Kisses and Kin
A story for lovers of dwarves and irascible older men.
Disclaimer: As usual, Adan and most characters are property of Bioware from their DA: Inquisition game. Zheevá is mine (pronounced zhee VA'). Some spoilers. Conversational spoilers. Some profanity. Romance.
Part 15
A messenger hovered uneasily in the doorway to Adan's workshop, assuring himself that the alchemist was not preoccupied with any delicate work before clearing his throat. "Master Adan?"
"Yes?" Adan responded curtly, carefully drying the glass vial he'd just washed, then putting it in a rack on the shelves.
"The Inquisitor has returned, sir, and she has asked me to tell you that she'd like to see you in her rooms, please sir, if you aren't working on anything delicate right now."
Adan turned, crossing his arms across his chest to glare at the messenger. "Don't sound anything like her. Is that really what she said?"
"Not…precisely, sir." The red-haired young man with a Fereldan accent fidgeted nervously.
"Then tell me what she really said and I might believe you."
"The…the Inquisitor said," the young man stuttered nervously, obviously aware of the alchemist's reputation for bad temper, "she said…'tell that…cranky rock-licker that if he isn't in the middle of something that'll blow up if he ignores it that he should…get his arse to my room.'" The last few words came out in a rush, and the young man flushed when Adan barked a brief laugh.
"Now that sounds like our Cadash. Let me put a couple of more things away, then I'll see what her high-and-mightiness wants."
"S…sir?" The young man hesitated in the doorway. "If I may ask…?" Adan just raised an eyebrow, waiting for the messenger to continue. "What's a rock-licker?"
"What cheeky dwarves call a bronto. Apparently I remind her of one."
"Yes, sir, thank you." The young man fled, but his apprehension had clearly been replaced with bemusement.
Part 16
Adan reached the top of the stairs to find Zheevá's room apparently empty, and hesitated at the top of the stairs, scowling. "Cadash!"
He heard the sound of splashing from behind a door to his left, and a voice called out. "Just a minute!" With a quiet grumble, he crossed his arms, waiting, studying the room curiously. The room was elegantly furnished, and huge, though cool outside of the radius of the cheerful fire. Travel packs were piled near the top of the stairs, but Zheevá's armor and weapons were already neatly racked near the desk on the far side of the room. The alchemist snorted as he realized the variety of daggers she owned, as well as two bows that even he recognized as works of art. Other than the packs, armor, and weapons, there were few signs of the woman who lived here…when she was actually in Skyhold he thought sourly, just a couple of steins on the table, carved in a style that he recognized as popular in the Freemarches and a couple of books on the table next to her bed.
The door opened and closed, and he was startled to see Leliana coming toward him when he turned, looking concerned. "She'll be out in a moment, she needed a little help." With those cryptic words, she started down the stairs. "I'll leave you to it, just remember this wasn't her fault and don't roar too much at her." She smiled briefly before vanishing through the door, leaving him to gnaw at her ambiguous statements before he crossed to the door Leliana had come out of.
"Cadash?"
The door opened again, and Zheevá stepped into the room, hair wrapped in a linen towel, and wrapped in a thick green wool robe, only slippers on her feet. Adan opened his mouth to ask her what was going on, then realized she was unusually pale, and she was cradling her left arm.
"Sod it, what did you do to yourself, Cadash?" He managed to keep from shouting too loud, but she still winced.
"I didn't do a sodding thing to myself, you cranky rock-licker, and try to keep it down under a dragon's roar, would you? Someone's playing several sets of drums on the inside of my head."
Within a second, he was on her, back of his hand feeling her forehead, then her cheek, scowling, but his voice much softer if still as acerbic. "If you didn't do it, who did? And why isn't there a healer with you?"
She leaned her cheek into his hand tiredly. "Because a couple of nights ago when I was standing watch on the way back, we were attacked by some giant spiders. One got me on the arm, some kind of poison, but none of the antidotes I know work completely."
"What a cock-up! Go sit on the couch before you fall over. Where's your workbench, I know you don't mix everything in my workshop?"
Zheevá pointed tiredly at a second door on the far side of the room. "In there, past the ladder. I don't have the supplies you do, but I do have all the basics for working with poisons and antidotes." Adan strode briskly to the door while she stumbled to the couch in front of the fire, pulling a sheepskin robe around her as she rested her head against a pile of cushions. Within a few moments, the alchemist was back with a basket of vials and herbs and a tray with a mortar and pestle which he set down on the table between the couch and the fire.
