Zevran started awake, the sound of metal on metal as swords clashed pushing him to his feet as he drew his daggers.
"Warden!" he hollered, looking around for the threat. The tinkling sound of female laughter drifted to him and his eyes narrowed.
"Over here, Zev," Alexa called and he sheathed his weapons. Their horses whinnied as he moved around them, sun already full in the sky. He was pleased to see they had been tended to and no longer looked ready to drop. How did he manage to sleep so late? He found Alexa and Sylvia standing next to each other, swords drawn.
"Ah, but who could sleep when there is such beauty about?" his accented voice asked as he shook his head.
"You, apparently," Sylvia teased.
Alexa laughed. "We were having a lesson. I told Sylvia if she is going to carry that thing around with her, she was going to learn how to use it. And…?"
Recognizing the prompt, Sylvia dropped the tip of her blade and recited. "And how to care and respect for your blade. If you do not care for your blade's well-being, it will not care for yours. And a blade that does not care is an open invitation to forfeit your life."
"Well perhaps you can move your lesson closer to camp, so I may learn a thing or two while I make us breakfast."
"Breakfast!" Sylvia responded eagerly and Alexa nodded, stomach gurgling.
"Be grateful it's Zev making us breakfast. Alistair made us breakfast once and it was hard as a rock. Used the last of our oats that morning, didn't he?" Alexa asked Zevran, who tittered as he remembered the lump of charred nasty that Alistair had attempted to serve them.
"What about that stew?"
"Ugh, Maker help us, that was not a stew. That was a punishment for crimes yet not committed." Alexa leaned down conspiratorially to Sylvia, who's eyes were twinkling from the stories. "It was this awful gray stew. Tiny had spent the day collecting rabbits for us."
"Tiny?"
"My Mabari. You will meet him when we return to Denerim. As I was saying, Tiny had collected a fair number of rabbits for us and Alistair spent the day talking up this delicious rabbit stew."
"That was not stew," Zevran muttered. "That was a gray slime with chunks of charred bunny. I do believe I ate bark that night as it was the better option."
"Papa Alistair never told me that."
"Ah, he told you many stories of our adventures then?" Zevran charmed while Alexa began to pick up around the campsite.
"Oh yes! He told me about being in the Fade and the Deep Roads and meeting the Daelish. He told me how the Hero – how Alexa," she corrected herself, flashing an impish grin at the woman in question, "Had the most glorious singing voice."
Zevran chuckled. "Ah yes, our fearless leader can sing quite the pretty tune. Tell me, my dear, how was it you came to live with the King?"
Sylvia blushed, looking down at her toes. "I thought he looked like an easy mark."
"I once thought the same thing," he laughed with her.
"Well he was walking around and he wasn't paying attention to anything. And I hadn't eaten in almost three days because Jebra was getting mad that I wasn't bringing in my share."
"Jebra?"
"Nug humping bastard," the ten year old muttered.
"Language, young lady," came Alexa's automatic response. For one chilling moment, she heard her mother's voice in her own.
"Sorry. He ran the orphanage I grew up in. We would…" Sylvia hesitated, noticing how intently the adults were watching her.
"Go on, Sylvia," Alexa prompted gently. "We have all done things we are not proud of. You are safe with us. We will not judge you. But we think someone is trying to use you to hurt Alistair, so we need to know everything."
With a nod and a reluctant sigh, Sylvia continued telling her story. "He would make us rob people, steal things. Said he wasn't getting enough from the Crown to feed all of us and that if we didn't earn our keep he would sell us to the Tevinter mages to be brought back as slaves. I managed to escape a few times, but he always found me and he always brought me back. He always brought us all back, beating us until we couldn't move… Anyway, I wasn't doing my share he claimed. When I wasn't out on the street, I was locked in the closet. And I didn't want to be in the closet. I wanted to eat. And he was just standing there, staring at this house, watching these kids playing. He didn't even notice me. That creep Evans did though. I'd almost made it away and he grabbed me. He told the King that they should hang me for my offense."
"Stealing from the Crown usually carries a heavy price," Zevran said idly.
"Yeah…" Sylvia agreed. "Well. Papa Alistair wouldn't let him do it. She's only a girl, a child. A goofy looking one at that." Her imitation of Alistair's voice was almost spot on and it made Alexa smile.
"True, you are a rather silly looking girl. What with all that strange red hair and all."
"It's the same color as yours," Sylvia retorted then cocked her head to her side, studying Alexa's form. "Did he keep me because of you?"
"What makes you think that?"
"Well, in his stories…his voice gets all soft and mushy every time he talks about you. And I heard him arguing with uncle Teagen once about how you were never coming back and it was time for him to move on and find someone to marry. And…we kind of look alike."
"We both have red hair," Alexa told her, shrugging a bit. "But that's like saying Zevran and Alistair look alike because they are both blondes."
Sylvia studied Zevran for several moments, her heart beat increasing when his eyes met hers. "No. Zevran is much prettier than Papa Alistair."
The Elf in question let out a barking laugh at that. "Ah, mon cher, do not tease old Zevran so with your kind words."
"You're not old," Sylvia whispered bravely.
Laughing on the inside, Alexa cleared her throat. "So what did Alistair do then?"
"Huh? Oh. He took me to the palace with him. We went in the larder and ate and ate and ate. He ate almost as much as me. The poor cook looked like he was going to be sick. And, I don't know, he decided to keep me I guess. He put someone else in charge of the orphanage, someone from the Chantry. He got me pretty things to wear and gave me my sword. He said if I did well in my lessons then I could learn how to use it. He and Evans would fight about me. Evans called me a…a traitor. Said how Anora wouldn't have stood for such insolence."
Zevran's eyes met Alexa's and she nodded. "Well, Anora is long gone. Come now, mon petite. It is time for your breakfast."
Sylvia ate with gusto while the adults got the horses ready. They didn't push the horses nearly as hard as they had on the way to retrieve the girl, instead taking their time while Alexa's mind worked out the puzzle at hand. Was Evans truly loyal to Anora? But if so, then why was he so insistent on respecting the Crown.
Or was that it? It was the Crown he demanded respect for, not necessarily Alistair's head beneath it. But plotting against Alistair was pointless now that Anora was dead. Blast it all. She really hated politics.
"Sylvia?" Alexa asked quietly, getting the girls attention. They shared a horse while Zevran rode next to them with their supplies.
"Hmm?" came the drowsy response. The girl had chatted nearly non-stop for hours while they travelled and had only recently fallen silent.
"I'm going to need to keep you safe while we look into Evans. Do you trust me?"
"Does that mean I'm not going home yet?"
"That means you will not be going home yet," Alexa confirmed.
Sylvia cuddled back, her head coming to rest against Alexa's chest. The former Gray Warden pressed a kiss to the unruly red hair in front of her, snaking an arm around her waist. "I trust you."