13 August (day 57)
Morning
Alistair looked nervous. "I'm beginning to think this is a bad idea. Are you sure you want to do this?"
I shook my head emphatically. "Absolutely not. But-"
"Listen: if I do this and something bad happens and Neria ends up mad at me I'll-" He stopped and frowned at me. "I don't know what I'll do or what'll happen, but I'm sure Neria will blame me for it."
"Want me to sign something saying this was my idea?"
The frown deepened. "No."
"Well, let's see what happens." I sat down and leaned against a convenient tree. "Hit me."
Alistair scowled, but raised his right hand into a clenched fist. The muscles in his forearm tensed as his hand tightened. Alistair held the fist and his bicep began to flex. He closed his eyes and gritted his teeth and raised his left fist. Sweat popped on his brow and his shoulders hunched all the way into his neck. "Ah!" Alistair released the smite.
The soundless, pressureless wave exploded outwards exponentially harder than any I'd seen before. But when it washed over me I felt nothing at all. I felt completely fine. I didn't feel anything in my body. Nothing happened in my head. No dizziness, no headache, no tickle, no pain, no flash of the Fade. The only thing I felt was concern for Alistair. He had sweat running down his head and his face was as white as this paper.
"Uhhhhhhh…." Alistair started wobbling about.
I jumped up and caught him before he could go crashing down. "Little help over here!"
Noon
"You know," Alistair said, "I could get used to this." His color and humor were both back. They'd been back for a while. That didn't mean he had to get out of the cart, but it did mean he got to enjoy the ride a lot more than I enjoyed the walk.
"I hope you learned-" Wynne gave me a pointed look from her seat. "Both of you have learned something from this."
"Well," Alistair said, "Jeff's not a mage."
"We already knew that."
"And Templars abilities come at a price," I added.
Neria's hand impacted the back of my head. "We knew that, too."
Alistair chuckled. "So we didn't learn anything?"
"I learned you're heavier than you look." The follow-on Gibbs' slap was totally worth it.
Alistair laughed again.
"That's it," Neria snapped. "You! Out of the cart!"
Alistair gave a moan of distress. "Oh, I don't know. I'm still feeling a little dizzy, and my…knees…feel…." He dropped his head and complied with Neria's order.
Brenna was watching with a ghost of a smile from the cart's seat. "You'll be fine, m'lord Warden." She whispered something to Wynne, who in turn whispered back. Brenna gave her a quick smile.
Alistair bumped me. "I can also try draining-" He dodged Neria's staff. "-your lack of mana."
Wynne shook her head at us. "Boys."
"Hey!" I called. "You're here. That means I don't have to be the mature adult anymore."
Neria whacked me with her staff.
We reached Calenhad without incident. In Calenhad, however, we dropped off Brenna. Neria spoke quietly to the woman as she tried to give her a pouch of coins. Brenna tried to beg off but Neria was insistent. The two pushed the pouch back and forth for a moment but something Neria said made Brenna finally give in. She wasn't crying, but certainly looked sad. I would be, too, if my kid got taken away from me like that. I'm honestly surprised she's not angrier than she is. At least if she is angry she's doing a good job of hiding it. But we're setting her and Keenan up better and hopefully safer than they would be in Kirkwall and they're reasonably close to each other. Wynne says visitors aren't usually allowed at the Tower, but maybe things can change once this is all over. Anyway….
Neria kept speaking with Brenna, hugged the woman, and finished by giving what looked like an earnest promise to her. And then she came back over to us. "Let's go." A bit later on Neria told me what she'd said to make Brenna take the money. "Take it and use it to take care of yourself for Keenan's sake. He'll be heartbroken if something happens to you."
"Oh, and Jeffrey?" Neria continued. "She's not mad at us. She was afraid this would happen, but was always expecting the Templars to find them."
That's something, I guess, but
I don't know. Sigh.
Leaving Calenhad wasn't without incident.
