Chapter 25: Well, This Is Certainly New
I somehow managed to convince Alistair to keep me company during look out duty. It was my turn to keep watch during the first third of the night and while it was my preferred turn, I couldn't help but grumble at the difficulty of reading my book by Spell Wisp light, so it got boring after a while. Having someone to talk to was always a nice way to pass the time.
By the way, I was almost done with that book. The protagonists had finally found out each other's identities in the most dramatic yet hilarious way possible. And now they were dealing with working together while knowing they were battling crime with their crush all along plus knowing the other person was crushing on their own alter-ego…!
Ahem, it was a good book. Moving on.
After Leliana called it a night, I found myself alone with Alistair. He wasn't as fidgety as I'd expected. Rather, he kept his eyes steadily on the fire, deep in thought. I left him to it. Better he take his time so I could enjoy his company longer.
As such, I took the chance of making some mint tea. Even if this was the last of it, I swore on any honor I might have to search this God forsaken world until I found mint or an adequate replacement.
So with a light and accepting heart, I handed Alistair the second to last cup before helping myself to my own.
"Thanks" He took it easily and continued to stare at the fire.
Well, that was an underwhelming reaction.
Just when I was thinking I should take the tea bag from this d-bag -pfft, get it?- he spoke.
"So I am to be king" Alistair stated somberly.
Oh boy. Straight for the tough one, huh?
"Er… you could be"
He glanced at me, looking oddly defeated "I heard you loud and clear. You said you would 'never be a king like me'"
Actually I didn't get to finish that sentence, but it seemed bad form to point that out now.
"It's a possibility, not a fact" I frowned "I've been saying this all along but there are many choices you still have to make"
He turned so that he was fully facing me "I don't remember you saying that"
Really? Maybe I didn't say it in front of him "Ah well, I'm saying it now. Yes, you could be king, and you'd do a hell of a job, but that's not the only way things could go"
He hummed "So I'd do a good job?" He grinned, and it was like his previous mood was a lie "Well, I don't know that I want to be king, but its good to know that if I do, I am not going to screw up the country"
I nodded sagely, like I had any idea what that kind of pressure felt like.
"What other choices are there, anyway? I'm guessing Anora could take the throne? Oh please tell me Loghain doesn't stay in power" His eyes turned dangerous with that last part, his fist clenched.
Now, he was prepared to go to sleep, and as such he wasn't wearing his armor but a sort of tunic I imagine goes under it, allowing me to see how his biceps moved along with his fists.
It's a testament of how much Thedas had changed me that I thought 'man, he could smash my head in one flex' instead of 'ooh lala~'.
It's good he was one of the good guys.
So, feeling safe despite his ability to kill me without me even lifting my staff to cast, I shrugged "You'll have to wait and see"
His face changed yet again, turning rather pitiful "Oh come on, pleeeease?"
I hid a grin "Nope. I already messed up by telling you you could be king. I'm done. You make your own choice dude"
"What does 'dude' mean? You've said it before, to Kallian. Is it something like saying 'person'?"
I was beginning to think Alistair might have ADHD. Come to think of it, Kallian qualified as well. Eh, not that I'm qualified to make that kind of diagnostic.
"It's slang. But yeah, you could think of it as a replacement for 'person'. Like, 'that dude over there' instead of 'that guy'. Or when calling a friend, like I did with you just now"
"Huh… wait, we were talking about something else just now"
And whose fault was that? This damn ADHD.
"Look, there are many things I'm not telling you, because I don't want to interfere too much. Some things need to happen for the world to move forward. And some people need to grow so that they can make those changes happen. Adversity makes people grow. Al, there are many things you can become, and many ways you can help yet" Unless he got executed, but I'd burn that bridge if I got to it.
His warm brown eyes held mine, to the point where it made me uncomfortable.
"Many things I can become, huh?" He smiled warmly "Thanks Maya"
I smiled back, unsure of what he was thanking me for, exactly, but for some reason unwilling to ask.
"Tell me something" he said suddenly, breaking the calm atmosphere that had settled over us "I remember hearing you say a few… odd things, I suppose. Like that time when we were in Redcliffe, and you happened to figure it was Lady Isolde who'd sent me to become a Templar, or when we met the assassin and you told me you knew something…"
He left the question unsaid, but I knew it was there, so I answered "Guilty as charged. I knew about Isolde and I know Zevran won't try to kill us" For now, anyway.
"Aha!" He explained, then cringed, looking at the tents that housed our sleeping teammates.
I giggled "Keep it down, man"
"Right" He scratched the side of his head "Anyway, I knew it"
"Ah, yes. Well done"
"You know you could at least try to sound a little more enthusiastic"
I gave him a grin, sticking my tongue out a little.
Honestly, I thought he'd laugh along. Or at least grin back.
Instead, his gaze went to my mouth and stayed there until I got uncomfortable enough to fill the silence.
"That– ah, you remember the time I tackled Zevran, back at the circle?"
"…yeah"
What now? He suddenly turned serious again. I swear, those were some serious mood swings.
