Hello and I'm so sorry about the lack of updates! I hit some really nasty writers block that I just couldn't get past but I'm back with a new chapter now and I really hope you all enjoy it! I added another cameo because I just couldn't resist the scenario at all, so I'm sorry but I'm not sorry :P

On another note, I'm planning to write a Zevran story as well, so if anyone's interested in that, let me know! There's a summary in my profile.

Stars- Arrows to Athens (awesome band check them out if you have the chance)

Stand by You- Rachel Platten

So apparently I had completely misjudged Gaelic. I thought for sure that he would be easy to work under, the lax and happy teacher that everyone loved because they never gave homework. The one who's class you could slack off in without much fear of retribution.

Oh how very wrong I was.

The next four weeks aboard the boat to Orlais were the worst weeks of my life and that was saying a lot considering what I'd had to do to survive on my own in a cave. Every morning I woke up sore, stiff and still tired from the day before. Did this earn me any sympathy or concern? Of course not. In fact, each time I complained, I would have extra exercises added to my workout for the day.

When I asked him what the point was to all this, he would only tell me to concentrate on what I was doing which ranged from strength training, endurance training, and the daily beat down. Or at least that's what I affectionately referred to it as, in actuality it was the part of the day where I learned how to fight by being beat over the head again and again and again until I worried I would have brain damage.

I learned quickly, however, and while my body wasn't always able to keep up with what my mind was doing, I improved steadily. By the end of the first week, I was able to successfully block several of his attacks consecutively. By the end of the second, I was beginning to see gaps purposefully left in Gaelic's defense for me to exploit and even had a few successful hits of my own. After the third, the sparring matches started to become more evenly matched and my teacher upped the difficulty level until I was once again back at square one. The fourth week, however, brought with it the culmination of the rest of my skills that I had been honing. My body now had the reflexes and the ability to keep up with my mind and react in time to what I was seeing. That was the very first time Gaelic had to fight me seriously, if only for a moment before I was put flat on my ass when I couldn't keep up with his skill for more than a couple blows.

That was when he told me that when I could beat him in a sparring match, he would tell me the story about how he'd lost his ears. Of course, the flip side of that coin was, if I challenged him and lost, I'd have to tell him what conspired between Zevran and myself the night they found me. That catch had me hesitating slightly before making the deal, but considering the reward if I won was to good to pass up. We shook on it before it was back to the grind.

Gaelic's lessons weren't the only ones I had to worry about either. Every night after supper, Bull would bring out maps and instruct me on the geography, borders, cultures, and religions of the world I'd come to know as Thedas. I had to admit, it definitely sounded like the name of a fictional world that would be featured in some sort of fantasy epic which only made me more excited to learn as much as I could about it.

He started with his homeland of Par Vollen where the Qunari, as well as the Qun, are from. The Qun, I'd come to learn, was very similar to communism that was present in my world. It placed the needs of the many above the needs of the individual and everyone had a specific place within its rigid structure. There were quite a few differences that didn't exist back on earth, of course, but they were just the icing on the cake in the grand scheme of things.

Next he moved on to Tevinter, with whom the Qunari had been squabbling with for as long as could be remembered. Now I finally had a face to put to the people who had caused me so much agony within the short amount of time that I'd been here. A bunch of egotistical, corrupt, power hungry mages who no doubt had no shortage of slaves in their households. My hatred boiled hot at every mention of those disgusting piles of filth.

Although that was also when I learned that Krem was in fact from Tevinter. For longer than I like to admit that caused me some distress. I did my best to avoid the second in command for the longest time because of this fact. Eventually, he cornered me though, and made me face the truth, not everyone from Tevinter was evil. That made me quite angry for a considerable amount of time afterwards, but deep down I knew it to be true. As Bull put it bluntly, "there is a difference between being Tevene, and a 'Vint rat" after that, there was no more room for argument and I was given the ultimatum that if I couldn't work along side who was from somewhere I didn't like, then I was welcome to leave. No surprise which choice I took, but while I didn't blame Krem for the crimes the 'Vints had committed against me and Sophi, my loathing only continued to grow. I would never forgive them, ever.

