The tent was silent for a moment, Lanaura eyeing the much smaller mage in a way she found quite disconcerting.
Eventually, Wynne sighed heavily. "I suppose you want to know the story. Don't you?"
Lanaura simply nodded.
"Very well. I suppose you deserve to know." Wynne sighed again. "And I'm sorry to say even I don't know the full tale. She has refused to tell anyone the details. But what I do know is that for a start, Elsa isn't from Ferelden."
Lan cocked an eyebrow. "That's where we are now, right?" she asked.
Wynne nodded patiently. "Yes. Elsa is the daughter of a rather wealthy noble family from Kirkwall, a city state north of Ferelden, in the Free Marches." She explained, noticing the warrior's blank look at the name.
"Around twelve years ago her family were travelling through Ferelden, when a bandit gang attacked her family's caravan near the shore of Lake Calenhad. Exactly what happened next, we aren't sure but we do know that Elsa's magic manifested. The bandits retreated, but her younger sister Anna…"
Wynne shook her head. "Anna came away with a shard of ice buried in her chest, no more than half an inch from her heart. The poor girl was only around six years old at that point. Fortunately, a small group of Templars happened upon the remains of their caravan and that group of Templars was escorting a very talented apprentice of mine back to the Circle. He managed to stabilise her and kept her alive until they made it back to Kinloch Hold, where myself and one of the enchanters finished her healing."
Wynne's eyes took on a forlorn cast. "It was one of the most difficult healings of my life, in many ways."
She shook herself, visibly pulling herself back together. "But, she survived with only a streak of white and a scar to mark it, and was returned to Kirkwall very soon afterwards. Elsa has been with us ever since."
Lanaura hummed. "And her parents?"
Wynne wilted. She'd obviously been trying not to mention that. "Lord and Lady Amell… did not survive."
"Yea. I thought as much." Lanaura muttered. "So she… blames herself? Is that it?"
"I can only guess, but that does seem to be the way of things." Wynne said sadly.
"Think she's going to be ok after this?"
"I honestly don't know. We'll have to wait for her to wake up to find out." Wynne said, smiling softly down at the young mage. "That being said, I think she'll be all right given time. She's a strong girl."
"Hm. Yea…"
Wynne turned back to the warrior. "Anyway. There's no need for you to sit around with an old woman. Run along and find something to do. I'll come and get you and Kallian when she wakes."
Lanaura frowned uncertainly. "I dunno…" she said hesitantly, clearly reluctant to leave the softly snoring mage.
"It'll be fine. There's no point worrying yourself. I have an idea, maybe you can make something for everyone, they must all be starving by now with the day we've all had." Wynne suggested.
Lan brightened immediately, a grin spreading across her face. "Oh yea! I'll get right on it! And I'll make something special for Snowflake too!"
And with that, she rushed out of the room.
Wynne watched her go with a bemused smile. Honestly, the speed with which that girl could change gears…
With nothing else to do, she settled down to wait for Elsa to wake up, forlornly wishing for her knitting supplies.
Though perhaps a chair might be nice first.
Kallian and Nami slipped out of Lanaura's tent, both just about done with crazy for the day. Kallian was actually quite surprised to see that night had fallen over the party's campsite, a few minutes further along from where Zevran and his companions had ambushed them. Had they been in there that long?
A sudden sigh and movement in the corner of her eye drew her attention back to Nami. "Well that was… interesting." The gnome hazarded.
"You can say that again." Kallian deadpanned.
"Fascinating possibilities though." Nami mused. "I've never seen anything like it. If she's using magic in a way that we've never come across before, that's something the Kirin Tor need to know."
"The Kirin Tor? You mentioned that before, what is it exactly?" Kallian asked, more out of base curiosity than anything else.
"Oh right, I keep forgetting this isn't Azeroth." Nami said with a chuckle. "Well, to give the abridged history, the Kirin Tor is an age old organisation based around the pursuit of magical knowledge, founded when the city of Dalaran was built. They worked to find and catalogue every single spell, artefact and arcane tome in service of the human alliance."
They started moving, wandering closer to camp as they talked.
"I'm told that Dalaran was a true beauty of a city. Towering marble architecture, great works of art and culture, and vast stores of knowledge free to all who sought to learn. But then Arthas came, at the head of the Scourge. The city fell and was abandoned. A few months after that a group of Kirin Tor returned, cleansed the ruins and built a great magical dome around the city while they rebuilt it. When their task was done they managed to actually lift the city into the sky and moved it to Northrend where it still is today."
