Bioware owns Dragon Age and all the characters, I own Jaya, though...
The King's Rose
Chapter 32: Awaiting the Queen!
Jaya pulled the hood of her cloak over her hair, which now would reach her waist if Leliana hadn't done a French braid near the base of the part and worked her way around Jaya's hairline to the other side near her ear and then braided the rest of the hair straight out away from the head. Jaya shivered lightly as she remembered how Leliana had even tickled her slightly when she tucked the end of the braid into the braid on the head and secured with pins. Silvana had given her a dark blue cloak, something that hung over her shoulders when pushed back. It covered her armor perfectly, though her boots were shown and Jaya loved Wade's armor to a point where she slept in it. Not that she had a choice.
The return trip to Denerim seemed to only take hours, but it took a week, her having to stop off at Redcliffe to say hi to Teagan and his wife Kaitlyn, finding out they had had three children, two girls and a boy. That and Kaitlyn's brother Bevin was now a high-ranking captain in the royal army. Kaitlyn had introduced little Rosina and Sorcha, the girls and Ryley, the boy, making Jaya miss her own children. Rosina was six, Sorcha was three and Ryley was now one year old. Jaya had found out, for a while, the two had difficulty conceiving until Rosina was born.
She then stopped off at Highever, stunning her brother and saying not to send word to Alistair, like she had Teagan and Kaitlyn promise, for a surprise. For the first time in years, she felt at peace at her childhood home as she sat down and waited for her brother, who had said he had a surprise for her. Sipping the tea, she thought of possible surprises that could've taken place in the past eleven years.
"In here." Fergus' voice said as he opened a door. "Sister, may I introduce Adelina Sedna Cousland, my wife?"
Jaya nearly choked on her tea and had to shake her head a few times as Fergus patted her on the back. "Di-Did you say 'wife'?"
"Yeah, I finally remarried. I figured Oriana would want me happy." He explained as a red haired woman with bright green eyes sat across from Jaya. "Love, this is my little sister, Jaya Theirin, Queen of Ferelden."
"An honor to finally meet you, Your Majesty. Ferg here has told me a ton about how you saved Ferelden over eleven years ago. Might I say you look lovely?" Adelina said, smiling gently.
She returned the smile and relaxed. "No need for that, Adelina. Please, call me Jaya. We are family, after all." Jaya hugged her brother. "I'm proud of you, brute. You finally listened to me!"
"That's not all, Sister... Show them in." He said to a servant.
"More surprises? I think I'll be returning to my own husband in a bag at this rate." She joked with Adelina.
A boy, roughly seven, with blackish hair and green eyes strolled in, a girl around four hiding behind him. The girl had red hair and the standard Cousland blue eyes. "Is this her, Father?"
"Yes, son. This is your aunt Jaya." Fergus said.
Jaya went wide-eyed and stared at the two, shock and amazement running through her system. "What are your names?"
"I'm Ampelio William, Auntie. This is my little sister, Elethea Haelia." Ampelio said, smiling proudly.
"Nice to meet you. I assume they've also met them?" She asked.
"Oh, yes. In fact, they were there not long after the births, with Alistair in tow, of course. The twins love these two dearly." Fergus explained before the two went about informing her about how they met, how they fell in love and how he, after getting probed by Alistair enough, proposed. Then he explained how he told her of Oriana and Oren, their parents and even their grandparents, him being the one to mostly remember them.
Adelina then took over, describing her own family from a small place in Orlais, ironically enough, and how she herself was a middle child with an older sister and an older brother as well as two younger brothers. She stated that she and Alistair got along very well and she admired his devotion to Jaya, even if it were strange to her. [[A/N: I should mention that Jaya is 33 now, Fergus being roughly 40, Alistair is 37, since he might be older than the Warden.]]
A few days later, after getting to know her new sister-in-law and niece and nephew, Jaya made her way to Denerim, watching in amazement at how the city had grown a ton in the past decade plus. Her heart sped up as she made her way to the palace, where her husband and own children were. Stopping in at Wade's, though, she gave him new metals and things she found in her travels, telling them to have fun with it, to the two's amusement. As she made her way, she wondered how she would look to him after so long. She had aged a little and wondered if she still appealed to him like she did when they first started out. Pausing, she looked into a bucket to see that there was a scar on her cheek from a fight with a red templar and another was also on her belly from another red templar. She sighed and snuck her way into the secret entrance, slipped off the armor and opened the door, pausing when she heard her husband and one of the twins, probably Duncan, talking.
"But, Father... You promised to show me that move of yours!" Duncan whined.
"Yeah, once the talks were done and they are far from done. I still need to apologize to Celene for you interrupting the talks, again." Came the reply and Jaya could see him rubbing his temples.
"Really, Dunny? You know how hard Father has to work. Quit buggin him already." A new voice, probably Eleanor's, added.
