A/N: This chapter had been originally written and published on Ao3 in March 2018. If you want to see the up-to-date version of this story, come find me on Ao3 under the same nickname (Merilsell) and story name (Of Elves And Humans: Redux). Enjoy?

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Chapter 7: Anywhere But Here

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It was near midday, when the promised shemlen village finally appeared on the clear horizon. Only this stone bridge needed to be crossed and then -

"Greetings, travelers!" Oh, but of course. Lenya rolled her eyes and bit back a groan, as a group of five armed men from behind the stacked wooden boxes to their left and right appeared. They spread out as she approached with the others in tow, effectively blocking her group's way.

She glared at the simple-minded shemlen with a fuzzy half-beard and a face as wide as an aravel wheel. "Er... they don't look much like them others, you know. Them have no wagons." He eyed the two Wardens warily; he didn't seem to be the sharpest arrow in the quiver. The shem pointed at her. "And this one looks armed."

Lenya let her hands wander to the blades belted at her sides and scoffed. "Wow, figured out that on your own, huh?"

"Highwaymen, preying on the people fleeing the darkspawn, no doubt." As always, her fellow Warden excelled in pointing out the obvious.

The stupid bandit's eyes flicked over to the dark-haired shemlen next to him. "Uh. Maybe we should let these ones pass, boss?"

"Now, now, Hanric. How often do I have to explain to you that the tax applies to everyone?" their leader replied, clicking his tongue. "What do you think would happen if we started making exceptions?"

"Uuuuh..." Ignoring his companion's incapability to form a coherent reply, the shemlen stepped in front of his group and Lenya. With a simple wooden shield strapped to his back and clad in crude leather armor, he oozed smug confidence. She already hated him - and if Revas' insistent growling was any cue, her mabari did too. "A simple ten silver, and you are free to move on."

Behind her, Morrigan laughed. "I say teach them a lesson instead, Lenya."

Well, at least the witch kept her promise of using her name. Which didn't change the fact that she was not in the mood to deal with these assholes. Even if Lenya had had the money, she would rather have eaten it than give it to these idiots. Glowering at the smug bastard, out of the corner of her eye, she noted how Morrigan and Alistair spread out to each corner of the bridge, ready to fight. Revas stayed at her side and bared his fangs, each muscle of his large body tense. "Tell you what..." Grabbing the leader's arm, which hung loose at his side, she twisted it swiftly behind his back, forcing him to kneel. Her unsheathed, curved dagger was pressed to his bared throat in an instant. "...how about you give us all of your money instead? See as as a donation to the Wardens, for a good cause."

The sound of steel being drawn on both sides rang through the air. Though the bandits seemed to hesitate, unsure how to proceed. "Grey Wardens? Them are the ones having killed the king," the fool named Hanric said, wide-eyed. "We should have really let them pass."

"Oh sorry." The shem screamed as Lenya twisted his arm further, to the point of near-breaking. Her boots were firmly planted on the backs of his knees, adding further strain to his body. "I should not have posed these words as a question. All of your money. Now !"

"Sooo..." Her fellow Warden deliberately moved into her field of vision, covering her empty left flank. He had his shield and sword lowered again, but she had seen him fight. She knew this casual pose was as much an act to fool the men as it was part of his annoying self. He throw her a lopsided grin. "We're robbing bandits now? Oh, fun."

"Tis certainly an... interesting approach." Morrigan sounded way too pleased with the situation. "I will collect their money then."

"Oh, I have no doubt you would want to do that, witch." The shem... Alistair, she reminded herself, put extra emphasis on his last word. It was as much contempt as it was a reminder to the bandits that they had a mage in their ranks - if they had been too blind and stupid to notice it yet. Given this particular group, Lenya wouldn't put it past them.

Blood trickled down her polished silverite dagger as it nicked the bandit leader's throat. He let out a whimper as he looked up at his men. "Okay, okay. Do as they say. Just... don't kill me, elf!"

"That remains to be seen, shem'alas!" She fixed the shemlen with a scowl. "After that, you leave, or he dies. And with him, all of you as well."

"Them Grey Wardens are good. I mean, really good." There was a slight awe in the idiot's voice as he came forward to leave his coin purse on top of the wooden box next to Morrigan. "No wonder them's have killed a king."

"We did no such thing!" Alistair snapped, urging the stocky shemlen to leave faster. Pained screams rang through the air as the next one attempted an attack and got his arm torn to shreds by Revas. Witnessing the mabari's prowess, his two other companions suddenly seemed way more motivated to put distance between themselves and her group. After leaving their money, of course.

