Alistair was unusually quiet today. He walked further behind the group with his eyes down casted to the ground. Whenever I asked him if he was okay he would just nod. Leliana walked next to me the whole day giggling and telling me what stories she knew. We set up camp at sun down, Alistair staying in his tent most the time, I hardly saw him for the next couple days. He would always stay at the back of the group with Sten, his eyes downcast to the ground. We were only half a day's journey from Orzammar and decided to set up camp for the night.
I walked over to Alistair as he was setting up his tent. "Alistair, are you okay?"
"Fine" he said staring into his pack.
I fumbled with my hands watching him dig through his pack. "You have just been so quite lately I thought something was wrong."
He ignored me pulling his furs out.
I turned away and walked towards the fire and sat down next to Leliana. "What is his problem?" I asked nodding back to Alistair.
She shrugged looking behind her. "He has been acting weird."
I glanced back at Alistair his eyes catching mine before he looked away and disappeared into his tent.
I told Sten I would stand watch for the first part of the night so that he could get some rest. I sat next to the fire poking it with a stick watching as the tiny ashes flew up into the sky. I sighed looking around the camp, I laid down on my back looking up at the stars and tangling my fingers in Mahia's fur where he was asleep next to me.
Alistair slowly walked above me of his face blocking the stars from my view. "Hey" I said smiling up to him. "Do you need something?"
"No I just thought I would keep you company." He replied laying down on the ground next to me.
"Oh alright" I said turning my head to look at him.
We sat in silence for awhile watching the stars in the dark blue sky.
"I heard you last night, with Leliana." Alistair said breaking through the silence.
"Oh" I said still staring up into the sky.
"Why didn't you tell me about your parents, about Howe, about… Ser Gilmore."
"I don't know I was kind of trying to forget it." I shrugged.
"You can't just push it aside and act like it's never happened." He said shaking his head. "Believe me I've tried."
"I know Alistair but for the moment it feels a lot better to just lock it away for now." I turned to look at him with a smile.
"You know I'll always be here if you need to talk." Alistair said reaching down and grabbing my hand and lacing his fingers into mine.
"I know Alistair. Thank you. What about you how are you feeling?"
"Well…" He shook his head "It's nothing"
"Alistair" I said lifting myself up onto my forearm "is it Duncan, I'm here if you want to talk about" I said looking into his golden eyes.
He shook his head I could see the tears forming in his eyes before he shut them "I'm sorry" he said.
"Don't apologize" I said sitting up.
"I should be handling it better, there's too much going on right now with the blight and Loghain for me to be moping around." He shook his head as a tear rolled down his face.
I caught it with my finger "He was like a father you to Alistair, I understand"
"I don't think he even had any family to inform or to give him a proper funeral."
"What about the Grey Wardens and you?" I asked putting my hand on his cheek.
"Your right maybe when this is all over I could have a proper funeral for him. I think he said he was from Highever."
"I'll come with you." I smiled at him as he opened his eyes, letting his tears fall out.
"I'd like that and so would he I think." He smiled.
"Then its settled" I said wiping his tears with the back of my hand.
"Thank you it feels nice to have someone to talk to." He smiled placing his hand over mine.
"Any time Alistair I enjoy your company." I said laying back down on the ground.
"I am ready to take my shift Warden." Sten said as he came to stand over us.
"Oh okay" I said standing up and brushing the dirt off my back. "Good night Alistair."
"Good night" he said sitting up from the ground and watching as me and Mahia slipped into the tent.
I climbed into my furs Mahia right behind me and settled into bed, falling asleep buried in Mahia's fur.
Alistair was awake when I opened my tent the next morning, Mahia rushing out almost knocking me to the ground.
"Maker Mahia" I yelled catching myself.
"You alright?" Alistair called from in front of the slowly dying fire.
"I'm fine I think I just had him cooped up in there for too long" I said walking over to him.
"Would you like to join me?" He asked opening up his fur for me.
I nodded sitting down next to him, wrapped his arm over my shoulder and pulled myself in to him. We watched the fire as it slowly turned to red ash.
"Thank you again for letting me spill myself to you last night. I feel a lot better now." He said rubbing my shoulder with his hand.
"You're welcome" I said scooting closer to him.
"Oh, good morning you two." Leliana called as she stepped out of her tent.
"Good morning Leliana! Did you sleep well?" I called to her.
"Oh yes very much so" she replied as she walked over to join us.
