Chapter Thirteen
Lessons
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"Women get the last word in every argument. Anything a man says after that is the beginning of a new argument."
~Author Unknown
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Elissa scowled darkly at the wooden short sword in Daniel's hand for the hundredth time that day before turning her glare on Aeryc, seated only a few feet away and sharpening his dagger. He only shrugged and smiled his quiet smile, unrepentant. "He wanted one."
She frowned, aware she was sulking and quite comfortable with the fact, leaning back to rest her elbows on the step behind her. Aeryc had often harangued her about her stubborn resistance to raise Daniel as a warrior, and it seemed he had found a new weapon for his arsenal. "Why do I get the feeling it finally dawned on you to ask his other guardian about this?"
"I haven't the slightest idea what you're talking about," he said, distracted as he tested the edge of the wicked looking blade with his thumb. He looked up at the feel of her eyes boring in to him. "You can keep the glowering to yourself. You're the one who brought him here, Elissa. I'm not going to deny the man a say in raising his own child."
"So, he came to you, then. Did you even bother to tell him how I felt about it?"
He laughed, a quiet sound beneath his breath. "It's not my place to argue with the King of Ferelden. That's your burden."
And you get your way this way, she thought heatedly. Jerk.
"I would have thought he'd be out here, given that you two seem to be tied at the wrist recently."
Elissa shot him another dirty look, in no mood to discuss the sudden and admittedly excessive amount of time she was spending in Alistair's company. Since the day of the wedding and her admission that there was obviously still something between them, he had spent every moment he could spare with her and Daniel, coming to her chambers directly after fulfilling his morning obligations (which was about the time she was waking; she had kind of hoped he had softened up and stopped getting up at that Maker-cursed hour of the morning), and reappearing repeatedly throughout the day until he was called away by a frantic servitor for some crisis or another. He always made it a point to join them in the evening, however, stubbornly refusing to see anyone for those couple of hours he set aside to spend with Daniel before his bedtime. He always looked tired during those times, she noted with a stab of guilt, worn thin by having the carpet yanked out from under him, but he was trying, and that more than anything warmed him to her.
It would have been easier if it didn't feel like their relationship was on display. Leliana watched them with faint amusement, Wynne with silent concern, the visiting lords with tactical curiosity. The servants spent far too much time muttering whispers to each other they thought she couldn't hear. She might become more tolerant of Aeryc's teasing once she stopped being the center of local speculation.
"Bann Silgyn had some issue with his taxes and discovered Alistair was still in the area," she explained to clarify his absence. "He didn't have enough time to duck him."
"Isn't Teagan Silgyn's overlord?"
"He is. Alistair's overseeing the dispute, or something to that nature. I don't really know all the details. He was pretty annoyed when he told me about it this morning, and that tends to lead to a lot of sarcastic tangents. I was still too asleep to try to sort it all out."
Aeryc shook his head. "They say every man dreams of being king once in a while. I never will again."
Elissa gave him a crooked smile, sighing internally. "Alistair would be the exception to that rule, ironically enough."
They sat in companionable silence, watching as Daniel attacked the dummy in the yard with mad excitement, swinging wildly. The handful of Grey Wardens still training were careful to stay on the other side of the yard to ensure they didn't accidentally step on him, but Elissa saw the questioning glances pass between them. She couldn't blame them, as adamant as she had been up until this point about any of them giving Daniel anything that resembled a weapon. A few of them glanced in her direction, seeking her reaction to the change, friendly anticipation clear in their gaze. Doubtless more than one was eager to teach "the kid" a trick or two, surrogate big brothers to the child they deemed the little Warden.
Elissa's scowl deepened.
With a sigh, she let her head roll back and closed her eyes, enjoying the rain-scented breeze that heralded another storm before the afternoon was through. It cooled her simmering temper, a weakness she had long since been aware of and fought to control. The infamous Cousland passion burned strongly in her veins, as it did in Fergus, but while he chose to rant and rave and stomp around when the mood took him, she had learned at an early age to rein it in, lest it burst forth and expose her heart to those undeserving of it.
