Revelry

Sareyna weaved down the hall arm in arm with Anders. The two of them were giggling and trying desperately not to walk into any walls as they headed to his room. She leaned against the wall covering her mouth as Anders cursed and tried his key in his door again.

He raised his head and squinted as he looked both ways down the hall, "This is my room right?"

Sareyna doubled over laughing and took the key from his hand and slid it into the lock on the second try. She twisted the handle and pushed the door open.

"Show off." Anders snorted as he followed her into the room and closed the door behind them.

"Lock the door." Sareyna slurred.

"Are you sure? We had a hard enough time opening it the first time."

She nodded.

"They're going to come looking for you at some point." He had one eye closed as he spoke.

Sareyna giggled again, "Too bad, serves them right for kicking us out."

Anders gave a sharp nod and locked the door. He stumbled over to his bed and grabbed a couple blankets before heading for the couch. On the way he tripped on one of the blankets and only Sareyna grabbing his arm kept him on his feet.

They shuffled over to the couch together and climbed on, each sitting on one end. Anders slipped his boots off before curling up with his feet on the couch and handed Sareyna one of the blankets before covering up with one himself. He smiled at her and let his hair down and stretched extravagantly. "This is much better."

Sareyna pulled her boots off and let her hair down as well, giving her head a shake and running her fingers through it. "We should send for more wine." She felt warm and tingly and she was having fun. It wasn't often she was any of those things.

"Is there even anyone awake to send for? It's the middle of the night. Even Pounce abandoned us a few hours ago."

Sareyna sighed dramatically, "I suppose we'll have to do without then." She shook her head, "I still can't believe they kicked us out." She giggled again.

"Yeah, remember when you were the uptight one?"

She narrowed her gaze at him, a little indignant, "I'm not uptight. I'm effective, there's a difference."

"You just keep telling yourself that, sweetheart."

"Anders, have I ever told you that you're an ass?" The man could be so aggravating.

"A time or two, but at least I'm a nice looking ass." He smirked.

Sareyna giggled, "I can't argue with that, you should wear trousers more often."

He chuckled, "Oh no, I'm not going to let just anyone ogle me for free. I have standards you know."

"Really? I had no idea, must be so hard being you." She sighed dramatically.

Anders snorted, "You think it's easy? I have to be twice as charming as most men." Anders frowned, "The Chantry has people so afraid of mages that I'm immediately at a disadvantage. Can you imagine having to always prove you're a human being and not a monster before you can even get to know someone?"

There was a snarky response on the tip of Sareyna's tongue, but Anders was obviously upset. She shook her head a little, "No, I can't imagine." And she really couldn't, Anders was a great guy, funny, good looking and caring, even if he was a bit on the promiscuous side.

"The first time I escaped from the tower I was still pretty young, but all I wanted was a chance to live like normal people. To grow up free, find a nice woman and have a family." He looked at his hands, "by the fourth time I escaped I knew I could never have those things. People were too scared of mages for me to ever have anything meaningful, so I started taking what I could get."

"Things will change; Maric is serious about it this time."

Anders shrugged, "Doesn't matter, it's too late for me anyways."

"Anders," her voice was soft, he was breaking her heart. She had no idea that he wanted those things, but now that he said it she could see it in him. He would be a great father, and a good husband. The man had a huge heart under his snarky remarks and lascivious smiles.

Anders smiled at her suddenly, "Don't look at me like that. I already have most of what I wanted, I am as close to free as a mage can get, I've settled down in one spot to live and I even have a family. I'm content, 'Reyna."

"You know it's not impossible Anders, just difficult. You could still have children."

Anders shook his head, "And what woman would risk having a mage's child? Now stop it, you're depressing as the blight right now. Weren't we having fun?"

Sareyna nodded. She wished there was more she could do for Anders. The man would probably never understand the solace he brought her. Spending time with him reminded her of spending time with Fergus. "I should really write back to Fergus, he's probably worried."

"Hmm, well that was certainly a non-sequi…non-seq…"

"Non-sequitur?" Sareyna helpfully supplied.

"Yeah, one of those things, you know I think I drank too much, my tongue feels numb." As if to demonstrate he stuck out his tongue a little and bit it. "I think it fell asleep." Anders shrugged, "So why the sudden desire to write to Fergus and who exactly is Fergus?"

Sareyna furrowed her brow, "I never told you about Fergus?"

"If you did, I don't remember at this particular moment, not that it's saying much."

"Fergus is my brother, you remind me a bit of him."

Anders looked at her thoughtfully for a minute, "Younger or older."

"Older."

"Huh, figures. You guys do realize that I'm only about two years older than you right? And why, besides being older than you, do I remind you of him."

"Fergus never treated me different, never coddled me because I was a girl. He'd spar with me as hard as he did his own men. And I could talk to him about anything and he didn't judge me or look down on me, he just listened and sometimes offered advice." She smiled a little, "Although he was quite perturbed when he realized I had lost my virginity. Funny thing was, I never even told him, he just knew. Cornered me in my room and demanded to know who had dared to lay a hand on his baby sister."

"Sounds like a decent guy."

Sareyna nodded, she had been blessed when she was growing up and she knew it. On the worst of days she would close her eyes and picture her family in happier times.

