The Qunari and The Herald

Aiden was running, his heart pounded in his chest, blood drummed in his ears. His breaths came quick, each more difficult than the last as he struggled to catch up to Kata. The Qunari pulled ahead with every stride. It took three of his own just to keep up. It seemed impossible, but he was managing. He had to manage.

He and Ela had come to an agreement and he was desperately trying to keep his end. If he wanted to accompany her on her expeditions, he needed to be faster, stronger, smarter. Kata had offered his assistance readily enough. Though, it was more to get out of Haven himself than to help Aiden. Now he was on a strict schedule, whenever his sister and Solas were gone. In the early mornings, he would run with Kata and listen to his lectures, then eat lunch, train with the other mages, and read as many tomes, scrolls, and books he could get his hands on. It was exhausting, but he managed.

The regiment served as a distraction as well. He didn't think of his sister's absence, the wedge between them and Evsa, or the Lord Seeker's fearsome gaze. Ever since Val Royeaux the prospect of working with the Templars struck him with fear. His dreams were plagued with armored soldiers tearing him apart. Ela had assured him that they would choose the mages, but he found it did nothing to calm his nerves.

Rounding a bend, they slowed, and came to a stop beside a stack of wood. Kata motioned for him to sit on a weathered stone and picked up a dull ax. Without stopping to rest, Kata began chopping. It wasn't necessary. They had plenty of fire wood in the cabin, but since the Qunari had found the stash, he'd made it his duty to chop it all and carry them back to the cabin. Aiden was sure it was simply a distraction from Ela's absence, like everything else he did lately.

"Where did we leave off imekari?" Kata asked as his ax came down on another log.

Aiden shifted in his seat, raking his brain hurriedly for an answer to the question. Had it been about combat maneuvering? The Qunari's lectures varied from slightly intriguing, to so boring that blades of grass became more interesting. Yesterday's lecture had been the latter. Aiden found he had stopped listening long before Kata had stopped talking.

Kata placed another log on the block and scuffed at him. Aiden's face burned with shame. "Sorry," he said meekly, knowing the apology meant nothing. "I can't remember."

Kata scuffed again as he split the log. "You can't remember because you weren't listening." Aiden's face grew hot. The Qunari wasn't wrong. "What would Kadan say if she knew?"

"I said I'm sorry," he said hurriedly. "You can't tell her anyway, because if you tell, I'll tell her that you broke her statute from Orlais. Ela will be angrier about that. She's still trying to figure out how it got smashed."

The Qunari stared down at him with malice filled eyes, twirling the ax. The statue had been priceless and it was Kata's biggest secret. Aiden matched his gaze. Anyone else would have thought the red eyed man was considering doing away with him all together. He wouldn't though and they both knew it. They were too close and knew, and kept, too many secrets for each other.

"I see no reason for us to bring up past pains," mumbled Kata, continuing his pointless chopping. Aiden smiled, happy that neither of them would be in trouble.

They sat in silence for a time, Kata chopping log after log, and Aiden staring up at the Breach his mind wandering. It had been some time since he was able to just sit and think. His mind had much on it from the neglect. He thought of his sister and all her stories, but the ones that stuck were the ones about their family. The family he never got to know. If Ela's stories were correct most of them would want nothing to do with him anyway. But there were stories that made him think he would be wanted, that he would have a place somewhere besides Haven.

The only family he had ever known was Ela, Kata, and Lilith. Everyone else came and went and died. A blur of faces. Half of the names Ela mentioned in her stories were a mystery to him. It wasn't fair, but it was better that, than to be dead in his birth home. Or with a group of mages running from Templars like deer from hunters.

No, it was much better to be with Ela. She and Kata were far too smart and paranoid to let themselves be captured by Templars, or be found out by the Inquisition. No one could separate them so long as Ela had her strength and Kata his dedication. Not the Inquisition, not the Templars, and not Evsa. Not that Evsa ever would…right?

He worried at the strap to his belt. Ela and Kata seemed to think Evsa could, but she was with them. She was like them. She was a mage, forced out of her clan by a Keeper who considered her useless and dangerous.

"We're all outcasts," Ela had explained one night. "We are stronger together."

But we aren't together anymore.

"Imekari, you think too loud," Kata grumbled. "What bothers your mind?"

Aiden shrugged, leaning back on the stone. "I was thinking about us and Evsa. Why do you watch her? What are you afraid of?"

"She knows of your sister's condition."

"So, Lilith knows too?" Aiden contemplated wringing the end of his belt.

