Chapter 21: Oliphant

He wasn't sure if he would be able to tolerate a "shopping" day with Anders. Hawke once had one with Anders and when Fenris heard about how Anders flitted from stall to stall like a child ogling too many shiny things, he worried he might kill the mage before they found an inn. Strange, how back then when Anders had moved in with Hawke and had wealth from their missions that when they went shopping and he ogled kiosks annoyingly, he never bought anything. Fenris had to consider this as he side-glanced the mage from time to time. His wary stance and warrior instincts kept him watching all around them for danger or trouble. As he considered the oddity of Anders not spending money, he concluded that either the mage was frugal or was so used to being poor and not owning anything that he was too uncomfortable buying things. This latter was Fenris' problem. He had lots of money, according to Varric, but didn't really know the monetary value of some things and felt too much anxiety spending his money in case it was suddenly not there when he needed it.

Kirkwall had been a city, upon a city, upon a city if you thought of each district as its own city. Docks, Gallows, Darktown, Lowtown, and Hightown. Each had a market of sorts. The docks has some sales happen off of ships or in stray warehouses, maybe a shady merchant in a darkened nook or under a bridge. Darktown offered the smugglers hovels to sell from that no one talked about, or a merchant of illegal wares could be found in a sewer. Lowtown and Hightown had the actual markets. Eight to ten shops and stalls often selling a variety of items. Specialists were few. Even the Gallows had the Tranquil hawking spelled items from stalls in the courtyard. But the market here in Traiders Bay put them all to shame. Fenris hadn't even seen such a cluster of so many merchants in one place in all of Tevinter! Ten times as many stalls selling stuff in one tenth the space of the average market square.

The colors and smells collided with the people. Anders did indeed flit from stall to stall, ignoring the pain in his aching knee. Fenris rolled his eyes, but stayed close. He didn't wear his full armor and repeatedly considered returning to the ship for it. Anders dress casually, like a lower noble with some of the leather armor they came on board with from Hawke's. Fenris found it made Anders look both stylish and roguish. No wonder it appealed to the women around. Yes, all the women. Fenris ground his teeth as Anders flirted blatantly with anyone at each stall. Sometimes he seemed to flirt with the items and not the people, the effect was the same. As was the end result. The merchant lowered their prices and Anders complimented them but still declined purchase.

Anders lingered at a stall with mage staffs. He pretended to know little of them and listened to the merchant expound upon them to another apostate. Fenris leaned in, his shoulder pressing against Anders' and whispered, "You should think about getting a new one since you have none."

Anders stiffened. "No." He turned abruptly and walked away to look at something else.

Fenris shook his head. Anders had not had one since Fenris found him wasting away in that little den in Darktown. He never brought up why Anders didn't have one, or what happened to the fine one he did have, or why he didn't get a new one. But now that they were traveling, Fenris felt there might be a need. The fight against the darkspawn on that ship proved that to him. Why was Anders being so stubborn?

Anders stopped at a stall with foreign substances in jars. Powders, grains, seeds, and even lyrium. Anders looked at a vial of powdered unicorn horn skeptically. The merchant reached under the ledge of his stall for something and placed a full unicorn horn before Anders. Fenris thought the mages eyes would fall from his head. The slight tug and sensation of magic so close to Fenris made him tense till he realized it was Anders. It was so subtle and faint. Anders chewed his lower lip a long while after that tiny trickle of explorative magic. Fenris grew impatient and barked, "How much for the vial?"

"Three sovereigns"

"WHAT?!" that broke Anders from his entrancement. "Three? That's crazy. No, I'll wait till I get to the Anderfels."

The merchant then started to bargain his way down a little. When Anders looked almost willing to pay the price but started to waffle, Fenris said, "Done. Pay the man, Shon."

Anders paid the single gold sovereign and added the vial of shining white powder to the small collection of healing potions in his pelt pouch. "I can't believe you convinced me to pay for that? Unicorns are like vermin in mountains of the Anderfels."

"You already drooled on the vial. He couldn't sell it to anyone else."

Anders shot Fenris an indignant look. "Between the two of us, you are by far more the animal than I."

"Says the man who had flees from Darktown for six years."

"I did NOT!" His voice pitched up in disgust and shock. Then he realized Fenris was joking, and laughed. "You had me there."

Fenris smirked a tiny bit. Then he suddenly growled as a group of urchins dashed past them pickpocketing people. One had touched his bare skin and his markings lit at the contact.

The urchin stopped, "Ooo… he's magic! He glows when you touch him!"

That started a new game for the wild little homeless. Fast like cockroaches. They would dart by and tag Fenris. Flash… growl… flash… GROWL! Finally he caught one in his claws. The kid nearly wet himself, with his heart literally gripped inside his chest by the angry elf.

Anders gently placed a hand on Fenris' wrist and another on the boy's shoulder and eased a separation. "Mind where you put your hands, now. It is very rude to touch other people so intimately." It was hard to tell exactly who Anders spoke to, the boy or Fenris. The words applied to both equally. He let the boy go and deftly caught a second boy trying to pickpocket him in the distraction. Fenris was impressed by the swift dexterity and thought maybe it was a talent Anders learned out of necessity in Darktown.

A rough man swaggered out of the shadows, "Excellent. You caught one of the thieves. I'll take him off your hands. He can join the others in the pens below. Maybe someone could make use of him."

The boy's eyes grew wide, "No," he whimpered in a bare whisper. "My sister… no… no one will care for her…" he started to hyperventilate in his panic, his eyes darting to a nook in the back alley. Anders followed it to see a small girl of maybe five years huddled frightened there while he still held the wrist of the boy of many nine.