Which only left their leader to deal with.

"Maker..." he gasped, actually crying now. "Please, please don't kill me." She had heard the exact same phrase out of a shemlen's mouth before. Back in the Brecilian Forest, at his side, with a shem held at arrowpoint. Before releasing the bowstring, before they discovered the ruins and everythi -

"Lenya?" She blinked quickly to find Alistair frowning at her, drowning out the memories. Unfortunately, he was as observant as he was annoying. "Shouldn't we let him go? Let's just avoid unneeded bloodshed, right?"

"Yes, yes. Please, " the shem bandit sobbed. "We - I just tried to survive. Same as you, Warden!"

Her blade pressed closer to his throat. "I am nothing like you, scum." His sobbing grew in intensity and volume until a wet puddle pooled in between - ugh.

"Ugh." Lenya grimaced and took a tentative step back, realizing the bandit had peed himself. "Humans are disgusting."

"Well... thanks." Her fellow Warden cleared his throat. Based on how the corner of his mouth twitched upwards, it was more to cover up the need to laugh than from embarrassment. "I can't exactly blame him, though. You are kind of terrifying, Lenya."

"Good." She threw him a look, then turned her attention back to the sobbing mess of a bandit still at her mercy. "Run. And never come back!" Releasing her hold on him, she gave him a harsh shove. The man scrambled to his feet and fled as if the dread wolf were after him.

"How amusing." Having finished counting and pocketing the money, Morrigan scowled at her, while Revas still gnawed on a piece of... hand. Lovely. At least Lenya wouldn't have to feed him for next few hours. "Can we proceed to the village now? There is much that we need and far less time to get it than I would like."

Alistair let out a snort. "Why? You got an important appointment somewhere?" At first, it looked as if the witch would humor him, but then she simply settled for scowling at him. "Hey, what about our money?" he asked, his tone whiny.

"If you continue asking, I will keep it, fool!" With that, Morrigan stalked away, leaving Lenya no other choice than to follow both humans down the bridge's ramp and into the village.

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Lothering was not what Lenya had expected it to be.

In fact, she wasn't quite sure what she had expected of the first shemlen village she'd ever set foot in, but it wasn't this. Not a miserable sinkhole built upon a muddy green, stuffed with people and mismatching houses of wood and rushes. Creators, there were far more people than a village of this size should have. It was of course not like Ostagar, but the noise of them talking and their children wailing without relent was a similar onslaught on her senses. And so was the smell. It reeked of mud and stale sweat mixed with smoke and too many different things she couldn't pinpoint, which, oddly enough, completed the picture of misery. Lenya closed her eyes and drew in hasty gasps of air to curb her nerves. Unsurprisingly, this only made breathing harder instead of calming her, but she refused to take in the foul air through her nose.

She felt a hand on her shoulder and reopened her eyes to see that it was his. "Your first time in a human village, I take it?"

More peeved with herself than him for being so easily readable, she shrugged Alistair's hand off with a scowl. Then she turned toward Morrigan, if only to mask her own insecurity. "What are we going to do now?" Why are we here? was what Lenya actually wanted to ask, for this place didn't seem to offer anything they could need. Revas nudged her gloved hand with a whine, and she gave his ear a brief ruffle.

"I hate to say it, but we pretty much stand out among the others," the human puppy said as he surveyed the area. He pointed at the witch. "Especially with, ugh, her in tow. The village is full of templars, in case you haven't noticed."

"Oh how I tremble in fear." Morrigan only rolled her eyes at him. "To answer your far more sensible question, Lenya, we shall visit the town's tavern to gather more information. Though I doubt any of these simpletons here are able to give us what we seek."

Her fellow Warden scoffed. "Oh, that is your plan?"

"We could also go after your enemy directly. Find this Loghain, kill him and then deal with the Blight."

Lenya noticed how he hesitated and tensed, as if actually considering her option."Yes, Morrigan," he replied belatedly, his tone pure sarcasm. "He certainly wouldn't see that coming. It is not like he has the advantage of an army or experience and-" Alistair stopped himself with a sigh. "The tavern it is."

They had barely proceeded further into the village when a heavily armored shemlen stepped into their way. His whole head was covered by a helmet, leaving only his blue eyes visible through a slit. "You there!"

"Case in point," Alistair whispered, sing-song.

"If you search for shelter, you'd better move on," the man said, pointing behind himself. His voice sounded tinned through the helmet. "We've had refugees streaming from the south for the last two days. The chantry and the tavern are full to bursting. There simply isn't enough food to go around, and we templars can barely keep order."

