BioWare owns all but what I made up. : )
I hope you continue to enjoy this. Sorry about the delay; real life kept getting in the way and delaying it.
Shout outs go to first my reviewers. I am so sorry, my doves, that I did not get to give you personal emails like I usually do. That afore-mentioned real life crap...so here is my love and appreciation to you: Ladyamesindy, Violet Theirin, kiwibliss, Night Hunter MGS, Cynder Jenn, Piceron, Eva Galena, Miri1984, Xeriana, Bingham Vance, MireliAmbar, Shakespira, Tanith Aeyrs, thank you all so very, very much!
And shout outs to those who put my story on favs and alerts, and me on favs and alerts, bless you all too! So to Siha Shap, Zeeji, Levi Madden, -Kurohyou, Shanzi123, Garlic Muse, Nevastar, Gwyndylyn, suomvision, Shakespria thank you so much!
Shout outs to my betas: Night Hunter MGS, Ladyamesindy, Violet Theirin, and Janni. They really help me so much. And especially since I wanted to cry because I never thought I would get this chapter posted. They kept me from banging my head against a wall or two. Thanks guys! ^_^
And a special shout of thanks to Piceron, or as I call her Centaur Queen, for being beta for all things horse related. *blows kisses for soft noses Thanks so much Pic!
And all of you lurkers, readers, reviewers as always I am so humbled by you. You are the peanut butter to my honey. I can't thank you enough, or express how much you all mean to me.
Blessings!
"This is far more pleasant than what you were doing before, isn't it?" That friendly voice that had chided her jokingly for cutting herself seemed to come from behind her. But when she turned to try and see him, her 'dream person' as she thought of the voice, it was as if he stayed out of her line of vision. "See-ee, so many things to live for!" And Kai looked out at a table filled with...cheese?
"I lose everyone I love and my brain comes up with cheese as an incentive to keep going? I must be going insane!" Kai pinched the bridge of her nose. Well, this was better than the horrible nightmares she had been having.
"Hey-y!" The voice sounded in mock hurt, "Cheese is the stuff of the Maker! I'll have you know that Andraste herself was an avid cheese lover and that it wasn't her singing that impressed the Maker, really. It was her fine taste in cheese."
Kai couldn't help it, she burst out laughing. She was laughing so hard she had to put her hands on her knees to catch her breath. "Well, that certainly would have made going to services, and the Chant, far more interesting." The voice gave a chuckle.
She stood up and walked over to the table and looked more closely. There were cheeses from all over Thedas. What really drew her eye was a bowl filled with cheese in the shape of mice. She grinned, "All we need for that is to have a cat made out of bread to chase the mice, and I could then truly say that is one of the most bizarre dreams I have ever had."
No sooner had the words left her lips than a cat made out of bread leapt on the table and started stalking towards the bowl of cheddar mice, which had come to life, noses twitching, "I think this falls under 'be careful what you wish for', doesn't it?" The voice started laughing harder as the cheese mice scattered when the bread cat knocked over the bowl which fell with a crash of breaking crockery...
And Kai found herself awake as the gray light from another overcast rainy day dimly lit the room. She found only Argus in bed with her. And she remembered with a start the cuts from last night and gave her arm and her hand an experimental wiggle under the bandages.
Argus whined and licked her face, wagging his stumpy tail in a pat pat pat on the bed. She was swamped again with embarrassment at her own stupidity, "I am so sorry, boy! I promise, I am not going to leave you alone unless I have no choice. It's just you and me, okay?" Argus gave an enthusiastic woof, and his tail hit the bed faster in rat-a-tat-tat as he started licking her face in earnest, "Ugh Mabari breath! Doggy germs!" Kai laughed, teasing him, and rubbed his belly as he lolled about on his back, big tongue stuck out in a dog's grin.
"I am glad to see you in better spirits, young lady. And I hope you count me in on this little group. It is hardly just you and the dog." Kai looked up to see Duncan leaning against the door frame, smiling. She noticed he looked a little damp and that he held her clothes from yesterday all dry and neatly pressed.
She flushed and looked away, the shame rushing back. She concentrated on looking at and rubbing Argus's belly. She felt Duncan sit on the edge of the bed, and she bit her lower lip. What could she say? Sorry I was so stupid? That sounded about right, because it had been. But it seemed so inadequate. Now that she'd had a good night's sleep, the first in what seemed like years, her actions appalled her. Her father would have been so disappointed in her, breaking her promise, shirking her duty. Couslands always do their duty. She could hear his voice, and it made tears start in her eyes, and she felt herself flushing again feeling guilt swamping her.