Of course, like I'd promised, I also told Iron Bull about Earth. I told him of everything from motors, electricity that was harnessed for energy purposes, and indoor plumbing. The large horned man was completely blown away by the concept of a toilet that gets rid of waste at the simple pull of a lever. Seriously, I could pinpoint the exact moment when his brain imploded. It was a moment I looked back on fondly.

Despite the pain that I endured whilst on the ship, the time passed quickly and practically before I knew it, we were landing somewhere called Val Royeaux. From what I remember, it was a beautiful city with white marble buildings and red banners hanging from the tops and connecting to a tall spire in the middle of the market. We ended up staying there quite a while when it was realized I needed a set of armor and after my still vibrant (albeit slightly grown out) blue and green hair started to draw too much attention, a trip to the local tailor was also needed to outfit all my tunics with deeps hoods to hide it. While we were there I also took the opportunity to order myself a pair of new boots from the partnering cobbler, I had to admit, I'd really liked the thigh high boots Zevran had been wearing and I wanted a pair for myself if I could. Gaelic was kind enough to offer to pay for them for me since I had no money of my own and I could just pay him back on my first share of our next job.

A few days after our arrival, a job opportunity presented itself. Apparently there was a noble in the city who was rivalling with another and supposedly this rival had learned his death was to 'come on feathered wings'. The Chief laughed heartily when he read what the noble wanted of us. I guess he wanted us to dress up in feathers and… scare this other noble to death. A round of laughter went up once the rest of us heard what the job was, but the worst part was the Boss actually accepted it. Most of the laughter stopped after that.

So that was how the majority of us ended up dressed in discarded bird feathers wandering around the estate of this other lord. It was deeply humiliating and I was glad that the cover of darkness hid my face from any who might have been out at the late hour. The pay was good though, so it was mostly worthwhile, I suppose…

Thankfully, it was soon after that the armor Gaelic had helped me commission was completed and we were able to go pick it up. True to what the armor maker said, it fit me perfectly. I had gotten a breastplate that protected my upper chest all the way to my neck but left my lower stomach only covered in a layer of soft, malleable leather to allow optimal movement needed for a rogue; pauldrons covered my shoulders but were layered to collapse in on each other to, again, provide optimum movement; leather vambraces covered my wrists to give some protection from other's weapons and they came with a matching set of brown leather gloves with an inside so soft I couldn't believe it, there were small metal patches sewn onto the back of the hand and in between the joints of the fingers to once again provide protection against injury. The best part was yet to come, however, when my boots had been completed, Gaelic had also taken them to the blacksmith who then put interlocking pieces of metal that acted as something similar to greaves, only all the way up my leg to my thigh. Needless to say they are my favorite part of the whole outfit.

Of course, like we agreed, I went to repay my teacher for all he had bought for me. This was when I learned that Gaelic had a gambling problem. Instead of happily taking my money, he offered me a double or nothing chance at a game of Wicked Grace. I agreed only if the double also included him paying me if I won, like I figured he would, he accepted.

Unfortunately, while I had been taught the basics of the game, I was far from being a master and predictably, I lost. Bitterly, I coughed up double what I originally owed the blonde elf and saved the rest for use later.

The days after that all once again took on a very similar routine. Gaelic had toned down my training while we had been in Val Royeaux, but once we left the city, he started up even more rigorously than before. Although it was strange this time because I distinctly noticed that my body was significantly less sore than all the times before. I had become accustomed to waking up early and to be awake immediately.

Gaelic once again had to up the difficulty level when I started to gain the upper hand on him frequently when we sparred. More often than not he would put me on my ass, but after another couple weeks on the road, he fought at full strength against me and I was able to hold my ground for a rapidly increasing amount of time. This was also when I realized I had a knack for detecting where people using the invisible 'stealth' ability planned to strike.

It happened during one of my final battles with the blonde elf when I suddenly broke off our battle to parry a knife that was descending into my back. After that I followed through with the motions and stabbed upwards. I had the horrifying opportunity to see blood start to coat one of my daggers in mid air with nothing surrounding it, until the rogue appeared suddenly. There was no time to dwell on it before my instincts screamed at me to move. Pulling my blade from the now dead body, I shifted deftly backwards and continued to flow through heavily practiced movements that allowed me to evade my attacker with ease. Then with an action I'd rehearsed many times with Gaelic, I stepped past their defense and effortlessly slipped my knife up into where I sensed was their chest.