A mix of thugs, soldiers, and the desperate barred our way out of town. Maybe twenty or so total. Some were armed and armored; most were just carrying knives or clubs. This was a more dangerous group than the ones we'd bluffed in Lothering; each one of them seemed well-enough acquainted with violence to follow through with whatever they'd planned to do.
"Here now!" The leader pointed at Alistair. "You're a Grey Warden! And so's she!" He pointed at Morrigan, who snickered evilly. "There's a bounty we're keen to collect!"
But then, there's a reason the folks I'm hanging with are the heroes. Alistair, Sten, and I already had swords out; Alistair even managed to swing his shield off his back. Zevran moved off the street before the shouting even started. Leliana's bow was strung. The mages were channeling power.
Except for Neria. "Hey!" she yelled. "I'm the Grey Warden, not her!"
"Neria," Leliana said, "this is not the time to be jealous over a bounty."
"Jeff-" Alistair started to say quietly. He didn't get to finish.
"You're right," Neria said.
A fireball, a small one, hissed past Alistair and struck the leader with a small explosion. He went down from the impact as flames exploded around him. The burst hit a couple of others who started yelling and beating at their burning clothes, but the leader didn't even scream. A couple of wiser souls at the back of the crowd turned to run, but the dozen plus still up manned up.
"Take the mages!" someone yelled from the crowd.
It didn't help. Someone else went down with a gurgle caused by Leliana's arrow. Sten leaped forward with a roar, Alistair let out his own cry, and I charged in between the two of them. Half the crowd was already on the ground, and the mages backed us up with precision casting at point targets.
The fellow right in front of me bugged his eyes out as I rushed him. He swung a sword frantically; I parried it cleanly. I followed up by punching the guy with my left hand; the dagger's pommel helped put him on the ground. I didn't even slow down. I hit the next guy in front of me with my sword; I'm pretty sure it wasn't fatal, but he yelled and went down. There was another guy behind him with an axe, but he was back peddling with pure fear on his face.
I surged forward and knocked the guy down. Then I kicked him. "Get up and run, dumbass!"
Dumbass wasn't so dumb after all. He dropped his axe, scrambled backwards, then got his feet under him and sprinted away. Cullen wasn't too far after him, but I was hoping it was me Dumbass was scared of. He was faster than Cullen, though, although I'm not sure the dog was really trying. I turned around to see what else needed to be done. Not much. Sten had taken a couple of guys down in his own special way; I purposely averted my eyes from that. Alistair's victims were less messy, but at least one was just as dead. There were about half a dozen guys just lying peacefully on the ground; all were the victims of a sleep spell. Zevran was walking casually out of an alley with bloody knives.
"Stupid sodding bastards!" I heard Neria say as Cullen came galumphing back with a huge doggie grin.
"Is anyone hurt?" Wynne called.
"I am," someone called from the ground. One of the bad guys.
"She meant us," Alistair said and kicked the guy.
"I am well," Sten said.
The rest of us chimed in; no injuries. Despite hitting that one guy my sword was clean. Neria got us moving again. We didn't bother searching the bodies.
Two minutes later we came across a second obstacle: a handful of town guards, a Templar, and a couple of survivors from the attack on us. (Dumbass wasn't among them.) "That's them!" one of the survivors said.
The guard leader wasn't a dumbass. His brain was definitely thinking about stopping us, but it couldn't quite convince his body doing so was a good idea. "Er…." He fumbled at his sword but didn't draw.
We stopped as a group. One of the survivors wised up and took off.
"You might want to think carefully about this," Alistair said. His tone was dangerously jovial.
The Templar drew himself up. "You would not-"
"Try us," I said.
"We would," Morrigan added.
"Oh, most certainly," Zevran said.
"I will ask the Maker for forgiveness." Leliana's arrow scraped as she drew her bow.
"Leliana!" Wynne said.
"Everyone hold!" Neria called. "Guardsman: we are leaving the town. Step aside."