Anders looked up, "I'm sorry. I was the one who caught him. He is mine to decide the fate of or to keep as I choose. Take your hunt elsewhere slaver."

The man scoffed and wandered away.

Fenris glared deadly daggers at Anders. How dare he?! What right did he have? Fenris thought Anders hated the idea of slavery.

Anders ignored the glaring that stabbed little prickles all down his spine. He knew he didn't have much time before Fenris would snap and just kill him outright for this. He pulled a silver out of his pocket and pressed it into the boy's palm. "Find us a good inn, clean, with decent food and a room I can share with my friend. Then you and your sister may join us for a meal and I will give you a second silver for the efforts. And no more trying to pickpocket me. I have too much experience catching little hands."

Fenris felt disarmed by what he overheard. Even more so to be called friend. His anger evaporated.

The boy darted away directly to his sister.

"He might never come back."

Anders shrugged. "That's alright. And please, never look at me like that again. We may not know each other very well, but I thought you knew me at least better than that."

Fenris' ears burned with shame as Anders continued his exploration of the market. Anders pawed silks and lush velvets at a fabric shop while Fenris recovered from his shame. He swept a gaze this way and that as usual to ensure no one followed or hinted at being a danger to them. Usually Anders would chide him for being paranoid, but not this time. Not here. In this smuggler hidden island of forbidden wares, anything could happen. Anything could be encountered. A distant trumpeting sound reached Fenris' ears and he grinned despite himself. He fumbled over his tongue a moment, "Shon," he finally managed.

It still rocked Anders inside to hear his childhood name called, even though he announced it earlier that day. Hearing Fenris speak it was like listening to a very deep Dalish drum boom like soft thunder. And he heard that now three times today. "Wolf?" He knew never to call Fenris 'little wolf' as Danarius had. Fenris was no little wolf but far closer and near as scary as the old Elvhen tale of the Dread Wolf.

"This way. I hear another part of the market that sounds interesting with musicians."

Anders brightened immediately to the idea of entertainment. He had heard of bards, jugglers, acrobats and play actors entertaining in Orlais or in Denerim, but to think some were practicing here in the market somewhere was like having a show for free. What a treat! Fenris lead the way and Anders almost wanted to take his hand as he had sometimes taken Hawke's. His fingers brushed Fenris' for a second, startling them both. Then Fenris caught Anders' wrist in his right hand and tugged Anders around a corner.

Anders skidded to a halt and started to back-peddle. His back slammed into Fenris' leather padded chest. His eyes widened so that the whites showed all around. Fenris snaked an arm around Anders' waist to keep him from running. The trumpet sound emitted again from the creature before them. Huge. Grey. Wrinkled. Dragon-like wings flapped on either side of the head. Two white tusks jutted out but had been sawed short and filed round. A long tentacle extended from the front of its face towards Anders. His lips peels back in panicky rictus as he pressed harder into Fenris. A wide grey flat foot thumped forward, but a chain kept it from getting any closer. The legs looked as thick as tree trunks. It must weigh as much as a dragon. Fenris murmured in Anders' ear that this is just a young one. Anders could not wrap his mind around what he saw. Them keeping some monster from the deep roads like a pet. And it was young?! An adult must be as big as a high dragon!

The creature stretched the facial tentacle to Anders outstretched hand. Anders recoiled as much as he could, but Fenris still held his wrist firmly, forcing him to reach closer to the monster. Ander tried to turn to run, twisting in the grip around his waist. His free hand gripped the collar of the leather chest guard and he buried his face into Fenris' shoulder. A whimper escaped the mage as Fenris took a sure step forward, forcing them both closer.

"He's gentle. Relax." Fenris rumbled softly into Anders' ear. "This is a baby Oliphant." He took another step closer and Anders cringed tighter into Fenris as the Oliphant curiously touched the outstretched hand. Gentle, shy, nuzzling, not unlike a curious kitten.

It took several minutes and a snickering crowd watching the scene for Anders to peak back at the creature nosing his hand with its long trunk. The wings flapped forward and Fenris explained in short terms that those were its ears. That the mouth was close to the face under the long nose. That it ate only plants. That they could be trained. He was rewarded by Anders relaxing in his arms and tried hard to not think about how comfortable that was, as much as when Anders had leaned into him the other night on the deck. That became impossible when Anders' free hand touched over his and the fingers laced into his nervously. His markings flared a moment till he forced himself under control. This was too amazing a moment to let his markings disturb it.

Anders slowly turned back to face the oliphant who made cute questioning noises at him. As Anders relaxed, Fenris opened his hand, releasing Anders' wrist. Anders kept his hand out as the trunk curled around it. "This is an oliphant," whispered Anders as his own curiosity and wonderment started to smother his fear now that he no longer felt like he was going to be eaten alive by a giant grey skinned monster. His fingers tightened in Fenris' as he eased himself a little closer to the creature. Then he let Fenris' hand go to touch the oliphant's ear.

Fenris shook his head at how cowardly Anders could be sometimes. He really was a scaredy cat. How he managed to become a Warden fighting darkspawn, Fenris could not fathom. Templars had to be really really terrifying for Anders to consider being a Warden a joy ride to freedom from them. It left him with questions that he chose to leave unasked as he watched Anders petting and exploring this new creature, a huge relaxed grin on his face like a Tevinter noble child who just got his first pony for his name day gift at the age of ten. Fenris smiled at Anders' infectious joy.