The gravity of what I'd just done truly sunk in at that moment as the second body hit the ground with a wet splat as blood sprayed up from the gaping hole leading straight to the organ that in its final moments continued to spurt blood out of the cavity it called home. Flashes of the Tevinter woman whom I'd first killed flashed in front of my face with her dead unblinking, accusatory stare. I did it again. I'd murdered not one but two people. I was a monster. How could I have done this? How could I have practiced for this? I wasn't cut out for this, I would never be cut out for this!

Before I could do anything else, I had been pulled into a hug with my head against a warm chest. As far as I know, the skirmish ended with me killing those two people but I couldn't be sure as the next thing I knew was I was being directed somewhere. It was only after I heard the rustle of canvas that I'd realized I was now inside one of the tents.

"You're safe now, don't worry. Everything's going to be alright, we still love you." I hadn't realized how much I needed to hear those words until Gaelic murmured them lowly. I felt a knot loosen somewhere in my chest and the tears made wet trails down my cheeks as I sobbed deeply into my friend's shirt. I don't recall how long I cried, but I do know that the next thing I remember was waking up in an unfamiliar tent with a blanket draped carefully over me.

The days really blurred together after that and I don't truly remember a lot of what happened. There were some jobs that came and went. Most involved some sort of fighting and this time I was finally allowed to join the rest. I had to hold back though and I refused to kill anyone, at most, I would only incapacitate them. Now I had a pretty good knowledge of where the vital points were on the body, so I did my best to avoid them.

This of course didn't go unnoticed, especially when the Chief put me on throat cutter duty. I'd expected Gaelic to help me, but he merely stood back with the explanation that "it's part of the job, I'm sorry Lashes". Somehow, I managed to complete the task although I threw up immediately after and felt sick for the rest of the day.

It figures the next day I stayed violently ill. I had a fever that made me delirious and slightly hallucinogenic. Anything I ate came right back up only a few minutes later and I developed a rash on my arms and chest. Stitches stayed with me night and day to keep an eye on me to make sure that I wouldn't die again. Or at least, I think he did but I couldn't be sure when I was constantly seeing people whether or not they were actually there.

Thankfully this time, I didn't die and began recovering after a few days of intense sickness. My appetite came back and I was able to keep more solid foods down. Once I was well enough to be up and about, Stitches informed me that I'd come down with the most severe case of pox he'd ever seen. Combined with the last time I'd gotten sick, I highly doubted it was a coincidence. The obvious explanation would be that my immune system is lacking the natural resistance to the diseases here but it could also be something else that I was currently unaware of. Either way, it was a serious pain in the ass…

Once I was back to full health and at the top of my game again, I decided I was finally ready to challenge Gaelic to that duel he promised me.

Block,

slash,

parry,

stab!

Our battle had garnered quite the crowd as we relentlessly traded blows, our skill completely matched. Every strike I made, he blocked easily while I dipped and dodged around each one of his with equal ease. My one advantage was that I was faster and could land more hits than he could block in a short amount of time, but I had to time it well or it would cost me the duel.

Bets had been placed on who would win, a couple of which I had made myself and was pleased to see that the odds were in my favor. I really needed some extra cash too, there was a two handed sword in town that was calling my name. Krem had offered to give me some pointers if I bought it.

A pommel made its way through my defense to land heavily on my leg while my mind was wandering to other things. A collective groan went up from the crowd as I stumbled backwards to avoid the consecutive hits I had no doubt were coming.

"Come on Lashes, are you even trying?" taunted the blonde elf ass I regained my bearings and reassumed my ready stance. That was also when I noticed the log lying innocently behind him, I grinned, and the way he was standing in front of it said that he didn't realize it was there.

"Trying? I was just getting warmed up!" I responded confidently before I leapt into my next set of attacks. Steadily, I picked up the pace until I clearly had him on the defensive and pushed him back closer to the fallen tree. As my speed increased, Gaelic was less and less able to successfully block or parry my blows. His brow furrowed with concentration while he tried and failed to keep up with me and was instead forced backwards as I continued to press my advantage over him. Cheers went up from the bystanders but I refused to let them distract me as my speed increased further and it was all Gaelic could do to keep himself away from my blades.

