AN: In which the author fixes the "how does Cailan get around?"problem in a world without wheelchairs and Cinna flexes her great aptitude for naming things.

Chapter 14 - My Kingdom for a Horse

By the next morning they had packed up everything they needed and were ready to move out. What little working armor they had was either taken or left behind. Cinna, despite still being pretty sore over being fucking shot four times and stabbed, elected to give Cailan her warden armor, just because she really didn't want to have to patch him up again.

That, and he was having a real bad time as they argued about how they were going to get him to Lothering.

"We could carry him?" said a very awkward Alistair, just a bit out of earshot of the fallen king, but close enough for Cinna to hear. "It wouldn't be that difficult."

"What about the darkspawn?" asked Duran, frowning. "Do we drop him the moment a fight breaks out?"

"That'd be... unwise," said Duncan. He ran a hand over his mouth, thinking deeply, and turned to Morrigan. "Do you have a cart we could use?"

"Do I look like I need a cart to travel here?" she gestured to the swamp around her. "There may be a farm up ahead not yet destroyed by the darkspawn. I suggest we go there in the meantime, lest you continue bothering me with your questions."

"It's like I'm not even here," sighed Cailan, watching them with a far-off look in his eyes. She and Duncan had carried him out and sat him down on a log just outside Flemeth's hut. Now, dressed in her warden blues, her chest plate sitting over the ribs she had so carefully pulled back together, Cailan hardly looked like the golden boy he started out as.

Sitting next to him, Cinna leaned forward and placed her head on her hand. Her journal was resting on her lap, and she wished she had been given a pen or pencil or something. "They'll figure something out."

And eventually, they did.

There was an old threshing board behind the house they used to cross the softer parts of the swamps. When Cinna's boots drowned in the mud and Duran nearly got swallowed up by the mud, Alistair and Duncan traded places dragging Cailan behind them. When the road grew tougher, they carried him, and at night when they reached the ends of the swamp, Morrigan and Cinna made camp while everyone else dug mud out of their clothes.

They had run into a surprising few darkspawn. Morrigan probably had something to do with that—having picked the path before them. Cinna's thoughts drifted to crow feathers and full wings as she brought a bundle of sticks to the fire. Some of the drawings in her journal were of birds a young Morrigan must've seen before her training.

"What's it like?" she asked, as they settled in and picked which of them would take watch. Cinna had elected to be the first, seeing how she had hung back with Cailan when they ran into any trouble. Not that she had suddenly forgotten all her survival skills once they had regrouped, but she had given all her armor away and didn't want another stab wound.

Morrigan stared at her for a moment, with those haunting yellow eyes of hers. She was suspicious, at first. "Why, so you can try yourself? Such complicated magic is beyond simple mages."

"I know that," she huffed, leaning forward towards the fire to warm her fingers. "But what's it like? the wind beneath your wings, the knowledge that you could fly anywhere... When I was a kid, I always wondered what it'd be like to turn into a bird."

The older mage snorted, tossing a log onto their fire. Somewhere, further into the forest, the distant call of frogs echoes throughout the swamp, and Cinna listened to their melody, waiting for the telltale snap of darkspawn nearing. "It sounds simple when you put it like that. What, am I to forget all my earthly concerns once I take to the skies? Humanity is not so easily shed."

"Yeah, I guess." Cinna slid down on her log and let her feet creep up closer to the fire. Her boots were resting nearby, drying after so much water had soaked in, and her toes were chilly. She could hear Alistair snoring nearby and wrinkled her nose. "It sounds nice in theory though."

"...For children, perhaps," came Morrigan's clipped response.

Cinna had expected a different answer. Maybe it was because she was a stranger—or maybe Morrigan just didn't like her.

They were silent by the fire for the longest time. She wasn't sure if it was a comfortable silence, or if Morrigan just didn't want to speak to her anymore. She fidgeted for a while, anxious, because her gut-instinct desire was to have people like her even if they were… rude and mean and distant… Cinna sighed, tucking her colds hands under her arms. It was a long shot anyway, getting along with Morrigan. She'd probably have a better time moving on and talking to someone else.

But being stuck with her, late at night, with nothing other than the creepy wilderness and lingering threat of darkspawn attack to think about was literally going to drive her insane.