"No, no, child, don't. I am partially to blame. I must confess I haven't had a lot of experience with young women your age. We don't get a lot of women in the Grey. I am afraid the impact of what happened had a greater effect on us both than I thought. I should have been less concerned with getting us away from Howe and paid a little more attention to what was going on with you. I have a feeling we are both dealing with some of the same emotions." He tilted her chin to make her look at him, brushing tears away, "Let's just say this is a learning experience for both of us. Just promise me that you will talk to me or one of the other Grey Wardens if you start to have troubles again. Especially sleeping, all right?" Kai nodded and he planted a quick kiss on her forehead. "Now, I think we should get you dressed and go downstairs and eat. While you were getting much needed rest, I booked us passage on a ship leaving in about two hours time and restocked some of our supplies. So pack your bags as well. We can leave right after we break our fast to wait on the docks."
He smiled and walked through the door adjoining their rooms once more, closing it softly behind him. Kai swung her legs over the bed and stood gingerly, giving herself some time to get accustomed to standing. She grabbed the pile of clothing she had been wearing last night and got dressed quickly, then packed the neatly folded stack of dry clothes with her shift back into one of her packs. She pulled on her rather muddy boots, still damp from yesterday, and grabbed all of the bags before knocking on the door to Duncan's room. He bid her enter, and she found he too had packed and had even made the bed. She cocked an eyebrow at him, "Old habits." He shrugged and grinned, "I also purchased these while you slept." And he produced two rain cloaks made of a canvas material coated in beeswax. They would help keep off most of the rain. He laid them on the bed and offered her his arm as he had the night before. This time she took it with a smile and they all left their sleeping quarters to make their way to the common room.
Duncan chose a table in front of the fireplace this time. It was early still and the common room was mostly empty. The rain continued outside the windows, and the smells of breakfast wafted out from behind the bar in the direction of the kitchens. A blond elven woman with her hair pulled back into a bun with loose waves of hair framing her pretty face took their orders this time. Again, the choice was breakfast, breakfast, or breakfast. The drink choices were more varied, if only slightly less so. Kai asked for apple juice (no cider, she had a bit of a headache from last night), and Duncan asked for the same. The food arrived and there was enough to feed an army. There was fried fish from the lake, porridge, scrambled eggs, and bacon.
Duncan spooned some porridge into bowls for all three of them and served up the fish, eggs, and bacon onto the plates. The oatmeal was swirled with spices, honey and apples, and it was deliciously warm and soothing. It made a nice juxtaposition with the saltiness of the fish, bacon, and eggs. Kai found it to be delicious and unlike the night before decided to take her time eating and savor it instead of wolfing it down.
The elven servant came back to refill their mugs, and Kai asked for a small wheel of cheese and slipped the girl payment and a few extra coins for a tip. Duncan raised his eyebrow at her, "You don't have enough to eat?"
Kai laughed, "I have plenty, but I have a craving for cheese. A weird dream I had, I think. It's getting fuzzy but something to do with a table full of cheeses, including cheese mice and a cat made out of bread." Kai shook her head and grinned, "I figured my body was trying to tell me something, maybe I need more cheese in my diet?"
Duncan chuckled, "There must be some epidemic of cheese craving in Ferelden amongst young people these days." Kai cocked an eyebrow inquisitively at him, "You'll see." And he laughed again.
They both finished their meal, the wheel of cheese was delivered, and the dishes were being cleared away when the inn door burst open on a heavy wind and the tempo of the rain entered the room with a half drowned man before he managed to turn and push the door shut. The heraldry on the shield strapped to his back had Kai's heart beating faster, and she flashed Duncan a look. The shield carried a bear on a checkered field of yellow and white, Howe's heraldry.
Duncan nodded at her and towards the stairs. They both got up slowly and casually, Kai giving Argus hand signals rather than drawing attention with a verbal command. Duncan walked around behind her, and Kai overheard the man as she was reaching for the cheese, "The bloody bridge is out over River Dane the other side of the lake. I was forced to come back around this way by the blasted rains! I am trying to get to Ostagar, my good man. Can you tell me if the roads are washed out this side of the lake?" Kai heard the chink of coins on the counter. Kai heard Basil the barkeep tell the man the roads that he had word on were small rivers of water and mud, but not washed out completely. The bridge over the river on this side still rose above the waters running below it. Kai had turned towards Duncan who waited at the foot of the stairs for her.