The sunshine pooled around her, warm and soothing. Summer had come early to Redcliffe; hot, shining mornings followed by rainy afternoons, and always the permeating smell of fish that hung over the entire town. It bothered the merchants who came in droves through the busy docks to trade more than it did her. Elissa had fallen in love with the town almost at once the first time she saw it, a place so like her Highever home with its quaint structures and simple expectations. Only Highever wasn't nestled in a vast blanket of deep, earthy red, and didn't sit on the shores of an impossibly blue lake, whose surreal stillness could perfectly reflect the red and gold sunsets across its smooth, glassy surface.
"Hold up a second, killer."
Her eyes flew open at the sound of the voice. Alistair had seemingly appeared from out of nowhere, stepping out of the long shadows cast by the collection of sheds, where he had apparently been watching Daniel. She saw the door on the far side of the yard standing slightly ajar and chuckled to herself. It was an easy thing to imagine Alistair deciding to use his knowledge of the castle's less frequented corridors and come through a damp, spidery cellar just to avoid being cornered.
Daniel froze in mid-swing, looking up at him with a bright, happy smile that Alistair returned automatically as he crouched down in front of the child and placed a hand on the small arm that still crossed his body. "Tell me, can you see where that sword is right now?"
"Umm…" He stared straight ahead, concentrating. "No."
"First lesson is: always be aware of your weapon. Try to keep it only where you can see it for now. And here." He deftly adjusted Daniel's grip. "Have at it."
Daniel nodded happily and went back to work, his brow furrowed with effort, taking the lesson to heart as seriously as he did his other studies.
Elissa felt her temper begin to rise again. Giving him a wooden sword was one thing—this was another matter entirely, and one he could have learned her feelings about quite easily if he had bothered to ask. She slapped her open hands down on the step she was seated on and bolted upright in frustration. "That does it."
"Careful, Liss," Aeryc called she stalked over to where Alistair leaned against the rail, his attention divided between Daniel and an official looking document in his hand.
"And just what do you think you're doing?" she asked, crossing her arms.
Alistair only gave her a disinterested look and continued reading. "I'm making sure he doesn't take out anyone's kneecaps."
"Oh. Because it looked to me like you have some idea of training him to fight." Her eyes narrowed on him despite the airiness of tone.
Alistair was careful to keep his eyes on the parchment, quite deliberately not looking at her. "He has to spend his entire life watching his mother ride off to war. Teaching him how to defend himself will help."
Her hands dropped to her hips, but she had the presence of mind to keep her voice too low for Daniel to overhear. "You expect a four-year-old to take up arms, do you? Do you have any other completely outlandish ambitions for him I should know about?"
He sighed. "Aaand the gloves come off." He gave her an amused look, crossing his arms and shifting back a bit as if settling in for an argument. "Seriously, Elissa, what are you going to feel like when he's fifteen and still has to run for cover? You're never going to have a quiet life as Commander of the Grey. Let him integrate already."
"He's too young!"
"He's not. Training will occupy his mind and his time, and keep him from feeling completely helpless every time you have to go hunt darkspawn."
He was beginning to make a disturbing kind of sense. She didn't care for it much. "That's not the point! The point is that I've been pretty adamant about this in the past, and you just came in and walked all over it. It doesn't work that way, Alistair."
She was treading a fine line here and she knew it. Fighting women with no surname didn't dictate to kings who fathered their children—they were dictated to. Fortunately for her, Alistair had always seemed to respond well to women who were notorious dictators. Instead of getting angry, he flinched at the accusation, dropping his eyes. "Technically, I didn't really walk all over it, I just—maybe nudged it to the side a little…" He seemed to shrink under her gaze and ran a hand through his hair. "Okay, okay. I suppose I've used up all my 'I'm brand new to this' excuses for the week?"