"You will not!" snapped the Templar. "These are apostates and-"
"They're not worth getting killed over," Alistair said.
"Not that you could," Sten added. "Ask that individual." He pointed with his sword.
The guards all glanced at the survivor.
"There were what? Twenty of you?" I said loudly. "And we didn't even break a sweat."
The lead guard looked anxiously at us, ran the numbers, and came to the obvious conclusion. "Sorry to trouble you folks."
"No!" The Templar turned on the guard leader, but I heard a huff from one of the mages, and the fellow just collapsed.
The guards gave us a panicked look.
"Don't worry; he'll be fine," Wynne said. "He's just sleeping."
The guards relaxed.
"Let's be off," Alistair suggested.
"A moment," Neria said. "Alistair, come here." She walked over to the lead guard and spoke quietly to him while Alistair stood menacingly behind her. The man shook his head a couple of times, then nodded stiffly and scaredly, then took the coin Neria offered him. She spun around and jerked her head to the west. "Everything's okay. Let's go!"
Alistair and I drifted to the back of the group just in case somebody decided following us was a better idea than just letting us go. I was wondering about what Neria had said to the guard so I asked.
"She was worried that the guards might harass Brenna. She said she'd consider it a personal favor if that guard looked out for her. Then she gave the fellow a sovereign and told him to buy his men a round of drinks. What's that about, anyway?"
Evening
No more problems leaving Calenhad and no problems on the road. Except in my head. About Calenhad, of course. Probably half of our attackers managed to get away without any injuries, but, again, I didn't kill anybody. Although, frankly, I'm glad I didn't hurt Dumbass; maybe he'll learn something from the experience. The bigger problem is we're heading to Orzammar and when we get there we'll probably have to clear out Dust Town. That means taking down sentients. I've gotta get right with it.
Sten's right: I need to find my center again.
Minor problem at camp.
Neria caught up with me while I was helping with dinner. "Have you decided what we're going to tell Wynne about you?"
I kept chopping veggies for the stew pot. "No. But Irving was right about me pulling people – well, mages into my dreams. It'll happen with her eventually and we'll need to at least explain that."
Leliana drifted over. She knows the basics of the situation, but I hadn't told her about Irving's letter. "Explain what to Wynne?"
Neria and I locked eyes for a second then I shrugged. "Might as well. Irving slipped Neria a letter for me. He says I'm a mage, but…." I trailed off as I thought about all the mage stuff I can't do.
Leliana smiled knowingly. "So you did receive an answer! That explains why your mood has been so good today."
Neria started as Cullen bumped her in the leg. She reached down and thumped the dog on his big old bucket head. "But," Neria added, "Irving wants me to teach him how to cast spells, not just dream in the Fade."
"Can you do that?"
I passed her a pile of veggies. "I don't know. Guess we'll find out."
Leliana took the veggies as she thought. "But nobody has told Wynne of this. Do you not trust her?"
Neria looked thoughtful. "I do, but…she's…beholden to the Chantry and the Circle, and she might turn him in as an apostate and maleficarum."
Leliana dumped the veggies into the pot. It was her turn to look thoughtful. "Yet she has not done so with Morrigan."
I looked to Neria. "That's a very good point."
Neria nodded as she gently wrassled with her dog. "And I do trust Wynne. And so does Morrigan."
"I think we all do." I looked to Leliana for confirmation.
"Oh, most certainly."
Neria took that in while we futzed with dinner a bit more. "But why did Irving say what he did about Wynne?"
I had to shake my head and shrug at that. "I don't know."
Leliana spoke from where she was stirring the stew. "He plays the game. He knows Wynne believes in the Circle and the Chantry so he snuck Jeffrey back out of the Tower. He also knows Blight is the true threat to us all, and that Wynne knows that as well. So no matter the talents Jeffrey reveals now Wynne will not jeopardize his freedom. Not without strong cause. And when she is next able to turn him over to the Chantry she will have seen his value against the Blight."