Ah. Lenya's stare shifted to a glower. So this was a templar. She had heard stories within her clan, of course, but she had never seen one in person. They were the ones trying to find clans to eradicate the 'forbidden magic', like these assholes called it, and to kill the Keeper and the whole clan with them, when found. "What?" she challenged, invading his space. "Will you stop me from entering, shem ?"

Taken aback by her sudden fury, he stepped back. "N-no, of course not. I'm just warning you things may not be as hospitable as you'd expect. People are frightened, as the Bann has moved on with his soldiers, leaving them to their fate here."

"So... Lothering is lost?" Next to her, Alistair gasped, all humor gone.

The templar nodded. "It will be, as soon the horde reaches these parts. We templars stay as the last line of defense and will try to evacuate as many people as possible, but it is best if you do not linger."

Huh. That explained the hectic commotion within the village, then. People were running back and forth, loading their wagons with their possessions. It was a stark contrast to the refugees huddled in alleys or camping in the open air - they didn't appear to be in a hurry. "Thank you," Lenya heard Alistair say, even as Morrigan groaned. Revas barked happily, seemed eager to move on.

Before they could even reach the large building on the other side of a foul-smelling river, there was another shemlen who caught sight of them and called out to them.

"Ho! You there!" The man made a beeline toward... Alistair? Lenya eyed the shemlen as he approached. There was nothing special about him. Light skin, roughened by the weather. Dark, short hair and a slight beard. And his bushy eyebrows looked as if drawn into a permanent frown. What was it with shemlen and all that facial hair, though? "You look able! Would you care to make a tiny profit helping a beleaguered businessman?"

Her fellow Warden only blinked at him, dumbfounded.

Right on the merchant's heels followed a sour-faced elderly shem. Her long brown hair was wound back tightly to frame her harsh, pale face. She was wearing the same dress Lenya had seen on a woman in Ostagar, minus the weird head garment. "He is charging outlandish prices for things people desperately need! Their blood is filling his pockets!" Her voice wasn't exactly pleasant, though Lenya didn't understand why Alistair flinched upon hearing her speak up.

"I have limited supplies," the merchant shem argued. "The people decide what those supplies are worth to them."

"You profit from their misfortune!" The old woman raised her voice further, which led to more wincing from her fellow Warden. "I should have the templars give away everything in your carts!"

"You wouldn't dare!" The shem whirled around to face the onlooker, furious. "Any of you step too close to my goods, I'll-"

"It is so nice to see everyone working together in a crisis," Alistair said, every one of his words dripping in sarcasm. By now Lenya wondered if he could even form a single sentence without it. "Warms the heart, really."

"'Tis only survival of the fittest," Morrigan scoffed, crossing her arms. "All these cretins would do the same in his shoes, given the chance."

"Warden!" He flinched upon the merchant's usage of his title, which, given his armor, wasn't really surprising. The griffon etched into the breastplate was still visible, despite the dark-green cloak slung around his broad shoulders. "I don't care if you have killed the king, or not. I've a hundred silvers if you'll drive this rabble off, starting with that priest. I'm an honest merchant, nothing more."

"We have done nothing like tha -" Alistair began, bristling, but was interrupted by the cleric.

"An honest businessman?" the woman scoffed. "You bought most of your wares from these same people last week! Now they flee for their lives, and you charge thrice as much, using their desperation to make a fortune."

"Must we solve every petty squabble for these fools? Shall we start rescuing tiny kittens from trees next? Let them be - and let us move on." Morrigan turned away with a groan, fed up with listening to them bickering without pause. Lenya was tempted to do the same. They could use the money, but by now it wasn't worth the headache it had caused.

"I agree," the Dalish said with a scowl in the shemlens' direction. "This isn't our problem."

Her fellow Warden hesitated, looking as if he wanted to protest, and the merchant mistook his hesitance as agreement with the others.

"Pah, if you don't want my money or wares, so be it!" Throwing his hands up, the man whipped around in anger. "I am leaving!"

"I don't think so," said a new, melodic voice emerging from behind the onlookers. The people moved aside, making way for a shemlen woman clad in an elaborate, heavy armor. Her freckled, brown skin had a rich, deep earthen tone with a faint reddish hue. It reminded Lenya of the color of the clay pots her clan used. It was similar to Alistair's skin tone, but the woman was still another shade or two darker than him. She wore her jet-black hair in a long bowl cut and towered over the merchant as she stepped in his way.