"I grew up in the forest," Cinna said eventually, grasping for straws in trying to start a conversation. How do you break the ice after almost killing and eating someone…? "Where the trees and the ocean met."

"Congratulations," said the witch, completely disinterested in where this new conversation was going. "Do you want a medal?"

"Nah, I just miss it." She threw another stick into the fire and shivered, wishing she still had her coat. It had probably been burned, along with the rest of Ostagar. Her warden's oath charm hung around around her neck, weighing a million pounds, and she toyed with it, fingers twisting in the chain. "I didn't think I would, since most of the time I just stayed indoors and read. Maybe in the future we could swing by the ocean—I'd take that over swimming in mud."

"Mother mentioned that you were foreign," Morrigan said evenly. She peered down at Cinna from her log. "If you knew anything about Ferelden beaches, you would want to avoid the ocean."

She failed to elaborate what that meant, but it had Cinna interested. She inched a little bit closer to her, and tilted her head. "What, do they have sea monsters or something?"

Morrigan's eyebrow twitched."There are many things beyond the comprehension of common folk, what you may call a monster has its place in the world as any other," she sighed, looking like she wanted nothing more than to end the conversation. "But think more along the lines of… giant crabs."

"That's so fucking cool?" she gushed, earning a very pinched expression from the witch. "How big can they get? like, two feet? past my knee? What do they taste like?"

"Must you ask so many pointless questions?" Morrigan hissed. She snapped a twig in two and tossed it into the fire. "Why would one even want to eat something like that? No, don't answer that, I don't actually want to know."

The silence persisted as Morrigan now pointedly started ignoring her, but Cinna had was on a roll. "If I met a giant crab, I would try to make it my friend."

"UUUughh," she groaned.

The distant frog song continued throughout the night, and Cinna cast her eyes up to the cloudy sky. She held her journal to her chest, and counted the seconds she would have to stay up until she had to wake up Alistair and Duncan for the morning shift.

"I'd name him Mr. Pinchy."

She could feel Morrigan judging her into infinity, so she stopped. But the image of taking a giant, man-eating crab on a walk down the beach was a nice one, and it kept her mind from worrying that night about the Darkspawn.

The next morning, they made it to the farm Morrigan had mentioned and found all the animals inside dead or running free. Duncan had a pinched expression on his face when he set Cailan down, and they did a sweep of the area to clear out any Darkspawn. It looked like whoever had lived there had already packed up all their things and ran the moment they heard the blight was coming.

The barn doors were left wide open. Flies had gotten to the dead pigs left in their stalls, and there was a slightly-off tang of the taint was in the air. She wasn't sure if the blackness in the pigs were from the blight or not, but twelve dead piglets nestled up to the body of their mother was a sad sight to behold. The blight really took everyone.

"What are you doing over here?" asked Alistair, his sword still in his hand. "Can't you sense the darkspawn?"

"No," she said sadly, peering into the little pen. He soon joined her, and they shared a miserable look. "I just got distracted."

"Understandable..." His expression was pinched. It didn't look like the barn was full of darkspawn so he sheathed his sword, sighing. "Maker, what a mess."

She nodded, and they set to work scavenging around the farm. Cinna found a ratty old shawl and slung it around her shoulders, along with a nice walking stick and a bag to carry her things. Not that she had many things, but now she looked the part of a forest witch when she rejoined the group.

"Hey, Morrigan, twinsies?" She held her arms up and earned a disgusted 'tsk' noise in response. Cinna turned to Alistair and Duran and put her hands on her hips. "Now that I look the part, I'm one step closer to turning you both into frogs."

"Oh, I'm so terrified," said Alistair. He shivered, and clutched his arms. "Someone stop the scary scary mage before it's too late!"

Duran shook his head and they moved back to the rest of the group, huddled outside the barn. "Call us when you master a simple fireball."

Cinna was about to make a retort about her mastering other things, but stopped because she wasn't sure how'd they respond to her being a blood mage, and then a noise gained their attention. There, harassing Duncan and Cailan, was a large, furry mass, barking up a storm.

"Oh, finally."

Duncan was too busy trying to calm down the Mabari to see them approach, but Cailan saw them and immediately called them over. "It won't stop licking my face! Someone call it off!"

