A/N: Antivan Translations

Braska: general explicative, damn

Mi dolce: my sweet

Mi bella: my beauty

Io ti desidero per mio: (guess what finally gets translated next chapter)

Kirielle 20

"Braska!" I heard Zevran mutter as his lock pick broke off in the door. "It appears that we need a key" he said as he turned around, tossing the broken pick to the ground.

"Our assassin is full of nothing but astute observations today" sneered Alistair.

"Hush Alistair" interrupted Wynne "I don't see you doing anything to help".

"At least I realized that maybe when the beggar said it could only be opened with the finger bone key that it could only be opened with the key instead of wasting time on this".

I shot Alistair an angry look, but he didn't seem to care. "Alistair, come here. Now" I hissed as I grabbed his arm and led him away. I pulled him aside far enough that the other wouldn't be able to hear us.

"What is your problem? I thought that we had gotten past this" I growled at him.

"We?" he started, "What does this have to do with us?"

"You promised me that you would stop treating him like that!"

"Yeah, and he promised to stop antagonizing me and we saw how that worked out!"

"When, Alistair? When was Zevran antagonizing you?!"

"The other day at breakfast! When he had his head on your shoulder and was playing with your ears! He's only doing that because he knows how we are".

"He wasn't antagonizing you! If anything he was trying to antagonize me! And anyways, it's how we were, at this point". I saw Alistair winch when I said were. We were back on friendly terms sure, but we weren't actually together anymore. Is that why he was so upset about Zevran and I falling asleep together and about what happened back at breakfast the other day?

I folded my arms in front of my chest. I could not believe I was having this conversation with him again. I thought that after talking it out in the clearing the two of us would be okay, at least as friends, but even that seemed to be asking too much.

"Are you really angry at Zevran for being Zevran, or because you might be feeling jealous?" I questioned my fellow warden somewhat angrily.

"Jealous? Me? Of him? Why would I be jealous?"

"Oh, I don't know, maybe because I've been paying attention to him more than you ever since you made it clear that you haven't really been able to come to terms with me being an elf" I snarled.

"Are we done here? Or do you really want me to answer?" he snarled back.

At this point everyone was watching us and I was just hoping that they couldn't hear us after all.

"You know what Alistair? We are done here, but you need to remember something: I chose to bring Zevran along, he is part of this group whether you like it or not and if you do anything to harm him you will answer to me, so you better learn to deal with it." I turned and stormed off back to where the group was waiting and after the shock wore off Alistair returned also.

It wasn't long until we found some of Jarvia's men in an abandoned building and were able to overtake them and get their key. We made our way back to the door and this time we were able to successfully unlock it.

Getting through the hideout wasn't too difficult, there were Carta members everywhere and although many of them were skilled fighters, compared to all of the demons and darkspawn we encountered, actual people seemed to be much less of a threat. Most of the time we fought in silence, an oppressive silence, but at least that was better than the constant fighting with each other.

Eventually we made our way to Jarvia herself, She was a loud and cocky woman and truthfully just unpleasant. It was a difficult battle with her, she was quick, seemly disappearing and reappearing around the room and several of her men fought alongside her. Eventually Zevran managed to catch her. I had never seen anyone who moved as quickly as Zevran did, he constantly skirted the edges of the battle, sneaking up and backstabbing enemies, taking them down in a single blow most of the time. Zevran was intimidating even still after getting to know him. Knowing that someone his size could still be incredibly powerful was humbling, even though we were nearly the same size. Was that how people saw me too? Were they surprised that despite my size I could still effectively fight darkspawn? I shook the thoughts from my head.

I watched as Zevran grabbed Jarvis from behind. He got a hold of the top of her neck and chin before she even knew what happened. He wrenched her head back, exposing her throat and in one swift motion he slid a dagger across her neck, slitting her throat cleanly. He released her, allowing her body to hit the ground with an undignified thud. He snorted and looked vaguely annoyed.

"Well, I'm glad that's over" he said as he reached down to wipe his bloodied dagger off on her clothes.

Everyone moved quickly to find anything of use or value on Jarvia or her men. We found several poultices, a decent amount of money, and several trinkets, weapons, and pieces of armor that could be sold.

As we made our way back to the royal palace I couldn't help but notice that since we entered Orzammar it was impossible know how much time had passed. We reached the city around midday, spent a bit of time in the assembly, we traveled into the Deep Roads to find Lord Dace, spent time in Tapster's convincing Lord Hemli to support Prince Bhelen, then we hunted down and destroyed Jarvia's Carta. It must be well into the night I thought to myself.