"H-Hawke," The man managed to shriek, seeming to shrink even more. "I thought you had already left?"

"Sefric, Sefric, you slimy little worm." Her full lips curled back to a sardonic smile, the woman called Hawke shook her head. The motion caused her bangs to fall into her brown eyes. Blinking them away, she clicked her tongue. "I suppose you would have liked that, huh? Me being gone?"

"N-no," the shemlen held up a hand, but it did little to placate the woman who kept approaching him, no matter how far he backed away. "I simply heard that you and your family already packed up your stuff and fled from the incoming darkspawn horde..."

"But Sefric..." Hawke's smile widened as the man's back hit the rough stone wall behind him. Without effort, she yanked him up by the collar with one gloved hand and stared him down as he dangled half a foot above the ground. "...how could I ever leave without saying goodbye to an old friend?"

"Wow..." Lenya heard Alistair utter next to her and rolled her eyes. Though if she was honest, she was impressed, too. At least a bit. This shemlen seemed to be so very different from the whimpering cattle that usually cowered in the village's corners. Unlike them, she bore herself with the natural confidence of a trained warrior.

"H-Hawke, please, I -" the merchant begun, but was interrupted by another voice calling out for someone.

"Mia..." A younger woman pushed through the now considerable bulk of onlookers. Her black hair was longer and curlier, and she was smaller in frame and height than Hawke, but otherwise they resembled each other. Both had the same brown skin and a similarly long, somewhat broad nose and oblong face. "There you are, sister." Ah. That explained the similarities between them. "I have been looking all over for you. Mother is waiting for us."

"Bethany..." Hawke said with her sweetest voice, her smile fake. "... I was only giving our dear friend Sefric some advice before leaving." She stepped back and let go of the man, letting him plop down to the ground ass first. The man scrambled to his feet and started to flee, but her armored palm planted firmly on the stone wall prevented him from moving further. "Sharing is caring, isn't it, sister dear?"

The younger woman shifted from one foot to the other and frowned at her sister. "Er... what is this about?"

"Sefric overpricing his wares and now, when he has been found out, trying to fuck off."

Bethany's stance relaxed, and she smiled. "Then sharing is definitely the answer."

"Aww, see, we are getting along so well." Hawke turned back to the man. "Don't you think?" The merchant nodded hastily. "Good, good. And to show that, you are not only going to stop your overpricing, but give each of the villagers a discount on your wares." She stopped to look at Alistair with a grin. "Since it would be nice to see everyone working together in a crisis." Her fellow Warden bestowed the re-purposing of his words with a small chuckle. "Are we clear, my friend? " The unhappy shemlen nodded again, if only to save his hide. As soon Hawke backed away, he ran off in the other direction, without his wagon or wares.

"Wardens..." With the problem solved, Hawke switched her attention to them, while the on-lookers slowly dispersed. "I heard Sefric promised you a hundred silver for helping him?" She flipped Lenya a golden coin. "Here are a hundred for not helping him. Figured that, with Ostagar gone to shit, you gotta need it."

"Thank you, Mia." The priest emerged from the crowd and patted the human on her broad, armored back. "You have helped a lot of people today."

Hawke shrugged and snorted. "Oh, you know me, Rilah - always happy to be helping or punching people. Preferably both."

"As do I, sister," Bethany said with a hint of amusement. "Carver had bet you wouldn't leave Lothering without creating chaos one final time. I suppose he was right."

"For what it is worth," the cleric shem said. "I am glad you did, Hawke. Even if your methods are a bit... unconventional. May the Maker be with you on your journey." She turned to face Lenya's small group and nodded in acknowledgment. "And with you, Wardens. If you'll excuse me, I have to return to my duties." With that, the human left in the direction of the huge building on the other side of the river.

"You better be careful when flashing your armor about here in Lothering... or anywhere, quite frankly." Hawke's brown eyes narrowed into a frown. "Teyrn Loghain has put a bounty on the head of any surviving Grey Wardens, which naturally includes both of you. For murdering the King." She tilted her head, her frown deepening as she looked at them.

"You don't believe we did it," Alistair stated, sounding surprised.

"Well, yeah, obviously we don't," Bethany spoke up. There was something odd about the young woman. While she was around the same age as Lenya, every one of her movements were measured, a bit stilted as if rehearsed a dozen times or more. And the Dalish could feel the residue of the Beyond around her, no matter how hard she tried to suppress it. Oh. She was a mage... how could she have missed that before? "Mia has served at Ostagar in the army, along with our brother Carver. They barely escaped with their lives when... " She lowered her voice. "...Teyrn Loghain fled the field."

