Chapter 7
Grey Wardens, Darkspawn, Shemlens and Loneliness
A/N: I haven't written for this story in so long, like forever kind of long and I don't know why, I actually really like writing this story because it isn't first person but I guess that is why I made so many errors on the first few chapters so I apologize for that too. But I am back for writing this story.
By the way, when it comes to the battle of Ostagar I will skip to the end tower scene and I will also only include the bits which I think are the most important, sorry to anyone who wants me to do all of it but I really want our two heroes to meet m'kay?
Disclaimer: I do not own the Dragon Age Series
The Grey Warden, which Rue now knows is called Duncan. She thought he was nice; for a human and he gave Rue that space she needed to mourn the loss of Tamlen and for losing Merrill for no reason than having been conscripted by The Grey Wardens.
Rue was understandably angry and Duncan could see that with every action she made. The only time Rue ever had some kind of peace was when she took out the scarf Merrill had given to her. Tamlen and Merrill had been ripped away from her so viciously and they had been her only true friends and her only supports. Even now as they arrive into Ostagar her hand is wrapped up in and is playing with the only reminder of Merrill. Rue sighs, she wished she could have saved Tamlen and been with Merrill, they were the only ones who ever understood her. Rue wonders, did Keeper Malerthari ever give Merrill the letter, Rue cannot help but want to go running back and explain everything she wrote in the letter but she can't. Rue knows that she would die but this way it is like dying from losing parts of her soul. Rue's eyes glance up at the huge tower of Ostagar and her mouth opens, in all her time adventuring into human settlements, she has never seen anything like this.
"This, Rue is Ostagar, the Grey Wardens, The Circle, and the King's Men have gathered to fight the rise of the darkspawn, they are very real and threatening to attack again" Duncan says as Rue listens attentively as she cannot go back she might has well make good time learning thing for the future, Rue's hand tightened on Merrill's scarf and her eyes wondered off into the distance, what else could be out there that she couldn't learn from her parents and the camp? Rue pondered this until a something glinted brightly in her eyes and she squinted as she turned to it to see a tall, blonde and well-built man with facial hair, or Rue assumed so as Duncan had it to but there wasn't so much of it on his face and no men in the clan had facial fur? Facial hair? Rue pondered silently as she watches this man.
"My King" Duncan bowed and the king frowned,
"How many times Duncan must I tell you not to call me that? Call me Cailan" He says softly, Rue's eyes go wide, she did not expected such kindness from him, or gentleness for that matter considering his size as Rue had to look up to him, she may not have been very tall for a female elf but there was no way that this man was average for a male human, surely. Rue thought as she tilted her head back to get a good look at the man who was called Cailan.
"Yes I know my King but it is only right as I address you as such, have your scout found anything?" Duncan says and the King rolls his eyes and Rue smiles, maybe this King is not what she had thought as a King should be.
"Only the few stragglers but I want this battle to be like the battle in legends, with the King's army fighting beside the Grey Wardens as we take down the Archdemon. But there is no sign of an Archdemon, to be truthful Duncan I don't even think this is a true Blight" The Kings says and Duncan sighs. Rue squints at Duncan and she can tell that he disagrees with the King, after all, the Grey Warden can detect darkspawn and so Duncan would know.
"I would not be so quick to judge this one Cailan, the worst is yet to come" Duncan says and Rue, who has been watching their entire conversation begins to grow bored and just as she turns to wonder off the King's voice halts her,
"I am sorry I am being terribly rude to a potentially new Grey Warden, which I am assuming that this is she?" I turn around and I look at the King and I cock my head to one side,
"How very nice to meet you King Cailan, this is my first time meeting human royalty, you are very interesting King Cailan but, like I said a pleasure to meet you I am Rue Mahariel from the Sabrae clan" Rue says as she tries to remember the correct words in the humans language, as for her it has become strange to use clunky words over the few fluent words of her people. The Kings eyes go wide and a smile appears on his face,
"My, that is a warm greeting, and from an elf no less. It is a pleasure to meet you, Rue Mahariel of the Sabrae clan" he bows slightly and Rue copies but a frown is on her face as she doesn't understand what he meant. What does he mean? From an Elf? Rue goes to ask when Duncan cuts over her.