Her father's face as he laughed, eyes nearly shut and deep laugh lines. Or her mother struggling not to laugh at something inappropriate that Sareyna had done, she would press her lips tight together to try to hide it but the ends of her mouth would still manage to curve up and it was easy to see the mirth in her eyes. And then there was Fergus, he had a rich baritone and his whole body shook with his laughter. The man was never quiet about it and the sound of it made everyone who heard it smile.

She cringed a little, "I really miss him. He's different now, so somber, like someone turned the wick inside him way down low."

"What Howe did to your family must have been terrible for him."

Sareyna nodded then sighed, "Let's talk about something else."

Anders tilted his head back and yawned, "You know, I was thinking about getting another tattoo. I mean this is the longest I've ever been out of the Circle and I haven't even commemorated it yet."

Sareyna smiled, "Are all of your tattoos to commemorate getting out of the Circle?"

Anders nodded.

"Maybe you should get a griffon tattoo to commemorate becoming a Warden. Zevran can do it for you, he did mine and Sigrun's."

Anders was still angry with Zev and didn't really want to ask him for a tattoo. But he had seen the work that Sigrun had done on Zevran and thought he might ask her instead. At any rate it would be an excuse to get her back in his bedroom. "We'll see. You know, it occurs to me that it's odd for a noble woman to have a tattoo."

Sareyna chuckled, "Oh mother was furious with me. She told me no one wanted to marry someone who looked like they would run off into the woods and disappear at any moment. My father thought it was funny, told my mother that at least now the men would have fair warning that I might run away."

"I bet that made your mother happy."

"She just glared and left. My father was perhaps too indulgent with me. Let me do whatever I wished as long as I didn't miss my lessons and I treated others with respect. My mother tried desperately to make me a lady, but I just couldn't stomach it. My dresses always ended up torn and muddied and my hair always ended up in tangles."

Anders smiled, "Yet here you are, Arlessa."

She gave a little nod, "By default, because I'm Warden Commander, which I became by fighting. Not exactly what my mother had in mind."

"Well, I think she would be proud of you." Anders looked away from her and towards the window. "I think you mastered the most important lesson she tried to teach you. You grew up in a home surrounded by love and by those who cared for and looked out for each other. And you've created that same thing here."

He turned back to her, "I wasn't kidding when you found us in the Deep Roads, you have no idea how flattered I was that you came looking for us. I've spent most of my life knowing that if I died tomorrow no one would even care except for Rhoswen, and even she's been gone for years. But you risked your life for me; there is nothing I can ever say that can convey how much that means to me." He smiled suddenly, "Is it strange I feel more like I'm related to you than to Alistair or Morrigan? This is how I imagined it would be like to have a sister."

"I am your sister, Anders, in more ways than one."

"And I'm very thankful." Anders suddenly stood, "You know what I feel like doing?"

Sareyna shook her head.

"I feel like blowing things up, want to come?"

Sareyna giggled and nodded, the pair headed down the hall and Anders kept watch by the door as Sareyna snuck into Zevran's room. She came back with an arm full of small glass flasks. "Fire bombs" she snickered as they moved as quickly and quietly down the hall as they could in their inebriated state.

They slipped around the back of the Keep and went to the far end of the training yard. Sareyna set up a training dummy as Anders made a few little glow lights so they could see the dummy in the dark. They were weak, but he figured they wouldn't need them for long.

Zevran stopped midsentence and furrowed his brow, "What in the Maker's name is that?" He stood and walked over to the window, there was a huge column of flame outside. He narrowed his eyes and scanned the area before sighing heavily, "We better go get those two before they burn down the Keep, again."

Zevran left the room quickly jogging down the steps to the main hall and out the door before running around to the back of the Keep where he found the two Wardens giggling madly.

"My fireball is bigger than yours." Anders taunted.

"I would hope so, mine aren't real." Sareyna teased back as she threw another flask at a charred stick which might have been a training dummy at one point. There was a slow rolling fire that blanketed the area and burned for a few minutes.

Zevran stood and watched, not sure exactly what it was the pair was doing. As the flames died down from the fire bomb Sareyna turned to Anders.

"Do the big one again, that was pretty."

He smiled, "Anything you wish." Anders coalesced a small ball of fire in his hand and let it grow and grow until it was nearly the size of a cow's head. Then he loosed the fireball flinging it at the section of burnt ground. It flared up reaching at least twenty feet into the air.

"That's so pretty." Sareyna murmured.

"Are you two still drunk?" Zev tried to keep the annoyance out of his voice as he felt Alistair coming up behind him finally.

Sareyna and Anders both spun around looking like kids caught stealing cookies. Sareyna straightened up and fixed him with a glare, "We are practicing, maybe you've heard of it."

Her serious demeanor was ruined by Anders laughing behind her. Zevran shook his head, "Let's get you two back in the Keep."

"We're not children, Zev."

"No you're a couple of drunks playing with fireballs in bare feet."

This time it was Sareyna who laughed. Alistair came over and picked her up and started carrying her back inside the Keep. "Alistair put me down." Alistair ignored her and kept going. "Don't make me set your ass on fire."

Anders was walking a few steps behind, being almost pushed by Zevran. "She'll do it." He turned to Zev. "You better take those fire bombs away from her; she really will set him on fire."

Zevran sighed and took a step forward. "Querida, give me…" Zevran suddenly clutched his head as a high pitched screech sounded in his ears and a sharp pain throbbed through his head. He felt someone touching his arm but when he tried to look up everything went grey and then black.