With his next step, the elf was close enough to the log that with one last burst of speed, I pushed him back enough that he went to take another step, he tripped. I saw the look of realization and fear dawn on his face as he went down ass over teakettle. There was silence among everyone present as I put my foot on his stomach to prevent him from getting back up.

"Do you yield?" I panted as sweat dripped from my brow and my exhausted opponent splayed his arms out from his body as he continued to lay flat on the ground.

"I yield." Was his defeated response and a wide grin stretched over my features as I removed my foot and offered him a hand up from his ridiculous position. As I pulled him up we were suddenly surrounded by the rest of the company who were congratulating me with hearty slaps on the back and arms slung around my shoulders. Gaelic got a few reassuring pats and playful punches to the shoulder at his loss but judging from the grin on his face, he wasn't taking the loss too hard.

"Alright, Rocky, pay up." Stitches demanded of the dwarf in our group and that got the blonde's attention,

"Did you bet on her?" the dark skinned man grinned widely,

"Of course I did. I would be labelled a fool if I hadn't." He raised the considerably sized bag of gold up in a salute to me which I accepted with a wave. Then I got the satisfaction of watching the blonde boy look from me to Stitches and back to me again with a look of utter betrayal on his face.

"Well, at least the Chief bet on me!" he cried proudly and puffed up his chest. The crowd parted to let through the hulking figure of The Iron Bull, the leader of our mercenary gang, an eight-foot-tall Qunari who was now scowling (although not seriously) down at Gaelic.

"Yeah, and I lost so clearly now you owe me ten Royals." The large humanoid quipped as he crossed his monstrous arms over his equally monstrous chest. Another round of laughter went up before everyone dispersed back to their original duties although not before I made sure to collect my share of my winnings. Perfect! Now I had enough for that sword! "Good work, Lashes you've come a long way from being the helpless, half-starved waif we found on the Storm Coast." Bull congratulated me and I filled with pride with the high praise coming from someone who I so looked up to. "Drinks are on me tonight, to celebrate!" was the announcement and a raucous cheer went up all around.

Later that night, with the Chief buying the booze, we were all having a grand time in the tavern causing quite the ruckus. Most of the regular patrons were giving us shifty glances and eying us warily, but we were too deep in our glasses to care much. Plus, we weren't even the shadiest characters there. At one table there was a group of guys who switched from eyeing up our leader, to our non-mage Dalish and at a corner there was someone who had refused to even lower his hood after coming into the building. Although I didn't have much room to complain about that since I too had a hood up. Obviously he was hiding something.

In that short amount of time that I'd gotten distracted by the other patrons, however, apparently there was now an arm wrestling match going on around the table. A very inebriated Gaelic had challenged an equally inebriated Rocky and to no one's surprise, the dwarf won. Everyone who bet collected their winnings as the blonde elf pouted on the table.

"Well at leasht I can shtill beat Lershes!" he proclaimed proudly and I felt my pride perk up at that.

"No way, man. I fucking got this." I took the seat across from him and stared him down confidently, "Winner fights Krem." I challenged him as we gripped each others' hands. I'm pretty sure I heard a groan of 'Don't drag me into this' but it was lost in the heat of the moment. Gaelic was stronger than he looked and I felt I put up a good fight, but in the end it was my hand that hit the worn wood of the table.

"Fuck yea!" cried the elf and nearly fell off his chair in celebration. I laughed at him as I stood up to allow our Lieutenant to take my place. At the arrival of Krem Gaelic sobered up some, "Shit, right..." A round of laughter went up as more bets were placed. I had an extra chuckle when I noticed everyone bet on Krem to win.

"Winner takes the Chief on." A low hum went up and everyone was suddenly that much more interested with the prospect of Bull being the next one to wrestle. The second after the competition commenced, there was a moment where nothing happened and I started to question whether or not either one of them was trying. That is, until I saw the strain appear on the blonde's face. A vein popped in his forehead and his lips turned up in a snarl. That was when I realized just how far outmatched he was in comparison to the brown haired man. Then after another moment or two of humiliation for the elf, Krem slammed his hand down onto the table without any mercy whatsoever.