"Surely Cailan you have something else to do doing? I am sure Loghain will want to speak with you" Duncan says as he turns away from Rue and faces Duncan,
"He will probably try to regale me with more battle tactics, ugh" Cailan says before turning back to Rue and bowing and Rue arches an eyebrow. These humans do have some awfully strange gestures and before Rue can make a comment he has turned back to Duncan.
"I shall go then, I shall see you around Duncan, goodbye Rue and welcome to Ostagar" Duncan bows and Rue walks over to Duncan, Rue's hands fish around in the pocket where Merrill's neck scarf is and she fiddles with a corner of it as Duncan begins walking and Rue picks up the pace beside him. Rue doesn't know where she is really but the place around her is incredible but still she has never felt so far away from home and she hasn't felt like this since her parents were murdered.
But the more Rue thinks about it, she wasn't ever really accepted among the clan, they tolerated her because of the Keeper but if they had it their way she wouldn't be in their clan. Rue sighs as she ponders this; it was almost like she did not fit in anywhere but maybe here she could find some way of fitting in. The Grey Wardens seem respectable enough. Duncan stops walking not far from a fire pit and turns to face Rue,
"Rue, I want you to find another Grey Warden called Alistair, he is new to the Wardens and he will help you, bring him to me once you find him" Rue nods at Duncan before walking off into the camps, and Rue cannot believe all the sounds around her, she can hear people praying, dogs barking, sword practise and people arguing with one another. Rue smiles, these could all be related back to the clan if you take away the dogs and replace them with the Hana, Rue sighs, for her this is the only bit of comfort she has found since she left the clan and it may be small but Rue has nothing else left. Rue pauses under a tree to shield from the intense sunlight and she pulls out the neck scarf that Merrill shoved into her hand before she left and Rue can still see Merrill's broken expression with tears falling down her cheeks. Rue's heart clenches painfully, Rue wishes for nothing more than to be back with the clan. Rue holds back the tears threatening to overspill at the thought of her Lethallen and he looks down out the neck scarf.
This one was Merrill's favourite, it was a pure green colour which reflected the colour of Merrill's eyes and she got it from the Keeper. Rue smiles as she remembers when she got it and how happy Merrill looked. Rue brought it to her nose and she could still smell Merrill on the scarf and a tear spilt from her eye down her face as her gut clenched.
Rue missed Merrill so much, more than she even begin to explain to someone if they asked her.
"Dear child, are you okay?" A soft voice came lofting behind her and Rue wiped her eyes before turning round and she was met with an old face, a face which has seen much in its time and her light blue eyes almost glowed with magic. Something in this old lady calmed the anger inside of Rue, that anger towards the Grey Wardens who ripped her from her home against her will and now were conscripting her into something she may not even survive. The old lady's eyes shown with concern and Rue was surprised that someone would even show concern for someone she did not even know.
"I am… okay thank you" Rue said whilst placing Merrill's neck scarf in her pocket as she lets her mouth get used to the clunky language that the humans used for words she had in elvish, the elderly woman smiled at her and that's when Rue's eyes drifted over her and saw she was in some kind of robes and Rue frowned, what did this mean?
"Well I am glad to see you are okay, I am Wynne, I am a member of the Circle of Magi" she said and Rue looked at her before smiling, there was something in this lady that made her relax and it was unsettling and relaxing at the same time.
"I am Rue, I am to try and become a Grey Warden" Rue said and the lady nodded and her mouth was set in a grim line
"That is quite something to do on the eve of battle child, and not a small task to complete" Rue frowned at her words, surely it could not be that difficult? Duncan said it would not be an easy road but she had no other choice left available, Rue would either attempt to join the ranks of the Grey Wardens or she would die of the taint anyway, she could feel the taint in her system and it was getting stronger with every passing hour.
Rue had to try.
"I have no choice, I either try or die of the taint in my system already" Rue said and Wynne's eyes grow sorrowful
"You have spirit with you child, for when the time comes it will not be an easy choice" Rue can feel that nagging feeling of anxiousness at her gut and it unsettles her slightly, Wynne unsettled her slightly. She didn't know what it was but something about her seemed…different, much like Rue herself.