"Wait, they made a flying city?" Kallian gasped.
Nami chuckled at the look on Kallian's face. "Oh yes they did. In fact, the Winter Guard was based out of Dalaran for a couple years while we took the fight to the Lich King. A truly magical place if you'll pardon the pun."
A flying city? Could it even be possible?
Oh who was she kidding. She was beginning to believe nothing was impossible for these people.
It was actually quite a terrifying thought. Kallian was suddenly fervently glad they were on her side.
"And they were allowed to do this?" Kallian asked.
Nami paused for a moment, frowning. "What do you mean 'allowed'? Why wouldn't they be?"
Kallian opened her mouth to reply when a new voice cut her off.
"Warden! I need to speak with you. Urgently."
Kallian jumped slightly in surprise, whirling around to face the wilder witch who got a lot closer to her without being noticed than Kallian found comfortable. "Morrigan? What's the problem?" She asked.
"In private." Morrigan added, looking pointedly towards Kallian's gnome companion.
Nami simply shrugged in response. "Eh, do what you want. I'll see you later."
Without further ado she wandered away towards the main camp, staff thumping in rhythm as she walked.
"So, what can I do for you Morrigan?" Kallian asked, more than a little curious.
"Not here. I don't want us to be overheard." Morrigan quietly stated. She turned and started walking quickly towards an unused corner of the camp, a confused and slightly concerned Kallian trailing in her wake.
Something was wrong here. Morrigan's body language was off, her walk far removed from the normal smooth, confidant gait she associated with the mage.
Resigned to having something bad dropped on her lap once again, she followed.
When Morrigan was certain they were alone she turned back to Kallian, her eyes cautiously watching camp where the figures of most of the rest of the group could be seen.
"Morrigan, what's the problem? You're making me nervous." Kallian asked, crossing her arms.
Morrigan didn't reply for a moment, clearly putting her own thoughts into order. That moment stretched on to another, and then another.
"I am in the uncomfortable position of having to ask for your help." She stated just as Kallian was opening her mouth.
Oh really now? The ever independent apostate having to ask for help? What could possibly have prompted this?
"Oh? What's the problem exactly?"
"T'is my mother, in fact." Morrigan said.
Kallian cocked an eyebrow. "Your mother? Flemeth right?"
Morrigan nodded. "The very same."
Ugh. Morrigan was being vague again. Grass grew, the sun shone and Morrigan knew more than she was letting on.
Kallian sighed heavily. "And your point is?"
"Do you remember that grimoire you gave me not too long ago?" She asked abruptly.
Kallian did in fact. She'd found the black-bound book rummaging for anything valuable in First Enchanter Irving's office.
What can you do? You can take the girl out of the Alienage but you can't take the Alienage out of the girl.
"So? What's that got to do with anything?"
Morrigan huffed in annoyance, as if it were obvious. "Well as I said at the time it was written by my mother's own hand. It was her personal spell book. Well I've finally managed to decode it and… and I found, in great detail, the secret to her immortality."
Ice shot town Kallian's spine at the words. The implications were not good ones.
"And what is that exactly?" Kallian asked, dreading the answer.
"Well, she can move her soul from body to body. When she grows old and frail, she has a daughter, and then simply… takes them over when the time is right." Morrigan explained. A shiver of disgust passed through the witch.
Kallian was horrified. But that would mean… "And you're next." She guessed.
"T'is my assumption, yes." Morrigan replied. "Which is why I need you to kill her. And further, why I must not be there when you do."
She suddenly swore, violently. "I should have seen this coming or something like it at least."
Kallian's mind was reeling, too much information at once for the warden to process. "Holy Maker… Well, I mean, no one thinks that badly of their family. You couldn't have seen the signs."
Morrigan scoffed. "Please. Flemeth was no saint of a mother. She is an abomination and a sorceress. I should have suspected something. The grimoire detailed all the training and preparations… I've done them all. I am next!"
Superior, cool, collected, powerful, untouchable. These were the words she'd happily apply to the wilder witch.
In that moment Morrigan was terrified. It was in every line in her face, in every angle of her posture. It did not suit her. She was trying her hardest to hide just how much this news had affected her, but Kallian could still see the signs. She was surprised to find just how wrong she found that. It was as if the tides changed direction, or owls started flying at noon. It just wasn't right.
