- Author's Note -

This is the Halloween special for this year, naturally, I wrote it like, 2 am on November 1st.. But hey, it's Halloween SOMEWHERE right now. Happy Holidays! This oneshot has a planned sequel, which will be shown in the next chapter! As always, reviews make me write faster, so gimmie a lot!

There was a festival in their honor, how could they NOT attend? It would seem that after saving Redcliffe from massing demons and the undead, the small town which was so quickly rebuilding threw a festival on the anniversary of the night without demons. Taking to dress themselves up as creatures from lore and the ordiel, bonfires were lit, and such festival activites were in store.

They, being the ones that had saved the town just one year ago (Had it already been a year?) had been sent a messanger to bring themselves to attend. Laeti had been the one to argue with the hardened members of her group, the ones that claimed it was a lost cause. Laeti had been the one to organize and secure those able to fight, claiming their moral, defenses and leadership abilities upon her surprisingly blunt, yet effective word.

It was the very same group following the woman that turned back the tide of battle after defending the small swatch of a town for hours on end, until the sun rose once more and the night slipped away back into the shadows. The battle had been found inside the Redcliffe castle, where cleverly, the grey warden had tricked and decieved the demon residing in the little boy to leave for three days, giving time for the mages of the circle to arrive.

Naturally, there was a thousand reasons to go.

And the group, was listening to none of them.

"We're a week late for meeting Eamon in Denerim as it is, Zevran." Laeti pointed out, the map across her lap as Wynne unwound the bandages from Laeti's back. Across the top of her chest was a long cloth covering all but the wound upon her back. Recalling quite vivedly the instance in which she received it, Zevran decided to direct his attention to her slender body instead, cringing at the slight memory of seeing her collapsed on Alistair's back as he dragged her back to camp, injured and hurt.

"Precisely my point, my dear warden! What is one more day to a week behind?" Zevran grinned, crouching down on his heel before the sitting warden. In truth, while he found it a rather good sign she was dedicating herself to the routes and planning, it seemed she was to intent upon never getting the group lost again, and found herself tightly bound with pressure and fear.

A festival was JUST what she needed. What most of the group needed, in fact.

"That makes no sense at all, I hope you realise." Laeti stated, looking up, her fingertip still remaining on some hellish back road of the damp country side they were to take. Wynne prodded the wound at Laeti's back with a light and experianced hand.

"It's getting better." She said, almost surprised in tone. Something Zevran found himself incredibly proud of being the cause of. Laeti, on the other hand, adoribly bunched her nose, ears falling down and eyes firmly shut to the finger tips on her back, jaw clentched.

Shoving aside whatever concerned emotions he had on the area, he firmly informed himself that it was just rebandaging a wound, and nothing to worry oneself over. Still, perhaps it best that he hurry along the process of either their interaction, or the bandaging.

Laeti cringed, new bandages touching her back, bringing Zevran to the grand idea to distract her instead. "Ah, but you owe me a favor, no?" Laeti brought her gaze to his, curiousity spreading on her features instead of pain, though mad twinges spread through her as the bandages wound themselves around her form. "For that night in the tent-"

"How does that make ME in YOUR debt for a favor?" Laeti interrupted, a red flush spreading on her features. "Mmm, you came out better for it, yes?" Zevran smirked, pleased to see that Wynne was tying off the last of the bandages. Laeti gave a short sigh, folding up the map, and holding out to Zevran pointedly.

"Fine. Lead on."

Laeti was interested at the very least to hear that the festivals in Redcliffe seemed to involve humans dressing up as various creatures from lore and legends, as well as the undead faced in the hellish raids. Sadly, however, by the time they were outside of the small town, she found herself and others at a loss for costume choices, though around were countless resources to make any ideas reality.

It was then, of course, that Zevran proposed a new game for the group members to bring themselves to play. Where each member was assigned a colored stone, which were then dropped into a helm, randomly, each member drew a stone from the helm, and from the color stone in their palm they could dress and design the member as they chose. The rule, of course, being that when the costume was selected, that person could not back out at the last moment.

Laeti, being assigned a rather bright and loud shade of green, had two stones, one of which in the helm, as were the rules, and another up Zevran's sleeve, the man intending fully to cheat just a bit.

They had, after all, come across so many scantily clad demonesses on their journeys.

Alistair ruined his daydream and plots, unfortunatly, by drawing the very same greenly hue from the helm. Zevran, naturally, would have taken the other stone out of the helm, had Morrigan's ever cynical eye slipped from his for the slightest of moments. It would seem that either she intended to do the same as he, or perhaps she simply disliked the idea of him cheating on the game. Either way, he had planned on removing the second green stone when given the chance, so it was just his luck that the first stone drawn was said stone.

