Chapter 22: Everyone Judges My Taste In Music

The desire demon… well, she looked much like the first one. This one didn't bother with the Connor-disguise, either. And why were all the desire demons female? I wanna see a hot demon dude in low cut jeans! I mean, not in a creepy way, just, you know, for equality's sake and stuff.

Ahem, moving on.

As soon as I saw the demon in the distance, I paused to rethink my strategy. For, like, the 17th time. What can I say? Anxiety is a bitch. I opened my menu, staring hard at the skill page. I somewhat remembered Desire could be intimidated into leaving Connor for good and handing over an extra boon. So, I'd intended to put the skill point I'd been saving into Coercion. The stat related to pass an intimidation check was strength for sure, so I also thought about potentially putting my three attribute points there.

Imagine my surprise when I found Coercion at intermediate level.

For a moment, I thought I'd gone senile. I had to count the entirety of my skill points. At level 9, I should've had a total of six; five spent, one on reserve.

Your ability to read and influence others has improved.

Uh huh.

Don't get me wrong, this was fantastic news. It's just that I didn't understand exactly how I came to have an extra point in coercion. It bothered me, not knowing what was going on with what was arguably the only reason I'd managed to survive this long. I was under no illusions: if I didn't have this bizarre gaming cheat, I'd be long dead.

I could theorize, of course. Perhaps I'd managed to bullshit my way through enough situations to warrant the extra point. Perhaps whatever higher power or force of nature that was responsible for the gaming system was adjusting so that I could accomplish my goal, in which case I'd like to take this chance to ask for the ability to use console commands please.

Back to the strategy itself, I set the leftover skill point in Coercion.

You are exceptionally influential and can compel all but the most strong-willed individuals.

Well, this would come in handy for sure.

I found myself conflicted about the spare attribute points. On one hand, if I went with strength, my chance of intimidating Desire rose. On the other, strength wasn't something I wanted to invest in right now. I already was the weakest member in our party -I couldn't detect anyone with Survival- and I really didn't want to fall farther behind.

Mm… to be honest, I wasn't really sure I could intimidate someone. There'd been that business with Lloyd, but that was basically me asking, showing off my magic and letting him draw his own conclusions. If he'd call my bluff, that would have been it. If Desire called my bluff, there would be blood.

So, was I really going down the intimidation route?

I looked at the demon in the distance and sighed.

Alright, let's make my momma proud today.

"Very well" she began in a soft, velvety voice "No more illusions. Now we are face to face. You see my true form and stand in my domain"

Desire looked me up and down, then put a hand on her hip, smirking lazily "It is here I am most powerful, and yet I have no wish to engage your power" she chuckled darkly "to charm desire demons is quite a feat. Alas, you should not be so eager to engage my power. Perhaps we should converse instead?"

You know, most demons I've met were all about trapping you in their preferred shenanigans. Failing that, the modus operandi appeared to be attack. Most of them seemed open yet confused at me offering new possibilities. But this Desire would actually give me options. That was rather flexible of her.

Mmm… she'd be a tough opponent.

I smiled at her "Sure"

"Good" her eyes shinned "I prefer reasonable negotiation, whenever possible. Your goal is for me to release the boy's soul, is that right?

"That is correct"

"What if you could persuade me to leave voluntarily? No fuss and no bloodshed"

"Would you? That'd be great, thanks"

She made a sound like a reproachful teacher, one that would fit better as a bedroom role-play than in a classroom though "Ah ah ah, not so fast. Let me make a proposition, then"

Suddenly, something changed. Her… body language, I guess. The air around her itself. She seemed taller, somehow more intimidating and more alluring at the same time. Her voice, which was already melodic, turned into something that would give Blackstreet an eargasm.

"I abandon the boy… for now. But I retain the contract he and I made, and many years from now I may return and claim what is mine. This will be long after whatever you want is done. In exchange, I will provide something of value to you. Something you desire. What say you?"

As if. There was no way the guilt wouldn't eat me alive in the years to come if I accepted that deal. Luckily, I knew she would say that.

