-oo-

Chapter 10 – A Thing of Beauty

"Warden…"

Merran headed, distracted, towards Marduk. She had left Wynne sitting on the remains of a pillar, fanning herself with the Deep Roads map, Shale close by. The already elderly Mage had aged since they had parted - and it felt strange. The two of them had briefly discussed the final battle with the Archdemon and what may or may not have happened. Despite Wynne's own condition, the elder Mage was still somewhat baffled by the Old God's decision to return her to this world, citing unfinished business as a possible reason.

But…What unfinished business? Had Urthemiel inadvertently left the clothes iron on its good pair of smallclothes? Forgot to snuff a candle somewhere? Left a pot on the stove? Whatever the true reason, Merran did wonder whether once she had done this last thing for the Old God; she would disappear for good.

She hoped it wouldn't happen before she had a chance to see Alistair again. The thought that he might be out there, somewhere – and she would never see him – made her heart ache. He didn't need to see her. That was okay. For her, it had been a blink of an eye. For him, it had been a year or more. It was quite likely he'd moved on. Wynne had told her he had taken up the mantle of Warden Commander and that made her smile. He'd make a great Commander, she thought. But no, she didn't have to have him acknowledge her – maybe seeing her alive would be too confusing for him, she didn't know. All she needed to know was that he was all right. That he was well…and smiling.

So lost in her thoughts was she that Merran didn't see Marduk's expression or the fact that he was concealing something behind his back. When he patted the broken bit of architecture beside him, she sat automatically. She didn't expect to see a flower being extended towards her.

Merran startled, roused out of her thoughts by the sight of the delicate little thing. It was a deep, iridescent blue, with thick curling petals around a tuft of black stamens.

"Do you know what this is?" Marduk asked, causing Merran to go very still. She looked into earnest hazel eyes and was reminded of amber ones. Laughing amber eyes shining like warm sunlight or darkened with passion; strong limbs entwined with hers.

"It's a cavern rose," Marduk explained. "I found it a while back and thought I'd…give it to you."

Merran stared at the flower, lost for words, tears rushing to her eyes.

"In a way," he said softly. "It reminded me of you."

She opened her mouth to speak, but no sound would emerge; her brain a blank.

"Cavern roses grow in the most unlikely of places," Marduk explained matter-of-factly. "Beauty and strength where you'd least expect it. And you're…" His cheeks turned pink as he looked up at her shyly. "You're like that. Strong, and beautiful and smart and all those other things you'd – well, you'd probably hurt me for saying…I'm…sorry?"

Merran had stood up suddenly, hands clenching and unclenching by her sides. She was breathing fast, raising one hand to press against her eyes.

"Warden?" he asked, concerned by the paleness of her skin.

"I have to…" her voice trembled. "I have to…to go…"

She dashed off, almost sprinting across the broken square. She had run blindly away, tripping over an upturned stone tile, stumbling and almost falling, when a large tentacle crashed through a wall, curling around her middle and lifting her high.

-oo-

"Die, fiend!"

Alistair ran an exasperated hand across his face as the young helmed soldier jumped up and down on the remains of a Genlock archer. She had acquitted herself well in the field, Alistair noted with a professional eye. Her sword work was quite excellent. She was fast and she was efficient. She would make a great Grey Warden…if she didn't constantly get in everyone's way, shouting battle cries before engaging every single foe and then insisting on…ensuring that the deceased enemy did not get up to walk away.

In the case of this Genlock, it would first have to reassemble itself…He winced, watching the soldier stomp with great determination on the Genlock's head. Maybe not so much 'reassemble', but 'reconstitute'…

Jowan sidled up to Alistair, wiping his longsword with a cloth pilfered from an Ogre. As all an Ogre usually wore was a single loincloth and shoulder guards, there was a dead Ogre lying someone on the field of battle, exposing itself in death.

"Is there any use telling her she should avoid the Taint?" Jowan asked.

Oghren joined them, crossing both arms on the head of his axe. "Grey Warden recruit, huh?" he nudged Alistair's side. "Standard's fallen a bit…"

"Why Oghren?" Alistair sighed. "Are you hoping to join?" He turned to Jowan. "And…" He shook his head furiously. "I don't know!"