"Lilith knows Kadan better than Evsa. Has more trust in her."

It didn't make sense to him. Evsa was one of them. "Why don't you trust her then? She's a mage too."

"Hmmm," Kata placed the ax against the block and crossed his arms. "I will tell you a story, to explain my thoughts." Aiden groaned inwardly, but turned to face the white-haired man, preparing himself for a potentially boring lecture. "When I left the Qun I wandered in the Free Marches. I was lost and had no direction. I made money by working as a mercenary and doing other unsavory things, but I barely survived. Too often I was hunted by Templars or bas who feared me. No place was safe for me."

"I met Kadan when I was close to death. I was starved and bloody. She picked me up, took me to an inn, gave me food, and helped me regain my strength. When I was healed, she gave me six sovereigns and left me. I didn't know what to do, or where to go. So I followed her. Kadan tried to make me leave, but I would not relent. We worked together, shared food, tents, money, even clothing…We were one. Then, we found Lilith in a similar state."

"We helped her as Kadan helped me. Lilith had escaped from the Circle and had nowhere else to go, so she joined us. I did not trust her. I clutched to my beliefs from before that all saarebas were evil. I threatened her, put my sword to her throat. The woman persisted and Kadan bid me to leave her be. So, I did."

"An entire year I stayed at Kadan's side. I saw her at her worst and her best. Lilith became one of us soon enough and I found that I trusted her more than I had before, but I did not drop my guard. She was a saarebas."

"What does saarebas mean again?" Aiden asked leaning forward.

"It is a mage, but, literally, it means dangerous thing. Does that satisfy?"

"Why do you call them dangerous things?"

"Because that is what you are," Kata answered with a sigh. "Listen now." He cleared his throat. Sitting on the block he faced him, his breath hanging in the air with each breath. "After a year we moved onto Orlais for jobs. It is there I found that Kadan was a saarebas. We were surrounded and Lilith was near death. Kadan used her magic to save us. It caused me to be conflicted. I trusted her, but she lied to me. I thought her a warrior of honor and to find that she was a saarebas conflicted with what I believed when I was in the Qun. I would not talk to her, sleep near her, or even eat in her presence. Lilith called me fool. Kadan did not speak to me."

"She left me to my own devices for three days and on the fourth day she approached me and told me that I would either have to leave, or learn to live with them under the circumstances. I considered my options and I stayed. I forced myself to see them as they were, they were saarebas, but they were like my ...hm...group, no,...friends, but more."

"Family?" Aiden guessed. Kata always struggled with idioms.

"Yes and no. We have no shared blood. That is beside the point. I forced myself to leave my past beliefs there, in the past, and moved forward at Kadan's side. But it was not the last time I questioned my decision."

"One day, while we were working a job in the Free Marches, a group of Templars cornered us. We were outnumbered. They had twenty men to our three. Death was assured. Kadan begged for our lives, but the leader, your blood, ordered us to be killed. Kadan's condition saved us. It killed all, but one, and that one could do little and fled. Kadan was left unconscious and I put my sword to her throat. She was a demon. The things I learned under the Qun returned to me. They flooded my mind. Everything I knew told me to kill her, but I stayed my blade. I cared for her until she awoke and then I demand answers. Kadan told me everything, and I listened closely, sure that she had chosen this for power, only to hear that it was forced upon her. I know, had I not spent that time with her and Lilith, watching them, learning from them, I would have killed her without hesitation."

"You learned from her even though you thought she was dangerous to you?" Aiden asked slowly, thoughts of Solas' words rolling through his head.

"Yes. That is why I fear the elf will be untrue. She has not overcome her past, she does not trust bas, or me because of what I am. The elf will not trust Kadan either. She has not learned anything. I cannot allow her to do us harm, so I watch her."

"Has she done anything?"

"She talks to other saarebas, elves mostly. But they may be spies and if she feels compelled to tell them of Kadan it will ruin us." Kata looked up at the sky and sighed. "You need food. Go, eat, rest. We will run more tomorrow and you will work with the tall one."

"Solas?"

"Yes. Watch for Lilith, if she has not eaten bid her to do so." He stood and took up the ax again.

"And Evsa?"

"Treat her the same. I will watch her, you've no need for worry." With a pat on his head, the Qunari turned him and ushered him back toward the village.

Aiden started off, the snow crunching under foot, but stopped. Think of what you could learn from him. He turned and moved back to his seat. "Kata, I need your help."

"With eating? You're much too old for that." The Qunari said without hesitation.

