Chapter 4: Elves

As we walked away from the prison, I took in the sights by choice and the smells through necessity. The streets turned from smooth cobblestone on wide avenues to rough dirt and stones mixed together.

Rather than more of the gleaming white marble buildings I had seen thus far, the structures changed to ramshackle wooden housing, some of them built far too high to be safe. There was very little if any street lighting, save for candle or lantern light leaking out of houses, shops or the occasional tavern. Everyone on the street seemed to be wearing a hood, and strictly minding their own business.

The smell on the street definitely had the air of raw sewage about it, and I was very glad that I had taken Fraser's boots as spares for that reason, or else Julie and I would have had to flip a coin for the single pair remaining. The atmosphere of total deprivation was absolutely unyielding, as we made good our escape.

Halamshiral was perhaps the worst slum I had ever seen in person, and that's saying something considering where I was just before coming to Thedas. It certainly rivaled many of the large shantytowns I had heard of back home too.

Once we were out of sight and earshot of the main thoroughfares and the prison, I took my two companions aside to plan our route out of the city. We ducked into an alleyway with plenty of shadows, and huddled to speak privately.

"Is there a gate to the south road?" I asked, aiming the question at Julie, "I didn't see anything when they brought me here."

"Yes, it is the start of the main road southwards," she replied, "My home is also that way, though it is three days ride away."

My own stash was a day away in the same direction. I assumed no one from Earth had figured out what had happened to me, which was a good bet as they probably would think we were simply shot down rather than teleported. Eventually, they would figure out something else had happened, and who knew, maybe the way I arrived by was still open. Maybe they could send help. There was only one way to know, and that was to wait.

Which led to the inevitable question.

"Is your village safe, if we can make it there?" I said, "Can we hide there?"

"We won't need to hide, our lord is … known to me," Julie continued, "I was captured by a roving tax collection party, they come every two months or so. The lord is unable to do anything about them at present."

Which meant I would have at least two months without being pestered. I thought it would take at least that long for help to arrive. I began to think about a cover identity I could come up with, and what I could do to establish myself so I didn't arouse suspicion in that time. I was hmming and hawing away to myself, when Julie spoke again.

"It's alright, I have a place," she said, slapping me on the shoulder as she is wont to do, "And you won't have to hide in the shed."

She seemed too cheery about it. My eyebrow raised itself. "Thanks?" I said uncertainly, "Though how will you explain it?"

Julie pursed her lips. "Oh, I'll think of a way," she said coyly. She kept to her word too. Though it was as unnecessarily radical as the last plan of hers for deflecting suspicion, but that wasn't the objective of it at all, as it turned out.

Satisfied for the moment and mindful of time, I turned to Tam.

"What about you, do you have somewhere you need to be?" I asked, "You're going to stand out, wherever you go." For all the right reasons and all the wrong reasons. So would I, I knew, and Julie too if she hadn't been a resident of the area.

"I am coming with you," Tam replied firmly, "You will go home, yes?"

"If I can," I replied, already knowing where this was going, "It's not exactly certain."

Tam was unperturbed by any idea. "Then I am going too," she said, a smile on her face, "Your land is very far away, and that is where I must go now."

"Eh, that probably wouldn't be wise," I said, "Someone like you doesn't exist there."

She might be arrested, interrogated... even dissected for study if she showed up with me in my world, I thought. Or yet more likely, be shot by the rescue team as soon as they saw her.

Unless they got close enough to see what she was wearing, namely very little. I joked in my head that she'd make serious money as a model. Or as an assassin if she could master a firearm. However, there was hardly any need to dissuade her at this point, and like I said, I thought she would be very useful on the road.

And she was growing on me, our common experience of escape already applying its usual psychological effect. "But, if you want to be indebted to me, that's your choice, I guess," I finished, rising from the group and looking around, "Let's get moving."

"The south gate is down there," Julie said, pointing with the torch.