"Several times over."
"I'm sorry, then. Really. I won't do it again. Deliberately, anyway." He tilted his head to the side, looking at her curiously. "Why are you so against him learning?"
She wasn't prepared for that, and struggled a bit, trying to come up with a satisfactory answer. The simple truth was that her time as Warden Commander hadn't come without its price. Years of battle had seared horrible images into her mind, tainted her dreams with screams and blood and death. She couldn't even remember the last time she had made it through the night without waking up in a cold sweat, trembling. She wanted to spare Daniel that for as long as possible, even when he began to walk and talk and run, and she knew that he was rapidly reaching an age where she would have to face up to making sure he could take care of himself.
She wasn't ready to reveal that to Alistair, though, still leery of giving him too much. "He needs to concentrate on his studies. Regardless of what happens, he's the heir to a powerful holding."
"Ah, the whole brain being more important argument." So he did know I didn't want him learning, she thought with familiar, halfhearted annoyance. Prick. "You know, funny thing—I learned to read and fight, and at the same time, too. As I recall, so did you. Interesting, the way that works." She growled under her breath, but he only shrugged. "I'm only saying. You and I might not be the leading authorities on a whole lot of things, Elissa, but we both know how to come out of a scrap with all our parts attached. It's ridiculous not to teach him the same thing."
She ran her fingers through her hair and gave an exaggerated sigh, letting her head roll back in defeat. "You're right."
"I'm—wait, what?"
She laughed at his look of surprise. "You're right, I suppose. I'm just so afraid he'll get hurt, I guess I didn't…" She shook her head, clearing it of the darker thoughts. "I'll begin training him, once we get back to Vigil's Keep." She gave him a stern look, but it was purely for effect. Her irritation had dissolved into resignation. "Don't think this is the best way to get me to come around, though."
"Never." He hesitated, his eyes darting about nervously. "Um, I might be trying my luck, asking you this now, but… even if we don't… I mean…" he let out a breath of frustration. "He'll be in Denerim sometimes, won't he? I'd really like the chance to oversee his lessons myself. It's… important to me."
She sighed and moved to lean against the rail beside him, her arms crossed. "He will."
He smiled, too overjoyed at the idea to let a thing like distance dampen it, and she couldn't regret her concession.
Still, she thought with a roguish smile, a little revenge never hurt anybody. "Huh. I didn't realize the rigors of battle appealed to you so much, Your Majesty," she said innocently, laughing when he began to stammer, trying to formulate a proper comeback. "Do you even train anymore?"
"Do I even…? You watch yourself, woman."
She only shrugged, grinning. Alistair raised an eyebrow before pushing himself up from his perch. "Right. Let's go then."
"What are you talking about?" she asked, following him with her eyes as he made his way to the weapons rack and tossed her a blunted longsword.
"Come on, Speedy. See if you can get a touch in."
She caught it easily and snorted. "Oh, no. I'm not about to be the idiot who injured the King of Ferelden."
"Oho! Now I'm well and truly challenged. Here, I'll even make it easy for you." He reached back with a smile and chose a shorter blade as well. "Two handed. Both of us." He laughed when she blinked at him in surprise. "You know you're dying to show me up."
The temptation she felt must have been plain on her face, to judge by the smile that turned abruptly shrewd as he watched her. She could feel the smile pulling at her lips, and Alistair gave her his most charming grin. "Come on, Commander—I dare you."
She laughed and began to gather up her hair, winding it into a knot. "Daniel, go sit with Aeryc while I put your father in his place."
Elissa had barely secured her hair back and chosen her own off-hand blade before the yard was being filled, the Grey Wardens in the area calling out that the commander was fighting the king. She saw the look of annoyance on Maryn's face as he and the other guards shoved their way to the front, right up against the fenced boarder of the sandy field where the Wardens trained. Leliana and Teagan appeared at the upstairs window to the study, looking curiously for what was causing the commotion. Leliana took in the scene below and began laughing brightly. She put her fingers to her lips and threw her arm out wide in an exaggerated gesture of blowing her a kiss. Elissa laughed and returned it.