"I'm curious" I said, ignoring her offer for now "I'm not that well informed when it comes to spirits and demons, but I believe you all have a purpose. An obsession, if you will" I fluttered my hand, as if speaking at a dinner party instead of another plane of existence "You are Desire, of course, so yours should match your namesake. How is that linked to you slaughtering an entire village?"

The demon regarded me steadily "You do not need to –"

"Do you have wants of your own?" I interrupted "Is this someone else's wish, if not? Perhaps another demon? Maybe a human, but certainly not Connor. Whoever wanted this though, I'm sure there was a reason. I mean they have to, cause this world is causal…" I kept mumbling to myself, regarding Desire suspiciously.

"There is no need for you to concern yourself with such matters" she said after a second, her voice still soft yet louder at the same time "Unless that is the price you wish to ask of me"

Was she rattled? I hoped she was rattled.

"Well, my apologies, my mind meanders like that sometimes. Back to Connor. Let me make you a counteroffer. You leave Connor forever, and neither I nor the people waiting on the other side kick your butt"

"Alas, that is sad. Very well, then. If you wish a battle–"

"Uhm, I do not? Seriously? For a desire demon, you sure have some trouble guessing at my wishes" I snorted flippantly. God, if this didn't work, she was gonna tear me a new one with how snotty I was behaving "But yeah, if you don't wish to compromise, then I will fight. Of course, then you'd have to fight the next mage that comes along. And let me tell you, they are not the types to chit chat with demons"

Desire narrowed her eyes at me "Do not attempt to trick me, child" she said in that velvet voice of hers.

"It's true though" I shrugged nonchalantly "And to your further misfortune, they are all stronger than me" Not a single pin in my stupid radar.

"The will not match my power. We are in my domain"

And yet I knew she would fold under enough pressure. That meant she was bluffing right now.

"You sure about that?" I cocked my hip and began counting with my fingers, taking notes from the first Avengers movie "Lets do a head count. We have First Enchanter Irvin, who is the head mage of this country. And he has the experience and the power to back his tittle" I ticked off another finger "Wynne, senior enchanter, also not lacking in experience and power. And she has a certain someone helping her on the side by the name of Faith" the demon frowned a bit. I hid a smile and raised a final finger "And we have Morrigan. A powerful witch of the wilds. Young, yes, but trained by Flemeth herself. Trust me, you do not wanna mess with her"

I finished while crossing my arms, waiting for her to make up her mind.

A small eternity later, desire spoke up "What do you propose, exactly?"

Bingo.

"You leave and swear never to come back and I let you go" I glared at her "And I am compromising. You killed many innocents. I should kill you. But I'm giving you a chance. If I ever find you doing thing such as this again, though…" I let the threat hang. She may make of it what she will.

"I see. I should not have doubted your power, unconventional as it appears" she sighed "I am not one for taking risks. Have it your way"

She proceeded to relinquish her hold on Connor, then left.

I had to grit my teeth as I watched her leave and realized my words from before were more than an act. She had killed a lot of people, and while not on the same scale, there was a high probability she'd kill again. As per my nature, I'd avoided a fight, but for the first time I wasn't sure if I'd done the right thing.

I'd succeeded, yet it left a bitter taste on my mouth.

I thought about the other Desire -my not-mom Desire- and I didn't feel like I wanted her to change at all; this Desire was different. I hoped this demon would turn into a spirit. I hoped she would change.

I closed my eyes and when I opened them again, I was staring at an old, grey stoned ceiling. Then a head as it popped into view, blocking my vision. I grinned up at the tentative look on my favorite elf.

"No more Ponnor"

"And so, Robin Hood married Lady Marian, with the blessings of King Lionheart. And they lived happily ever after. The end"

The children began talking excitedly. Retelling each other parts of the story they'd all just heard.

I answered questions as well.

"Was Robin Hood really an elf?"

"And the king let him marry his niece?"

"Can humans and elfs get married?"

So I may have changed the story a bit. Big whoop. It was one where an elven protagonist made a lot of sense. Robin Hood, the elven rogue that stole from the rich to give to the poor. It was too good a chance to pass up.

