Trying…so hard…to write PoTJ chapter…failing miserably and trying to get Danny/Dash smut idea's out of my head long enough to work on my other stories…

Seriously, my head is driving me crazy, I can barely work on any of my other chapter stories!

URMMAHGRRR UGH!

Chapter 13: First Impressions

Blood stained the bottoms of their leather boots and Aria made a strained expression as she unconsciously scrapped the heel of her shoe into the jagged stone that was clean of any blood. The sharp tang of human blood was another new experience alongside the stench of burning flesh of the victims she burned alive with her arcane magic.

Just another experience to add to the list of things that she wasn't use to and made her stomach clinch and bile rise.

She and her merry band of travelers were ambushed by a small bandit group outside the small village of Lothering. Aria tried to persuade then to let them pass, no trouble was wanted, or needed.

The bandits thought otherwise. She, Alistair, and Morrigan slaughtered them all. It was a bloody affair that left the smallest of the three needing to find a place to steady herself as she tried to come to terms that not only has she been tasked to forever kill Darkspawn until the end of her days…but she was officially capable of killing humans as well.

Wide, hallowed eyes looked up at the dreary sky as she wondered what kind of path she was going down and whether it was really worth it with the blood starting to stain her clothes.

Walking down the crumbling stairs to the sight of pointed wooden barricades and rickety old houses, Alistair whistled. Villagers scampered and slouched around the homes, several seemed to have set up camp around battered wagons and old mules. Young women in chantry robes stood on the edge of a fenced in yard with a large pot and stack of wooden bowls. They ladled what Aria thought must be gruel for the groups of scruffy refugees camping out on the streets.

"Well there it is. Lothering, pretty as a painting." The warrior at her side stretched his arms out in mock splendor. Morrigan crossed her arms and threw the man a look that was clearly not of amusement.

"You're joking; I assume that means you have grown tired of falling on your blade in grief. Too much trouble I take it?" the witch breathed easily. Aria sighed as the human man turned on her with such a dour look.

Glancing down at her pooch, the elf wondered if there would ever be a time when the two of them did not find the time to argue.

"You know, is it that difficult for you to comprehend my grief? What if your mother died? What would you do?" he questioned crossly.

"…Before or after I stopped laughing?" she asked seriously. The three and the mabari stepped down the stairs. Alistair, in his shock at such an answer much have missed a step as he stumbled before catching himself on the dirty railing.

"Right. Very creepy…forget I asked." He sighed.

"You clearly have want to ask them though?" Morrigan pointed out. "Or else why not spend hours on end contemplating your navel?"

Turning to them, Aria spoke.

"You wanted to talk? Hopefully not about more ways to passively insult each other…and witty as Morrigan's comments are I find my mental score being in her favor." The elf ventured with a nervous smile. Her companions eyed her incredulously and Alistair crossed his arms with a childish pout.

"Oh, not you, don't go over to her side!" He begged "What happened to Grey Wardens sticking together?"

"I apologize, I was unaware of that rule." She spoke honestly as they stopped short from entering the village. Nearby a small time merchant was being yelled at by a group of angry, dirty patrons.

"But seriously," Alistair rolled his eyes as he leaned his weight on a rickety fence guarding a small crops field. "we need to start thinking about where our next destination should be. It's all well and good that we've found ourselves in Lothering and out of the Wilds and far from the darkspawn. But soon they will march…and this is the first place they are bound to hit."

Such a revelation was a sobering one as the two women stood silent in contemplation. Uthnehn sat stark still as if the mere thought, voiced by the man was easily understood. The beast looked up to its elven master whom stared down at him with an equally grim expression marring her youthful but grungy appearance.

The blood that splattered across the bridge of her nose did nothing but enhance the fact this little group was nothing but three misfits that were told to prepare for war.

Flememth had told them to unite the corners of Ferelden for any chance to come out of this Blight victorious. However, sparing a glance at the nearly empty streets and the sparse refugees this was clearly a task easier said than done.

Aria joined her fellow warden and leaned her bottom on the fence that looked like it would topple over any moment. The leather satchel strapped her belt groaned as it was squeezed between old wood and her body. Pointed ears perked up at that before nearly cursing at how forgetful she was. Straightening up swiftly, the elf unbuckled the top and pulled out the bound parchments Flemeth had handed to her before they were pushed out of the swamp.

"What about these?" she held out the old treaties in the center of their little circle. "We still have the treaties so why not start out dealing with the allies we can gather from them?" she suggested as Alistair eyed the leather bound Maker sent parchment. He reached out to them and Aria let him take them from her hands as he undid the binds.

