When Cerain saw Ostagar looming in the distance, she had no clue what to expect. Duncan said all the other Fereldan Grey Wardens were already there. He also said the army had won the last several battles. Bryce had mentioned that the king was there. Lilly had mentioned, while blushing, that Teyrn Loghain was also there. When she mentioned the other Teyrn, Eleanor sighed and Bryce shook his head, and confuse Cerain greatly. When she asked Lilly later, she blushed again and she mentioned something about a crush and started to three attempts at said topic and having end the same was she gave up. She was simple going to have to meet the man herself to see what he was like.
When they arrived, a stable boy took their horses and they were greeted by the king and two knights. She noticed that Duncan and the king acted like friends. The king, or Cailan as he insisted he be called, said he was glad to see Bryce but questioned why he brought his wife and daughter with him. Bryce explained the situation at Highever and asked for his son. Cailan mentioned something about him being out scouting then left them before Loghain sent out a 'search party'. Bryce then told Lilly and Cerain that they were going to set up at Fergus' tent and to stay out of trouble, which in Cerain's mind translated into 'get into everything you can'. Duncan told her to find another Grey Warden by the name of Alistair when she is ready to prepare for the Joining. Duncan took Sam with him and Bryce and Eleanor went off on their own leaving Lilly and Cerain alone.
Apparently her father's warning meant the same to Lilly as did to her, because the moment they were left alone she went up to the nearest locked chest and told her to play look out. It didn't matter though because no one looked or seemed to care. Within the hour they had cleaned out every locked chest in the area and the key to one that they will get to later as soon as the one tranquil moved. After cleaning out every chest they moved to talking to everyone they could talk to.
Lilly had dragged Cerain over to a blue tent with an irritated Guard.
" This tent belongs to Teyrn Loghain." She said, blushing. The look on her face must have been funny because Lilly started to giggle. When Cerain demanded answers, Lilly said she wanted to know what she knew about Loghain.
" He helped to push the Orlesians out of Fereldan with Maric. Because of his loyalty and abilities as a General he was given a Teryn. Why?" She just smiled and mentioned something about 'you have to see it to understand it'. Then she sweet talked the guard into getting them an audience with the Teyrn. Lilly never called it sweet talking.
" It's call Coercion silly mage. Sometimes you can't rely on the threat of turning someone into ash to solve your problems. Sometime all you have to do is talk." She of course took it upon herself to teach Cerain how to do this, much to her irritation. But she still learned it. The heavily armored man walking out shook her from her thoughts. He looked exhausted, he had dark circles around his eyes and sounded subdued. He greeted them and made what she could tell was irritated small talk about landsmeets with Lilly and stopped and looked at her.
"Ah, you must be the Grey Warden Cailan met this morning, He was absolutely excited to meet you." The smile that had somehow had found it's way onto her face faltered.
" A feeling you don't share I suppose."
" No, I believe Grey Wardens are useful but not a needed as they insist."
" Why not? From what I have read, they are the only ones that can fight darkspawn without the risk of being tainted. That sounds incredible useful if not downright need." Dead silence. Cerain was mentally kicking herself for her inability to hold her tongue when she saw that Loghain didn't look angry, his one eyebrow was up and he was staring at her with what could be described as a curious look on his face.
" Really...I was not informed of this." She couldn't believe that he didn't know, but then remembered that most people don't obsessively research Grey Wardens. She smiled and asked how much he knew about the Wardens.
"Nothing at all, they did not share their secrets with me,only Maric." He spat out the word secrets like most people spit out bad wine. Her smile grew and she offered to share what she learned from her research at the tower. Next thing her and Lilly knew, they were in his tent and he was sitting across them with a quill and paper. Lilly couldn't stop blushing and Loghain had to remind Cerain to stop staring and to start talking.
" They are immune to the taint and do to whatever secrete training they have, are much stronger then most warriors." She watched as he jotted what she said down and waved his hand in the air to tell her to continue.
" According to at least three mages that I have spoken to that traveled with the Wardens, they can sense darkspawn and tell what they are before they burrow out of the ground." This got a curious look.
" From all the hunting Duncan did, I can safely assume they eat more too. Most likely a response to whatever makes them stronger." Then Lilly added.
