"I'm starting to think I should get clothes like yours," Owen remarked to Jowan one morning a few days later, after emerging from the tent he shared with Mara. "That's much more sensible for travelling in than these robes are."
Jowan nodded. "I certainly find them so," he agreed, and eyed his lanky friend. "I think we'd have a hard time finding something to fit you though."
Owen made a face. "True," he agreed. "Maybe if we reach a village or town where we plan to stay for at least a couple of days I can get something made up."
"What are we talking about?" Mara asked, crawling out of the tent behind him.
"Clothing. Owen was saying he'd like to dress like what I'm wearing." Jowan explained. "More sensible for travel."
Mara cocked her head to one side and looked Jowan over, then looked up at Owen, smiling warmly. "You'd look good dressed like that," she agreed. "I think I'll stick with my robes though. I like them."
"And you look very attractive in them, my dear," Zevran said gallantly, walking over to join the group. He smiled at her, then at Jowan and Owen as well. "Breakfast will be ready shortly. A cold one, I am afraid, Arren wishes to be back on the road as soon as possible. I believe he is anxious to see his Dalish kinsfolk once again."
They all headed over to the firepit, filled with ash and just a few smouldering coals left from the fire the night before. Morrigan and Arren were squatted down nearby, sorting out things for breakfast for everyone – ten neat little piles of travel biscuit, jerky, and dried fruit spread out on a clean cloth. Wynne, Sten, Oghren and Alistair joined them shortly afterwards, and everyone claimed a pile of food and then stood or sat somewhere nearby to eat.
"Do you think we'll find the Dalish today?" Alistair asked.
Arren nodded. "I hope so. We're near a lake I know the Dalish often camp at when in this part of the forest, and that halla dung we saw yesterday can't have been more than a few days old; with luck they're still camped there, and if not, hopefully they aren't too far ahead. We can cover more ground in a day than the aravels can – it takes a while to get them moving each morning, and to stop again at night. Unless they have some reason to be pushing hard, we'll catch up with them soon."
Alistair nodded, and gnawed on a strip of jerky.
"Will they have any problem with encountering such a large party of us, especially since so many of us are humans?" Jowan asked nervously.
Arren frowned, then shrugged. "I don't know. Some clans are more hostile to shemlen than others. My own preferred to keep our distance from the shem, and if we found any encroaching on our territory we'd drive them away. How we're received will depend in large part on what sort of experiences this clan has recently had with humans. Hopefully the presence of myself, Mara and Zevran will give them enough pause that they'll be willing to talk first, rather than just attempting to drive us away. For that reason, I'd like the three of us to be out in front of the group. The remaining mages in the middle, and Alistair and Sten bringing up the back – you're both a little more intimidating than I'd like them to have as their first impression of us," he added with a smile.
"What about me, boss?" Oghren asked, then belched loudly.
"Hmmm. Behind me, I guess; we Dalish see durgen'len rarely enough that I would hope they'd be more curious about you than frightened by you."
"So I should try to look cute and harmless then? Not sure I can do cute."
"I'll settle for mostly harmless. Along that line of thought, sober would also be good," Arren said, looking pointedly at the wineskin Oghren had just unhooked from his belt.
Oghren sighed. "Got it," he agreed, and took only a single small mouthful of wine before stoppering and putting away the wineskin again.
In mid-afternoon they found their path abruptly blocked by several elves, armed with bows. For Dalish it was a reasonably polite greeting for strangers; while two of the three elves blocking their path were holding bows, they were pointing them down at the ground with arrows gripped on slack strings, not pointing at Arren and his group or drawn, though he knew they could be in a blink of an eye, if it became necessary. Besides, he was sure there were considerably more elves hidden around them, and they were not necessarily being so polite with their bows.
He stepped forward and held up one hand in greeting. The woman leading the elves stepped forward and did the same.
"Andaran atish'an, my friend. You have come a long way. I give you the welcome of our clan," she said, giving his companions a suspicious look. "These are curious companions you have. Might I ask the purpose of your visit?"
Arren smiled warmly at her. "I have come on behalf of the Grey Wardens, sister. I must speak with your keeper immediately."
"The Grey Wardens? You... have joined their ranks? How unusual! Excuse my surprise... I will take you to the keeper right away," she said, and gave a brief hand-signal before turned and leading the way along the trail. "Ask your companions to remain close. We are unused to outsiders," she warned.
Their interview with the keeper proved more aggravating than informative; once again, they found themselves in the situation of being asked to solve someone else's problem before that person was able or willing to honour the treaty they carried.
Arren saw his party camped in a lakeside site not far from the elven encampment, then returned there with Morrigan to try and learn more about the extent and nature of the elven problem with werewolves. He told them he didn't expect to continue on into the forest until the next day at the earliest.
"Well, so we have free time and a convenient lake at hand," Zevran pointed out. "I suggest we have a bathing party. I don't think I've had a proper bath since we left Redcliffe."
"I'll bathe later," Wynne said. "For now I'm tired and would prefer to nap until dinner time."
Owen looked at Mara. "Bathing now or later?" he asked her.
She smiled. "Later, I think. I know you and Jowan wouldn't mind, but I think some of your companions would be self-conscious about bathing with me. I'll accompany Wynne later." she said.
Owen nodded, and started digging through his pack for a clean robe, and some soap.
"Would Mara really have come bathing with us if she hadn't thought it would upset some of us?" Alistair asked Jowan as the two of them waded out into the lake.
"Mara? Of course. She's never really seen any point in being body conscious," Jowan said, and grinned. "She didn't like being separated from Owen when she was younger – threw the most terrible tantrums any time it happened – so everyone just kind of got used to the idea that if she was going to be bathed, Owen was going to have to be there too. And then they both took me under their wing when I came to the tower, and I just sort of tagged along with them for everything, including bathing. We were pretty inseparable, though they were always far closer to each other than to me."
Alistair glanced over at Owen, who was busy shampooing his hair. "They do seem pretty close," he agreed.
Jowan smiled. "They met each other before they ever even reached the tower; apparently he saved her life in the incident that revealed both of them as mages... she was just a little kid at the time. So she latched onto him as the one person she knew and trusted, on the way to the tower. He carried her around everywhere until she started feeling secure enough to walk on her own, and even then she always preferred to be close to him," Jowan said, then grinned. "He was the world's tallest self-propelled security blanket. She grew out of it eventually, I think it's more habit than any actual need that makes them so touchy with each other still."
"Habit? You mean they aren't, errr..."
"A couple? Maker, no. Mara is definitely not Owen's type," Jowan said. He tried to control his expression, but could feel his lips curving into a smile anyway.
"You're smirking," Alistair said, giving him a suspicious look. "All right, I'll bite... what is his type?"
"Oh, well, let's just say I'm glad I know Owen isn't the type to get involved with someone who is already in a relationship, or I'd have to be worried about him trying to get you to show him what you keep under your faulds. He has a bit of a thing for strong men in armour; you can imagine how much he enjoyed being stuck in a tower full of templars."
Alistair blushed bright red, and Jowan grinned even wider.