"Have you read them?" he asked off handedly as he unrolled them carefully to scan his own eyes over the contents. Aria shook her head to say 'no', but with the warriors eyes focused more on their current path finder she spoke.

"No, I haven't, what kind of allies will we have at our disposal with these anyway?"

"…The main factions seem to be the Dalish elves located in Ferelden, the dwarves of Orzammar, and the Circle of Magi." He informed. At the mention of the Circle Aria blinked. Huh…chances are if she had never been dragged into her little adventure in the Circle and conscripted, she still would have been pulled into this fighting.

Alistair's lips pursed as he glanced to the two women he was with.

"And…we may find an ally in Arl Eamon. I suggest we go to him first."

"That seems a fair decision. What of your thoughts Morrigan?" Aria turned to the mostly silent mage, she seemed disinterested in their planning thus far. The dark haired woman shrugged.

"I am as lost in this quest as you are, as long as there is a unanimous decision that does not sound completely idiotic I will follow as Mother instructed."

"Then…Arl Eamon it is I suppose, can't really argue as long as we have some kind of goal to get to." Aria sighed as she looked back out into the village.

"For now though, we should stay here and see what we can get along the lines of food." The elf suggested as Alistair handed her the bound up treaties to put away.

"We should also see about the state of things after Loghain's stunt at Ostagar." Morrigan pointed out. "He may not know that two Warden's who know the truth of his treachery survive."

Yet another sobering fact they must deal with. Aria felt her hand run through her hair as she let her stress out in a long suffering sigh. Things just could never be easy could they?

"Let's just find somewhere to lodge before anything." Alistair spoke up as they traversed through the refugees camped out outside. Chickens scuttled along across their feet and the occasional child cried out for their parent. Many seemed to gasp out in pain or lay on their sides in makeshift beds laid out next to bonfires. It was a sorry sight that Aria was not use to seeing and she found herself ignorantly wondering why none seemed to take refuge inside the homes or looking for the local tavern. Just how many were without home and why? Could it have been because of the battle at Ostagar? Certainly the darkspawn couldn't be moving so fast across the land? It was just another thing to add to Aria's list of questions she was forming. Living in the real world seemed just as stifling and unfair as life stuck on an island in the middle of a dark lake.

Making their way down faded cobble stones in what was once probably a very attractive road, a man dressed in full Templar armor was shouting at the occasional passerby. His red robes at his feet looking like running blood in Aria's wide eyes as she stepped just a tad closer to her companions. Uthnehen whined as he knocked his large head into her thigh gently. Templar's still made her skin crawl uncomfortably. They started to pass him just as Alistair had blindly asked her what was wrong when she felt the cold bite of steel on her forearm.

The elf jumped up in fright before swiftly turning around to face the gleaming helmet of the Templar who looked down at her. She didn't know if he held any malice, it was hard to tell under the constricted eye holes that allowed only limited vision to its wearer. But that didn't nothing to quell her beating heart as thought s about why they were stopped crossed her mind.

Could he tell she was a mage?

Would it matter to tell him she was a Grey Warden and so free to wander without an escort from the Circle?

She hated how after surviving death not once but three times it was a single Templar that could shake her to her bones.

Alistair seemed to finally find her reason for unease and scowled in the armored man's direction.

"You three, if you are looking for shelter I suggest finding it elsewhere. Lothering is full enough with refugees and its own people."

"Please, we are just passing through for a few days to resupply. We will be on our way soon enough." Alistair said as he pulled Aria back a few steps from the Templar's hold. The man shook his head.

"As long as you don't bring any trouble, the chantry temple and tavern is bursting and we've barely enough food provided by the local farmers to feed everyone. Don't know what you'll be able to get your hands on until you find your way to the next village a couple days down the road."

The warrior amongst them nodded his blond head with pursed lips.

"Of course, if we can't find what we need you can rest assured we won't linger." Alistair promise as he pulled the others along.

A small hand tugged at the trailing back of Aria's robes and caught her attention. Peering down at the hand it was small and slender, much like her own but belonged to a small elven girl with a heart shaped face. The mage stopped in her tracks as her heart squeezed painfully for the girl sitting in the dirt as a dark haired male elf, the girl's father most likely, soothed an upset elven woman with pretty red hair. Staring back at her own companions who looked back at her with mild curiosity, she knelt down to the girls level. The movement caught her parents attention and they stared in surprise at the sight of another elf. She cast them her nervous smile.

"Hello." She murmured to the little girl who smiled back. Her eyes focused on Aria's ears as her shoulders slumped in relief.