An low cheer went up when the predicted outcome came true and increased in volume when our fearless leader took Gaelic's place across the table from Krem. More money was exchanged between people and we waited with anticipation. The obvious choice to win would be Bull but something in my gut told me that it might be the second in command coming out on top of this. When it started, the strain was instantly visible on both of their faces. For a good moment or two near the beginning it really looked like the human would win, but then the Qunari really flexed those impressive arm muscles and steadily brought Krem's hand down until it finally touched the table.

Everyone raised their mugs in celebration as more coin was collected and lost all around. Our lieutenant got a few hearty slaps on the back in reconciliation but judging by the smile that was present on his face, he was taking the loss really well.

"You couldn't have been a bit more gentle, Chief? That was my sword arm."

"Hey, you're the one who challenged me, remember? No one wins an arm wrestle against The Iron Fucking Bull!" he bellowed for all to hear as he raised his arms above his head and assumed a bodybuilder flexing pose. I was suddenly reminded of a fictional character I used to love who would always talk about the beauty of his muscles and how everything had been passed down though his family for generations!

"I believe I can." A deep voice snapped me out of my reverie and we all turned to see the hooded man from the corner standing in front of our table. As we all turned to look at him, a gloved hand reached up to remove the deep hood to reveal the face of an elf.

He had short white hair that was just long enough to get in the way of his green eyes (I humorously noted that I bet he had to do a little hair flip to keep it out of them) with dark, slim brows over each of them and white tattoos on his chin and all the way down his neck. I was immediately thrown off by the combination of the voice and the face. They didn't suit each other at all. There was silence all around as we stared him down with disbelief. "In fact, ten royals says I can." He pulled a large purse from a bag hanging on his belt and it landed with a jingling promise on the solid wood of the table. There was one more beat of silence before Bull let out a booming laugh,

"Alright, kid you're on!" the large Qunari acquiesced as he sat in the seat Krem had vacated and gestured to the free chair for the elf. At this point I noticed that there was in fact a very large sword strapped to his back. I shifted slightly so I had better access to the daggers strapped to my back, I didn't want to be caught unawares if this suddenly turned ugly. Who knew how well this kid would take to losing?

Everyone else also put money on the table, eager for a chance to win some good money against the elf so foolishly betting against himself like that. I was one of the few who abstained from making any more bets. If only because I had no money left to risk due to the wrapped, two-handed sword leaning against the wall beside me.

As the elf took the offered hand of our leader there was a moment when the size difference between them was almost too much to handle and I let out an involuntary snicker. The green eyes of the white haired stranger flicked over to me for a brief second before he once again concentrated on his much larger opponent. Krem was the one to give the go and once he did, the struggle was instantly evident on the smaller man's face, but an unnerving smirk remained. I started to pull my weapons from their sheaths as a precaution in case this turned ugly. Obviously the elf had something up his sleeve and I didn't like it.

Then just as his hand was getting close to the table, suddenly a blue light exploded from his body and a resounding crack echoed throughout the silent tavern as Bull's hand slammed onto the wood.

Everyone stared in shock as the Chief jumped up with a shout and shook out his hand. The elf, however, smirked in victory and watched with satisfaction as the larger man rubbed his slightly sore appendage. I watched the stranger carefully as he stood and grasped the handle of the large sword protruding from underneath his volumous cloak that had once hidden his identity. Obviously, he didn't expect this to end well but all of us were too stunned (or drunk in Gaelic's case) to really do anything about it. Plus, we all knew better than to act without orders from our leader who was looking from his hand to the other man and then did something that clearly the elf was not expecting,

"That was badass! How did you do that?" the large Qunari man asked excitedly like a little kid seeing his new favorite toy in the store, "Sit down, let me buy you a drink! Get to know The Iron Bull and The Chargers! You looking for work?" clearly the elf had not been expecting this kind of reaction and was rather looking at a loss for words as he continued to stand there with his hand resting on the hilt of his weapon.