Hell, even Kallian seemed enthralled by the prospect. She kept gushing about the story way after the kids went to play somewhere else, as we went back to the castle to meet with the others. Only she and Leliana -who of course had soaked in and likely memorized the tale- were with me that morning. I really wanted to make up for my outburst of the day before, so I'd announced my intention of going downtown and the two decided they wanted to tag along after the grimness that was the Viking funeral that morning.

I was glad the story was a big hit. Mm… I wonder which one I should tell next time.

I smiled ruefully. Making plans for the future, was I? If I wanted a way to see if I'd finally begun to accept my new life in Thedas, this was it. It still hurt, but I think the worse was over. Here's to it not coming back.

First things first, though. It was time to plan our next move.

As we arrived, we were informed the rest of the party had already woken up and had lunch, and were waiting on us. Our arrival was announced and we were ushered towards the Arl's study. Bann Teagan was already there, standing next to Eamon's vacant chair, looking out the window like a tragic prince pinning after a lost love.

Oh look at that, my dislike for Teagan was back. Sorry 'bout that.

The others came trailing in soon after, and the meeting began.

"So far, we have managed to secure the mages assistance" Kallian began without preamble "Bann Teagan has also promised to aid us, provided we are able to wake the Arl" She hesitated a bit before saying the next part "The Arlessa seems to have found a lead about the Urn of Sacred Ashes. She thinks it's the only thing that would cure the Arl of his coma"

At Kallian's glance, I gave a tiny nod. Yep, only way to wake him.

"We'll have to go to Denerim. There's a scholar by the name of brother Genitivi that's been investigating the Urn. We'll go pay him a visit" Kallian perked up "And if we're going all the way to Denerim, we might as well stop by the Dalish camp in the Brecilian Forest"

"What about my brother?"

We turned to Teagan, who backtracked under our collective stare-down "Forgive me. I know there is a lot you must do, I just worry for my brother"

"That's understandable" said Alistair "Believe me, I want to save Arl Eamon as fast as possible, but we don't know if we have the time to make the trip to that side of Ferelden twice"

"Alistair is right. The Archdemon might not wait for us"

Teagan nodded in understanding and physically took a step back, giving the floor back to the wardens.

Kallian seemed to mull something over before turning to me "Maya what do you think? You went into the Fade. Will whatever the demon did stand for some time?"

I pretended to think it over, then nodded "Yeah, I do. I met the Arl in the Fade while I was looking for Desire, actually" Teagan's eyes snapped in my direction. Somewhere in the back, Isolde gasped "He didn't realize where he was, just knew that Connor was in trouble. I don't think he was aware of the passage of time, either"

"Whatever manner of spell the demon managed to concoct seems to be preserving the Arl alive and well, if still comatose" added Wynne "While the demon may be gone, the bargain stands in that the Arl must be kept so"

"An expert on demons, are you?" Morrigan commented off-handedly.

"One must know the enemy, if one is to learn how to face it" replied the older mage.

Kallian interrupted them before Morrigan could answer "So Arl Eamon will be fine even if we don't immediately set off for the Urn. And we do need to make the trip east anyway" she smiled wide "So its decided: we'll go to the Dalish camp on our way to Denerim. That shouldn't take us more than a few days out of the way, right?"

For everyone else it was a rhetorical question, but when her eyes landed on me, I couldn't help sending a sheepish smile her way.

If only.

We left Denerim with honors, the villagers sending us away as gratefully as they were the day we fought the zombies.

I was a little sad I didn't get the chance to check on Connor before we left. I wanted to see for myself how he was doing, even when Bann Teagan told us he didn't remember anything, and was back to his usual self. But alas, the Arlessa was guarding him like the mama bear she was, kind of hoarding him to herself and glaring daggers at whoever intended to approach him. Given that it'd only been two days since he was un-possessed, I could see how that made sense.

Actually, I was feeling a little better towards Isolde. Sometime during our last night at the castle -which had been cleaned up and made presentable enough to house the nine of us plus Eamon's family and a few servants- she'd come to talk to me. Well, talk might be a little too generous. She asked me -kinda- for a moment of my time and extended a formal thank you for the services rendered. It was obviously painful for her to say so, but I was too amused to care, so I told her not to worry about it and let her make her retreat while chuckling to myself. Maybe there was hope for her left. Maybe.