"Please…do you think you could share some bread?" the father spoke in a familiar elven lilt. It vaguely reminded her of her own family in the back of her mind where she kept those distant childhood memories.

She noticed the tears in their otherwise well kept clothes and the scrapes on their child's knees.

"What happened to you?" she asked worriedly.

"Bandits!" The wife sighed woefully and clutched at her daughters tattered ribbons.

"We came to Lothering to get away from the fighting, our little cabin was just a days' travel from Ostagar so we ran before there was any chance that darkspawn could harm us. But as soon as we made it, some Bandits rolled in and took everything, even my daughter's pet sheep." The father explained.

A sour expression over came Aria as she recalled the moment she and her companions came face to face with the bandits. Their blood still stained the bottom of her boots.

"They are dead now, your stuff might still be there if you check." She proposed. This caught the family's attention and they smiled hopefully at her.

"They're dead? Did you kill them? No-it doesn't matter, as long as we can find our stuff. You have our thanks."

Aria stood with the family as they thanked her, the mother hugged her. It had caught the mage so off guard that she was unsure whether or not she should return it. She stood there, blushed, and waved her arms confusedly before she watched the family scamper off to where the slaughtered humans remains still most likely lay.

Morrigan raised her brow as the warden joined back up with them.

"What was that about?" she asked. Aria humored her with a pleased look.

"Just helping…" she murmured.

Lothering was apparently not very well off Aria surmised. So many people, even its own locals where in bad shape, its crops where running low and there was talk of the Arls men coming to their aid. Yet, there was equal talk about the abandonment of the settlement and it had to make her wonder what would happen to all the people holed up here and unable to defend themselves. There were only a handful of Templar's and she doubted any of those middle aged farmers would be able to fend off a single darkspawn. It hurt to see things in such a state as they left a disgruntled merchant after guilting him to lower his prices for the sake of helping more people so they wouldn't die of cold. It was so close to winter.

Though…it was always close to winter by Ferelden standards. It was a harsh land.

Not wanting to linger too long outside they decided it was best to find a tavern and see what they could learn about the state of affairs from there. It was easy to ask a local where it was, just across the bridge and called Dane's Refuge.

The door creaked and the melody of a flute and lute duo filled the musty, warm air. The patrons sat close to one another, more than one nursed a mug of what she believed to be ale. Aria liked the music. It was light and cheerful, something to help lift the pessimistic tension that filled everyone's body language. Glancing around, Alistair pointed out someone who looked like he could be the owner of the establishment.

Passing by a table she stumbled over a chair leg she hadn't seen. Letting out a small sound the well muscled arm of a young man reached out in front of her and stopped her decent to the creaking floor boards. Glancing up, the elf sent the young man a thankful look from where he sat.

"Er…thank you." She mumbled as she straightened herself and tried not to think about the warmth coming to her cheeks out of embarrassment. Really, she needed to find some balance in her feet. The man with short, dark brown hair sent her a strained smile of his own while the two women at his table looked at them with raised brows.

"Yeah, uh, no problem…" the man shifted in his seat awkwardly and Aria looked like she wanted to say something else while a chortle of laughter broke her away from the nonexistent conversation she was having with her angry looking savior to two older men sauntering up to her group.

Alistair cursed from behind her, causing her to bite her tongue and eye the swords peeking out from their holsters on their backs. This can't be good.

"I recognize that armor." The blond hissed conspiratorially. "Those are Loghain's men."

It was easy enough to feel the dread in her gut at that connection as she stepped away from the table, unsure what to do with the men standing before them with malicious leers towards them.

"Well, well what's this?" That man with dark facial hair looked over to his partner wearing a leather cap.

"Didn't we spend all morning asking about a woman who fit this description?" the beardless one questioned what had to be his superior.

Aria felt herself tense up as they eyed her specifically with their nasty little leers and she glanced up to Alistair and Morrigan for help. But Morrigan simple glared bored at what was going down while Alistair just seemed uncomfortable with where this could be going. He unconsciously fingered the hilt of his blade. Taking a note from his book, one of her hands stayed behind her back to clutch at the staff latch there.

"No one said they had seen her, yet here we are. Looks like we were lied to." Said the other and Aria looked away to see the patrons who had just gotten silent. Eyes on them all in obvious curiosity. The man who had helped her to her feet eyed her suspiciously and cast the women at his table with a look that made the eldest of the three shrug.

From the corner of her vision Aria was only vaguely aware of the flutter of cream from a chantry sister's robes until she came between the men and her. She raised a delicate hand with a sweet smile on her lips.