I didn't like it down here, I didn't like not being able to see the sun or sky, I didn't like not knowing what time it was, I didn't like being a prince's pawn, I didn't like any of this. I was exhausted, I just wanted to find something to eat, then sleep until this all just became a bad dream.

We finally reached the royal palace and told Prince Bhelen the news.

"Very good, the people will feel safer knowing that the Carta has been destroyed and surely that will swing the assembly in my favor" he said, though he still seemed lost in thought.

"So it's settled then? The people will support you being king now?" I questioned cautiously.

"Well, more than before. But there is one last thing that can be done to assure that the people will support my claim to the throne: the Paragon Branka. Two years ago she entered the Deep Roads to search for an important relic and has yet to return. Most believe that she died long ago and that may be true, but if she is alive, her support would solidify my claim. I need you to search for her and the relic she was chasing: The Anvil of the Void".

"This is a fool's errand" mumbled Alistair "She's been gone two years, she's probably dead"

"For once I have to agree with him" chimed in Zevran.

"Regardless" continued Bhelen "it is important to find her, or at least confirm her death. She is the only living paragon for the time being and she means a lot to the people. I request that you do what you can to find her".

"We're not really doing this, are we?" asked Alistair.

"Yes, we are. If it means putting a king on the throne, we are doing it" I responded.

"Good, leave whenever you're ready" nodded Bhelen.

"Then it's settled, we stay at an inn here, restock on supplies, then head out after resting" I declared.

"Sorry to inform you, but there are no inns here in Orzammar, we don't like to encourage travelers." Bhelen told us.

"Fine, we camp tonight then".

"I couldn't allow that" began Bhelen "not after everything you've done to help, and how would it look if I made the Wardens and their companions sleep outside. There are plenty of rooms in the palace, tonight you will stay here!" stated Bhelen.

"I'll pass" Morrigan said without a hint of a smile "Being underground is doing nothing for my health. I will camp tonight and will be back in the morning, or whenever since it might be morning now for all I know"

"I will stay outside too, qunari are not meant to be underground" added Sten.

"I for one would prefer to stay here" interjected Wynne. Alistair, Leliana, and Zevran nodded in agreement.

"I don't care where you sleep, just figure it out" I growled. I was tired, I had no clue what time it was or if it was even still day time, I was hungry, and I just really wanted to lay down.

Whilst we talked amongst ourselves Bhelen had already summoned a steward to figure out sleeping arrangements.

"Good news!" shouted Bhelen "There are two rooms open right now! I'll have my steward show you to them".

We followed the steward down the hallways to where the rooms where, "I think you'll be quite pleased with your arrangements. Each room has its own study area and private bath, and each room has two large beds. I'm sure you'll find everything you need. I'll send someone by with food and supplies in a bit after you get settled in" the steward said cheerfully.

The rooms were wonderful, they reminded me of Redcliff castle with how ornate and well furnished they were. The only problem was actually deciding the sleeping arrangements.

"Since there are two rooms" I began "one room will be for the men, and the other for the women" I stated flatly.

Zevran and Alistair looked from me, to each other, to back to me. "I'm not sharing a room with him!" they both shouted.

"I'm not sharing a room with the assassin who tried to kill us!" shouted Alistair.

"And I'm not sharing a room with the templar who still probably wants me dead" said Zevran coldly.

I was out of energy to deal with this anymore. I had already punched Alistair once and I wasn't above doing it again, or hitting Zevran for that matter, but before I had a chance to smack either of them Wynne stepped in.

"Kirielle, why don't you pick a room and go rest or bathe, let me deal with this, I'll work out everything here" the older mage said with a smile.

I sighed, if Wynne thought she could work this out peacefully, Creators' blessings on her.

I quickly dove into the closest room, happy to not be responsible for making the decisions for once. I tossed my pack down on the nearest bed and bolted for the room on the side with the tub.

It was like nothing I had ever seen before. There was an immense stone tub carved into the rock itself. Next to it sat a boiler with a pipe leading from the wall to bring in fresh water, probably from the natural springs in the area, and then a spout into the tub. Underneath it there was a pool of lava that was circulating out of the wall, into the pool, and then back out into the stone to make sure it was always hot enough. I pulled the lever on the side of the boiler and filled the tub with water, though the lava boiled water was much too hot to bathe in.