"Alright, show me this bite. Since you sent for me, I assume it's somewhere you're willing to show me this time." Despite his biting tone, his hands were gentle as he helped her sit up straight.
"I'm not clumsy enough to let a spider get a shot at my arse, you crotchety bear." Clumsily, she untied the belt of the robe, sliding it far enough off her shoulders to pull her left arm free. She only wore a thin sleeveless cotton tunic under the robe that left her arm bare to the shoulder for him to exam the surprisingly small, half-healed bite mark on her forearm.
"You don't have a fever and your eyes look fine. What symptoms?" He lightly pressed on different spots on her arm, following the major veins and watching her reactions to gauge how much pain each touch caused.
"My arm is throbbing up to my shoulder, and every time you touch it, there's a sharp pain like someone driving a needle into me. It hurts to move much. Headache, but I'm not sure that's directly from the poison, I haven't been able to sleep since I was bitten. No appetite."
"If you haven't eaten or slept since then, that's probably why you have a headache. Has it been throbbing all the way to your shoulder since you were bitten?"
"No, it's spread from my elbow to the shoulder over the past day and a half. Slow poison spread, whatever it is." She rested her head against his shoulder, eyes half closed. The alchemist lightly touched her neck to check her pulse, then leaned in to cover her lips softly with his, tongue briefly sliding between them in the softest of kisses before pulling his head away to study her eyes.
Zheevá laughed briefly, her eyes lively for a moment or two. "I expect a better kiss than that as a welcome home."
Adan snorted before he started rummaging in the basket, pulling out a vial and removing the stopper. "Not hardly. Sometimes you can taste the poison."
The dwarven woman raised an eyebrow at him. "So, I need to be concerned that you're going to kiss anyone brought to you for poisoning? Good to know."
"Minx" He held the vial to her lips, helping her drink it. "That trick only works when you already know what that person should taste like, and I haven't been kissing anyone else." He made certain she'd drunk almost every drop of the greyish liquid, then restoppered the vial and laid it on the tray. "Relieves the headache and eases some of the pain." He settled a couple of cushions against the arm of the couch and helped her lay back against them, covering her carefully with the sheepskin robe. Then he began quickly and neatly mixing herbs into an ointment in the mortar, grinding slowly and carefully. "The good news is, I think this is a poison that will gradually work its way out of your system, I've seen a couple of bites like this."
"And the bad news?" She watched him curiously, eyes half shut.
"It's only bad news if you don't let me treat it, arse. Takes about two weeks to completely work itself out, and the pain gets worse. A lot worse. Good thing for you, I know something that'll neutralize most of it, though your arm will be a little sore and stiff for maybe a week."
She grimaced. "Will I be able to ride within a day or so?"
"Maker's balls, woman, are you telling me you came all the way here just to leave again?" He somehow managed to roar without raising the volume of his voice at all.
"Not my choice. Josephine sent us word that we needed to get back so we can pull everyone together to leave for Halamshiral in a proper procession. If we don't leave within a day or so, we'll have to risk injuring our mounts to make it there in time for the ball." Zheevá rolled her eyes, her voice just slightly waspish. "Believe me, I'd much rather be here, making a mess in your workshop, than rubbing elbows with a bunch of Orlesian muckety-mucks who'll look down their noses at me, and it's the Maker's own luck that I'm in this kind of shape for the day or so I'm here."
She watched him work for a minute, yawning. "You've asked about mine, but you've never mentioned any family, Adan."
"Never had much and what I did died during the blight and civil war. A couple of cousins in Denerim, a niece in the chantry."
"No one else? Never married or thought about it?"
"There was a brother taken to Kinloch as a mage before I was born, dunno if he's alive or dead, never even knew what his name was because my mum grieved for him as dead." He added some more dried leaves from one jar, continuing to grind for a minute in silence. "Never married. Betrothed once, but she broke it off and married someone else two weeks later." The alchemist shrugged.
"I'm sorry."
"Probably lucky; she spent every dime the other fellow had, then took to drinking." He paused to check the texture of the mixture. "Never been much good at trusting since then, though." Adan scooped up some of the salve and began to rub it into her arm, starting with the fingertips and working his way up toward her shoulder.
"She was an idiot." Half-lidded green eyes watched him work. "You have a very light touch, Adan. Just wish it were for a better reason."
"Ha! You admitted you like being nursemaided, arse." His scowl was half smile.