"No," groaned Aiden. As stoic as the man was, he always tried to be funny in his own dry manner. "That's not funny either." Kata shrugged and sliced another log. "I want to learn to use a sword, but I know you can't teach me because Ela would-"

"Banish me to the Fade." Kata finished.

"No, she wouldn't."

"Kadan said so herself."

"Oh," Aiden paused wondering when his sister had even found the time. He would need to be more careful. "I want to learn how to fight with a sword," he continued undeterred, "Solas can't teach me, Ela won't, and you're too scared. But do you think…the Commander would?"

Kata stopped his ax halfway through another swing and looked at Aiden from under thick white eyebrows. "I am not scared," he straightened himself, "…but the Templar?" Aiden nodded. "The Commander, Kadan works under?" He nodded again. "Hmm, I do not advise it, but he may. I will warn you, he feels for Kadan. He may use you to get close to her."

"How do you know that?!" Aiden popped from his seat landing on his feet with a sway. The idea was revolting. It was disgusting. It was infuriating. He clenched his fists, it was bad enough he had to deal with Kata and Ela doing…whatever they did, but a Templar? A Templar with his sister? That was unacceptable. "Does she know?"

"Calm down imekari," ordered Kata pushing him back down into his seat. "I assume Kadan does. She is not blind. And I know because I watch. I don't want him any closer to her, or us, than he already is."

"But what has he done?" Aiden clarified bouncing his foot. His mind was racing with images. Horrible, horrible images.

What if she is being taken advantage of? What if he is trying to trick her into letting her guard down?

"Nothing more than stare like a caged nug watching a feast he cannot take part of."

Aiden felt his heart begin to calm. Thank the Maker. Realizing he had been holding his breath, he let out a heavy sigh. Then an eyebrow raised as he played the sentence over in his head.

"Oh, that's a good one Kata." Aiden gave a few sarcastic claps pulling on his best unimpressed face. "Where did you steal that one from?"

"Hard in Hightown." The man admitted ignoring his jabs.

"Varric wrote that. Ela won't let me read that one."

Kata gave a deep and quiet chuckle, almost inaudible, his eyebrows raising, "Good."

Aiden huffed and folded his arms. He could argue Hard in Hightown another day, right now he had more pressing issues. The Commander wanted his sister. A Templar wanted a mage. His stomach gave another squeeze. Disgusting…but…maybe it could be useful. Adding a mental note to watch the Commander closer he stood. Beginning to make his goodbyes, he stopped when a question bubbled into his mind. He turned to face the Qunari who had resumed his chopping with vigor.

"Kata," he took a step forward doing his best to meet the taller man's gaze. Muscles in his neck strained as he looked up. "Why do you care if the Commander fancies Ela? She's led Templars on before."

Kata stopped his cutting again and turned to him, his eyes narrow and hard. "You didn't like when she did it then, why is it so surprising that I may dislike it now?"

Aiden didn't reply, instead he stared Kata down, the best sneer on his face he could muster. He had seen Kata and Ela do it enough to know how to contort his face. Eyebrow up, tight frown, narrow eyes. He was sure he had it down.

Kata didn't move, didn't blink. His red eyes stabbed into him like daggers. Aiden felt himself start to sweat. Someone in the back of his head told him to run. Wind billowed between them tossing up loose snow and his eyes began to get dry. Clenching his fists, he took a deep breath in, ready to stand there as long as it took.

"You look ridiculous." Kata said finally, still not blinking.

Huffing, Aiden blinked unable to keep his composure. His eyes stung and he rubbed at them to no avail. "I asked you to stop," he hissed thinking back on a conversation they'd had months ago. "You said you would stop."

"No, I told you it was out of your right and Kadan told you to keep your nose out of her affairs."

"You two are gross." Aiden growled glaring at the man. Turning, he began toward the village trying, again, to wipe horrible images from his mind. "I'm going to ask the Commander for help don't tell Ela." He yelled over the growing wind.

Kata shooed him away with a hand. "I don't take orders from you imekari." He shot back half-heartedly turning his attention back to the wood.

Aiden turned to shout something smart back, but couldn't find the words. It doesn't matter anyway.

He headed back toward Haven. Kata wouldn't tell, he knew. The man was as loyal as he was strong and besides, if he wanted him to keep the Commander away from Ela he would have to be quiet and let him work. After all, it wasn't his first time driving someone away from his sister and it wouldn't be his last.

He still had to drive Ela out of Kata's arms after all. His sister was far too good for any of them. She deserved someone perfect.

But who?