They were in the caves. She felt a sense of foreboding, even from the first mention from the shems. They had explored the area before and had the area charted at camp from previous travels. There should not have been a cave.
But Tamlen was so insistent and… it had been awhile since they had been alone. Lately, he had somehow managed to make sure that if they did meet it was in the clan meeting area or only if others were around. It had begun to hurt her feelings, being avoided in such a way.
She worried at her lip, as she followed him towards the rock formations that should not have any cave. That feeling only increased when she saw the opening. Her breathing was heavy, and she knew Tamlen's curiosity had taken too strong of a hold of him to stop.
"I know you're nervous too," though for different reasons, her tone implied. "So talk, I know it will calm you."
As they walked, their arms brushed up against each other, and it did anything but calm her.
"I suppose so," he said. His voice was soft and amused. "Hey, weren't you supposed to be assisting Master Ilen today? How did you end up coming with me?"
Thalia looked away, heat rising swiftly to her cheeks."I- Yes," she said, "But, I wanted to be with you." Creators damn him, he knew that already.
He chuckled deeply and it sent shivers down her spine. "I... thought that might be the case. I am glad."
Her breath hitched involuntarily. She ached to just grab him and damn his proprietary.
"Let's just find whatever is here and get out, we can talk later," he said and she knew it was accompanied by that infuriating smirk.
Feeling daring in the dimly lit corridor, she stopped and said, "Why is it always that, Tamlen.". "Always, 'We will talk later.' Never- well, anything," she trailed off, irritated and now embarrassed, she felt her cheeks heat up as she looked down at the dark floor.
His shuffling paused before he turned to face her. There was no sound but their uneven breathing. "I- well," he began slowly, all teasing gone from his voice, inexperience of youth and love now present.
She moved a step closer to the sound. "Do you... not want me, Tamlen?" She breathed out, hand barely grasping his bracer.
He hesitated, but stepped closer to her. Heat flaring all throughout her as his arms slowly wrapped around her, forehead resting on hers. She gulped, feeling the warmth of him envelop her in the chilled cave. She could feel the faintest brush of his lips as he spoke, voice heavy with emotions. "I do."
"Then why have you waited so long," Thalia asked, simultaneously hurt, wanting and elated at the confession.
Hesitating, he said, looking deeply into her eyes, "It... had to be perfect." His hand traced up her jawline to the back of her neck, holding her close. "You know it always had to be, vhenan"
"I know," Thalia said thickly, his hands on her making it hard to think and form words. She could only look deep into his eyes
He gazed back, eyes soft and full of adoration. He smiled, breathing her in before he pulled her into a kiss. She felt like she melted into it, the feeling of his lips on hers both new and fascinating and like they fit together perfectly, that no matter what could have happened, they would always end up here, in eachothers arms.
The knot of anxiety that had plagued her for weeks seemed to unravel all at once. It was soft and sweet and soothed each and every one of her fears. She pulled him closer, as if she feared this was all a dream and it would soon shatter and become reality. Her heart beat so loudly she thought she might die on the spot.
So completed in the moment, she could barely comprehend why he was pulling away, barely able to breath and tried to reel herself in. She took in a ragged breath, trying to follow him so that the kiss could continue.
"Later, I promise. For real this time, as soon as we are back in camp, vhenan," he said excitedly, smiling so brightly it lit her up with joy. They kissed each other a few more times, spine tingling as his arms ran up and down her sides and back, digging into her scalp as he kissed her deeply, both delighted in the new feeling of closeness between them. They eventually parted, but whispered sweet words to each other. They bumped into each other and giggled as they picked up the weapons that they dropped in their embrace.
She smiled so much her cheeks hur, because she finally felt content as they ventured further into the cave.
Thalia woke with a start, tears streaming down her face. It took a long moment for her to realize that it was only a dream, and she could not stop them, to insist they get Keeper Marethari and return, if only to have another voice of reason to not touch the mirror.
She bit back a sob as she curled up under her blanket. Hands pressed to her face as she let the sadness overtake her. She took in deep breaths to try and stop from crying out and alerting the others.
Thalia was a bit shocked at the sudden intrusion of the mabari whining and flopping near her. She sniffled and slowly brought her head out from under the blanket. They locked eyes and even though the snot and tears were running down her face, she couldn't help a small laugh as his head sat on his paws, looking at her with so much concern and desire to help however he could. She wriggled her arm out too, and threw it over him. Dog let out a happier sounding whine and cuddled closer into her embrace.
The two stayed like that for a while, slowly stopping the tears, taking deeper breaths as she calmed herself. She felt like she could barely function. She could not focus. She had only followed orders, slumbering along through Ostagar, the Wilds and now.
She barely registered the bickering of Alistair and Morrigan, it seemed that this would be the standard for them. If her eyes were not watching the trail, she watched Dog bound ahead and around them as they made their way to Lothering.
They reached the outskirts of it the following evening. They made quick work of the bandits that tried to bar their way, though she imagined that they were the shems that had led her to the cave that turned her whole life upside down.
At the edge of the camp of refugees Alistair and Morrigan started arguing again. Thalia could not help snorting at Morrigan's comment about dancing on her mothers grave. Alistair looked at both of them, incredulous that they could laugh at that sort of comment before explaining who they should be going to for help.
She had never left the area that her clan wandered in, aside from the gathering, she did not know where exactly these groups were, or how their societies worked (aside from the Dalish), much less how much traveling would need to be done. She had never paid much attention to the map Keeper Marethari occasionally pulled out, but she wished she had now.
She rubbed the sides of her head as it started to ache at the thought of the monumental task ahead of them. Her jaws clenched as Dog bound up to her, rubbing up against her legs.
She liked Morrigan's idea of going straight to Loghain first, but conceded that it was not terribly practical. As much as she wanted to go straight to her people, if not her own clan, she thought Alistair's connection to Arl Eamon would at least aid them in getting more information on their enemies.
"Why are you leaving this up to me?" She asked Alistair, almost in a whining tone if she had not been so tired. He may have been in the chanty all his life, but he was at least a part of the human world; she had only ventured into small villages a handful of times in her life.
"Well I don't know where we should go. I'll do whatever you decide,"he said looking away, slightly embarrassed.
Morrigan muttered, "That is hardly surprising," and the elf could barely hold back a snort but chose to ignore the comment. By the smirk of the witches face, she knew Thalia was amused.
"Fine, whatever Alistair. Let's just go."
"Then you have a plan?"
"No, I don't. This all seems like it's a terrible idea. But let's just start with this Arl."
"I'm not sure if i like any of it either, but we don't have a lot of choice in the matter."
"I know, Alistair… I know." She said forlornly.
"Let's head into the village," Alistair said, leading the way into the village.
Thalia trailed behind them, she may be left to make the large decisions, but she was still getting used to talking to humans, she was not about to talk to strangers. So she waited as Alistair asked some humans the state of things and let the heavy feeling overtake her again.