"Lead the way," I replied, hefting my firelance around to cover her. I wasn't liking the look of some of the people wandering around, and they were paying far too much attention to us for comfort all of a sudden.

So we continued through thin streets, set out in no particular pattern that I could distinguish. A quick check of my compass told me that we were indeed heading south however, so I said nothing. It was still disconcerting, having so many angles to cover. The rumble of hunger in my belly and the poor rest I had received wasn't helping, but it was also what I was trained to deal with.

With Julie in the lead as the one with the local knowledge, I was in the middle and our new Qunari companion took up the rear. I pointed my weapon at every suspicious seeming alleyway, as subtle as I could, but Tam was looking at me funny by the time the next problem arrived.

The torch, which had got us from the prison into the slums, finally gave out. The fuel and the material it was soaked into burned off, the last scrap of the latter falling to the ground while glowing red. The street we were on descended into almost pitch blackness, and we all bumped into each other, not stopping in time.

Which wasn't an unpleasant experience, I am forced to confess, given what was bumping into me.

"Do we have anything to re-ignite it with?" Tam asked, pushing me away gently, "We could tear the blankets, though we will need something to make it burn." It wasn't a great idea, but it wasn't like we had real options as far as she knew.

Time for some techno-sorcery.

"Better," I said, as I thought the question was directed at me. I took my flashlight out of my combat webbing, and snapped it onto the barrel of my firelance, as it is designed to do. I turned it on, and brilliant white light poured out of the front of it, a solid beam that could guide our way easily. The two Thedosians followed the light's every move, fascinated by it as I made sure it was securely fastened.

"Is that a glowstone?" asked Julie, sounding impressed.

"No, they do not produce such concentrated light," Tam replied, before I could explain, "Is it magic?"

I sighed. Eventually the truth of my origins would come out to the greater public, but I was speeding myself towards that end by using technology beyond that of this world.

I wondered what either of them would think when the time to use my firelance or handcannon came. Well, Julie at least, Tam did seem to have an inkling about what my weapons were, if the way she looked at them was any evidence.

Explaining how the flashlight worked would take forever, so I kept it simple.

"It is not a glowstone or magic, it's called a flashlight," I explained, "It is a tool, a machine for creating light. I'll take the front, we need to keep moving. Just give me directions from behind."

Julie moved to the middle as I did as I said, leading the way by her directions. We stumbled a bit more than we had with the torch, as the flashlight didn't illuminate as much of the ground, but I felt a lot safer with it.

The people in hoods were much more visible, and tended to scurry away when they saw us or the beam of light in front of us. We made better progress thanks to them clearing out, as we didn't have to halt or try and get around groups of people. It made me feel a lot better about getting out before dawn, though the small fear that those who ran away would go report it to guard still remained.

The city walls began to loom over us even in the darkness, as lights near the gatehouse reflected off its off-white surface. We were very close now, and there was a noticeable improvement over the rest of the city here. It was a trade quarter, I guessed correctly. Naturally, even in a slum, the merchants have better quarters.

I shone my light at a group of people in our way, just before an opening in two buildings. They all looked over at me, hoodless and standing around outside a tavern or saloon. I stopped dead in my tracks, Julie colliding with me afterwards. They looked entirely human, save for one thing. Their ears were elongated to a point.

To be honest, I had my suspicions that I'd run across elves in the world somewhere. Seeing a dragon, people going about with swords and lots of talk about magic had me thinking about our stories where such things existed. There were usually elves too. Just not usually in slums.

"For crying out loud, what next!" I exclaimed, "Leprechauns or lizard people?"

Julia and Tam approached me as I rubbed my eyes. I was letting my fatigue get to me and felt shame burn across my face for the outburst. The others crowded around me, wondering what I was complaining about.

The elves just looked on like I was a crazy person, before returning to their own conversation. Frankly, I felt like they were on to something. Things were getting ridiculous to me. Just when I thought I had things figured out, this place threw something new at me. It was taking a lot of effort to process. I had not seen anyone start throwing spells at me yet, but I became fairly convinced I soon would at this rate. And I was not mistaken.