Duran was the first one to get there and the first to speak. "Down boy!"

And the dog obeyed—leaping off of the poor king and darting towards the dwarf. Duncan let go of its collar before it could pull him over, and Cinna watched with delight as the Mabari all but knocked Duran off his feet.

"Do you know this dog?" Asked the warden commander, watching as the mabari licked the dirt and sweat off Duran's face with its leathery tongue.

"It might be the one we helped at camp?" Alistair said with wonder. The dog looked up at him and barked, and he let out an amazed laugh and pat its head. "It is!"

"Wonderful," said Cailan, wiping his face of dog drool. He blanched at the smell on his hands and looked down at the creature. "Whatever it's eaten in the past week must've been horribly dead. It's breath is wretched!"

"Not a dog person?" Cinna asked lightly, handing him one of the rags she had found inside.

Cailan huffed and glared up at her. "I like dogs. Just not when they cover me in their lunch."

"Who's a good boy? who's a good boy?" Alistair gushed, pulling the mabari off Duran and into his arms. The dog's big nose wiped slime all over his face and armor, but he didn't even seem to mind. "You are! Look at you, surviving the horde. What a braaave boooyy~!"

Morrigan finally caught up to them and looked down at the mess in front of her. "He's lost his mind."

"That's puppy love," Cinna shot back, grinning.

Cinna let the mabari sniff her hand as it approached, and leaned over to scratch the spot above its tail. She was thrilled to see it bark in joy and start shaking its leg. Soon enough, the giant beast was on its back and they took turns patting its belly.

Cinna knew how to handle dogs.

Morrigan let out a disgusted grunt. "I take it back. You've all lost your minds."

"What's its name?" asked Duncan eventually, watching the three of them with an amused expression.

Cinna and Alistair turned to the dwarf. Duran blinked. "Uhh... I didn't know I was supposed to name him?"

"Pleaseee, pleeeasseee, let it be Barkspawn," Cinna whined. That earned a startled laugh from Alistair, and a shared groan between everyone else who didn't appreciate her pun. Namely, Morrigan, and Cailan, who was still being grouchy. "You don't know how much this means to me."

"I say we name him after Cinna just to spice things up a bit—OW!" Alistair winced and rubbed his shoulder where she punched him. "Get it? Cinna, cinnamon, spicy stuff? Oh, so you're the only one allowed to make funny jokes, huh?"

"Yes," she sniffed, turning her nose up at him. A moment later though, she was wiping dog drool off her face like the rest of them.

"You did a good job surviving here on your own," said Duran, taking the Mabari's head in his hands and looking into its big brown eyes. The dog's whole behind wiggled, his phantom tail wagging with delight. "Welcome to the party."

"Fantastic." Morrigan rolled her eyes, and turned her head towards the end of the farmland. "What else will we be taking in along the way? a herd of deer? A darkspawn? Ugh."

Duncan shook his head and moved past the group to stand beside Morrigan. He gestured to her left, just off the beaten path and into a grove of trees, where the shadows moved and the bushes hid dark things lurking just out of reach. "Speaking of darkspawn."

At the sound of trouble, they all straightened up and grabbed their things. Barkspawn (because Cinna was damn well going to call him that now, no matter what anyone else said) was also up, and his hackles raised as he came to stand beside Duran.

Cinna slid up next to Cailan as the rest of the group took off to go deal with the problem, now that they had been spotted, and looked down at the fallen king. "Well, at least you don't have to worry about being the favourite."

"Joy." Cailan watched the dog leap and tear into its enemies, sticking by the dwarf's side all the while. He groaned and let himself fall backwards in his seat, his head thumping against the barn wall. His pretty blonde hair was a mess, sticking up in every direction. "I miss him already."

Cinna laughed, and they waited for the party to return together. When they did, it came with another surprise. As it turned out, the farm had some living in habitants after all.

"She was stuck on a branch trying to escape the farm," said Alistair, tugging a stocky, angry-looking donkey behind him.

Cinna couldn't wipe the smirk off her fade when Cailan looked at her, appalled. "Looks like you get your mighty steed after all, your worship."

He covered his face with his hands and took a deep breath. "Please, do shut up."