"Well had he touched that vial, we would've gotten into a fight with a high level demon"
He blinked "Really? Good thing you stopped him then" he grumbled something under his breath I didn't quiet catch, then said more clearly "There's a chance someone might grab it in the future… we should send a message to warn them of it"
I opened my mouth as if to say something, then my eyes went wide and my jaw dropped, unbidden "Shoot, I didn't think of that! Fudging hell, I–"
"Hey! Easy. There are at least thirty very alert Templars in that Tower. And the mages aren't stupid. Even if they see it, they won't touch it. Probably"
Since when did this guy became the voice of reason?
"No use waisting energy on something you don't know happened yet, right?" He gave me a cheeky grin.
I shoved him -didn't move him much-, half annoyed that he was throwing my words back at me again. He had succeeded though; I felt somewhat appeased. I shooked my head and went back to reminiscing.
"And back when we first met? Obviously I already knew you were a Templar, so…"
"What? So I was right? Huh, so this is how it feels… mind telling Morrigan sometime?"
I laughed "You thought I wanted to harm you, though"
"True, but you knew I was onto something and you still made me feel bad"
Touché "Fair enough. Call it even?"
He agreed with a good natured shrug.
"What about when Kallian almost went into Eamon's room? Back before you went into the Fade to defeat the demon possessing Connor"
"Oh yeah, the demon would've attacked for sure. Meaning no Fade battle and no saving Connor"
"Don't you mean Ponnor?"
"You're really funny tonight. What's gotten into you?"
"Excuse me, I'm always funny"
"Funny looking, you mean"
We talked for a while more and before we realized it, my watch was nearly done. Soon, I'd have to wake Zevran up for his shift.
"Thanks for keeping me company" I said, leaning back. We'd been sorta huddling together, in an attempt to keep our voices down.
"Yes, well, I'll have you pay me back somehow, don't you worry"
I couldn't help myself. Blame the lack of sleep "Oh? Are you suggesting I keep you company now?" I wagged my eyebrows.
There was a small pause before Alistair straightened up and said "Ah, yes. If you don't mind. I'll meet you in my tent"
My brain had a WTF moment before I realized his face was too serious for him to mean it.
I regarded him, somewhat impressed he hadn't turned into a blushing mess "Well played"
He grinned "Yup, I have new tricks up my sleeve now" He then lightly placed a hand on my arm "'Night"
I was left staring at his retreating back as he went into his tent.
…
What was that about?
I touched my face with my fingertips. It was warm.
Oh. My. GOD.
WHAT THE HELL JUST HAPPENED?
Over the next few days, we went back to our usual routine. I kept up my classes with Wynne and even got one out of Morrigan. Their styles were completely different, which meant I could learn a great deal from two fabulous sources.
And, and! I even managed to gain control of Fire Blast! As in, I could control the output of power so that the blast itself varied according to my needs. With this, I wouldn't need to cast Flaming Weapons just to heat up my tea.
What? Too dumb? Well, later I planned on concentrating the blast in order to make a fire. I had the image of blue fire daggers in my mind and no one would take it away from me.
I know, I'm a magic geek. But magic is cool, yeah?
I meant to have that sex ed class with Alistair, but was worried it'd be awkward after that weird night. Shouldn't have worried. Guy acted like his usual peppy and sassy self. Still, I figured I'd better let it rest for a few days. God, the Maker and basically everyone knew I wouldn't be able to keep the jokes and innuendos to myself in the middle of that kind of class. What can I say? Sometimes I turn into a 14 year old.
On the way, other than fighting the occasional darkspawn, we passed by Lothering.
While playing, one wasn't able to go back there. I remember scoffing about underfunded projects and deadlines. Back then, I wanted to see what happened. Now? I kept my eyes straight and did my best to keep a tunnel vision.
This… this was the reason why we had to stop the blight.
Of course, no matter how much I looked away, I couldn't completely avoid the carnage. It was everywhere. Everything was destroyed. Buildings torn down, corpses stacked together in morbid piles. And the land… that was why I couldn't even look down to escape the horror that was Lothering. Because the land was the worst of it all. It was covered by a sickly black layer, the kind you knew meant death. I shivered every time my eyes found its way down. Not even the rotting corpses at Redcliffe had made me this nauseated. Just walking through was too much.
I came to the realization that although I'd been fighting darkspawn for a while, I'd never seen what the consequences of them winning were. There was Ostagar, but even then, the destruction was more spread out. This was like they'd purposely contaminated the land. The mental image of darkspawn oozing whatever internal fluids they possessed onto the ground appeared in my mind and I had to shut my eyes and breathe through my mouth.
Thanks, brain, for that lovely mental image.
The others weren't doing much better. The kinder members of the team -Leliana, Wynne and Alistair- looked as disgusted as I felt. Morrigan, Zev and the Big guy wore expressions in varying degrees of careful indifference. But by the slight wrinkling of their noses and the occasional thinning of the lips when we encountered a particularly gruesome sight, I could tell they weren't entirely unaffected. At least we could agree this place was foul.