"Thank you, may I ask, what… are you? I mean what is your job during the war?" Rue asked trying to think of the right words to say, it wasn't easy to navigate this language without the aid of elvish words and Wynne crossed her arms,
"I, dear child am a mage. We came from the Circle Tower to aid the king in this war. Our power comes from the Fade. Do you know of the Fade?" Rue frowns, humans sent their gifted ones to a tower? Rue couldn't get how different the two of them, The Dalish and Humans could be and yet they lived so close together. Rue pondered on the Fade and yet she came up short she shook her head and Wynne continued,
"Mages or in your case Keepers, gain their magical powers from the Fade, everyone goes to the Fade realm in their sleep as it is the place for spirits and demons to wander-"A loud booming from behind startles Rue and she draws her bow and already has an arrow pulled taunt and Wynne jumps before turning round to see the other Mages fallen over and she huffs before placing her hands on her hips.
"I go outside for two seconds and your already blowing things up," Wynne turns back around and faces Rue who still has her bow drawn and Wynne eyes go wide "I am sure you have got things to prepare for your initiation into the Grey Wardens and I have to sort out some mages, good luck Rue" Wynne says and Rue holsters her bow as Wynne turns away from her and Rue keeps on walking until she comes across a rather distressed looking man.
"Could you help me? This Mabari hound is sick, she swallowed some darkspawn blood and I need a flower to cure her that's if she will let me get close enough without ripping my hand off" Rue nods and the man smiles as Rue's hand drops to her pocket and fiddles with it as the man gives her instructions and she peers over into the pen and she can see it curled up in the corner and Rue's heart goes out to it as its eyes meet hers,
"Do you want me to muzzle him? It might be safer that way" Rue says and the man shrugs before handing her the muzzle and Rue goes into the pen and the Mabari hound growls and Rue smiles, the hound is just hurt and trying to protect itself
"Come on now, I am not going to hurt you, I am going to try and help you" Rue says and the hound stops growling and crawls forward slightly and Rue's hand glides through its golden fur and it is oddly calming, almost as calming as Wynne but with this hound it is like it understands her. She gently places the muzzle on the hound before standing and it shuffles back into the corner of the pen and Rue's heart breaks a little at seeing the animal so weak, she wants to help.
"I have never seen her so calm with anyone else, say if you get that flower you can have her when she is all better" Rue smiles at the thought, maybe it would be better if she had a companion, maybe it would lessen her loneliness that leaving her clan caused her to feel, maybe then she can find Tamlen. Rue clenches her hand at the thought as guilt goes through her.
Rue will find him, no matter what. Rue needs Tamlen to be alive to prove she wasn't the one who killed him and to prove she wasn't always a screw up.
Without realising she walked into an argument between a man dressed similarly as Wynne was and he is yelling at the man stood in armour who looked tired but had the same golden hair as the King did and he was broad but he had his hands up in defeat.
"If the Revered Mother wants something tell her to come herself!" he yells angrily before storming towards Rue and she jumps to the side as the man storms past her
"Get out of my way!" he yells and Rue's eyes go wide, Rue knows he wasn't in a very good mood, her eyes focus back on the ma left stood there and he sighs and it moves his shoulders too and he turns to face Rue and he looks very similar to Calian and maybe Rue thinks, maybe there is a chance that he is Alistair.
"You wouldn't happen to be Alistair would you?" Rue asks and he gives a half smile and she walks towards him,
"It depends who's asking" he says and Rue smiles at this, something tells her that he is very interesting,
"I am Rue, Duncan told me to find you, I am to become a Grey Warden" I say carefully and his brown eyes light up and he smiles and his eyes crinkle up as they begin to sparkle, Rue feels like taking a step back from him as he is acting strange, even by human standards.
"Ah! So you're the new recruit Duncan was talking about! Well I didn't think it was going to be a girl and an elf, not that we don't have female Grey Wardens or elves!" Alistair says looking rather awkward towards the end of the sentence and Rue rolls her eyes.
This is going to be a long journey at this rate.
A/N: So there is a really late chapter for this story, but I am going to try and update as soon as possible which will either be later today or tomorrow but there will be one again some point during this week so look out for it! - Bexaday