Kai heard the barkeep's wife's voice screech the man's name just as she reached Duncan, "BAS-ILLL!" She saw out of the corner of her eye the soldier turn and start to look around the common room while the barkeep attended to his sharp tongued wife. Kai did the only thing she could think of...she grabbed Duncan's bearded face in her hands and planted her lips on his hiding both their faces from view. She heard his grunt of surprise as he was shoved up against the wall.
She broke off enough to whisper, "Pretend you are enjoying it. Put your arms around me, and when he turns back around to the bar, we make a break for it, yes?" Duncan nodded once slightly, and his arms wrapped around her, one hand tangling in her hair. He pulled her closer, and his fingers danced in her curls. His beard was soft, and he was very, very good at the kissing thing. Kai almost forgot why they were engaging in a lip lock, but she managed to recall exactly why she was in his arms and opened her eyes to find his closed as well. She gave him an impish pinch on his backside which had his eyes flying open, and she chuckled, "You are on look out, remember?" She watched his dark green eyes flicker over her shoulder, then he nudged her shoulders indicating she should go up the stairs.
Kai followed Argus, and she heard Duncan's deep voice mumble, "What I do for duty, really!" Kai looked back at him and laughed and walked to the end of the hallway.
She unlocked the door to her bedroom stepping inside and closing it once Duncan had entered, "Dear Duncan, rethinking your choice to have me along already?" And she had to grin when his brown skin flushed a shade darker. A good night's sleep really had helped, she couldn't help but sniggle.
"You, young lady, are entirely too brazen for your own good. And for the record no, I am not rethinking it. But I will say, the Grey Wardens may never be the same." He chuckled as he helped her get Argus into his pack and cover it with a piece of wax covered canvas to keep the rain off as much as possible. They strapped on their own bags, and then donned the rain cloaks.
Duncan unlocked the door to his room and looked out into the hallway before motioning to Kai and Argus that the coast was clear. She heard him place the keys to both rooms on the desk before he joined them in the hallway. He led them down the stairs to the outside dining area now pounded by the torrential downpour that had the tables and chair disappearing in a grayed view as rain pelted them and misted as rain drops became many smaller droplets on impacting their hard surfaces. The ground was slick, and the mud squelched beneath the soles of her boots which were soaked through once again in a matter of seconds.
They were making their way around the corner of the inn and the side of the building closest to the stables, when Kai had an idea for something which might delay Howe's man even more. She pulled on Duncan's arm and nodded toward the building in question. Duncan raised an eyebrow and followed her. She noted that the stable boy was sound asleep in the hay of one of the stalls. She snuck past grabbing a hoof file and the vice grips for removing horseshoes from the hooks on the wall while creeping down the length of the building looking for the only wet animal in the stalls. She spied some apples in a bag along the way and grabbed one. She approached the animal and was relieved to see that, true to Howe's cheap nature, his man was riding not a smart Ferelden Ceffyl, but a considerably less intelligent Orlesian Cheval. If it had been a Ceffyl with the intelligence of a Mabari, Kai would have had to forgo her plan. The animal would have been battle trained and never let her get near it.
She approached the animal slowly, speaking soothingly and noting that the horse had been unburdened of its saddle and had been rubbed down, implying the gelding was at least somewhat friendly. She held up her hand flat with the apple in it, and the Cheval's soft nose blew warm air on her wrist before its lips gently scooped up the fruit. Kai made her way the length of the horse, running her hand down its side so it would know where she was and not be startled. She ran her hand back again and continued running her hand down the wet shoulder, down the length of the leg past the knee, taking the file and filing the nail heads off of the shoe on one side. Gently running her hand once more down the leg and touching the fetlock, she coaxed the animal to bend its leg so she could access the hoof. Putting the hoof between her knees she used the vice grips to prise the shoe from the side of the hoof and gave it a twist, bending the metal, before releasing the hoof and letting the animal set it back down awkwardly. She tossed the nails into the pile of manure in the corner where the boy had been mucking out the stalls.
Duncan who had been on lookout appeared at her side, "The man is coming back this way. I hope it was worth it. I suggest we find somewhere to hide?" His face was a serious, and one eyebrow was raised. Kai gave him her most impish grin and nodded to an empty stall further down, and they all ducked into it closing the door just as Howe's man came striding in bellowing for the stable boy.
