EDIT: Revised, chapter split into two... SORRY :P Shale gets a slightly bigger part in this one.
...~*~...
"So your really one of the old dwarf defense golems huh?"
"One would think so." Shale responded in a rather unenthusiastic tone.
They had taken over two weeks to reach Orzammar from Redcliff, Nahalanee had insisted on a detour that lead them to the small village of Honnleath.
...~*~...
A week and a half ago...
"I demand we collect the golem! Do you know the kind of destruction a golem can do to the darkspawn? We need it!" Nahalanee whined.
"I say we give her the golem. It makes her happy, and I am sure a happy warden is much better at camp then an angry pouting warden, no?" Zevran teased as Nahalanee shot him a glare.
No, we have wasted enough time, we must finish massing this army of yours. This blight will not wait for such idle childhood fantasies such as owning your own pet rock." Morrigan argued.
"I agree, there is no point in turning around now." Sten.
"It's not a PET it's a golem! A REAL GOLEM! They were created for just this purpose. I mean come on how can you not see the potential!" She threw her hands up in the air.
"No. You always find a way to delay your return to Orzammar. You will have to face your past sooner or later child." Morrigan said.
"I am not a child." Grumbled
"Then stop acting like one!" Morrigan said exasperated.
"I'm not! And I'm not trying to delay our arrival at Orzammar I just think having a golem would be useful. They are like ten.. no FIFTEEN dwarven berserkers all in one!"
"No." Both Morrigan and Sten said at the same time. Behind her she could hear Leliana and Zevran snickering.
"Ok, if we don't go, then blight take you all! I refuse to continue fighting without the golem!" "Really Nahalanee, we have been arguing this for two days..."Alistair started to say. "Exactly!" she cut him off. "And I will CONTINUE to argue until you turn your bronto loving arses around and go to hunleef!"
"Honnleath, my dear warden." Zevran winked.
"whatever! I DEMAND..." "If it will shut her up, I say we turn around and go. I cannot listen to this one more day without wanting to cut her head off." Sten said exasperated.
"FINE!" Morrigan yelled and spun on her heels.
The noise that came from Nahalanee closely resembled that of a squealing nug.
It took them an extra three days but there she was, control rod in hand and a frozen golem in front of her.
"What are you waiting for, wake it up." Leliana urged her.
"Dulen Harn " She said and watched excitedly as the golem began to twitch and creak. She slapped a hand over her mouth to stifle another one of her nug squeaks.
"Ugh, I was just getting used to the quiet." The golem said and looked down at the dwarf before it. "And it are much smaller then my last master. At least it is not a mage."
Nahalanee blinked. "It?"
"It, it woke me with the control rod, it is a dwarf, yes?" "ME? I'm not an it!" Not the best retort, but she had never met a golem so snarky which just utterly flummoxed her. Not that she had met many anyway, Orzammar had only a few.
"It has awakened me for a reason I am sure?"
"Ummm errm.. yeah. You're... Not what I expected you know." Nahalanee raised an eyebrow.
"Indeed, what did it expect? A docile work horse perhaps, someone to carry it and it's belongings around Ferelden? … Don't even think about it." The golem noticed Nahalanee's lips curl in a grin at the last suggestion.
"So, you will do whatever I say?"
"It has my control rod doesn't it?" The golem sounded confused.
"Umm yeah, right here." She held up the rod for the golems inspection.
"I see it but, quick order me to do something."
"Ummm.."She looked around and grinned as her eyes fell on Zevran. "Give Zevran a hug." She pointed at the Antivan.
"NO! No thank you!I uhh.. NO!" The elf said, his voice an octave higher then usual. Nahalanee grinned as she had finally found a way to make the Antivan falter.
"It orders me, and yet, I do not feel inclined to do so." Nahalanee looked the rod in her hand. "So it's broken. Can I fix it?"
"I do not know. But it did awaken me for a reason, so I ask again. What did it intend to do with me?" "Oh, to stomp darkspawn! And bandits, and assassins, and maybe a few spiders." Nahalanee grinned ear to ear.
"Darkspawn, those vile creatures that destroyed this village? They are an enemy worthy of death." The golem said, or snarled, can golems snarl? Well, Nahalanee thought, this one sure could!
"So you will help us?" "I will come with it for a time."
Nahalanee gave out an almost ear piercing squeal and she heard Leliana and Alistair laughing behind her.
"This will be great!" Nahalanee said as they made their way out of the village.
"So what's your name? Do you have a name?"
"My name is Shale."
"My name is Nahalanee. Is Shale a name or what your made of?" "Would you prefer pebbles, or rubble?" The golem snorted and scurried off to the left. Nahalanee only had a brief moment to wonder what the golem was doing before she got her answer.
Shale had run up to a chicken and stomped on it, crushing it beneath it's big stone foot.. Nahalanee's jaw dropped and the golem shrugged. It took almost five minutes for all the laughter to die down. She was even sure Sten had grunted a chuckle of some sort.
"I take it you don't like chickens?" Nahalanee asked as they continued on their way.
"Damnable feathered fiends! Always using me as a perch, and UGH the mess they left behind! The villagers thought it was quint, QUINT! At least there was someone kind enough to scrub me down now and again. UGH!"
"Why are you so short?" Alistair shook his head, this was going to be a long trip to Orzammar.
...~*~...
"Does it hurt when you get hit?"
"Of course not, I am not squishy like it."
"Do you sleep?"
"No I do not."
"Have you ever..."
"Does it EVER shut up! It has been asking me these questions since it activated me!" Shale nearly yelled causing Nahalanee to flinch. "I daresay I miss the silence of being frozen in place!"
"Sure she does, I know many ways to shut her up but alas, I doubt she would let me perform them in public." Zevran piped in from behind them
Nahalanee turned and glared at him her cheeks turning a deep red. She walked in silence for several more minutes, concentrating on the road ahead of her but eventually her curiosity got the best of her yet again.
"whats with the gems? Do they do anything?"
"Indeed they do."
"What do they do?"
"Oh many things, some enhance spells, some mana. Some are for elemental attacks. Wilhelm experimented with many different gems, I think he..."
"we're here." Alistair said from behind them cutting of shale.
Nahalanee looked up, just ahead of them was the entrance to Orzammar. She stopped in the center of what looked like a makeshift market, many different merchants were standing around trading and chatting about this and that.