" Duncan would toss and turn all night, do you think that relevant?" Cerain thought for a moment and replied.
" It might, maybe they are connected to the darkspawn through the fade and that's how they sense them. I have no clue though and I doubt Duncan will tell me until I go through this ' Joining' of his." She let out an irritated sigh. When she had started to ask any questions about being a Grey Warden he had told her he wouldn't tell her anything until she was a warden too. When Loghain shot her a confused look she explained how Duncan had been stonewalling her and he grimaced. Then he asked about the Joining and she told them what Daveth had told them. He asked her to get back to him after the Joining and led them out of the tent. Then he did something that surprised both of them.
"Thank you Warden for letting me this valuable information. I might to be able to work this into a strategy." She blushed and replied,
"I'm not a Warden yet Your Grace. If you want, I'm willing to let you know what spell I know so you know how to best use me." Then she went quiet and he looked at her strangely, but nodded.
"Winter's Grasp, Lightning, Arcane bolt, Walking Bomb, and Heal Ser."
"I will keep that in mind." Then he went back into his tent and Cerain and Lilly started to giggle loudly. They were still giggling like fools when they approached Alistair arguing with a mage. After the mage left in a hurry, he turned to them and said,
""You know, one good thing about the Blight is how it brings people together." She smiled and replied. "I know exactly what you mean."
"Wait, we haven't met, have we? I don't suppose you happen to be another mage?" She couldn't help herself.
"Nope, thought being an elf wasn't hard enough and one day decided to dress up as a mage." Then she burst out laughing. Alister rolled his eyes.
" Oh yeah, your the recruit from the circle of magi.I should have recognized you right away. I apologize."
"And you must be Alistair."
" Oh, you have heard of me. Is your lady friend going to be a warden too?" Lilly shook her head and explained that she was just a friend. He nodded and apologized. Then he added,
"As the junior member of the order, I'll be accompanying you when you prepare for the Joining."
" Pleased to meet you, my name is Cerain."
"You know... it just occurred to me that there have never been many women in the Grey Wardens. I wonder why that is? "
"You want more women in the Wardens, do you?"
"Is that to bad, please stop looking at me like that."
"So, I'm curious: Have you ever actually encountered darkspawn before?"
"No, have you?"
"Yes, and it was a monstrous thing."
"Anyhow, whenever you're ready let's head back to Duncan. I imagine he's eager to get things started."
-DA-
Cerain had developed a new hatred of swamps, yes it had got her the flower to save the dog and yes it did get her to meet Morrigan and the supposed Witch of the Wilds. But all she could think of right now was the fact that her robes had darkspawn gore on it, and where it has seeped through, her skin itched. She was also cover in bug bites, but at least with the bug bites she can heal them. She had to change when she got back and have one of the mages do a quick wash and dry on it so she didn't rip her robes off in frustration in the middle of camp.
She met up with Duncan and they went to the abandoned temple. The Joining was the worst, Daveth died, Ser Jory died and she ended up passing out. When they woke her, her head hurt and her entire body felt drained. She took the amulet they handed her and followed Duncan down to the meeting. She was barely paying any attention to what looked like a fight between Cailan and Loghain. She was to tired to honest care about what they were saying.
Something about Cailan being on the front lines and the Orleasians and Maric, she wasn't paying any attention. She found herself looking at the other occupants around the table. Bryce, Duncan and Lilly was there. Apparently the argument ended and Cailan asked if the Duncan's men were ready. He said yes and Cailan said something about congratulations for her.
" I don't feel special, Your Highness"
" Oh, but you should. The Grey Wardens greatly need people." At this point Loghian butts in and snaps at him about being fascinated to the legend of the Grey Warden and not paying attention to what's happening right in front of his face. They go back and forth until they settle on strategy. She wonders how anything gets solved with them at each others throats. Cailan says he will be with the Grey Wardens and draw out the darkspawn and Loghain's men will flank them. They mention something about a signal fire and Uldred shows up. This surprised Cerain to no end. She had no clue that he was there. Then as if the Maker himself decided to make a bad day worse, The Revered Mother walks up and yells at Uldred for wanting to use magic on something other than Darkspawn. Luckily, she never looks at Cerain and leaves. Cailan asks about the signal and Loghain mentions something about having men there.