"Lucky you..." There was a clear bitterness in her fellow Warden's tone. "I was there too. I lost..." His voice broke, and he looked away, blinking quickly.

"Yeah, gotta say... " Hawke sighed. "Still surprised there are even survivors from your order. And... such an odd pair, at that."

"Mia." Her sister laughed, rendering her scolding words ineffective. "Don't be rude."

"Oh, believe me," Lenya said with a scoff. "That is not by choice. But... " She sighed. "... here we are. In a shitty shemlen dirthole in the ass-end of nowhere. Not sure how being here will help us..." Lenya raised her hands to make sarcastic air quotes. "Fight the Blight... but whatever."

"Wow... you are quite the jaded one, aren't you?" Lenya glared at the larger shem, which only seemed to increase her amusement. "This is my home village you are insulting here, by the way. Though I gotta say, your assessment of its state is fair, in a way. People are desperate. Those who can leave Lothering do, and should."

"Like you?" Lenya asked.

"Yes." The human nodded. "We heard rumors that the village lies in the way of the approaching horde, that they will be here soon. With the Blight and all, gotta protect my family, you understand, surely?"

"Yeah..." Alistair breathed, shakily. "Though we also could use your help on our travels. Hawke, it was, right?"

"Mia... but no, can't do that, sorry." She shrugged. "We are about to leave Ferelden and, if you are smart, Warden, you gotta do the same. Hardly the time to play hero; it will only get you both killed." Lenya threw her fellow Warden a knowing look, for this shemlen was right.

"Well, that is not an option," he replied. "... for us, anyway."

"Suit yourself, then." She shrugged and her eyes strayed to her sister, who was amusing herself by petting Revas. The mabari rolled on his back and stretched all four legs toward the sky. "Bethany... You are aware we have our own mabari? Don't come running to me and complaining that Barkus won't even look at you."

"Yes, but he is so cute..." Revas bestowed her words with a playful woof, and his tongue lolled out of his mouth. The human withdrew her hand suddenly and grimaced as she looked at it. "Wait... is that blood ?" The hound had done a good job of licking himself... ugh ... clean after gnawing on the bandit's arm, but apparently he hadn't been careful enough.

"Anyway," Mia turned back to them, ignoring her sister's change of mood. "There is one last tip I've got for you, Wardens. In the tavern down there, there are soldiers looking for you. Loghain's men, I suppose, and real pains in the ass. Had more run-ins with those assholes these past days than I care to count. So maybe you can repay me for my money and deal with them, huh? Would help Lothering, too, and you look as if you can handle it."

"Be careful," Bethany warned them as she frantically wiped her hands on her dark leather tunic. "And all the best on your travels."

"Likewise," Alistair inclined his head. "And thank you for the tip and money. We will put both to good use."

Hawke turned around with a wink. "Oh, I'm sure you will, handsome."

Her sister nudged her arm. "Mia!"

"What?" Hawke smirked at her. Lenya never had wished for deafness more than now. "He is."

Alistair cleared his throat. "Well... that was... interesting."

"Tis one way to put it," Morrigan sneered, speaking up after a long while of silence. "Another would be: excruciating and a pointless waste of our time."

"Damn, you are still here, Morrigan?" he gasped, feigning shock. "And here I thought you had slithered away. Maybe even joined the other snakes living in the bushes. Aww, bummer."

"Right," Lenya said, interrupting whatever retort the witch had on her lips. She started to walk toward the large building on the east side. "Let's meet and deal with Loghain's men, then."

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"I surrender! Maker, have mercy!"

Wide-eyed and kneeling in the blood of his fallen comrades, the human stared up at Lenya and her blade, held at the ready over his head. True to Hawke's words, they had found Loghain's soldiers in the tavern. Their laughter and arrogance still rang in Lenya's ears, along with her quickened breath and the rush of adrenaline from the brief but brutal fight.

"Have you not done enough?" a soft, lilting voice said, far too accusatory in its tone. The person it belonged to appeared right after. It was a red-headed woman dressed in the same orange-red robe the priest outside had worn. The damn Chantry again. Her fair, freckled skin was splattered with the blood that had been spilled in the dispute. The shemlen's blue eyes fixed on the sole survivor of Loghain's hounds, her expression stern. "Look around you," she prompted. "People are frightened." The tavern was packed to bursting with people, who all pressed themselves to the furthest corner of the wall. The air reeked of sweat, blood and cheap ale.

