A/N: You know what there isn't enough of in Origins? Fun. Seriously. Everyone's worried about the Blight and Loghain taking over Ferelden and I guess that's important. But people can't be on edge all the time. So when the song Come Dance With Me (Frank Sinatra) came up, it was a sure bet as to how I was going to play this.
Faleni idly poked the fire with a stick and sighed. The others heard the noise and looked up with interest, only to droop immediately when it became apparent that nothing new was happening. They had been on the road for four days, and it had been the most uneventful four days since they started traveling together. No darkspawn, no bandits, no villagers calling for help, no soldiers trying to collect a bounty on them. The group following the Gray Wardens didn't know what to do with themselves.
Poke the fire, apparently.
"Agh. This is boring. We should do something." Oghren grumbled.
"Like what? It's too late to go anywhere, you've drunk all the booze, and Wynne won't do any more magic tricks." Alistair replied. He looked particularly crestfallen at the last one. Faleni reached out and patted him on the shoulder. Zevren looked at the two of them oddly.
"I could play a song." Leliana volunteered. Groans were heard all around the campfire, and even as far away as Morrigan's tent. "What?"
"Look, my beautiful bard, you play very well, and have a lovely singing voice, but well... it's just that..." Zevren looked helplessly around the campfire, hoping that someone else would say what he didn't want to.
"We've all listened to more than we could possibly stand." All heads turned to see Morrigan moving through the shadows to the main campfire. Everyone looked shocked; the Witch of the Wilds never came near the main camp. The witch stalked over and planted herself next to the Qunari, the only one who paid her no mind. "If I never hear another Orlesian ballad again, 'twill be too soon."
"What if it's not a ballad?"
"You can play something other than tripe?" Morrigan looked skeptical. For that matter, so did everyone else.
Leliana scrunched up her face and stuck out her tongue, and immediately started to pluck at her lute. She tapped her foot, keeping a steady beat going while her fingers coaxed some semblance of a melody out of her lute.
It definitely wasn't a ballad.
The song was far more folksy than they were used to hearing from the bard; the melody was clear and relatively simple sounding, but done at such a speed as to leave them dizzy just listening to it. Leliana didn't linger too long on any one note, but the deep belly of the lute made them resonate anyway; reverberating loudly around the campfire, and bouncing off the trees from the nearby forest. The Dalish Warden grinned.
"I may not know your culture well, but I know a song to dance to when I hear it." She stood up and reached her hand out to Alistair. "Dance with me." She said in a tone that brooked no argument.
"What?" Alistair seemed baffled and scared.
"Dance with me!"
"But I can't..." The elf rolled her eyes and grabbed her fellow Warden's hands, yanking him up despite his protests. Faleni swung him in a circle; causing Alistair to trip over his feet. The elf giggled.
"Come on! Just follow what I do." She bowed and it took the other Warden a moment to realize he should bow as well. She lifted one pale, slender hand and Alistair met her palm to palm, his own large hand nearly engulfing hers. She moved one foot backwards, than another, drawing Alistair towards her.
"Hey look, I'm actually dancing!" He crowed. The others were watching with varying levels of interest, but Zevran in particular had a mischievous glimmer in his eye. Moving smoothly and quietly as only an assassin could, he went to Wynne's side and held out a hand.
"Care to dance, my darling Wynne?" He smiled. The old mage looked from hand to Zevran's face but saw only sincerity, not mockery. With grace befitting her age, she stood and the odd pair, elf and mage, joined the Wardens in the merriment. Oghren guffawed, and grabbed Morrigan by the waist.
"You too, lass! We're not going to miss this." The dwarf manhandled the Witch of the Wilds closer to the other dancers, and despite his short stature, managed to fling around the sneering Morrigan with ease.
"Stop this at once, you foul-smelling oaf!" Neither Oghren nor the other dancers paid her any mind; they continued to whirl about to the jaunty, folksy tune coming from Leliana's lute. Faleni circled around Alistair and caught up with Morrigan on the other side. She took the other woman's hands and swung her into Alistair's arms, leaving the elf free to skip over to Oghren. Alistair and Morrigan couldn't get rid of each other fast enough; Alistair practically fell into Wynne trying to get away from the swamp witch, and Morrigan tried to leave the circle, only to be stopped by the Crow.
Leliana sped up the tempo of her song as the dancers found themselves weaving around each other like maypole dancers. It was strangely mesmerizing, like a spell meant to distract, disorient, and confuse. Even the ever stoic Qunari had to shake his head and remind himself to keep a lookout for danger. The dancers were laughing and smiling, even as they trod on each other's feet and tried to knock each other into the fire. Only Morrigan looked less than pleased, but she hadn't yet extracted herself from the group.
Alistair ended up being the one to make the whole thing come crashing down. His foot collided with Wynne's knee, sending her sprawling. The unexpected impediment in his path also sent the Warden himself flailing towards Leliana. The bard's fingers fumbled, creating a discordant twang that sent Barkspawn howling. All the music stopped, and so did the dancers.
Except for one. When the song ended, Zevran and Faleni found themselves facing one another. Zevran's hazel eyes shown copper in the firelight, and Faleni's blue grew stormy. In the silence that followed, Zevran slowly moved into a fighting stance, his arms held outward as if he was holding knives. Without a word spoken between them, the Dalish girl mirrored him. He stepped forward, his arm shooting out towards her neck. Faleni's reaction was immediate, stepping backwards and grabbing his arm to block. He grabbed her wrist and jerked it upwards, sending her spinning. She finished her spin by crouching low and kicking out her leg, an attempt to sweep him off his feet. The Crow was too fast for her; barrel-leaping over her outstretched foot. Thus began their duel; part combat, part dance, entirely art.
The rest of the party looked on. Leliana recovered from her fumbling, and started to play softly on the lute, matching her fingerings to their movement. The two elves didn't seem to notice; they watched each others' eyes and nothing else. They were well matched in their dance; light and graceful on their feet. Zevran moved like water from one form to the next, easy and smooth. Faleni was all fire; steadily burning one moment and flickering sparks the next. She spun and twisted out of his grasp, turning away only to find the assassin had flowed into her path. Both wore slight, cocky smiles, confident in their ability and enjoying the dance between equals.
One man was not smiling. Alistair watched the pair like the others, but his jaw was tight with suppressed anger. Whispers had floated about camp that something had happened between the two elves though neither one would admit to it. Zevran had been teaching Faleni of the Crow methods, but Alistair was starting to think that there was more to it than that. Watching the way they danced, the way they looked at each other wasn't helping his suspicions.
Faleni and Zevran had started stalking each other in a spiral pattern that brought them closer and closer together. When they were within arm's length of each other, they sprung, like snakes going in for the kill. Faleni leaped, Zevran caught her around the waist, holding her up in his surprisingly strong arms. She wrapped her legs around him as he slammed her back on the ground. There was a gasp from Wynne and a surprised grunt from the dwarf, but Faleni appeared to be unharmed. Indeed, her hands snuck up to Zevran's face and they grinned at each other. Leliana let the last chord fade out into the night.
Alistair had had enough. As soon as Faleni's back hit the dirt, he was gone, retreating to his tent where he didn't have to see the look on her face as she stared up at the other elf. No one noticed the warrior leave. From the safety of his tent, he could hear the laughing and the clapping as well as a few derisive comments from the resident spoilsports. He felt torn. He loved Faleni and was certain that she loved him, but there would always be vast chasms of differences between them. She was elf, he was human. She was Dalish, he was templar. She was wild, he was royalty. She was quick and fast and he? He couldn't dance.