"What's wrong?" Julie asked.

"Elves," I said quietly, so the elves in question would not hear me, "Everyone here are elves."

Julie and Tam exchanged a glance, and made unkindly faces like they expected better of me. I just returned the look, and saw that I had lost some measure of respect. Which was disconcerting to say the least. Especially with Tam, who could have probably bled me dry at that range in less than a second.

"Do you have a problem with elves?" asked Julie, her tone rising in what I thought could have been anger. The reason for which was coming, but I was a little busy thinking about something else.

"They don't exist," I stated flatly, "They're fictional. Made-up. Fodder for story books."

Both of them softened at that, Tam relaxing her stance and Julie's eyes returning to the warm, mischievous glow that usually inhabited them. I breathed easier, in the knowledge that whatever damage I had inadvertently done was largely repaired.

"You don't have elves in your country?" asked Tam, "No Qunari, no elves?"

"No, we certainly do not," I replied, "We don't have dragons either, they're also supposed to be fictional but at least they're plausible. Giant reptiles lived there once, we found their bones. Give me a minute here."

I turned off my flashlight and took a drink of water from my flask. The summer air was stuffy in the small streets, uncomfortably so, and the outside of the tavern smelled pretty much how you'd expect. I remembered what I supposedly knew about the people I once thought unreal but were now drinking from tankards in the alley in front of me. There were a lot of stories, and the details varied, but I guess there was common ground in most of them.

Test time.

"Elves," I said, "Long ears, excellent hand-eye coordination, live for thousands of years at a time if not forever, more advanced society. Did I get anything wrong?"

"Most of it is wrong," Tam said, taking on the air of a teacher, "Their coordination is not particularly greater than your own. It is said they used to be immortal but lost the ability when their race was enslaved. Now they live either in clans in the wilderness, as serfs or tenants on farms, or in slums like this. Ignored or oppressed. Their civilisation is dead."

A familiar enough story in its own right, but not something I believed I could do anything about. "Right," I said, feeling slightly relieved that I hadn't fallen into a storybook, "You seem to know a lot about them, Tam."

"My people find their situation very useful," Tam continued, "They are considered lesser by humans, but the Qun knows no such thing. They often follow my people's teachings when we liberate lands where they are present."

"You mean brutally invade," Julie corrected angrily, "Forcibly converting others."

The Qunari glared for a moment, before her expression softened. "It is as you say," Tam conceded with regret, "Though as I said, I am Tal-Vashoth now. My people are just as much my enemy as they are yours."

Julie considered this, hands on her hips... before throwing them up in surrender. "I'm not sure it's true that they're equally our enemy," she said with a frown, "But I get it, you're not with them any more."

Other people were beginning to take notice of us, which brought the memories of my capture to the forefront of my mind. No doubt we didn't have very much time left before the prison guards started sending out search parties to look for us in the slums. At which point the gates would be closed. We needed to get the hell out.

"Walk and talk, ladies," I said, motioning them forwards. We passed the group of elves I had initially seen. I nodded my greetings to them as they passed. One of them spat on the ground in response. A charming first impression of a people, truly. Of course, I later learned that the attitude was the fault of humans.

We got clear of the thin streets and found ourselves back on a wide avenue.

One end went straight to the High Quarter and the Winter Palace, the other to the southern gatehouse. Along its length, there were oil lamps emblazoned with bronze lions, the lamp posts painted blue.

There was no small amount of carriage traffic in the middle lanes, as Julie had told me there would be when we were planning, but the footways were empty. Satisfied we'd make it now, I relaxed after made sure we were properly covered. We strolled calmly towards the exit to the countryside, and hopefully, to freedom.

We had time... and something was bothering me. "Julie, why are Tam's people your enemy?" I asked, when I got the chance, "Help me understand this place a little better."

Julie had no problem with the question.