I busied myself by examining all of the soaps and washes sitting on the shelves in the room as I waited for the water to cool a bit. There were soaps for washing your body, soaps especially for your hair, all different scented soaps; did people actually live like this? I spent several minutes decided on what to use, I settled on a lavender soap for my body, a rich spicy liquid soap for my hair, and some sort of matching cream that I was pretty sure was to help soften and detangle hair.

I undressed and settled into the tub, I couldn't remember the last time I had a hot bath. I sunk down until the water was barely below my nose and enjoyed feeling relaxed for once as I traced the ornately carved edges of the tub and allowed my mind to wander. At one point I heard people enter the room, but I couldn't tell who it was; the stone walls and door muffled the sound quite a bit. I carefully washed my hair with the spicy soap and then worked the rich cream through my hair to detangle it. I scrubbed my skin with one of the folded cloths from the shelf and some of the lavender soap to remove the blood and dirt caked onto my skin. I soaked in the tub until the water became chilly and half considered draining it and refilling it, but thought it was best to give someone else the chance to bathe.

After the water become icy I finally left the tub and dried off with one of the towels left for us and for once I was glad I was glad I was short, the towels were intended for dwarves after all. I looked down and realized that my clean clothes were in my pack and my pack was on the bed. I contemplated tossing on my dirty clothes for a moment to retrieve my pack, but they were covered in blood and dirt and I didn't want to undo all the cleaning I just went through.

I wrapped myself in the towel and made sure that nothing was visible, I would bolt for my pack I decided. Later I realized that I simply could have cracked open the door and had someone bring me my pack, but that didn't occur to me until after. I made it half way to the bed before I realized who else was in the room: Leliana and Zevran. Leliana wasn't a problem, Zevran however…

"Ahahahahah! A show maybe!" he chuckled. Like always, he looked incredibly relaxed. He was sprawled out on the bed I had tossed my pack on. He had already changed out of his armor and into a pair of loosely fitted pants and a shit, though the shirt was pulled quite a ways up showing off most of his abdomen and chest. Somehow he always managed to avoid getting sprayed with blood like the rest of us. He had also had unbraided his hair, allowing it to fall around his face.

I snatched my pack off the bed, making sure to keep the towel in place as I moved. "You couldn't have at least taken the other bed?" I snarled.

"No, I like this one" he said back with a smile.

"Did it even occur to you that someone had already claimed this one?"

"It did, that's why I wanted it" his smile widened.

I stormed back to the tub to get dressed in peace. Wynne would be hearing about this later.

When I emerged Zevran was still laying there unmoved. Leliana quickly bolted for the tub and I sat down on the other bed.

"I don't mind sharing" Zevran said as he rolled onto his side to face me. I turned away from him.

"Don't be like that mi dolce, someone has to share a bed, there's three of us and two beds after all. Plus, we've slept together before anyways, it's nothing new." He finished with a chuckle.

"Leliana and I will share a bed" I said flatly.

"Hmm, pity. But at least I get to go to sleep with the thought of two beautiful women sleeping together in the bed next to me."

I wanted to smack him. I wanted to smack that smug smile right off his face and remind him who was in charge here. I really did consider it, and it would probably be even more satisfying that when I punched Alistair the other day.

I rolled over to face him so I could yell at properly face-to-face, but I quickly noticed something: somehow that man managed to remove his shirt completely silently in the few moments I took my eyes off him.

I couldn't help but stare for a moment. He was well built, even on elven standards. Despite his smaller frame he was still obviously powerful, his shoulders and chest were muscular and well defined, but not overly so like how Alistair was. His abdomen was almost completely flat, save for the indentations defining his abs. Most noticeably were his tattoos though, he always hinted at having other tattoos besides on his face, but I wasn't expecting this much. He had arcs and swirls all across the front of his shoulders and chest that then traced down his sides and disappeared into his pants. Creators, why did he have to be attractive?

"Admiring the art work?" he said cockily.

"Just trying to figure out when you managed to take or shirt off, or why." I said shaking my head, trying to clear my previous thought out.

"Hmm, when isn't important, and as for why? I dislike sleeping in a shirt, truthfully I would prefer not to have the pants either, but I'll stay decent in the presence of ladies. Unless…"

"You will keep your pants on!" I shouted and found myself rather happy that the walls were so thick.