Alistair practically bounced in place in the center of the field, smiling widely. Despite her teasing, Elissa knew that two weapons or not, she was going to have a hard time of it, generally relying on her speed to wear her opponents down. She knew from many nights of sparring beside the campfire that she couldn't put so much as a dent in Alistair's energy.
Not before he wiped the floor with her, anyway.
"Just to first touch?" she asked for clarification, loosening up her arms.
"Just to first touch."
She grinned and lifted her weapons.
He came in fast, immediately putting her on the defensive as she parried attack after attack, forcing her to back up, giving him the advantage. She saw his strategy, to quickly back her into a corner and limit her range. She braced one leg behind her and began delivering a few strikes of her own, trying to get him to back off just enough for her to get into a more strategic position.
He saw her tactic and swung low with the longsword, trying to throw her off balance, but she smoothly dove out of the way, catching herself on her hands rolling back up into a crouch. She came up with her blades lifted out over her head just in time to parry a downward swing before she leapt to her feet and aimed a sideways kick in his direction, forcing him to jump back. The crowd muttered around them in happy surprise, perhaps not realizing that where sparring was concerned, Alistair and Elissa always went full speed—they were both cutthroat players in this particular game.
They began to circle, and she was helpless to disguise her smile of appreciation. "You've been training in dual wielding, you wretched sandbagger!"
"And you've apparently joined the Antivan Acrobats you… cheater!"
She laughed and held her ground, daring him to make the next move, familiar enough with his style to know he wouldn't be able to resist the taunt.
She wasn't disappointed. He came in first, alternating his attacks: high, low, high, low, she saw it when the dagger began to flash in from the side and snapped her sword up, knocking it from his hand. He raised an eyebrow but smiled, unconcerned at the disadvantage, and yielded only slightly, backpedaling across the field. He was fast—much faster than Elissa remembered, the longsword moving in a blur of motion as he fended off every attack she could throw at him.
Concentrating only on finding a hole in his defenses and gaining momentum to reach her full speed, she didn't realize what he was doing until he dove and snatched up the fallen dagger. She instantly shifted her grip to prepare for the onslaught when he came up swinging. For several seconds both of them refused to give up any ground, locked in place and hammering away before Elissa caught his longsword in a crossdown and he slashed out with the dagger. She barely had time to throw herself back.
He smiled, breathing heavily from exertion but happier than she had seen him in years. "This all you got, Commander?"
"I didn't see any call to embarrass you in front of your subjects, Your Majesty."
He laughed and charged in. He was attacking relentlessly now, using his superior stamina and strength to his full advantage, trying to wear her down. Elissa fell back to defend, waiting for a hole, and when she saw his left side exposed she feigned in. Alistair moved the dagger into position to block and she changed direction at the last second, spinning around to bring the blade up to the side of his neck at the same time he dodged to the side and caught her in her ribs—a simultaneous touch.
"Damn it!" she cried, looking down at the gleaming blade resting against her side.
The crowd erupted in delighted yelling and Alistair burst into laughter, draping his arm around her shoulders. "That was very kind of you, to let me save face like that."
"Right. That's what happened," she said, exaggerating her shortness of breath, and he laughed again, pulling her in closer for a fraction of a second in a one-armed hug as they made their way to the edge of the field to allow the Wardens to continue their training. Daniel came running up with Aiden on his heels, wide-eyed with excitement.
"You can fight as good as Mama!"
Alistair laughed and waved off her questioning look. "Nothing. Don't worry about it."
"Your Majesty!" a courier came jogging across the yard with a sealed letter in hand. "This arrived for you by falcon, Sire. A report from Denerim."
Alistair took the letter with a nod. Elissa frowned and set Daniel on the fence, snatching up a clean towel to mop off her face. "Do you really make Eamon report to you every day?"
