak only a few words prior to the Joining, but these words have been said since the first. Alistair, if you would?"

The look on Alistair's face was for more somber than she could have ever anticipated. "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." A shiver ran the entire length of Avianna's spine, and she tried to brush it off, but couldn't. The fear still held its grip firmly on the dead center of her ribs and back, commanding her to freeze in place.

The commander of the Grey grasped the chalice in both hands, a stoic expression on his face. Without so much as a glance at either of the other recruits, he looked right at Daveth and stared him hard in the eye. "Daveth, step forward."

The young man glanced nervously at the other two recruits, his eyes shifting nervously from them, to the chalice, to the man holding it. But, he did not falter in his steps as he walked forward. His hands did not tremble as he grasped the silver goblet and pressed it to his lips. Avianna watched as Daveth's Adam's Apple bobbed with the surely-disgusting swig of Darkspawn blood. His face did not register what it had to taste like, but he paused for a moment, then his eyes went white, as if they had rolled back in his head. A gurgle, then a scream erupted from his gnarled lips as his hands flew to his forehead. Avianna stepped back, eyes wide in fear at this unknown creature that was gnawing away at their companion's mind. Daveth had collapsed, his body writhing in the withering grass, only a few convulsions showing that life was quickly leeching out of his body. Another twitch, and Daveth was no more.

"Maker's breath…" Ser Jory cursed. He was just as afraid as Avi was. You could see it all over his face.

"I am sorry, Daveth." Duncan looked down at the body, his face drooping, eye despondent. He had looked like that when he had seen the attack on the castle, though it was much more evident now. The commander looked up at the other male recruit. "Step forward, Jory." There were no more titles between them.

The knight began to back up, his hand reaching for his blade. Duncan had begun to step forward, setting the chalice back down on the stone pillar. The situation was more than tense enough for Avianna, and she backed away from the two men, toward Alistair. It would likely be safer to let them have their space and set it out with the other Warden.

"I have a wife…a child…if I had known…" Excuses were stammered out, sputtering into the sky like the sparks from the bonfire.

"There is no turning back," Duncan answered the excuses with unyielding strength.

"No!" Ser Jory shouted, his hand withdrawing his blade. "You ask too much of men. There is no glory in this, no honor amongst secrecy and lies, among trickery to get your recruits! You are all a lot of liars!"

And with those words, he swung his sword over his head, an ungainly move that surely would have worked in another time, in another place, perhaps against another man. But, against the Commander of the Grey, it was a stupidly thrown maneuver. Duncan was, by far, the more skilled of the two; Jory had no chance against him. The blade that Duncan carried was sunk, halfway to the hilt, into Jory's chest. The sound made for a sickening echo in the quiet of the morning, and the blood dripped effortlessly off the tip of the sword. Avianna turned and retched, still not used to the sight of men being introduced to Death personally. Faces flashed before her eyes as the contents of her stomach made an appearance, faces she only saw during the night: her father, her mother, Oren and Oriana, servants in the home, Gilmore… it was all hitting her too hard.

"I am sorry, Jory." She barely heard Duncan's words, but she knew he would say them. Duncan wasn't the kind to take lives so easily…he had proved that to her along the road.

Blood had sprayed all over the ground, both bodies limp on the dirt. It made her want to vomit again. She clenched her fists and tightened her belly. She could get through this, whatever it took. Alistair looked at her with a concerned furrow on his forehead.

"Our Joining is not yet complete." Duncan turned to Avi, taking the chalice and holding it out to her. "Step forward, Avianna. You are called to submit yourself to the taint, for the greater good of all mankind. From this moment forth, you are a Grey Warden."

There was a slight tremble in Avianna's fingers as she reached for the chalice. The silver bowl was cold and unyielding under her skin, a doorknob to life or death, depending on what side of eternity fate decided she was to stand on. For what easily could be the last time, Avi stared out at the sunrise, the pinks and red blending together in a harmonious song that called to her very bones, singing to her to come join her family once more.

Don't worry…I will see you soon… She thought, trying to ease the shaking in her throat.