And despite her prickly, holier-than-thou attitude most of the time, Morrigan had been a fixture in her life since Ostagar. She'd been a rock of unmoving confidence and self-assured grace that in all honesty had kept her afloat.
So despite the fact that they would have to throw themselves against an undoubtedly powerful abomination with hundreds of years' experience to her name, there was no way Kallian would refuse.
"It's alright. You can count on me. On all of us." She resolved.
Morrigan blinked, surprised at the sudden decision. "I… well. You have my thanks. I will sleep far better knowing that creature is gone from my life."
"Anytime. We'll deal with her after Redcliffe." Kallian assured.
Suddenly, a problem crystalized in her head. "Wait, your mother lives in the Korcari Wilds right? Right where the Darkspawn are? How are we going to get there? If the horde's already swept past, getting to her will be impossible. Not to mention that the Darkspawn might just have done that job for us."
Morrigan frowned, she hadn't thought of that either. She shook her head. "No… No Mother will have placed enough protections on that hut to keep the darkspawn away. It won't be that easy."
Morrigan frowned harder. "I suppose we shall have to ask for help from Lanaura's people, their flying mounts should be able to get you there and back." She said, with much reluctance in her tone.
"There's that." Kallian agreed with a sharp nod. "I'm sure they'd have no problem with helping out. Lan certainly wouldn't."
Morrigan nodded in agreement, but still for some reason the reluctance remained.
"I don't like asking them for help… but I can see t'is the only option I have."
"What's the problem? You can't hate them already, they just turned up." Kallian said with a small smile.
A smile that slipped slowly away as Morrigan failed to respond. "Ok, what? Lan's one of us and her friends seem fine. What's the problem?"
"I wish to rid myself of one abomination, and I'd rather not ask for help from another to do so." Morrigan stated.
Kallian's eyebrows shot into her hairline. "What? What are you talking about!?" She gasped.
Morrigan rounded on her with a yellow-eyed glare. "Quiet! Do you wish the whole camp to hear us?" She admonished.
Kallian wilted slightly under the witch's fierce eyes, shutting her mouth with a snap. "Sorry." She muttered. "But that's a lot to take. An abomination? What makes you think so?"
Morrigan turned grim eyes away towards the rest of camp, gaze settling eventually on one still form, settled on the ridgeline above them atop a light blue proto-drake, brooding.
Kallian followed her gaze, frowning in surprise when she found where it lead.
"Trixie? What's wrong with her?"
Morrigan didn't answer for a moment. "I cannot say for sure. I can feel it. I know that there something… wrong with her, something that makes Blood Magic look like a child's plaything. I cannot name it, t'is something I can only describe it as… dark."
Kallian didn't know what to think about that. She would admit to having been… unsettled in the woman's presence, for a reason she couldn't name. And there was that exceptionally creepy echoing voice of hers…
But on the other hand… "Lanaura trusts her." She noted.
Morrigan scoffed. "That woman is a buffoon."
"True, but Lan knows her a lot better than we do. Shouldn't we trust her on this?" Kallian asked, cocking an eyebrow.
Morrigan stiffened. "I think you'll find my trust in short supply." She stated curtly.
Kallian shrugged. That wasn't surprising.
"But I don't have a choice in the matter. I shall say this, however. Keep an eye on that one, I shall be doing the same." Morrigan said grimly.
Well, it was the best they were going to get.
"I'll keep that in mind. Anything else you need?"
"No, that should be all. And Kallian?"
"Hm?"
"Thank you."
Kallian smiled at that. She knew how hard that would have been to say.
"You're welcome Morrigan. But it's late, and I should probably hit the sack. Good night." She said, receiving a cool nod in return.
Kallian turned and began to walk away, but only got a few meters before Morrigan called to her again.
She turned her head, shooting a questioning look at the witch. "What?"
"Some advice, heed it or do not. When they find out just what kind of organisation the Wardens are, Lanaura's compatriots are going to be quite angry. And I think none more so than Lanaura herself."
Kallian blinked in surprise, turning back around fully to face the witch. "What do you mean?"
Morrigan sighed lightly, shaking her head in disapproval. "I've no doubt the buffoon jumped into the Joining without thinking about it. And without fully understanding the contract she was signing when she took the cup."