As he slapped his forehead, the soldier completed her post-battle assault to her satisfaction and approached the three men, chest heaving as she caught her breath. She still managed to snap off a salute. "All Darkspawn! Defeated! Warden Commander!"

There was a deep chuckle at waist height. "Might be one Archdemon short of a Blight," Oghren chortled, attempting to dig his elbow into Alistair's hip. "But she's gotta great rack…"

Alistair rolled his eyes. It would have been useless to tell Oghren off, so he didn't try.

"Look, erm…?"

"Mhairi! Warden Commander!"

"Riiiiiight…Mhairi. A bit of advice."

"Yes! Warden! Commander!"

"You actually only need to kill a Darkspawn once, okay? Just the once is fine – and then we move on to the next one, until all of them have fallen over."

"But! Warden Commander! All Darkspawn must be eliminated!"

"Yes," Alistair said, trying to be patient – and trying not to sound as though he was speaking to a three-year old – and finding it difficult. "You have. And…"

"They must be crushed!" Mhairi held up her hand and curled it into a fist. "Their evil stain wiped from this world!"

Alistair turned to Jowan, "How far is it Vigil's Keep from here?" he asked in a lowered voice as Mhairi continued to Crush, Kill and Destroy Darkspawn in her head.

Watching Mhairi trample The Abominated Fiends of the Deep Roads in horror, Jowan whispered back, "About a week on foot."

"Hm…" Alistair mused, as Mhairi moved on to Purging all of Ferelden of the Dark Evil of Darkspawn. He had a plan; a flash of brilliance that not even Avernus himself would have come up with.

Squaring his shoulders, Alistair barked, "Warden Recruit Mhairi!"

"Ser! Yes! Ser!"

He tried not to smile, but his eyes reflected something calculating. Could he turn this woman – this girl – into a Grey Warden? Could he make her Tainted and give her the strength of a Grey Warden; their reflexes and their powers of healing? Could he make her into a Grey Warden and then unleash her into the world? Well…

"You wish to be a Grey Warden?" he asked her.

"It would be a dream of a lifetime! Warden Commander!" Mhairi stood so stiffly to attention; she was in danger of dislocating her spine.

"Excellent!" Alistair clapped his hand together. "That's what I like to hear. I have a mission for you. A Grey Warden mission, that I think you would be well-suited for. Now, there is a…special Grey Warden outpost, up in Soldier's Peak, where you'll find a very interesting and rather elderly 'senior' Grey Warden called Avernus. Here's a map. What I'd like you to do is…"

At this point Jowan had to walk away, clapping his hands over his ears, for added measure. He didn't want to hear the rest. Nor did he want to speculate who would have the worst deal – Avernus or Mhairi. He suspected the former. The thing was, he knew that Alistair knew the young female soldier was just a recruit – she hadn't undergone the Joining yet, so as a Grey Warden, she would be absolutely useless for one of Avernus' 'ethical' experiments; unless the old Mage knew how to perform the Joining. He doubted it. Grey Warden laboratory rats would have been continued to be created otherwise.

After a few moments, Alistair came back, retrieved Mhairi's horse and led it to her. He even helped her mount and waved her off. When he rejoined Jowan, he was looking smug – too smug - in Jowan's opinion.

"Do I even want to ask what you told her?" Jowan asked. On Alistair's other side, Zevran was shaking his head, shoulders shaking in amusement. Leliana's face however, was thunderous.

"No," Alistair replied uncooperatively. He'd had enough chatting to last him to the end of the week. "You don't."

"So we got rid of the Glory Hound," Oghren grunted behind them. "What now?"

"I don't know about you, my friends," Zevran's golden eyes twinkled. "But I could do with a drink."

"For once Elf," Oghren patted Zevran on the back. "I agree with you. Piss up it is." As an afterthought, he turned to Alistair. "Boss?"

"Yeah…" Alistair replied, looking suddenly grim. "Sure."

-oo-

Merran clawed at the broken and cracked floor tiles, dragging herself across the ground. She couldn't stand and she was losing sensation in her right arm. Hauling herself to the nearest wall, Merran kept one eye on the battle, while she cast healing spells on herself. Halfway through re-knitting her shattered shin bone, she cast a spirit barrier in front of Wynne just in time. A second later a small explosion rocked the area, showering them all in dust and grit as one of Marduk's little exploding lyrium-balls went off.

