The next day they finally arrived at the horsemasters' farm, thankfully without any further violence. Anne couldn't have been more grateful, not only for the peace, but also for their destination. It felt so comforting to be back on a farm, to feel like she understood the world around her.
What she should have known was that the farmer was going to drive a bargain. Her Papa used to take her around for the tax collection, to learn how to handle the complaint and the deviating. Horsemaster Dennet didn't seem to care about the righteousness of their cause, and she should've known it. The smallfolk had always only cared about where their next meal came from, it was nobles' job to worry about the larger problems. As Dennet left to gather his family, Anne squared her shoulders. She could sense a bargain was about to be struck.
Dennet returned with his wife, daughter, and a farmhand, and the battle began. They wanted the rifts nearby handled - of course we will be closing those; there was a pack of wolves that was attacking farmers - I don't see how that is Inquisition business; one of our druffalo has gone missing - I really don't see how that is Inquisition business; six watchtowers would ensure the safety of the area - I will requisition our army for one.
In the end a deal was struck for them to handle the rifts and Anne drove a bargain for three watchtowers (which seemed to be the original goal anyway). Elaina, Dennet's wife, also insisted on them finding the missing druffalo, and, in the end, Anne gave in because how hard could it be anyway.
At dinner that night they enjoyed their first chance to relax from a long time on the road. Again, the Chargers managed to produce some ale and some nasty-smelling liquor that nauseated Anne.
She had the impression Varric and Bull were colluding against her, as they had deliberately steered her to sit in the middle of the Chargers.
Krem looked about as thrilled as she felt. "You know, for a holy woman, you don't smell like the Herald of Andraste."
Anne looked askance at him. None of them were peaches and roses, but she had stopped noticing after the third day.
"Tomorrow is laundry day," he announced, and the Chargers all roared in agreement. Several stood up to cheers him.
Anne looked down at her jupon. Tonight she wore it for warmth, but Krem was right, she realized as she ducked a sneaky sniff at her armpit. It was in dire need of a wash.
"I'll leave it out for you tomorrow."
From across the fire, Skinner barked out a laugh.
"If that's what you think is happening, you've got another thing coming, my lady," she said mockingly. "Everyone does their own laundry in the Chargers."
Anne shot a look at Bull and Varric, who were looking very smug.
"I - I don't know how," she said uncertainly, looking at them to save her.
An elbow jabbed her in the ribs. "Don't worry, you'll learn, princess," Krem said, knocking back his small beer.
There was some snickering over the nickname, and Anne could only impotently shoot back, "I'm not a princess." She spent the rest of her night picking at the meat and bread, trying to imagine what her mother would say if she saw Anne doing her own laundry.
The next morning she had thought they would bring water up to the tents in buckets, but instead the crew headed down to a ravine downriver from their camp. One of the rifts the farmer had mentioned was blazing over the water. Anne stood at the top of the hill with Grim, picking off demons where she could, but these ones were far more difficult to kill. The screams that rent the air as they fought and died set her teeth on edge.
The whole time her hand vibrated and nettled, and this time she could feel it as another will took over. Her hand snapped shut and the world folded over the rift.
As Solas came back up the ravine, she looked at him questioningly. Neither of them had really spoken since he had promised her baby was safe.
"It feels different," she said plaintively as he passed her.
He cocked his head, waiting for her to explain, but she didn't know how.
"It's...it just feels different." She screwed up her face and palmed her face with her normal hand. "It's not growing, but it's changing?"
He held his hand out for hers and she let him ghost his magic over her.
"You okay there, Boss?" Bull asked, coming up behind the mage with Varric.
She nodded, but just then Solas sent a shock into her wrist and she yelped and ripped her hand away.
It was like spiders were crawling through her hand, and she shook her arm out, trying to change the sensation.
"The mark is still the same as before," he said as though it were nothing.
She watched him with a puzzled look as he shouldered past her. Apparently he wasn't joining them for laundry. She wondered how he was managing to keep so clean. Magic, I suppose, she thought as she shook out her wrist one last time and followed the Chargers down to the stream. Everyone was stripping off in the summer heat and starting to wash. Anne stared blankly, she had no idea how to do this.
Something soft hit her square in the back and she turned to see Dalish looking at her expectantly. Anne looked down to see a large dress balled up on the ground.
"Put it on, if you're not comfortable," Dalish said, exasperated.
She must have looked panicked, because Dalish then grabbed her by the arm and threw her behind a tree.
"Krem's right. You sure as shit don't smell holy."