"Would you like to join us?" I asked pulling the blanket open next to me for her.
"Yes I think I will" she said sitting down next to me and pulling the fur around her. "You two are so cute together!" She said leaning forward and looking at myself and Alistair.
"Oh thank you Leliana" I said turning to Alistair's whose cheeks went red.
We giggled at him as he tried to hide his face in the fur of the blanket.
"We aren't far from Orzammar, I think we should get everyone packed, fed and get back on the road." I said standing up. "I'm going to put on my leathers."
It took awhile to get everything packed up but we made it to Orzammar faster than I thought we would. We ran into bounty hunters sent by Loghain at the entrance of The Frostback Mountains, we took them out quickly.
"They don't actually allow traders into Orzammar" Alistair said as we walked up "they kind of just gather around the entrance unless they have a pass."
We talked to a few dwarfs outside before heading towards the huge metal door into Orzammar. We could see a dwarf and three well armed men arguing with each other.
"Veata! This land is held in trust for the sovereign dwarven kings. I cannot allow entry at this time" the dwarf said shaking his head.
"King Loghain demands the alliance of the deshyr or lords or whatever you call them in your Assembly! I am his appointed messenger." The man shouted pointing at the dwarf.
"I don't care if you the kings wiper! Orzammar will have none but its own until our throne is settled." The dwarf said shaking his head.
"What is going on here?" Alistair asked as we approached.
"Orzammar has no king. Endrin Aeducan returned to the Stone not three weeks ago, sick over the loss of his sons. The Assembly has gone through a dozen votes without agreeing on a successor. If it is not settled soon we risk civil war." The dwarf said.
"A blight is coming. They must unite with Ferelden." I said stepping next to Alistair.
"Wait, who are you to speak for Ferelden? You're no messenger to Loghain, that's for certain." The armed man said turning to us.
"Thank the ancestors" the dwarf sighed.
"The Grey Warden need their traditional dwarven armies." I replied handing the dwarf the treaty that belonged to Orzammar.
"The Wardens killed King Calian and nearly doomed Ferelden!" The man yelled pointing at us. "They're sworn enemies of King Loghain!"
"Loghain is not king!" Alistair yelled at him pulling his blade from his back.
"That is the royal seal. That means only the Assembly can address it. Grey Wardens you may pass." The dwarf said handing back the treaty.
"You're letting the traitor in?" The man yelled "In the name of King Loghain I demand you execute these… stains on the honor of Ferelden!"
"I told you Loghain is not king!" Alistair swung his blade and beheading the man, his head rolling down the slope to the ground as his body fell to its knees before falling on its stomach.
"Run back to your false king!" I yelled to the other two pointing my blade at them.
They turned around and ran back the way they had come.
I put my hand on Alistair's arm as he stared down at the corpse at his feet. "Let's go" I said pulling him through the large doors and into Orzammar.
"Do you really think that was a good idea?" I asked pulling Alistair to a stop in front of me as the rest of the party headed into the city.
"Did you not hear him?" He yelled pointing at the giant door behind him. "He was trying to declare Loghain king"
"Alistair you can't go around killing everyone because they believe the lies he has spread." I said grabbing his face in mind. "I stuck by your side this time but I don't know if I will do it again when you murder an innocent man."
"He was no innocent!" he said grabbing my hands with his.
"He was, damn it Alistair you beheaded him for no reason. He didn't even raise his blade!" I said shaking my head.
"Your right" he said looking down.
"Come on the others already headed into the city we should join them." I said heading through the hallway full of statues.
"We talked to a few people" Leliana said walking up to us. "They told us to talk to either Behlen's second Vartag Gavorn or Lord Harrowmont's second Dulin Forender. Bhelen is an Aeducan I think we should talk to him first."
I nodded and we headed towards the Diamond Quarter to where the Assembly's chambers were.
"Vartag?" I asked as we stepped up to the dwarf.
He nodded "You must be the Warden I have been hearing about. I'm glad to see you are looking to side with Bhelen."
"I just need to know who to talk to get my troops." I said folding my arms.
"Of course Warden, but we need to know you are not just another one of Harrowmonts spies. I have a way for you to prove yourself." He said.
"Fine I'm listening tell me what I need to do" I sighed.
"It turns out Harrowmont promised land to two separate houses, house Dace and house Helmi. I need you to find both Lords of the house and give them these papers to prove he has cheated them." He said handing the papers to me. "Lord Helmi will be in the tavern and Lord Dace should be in the Diamond Quarter at his home."