"Yes, because they attacked us!" Alistair snapped, unusually blunt and aggressive. Given the soldier's prior taunts about Loghain being right and just, his bad mood was no surprise.

"But it is over now, yes?" Her voice had a strange, foreign accent Lenya couldn't place. "We can stop fighting. Show him mercy."

"Mercy?" Her fellow Warden rushed forward, sword still in hand. "Just as they have shown us?"

"Who are you to decide that, sister?" Lenya narrowed her eyes, feeling Revas tensing again at her side. His hackles raised, he growled at the kneeling captain, whose throat was at the perfect height for his teeth. She only had to wave her hand, and her Mabari would jump and end him.

Of course the sister had to step in front of the shemlen, ruining this perfectly fine plan. Foolish of her to turn her back on the still fully armed and trained soldier, but this was the least important point on the list of issues now. "They - he - has learned the lesson, and enough blood has been shed." The woman looked at her. "You are better than to murder a man who has surrendered. They said you are Grey Wardens."

Not willingly, Lenya thought bitterly, before lifting her chin to glare at the human. Raw anger twisted her voice. "I don't want him to report back to his filthy shem general!"

"N-no," the man behind her wailed, sounding ready to snap. "I will not die here!" Then everything happened so fast. Jolting back on his feet, he attempted to grab the sister from behind. Though the woman somehow anticipated the movement and with a practiced turn evaded his deadlock. Without thinking, she used the momentum to ram her dagger into his throat. He gasped a final, desperate breath, wide-eyed as he had been while begging for mercy, and sank to the ground. The dull thump his now lifeless body made was deafening in the stillness of the tavern.

Behind herself, Lenya heard Morrigan chuckle. "'Tis ironic to hear the sister prattle on about mercy, only to have him die by her hand, isn't it?"

"Maker... I didn't..." The shemlen clasped her hand over her mouth, shaking. She swallowed thickly, her other hand clenched into a fist as she methodically calmed herself down with measured intakes of air. This hadn't been her first kill. Everything about it had looked practiced. Her movement, in particular, was pure reaction from muscle memory. She was a trained fighter. "He... left me no choice."

Reluctantly, Lenya lowered her own weapons and hushed Revas' growling. "Just... who are you?"

Letting her hand fall back at her side, the human smiled at her as if nothing had happened. "I am Leliana, one of the lay sisters of the chantry here in Lothering. Or I was."

"...was?" Alistair echoed, frowning. He too sheathed his weapon and put the shield down at his feet.

"I wasn't born in the Chantry, you know." She tilted her head, blue eyes piercing as she observed him, though a small smile played around her rosy lips. "Many of us had more... colorful lives before we joined." At least the shem wasn't even trying to deny it.

Lenya snorted. "Obviously."

"You will be battling the darkspawn, yes? I know after what happened you'll need all the help you can get." The shemlen spoke quickly, not missing a beat. "That's why I'm coming along. It is the Maker's will for me."

"What?" Both Wardens asked in unison. Odd how this was the first thing they agreed upon.

Leliana smiled at them. "The Maker told me to join you. Surely He wouldn't do so without good reason."

"Ooookay. Backing away slowly now," she said and motioned for her Mabari to follow. "Come, Revas, we are leaving." This human was clearly missing more than a few wheels on her araval.

"Please, wait. I-I know this sounds... absolutely insane. But it is true. I had a dream, a vision!"

"And this is helping your case... how?"

"More crazy?" Alistair shook his head. "I thought we already covered this part with Morrigan." Turning around to the witch, he feigned a confused blink."Oh... you're still here? I keep forgetting that, sorry."

"I can jog the failed templar's faulty brain with a fireball, if needed," she remarked casually - though even the most nonchalant reply sounded like a threat on Morrigan's lips.

"I have not failed my training," he scoffed in return, all humor gone. "I have been recruited to the Grey Wardens. Obviously."

"Oh... most touchy, aren't we?" She raised her free hand to him. "And if you had not been recruited? What would have happened, instead?"

He rolled his eyes at her and kept his voice deliberately monotone. "I would have turned into a drooling lunatic, slaughtered the grand cleric and run through the streets of Denerim in my smallclothes, I guess."

She threw him a smug smile. "Your self-awareness does you credit."

"Huh, yeah, I thought you would like that."

Lenya pinched the bridge of her nose and counted up to ten in the attempt to not murderstab her fellow Warden and the bickering witch. Maybe a buffer between these insufferable, noisy shemlen would not be the worst idea. Even if said buffer was utterly insane with her visions and blathering about her shem god. She most likely going to regret this, but nevertheless Lenya turned around and away from the door. Unfortunately, the loony woman took this as an invitation to continue talking.