It only took a few moments to bring the goblet to her lips, the silver bitter on her tongue. But that wasn't the worst taste to come. The blood was salty, at first, then the sharp tang of copper came through, then a rotten, fetid burn coated her tongue, making her choke as she swallowed the poison that was just as likely to save her as it was to kill her. For a moment, there was nothing but the icy cold feeling of the blood running down her throat. A half a second later though, everything jolted into a searing, painful reality. White, blinding pain coursed through her body, and everything went black. Avianna screamed, clutching her head, trying to keep the sharp needles of agony from ripping through her scalp any more than they already were. Nothing could stop it though…this was so much more painful than anything she had ever felt before, and it flowed through every inch of her body.

Suddenly…deep, endless black. Such sweet relief from the pain.

A dragon reared its head out of the black, all teeth and a deafening roar. It was both spectacular and truly frightening to see, the smoke curling from its snout in tiny rivulets.

Maker only knows how long it was before she cracked her eyes open, seeing tiny puffs of clouds above her. The dawn had passed, and the sky was a lovely shade of blue, but there was no telling what time it was from where she was collapsed on the ground. Two faces hovered into her field of vision, and Avianna squinted at them, trying to make them out. Duncan and Alistair stared back at her, both a mixture of concern and a tiny bit of pleasure at her having survived the ordeal of the Joining.

"It is finished. Welcome to the Grey Wardens." The words were encouraging, and the Commander held out a hand, easing her to her feet. Avianna shook her head, trying to shake off the feeling of darkness and dank despair, but it clung to her like fog on an early morning.

"Two more deaths…what a pity, and such a waste of life. In my Joining only one of us died, but it was still horrible. I can't forget her face…it was sad. I'm glad at least one of you made it through this time." Alistair clapped her on the shoulder gently. It was more compassionate than he normally seemed to be, and she appreciated it.

"How are you feeling, child?" Duncan examined her closely, checking her face and her looking her over with the care a father might his own daughter. That gave her some comfort.

"That was…that was so much more painful than I ever could have thought possible. I had no clue what to expect, but that was so much more…" Avianna managed to choke out the words, her breath catching in the hollow of the base of her throat. It felt as if she was breathing the fire that the dragon had been snorting out. Perhaps she and the dragon had become one creature at some point during the Joining…who knew. She gave him a small, sideways glance.

"Such is what it takes to become a Grey Warden. We sacrifice much so we can save many." Duncan was short and to the point about it all, but she couldn't blame him. He had likely seen countless recruits die.

"Did you have dreams? I had terrible dreams after my Joining. Saw some crazy things during the few moments after drinking the blood." Alistair asked.

"Don't worry her. But," Duncan turned to look at Avianna. "Such dreams come when you begin to sense the Darkspawn as we all do. That and many other things can be explained in the months to come. Before I forget, there is one last part to your Joining." He smiled ever so slightly at the grimace on Avianna's face.

"We take some of that blood and put it in a pendant – something to remind us of those who didn't make it this far." Alistair spoke. "I will bring yours to you when it's ready."

"For now, though, take some time for yourself. Go rest, wash up, and when you are ready, I'd like for you to accompany me to a meeting with the king." Duncan placed a kind hand on her arm, smiling at her gently. "Get some sleep. You deserve it after the night you had, Avianna."

"I will…what kind of a meeting should I be expecting though?" She felt a tad nervous to be meeting up with Cailan again. He was an imposing figure, even with his boyish charm.

"He wants to discuss strategy for the upcoming battle; I'm not sure why exactly he requested your presence, but we will only know once you get there. We will be meeting down the stairs, pleases attend as soon as you are able." The soft rumble in Duncan's voice was warm and gentle once again, not the thunder that had been a roar just a few moments before he had slain Ser Jory. He was no longer the Commander of the Grey, but the man who had plied words from her when tears were all she wanted to spill.

A nod was all she gave back, and with that, Avianna turned on her heel, fluttering down to the tents to find her place under the soft blankets in the recruit's tent. Dragons and butterflies tiptoed their way through her mind, all the while followed by the gurgles and screams of those that Avi had lost, trying to drag her into the black she had committed herself to.