"My mother was from Rivain," she said softly, "It's to the northeast of this country, over the sea. Tam's people invaded it long ago, did what they always do. The war lasted decades, but it was inconclusive."

She looked around for anyone close enough to hear before continuing.

"My parents used to live near the north of the country, where the Qunari still have a settlement," she said, "There's a lot of border tension and skirmishes. My father was killed, and my mother left for Orlais before I was born, as it was where my grandfather was from."

Thedas has a lot of people moving around based on old family ties, because of the Tevinter Imperium and its policies of population displacement in the ancient past... but we'll get to those guys later.

"Sounds... complicated," I said. I couldn't help but draw parallels from my own world. We had many such conflicts in our history, some of which I have set down in writing elsewhere.

The major difference was that there were no peacekeepers in Thedas, no great powers waiting to exploit such brutality for their own gain, and no laws against ethnic cleansing or colonisation.

I could not help but think what a dangerous place I had been brought to. I had once sworn an oath to defend a set of values that stood against war and genocide, to defend my country and humanity. But I was only one person. What could I do against such an anarchy?

"It's more complicated than you think," Julie agreed, "But explaining fully would take time we do not have."

I remained quiet. I had no clues as to what she was talking about, and it didn't seem wise to pry about things I knew little about. I would need to talk to both of them extensively to even get a hint of the politics of this world or who they actually were.

It was worse than I thought on the former, and better than I had hoped on the latter, when I finally got to have those conversations. They are good people, so I had plenty of motivation to protect them and vice versa. The politics on the other hand are as vicious as anywhere.

"I think she is elf-blooded," said Tam suddenly.

I flinched at the sudden comment. "Meaning what?" I asked.

Julie gave Tam a scowl. Evidently, the Qunari's outburst was far from appreciated.

"My father was an elf," Julie admitted, "I never met him, but my mother was careful to tell me."

"Which is why you weren't pleased when I started going off about elves..." I thought aloud, "I owe you an apology." It felt like the right thing to do. I saw then that what I said could have easily been misconstrued as bigotry. We stopped and she turned to me.

"No, you don't," she insisted, "You didn't know, about me or about elves. You helped get me out of prison. I owe you." Her eyes locked with mine, and I couldn't help but smirk.

"You owe me nothing," I said, "Trust me, you saved me more than I saved you." The mere sight of her saved me from despair, actually. I would say the same of Tam, but she was too terrifyingly alien to me at that point.

Julie began to protest, but our other jailbird was upset.

"You owe each other," said Tam impatiently, regretting her previous intervention now, "What's your plan for getting past the gatehouse?"

We broke our eye contact and turned to our Qunari comrade, who had her arms crossed. Her fingers were playing with the edge of the dagger on her belt as she did so. Seemed like a habit to me, but that made it no less menacing.

As for a plan... I had worked checkpoints before. I knew what looked suspect and what didn't. It would be hard to come up with an excuse about why we were leaving so early, but luckily it was summer. The night was not long, and even now, the sky was lightening at the edge to the east. But there was no way in hell we could go on foot. We needed to appear to be doing something commercial.

Which meant taking a risk.

"Steal a horse and cart before daybreak, ride on through like nothing is wrong," I replied, "We need to look like merchants."

Tam frowned. I frowned in turn. It seemed like a perfectly viable idea, even when we were locked up. Julie had done something like it before, apparently.

"What's wrong with that?" I asked.

"I was arrested at the northwest gatehouse," Tam said, waving her arm over her shoulder in the opposite direction, "Qunari are not a common sight in this place, if word has gotten out, your plan won't work."

"Then we'll just put you in the back and cover you," Julie said cheerfully, "It'll work, trust me."

Tam groaned deeply, like doing that was going to be a burden. Both the trust part and the sit-and-hide-on-a-cart part. She was very much one to take destiny into her own hands, as I would learn over the course of our association. I probably should have taken note of it when she was gutting Baldy, it would have saved some trouble.