We'd secured two horses from Redcliffe -not a lot, but things were still a mess, to don't look a gift horse in the mouth, eh?- which helped unload some of the luggage at least. We still had to walk but at this point I was mostly used to it. Which is not to say I wouldn't have appreciated a conveniently placed motor vehicle appearing in front of me right about now. Any sort of vehicle really, I'm not picky.

All in all, it'd take us a little less than ten days to get to the Dalish, provided we didn't get side tracked too much. On the first day we made camp, I had only just finished setting up my tent when I was ambushed.

"What is going to happen in the Brecilian Forest?"

I raised both eyebrows at Kallian "Hello to you too, missy. What brings you to this side of the campsite?"

Kallian rolled her eyes, but took a step back "I was waiting for you to be done. I need to know what happens with the Dalish. You know about that, don't you?"

I nodded "Yep. Elves vs. werewolves"

Kallian blinked "What?"

I didn't give her the whole story. Just that some sort of magic virus was plaguing the forest, and that we'd be asked to lift a curse or something in exchange for their help. I did tell her there was more, but she -begrudgingly- accepted my request to allow them to form their own impressions before getting the spoilers.

"Well, if that's that" Leliana poked her head in the conversation "I'd like to have a private word with you, Maya. If you don't mind" she added with a smile to Kallian.

"Wait. Maya, I also want to talk to you" said Alistair.

Wynne approached "If you could spare a moment after that, perhaps we could converse, too"

"Me as well. Perhaps after you are done with the others, we might retreat to the comfort of your tent?" Ugh. Zevran.

Scout barked at me. I didn't understand what he wanted, but apparently he was not one to be outdone or left behind.

Well, this would be a long night. But at least it would be fun.

"One moment. Just what is this suppose to mean? Why is it you are asking her of events to come and why is everyone so suddenly interested in conversing with her?"

We turned to see Morrigan and Sten at the back of the group, who all came to hound me at the foot of my tent.

"Something has clearly come to pass while you were at the Circle, and I would not be the only one out of the know" she glared at each of us in turn.

I mean, there was also Sten, but he seemed okay with standing back and let her do the talking.

I opened my mouth to explain, having planned how I would ease them into the crazy for minimal backlash. But then Kallian opened her big mouth and just dropped it down on them. The whole thing, no anesthesia.

Predictably, Morrigan and Sten did not believe me.

"Of all the tales you could have spun, you chose the most outlandish of them all, did you?" She scoffed "Tis' a wonder they all believed you. I expected as much from Alistair but somehow you managed to trick the others too. I must say, tis' quiet the feat"

I honestly couldn't tell if she was impressed or annoyed. Maybe both.

Sten said something beneath his breath that sounded suspiciously like a curse word and kept staring at us. But I could tell by his frown he didn't believe me either.

I shrugged "You must admit I'm an oddball here, even between a bunch of oddballs. And I know things I shouldn't and can magic in a different way" I waved my hand behind me "And there's a lot of technology that you've never seen before, precisely because I'm not from this world"

Morrigan scoffed again, in that very Morrigan-way, which caused most the others to launch into the reasons they believed me. The things they'd witnessed and the conclusions they'd reached. Even Sten joined in, saying stuff in the language of the qun from time to time. Both him and Morrigan nearly as vocal about their opinions as I expected them to be.

I couldn't even get a word in, so I shrugged again and said aloud "No, you're right, it does seem way too far fetched"

Whether that heard me or not, they didn't show any signs.

I reached back into the tent for my backpack and propped it on the floor, then proceeded to plop onto it.

"Inventory"

I took a few things out by way of my cheat gamer ability, which caused a few flashes of light that made some of my friends look over.

Ignoring them this time, I popped some gum into my mouth, turned on my phone and put on my sunglasses -the sun was already going down, but I was going for effect here-; then hit play as soon as it powered up. Sound blasted from the speaker I'd left hanging off one of the hooks on the tent. The ones who hadn't already been looking turned to find me slouching on my backpack, making a bubblegum and playing Candy Crush while moving my head to the rhythm of the song.

It was too hard to stifle a giggle when I took a peek at them from behind my shades. Really, it's like they'd never heard K-pop before.

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