I nodded and headed out to Lord Dace's house, his daughter told us he was not there but in the deep roads. I showed her the papers and she gave me her pass and a map. We then headed to Lord Helmi in the tavern and informed him. He agreed to change his vote. Lord Dace was in the deep roads being attacked by Land Stalkers. We helped him kill them before giving him the paper and traveling with them out of the deep roads and back to the Diamond Quarter.
"We are done." I said as we made our way into the Assembly's chambers.
"Yes I've heard." Vartag said. "Follow me, I will take you Prince Bhelen."
We followed Vartag into the palace and to Bhelen.
"Ahh Warden" Bhelen said as we entered the room.
"I hear you're the one to talk to get my army." I said pointing at him as we walked in.
"Yes when you insure I'm king I can do just that for you." He said.
"And what must I do to insure that?" I asked folding my arms.
"Take out Jarvia's base." He said.
"And who is this Jarvia?" Alistair asked.
"She runs the carta. They use to just prey on the casteless but they have now moved into the Market Place and have begun harassing merchants for protection money. You take her out and destroy that base, the nobles will fall at my feet." He said with a smile on his face.
"Fine how do I get into her base?" I asked.
"Talk to the casteless I'm sure one of them knows where to find her." He said.
We turned and headed towards Dust Town, we talked to three different dwarfs before we finally found out where to find a few of Jarvia's thugs and claim a skeleton finger bone key. We headed into the abandon house to find the thugs sitting at a table.
"Hello gentlemen" I said pulling out my blades. "Now there are six of us and four of you plus we have a mabari, mage and qunari. Now you can hand over your finger bone key or you can die and we will just get it off your body." I said rubbing my dagger on my sword.
"Fine here Jarvia is not worth dying for!" One of the dwarfs threw his key at me and ran after the others out the door.
"Well that was easy" Alistair smiled.
We headed into the hide out slaughtering our way with dozens of dwarfs. Finding what looked like a jail.
"Oh thank god you're not one of Jarvia's men!" The dwarf in the cell yelled. "Please let me go I've been here to weeks, my my friend didn't make it."
"Leliana let him out" I yelled as we searched the bodies.
"Here" Leliana said unlocking the door. "Run as fast as you can out of here."
We left the small room and headed to the last door in the small cave, I kicked it in only to find Jarvia standing in the middle of the room with half a dozen men.
"Well you picked the wrong side stranger!" Jarvia called to us as we ran into the room pulling out our blades. "It doesn't matter who's king as long as there's a Queen!"
"We don't have to fight! We can talk!" I yelled to her.
"Kill them! But leave the pretty one alive, I have plans for her!" she yelled before her men charged at us.
Sten let out a war cry as he drove his blade at a dwarf slicing him in half. Morrigan transformed into a spider jumping on the nearest dwarf. Alistair hit one with his shield while he drove his blade into another one. Leliana stayed behind everyone firing her arrows at them. Mahari tackled one that Leliana had hit with an arrow and bite at his throat. I ran straight for Jarvia our blades colliding with each others. I swung my dagger ripping the front of her leathers open she growled and swung at me missing giving me enough time to kick her in the stomach sending her slamming into the rock behind her, one of her daggers sliding across the floor.
"Looks like I've won!" I yelled driving my sword into her chest. She screamed blood spraying from her mouth, I leaned into her ear. "Now that wasn't much of a fight was it?" I whispered as I pulled my sword from her letting her fall to the ground before walking out of the exit and leaving her to die.
"Where's my men?" I asked as we entered into Bhelen's room.
"The Assembly needs a paragon to decide for them it seems that they are still dead locked." He said. "I will need you to hunt down Branka in the deep roads she…"
I cut him off slamming my fist down on the table. "Look you little twerp, you told me if I did this that you would give me my army! I'm sick of doing your dirty work for you. I want my men NOW!"
"I would mind your tongue Warden!" Vartag said pointing his sword at me.
"I would like to see you try." I glared at him.
"It would be a pleasure!" he said stepping forward.
Sten, Alistair and Leliana drew their weapons and aimed them at Vartag as Mahia growled at him from my feet.
"Vartag please." Bhelen said pushing his sword down. "Warden this is the last thing I promise, you find Branka and you will have your men."
"If you're lying Bhelen" I said pointing at him.
"I promise you Warden." He said bowing his head.