Kallian paled. Morrigan knew!
"How do you know all that Morrigan? No one outside the Wardens should know any of that." She said direly.
"I know many things." She answered cryptically. "But what I know is not the issue. T'is what Lanaura knows. Or more pertinently, what she does not. Does she know of the drawbacks of the Joining? Does she know of the thirty year time limit you put on her life."
Kallian made to answer instantly, to rebuke that ridiculous assertion. Of course she knew. There's no way they wouldn't…
Every muscle in her body tightened as her mind came to a shuddering halt, and her heart seemed to stop beating in her chest.
It was if someone had plunged her into the winter sea, naked and far from shore.
They had not.
They had not told Lanaura. Or Elsa, or Tia. It just… hadn't come up.
How had it not come up!
Morrigan saw the horror on her face as the realisation of just how badly they'd fucked up sunk in.
"I did not think so."
Without another word, she turned and slunk away into the darkness, leaving Tia alone with her thoughts.
It was going to be a long and sleepless night for the Warden. And by the Maker she wasn't going to be dealing with it alone.
She turned back and strode off with a purpose, zeroing in on where the other complicit Warden lay curled up by the fire, obviously asleep.
They had a lot of damage control to do.
The fade was slow to release its hold on Elsa when she finally began to rouse. The silky softness surrounding her did nothing to motivate the process either. She was warm and comfortable in a way she hadn't been for a very long time.
Besides, she wanted to get back to the lovely dream she had been having. She'd been trapped in a tiny cell, a primordial and overpowering darkness pressing around her from all sides. But just as she thought herself lost a miracle had occurred.
What could only have been an angel straight from the Maker had suddenly been at her side. She'd leaned down, wrapping strong arms around Elsa's shoulders, whispering soft, reassuring words into her ears as the darkness around them recoiled at her very presence.
Elsa couldn't remember a time she'd felt so warm, so secure, so safe. She had felt as if she could let down every barrier, every wall. To just let everything go.
And for some reason, the woman had been vaguely familiar…
But as all dreams go, she had lost the details somewhere in the fade. But maybe if she got back to sleep…
Eventually she gave it up as bad job and roused herself fully, opening eyes still bleary from her rest.
The first thing she saw was Wynne, curled up in a soft looking chair next to her bed, sound asleep and wrapped in a tartan blanket. Not to mention snoring softly, much to Elsa's amusement.
But the smile died as she took in the rest of the room's details. She sat up with a jerk, shocked eyes surveying the bedroom, or what was left of it more to the point.
It was a mess, if you were partial to understatement. Smashed furniture, scattered belongings and clothing littered the room, tossed with reckless abandon by an unseen hand.
It didn't take long for her to remember what had happened.
She'd lost control. Her powers had gone ballistic and the scattered remains of Lanaura's room lay as mute testament to her weakness.
Details were returning thick and fast now. How she'd been so lost in her own horror, confusion and self-loathing that she hadn't realised the destruction she had been causing.
And then Lanaura was just there. Wrapping those strong arms around her. She'd been so scared she'd nearly frozen Lan's armor but the woman hadn't cared. She just kept holding her until she'd managed to calm the raging storm that was her mind.
Wait, that'd been basically what had happened in her dream! But that would mean the woman…
"Oh, Snowflake! You're awake!"
Lanaura…
Her eyes shot towards the doorway at the quiet exclamation, kept low so as not to wake the sleeping woman in the room.
Stood in the doorway, framed in the light of the room behind, was Lanaura. The woman had removed her armor, and was instead wearing a plush looking robe, a mug of something in her hands. She'd quite obviously just come from a bath, beads of moisture still glistened on her skin. Her hair was still damp, falling below her shoulders in soft waves far removed from her usual high ponytail.
Elsa couldn't help but notice how Lanaura's eyes, those stunning glowing orbs, were looking at her. Softly, warmly, with a matching smile on her lips.
She'd never seen anyone more beautiful in her entire life.
Sure she'd noticed how attractive the taller woman was many times. It was undeniable. But never before had it crystallised so clearly.
"How are you feeling?"
The question caught her off guard. So off guard that she fumbled for an answer for a few seconds, only managing to make odd sounds such as "I… yah… ima…"
So despite the horrifying embarrassment she must be making of herself, Lanaura only laughed. "Yea I get it. Don't worry. Cmon, let's get you something to eat, you must be starving."