"Sodding spider." Zheevá leaned into him, yawning again. "Here we are alone in front of a fire, finally, in my room with me half undressed with your hands all over my arm, no less, and I can barely move my arm and I'm ready to fall asleep on the spot."
"I thought it was just your way to see if I could give you a massage like that elf at the brothel." She snorted at him, curling her legs up under her and turning into his side. "And to show off your very distracting nightshirt, minx."
"Ha! My bed has lots of wool blankets and furs, who says I sleep in anything? I just put this on so you could work on my arm without forgetting what you were here for."
He finished with the salve and got her to sit back up enough to slip her arm back into the robe. "Hmm, now there's something to keep me busy thinking." When the robe was back around her, he surprised her by pulling her into his lap, one hand cupped around her cheek as he bent down to kiss her very slowly and lingeringly, brushing her lips one last time before pulling his head back to search her eyes intently. "How are you feeling?"
"Head's starting to feel better, though I'm not sure if that's the glop you fed me or that very distracting welcome home kiss. The throbbing in my arm's fading some, but…" She yawned broadly, the kind that seems to go on forever, covering her mouth as she fought to keep her eyes open. "Sod it, Adan, what was in…?" The dwarf slumped against him, and he adjusted her head to rest against his shoulder, then sat with his arms around the limply sleeping woman, lips touching the top of her towel-wrapped hair, long past the point he was sure the potion had completely taken hold.
"Maker's breath, woman, let someone else play hero sometimes. I need you to come back safely." He finally stood up cautiously with her in his arms, a bit surprised at how solid she really was, despite her height, and took her to the bed, laying her down on one side while he turned down the other, then very carefully shifted her and covered her up with every blanket he could find. He caressed her cheek briefly then kissed her forehead softly before walking very quietly to the stairs.
Part 17
Adan wasn't terribly surprised to find Leliana hovering near the door into the great hall, her face conveying far more worry than she'd shown earlier. "How is she?"
"Asleep. Think she got to me early enough that she'll be mostly better by tomorrow, but her arm will be weak for a few days." He scowled at her. "You'd better hope the Maker himself doesn't show up at the front gates demanding to see her because nothing's going to wake her up before morning, not with what I gave her."
"I agree, but I'm surprised she let you give her something."
"She didn't. I told her it was for the headache. Little arse would have argued, and this wasn't the time. Besides, it'll give her something to chew me out for in the morning." Leliana covered her mouth to hide a smile. "If you people are going to insist on risking her by dragging her right back out, someone may need to lead her horse for a few days."
She touched him lightly on the arm. "Adan, we wouldn't if we had a choice, but she's the only one we can get…"
"Into the ball because she's the Inquisitor, I heard." His voice was sour. "I'm Fereldan, and as far as I'm concerned, all of Orlais isn't worth half what she is, but if saving them helps stop that magister, then I won't stop you." He glanced around the great hall, seeing nobles watching them without appearing to watch and rolled his eyes. "I'm staying with her tonight so I can keep an eye on her arm and rub in more salve if it needs it. Give them nobles something juicy to gossip over."
Leliana gestured for one of the messengers nearby. "I'll have food and something to drink brought up. Do you need anything from your workroom or anything for her?"
"She's got a kettle and pot already up there, so just stuff for making tea and some grated elfroot and dried mint. When she wakes up in the morning, there's a chance she'll be sick, so a basin, but the tea and herbs will help."
The spymaster nodded and signaled the man to take care of it for Adan. "There'll be guards posted here, if you need anything." Leliana smiled ruefully. "You may be the oddest pair I've ever known, Adan, but I am very relieved that she has you to watch out for her."
Looking embarrassed, Adan quickly went back through the door and up the stairs. He checked briefly on Zheevá, then rummaged through the books on her shelves until he found the alchemy books. Selecting one he wasn't familiar with, he drew a large armchair close enough that he could see her face and began to read by the light from the fire.
Afterword
I've been treating their alchemy closer to practical chemistry than classical alchemy for the simple reason that alchemy in the game works. I'm assuming they work mostly by experiment, and once they find something that works, some scholarly alchemist explains it somehow with something similar to classical alchemical theory. These two don't worry too much about explaining how things work.
I apologize this is a bit late, major professional deadline this week interfered.
Dear friends of mine are the inspiration for the flavor of Zheevá and Adan's relationship, a couple whose relationship took me years to begin to understand and appreciate.