Kai heard the lad scrambling around in a rustle of dry hay. She heard the lad mumble his greetings and run to fetch the man's horse, leading the Cheval from its stall. The messenger's voice raised first in anger that the animal had its saddle removed, then in dismay over the shoe, she supposed, though she could not hear his words precisely. She knew he would have to make a trip to the town's blacksmith in the storm. She heard the activity of a horse being saddled and then the man leaving after yelling at the lad, taking out his ire, before creatively cursing as he went once more into the rain. When Kai figured enough time had passed to put some distance between them, she opened the stall door to walked towards a very startled groom. She handed the surprised servant the tools and flipped the lad a few coins from her belt pouch, "If the nasty gentleman should return from the smithy, we were never here." Kai grinned and winked, and the boy's eyes got wide as he smiled and nodded.
She took a look around the door, saw the way was clear and led Duncan and Argus into the continuing downpour. They made their way to the docks. The ship that Duncan had booked passage on bore the name "Storm Crow" painted on its prow. The wood of the vessel was dark with rain, and the gangplank was slick. Kai was more than happy to finally put boots to the deck. Duncan sought out the captain who had one of his sailors show them their quarters. The captain was anticipating that the storms would be in their favor by putting the winds at their back. The trip, normally a two to three day journey, should take no more than one or two.
They got out of wet clothing, Duncan turning his back while she got dressed, as he had last night. She didn't know whether to admire him for being such a gentleman or to be insulted that he didn't peek. She suspected her mind was turning silly due to her strange, spirit lifting dream and the fact that she probably needed more sleep still. She started to laugh, and Duncan raised an eyebrow at her. She shook her head, "Sorry, just my mind turning queerly. Nothing like before, trust me." He nodded, though he flashed a quick look at her bandages, and she sat on the bunk opposite from him.
She watched him pull out a deck of cards. She looked at him, and he smiled and shrugged, "I found them in the desk at the inn. Care for a game of Wicked Grace?" Kai laughed and nodded, and watched fascinated as Duncan's long fingers nimbly shuffled the cards and cut the deck. She knew she was in trouble when he dealt their hands with an experienced flair. They played a few rounds, their ante made of a passle of shells some other passenger had collected from the shores of Lake Calenhad and left behind in the cupboard attached to the wall of the room.
Their game continued pleasantly enough, so much so that Kai actually thought she might win this round when the ship began to move, shifting under them as it pulled away from the dock. She felt fine until the boat hit the deeper waters of the lake and the choppy waves caused by the storm rocked the boat from side to side. Kai felt her stomach going side to side, then doing somersaults. The food she ate earlier sat in a ball in her stomach until she was forced to grab the chamber pot under the bed and heave into it. Sod it! At this rate she would starve to death. She hadn't finished half a bowl of stew the night before, and now breakfast had come back up again. If she kept this up, she might blow away in a high wind.
And Duncan, damn him, appeared unaffected by the swaying and bouncing of the bloody boat. She might have been upset if she had time in between rolling waves of nausea. As it was, each upward bump of the ship followed by the sudden drop kept Kai occupied enough as her stomach always seemed to be slow on returning to its position. She must have dozed off at one point, which certainly helped the nausea. When she woke, it was to find Duncan reading.
He had covered her with a blanket, and Argus lay next to her almost shoving her off the bunk while his legs twitched in doggy dreams. "Good evening." Duncan grinned at her, "Storm has passed, but luck is with us and the winds are still at our back. We made better time than even the Captain had anticipated. We are about to dock in Redcliffe only a little past midnight." He closed the book keeping a finger in between the pages to keep his place.
Kai swung around to a sitting position, dragging the blanket up and wrapping it around her. She did an internal assessment and realized that the sleep she had been missing out on had definitely been bad for her mental state. She hurt still for her loss, and she supposed she always would, but it could be borne. And she would bear it. She had made a promise, and she intended to keep it. She looked up to see Duncan giving her an assessing look. She smiled and shook her head, "Just thinking about promises and pain. And..." She sighed and ran fingers through her long ebony curls, "Duty I suppose."