"One more question, before we do this," I said, as a thought came to mind, "When I was arrested, the chevalier said that I spoke with a dwarven accent. I thought he was mad. Are there dwarves too?"

"Most certainly," replied Tam, smiling again.

"And you do have a dwarven accent," Julie added, "It was the reason I decided to trust you at first. Well, one of the reasons. It was so unusual, I knew you couldn't be one of Baldy's lackies."

"Huh," I said to myself. I wondered how it came to be the case that two peoples of different races and worlds had the same accent. The answer was fairly simple, when I finally discovered it, but for the moment, we proceeded with the task at hand: Grand Theft Cart.

"What about this one?" I asked, pointing.

It was a large covered wagon, not dissimilar from the one that Goldie dumped me in to bring me to Halamshiral in the first place. Julie and Tam looked at it casually, trying to avoid looking like they were sizing up one to steal but generally failing. I was glad the street lighting didn't really cover this part of the avenue, otherwise we would have been made immediately. Neither of my companions were subtle people.

"If we take a covered one," Tam mused, "They'll want to get into it to inspect the contents."

"They'll definitely want to search it," Julie agreed, "We need one with horses ready too, the poor thing over there looks like it's ready to collapse."

The stable yard was fairly busy, and there was a queue to have the horses quartered for the night. Plenty of opportunity for thievery of many sorts. There was no shortage of elves walking past and pinching a box or two off the back of them. And no sign of any city militia or guards, resulting in the occasional brawl as we inspected the line for a likely contender.

If anyone competent had been in charge, there would have been mass arrests. But I wasn't in charge nor could I see anyone who was, so I held my peace in bemusement, irritated by the incompetence of the local government. Ironic, considering I was relying on just that to escape.

Julie and Tam argued over a flatbed cart that had been left unattended, its driver off to complain to the stablemaster about the queue, when another pulled up with a shifty looking human driving it. She got off the wagon and instead of joining the general mêlée for a spot in the stable, she wandered off back down the avenue.

Had she abandoned it? It certainly seemed like it.

I paced away from my companion's discussion and peeked into the back of it. There were plenty of heavy looking boxes hidden underneath a tarp, one or two big enough to hold a person, but with plenty of space to hide our Qunari friend. While I thought the whole situation extremely suspect, and probably criminal, the opportunity couldn't be ignored. The theft might not be reported if the owner was up to no-good.

I rushed back to my companions. Without saying a word, tapped them both on the shoulder and motioned with my head. They followed me without complaint, down the line to the last cart. They both had a look themselves. After a minute, they both nodded. It would work.

"You drive," I said to Julie, "I don't know how."

"Fine, but what do I say if they ask about you?" she said. It was a good question. Even with the blanket covering me, my equipment and pack weren't normal.

I bit my lip in thought, wondering how to explain an obviously military presence on the cart.

"I'm a passenger you're taking home to your village in return for protection," I said, "If he asks about me further, direct him to me. I'll improvise." Yeah, improvise by blowing his head clean off his neck. Which was about the only plan I could use if it happened. Not exactly the elegant solution.

Tam climbed into the back, and rearranged the cargo around the edges so she could hide herself in the middle under the tarp which had covered it. Julie climbed up onto the driver's seat, taking the reins, while I plonked myself down at the back, legs hanging off the tailgate.

We got moving, the ride smooth for the moment on the well-laid brick road of the avenue. I put away my weapon underneath my pack, keeping both beside me in case I needed to grab it quickly. I was very much planning to shoot my way out if I had to, though doing so would probably draw the attention of the entire city's complement of militia.

The gatehouse was near. It looked like a fairly typical example of one to me. Two round towers, flanking an arch with a portcullis poking from the roof, ready to drop. Two guards at ground level that I could see, undoubtedly more inside the towers asleep or otherwise.

Julie drew us up beside the guard investigating those who were leaving, which was a small number but enough to delay things. I watched the masked man talk to the pair of people in front of us, before nodding and sending them on their way. He stretched himself as he approached us, and I put my hand on my firelance, ready to pull it out. I craned my neck to listen.

