Moonpriestess30:
Ch.56 – Yeah she's a magnet for the damn things. They're the hardest to dodge.
Ch.57 – Thank goodness, I think it's just gonna be a little more natural flowing etc.
Judy: I am so happy that you don't mind, let's write this sucker!
Chapter 58 – The start of something wonderful?
'What are ya doin', Lethallan?' Silvanus laughs as she rolls on the grass. 'Tis been a while since ya let loose hmm?' He says as she lopes around the tree line sniffing things. Elgon and Ciere chased her with tails high, yapping and nipping each other. Makatza nipped behind a tree and emerged with a dress on stretching happily.
'I swear it's been months since I saw you!' She said as she ran over and hugged him tightly. She had just come from Kirkwall, having finally been trusted enough to travel on her own. Her reasoning was that nobody was going to bother a trio of wolves, especially as she was large enough to take down a horse.
'Has been months,' he laughs as he kisses her cheek. 'Look at ya puppies, not so much puppies any more, how old are they?' Silvanus says as he keeps an arm over her shoulders as they walk to the Dalish camp. Makatza catches up with her father as they walk through to his tent, she was so happy to see him and her attitude was contagious. 'So any news?' Silvanus says as he sits down on the log that he kept outside for a bench.
'Well I have to go to some sort of ball in a few weeks and... there's some other news,' she says slowly. Makatza and Fenris had decided that after the social gathering that she had somehow managed to get herself into that they would start to tell certain people about their relationship. She looked at Silvanus and bit her lip, she was not looking forward to this but she wanted him to be the first to know. They had successfully been sneaking around everyone else, Makatza was sure that Varric had some idea; things were always a little easier when the dwarf was about.
'Dread wolf... ya not ….with child?' He says looking incredibly worried.
'What? No!' Makatza laughs as she rolls her eyes. 'Really? That's the first thing you think of? Why would that be such a bad thing?' She asks as she leans on her knees and looks at him. Her puppies ran around them in delight enjoying the new scenery.
Silvanus coughs into his hand and looks a little embarrassed, 'ya not bonded,' he mumbles.
'Not what? Bonded? What's bonded?' She asks as she grins at his awkwardness. 'Oh my god is this like being married? Are you being serious? You're pulling the ''Dad'' card right now? You don't want me to fall pregnant because I'm not married?' She giggles as she smirks at him. 'Wouldn't you be worried about who the father was?'
'Ach, Lethallan! I dinnae mean it like that,' he says trying to recover. 'Father? Who would be the father?' He asks worried.
'Woah, we're getting way ahead of ourselves,' she says holding up her hands. 'One, not pregnant, so two, no father, but most of all three, you kinda need to be with someone in that way to be in that predicament,' Makatza reveals. The relief on her father's face was almost instantaneous but then his brows furrow.
'So what be the news ya wish ta tell me then?'
'It's-' There was a little commotion in the camp and she's interrupted, 'what's going on?' She asks as gets up and looks around, Silvanus being taller stood up and then rolled his eyes.
'Nay, tis nothin' jus' an arrival,' he says simply as he sits back down. 'Te horse dinnae stop quickly enough for the scouts to identify,' Silvanus says; it happens more than he cared to admit, especially with the younger of the clan. Makatza laughs lightly and sits back down, her puppies lifted their ears and stood up. She tilts her head as she asks them what the matter was, they didn't reply and instead shot off through the camp.
'Wait! Come back! You can't go running through the camp!' Makatza yelped as she got up quickly and ran after them, she danced through people as she spotted the wolves ahead of the crowd. 'Elgon! Ciere! Get back here now!' She commands. She's ignored which is incredibly shocking as the only person they would ignore her for would be, 'Fenris?' Makatza says in shock as she gets to the root of the commotion. 'What are you doing here?' She asks as he argues with another elf, a scout by the looks of it. Fenris hadn't noticed that Makatza had arrived and was ignoring the puppies who were cowering a little at his obvious anger.
'Whom else would it be? Do you know anyone else that looks like me?' He snapped at the man who was refusing him entrance to the camp. 'I was going too fast, I did not wish to buckle the horse coming to a stop,' he says and then scout does something stupid and squares up to him.