The loud grumble from her stomach answered for her. It was loud enough that it even startled Wynne slightly in her sleep. Luckily for her the mage didn't stir too much, she only shifted slightly and went back to sleep.
That didn't stop the embarrassment from spreading a hot blush across her face.
Fortunately Lanaura didn't comment, only gesturing for the younger mage to follow her with another bright smile, disappearing into the other room.
When she managed to disentangle herself from the suddenly constricting blankets enough to follow, she found the lounge empty, but movement could be heard through the open door to the Kitchen.
"Take a seat, I'll just whip something up for you." Lan called.
Elsa did so, taking a place at Lan's dining table to await her no doubt mouthwatering meal.
When Lan returned, it was with a massive bowl of something that smelled heavenly. The mage damn near snatched the thing out of Lanaura's hands. Maybe she was hungrier than she'd thought…
Fortunately Lanaura didn't take offence and simply dropped herself into a nearby chair.
The bowl now in Elsa's possessive hands was filled with what looked to be a simple stew, but knowing Lanaura's cooking would surely prove to be anything but. The moment Elsa took that first bite she moaned in pleasure. Flavours burst across her tongue like fireworks. Spices, textures and perfectly cooked meat combined in a rapturous melody that Elsa refused to get enough of.
She wasted no time in devouring the meal her host had cooked for her like one woman pack of wolves. Lanaura couldn't help but laugh at that, and she disappeared for a second, before she reappeared with the whole pot, which she planted down in the middle of the table.
She vanished again, returning with a pair of bowls, scooping a hearty portion of the thick stew into one of them.
"You want any while it's hot boss?" Lan asked over her shoulder.
Elsa froze, spoon shoved haphazard in her mouth.
"I'm fine. I ate before, remember? Not everyone eats like a seven foot tall goat from wherever the fuck space."
The mage's head whipped around to the sofa, where the tiny figure of Lanaura's mage friend was sprawled lazily out on the sofa, absorbed in a book. She was so small compared to the couch Elsa had missed her completely when she walked in the room.
She, like Lanaura, had ditched the clothes she had on before, instead wearing a light and comfortable looking silk tunic and breeches with soft leather boots on her feet.
"Fair point. More for me and Snowflake then." Lan dismissed with a shrug, sitting next to Elsa and tucking in to her stew with happy abandon.
For the first time, the tiny mage glanced away from her book. "Oh, shit. You're awake, good. I've been meaning to speak to you. You had us all shittin ourselves for a sec there." She said, lobbing her book carelessly down the sofa and slipped down to walk over to the table.
Elsa suddenly realized how silly she must look right that second, spoon and all. She hastily swallowed her mouthful, only to cough violently when some went down the wrong way.
Cursing herself for being such a clutz she blushed heavily as Lanaura laughed loudly and slapped her on the back a few times, nearly sending the girl face-first into her stew.
After a few moments she managed to cough out something that sounded roughly like an apology, which was lazily waved away by the gnome, who now occupied the seat across from her.
"Hey Lan, you got any of that hot choc? The good shit, not the piss-weak powdered crap."
"Huh? Yea actually I could whip some up... You want some Snowflake?" Lan asked.
"I'm not sure what that is, actually." she tentatively replied.
Both Azerothians stared at her like she'd grown another head.
"Light! You've never heard of hot chocolate!?" Lan asked.
"No?"
Lan stood up suddenly, with determination. "Right. Then i'ma bout blow your mind." She said, vanishing into the kitchen.
"Good. That'll keep her busy for a while."
Elsa shot a confused look at the gnome. "Busy?" She asked.
"Gives us a chance to talk, without Lan standing around being worried and useless. But forget about her for a sec, how are you feeling?"
Elsa blinked, surprised at how suddenly this conversation had changed track. "I'm fine... I'm sorry I cant remember your name." She replied, uncertainly.
"Flopery. Call me Nami. And Bullshit."
Elsa flinched at the sudden curse . "I..." She began again.
"Just broke down and trashed Lan's bedroom." Nami sharply interrupted. "So you're clearly not fine."
Elsa was left floundering for a second, unable to answer. After a moment, the smaller mage's eyes softened and she smiled sympathetically.
"Lan told me what happened during the ambush. That was the first time you've killed, wasn't it?"