"Anything to report?" he asked Julie in the Common language.

"Nothing but a long journey ahead of us," she replied cheerily, "Eager to go home."

"You and me both," he sighed, "What's your destination?"

"Hearth," Julie said, "Wanted to get started as soon as possible."

The way she said 'Hearth' was pretty damn close to 'Earth', because Orlesians don't pronounce the letter H in their own language. I smirked to myself at the sound of it.

"You would want to..." the guard agreed, "It's a good idea, you leaving at night. The traffic would slow you for days otherwise. Very costly, it could've been..." He held his hand out for something, confusing me for a moment. Julie rummaged around in a bag on her belt and produced two small silver coins, before dropping them in the open palm.

Ah, bribery, the grease of the wheels of society since time immemorial.

It seemed to be going well, until I almost shot up the place and jumped out of my skin. The second guard had gone around the other side of the cart, and tapped me on the shoulder. He chuckled at the effect he had caused, and I just narrowed my eyes at it. He was a young guy, I could tell.

"Sorry, didn't mean to scare you like that," he said, genuine, "Was just checking the cargo, when I noticed your boots. They look pretty comfortable. Where'd you get them?"

My sense of relief was palpable, and I was able to answer with a wide smile on my face. I like to think it was a kindly face, but for all I knew, it looked like I had won big on a bet or something. I might as well have, because I think my boots may have saved his life and ours. I'm surprised I haven't picked up the nickname "Boots" in the course of my life, so often have people commented on my footwear...

"Down by the prison, look for a sign with an apple on it, then ask for Jobs," I said, "He said he bought them from a dwarf, but I'm not sure about that."

The guard nodded, holding his chin as he thought about that, whereas I had to contain my laughter. I had made an otherworld joke that went right above his head. "Jobs" was someone with an almost supernatural marketing talent in my world, though he's long dead now and I never bought any of his products.

Satisfied that he had gotten what he wanted, the guard thanked me and waved to his colleague to let us through. The cart rolled forwards again. My heart soared with the thrill of getting away with it. I thought we were home free. We passed under the gate without incident, the horse taking us at a steady pace out onto the road. Julie flashed a grin back at me as we got under way.

A flash of light erupted from behind us, followed quickly by a rumble like thunder.

Spooked, the horse stopped and all eyes turned to the source. Even Tam poked her head out of the tarp, to see what the fuss was. Visible through the gateway, a building in the distance had exploded, light soaring into the sky in a column reaching to the heavens. I thought it was a small nuclear explosion, a weapon from my world capable of destroying whole cities in an instant. It was the only comparison I could make at that point. The destruction was massive.

"What is that?!" I asked Tam.

"It appears the Circle of Magi in Halamshiral has joined the rebellion," the Qunari said, "Troublesome, considering that they will be unable to reach Andoral's Reach." I blanked her, the significance of her words or how she knew what she was talking about escaping me. Rebellion didn't sound good, but that's always a matter of perspective.

"Let's get out of here," said Julie, her eyes wide and her eyebrows raised. Genuine fear was written all over her face. I decided it was probably a good idea to be afraid too.

"Yeah, fuck it," I said, "Go go go!"

The reins were lashed, and the horse trotted off at a considerable pace, making the ride far rougher than before. But I didn't pay the discomfort much heed, I just looked back in awe, as the light died. The guards ran about in a panic, and those waiting to pass through the gate now rushed out and fled in every direction.

The event would later be called the Sky Sundering, and it was apparently my fault. Though I still maintain it would have happened anyway. Regardless, we escaped my supposed handiwork, confidently free of pursuers but scared out of our wits nonetheless.

We kept going until dawn. The shock at what we had seen wore off quickly. Tam and I slept at Julie's insistence. I'm sure if we weren't exhausted from our efforts, we would have been unable to sleep on the hard wood.

Both myself and Tam were practically knocked out in seconds.