'I dinnae know who ya are an' I willnae let you in,' he says simply. 'Ya be a stranger an' I dinnae know how ya know Silvanus but I dinnae trust ya.'
Fenris' brow furrows as his personal space is invaded, 'you need to move away,' he says quietly in warning as he clenches his fists in control. The scout notices and knocks a shaft into his bow holding it with one hand.
'Ya need to step off before an' arrow finds ya,' the young elf threatens poking him on the chest plate. Makatza was too late in moving and Fenris headbutted the teen dropping him instantly.
'Oh shit,' Makatza said under her breath as she pushes her way through the crowd. 'Excuse me, 'scuse me!' She says as Fenris is grabbed by another elf and she can see him snap as his markings light up, 'no! No! Don't grab him! Imeli let him go!' She says as she recognises the scout and quickly gets through to the front. The wolves had begun to growl at Imeli as he had grabbed their Alpha, they wouldn't hesitate to attack.
'He knocked out, Sarn!'
'He kinda deserved it,' Makatza said as she watched Sarn be carried into camp, 'you know Fenris, come on! Sarn was just trying to act like a big man with the wrong person. Fenris, you should have slowed down enough for them to identify you, Imeli, you know him and yes, he shouldn't have hit Sarn but Sarn did threaten him,' she said as she tried to mediate the situation. Imeli sighed and looked at Fenris.
'Slow down next time,' he says simply as he lets Fenris go. Makatza smiles and thanks him as she goes over to Fenris who was avoiding being licked on the face by the young wolves who had calmed down. With the situation resolved the crowd had begun to disperse and he was going to be let into the camp with no more trouble. She commanded her pups to leave him alone and looked at him in wonder.
She touched his arm and could physically see the tension leave his shoulders almost instantly with her contact, 'Fenris, what are you doing here? Did you not trust me to get here on my own-'
'No, no, it is not that,' he says shaking his head as he pauses for a moment before taking her hand. 'You wish to tell your father... I wish to be here with you as you do,' he says quietly. Makatza's face lights up, she really hadn't thought it would be any different with him here but now that he was here she felt a little more confident.
'You rode here so that you'd be included?'
'Yes, hence why I was going too fast. I know how fast you run I was hoping to catch up with you before it was too late,' he says giving her a half smile. Makatza beams at him and still holding his hand pulls him into camp to where her father was waiting, Fenris feels a lot more embarrassed to be holding his daughter's hand as they got close. 'Good morning, Silvanus,' he says politely.
'Ah. Fenris.' Silvanus says as he stands, he had some idea as to where this was going an he was pretty sure that he wasn't going to be happy about what he was about to hear. He looks at Makatza's ecstatic expression and mentally sighs.
Makatza pushes Fenris forward a little so they were standing opposite each other, 'father,' she says happily. 'The other news was that Fenris and I are together,' she smiles. 'We've been seeing each other for a while-'
She's interrupted by her father swinging a fist and punching Fenris square in the face. She yelps in fright and surprise, Fenris swears loudly and clutches his nose as blood begins to drip through his fingers. 'I said to ya ta keep ya distance!' Silvanus snaps at the other elf.
'What are you doing?! That's not up to you to decide!' Makatza shouts back at him, she kept her hand on Fenris' arm as she healed him and kept him from retaliating. 'Apologise!' She demands.
'Lethallan-'
'I said apologise to him!' She replies angrily.