"Where can I find Branka?" I asked putting my blade away.
"In the Deep roads, if you wish you may stay at the tavern until you are ready to head out." He said.
We turned and left heading towards the tavern because I needed a damn drink.
"Here I bought you a glass of wine" Alistair said sitting at the table with me.
"Thank you Alistair" I said smiling at him before taking a sip.
"Look at Sten" He laughed.
I looked over to see Sten on the dance floor with Leilana, she had a hold of his hands trying to get him to dance but he stood his ground his arms flopping to the beat as Leilana held on to them dancing in front of him. She gave up and they came walking towards us.
"He won't dance with me." She said frowning.
I giggled at her.
"Come, come and dance with me Morgan" she said holding out her hands.
I shrugged and slid out of the booth taking a hold of her hands and heading towards the dance floor behind her. We danced around with our arms above our head bumping each other's hips as the dwarven men hollered and the women rolled their eyes at us.
A slower paced song started up right as Alistair came up behind us. "May I?" He asked holding out his hand.
I nodded taking his hand and letting him pull me closer to him placing my hand on his shoulder when his arm went around my waist as we slowly moved around the floor.
"I have to say I'm surprised you're such a good dancer." I said as I rested my head against his chest.
"There's a lot of things you would be surprised to know about me." He whispered.
We danced until the song ended and Leilana broke out into a hysterical clap. Alistair bowed and kissed my hand before we headed back to our table. Me and Leliana headed to bed soon after leaving Sten and Alistair alone since Morrigan had disappeared when we first arrived at the tavern.
I was awoken a few hours later with a mouth crushing mine in a sloppy kiss. I opened my eyes wide to see Alistair's golden eyes staring back at me.
"Alistair" I breathed trying to push him off of me. "Your squishing me, I can't breathe!"
"Oh sorry" he breathed lifting himself up off me breaking away from his sloppy kiss to fumble with my shirt trying to get his hand under it.
"Alistair stop your drunk!" I said pulling his hand from my shirt and pushing him over.
"I don't care, I want to make love to you now." He said trying to climb back on top of me.
"Maker you stink!" I whispered putting my hand over his mouth he hiccupped behind it causing me to laugh.
He placed a hand on my covered breast giving it a squeeze before I grabbed his hand and pulled it away.
He pulled my hand from his mouth "Oh Maker I just touched your boob! I've never touched a boob before! Can I touch it again?" He asked reaching out for my breast again.
"No Alistair, stop." I said grabbing his hand again.
"Oh come on just a little squeeze?" He frowned making a squeezing motion with his hand.
"No you're drunk and you stink… and where's your pants?" I asked looking down and seeing that he was only in his small clothes.
"I don't know over there I think." He pointed into the blackness of the room.
"Here get under the blankets and go to sleep." I said lifting up the huge wolf fur that I always slept with.
He climbed under and laid down wrapping his arm around me and pulling me closer. A few seconds later he began to snore. I closed my eyes and fell asleep.
I opened my eyes to a pitch black room. I had no idea if it was still dark outside or if the sun had rose.
"Oh my head." Alistair groaned burying his face into my neck. "What happened last night?"
"Well we had our first kiss and you grabbed your first "boob" as you said." I answered him, rolling over to face him.
"Great of course I would make a fool out of myself that's my job." He said.
I was sure he was blushing. "It's okay Alistair, it was quite entertaining." I laughed.
"Where's my pants?" he whispered.
"I have no idea you didn't have them on when you climbed in bed." I giggled.
"Well that's wonderful." He sighed rolling on to his back.
"Don't worry Alistair I still like you." I said cuddling up to him.
"Good because I only care what you think about me." He said kissing the top of my head. "I'm sorry our first kiss was so sloppy."
"It's okay we can always try again later." I said tracing patterns on his chest. "But not right now your breath smells like a rotting dark spawn."
He chuckled his chest shaking beneath my head. "I say we just stay here and let the others go hunt down this paragon." He said tracing his hand up my back.
"I don't think the blight is going to wait for us." I said pushing away from him and slipping off the bed. "I'm going to go down and have them bring up some hot water so I can bathe. I'll have some sent to your room also so find your pants and I will meet you downstairs later." I said before slipping out the door and heading downstairs.
Authors Note: I was going to do this as one long chapter but I just noticed that I was up to 10,000+ words and thought that it was much too long so I broke it up into three chapters. I'm working on the last right now and should have it up sometime tonight. I hope.