"What you do, what you are meant to do, is the Maker's work."

"Yeah, yeah." Shut up. "You can fight, I take it?"

"I can fight, yes. More than that, even." Leliana smiled at her, pleased with the turn of events. "As I said before, I wasn't always a lay sister. I have put aside that life before coming here, but if it helps you, I will pick it up again gladly."

"Good," Lenya said, waving her off. "Get rid of that ridiculous robe, then you can come with us."

She ignored her companions' objections as she rushed to the door and outside. She needed to get away. From all these shemlen staring at her, from the sour smell of the tavern burning in her nose, and from the noise of all the humans here.

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Alistair was hot on her heels, but she was quicker. "Lenya, wait!"

His voice prompted her to stop at some distance, at least. Next to her, Revas barked out, as if waiting for Alistair to speak up. Before he had a chance to, the sound of the door of the tavern opening and closing distracted him.

"You forgot your shield," a lilting voice said, and he watched as she put it down next to him in the muddy grass.

Alistair glanced up to see the lay sister standing next to him. Her chantry robe and face were covered in blood splatter, though he didn't look any cleaner. "T-Thanks," he managed, "Your name is Leliana, right?"

The woman nodded and pointed in Lenya's direction. "I don't think your leader likes me much."

"That makes two of us." His laugh was humorless. Alistair was about to turn back to an already distant Lenya, as her words registered with him. "L-leader?"

"Yes. Is she not?"

"I -" If he was honest, he had never thought about it, caught up in his grief as he had been these past few weeks. "We never discussed that," he admitted and gave up on the plan of following his fellow Warden, who was by now only a tiny dot in the distance. He could only hope she would return, given her tendency to flee.

"Oh?" Leliana tilted her head, causing her chin-long, auburn hair to fall aside. "I didn't mean to assume... but she is quite forceful, no?"

He had to suppress a grin at her careful choice of words, for they were an understatement. "Yeah, I guess Lenya is, at that." Only now he realized how he had fallen in line with his fellow Warden, how he had left most of the decisions to her, if not all of them. It seemed to be for the better, especially right now with all that had happened. Even if he was her senior Warden - by the grand total of six months, wow - he was no leader and never would be.

Alistair felt the woman's gaze upon him and squirmed a little, disliking the scrutiny. "You both seem very young too," she stated and sat down on a wooden barrel standing close to the tavern. All of her motions were graceful but seemed controlled and calculated at the same time. Obviously there was more to her than crazy talk about the Maker.

"What?" Alistair snorted, crossing his arms. "Did your vision not show you that?"

"I know it sounds stupid, but please believe me, it is the truth." She groaned, rubbing her hand over her eyes. "Since we will be working together, can we please start over? I didn't quite catch your name, Warden."

"Alistair." He shrugged. "Not that anyone uses my name these days, though. Not since -" His voice cracked, swallowing the end of his sentence as he glanced away.

"I heard of Ostagar; we all did. Hawke... she was there, with her brother." Her voice dropped, becoming soft and understanding. He couldn't even remember when someone had last spoken to him in such a tone. "I did not believe the Teyrn's lies. The Grey Wardens are just, they would never betray the king. And many good people lost their lives when Loghain quit the field. It is simply not right!"

"Yeah..." His voice was barely more than a whisper. His throat felt too tight to speak.

"I'm sorry, Alistair." Her concerned gaze threatened to vanish behind a haze of tears. "You must have lost many friends that night."

Alistair turned his face away with a sharp intake of breath and refused to look at her for a long moment. He could not break down- not again, not here. Inwardly he counted to ten, then twenty, while pushing the tears back down. They could be dealt with later, when he had found a corner to himself. "That accent- you're Orlesian, right?" he deflected, his voice still shaky.

"Yes. I was born in Orlais and spent most of my life there, but my mother was Fereldan," she said, and relief washed over him. She wasn't going to push him to talk more about Ostagar. . A part of him wished for someone to confide in, to voice his grief, but she was still a literal stranger. Just like your fellow Warden , the helpful bit of his brain supplied. He really hated that cynical bastard, spilling out the things he wanted to hear - or think- least. "She was a servant to an Orlesian noblewoman, who took me in after my mother's death," she added after a small pause.

"I see," Alistair said, not sure what to make of that. "And how did you end up in Ferelden, as sister of the Chantry, then?"