" Then we should send our best, The new Warden and Alistair." She wants to say something about being completely useless up in a tower, babysitting a fire when Loghain said that he already had plans for her.
" If she is as a competent healer and fighter as Bryce described her, sticking her in a tower would be a waste. She can stand with my men. That way she can use her magic on the battlefield without the threat of being overwhelmed in the initial charge." Cailan looks like he is going to complain when Bryce offer to take a small battalion of his men if he didn't think Loghain's men and Alistair won't be enough. They go back and forth for several minutes before Duncan mentions the Archdemon and promptly gets told that why they are there. During this entire argument, Cerain is leaning on the table trying to get the headache to go away and Lilly is standing next to her with a supportive arm around her shoulder.
-DA-
Cerain had managed to get a hold of Wynne before going up with Loghain and getting her headache taken care of. She had bought roughly twelve lyrium potions and ten health was standing next to roughly five hundred men. There was a woman who he introduced as Ser Cauthrien, she seemed nice. They waited for about ten minutes before she felt a dull scratching sensation in the back of her head, like a small animal was trying to get out. At first she thought it was her headache coming back, then she felt the hair on the back of her neck stand up. She must have looked shocked because Loghain asked what was wrong.
"This might sound crazy, but I can sense darkspawn nearby, like under our feet." The sensation got stronger and she drew her staff. The men were looking nervous and Loghain looked like he was going to yell at her when the first genlock popped out of the earth, followed by fifty of his friends. The fighting was intense, and by the time all the genlocks, and some hurlocks were killed, some of the men lay dead and the rest were spooked. Loghain was furious.
"There wasn't supposed to be any darkspawn ahead of the horde, they are dumb animals, how could they think enough to even guess we were up here. Let alone attack!" Then it dawned on Cerain.
" Maybe they can sense us like we can sense them! Maybe that's why they knew were to find us. Oh Maker, if we got attack, do you think the people at the tower got attacked too? Do you think that is why they are late with the signal?" It had been an hour and the tower had not once lit up. Loghain sighed and mentioned something about if the signal isn't lit soon they were going to have to leave or risk the entire army. they waited ten more minutes and the tower went lit up.
Cerain drew her staff again and looked at Loghain.
"Prepare the men...for a full retreat."
"WHAT did you just say? Did you just say retreat!" Cerain was furious, as much as she didn't want to run right into battle, she was not going to leave them behind. Loghain simple stated that if he didn't leave, he would lose to many men and leave Fereldan defenseless. She rose to her full height, his shoulders, and stated that she was going to go anyway.
"Are you suicidal! You won't survive a minute down there on your own. They will rip you to shreds." It was odd, for a moment it sounded like he cared.
" I know, but I have to. That's my job, fight darkspawn no matter what. In war, victory. In peace, vigilance. In death, sacrifice. That's the Grey Warden motto and I'll be damned if I'm not going to follow it." She started to walk down this hill. She was terrified, she didn't want to die. She wanted to live and see the world, but she could live with herself if she left them behind. She had taken five steps and Loghain called out to her.
"What could I say to make you stop and not throw your life away?" She thought this was a silly question.
" Nothing, nothing at all. Unlike some of us, I'm actually going to do my job. See you on the other side. May the Maker smile upon you in your future endeavors, because I certainly won't." She had sneered when mentioned the job and smiled as she blessed him. She had turned away from him and prepared to steel herself to her fate when she felt a hand on her shoulder.
" Do you honestly think you have any chance?" She was shocked but quickly composed herself.
" If I can get to the other side and reconnect with Bryce and his forces, then yes, I believe I have a slim chance. Why do you care?" He had an odd look on his face.
" Because, even though I think Cailan is a reckless bastard and deserves to die to his own stupidity, Bryce does not. Now I'm serious here, do you think we have a chance?" She thought for a moment and said with all his men we do.
" It's not a big chance, but it's something." He grimaced and drew his blade and shield.
" May the Maker save our damned souls if we're wrong." She smiled and whispered a quick thank you. He told her not to thank him yet and motioned for his men to charge.