Shin-bone finished, she started on her cracked ribs, feeling her lungs refill with air as they too were repaired. Taking a deep breath, she rose gingerly to her feet – another lyrium-ball exploded with great force, splattering a nearby wall with blood and gore. There was a pause. Merran thought that was the last of them, when the floor erupted with more.

Gritting her teeth, Merran leant over the side of the half wall that was propping her up and happened to look over the side…

Andraste's stitched britches! "Far below, visible from this level was not only one Broodmother, but three of them. Gulping down rising bile at the sight of them, Merran glanced back at the others. All three of them were a tad occupied at present.

Another of Marduk's lyrium-balls went off, shaking the entire room. There was a loud squeaking above. Merran followed the noise. There was a large, suspended platform, carved intricately with depictions of Dwarven battles of long ago around the edge. Deep, regular gouges in the rock showed where once, lamps would have burned…so somewhere, there would be a mechanism for lowering it, right?

Merran looked about. Of course, if she miscalculated, the Dwarven chandelier could just fall and cap the top of the opening and the Broodmothers would continue spitting out Darkspawn…spawn…

Stumbling, Merran found the first release and kicked the lever. The first of the chains rattled noisily free. As she head to the next one, a tentacle snaked around her ankle and dragged her sliding across the floor. Hands scrabbling, nails tearing, she managed to grab a hold of a broken piece of tile, stabbing it into the tentacle. Blood splattered her hands and face – the tentacle let go and she was racing across the room once more to the other release. Jerking the brake lever, Merran heard the sound of chains falling…then come to an abrupt stop. She looked up – the stone chandelier had angled downwards, but the ancient chain had broken and snagged on an eyelet.

"Merran!" Wynne yelled at her from the other side. "Hurry!"

"Chain's caught!" she shouted back, casting her gaze around the room for a likely weapon; any weapon that she could throw at the chain to somehow dislodge it. She'd darted away, spotting a likely rock, when Marduk shot past her. Before she could say anything, he'd stepped up onto the half wall and launched himself upwards, grabbing the edge of the dangerously tilting chandelier with one and a half hands. Using pits in the surface of the slab, he climbed to the centre of the chandelier, a lyrium-ball hanging from its wick in his mouth.

Shooting her one last, cheeky grin, he lit the lyrium-ball…She ducked as it detonated, releasing the second and third chain and sending the chandelier plummeting below. There was an almighty crash followed by a second explosion. The wall that Merran leant against crumpled, nearly sending her plunging head first into the long drop.

She inched backwards, hands over her head, sobbing and shaking her head. He'd been about to give her a flower, was her only thought – and now he was gone. Wiping her eyes, Merran rolled onto her hands and knees, surveying the damage through a cloud of thick dust.

"Merran!" She heard Wynne's voice call. "I need you."

She stumbled across the floor towards Wynne's voice. The elderly Mage had sounded injured and she quickened her pace, finding an indistinct, huddled shape and heading towards it.

"Are you…?" she began, to find Wynne, bending over the curled form of Marduk.

"Holy Maker…!" Merran exclaimed softly, her eyes going to the Senior Enchanter. "Is he…?"

"Still alive," Wynne confirmed, "but barely – and I don't have enough magic to heal him. Can you…?"

Merran bent down quickly, not needing to be told twice. Taking a deep breath, she closed her eyes and stepped part way into the Fade. She was going to need a lot of healing magic for this one…But she didn't care, sensing Hunger Demons approach at the edges. Drawing on all the magical energy she could harvest, Merran felt the claws of something ravenous before great, dragon-like jaws snapped at the demons, scattering them back to prowl along the perimeter.

She returned, opening her eyes, just as Marduk drew a breath and his eyes fluttered open. He smiled up at her briefly, before Wynne sent him to sleep.

Merran sat back, wiping her forehead of sweat and dirt. Unexpectedly, Wynne chuckled at her.

"Nothing ever changes, does it?" Wynne said, observing her with affection and gratitude. "After all this time child, you are still full of surprises…"