Elsa swallowed around the sudden lump in her throat. Not trusting herself to speak, she only nodded.
"I thought so. The first time's always fucked up. But as horrible as it sounds, it does get easier after a while."
Elsa didn't know how to respond to that. Eventually she settled on "The... first time?"
Nami nodded.
"How often have you...?"
"Honestly? I have no fucking clue any more. Lost count after a while. Piles up when you do the work we do." She said with a shrug.
Elsa said nothing. Could say nothing.
"Ah well. Look, here's the thing. Killing people? Ugly work. Always has been always will be. But what you're going up against? There are going to be people who want you dead. And the only way you're going to keep that from happening is to put them down first. End of the day it comes down to the simple you or them. At that point who they are, who they work for, what they want? Dosen't mean shit."
"You made your choice yesterday. And it probably saved your friends life. They would have killed you all but you didn't let that happen. You did the right thing."
Suddenly, Nami laughed, harsh and sharp and shook her head. "Listen to me. Going on like I know what the fuck i'm talking about. I'm not the one you should be talking to really."
Elsa, still reeling, asked the first question that came to mind. "If not you then who? Lanaura?"
Nami laughed again, this time with a bit of actual mirth. "Haha, yea, nah. She wouldn't know how to deal with that shit if the answer bit her in the ass. Her sister though, Telona, she's the Guard's Mistress Healer. She's the one you want to talk to."
Her sister? Oh right, Lan had a twin didn't she?
"Why her sister?"
"She's a brain doc, among other things. Knows how to help people with shit like this. You should talk to her, she's good. I swear she's the reason half the Guard still function."
"But isn't she... on another world?"
Nami blinked, honestly taken aback for a second. "Huh. Shit. I'd honestly forgotten. How bout that." She said before she waved the point away with a dismissive hand.
"I wouldn't worry about that. Wherever one of those two is the other is usually there or isn't far behind. She'll show up at some point. Oh, and before I forget. Whenever we manage to get you to Azeroth I want you to speak with a woman named Jaina Proudmoore. She's the Archmage of the Kirin Tor, and if anyone can find out how to help with your... icing problem it would be her."
To Nami's surprise, Elsa actually scoffed at that, before flinching in shock at the realisation of what she'd done. "I.. I don't think so. If the Circle couldn't help me after all this time, how could this woman?" She said instead.
Nami just looked at her flatly. "I think you'll find the Kirin Tor are rather good at what they do."
A pregnant silence fell between the two, pregnant with triplets. Eventually, Elsa opened her mouth to say something...
"I'm baaack!"
And just like that the moment was gone.
"Just think about it. All i'm asking." Nami finished under her breath as Lanaura made her way over to the table with a tray of what could only be described as averagely sized cups. Which for anyone else wouldn't have caused a single batted eyebrow but as Elsa had noted over the course of their companionship, Lanaura didn't do small.
So to be presented with such delicate looking crockery by a woman who defaulted to massive in all respects, from height to weapon size to cooking volumes, genuinely took the mage aback.
Nami on the other hand didn't so much as blink. "Take your fucking time." She commented with a sly smile, the joke behind the words clear.
"Oh eat me." Lan dismissed, placing the tray down between the two on the table, taking one of the three for herself. "Making hot-choc like this from scratch takes actual effort. Not that you'd know anything about that." She shot back with a smile.
"It fucking well would have to take effort. By someone who usually has the subtlety of an Orc cooking seems far too delicate of a science." Nami countered with an exaggerated haughty tone.
"Orcs can be exceptionally stealthy i'll have you know." Lanaura replied primly. "And coming from you? The one who actually managed to give a Death Knight food poisoning?" She retorted, with all the sly satisfaction of a Rogue with a knife to your throat and a smirk to match.
"One time! One fucking time it happens and suddenly everyone feels like they can give me shit..." Nami grumbled. But the jab had hit it's mark judging by the radiant blush on her face and Lanaura's smug laughter.
Elsa just sat back and watched the two clearly very close friend's banter pass back and forth for a moment with a warm smile. It was fascinating to see.
There were no reservations here, between these two superficially polar opposites. One a tiny magi intellectual, the other a ground-pounding, subtle as a warhammer warrior.
But that just didn't matter to the two, Elsa noted as she took one of the mugs filled with a heavenly smelling rich brown liquid. There was a camaraderie here deeper than she'd ever seen before.