The dress must have been a Chantry sister's, from the look of it. Anne winced at the sacrilege of it, but she was too far past caring who it used to belong to. Better to wear the habit than be naked in front of everyone.
"We don't have all day, princess," Dalish said, turning around to give Anne her privacy.
"I'm not a princess," Anne grumbled, sliding the jupon off. She looked down at her smalls and realized they had to smell worse than anything else on her. The dress was large enough for her to do some creative positioning and pull the smalls off from under her dress. When she was ready, she turned back and followed them down to the water, holding her bundle of clothes over her swinging chest.
Everyone was trading blocks of lye soap, and some were splashing in the water. Anne squatted down next to Dalish, trying desperately not to look at anyone. She had mistakenly seen Varric and she was not prepared for all that chest hair.
A splash of water hit her full in the face and she looked up and yelped.
There stood a proud Rocky, naked as the day he was born. He wiggled his very bare hips suggestively, everything dangling wildly, and Anne threw herself sideways and back to look at the grassy hill instead.
"Told you!" Krem yelled cheerfully. "Pay up!" Varric was laughing, passing a few coins over to him.
Anne shot them a glare, then quickly turned back to avoid their nakedness. Rocky had gone back downstream and she went back to work, trying to imitate how Dalish was working the soap through her clothes.
But then something struck her and she looked back up over at Krem. Up until that point she had just assumed he was a man, but now she could see his body.
A hand came down on her shoulder as she was surreptitiously watching him. "He is what he is," Bull whispered.
She turned back to look at him, grateful to see he was holding his wet trousers over his waist. She opened her mouth to ask a question but he shook his head.
"Accept him as he is," he said quietly, and then turned away from her, giving her a full view of his sizable bare backside.
Her surprise kept her quiet, but as she washed her clothes, she decided there was no reason to argue. Krem had breasts, but that didn't change anything else about him. It certainly didn't change the fact that she was annoyed at him for betting on her reaction to Rocky's display.
"Can't the men do this somewhere else?" she whispered to Dalish.
The elf didn't even look up at her, instead choosing to just sigh and mutter something to Skinner next to her. Anne could tell they were sharing a look about her and it wasn't nice. "Do you see anywhere else for them to go?" Dalish fired back at a normal volume.
"This is what life is like on the road," Skinner said. "Shit or get off the pot, princess."
Again, grumbling she wasn't a princess, she went back to work on her clothes. Some of the Chargers were starting to beat their shirts on the rocks on the edge of the ravine and Anne realized the dirty water came out faster that way.
She heaved the jupon out of the water - with the quilting and moisture it was thrice as heavy - and tried to do the same. The first time she missed dramatically and almost hit Dalish in the face.
Skinner came over and grabbed it out of her hands. The tiny elf worked her wiry hands over material, deftly wringing the excess water. When she had finished, she handed back to Anne to beat on the rock.
Anne spent the rest of the day in awe of the Chargers' strength. She had always assumed you had to be built like Blackwall or the Iron Bull to be strong, and most of the Chargers were less powerfully built than their boss. Skinner and Dalish were so slight and slim, but their hands were stronger than any muscle in Anne's body. She could barely wring a drop of moisture out of the puffy jupon, and trying was exhausting.
Anne was the last one to finish, and by the end, her back felt like it would break. She struggled back up the steep hill to camp with Grim and Varric, who had been chatting while she worked.
Varric proffered his arm as they levelled out and she took it happily until he steered her to sit right down between Krem and Rocky. She tried to twist away, she was still angry about the prank, but he held her tight and she didn't have any strength left.
They were eating a late lunch and didn't seem much happier than she was to have her between them.
She looked across the fire to Bull, who was watching her with his eyebrows raised. She could tell this was another damn test, and she had no idea how to pass it. Her face must have given it away, because he made a gesture for her to talk and then sat back with his arms crossed.
Part of her wanted to tell the pair of them off for their prank, but she also knew she would have to be on the road with them for the foreseeable future. Any snappy retort would get her nowhere, or worse, would make them want to prank her more. She wasn't sure how many more naked men she could handle.
She cleared her throat carefully and took a waterskin from Rocky when he past it off to her. "So how much did you win?" she asked, trying to sound casual.
Krem raised his eyebrows at her. "Three coppers."
"Hope you shared it with the dwarf himself," she said, nodding her head to Rocky.
Rocky laughed and reached to clap Krem on the back. "'Course he did! It's a joint effort, princess."
She bit back at the "I'm not a princess" grumble at the last moment. "Well, you did do all the work." She took a large swig and past the waterskin to a surprised looking Krem.
She looked back to Bull who gave her the smallest of nods.