"How long have you been there, Elie?" Duncan demanded.
"Long enough. Just because Mother's not here right now, doesn't mean you can get to ask Father about training." Eleanor said, smiling softly.
Duncan sighed. "Maker. I want Mother to get back soon... She'd..."
"Scold you for not leaving your father alone for a few hours." Jaya reminded, getting the three heads to whip around and see her leaning on the door to the armory. "Then, I'd tell you to read a few chapters of one of your most hated lesson books."
"Mother!" The twins shouted, bolting to nearly tackle her in a hug, which she expected.
"I suppose that answers my question of if I was missed by you two." She said, hugging the two, kissing their cheeks repeatedly.
"Mother!" Eleanor whined, while Duncan grumbled. "We're twelve years old now."
Jaya smiled, remembering telling her own mother that very same thing, though she was nine when she said it. "Doesn't mean I can't smother you with all the love I can..." She said sweetly, releasing them before walking up to her husband and raising an eyebrow. "You look like you've seen a ghost, husband." She teased before he crushed her into his arms, making her grin wildly and return the embrace, feeling the twins also hug her before they left to go study or something since she pulled back to see it was only them now, minus the guards that took her warning seriously a decade or so ago. "I have missed you, husband... So much..." She said, letting her defenses down completely for him.
Alistair smiled softly and relaxed his hold slightly to look into her silver eyes. "And I've missed you, dear wife.. With every hour that passed while you were gone..."
She ran a hand through his hair and returned his smile. "Hope you won't mind this then: the only way I'm ever leaving you is if I'm forced to." When he chuckled lightly, she felt the vibrations throughout her body.
"That may be the second best idea you've ever had, love."
"'Second'? What was the first?" She asked.
"The first was being the love of my life. There were probably better choices, but you chose me." He answered, stroking her cheek softly.
"There were, but none would've been there to 'deliver witty one liners' and compliment me, despite how bloody I got." She teased.
"And I'm glad I fit that bill. Not so difficult now that I've gotten used to it, I assure you." He replied as they went into the study and she unpacked her bag. "Wow. You went all out, huh?"
"Well, it was important, so I pulled out all the stops. I learned so much while traveling about not only darkspawn, but how and why Wardens fall to the Calling. In fact, a book I gave the Inquisitor has the exact history of that. But, before that, me, Anders and the Champion of Kirkwall managed to come up with a few potions to help with not only block out the song, but also help heal those infected with the blight." She arranged the notes as he walked to be behind her. "I think I finally have a clue on how to kinda prevent more Blights, but it'll have to come down to my trust in the Architect."
"I knew you'd do it, dear. So what exactly have you learned?" He asked looking over her shoulder.
"According to research, an ancient Tevinter magister named Corypheus entered what we know as the Black City with hopes to become a god, but his desire for power tainted everything and turned those that lived there into darkspawn. Angered, he decided to try and recreate his god by awakening the Old Gods, creating Archdemons." She explained, smiling. "Then you know what happened next. So, Corypheus was the cause of all that and, from what I heard, the Inquisitor eliminated it when she sealed that tear in the sky."
"That must mean there might not be another Blight for another century." He summed up, grinning. "That'll be another thing I thank the Inquisitor for."
"Besides healing the sky?" She questioned.
"That and allowing me to keep my wife by my side as long as the Maker deems." He said, wrapping his arms around her waist.
Jaya nodded and rested her head on his shoulders. "I hope no one caused too much problems, besides the whole 'mages-throwing-Teagan-out-of-Redcliffe' thing..."
"Well, not much, really. Just me missing you, wife. I admit, I'm not as good at hiding it from our friends as you. Though, I wouldn't listen to those that suggested I put you aside to find a better wife and mother to the kids. I think your brother might've killed them on the spot if I hadn't spoken up." He said.
"Remind me to thank him one day. I doubt I'd keep my cool, I would've had them on the floor, wishing they were dead in a second." She flushed at how she still was a little protective of her life with Alistair, even after all these years.
"And I'd have to risk losing a hand to get you off them. I told them that that wouldn't be fair to the twins, not to mention the whole 'take-no-other' part of our vows. I may be able to have mistresses, but I'd rather not. You are more than enough for me." He said, chuckling at her blush. "Still cute when you blush, love. I missed that, too."
"Well, I won't be blushing any more, so get used to not seeing it." She teased, acting hurt. "I'm hardly 'cute', either. I've fought a lot of red templars out west and I'm lucky Anders was there to heal me, otherwise I'd literally be brought back in a body bag. There are plenty more scars to remind me I'm not quite as I was in the first few months of the Blight." She blinked when he went to probably lock the door, raising an eyebrow at his behavior. "That and I'm hardly young anymore."
Well, Jaya's home and she now lets her doubts out to her hubby... How'll he react? Find out~~
~~Skittles~~