"Gentlemen," She spoke with an accent that was nothing like the bold speech of a native Ferelden. She sounded like the mages who transferred to the Lake Callenhad Circle from Orlais. "surely there is no need for trouble. Look at them; they cannot be more than poor souls seeking refuge like the rest that have found themselves here in Lothering."

The men scoffed over the red haired sisters attempt to quell them into compliance.

"I can see the way the blond one grips his sword. Now stay out of this, sister. You protect these traitors and you'll get the same as them."

The woman looked honestly affronted as her shapely eyebrows rose and her pale eyes flashed with something Aria could not see. It made the situation no better as people started giving them space; the man at the table was shoved back down into his seat by the older woman whose eyes were hidden under dark brown bangs.

"Carver!" she hissed. "This is not your problem."

"Traitors? Why are we traitors?" Aria furrowed her brows at the men as she gripped her staff from behind self consciously.

"Everyone in Lohgain's troupe knows what the Warden's did!" The dark haired soldier egged on as he grasped his blades.

"It's time for the last of them to be brought to justice!"

Aria didn't get a moment to think as the first man lunged at her with a cry. She shrieked more out of surprise than anything before bringing the force of her hardwood staff down on the man's head then spreading her hand out to sweep across the tavern to the threatening forms of resting soldiers grasping at their weapons. Alistair, with weapon drawn charged forward as another man tried to take Aria down. She took a step back as she laced her fingers with magic and forced it back until it snapped, sending the men closest to her back.

Morrigan tapped the wooden floor with her own staff before a glyph appeared on the floor to trap a few men under its grasp long enough for the red haired sister to pull a blade from an unassuming satchel at her waist and stab them through the neck in three fluid movements.

The innocent patrons of the tavern gasped in horror and she frowned in concentration to bring another two men to their knees with the pressure of her magic long enough for Alistair to make quick work of them.

The scuffle was short for the most part painless. Several were now bleeding or dead while another few were simply unconscious. Aria looked to her companions who looked just as troubled as she before a pair of hands grabbed her from behind. The elf let out a startled yelp as someone began dragging her out. Uthnehn was the first to be at her side and growl at the one dragging her towards the door in her confusion.

"Down boy, we need to get your master out of here, Bethany, Carver, get the other three." A woman commanded of the two young adults who looked so oddly similar to each other. They must have been twins.

"Wait—what?" Aria scrambled for understanding as she let herself be dragged along by the taller woman out of the tavern with Alistair, Morrigan, and that odd red haired sister close behind. The man with the short, dark hair that helped her caught her eye. He was looking up at the woman who dragged her along down the dirty street to a nondescript home with boarded up windows. He was scowling.

With little resistance from a very confused elf and Alistair and Morrigan who just kind of went along with it and a very amused looking chantry sister of questionable history a door was opened by an equally confused older woman with graying hair. They group dragged themselves inside and the one she assumed was called Bethany, with her dark hair curled at the ends, shut the door with a definite slam. She wiped a smudge of dirt from her face and gave the one grasping her a thumbs up.

"Mission accomplished sister."

"What in Andraste's name is going on?!" Alistair threw his hands up in the air while Aria freed herself to stand on her own. Turning around, the elf was confronted with a tall woman with a sturdy build. Her hair, much like her sisters was just passed her shoulders and curled at the ends, her bangs were swept to one side of her face and looked to have a tendency to fall into her brown eyes. Her jaw was set in a stern line while her lips, painted an attractive dark violet much like Morrigan frowned. She wore simple clothes. A tunic with well fitting corset and leather trousers and worn boots; there was a red band tied around her left wrist.

"Funny," she said in a strong, but humorous way as she set her hands on her hips to eye the frazzled blond warrior. "I want to ask the same thing. But manners first I suppose, welcome to the Hawke home, have a seat and I'll put the kettle on, just don't eat the cheese."

Aria, unsure, because that seems to be her default emotion most of the time now, rubbed the bridge of her nose and took a seat as requested. Uthnehn laid his head in her lap and licked at her thigh, she brought her hand to his head and scratched behind his ears.

"Yes, of course this is, it's ok…I don't even like cheese." She sighed as she tried to ignore the shouting going on outside calling for the Templars because a couple renegade mage's were on the loose.

So this was her life now apparently.

I kinda wanted to break away from trying to make everything sound all serious and dower and made this a mostly pretty light hearted chapter. Call this my first Christmas present to you all...at least, for those of you who actually read this fic. I don't really know since I only have two reviews for it.