And it was ALISTAIR, no less.

No doubt he'd ask her to be a sister of the Chantry!

Alistair flushed a bright red, well, he hadn't imagined he'd get her stone, but now that he did.. Why.. Pass up the opportunity, right? "Laeti, will you dress as a queen?" Laeti gave a quizzical look, reminding him that she had little to no knowledge what a queen was, let alone what she wore. "You'll have to help me with that one, a she human lord is not something I've seen before in my travels with my clan."

Alistair grinned wide at the little dalish, eyes sparkling as he opened his mouth for a witty retort. Zevran, quite happily, cut him off. "My turn I take it?" Zevran mused aloud, stepping towards the helm with the colored stones inside, slipping his hand into the slot he drew his eyes upwards. He still intended to cheat, naturally, but first he needed to distract the onlookers. "Ha! Let's see... When was the last time I slipped my hand into some dark hole? Hmm.. I remember, long story that."

Variously, the group members flushed, or gagged, all of which getting the innundo except for Laeti, who frowned in thought. "You play this game often?" Zevran gave a coy, flirtacious grin "VERY often, my dear." Zevran snuck a glance down, fingers eagerly snatching the dark purple stone, proudly holding it up between his two fingers in the face of a very annoyed looking Morrigan.

"I believe this is YOUR color, my dear, no?" Zevran grinned, Morrigan crossed her arms over her chest, watching him with those eerily intense eyes of hers "If you believe for one moment that-"

"Desire demon"

Morrigan was near impossible to convince to keep her word to abide by the rules of the game, though in the end, she conceded, bristling with anger towards the elf.

No doubt he would be regret that later, but as it was, the assassin was quite pleased with himself. After all, that witch of the wilds had kept him from cheating properly, thus, it was quite a good amount of payback.

Sten's turn was next, and with an annoyance towards all of those not to the Qun, wondered what nonsense was going on in the country around him. Though, he indulged the group, reaching into the helm to take out a bright blue stone, nearly shining in radience. Shale's color, naturally, the shade matching the crystals on Shale's body (arranged vertically, one can be sure)

"You are a golem." Sten stated, the understanding of the game going over his head, it would seem. And there was no persuading him to understand otherwise. Shale, naturally, was all to happy to be spared from the strange spell of 'dress up' that had overtaken the camp.

Oghren gave a drunken laugh, his eyes drawn up at Morrigan's form "The things I could do to you.." He trailed off, hiccuping drunkly. Morrigan rolled her eyes, face contorted in disgust. "Ugh, it's leering at me again.." Oghren gave a startled jump, "Oh.. heh.. did I say that out loud?"

Shale lifted an ale colored rock from the helm, holding it carefully between two large fingers. "It has such a way with words" Shale started sarcastically, "it shall make a fine Rhyming Tree, such as the one found in the brecilian forest."

Oghren choked on his drink. "Oh, sod it."

Bumu lurched forwards, knocking the helm out of the grip of Alistair, and poking his head into the opening. Returning with a pure white stone shining between his teeth, Wynne's color, as it were. With a bark, Bumu dropped the stone, taking off to the edge of the camp, where, as quickly as he could, dug a deep hole, returning promptly with a muddied bone in his mouth. Spitting it out at Wynne's feet, the elder mage gently turned it with her foot, trying to find the species for it, rather unsettled.

"I suppose I'm a skeleton then." Wynne pondered aloud.

Laeti reached a hand out, picking up the helm and scattered colored rocks collectively. Sprinkling the rocks back inside the helm, the pings of metal greeting her ears. Averting her eyes, the dalish slipped her hand inside. Closing her fingers around a stone, she raised it out of the opening, a black stone settled in her palm.

"Who was the black stone, again?" Laeti mused aloud, to which Zevran gave a wide smirk, spreading his arms expressively. "That would be me, my dear warden." A larger grin over took his features, flirtacious and lustful in manner, "I wonder what you'll have me dressed as, perhaps some-"

"Pirate!" Laeti managed, not wanting in the slightest to hear the sleazy, or innuedo filled list that would come with his train of thought. As such, she simply said the first thing to her mind, it being wandered to a pirate, from some random legend she'd heard from passing a human city or another in her travels with the clan.

"Arrr! Pirate Zevran reporting for duty! Prepare to be boarded!" Zevran exclaimed, laughing. Oh, what FUN this game was!

Wait, that was vaguely familiar.. Where had he heard of a tale between a queen to be and a handsome pirate?