"Ah…." I was trying to think of a polite way to say Leliana's logic was far from sound.
Neria stopped messing with Cullen and jumped in before I could continue. "Would the Chantry risk us not being able to fight the Blight?"
"The Chantry has offered rewards for both Morrigan and Jeffrey – your known companions - and did they not forbid mages to send a signal at Ostagar?" A cloud passed over Leliana's face. "No. The Chantry fears the known danger of mages over the unknown danger of the Blight. There are good and strong and wise people within the Chantry, but they are merely salted among the foolish and ignorant." She nodded to Neria. "And yes, the cruel. Yet Wynne is good and strong, and she wisely understands the danger of the Blight. She simply does not yet recognize Jeffrey's role in combating it."
Sigh. "I don't think I recognize my role."
Leliana gave me a lovely smile that shot chicken skin all the way down my back. "Still the reluctant hero."
"'Lost.' I thought we agreed on that."
"I did not agree. Yet you are still a hero. And Wynne will recognize this."
I grumbled at her under my breath.
Neria looked unconvinced. "Are you sure about this?"
Leliana nodded.
Neria looked a little bit more satisfied, but suddenly also frustrated. "Very well. Jeffrey: we'll talk to Wynne about this as soon as we can. But could you please go keep Sten from killing Zevran?"
Leliana and I turned the direction Neria was looking. Zevran was standing a carefully measured distance from the giant and giving the big guy a cheesy grin. Even from where we were sitting I could see Sten's eyes narrowed and his nostrils flaring.
"On it."
14 August (day 58), morning
"You're a lucky man. Elf. Whatever." Shirtless Alistair was stuffing clothing into his pack.
"I never cease to be amazed by my good fortune. Like right now." Zevran was carefully evaluating Alistair's arms and back.
"What does that mean?"
"It means," I said, "he's lucky Neria happened to spot him pissing off Sten in time to have me intervene." I gave Zevran a double-evil eye. "And that I was able to calm Sten down before he turned you into little chunky bits."
Alistair let out a bark of laughter. "I'll have to remember that."
"What? Turning him into little chunky bits?"
Zevran gave me an evil eye. "I don't know if it is a good thing or a bad thing that the two of you have reconciliato."
Alistair looked my way. "Good thing?"
I nodded. "Neria thinks so."
"Si, but I was hoping to win more coins during your next fight."
Alistair went back to packing. "Who were you betting on?"
"Oh, both of you, of course."
"Oh, of course."
"Si, mio amico. Main bets, side bets; I won more than I lost. I do have a keen eye for wagers, you know."
"I thought your eye was for the ladies."
Zevran caught my eye and gave me a wink. "Not just the ladies."
I frowned at the elf. "You know, that's what nearly got you killed last night."
"I was in no danger-"
Alistair fell on his butt and started laughing. "Jeff, what was that you said about chunky bits?"
"That Sten wouldn't leave enough of Zevran to fill the stew pot?"
"That sounds right."
Zevran hmmphed. "I should have known I would find no sympatia here. Good day." He executed a crisp about-face and strode away.
"Stay away from Sten!" Alistair called.
Late afternoon
We stopped early again today because of weather. Another afternoon rain storm rolled in and we preferred to be warm and dry, even at the expense of losing some time. But then Orzammar's not going anywhere.
Tents got set, a small and sheltered fire started, and, as a group, we sat down and shared a quiet and welcome hot meal. There wasn't much talking but there really wasn't much to say. The road had been quiet, nobody was bickering, and even the rain seemed friendly by letting up while we ate. Very nice. Very peaceful. We finished eating, sorted out guard duty, cleaned up the dishes, and retired to our respective tents.
Well, some of us did. Neria pulled me aside before I could make it back to the hooch. Alistair gave her a look then glanced at me. I'm not the best at reading faces, but I saw something on his that I didn't like.
I dived in before something could become something. "I think we're going to talk to Wynne." I looked to Neria for confirmation.