'No. Makatza, I dinnae want you seein' him. His past will hunt ya down like the dread wolf! Tis the reason we gave ya to Mari in the first place!' Silvanus replies just as angry. 'Why are ya doin' this? Ya know the risks of a man like this-'
'He is not his past! Just like I am not just some eternal spirit! You can't just punch him because you don't like the fact that we care about each other-'
'He willnae care fer ya! Soon as the Imperium comes down onna him he'll jus' think about his freedom an' that'll be it!' He replies watching Fenris as he wipes the blood from his mouth, it was clear that the Tevinter elf was trying incredibly hard to control himself. Silvanus bared his teeth and glared at him, 'he will ne'er do what he must ta keep ya safe-'
Makatza growled at her father, 'I wouldn't want him to,' she snarled. 'We have already spoken about it. Do you think I am stupid? Do you think that I haven't thought about the target that is forever going to be tattooed across my head? What that means for Fenris? For you? I wanted you to be the first to know because I want you to be happy for me. You are supposed to be my father-'
'I am ya fa-'
'Then that means supporting me and loving me through all my choices,' Makatza said with tears in my eyes. 'Accepting me through anything. Fenris came here to be with me when I told you, he wanted to be here, for me. We have spent time talking about all this shit, father. Hours and hours speculating if this was just based on a mutual attraction or something more...we both agree that whatever this is, it's worth the risk and honestly even if you don't like it, I'm going to continue to see him,' she says simply. 'I'm not asking you to like him. I am just asking you to accept him.'
Silvanus sighs and pinches the bridge of his nose, 'ya just like ya mother,' he mutters as he exhales and gives her a look, after a moment he holds out his hand for Fenris. Fenris spits blood onto the grass and glares at the older elf before taking his hand and gripping it firmly. 'I don' like ya. Sort out ya shit, boy. Ya hurt her an' I'll kill ya.'
'Father...'
Silvanus clears his throat and shakes his hand before letting him go, 'I shouldnae hit ya. I apologise,' he says begrudgingly. He was a little impressed, he had been aiming to break his nose but Fenris had managed to move enough to just get clipped, it had still split his lip though. 'I'll leave ya two alone fer a while,' he says with a mental sigh.
Makatza breathes in deeply as her father strides deeper into the camp, they had created a little bit of a scene but the other elves were thankfully taking it in good grace and doing their best to ignore them. 'Fenris, I'm so sorry, I didn't think he would hit you,' she said as she moved his hand from his mouth so that she could assess the damage. His lip was a little swollen and had blood from a sharp slit.
'I did,' Fenris says a little stiffly.
Makatza begins to heal him properly. 'What? You did? Why didn't you move?'
'Because he would have wanted to try again. I want to hit any man who looks at you or thinks about you in the way that I already do. If I was a father and had a daughter like yourself I would not even let another man get close,' he says as she makes him sit down so she can reach his mouth easier. 'I am sorry if I antagonised the situation.'
'No... I think we would have argued regardless,' she says quietly. Makatza finishes healing him and sits back. 'How does that feel?' She asks as she begins to wipe at his cheek with her sleeve to remove the half dried blood.
'Practically perfect,' he says assuring her that he was okay. Feeling a little uneasy that there could be people watching them he took her hands and kissed the back of her fingers lightly, enjoying the blush that slowly spread over her cheeks. 'You know this means that here we do not have to hide our affections here,' he mumbles.
Makatza bites her lip as she grins, 'that's very true,' she smiles at him. 'Feeling shy?' She teases lightly as her puppies come and nose their way into their moment and demand to be petted by them.
'I have just been healed from your father's displeasure, I do not think we should rub it in his face quite so soon,' he chuckles and shrugs a shoulder. 'Give it at least an hour,' he adds making her laugh. Silvanus watched them from a distance and sighed to himself, he knew from the moment he met the elf and the way he watched him dive into the water after his daughter. Then again at the camp when Makatza said that he was staying during her time here. Where ever she was the Tevinter elf wasn't far behind.
'They will be fine, clan-brother,' Marethari says as she comes over and gives him some sweet mead that they had just tapped. 'They are linked more than you know, her soul calls to his. Fated you might say.'
Silvanus scoffs, 'I willnae believe the whims of spirits.'
'Ach, Silvanus. Do you not remember what it was like to be their age? If I remember correctly you broke quite a few rules for her mother, did you not?' Marethari smiles as she watches them as they talk.
'An' look what trouble that brough' me,' he laughs darkly. 'I worry tha' she'll have trials ahead tha' I cannae help with,' he sighs.
'She will be your child for all of her days but it does not mean that you cannot be more than her father. Some situations require a parent, some require a friend and some,' Marethari smiles as she pats his arm and pulls him away from where he was intently watching them, 'some require privacy.'
