Prompt: Hero.
Disclaimer: I do not own Dragon Age.
If there was one thing that Nathaniel's nephew had in common with his namesake, it was the fact that he had a mild obsession with Grey Wardens. Unlike with their own parents, Delilah and her husband had no deep-seated issues with the ancient order that was ruling over their Arling and so Thomas didn't have to hide it like his uncle had.
Somehow, Thomas' normal childhood fascination with the famed Blight-enders had led to him declaring that Nathaniel was his hero and following him around whenever he came to the Keep for a visit or Nathaniel came into town to see them.
"So your mother told me that you hate to go shopping," Nathaniel remarked as the pair began to walk back to Delilah's house.
Thomas made a face. "Do I ever! It's all just a bunch of standing around and carrying things and mom and dad always take too long to pick things out."
Nathaniel nodded. That really wasn't unexpected for a boy his age. "That leads me to wonder why you just insisted on going on a three-hour shopping trip with me where you smiled the whole time and didn't complain once."
"Oh, well that's different," Thomas explained.
"Because…?" Nathaniel prompted. "I would think your parents' shopping expeditions take less time as they can go to the market whenever they want and I have to make a special trip from Vigil's Keep."
Thomas shrugged. "I don't know. It's just boring when they take me there but it's really cool when you do, even if it does take a lot longer."
Nathaniel blinked in confusion a few times at that. "Why?"
"Hm…I think it's because you're a Grey Warden," Thomas theorized. "And everyone knows that everything that Grey Wardens do is awesome."
"Do they, now?" Nathaniel asked, amused.
"Absolutely," Thomas said seriously with a firm nod. "Although I kind of think you guys would be cooler if you still had griffons."
"So does everybody," Nathaniel murmured. "So why are you such a fan of the Grey Wardens?"
Thomas' eyes widened. "Are you kidding me? Why wouldn't I be?"
"I really want to know," Nathaniel confirmed. "So if you have a reason, I would be happy to hear it."
"You saved everyone from the Blight!" Thomas burst out. "And then you saved all of Amaranthine from the evil talking darkspawn!"
"Both of those things happened before you were even born," Nathaniel pointed out. "And I wasn't even around during the Blight."
"So?" Thomas countered. "That doesn't mean that it's not still awesome or that the Grey Wardens didn't do it. Besides, they're almost scary-good at fighting."
" 'Scary-good'?" Nathaniel repeated, a little puzzled. How could they be so talented at fighting that it was scary? Well, if this was the enemy's perspective he could understand that but the main enemy of the Grey Wardens were the darkspawn and they hadn't seen any talking darkspawn for years.
" 'Scary-good' means 'insanely-good'," Thomas helpfully translated. Upon seeing that this cleared nothing up for his uncle, he continued, "Or 'really good.'"
"Then why don't you just say 'really good'?" Nathaniel inquired.
Thomas shrugged again. "Because everyone else says 'scary-good' or 'insanely-good.'"
"So that's all that it takes to be a hero, huh?" Nathaniel asked rhetorically, feeling somewhat cynical. "Being a talented fighter and killing a lot of darkspawn?"
"You make it sound like that's really easy," Thomas protested. He thought for a moment. "Of course, I suppose for you it might really be but for most people it's kind of not."
"I just think you're throwing about the term 'hero' a little lightly," Nathaniel told him.
"What's a hero for you, then?" Thomas challenged.
Nathaniel frowned, contemplating the question. "For me, I guess, a hero would be someone who saw what was wrong with the world and took steps to correct it, preferably for minimal reward."
"Sort of like, I don't know, someone who fight the darkspawn wherever they go even when everyone else forgets about them?" Thomas asked innocently. "Even when everyone else thinks they don't exist anymore? And who have to be scary-good fighters in order to do this?"
Nathaniel couldn't help the surprised laugh that burst out of him. "Yes, I suppose just like that. But even though the Grey Wardens might technically fit the qualifications, I still don't really feel like we're the big heroes that you and everyone else think that we are."
That stopped Thomas for a moment and he stuck his lip out as he tried to find a way around this new problem. "You know," he said casually once he had thought of something. "I think that maybe that's one of the most important qualifications of a hero: they think that they do just what anybody else would have done and don't realize just how heroic they really are."
"That's certainly one way to look at it," Nathaniel agreed. He was more inclined to think that their 'whatever it takes' philosophy and their cruel recruitment practices were what really separated them from the heroes but he was hardly going to tell his little nephew that, even had he been allowed to.
"But not the way you would, right?" Thomas guessed. "Typical hero. There is still one small problem, though."
"And what is that?" Nathaniel asked him.
"I want to be a Grey Warden when I grow up but since I already know that they're a bunch of heroes, would that at all affect my hero status?" Thomas wondered.
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