She gave Alistair a reassuring smile and patted him on the arm. "You know what about."
The something on Alistair's face faded to nothing. "Oh. Er…all right. Uhm, what about the card game?"
I'm learning to play Diamondback. Not well. But I'm on par with Alistair. "I'll join you when we're done." I gave him a grin. "Try not to lose your shirt."
Alistair started to blush. Neria giggled. Alistair blushed some more.
"See you in a few," I said and we went to find Wynne.
Wynne was, as expected, seated in her tent with a book and a glass (a real glass!) of wine. She invited Neria in cordially, but when she saw me Wynne's voice became chilly. "Do I need to guess why you're here, or had you two planned to tell me?"
I crawled into the tent behind Neria. The three of us was a pretty tight fit.
"Wynne, please…." Neria said. There was a touch of reproach in her voice.
The older mage took me in with knowing eyes and inclined her head to Neria. "I'm sorry. Go ahead."
Neria got right to the point. "Irving told us – in a letter – that Jeffrey's a mage."
Wynne nodded and frowned. "I thought as much. Irving and I argued about your abilities, but in the end it was his decision." She sounded a little bitter, I guess. "It was Irving who reported your…mundaneness to Greagoir. Over my objections. But he is the First Enchanter, and that's his prerogative."
"But if Jeffrey's a mage…?"
I knew what questions I wanted to ask. "But what about all the tests? All the smites I was at ground zero for? Why do I only dream? Why can't I cast spells?" I gave Wynne a twisted frown. "I'd much rather be in the back with you than taking beat downs on the line with Alistair."
That brought a smile to her face but she quickly returned to seriousness. "It's unheard of for mage powers to lie dormant all the way to adulthood. But your talents should eventually manifest themselves."
"And how will that happen?"
"Well, young children usually discover their abilities by accident."
"That's what happened to me." Neria drew her knees up to her chin. She had a distant look. "It was a hot summer and Papa was sick. I made ice water for him." Her gaze returned to me. "And then the Templars came for me."
Wynne nodded and smiled. "I remember when you and Solona arrived. That was a very hot summer." She became businesslike again. "For older children it usually takes a traumatic or an intense experience to release their power."
I shook my head. "I've had my share of traumatic experiences but dreaming is all I do." If arriving here didn't set me off then I don't know what could. Then again, arriving here is (or at least seems to be) what triggered my Fade connection. Makes sense, especially considering it took some time for the Fade dreaming to sort itself out. The question popped up again. "So why is that it?"
"I don't know." Neria still looked a touch wistful. "But maybe-"
"Warden." Sten's voice was quiet, flat, and insistent. "I would speak with you."
"Oh, Sten, right now?"
"Yes."
The wistfulness was replaced by frustration. But Wynne and I gave Neria an okay, so she crawled out of the tent and spoke quietly with Sten as they walked away.
I looked back to Wynne. "So now what?"
"Meditate."
"What? Right now?"
"Right now."
"Why?"
"I'd like to examine your connection to the Fade again." Wynne suddenly looked as if she'd had a 'ding' moment. She reached into her robes. "But first drink this." Wynne held out a vial with blue liquid in it.
"Mana potion?"
Wynne raised an eyebrow at that. "A lyrium draught, but yes, it can restore mana. But at the least it-"
I reached out and took the vial. "It should help intensify my connection to the Fade?" I examined the liquid. It was the blue of a clear sky, but I couldn't see through it. And I found myself fascinated with the twinkling of tiny stars deep within its depths. "But why do this now?"
"No time like the present."
I lowered the vial and considered my options. I didn't really disagree with what Wynne was saying, but I didn't agree with her either. I'd already been examined by our trio, then by Irving, then by Wynne and Irving, and finally by Irving and Neria. Nobody had any real answers for me, and not through lack of trying. And now Wynne wanted to short circuit my Fade connection (if that's even the right analogy). Except I couldn't articulate all that. I just sat there and stared at Wynne while I tried to think of something to say.