He raised his hands in mock surrender and smiled. "Anything you want mi bella. Just let me know if you change your mind, I can take these off just as stealthily" he said as he raised an eyebrow.

After a few minutes of oppressive silence there came a knock upon the door and I got up and quickly crossed the room to see who it was. Several dwarves stood in the doorway carrying platters of food and supplies. I stepped aside and allowed them to put everything down on the table and thanked them for everything.

Prince Bhelen had been quite generous, there were platters of meats, fruits, breads, and cheeses, along with packed food for tomorrow and other supplies that we would need. I quickly grabbed one of the small plates they brought with the food and started to eat. Zevran remained unmoved, lost in thought. If he thought I was going to bring him food again like at breakfast the other day he was sadly mistaken.

I looked over at Zevran, he was back to lying on his back. He looked disgruntled about something, he was frowning and his eyebrows were drawn together, just like at breakfast the other day.

"Zevran? Aren't you going to eat?" I called out, but he didn't respond. Fine, if he didn't want to eat that was not my problem.

I continued eating, occasionally glancing over at him, his frown seemed to deepen, what was he thinking about? I heard his stomach growl from across the room. The last time we had eaten was breakfast this morning, at now it was well into the night, if not morning, after everything that we had done. He needed to eat.

"Zevran, you need to eat something" I called out again, but he still didn't respond. I couldn't tell if he was ignoring me or if he really was that lost in thought. I rolled my eyes and decided that maybe it was better if I did just bring him a plate of food, otherwise he may not eat.

I fixed him a plate and brought it over to where he was lying. "Zevran?" I called yet again, but he didn't acknowledge me. I reached out and tapped him on the shoulder; his skin was cool to the tough, like mine. I seemed to startle him, he jolted back to awareness.

"Hm? Desolato mi bella, I was just thinking" he said weakly with a smile.

"I've been trying to get your attention for a while now, you need to eat. Here" I said thrusting the plate of food into his hands "I could hear your stomach growling from across the room".

Zevran chuckled, he had a rich and musical laugh. "So you are concerned for me, no? I am flattered".

"Yeah, well, I don't need you passing out in the Deep Roads tomorrow" I turned away to return to my food, Zevran reached out and grabbed onto the back of my shirt. He looked up at me weakly, then patted the spot on the bed next to him. "Fine, at least let me grab my food though."

I retrieved my food and sat down next to Zevran, he seemed to actually be serious for once. We ate in silence, though Zevran made every attempt to scoot over as close as possible to me until his arm brushed against mine. He reached over and patted me on the leg, "Watch" he said. He tossed a grape up into the air and gently caught it between his teeth. I rolled my eyes; he was such a show off.

Zevran frowned and ate the grape. He repeated his trick again, this time tossing the grape much higher, though he still caught it with ease. He turned to me and smiled, grape still between his teeth. I rolled my eyes yet again, though this time he didn't eat the grape. This time he pressed his lips against mine, passing me the grape. His lips were cool and soft and I felt his tongue lightly brush against my lips as he passed me the grape.

He drew back and smiled rather triumphantly as I sat there somewhat dumbfounded as to what to do about the grape in my mouth, unsure of whether I should spit it out or just eat it.

"What's wrong mi bella? Not sure what to do?" he said with a chuckle as he watched my confusion. "You could always give it back" he said as he leaned in to press his lips against mine once more. He parted my lips with his tongue and gently maneuvered his way into my mouth to retrieve the grape. He paused for a moment to allow his tongue to swirl around mine before pulling away with the grape.

I felt myself blushing, not necessarily because Zevran had kissed me, but because I kind of enjoyed it. It was playful and sweet, not overbearing and demanding like Alistair had been and Zevran's cool lips against mine felt much more natural. I half wanted him to kiss me again, but I reminded myself of who he was: he was the assassin that tried to kill us, but more importantly a man who was only out for himself, he was doing this because he wanted to sleep with me, nothing more.

I got up and sat down on the other bed, away from him and continued eating without acknowledging what had just happened.

"Why are you being like this mi bella? There's nothing wrong with what happened, if you liked it, then you liked it, it's not a big deal" he said with a shrug.

I stared down at my plate, hoping that he would stop talking. Maybe it wasn't a big deal for someone who had been with so many others before, but for me it was. I continued to stare at my plate for a few moments.