As for Kallian, curiously she seemed more angry than anything else. Perhaps she saw this and couldn't help but think of what Lothering once was, on the people that lived here. It was telling of her character, I suppose. Same for Scout, who kept to the heels of his master and growled at everything in sight.
I consoled myself thinking the money I gave to the Chantry was used to save at least a few more people.
No one wanted to linger, so we hurried along, eager to get out of the blighted land.
We were almost on the other side of what once was Lothering's northern entrance when I saw several cages in the distance.
Ah.
I glanced at Sten. He must've noticed it too; the place where he'd been incarcerated. Where he could've died while being helplessly overrun by darkspawn.
Suddenly, his eyes flew to mine, making me flinch a little.
Despite my surprise, I held his gaze.
Apparently, my boldness was rewarded, cause I got a nod of acknowledgement before he turned his gaze away.
And so, we uneventfully moved on.
On another note, I was done with the heart to hearts. There was Sten, but he never approached me, so a few days after going through Lothering, I asked him myself if there wasn't anything he wanted to know or if maybe he didn't even believe my story.
His answer was "Everything shall be as it is meant to be. You will either share your information or you won't. Leave me out of it"
So I left him out of it. His tone did sting a little though. Sniff.
Ah but just as I was leaving, tail between my legs, he stopped me with a single question.
"You knew where to find Asala"
Okay, so not a question per se, but I chose to take it as one.
"Yep" then added "Kallian would've found it eventually. I just sped up the process"
Sten looked at me for a heartbeat before nodding once and going who knows where.
One might think that was that. But it wasn't just that, for from that day on, the Big guy started calling me Basalit-an. Now, my qunari was practically non-existent, but as luck would have it, I did remember what that one meant. He didn't call me Kadan, like he'd started calling Kallian not long ago, but I'd take it. I'd take it and be damn proud of it.
Maybe a tad jealous that Kallian got more love. Eh, sue me.
Anyway, eventually, we made it to South Reach, according to my map. From there, it took us five days to freaking get to the Brecilian Outskirts. By then, I was absolutely done with going off-road. Stupid forest. Good for picking up elf root though.
As an aside, yes, I'd been in Thedas for way over a month. And yes, I had to take care of a few hygienic issues. As with happened when I ran out of toilet paper, I handled it. And that is all you need to know.
Mm… I knew from the other girls that I could get soap easily enough. But I would have to deal with my shampoo and toothpaste situation at some point. For now, I should have enough to last at least until Denerim. With such a big market, I was bound to find a suitable replacement so long as I was willing to compromise a little.
I'd cross that bridge once I got to it.
The weather in Eastern Ferelden turned out to be on the warm side. No idea how climate works here. It seems somewhat weird to me somehow, but I couldn't tell you why. Guess I should've paid more attention in school. Well la dee da. Point is, I didn't have to wear a mismatched set of clothes because the Archon Robes were simply not enough to keep the cold out. I'm sure I presented quiet the sight with my modern day leggings underneath my mage robes and my purple hoodie on top. I mean, practicality had won in the end, but I can't say I wasn't glad I could look decent in front of other people. Sue me, I appreciated looking at least decent.
"Stop right there outsider. The Dalish have camped in this spot. I suggest you go elsewhere, and quickly"
Hah, finally.
Kallian told who I assume was some kind of Dalish gatekeeper that we had business with the Dalish, and after a bit of back and forth -gatekeeper wasn't sure she believed us-, she acknowledged there wouldn't be much use in pretending to be Grey Wardens, and guided as with a light warning about using us as pincushions if it came down to it.
I happily followed the Dalish. I was in a pretty good mood, to be honest.
Why? Hehe. I could feel the gatekeepers thanks to my Survival radar. Meaning I was stronger than all four of them.
Oh yeah, this mage was going places.
One look at Kallian, though, and my mood soured.
She'd been so exited until just a moment ago. Out of all of us, she'd been looking forward to meeting the Dalish the most. I knew she was endlessly curious, so it made sense she'd want to know all about how others, specially other elves, lived. But the gatekeepers didn't even remotely look at her like she was one of them. Didn't look at Zev either but I knew he didn't give a rat's ass about it.
Kallian's ears, on the other hand, were kind of droopy.
Oh, my poor Kal Kal.
Humph. The elves weren't looking too good as my favorite recruits. If they looked down on either of my elven friends there would be hell to pay.
It was a scary thought that someone like me had the power to influence wether an entire clan of elves -or wolves, for the matter- lived.
Yikes. Nobody better mess.
As we approached the Dalish camp, dozens of little dots began pinging in my radar.
Alrighty. Dalish camp, here we go!
Okay, so I planned on releasing this days ago, but I'm presenting my thesis next week and am freaking out. It's okay though, we'll get through this, nobody panic.
Thanks so much for all the reviews! And the faves and follows. You guys are the best.
Basalit-an is a non qunari worthy of respect, btw.
Hope you enjoy the romance scene! If it seems kind of light, that's because its meant to be. I mean, they're just getting started, after all :)