"What's wrong?"
"I don't know. It just…doesn't feel right doing this right now."
"I can understand that you're frightened, but-"
"I'm not frightened, I'm frustrated."
"You were frightened back in the Tower."
"Because of the distinctly non-zero possibility that I might have ended up Tranquiled."
"Neria wouldn't have let that happen. I wouldn't have, either."
"Really?"
A nod and a sip of wine. "Really. That would have been a gross overreaction."
"That's something the Chanty's known for."
Wynne shifted, uncomfortably it seemed, and took another sip. "I won't deny that, but your safety is something we all agreed on."
I gave her a dot-dot-dot stare. Then I took a couple of deep, slow breaths. "You know, you could've told me that a lot earlier." I carefully handed Wynne back the potion. "We'll do this another time." I crawled out of the tent, found a quiet and kinda dry spot under a tree, and tried to meditate, but I was too pissed off.
late evening
Alistair came up to relieve me from guard duty. "Are you feeling better?"
"Yeah. Sorry I snapped at you earlier."
"You already apologized. Don't worry about it."
"I still feel bad about it. You looked like I'd-" I had to think about that for a second.
Alistair rescued me. "Actually thrown my cheese in the lake?"
"Okay, I was serious about that. Well, kinda." The cheese isn't really stinky, but our tent smells vaguely of spoiled dairy. And at least Alistair's rationing it to a couple slices a day.
Alistair laughed softly. "Good thing you didn't; Neria would send you in after it."
"And then she'd make me go back to Denerim to get you a new one."
"I think Orlais's closer."
"It might be."
He gave me a gentle thump on the back. The armor clanked where we made contact. "Go get some sleep."
"I'll try. Good night."
And that's the point of this. I've been thinking about Orzammar. There's nothing I can think of that'll resolve the situation there that doesn't involve us going into the Deep Roads. We'll end up doing the dirty work for both Bhelen and Harrowmont, but that won't matter one bit. We'll end up underground for however long it takes. The smart thing for me to do would be to hit the road as soon as possible and hunker down in a safe corner of the world. And figure out what's going on with my head, and maybe figure out a way home.
Or I can just man up, take things head on, and deal with whatever Fate's got in store for me. Sigh. I hope Leliana's awake; I really need a pep talk right now.
A/N: Although I've been using the DA wiki for research purposes I'd recommend you check out the Warden's Vigil Wiki. It's designed as an aid for the DA roleplaying community, but it's a good source of info and ideas that just don't appear in the game.
Milestone: 90+ faves. Thanks to annethepyro, Kenshiro2008, and unisole for getting me there! And 125+ alerts; shout-outs (and virtual cookies) to AkaiKurai and Robofin117! And 200+ reviews! I'm not sure who put me over the top, but thanks to everybody, especially those mentioned below!
SnowHelm: Again, thanks for the epic read, multiple reviews, and all the praise.
Gabriel Alessandro: Jeff's using an M16A1. It's the rifle he 'grew up with' while on active duty. Plus it's got full auto versus the burst mode of the A2.
Macman6453: There was no pun intended. In fact, I didn't even realize it was a Hitman reference until I saw an article about it. And, as always, I appreciate the kind words.
annethepyro: Jeff's making a best guess regarding the spelling of non-Ferelden words. Some guesses are better than others. And thanks for adding MoN to your community!
InsidiousAgent: Hope this chapter answered some questions for you! POSSIBLE SPOILER: WRT Morrigan we all know she has her own goals. I think it would take a pretty charismatic individual to divert her from those.
FenZev: MREs are useful, and not just for the food.
Reader151: Thanks for the review and thank you for the compliments. As to your questions HERE BE SPOILERS: DLC and other content is planned, although DA2 may be out of the scope of the fic, but we'll see. Morrigan would definitely notice a page ripped from the book, but who would she blame it on?