"My, curious, aren't you?" Leliana's laugh was bright and sounded a bit fake. "I was a traveling minstrel in Orlais. Tales and songs were my life. I performed and the audience rewarded me with applause and coin."

He frowned. "That doesn't answer my question."

"No?" Leliana gave him a pointed look. "Is it so hard to believe that after all my days spent on the road, I longed for quiet contemplation and prayer? My path has led me here, back to the homeland of my maternal family. And in effect the Maker has led me to you both, to aid you against this Blight."

"I suppose." Alistair still wasn't convinced by the reply she gave, but decided to drop the issue. It wasn't exactly as if he had been candid with his personal information, either. She could keep her little secrets. For now. "You must know Lothering like the back of your hand then, right?"

"Yes, of course. I have lived here for a few years now." She hopped down from the barrel and walked over to him. "We are working together now, yes? And I have promised to help you. So what do you need?"

"Honestly? Everything." He let out a little snort of laughter that quickly turned into a sigh. "We only have the clothes... err... armor on our back and were hoping to find supplies here. Needless to say, with what is happening, people haven't exactly been forthcoming."

"Oh..." Her face brightened. "I know people who can help us with our equipment, if you have enough coin."

"Yeeeeah," he drawled , "A bout that... we have a bit, thanks to Hawke and clearing out some bandits on the road." Damn, that evil witch still had that money - where was she, even? Not that he missed Morrigan's company, but she was an apostate on the loose in a village with templars on each corner. If she got caught, they would lose these coins. "I'm not sure it will suffice, though."

"I know just the place, then," Leliana said and pulled the bloodstained robe over her head .

"Maker, Leliana!" Alistair shielded his eyes from the crazy woman stripping in public all of a sudden. "Time and place."

She only laughed. "It is sweet of you, but you can look, you know? I am not naked."

"You are... not?" He still refused to open his eyes, just to be safe.

"No, and why would I be?" She nudged his arm. "What do you take me for? There are many people around us."

"I don't know. I'm not the one who-" Slowly lowering his hand, Alistair saw her standing in front of him, in a set of fine, darkened leather armor. He felt the heat rising to his cheeks. "Oh, you were wearing your armor underneath the robe?"

"Aww, look at you, your cheeks are reddened." Her smirk was yet another telltale sign of how there was more to her than being a chantry sister. "You are adorable."

Unbelievable, she was teasing him. Though the lighthearted manner in which it was done made it easy to forgive. "And you are evil."

"Yes, yes." She waved him off and bunched the robe together to carry it under her arm. "And I told you I was expecting you, no? So it shouldn't surprise you that I was prepared."

"Well, that may be. However..." Alistair shook his head. "It would be for the better if you don't go around and tell everyone about your reasons to join us."

"You mean my vision?"

"Yeah, that." The less attention they drew unto themselves, the better. Especially with the bounty that had now been placed on their heads. Maybe he should dress down to simpler clothes and store the Warden armor in a safe place? Then again, it was all he had left and if it got stolen ... no, no, no . He couldn't bear the thought. Besides, they already had barely enough money for equipment as it was, he didn't need to add to the list of things they needed .

Alistair let his eyes stray far beyond the muddy-green hills, toward the horizon. After all the rain in the past days, the weather was nice today. A clear blue sky stretched overhead and across the creaking windmills in the distance. The warmth of the sunlight upon his skin was welcomed and helped to keep his sadness at bay.

She must have noticed his wandering gaze, since he felt her eyes upon him. "What about your fellow Warden?"

"I think she simply needed a break from... all the people here. Lenya has never been in a human village before, after all."

"Oh?" she asked and brought her hand up to shade her eyes. "Has she told you that?"

"No," he said, and his words adopted a somewhat bitter note. "We don't talk much. She isn't exactly at my side by choice, you know?"

"I see," Leliana hummed, tapping her chin in thought. "But she stays at your side nonetheless, no? And I think that is what counts." Turning, the woman started to walk toward the bridge and the large building - the Chantry - behind it.

"Yeah..." he breathed and lingered for a last glance into the distance where Lenya had vanished. He could only hope she would return soon.

.

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Change Notes:

I used some canon scenes that I rewrote to fit it in my story. Otherwise it is wholly new written chapter, with the goal to include my canon Hawke for a bit to make my verse more coherent. I also put the focus on Lenya and her discomfort to be under a large group of humans. Also yay for Leliana, who not only joins up much faster than in my old version, but also instantly gets along with Alistair.

Thank you for reading. Please consider leaving me a review, if you enjoyed this chapter. It would be much appreciated :)