"Indeed. I have something for you. I picked it up in town after booking passage on the ship and buying the rain cloaks." Duncan rose and dug into his packs until he came up with a leather bound journal which he handed to her, along with a pen of dwarven make. It held a cylinder of ink inside. Kai's grandfather Malcolm had such pens in his study, another dwarven technological fascination for him and herself as a child, when her father had shown her how it worked. The enclosed inkwell, he told her, allowed for travel without having a quill to sharpen or an ink bottle to cart around and leak. Most dwarves, her father had told her that long ago rainy day when she had crawled into his lap her head against his chest listening to his heartbeat while he worked, did not go topside. They had no geese to get quills from, unless they traded for them from surfacers. Instead of having to wait for such luxuries, they had come up with their own inventions to compensate. The memory hit her in the gut like a punch from a fist. She had to swallow hard, keeping her eyes from filling with the tears that threatened to spill over.
"I thought you might write down what your thoughts are, for when you don't have someone to talk to or don't want to share with another. It can help, trust me." Duncan smiled at her kindly.
She nodded at him with a small smile in return. She was startled by the slight bump and the soft grinding noise as the ship dropped anchor with a loud splash. "We are staying the night on board, then we will be taken to shore at first light. From the dock at Redcliffe village we can make our way to the Imperial Highway. And from there we will make our way to the Hinterlands and then to the ruins of Ostagar on the edges of the Kocari Wilds. Now why don't we both get some rest? We have a long walk tomorrow." Duncan placed slip of paper in his book and rose from the bunk, "I am going to speak to the captain about tomorrow. I will return shortly." And he left their cabin, shutting the door softly behind him.
Kai ran her fingers along the smooth leather cover of the book sitting in her lap. She looked at the journal and cracked it open, the binding making slight popping noises as it was bent open for the first time. She took the lid off the stylus and set the tip to the blank paper. She wasn't sure what to write, and at first the empty white space just stared back at her. Then, her fingers moved the ink across the page and that was how Duncan found her. Kai looked up to find Duncan sitting and reading again. When had he come in? She realized she was so involved in writing that she hadn't heard him return. She looked at what she had written and decided that where she stopped was as good a place as any. She blew on the ink to dry it before closing the book and putting it and the pen in one of her packs. She walked over and kissed Duncan on the cheek, "Thank you." She was pleased to see him smile, and he gently patted her arm. She crawled into bed, shoving Argus over as best she could, before wrapping the blanket around her and lying down as Duncan put out the mage light, plunging the room into darkness.
Kai felt a gentle hand on her shoulder as Duncan nudged her awake. She rubbed bleary eyes to see that he had donned his armor once more and it shown bright silver in the light of the lantern, "Alright, young lady, time to rise. I think it best you put on your armor as well. We should be able to make good walking time. The rains have stopped for the time being, and we will be going to a battlefield." He smiled and called to Argus to take the Mabari on deck for a walk.
Kai rose, peeled off her tunic and her leggings and put on her undershirt and buckled herself into her armor. It felt good to have it on again. She strapped on her daggers and the Cousland sword, grabbed their packs and her father's shield and made her way on deck to find Duncan and Argus looking over the railing towards the village of Redcliffe. Kai went and stood next to them setting packs and shield down upon the planks. Duncan stood talking to one of the sailors near a rope ladder leading to a boat below.
Kai put Argus into his pack and looked over the edge to see the boat tied to the side. There was no way Argus could jump into the boat below without hurting himself, and no one was capable of catching three hundred pounds of Mabari muscle. Duncan and the deck hand must be discussing a way to lower the dog into the boat so they could go ashore. The solution was a hoist and net sling used to transfer livestock from the ships down to the boats below. It took some coaxing from Kai, but Argus consented to lying down on the netting and the crew lowered him into the boat below where Duncan unfettered him from the sling as Kai climbed down to sit next to them.
The middy from the Storm Crow began to row them across the water of Lake Calenhad, which held a fine mist hovering over its glass like surface. From where Kai was sitting, she could see Duncan's profile as he looked towards the dock in the distance. She rummaged in her pack and pulled out the journal and the pen and began to do a quick sketch of Duncan. Again, with the ponytail and earring it struck her how much he looked like a Rivainni pirate. She had just finished when he turned and looked at her, cocking an eyebrow and smiling. She grinned and closed the book stowing it and the stylus safely away once more. She trailed her fingers across the surface of the icy water as they neared the dock. The wooden shanties of the village drew closer. They passed by some houses on stilts out in the lake itself and then bumped into the dock, the boat making a scraping noise as it landed ashore. The sailor jumped out and waded into the water and up the shore to pull the boat in, allowing Kai and Duncan and Argus to disembark on dry land. Duncan slipped the man a few coins and they all turned to face the next part of their journey.