"Ignore our Chief, he can get overzealous at times. My name's Cremisius Aclassi, I'm second in command of our merc band known as The Bull's Chargers." Our lieutenant held out a hand for the newcomer to shake which he did but with obvious confusion, "Over there's Stitches our healer, with Dalish sitting beside him; Rocky our dwarven explosives expert, Grim one of our warriors, he doesn't say much; Skinner, don't let your guard down around her or she'll rob you blind; Lashes our newest recruit, and the blonde, drunken idiot over there is Gaelic." Krem introduced all of us and I noticed the white haired elf's eyes stayed on me for a moment longer than anyone else but I assumed that was mostly because he likely had trouble actually seeing my face, "What should we call you, stranger?"

"Fenris." Was his hesitant response as he finally dropped his hand from the handle of his sword to once again take his seat. Unfortunately, that was when I felt the heavy head of Gaelic land on my shoulder, I knew that it was time to go. Obviously, he had had too much to drink already and he was clearly in no state to find his room by himself.

"Well that's that, Gaelic's had too much to drink as per usual." I pushed the mumbling elf off me and pulled him up by the arm while also carefully picking up the wrapped sword to bring with me to my own room. He was a little unsteady on his feet, but thankfully he managed to balance after a few seconds. "Come on, you can do it. Up the stairs now, Gaelic. There you go." I encouraged him as he drunkenly stumbled across the room and to the steps leading up into the inn at the back of the building. I heard calls of goodnight and others of a less… innocent nature which I ignored, clearly they did not know the brother/sister relationship Gaelic and I shared.

Once upstairs, I helped the blonde find the correct door that led into the room that had been rented for our stay here. Inside, he unbuckled his belt that held all of his weapons and I had to rush to catch them before they clattered carelessly to the floor. He slumped over to the bed and sat heavily on it, reaching for the mug sitting on the nightstand, he took a long gulp. I really hope that was water…

"I suppose I still owe you the story of my ears then…" he stated morosely with a heavy sigh as he put the cup back and stared balefully up at me.

"Gaelic, you don't have to tell me now."

"No, you won, that was the deal. Plus, if anyone, you deserve to know…" another heavy sigh escaped him as he reached up to stroke the curved ear that should have identified him as an elf, but instead labelled him as a human. "I was kidnapped from my alienage in Denerim by Tevinter slavers looking for easy prey, and under the impression that they would be able to get more money for me if I looked human, heated up a blade until it was red hot and cut my ears off." He sighed heavily again as he avoided my gaze determinedly. I was speechless at his story, hearing that someone cut off the majority of his ears nearly made me sick with sympathetic pain. "It was the most painful experience of my life and I don't remember much of what happened afterwards until the fighting that distracted my kidnappers long enough for me to escape in the chaos of the city, as you heard from when I told Zevran back at the Lord Rye-Cum's mansion." The sobriety of the situation made his complete mispronunciation of that dick-bag's name slide by without so much as a twitch of a smile. "It was a few days later when I'd joined a group of refugees fleeing the Blight that we were set upon by Darkspawn and saved by The Iron Bull and the Chargers who came rushing in at the last minute to save those that had survived until that point." Finally, a smile broke through and I started to feel better. It would seem that we were birds of a feather, both captured by Vints at some point and then saved by the Chief at another. "I joined the mercenary group shortly after that, and of course the rest is history."

"Thank you for telling me Gaelic." Was my emotional response and he looked back to me with eyes filled with unshed tears and a small smile present on his face which I returned. He reached for the mug again and took another long drag out of it and grimaced heavily. The smile faded from my face as I took it from his grip and smelled the contents. The heavy scent of alcohol filled my nose and I turned back to him with a reprimanding glare,

"Haven't I already said you've had enough for tonight? What are you doing drinking more?!" I demanded as I confiscated the liquor from him. He tried to argue with me, but I refused to take part and instead turned on my heel and headed back for the door. I grabbed my sword on my way our, "I'm bringing you back some water, then you're going to sleep and that's final or Krem will hear about this." I scolded him and watched his mouth which had been flapping for some sort of excuse, slammed shut at my threat. I grinned triumphantly as the door shut behind me with a final click of the latch.

I hope you liked it! Leave me a review with your thoughts if you'd like, I'd love to hear them!