Before I knew what happened, Zevran had gotten up and silently crossed over to where I was sitting. He placed a hand under my chin and gently tilted my face up to face him. He smiled and held my gaze for a moment before pressing his lips against mine for the third time in just a few minutes. I felt him move the plate off of my lap and gently he pushed me back onto the bed.

I don't know why, but I let him. He had one hand wrapped in my hair, gently tugging on it, the other was playing with my ear. At this point I was lying flat on my back with him straddling me. He started slowly, just brushing his lips against mine, occasionally running his tongue along my lips. Slowly he parted my lips and flicked his tongue into my mouth playfully. After a few minutes of this I got up my own courage and pressed back against Zevran's tongue and flicked my tongue into his mouth. He chuckled and rolled over so that I was on top of him, straddling his hips now, I could feel a budge between his legs. We continued kissing, constantly switching up who was leading. I felt him start to run his hands up under my shirt, but I didn't fight it.

I started to trail my kisses along his cheek and kissed and licked along the tattoos on his face, I could hear him sigh happily as I did. I trailed my kisses down his neck, pausing for a few moments to nip and lick at his neck. At first I just nipped lightly so I wouldn't hurt him, but as I pulled away he placed his hand on the back of my head and guided me back to his neck.

"Harder" he whined.

I bit down on his neck with more force and hear him gasp a bit from the sudden pain, but he urged me to continue. I switched between biting, licking, and kissing until I tasted blood in my mouth. I pulled away to see a nearly black bruise on his neck and a few drops of blood from where I managed to break his skin.

Zevran reached up and touched the spot where I drew blood and examined the blood on his fingers. He chuckled again "That's more like it" he growled.

I kissed down to his chest and followed along his tattoos with my tongue, tracing the lines. Zevran reached out and guided me to the end of a swirl right over his heart. I followed it, it curled across his collar bone and wound its way around one of his nipples, which I made sure to run my tongue across. I felt him arch his back as I did. It gently started to wind its way down his side. I licked down his rib cage and the side of his abdomen and understood why he had chosen this particular line for me to follow.

I reached the top of his pants and paused, unsure if I should continue or not.

"Io ti desidero per mio" he purred.

I head the door open, it was Leliana, she had finished with her bath.

"Am I interrupting something?" she called out cautiously.

"Yes" growled Zevran, but I had already removed myself from him.

I was blushing more than ever before, embarrassed that she had caught us like that, and to make matters worse I was even the one on top so it looked like I started it.

"I think I'll go see if Wynne and Alistair have space for me in their room" Leliana gathered her things and quickly left before I had a chance to say anything. Not that I could have made the situation any better.

"Well, this worked out quite nicely, no?" said Zevran with a smile.

I still couldn't talk, I was too embarrassed.

"What's wrong now mi dolce? It's not like we were doing anything wrong. It's not like it wasn't consensual or anything." He said with a shrug. He wrapped his arms around my waist "Why don't we pick back up where we left off, hmm?"

I gently pushed him away. I wasn't mad at him, I could have stopped him or myself at any time, but I didn't. I enjoyed him kissing me and running his hands along my skin. I enjoyed kissing him, and biting him, and just being dominate for once.

"Did… I do something wrong?" asked Zevran cautiously as he brushed his now tangled hair out of his face.

I shook my head.

"Then what troubles you mi cara? Did you not enjoy it?"

"No, it's not that" I paused, unable to find the right words.

"I'm sorry if that was too forward" Zevran said awkwardly "but I'm glad that you at least enjoyed it" A grin returned to his face.

I blushed even more. Zevran wrapped his arms around me again, but this time I didn't push him away. Zevran was an infuriating man. He was cocky, unabashed, self-centered, and sometimes childish. But he could also be caring when he wanted to, he could make people smile, and he was loyal. I felt conflicted over him. I knew his intentions hadn't changed, that he just wanted sex, not any sort of relationship, and I was slowly getting used to the idea of that.

Zevran laid back on the bed and gently tugged me down with him. We laid together for a while, I snuggled my face into his chest and enjoyed his scent while he played with my ear absent mindedly. He began to hum softly just like the night at the campfire when he held me. I felt myself start to relax again, I felt safe around Zevran.

As much as I didn't want to admit it, it felt natural to be with Zevran. My mind wandered and I started to think about if sex with Zevran would be satisfying like kissing had been. I quickly banished the thought though.

Zevran shifted onto his side so that he was now facing me. I wrapped my arms as best I could around him. As I brushed my hands against his back I gasped, I could feel that his back was covered in scars.