She idly wondered if she'd ever be as close with Lanaura as Nami was.
She really hoped so.
With that thought, Elsa idly took her first sip.
The two Azerothians were jarred from their argument over what got spider ichor out of clothing best (and how many spiders they'd been attacked by to find that out) by a sudden, loud and downright salacious moan.
Both heads turned slowly in concert to regard the sidelined mage. Elsa had tensed in her seat, hands wrapped tight around the mug in her hands. As they watched she took a second sip, much deeper this time. Unlike before, she slumped in her seat, melting into a picture of rapturous bliss with another nearing indecent moan.
As they watched her tongue emerged from her mouth to swipe slowly at a small spot of hot-chocolate still decorating her lips.
Something that had absolutely no influence on Lanaura's wide eyed stare and suddenly much darker skin tone, no ma'am.
"What... is... this?" Elsa breathed softly, not bothering to open her eyes. "It's... indescribable..."
Unknown to both Nami and Lanaura, this was the first time in her life that Elsa had ever had chocolate. How that state of affairs came to be was rather complicated.
While chocolate did in fact exist on Thaedas, it was in extremely short supply. Coco beans could only be grown in the Tevinter Imperium, and was by all metrics a delicacy in the ostracised country.
Not to say that it didn't export the treat, it did. But at a breathtakingly steep price. The only ones who could afford it were nobles, and even then only the richest.
Unknown to all, it was one of the main reasons the Chantry tried to ignore Tevinter as best as possible. The Divine didn't want her supply cut off.
Yes, that was the honest to Light reason. And in all honesty, does that fact surprise anyone?
So despite being from one of the (at the time) richest noble families in the Free Marches, Elsa had never been exposed to any before she was taken to the Circle.
The availability of chocolate in the Circle of Magi should be obvious. About as plentiful as common sense all told.
Added on top of that was the drink Lanaura had served. Darnasisan style hot chocolate was a unique experience. The beverage itself was thick and gooey, like chocolate lava, with a layer of rich cream topping and sprinkled with chocolate shavings to finish.
Lanaura, suddenly realizing that she had to field that question, something she was utterly unprepared for, swallowed loudly and shook her head to return it to some semblance of working order.
"I uh... Darnassian style hot-chocolate?" Lanaura explained.
Elsa didn't reply for a moment. Eventually, she drained the drink in her hand with one final adorable mewl, before opening her eyes.
Sparkling sapphire met glowing gold as Elsa stared right into Lanaura's eyes with a lazy, satisfied smile.
"Is there any more?"
Zevran suddenly tensed, shooting to his feet and looking wildly around the camp-site.
Gnags, whom he had been trying to teach Wicked Grace to, blinked in surprise. "What's go into ya lad?" The paladin asked, bemused.
He didn't answer for a few seconds, just continued to look everywhere around him. Eventually slumped, seemingly in defeat, back to his log seat.
"It's nothing I just..." Zevran began.
"Just what? Get it out lad."
"I just have a feeling that I'm missing out on something. Something... incredible."
Author's note!
Hi again everyone! Fractal here with another chapter!
Oh my did I have some fun writing some of these scenes. I hope you enjoy it.
Thanks again to Noctua Aurorae for being my idea sounding-board and general biggest fan.
So it begins! The shipping starts in earnest. How fun this is going to be.
And as foretold, Zevran is a treat to write.
Now i think i'm going to stop making timeline promises. I have said before that this chapter will get us into Redcliffe but I was wrong. My muse had other ideas, the fickle, promiscuous thing.
I wanted to actually get to Redcliffe in this chapter but frankly, I think that it came to a natural conclusion here and so that's where i'm going to leave it for now. Hope that doesn't make anyone too angry. But one last time i'll make this promise.
Redcliffe is next chapter. Hold me to that.
Now, for other random crap.
I was surprised to find not long ago that a large portion of my readers are based in Sweeden. As in it's my second largest demographic after the US. Wouldn't have expected that tbh. But hey, its pretty cool. Hi Sweedish readers! I really apreciate your support. That of course extends to all my readers, you're all cool.
Anywho, usual spiel. Read, review and have a good day. And i'm always open to PMs if you want to talk, about anything really. Story context, anything your confused about i'll try my best to clear up without spoiling anything.
Bai bai!
Yours,
Fractal.