"Only the days I'm not there," he muttered as he read over the letter.
She began toweling off her hair, trying not to sound too curious. "What—you don't trust him to avoid an uprising while you're gone?"
He glanced up. "Seeing as how my grandmother was murdered, my father sent into exile, and my half-brother betrayed by his own wife's father—not so much, no."
"That's a cynical little remark."
"Color me paranoid."
She frowned, tossing the towel back on the rail. "You're not helping your case, you know."
She got a look for that, but he didn't say anything, instead folding up his letter and tucking it into his tunic. "I supposed I'd better get cleaned up. Silgyn has likely finished consulting his advisors by now. I need to get back to him," he said, honest regret in his eyes. "I'll see you both later tonight."
… … …
Upstairs, Teagan shook his head, a little unnerved. "Maker's breath, I thought they were going to kill each other out there."
Leliana laughed. "You were not there at the beginning, my love. Alistair and Elissa's relationship stemmed from being little more than playmates. There was once a time, before everything, that I thought there could not be two people more alike. They were such a delightful pair to travel with."
He smiled at her. "I remember when all of you came to Redcliffe quite clearly. Battered and half-starved, and covered in blood more often than not. Only you could derive 'delightful' from that."
"Ah, but you did not get to experience the rare moments in between. I have always believed that it was they who enabled us to end the Blight," she said. "Not by whatever it is that makes them Grey Wardens, or even their skill in battle, but by the simple act of being who they are."
"Elissa has a strong will, and a sharp mind," Teagan said slowly. "One could argue that she would make a splendid queen." He chuckled. "Provided she can learn to keep those blades sheathed."
"But that is Elissa's way." She smiled sidelong at her husband. "If she cannot beat some sense into someone through talk, she will move on to the literal context. It is one of her more admirable traits, I think."
… … …
Alistair was escorting the visiting bann to the great hall to ready for his departure when he heard the news. Silgyn was an imposing man, a country lord with a rather admirable frankness to his demeanor and a strong sense of knowing his survival rested on the people he ruled over. It was fortunate that he was reputed to run a rather rough court himself, because as they made their way to the castle entrance, Aiden chose that moment to come galloping around the corner, something dangling from his mouth and Daniel in hot pursuit behind him.
"Give me back my shoe!"
They came tearing through the hall, nearly knocking over several members of Silgyn's honor guard before Alistair collared the dog with one hand and caught the boy with the other. After a brief struggle he managed to separate the two. Brannon jogged up behind them.
"My apologies, Your Majesty. He got away from me."
"So I see." He glanced up at the young man, who flinched under his gaze. "Don't let it happen again."
"No, Your Majesty."
"Good. Now then, you can pull the slobbery shoe out of that dog's mouth. Let that be a lesson to you."
Aiden growled, and Alistair could swear the animal was grinning.
Silgyn gave a grunt of amusement. "You certainly seem to have your hands full these days, My Liege." He looked over at Daniel, sizing the child up with an intensity that made Alistair nervous. Before he could say anything, the man merely grunted again and took his leave.
Alistair ran a hand over his face. So—the speculation was already spreading.
"Da! The Grey Wardens are here!" Alistair's attention snapped back to the child in surprise. Daniel had refrained from calling him much of anything at this point, and Elissa hadn't mentioned if he spoke about him when he wasn't around…
The words sank in and he caught Daniel by the shoulder as he tried to scamper away again, shoe in hand. "What did you say?"
"Grey Wardens from home. There's a whole lot of them. Mama says they're coming to Highever with us."
He already knew Elissa had sent for reinforcements to uncover the cave Morrigan spoke of, but they weren't supposed to have arrived for a few days, at least. "Where's your mother?"
"She's packing."
Reality closed in around him, dark and suffocating, and he barely managed to tell Brannon, "Take Daniel to the gardens," before turning and rushing for the stairs, taking them two at a time in his haste.