I had a strange dream that night, that I was back home but there were elves and dwarves. One of the latter was leader of my country. It was a hilarious dream, but bizarre all the same. Various famous people had been transformed, and were doing things I associated with either race. But I was home and the rest didn't matter.

Needless to say, I think it reflected my newly won freedom from people trying to kill me.

I awoke when Julie called us both, an orange cloud bobbing in the sky above me as I opened my eyes. It was still pretty dark, but the sun was turning the clouds angry colours already. It couldn't have been more than a few hours since we escaped.

"I see you both got comfortable," Julie smirked.

I sat up, and something poked into my stomach rather painfully, sending me back down again. Perhaps I shouldn't have taken off my armour to sleep. Tam's head was laid on top of my torso, using me as a pillow as she was curled up tightly. It was one of her horns that had pricked me. She looked very comfortable indeed, and completely, utterly harmless. When her life wasn't threatened, Tam was a completely different person, she could be very warm.

A cough drew my eyes up at our driver.

"You're perfectly welcome to join us, Madamoiselle Marteau," I joked back in Orlesian, yawning afterwards.

"I would like that, but we need to make a decision first," said Julie, "I took us on a less important road to avoid traffic, but it's slower. There's a stream coming up soon, we should stop for a while. Find something to eat, wash ourselves."

My stomach rumbled in response, which caused Tam to raise her head for a moment before she lay back down again. I guess that answered that. We needed to stop and take account. It was extremely unlikely we were being pursued, and I got enthusiastic about the idea.

"Sounds like a plan," I replied, "I have food we can share, and if we look clean, people won't think 'escaped prisoners' when they look at us." I dearly wanted to change clothes, and luckily had no shortage of clothing, having the spares of an entire squad at my disposal.

"A wash would definitely help," Julie said, with her nose turned. I was forced to agree, but I think all of us were pretty filthy at this point. Of course, I couldn't let the chance to flirt go by.

"Anything to get me out of my clothes," I sighed with a grin.

I got a loud laugh for my efforts, which made me feel better. "We'll see," said Julie. We crossed a small bridge, and turned off the road onto a worn path. The ride got extremely bumpy as we travelled the half mile to a flat spot beside the river in question. The cart came to an abrupt halt.

Tam woke up groggily, pushing herself up using my ribcage. Which hurt, as my bruises from the beatings I had received were still not healed. She looked around, squinting at our new surroundings and then back at me with a confused look. I shrugged at her, and she stood up to her considerable full height and stretched.

"Good sleep?" I asked, as she disembarked from the wagon with a jump. She turned around and leaned on the side, her shoulders and arms along the edge.

"The best I've had in a long while," Tam said, nothing in her tone indicating mood, "I have you to thank for that, I have not slept in commune for a long time."

"In commune?" Julie asked.

"I was Tamassran," she said, scratching a horn lazily for a moment, "I often slept alongside others, to comfort them. Most often with children, but also with warriors whom had seen too much battle, although there was ... more to that than sleep. I had done so for years, and I now sleep far better in commune."

The implications of that were... extensive. She really was from a different culture.

"You may have noticed I am not a child," I said flatly, "But I am a warrior who has seen too much battle, or close enough."

The Qunari shook her head, seeing that I was getting the wrong end of the stick.

"It was more about my comfort," Tam replied, "My apologies. Did I bother you?"

The horns were not the best thing to have sticking into your side while you slept, but my sleep hadn't been disrupted, so there was nothing to worry about.

"Not at all," I said, "I hadn't even noticed until it was pointed out you were on top of me." And I had been pleased when I did discover it.

I climbed down from the cart and hefted my pack onto my pack with my weapon in hand, and the Qunari approached me.

"Then it shall not be a problem," Tam said, her viciously predatory smile coming out again. I noted the use of the future tense there, but thought it a joke at my expense. Big mistake.

My stomach insisted we eat, so the three of us took some of the smaller boxes off the cart and sat in a circle. The boxes actually contained fresh fruit, apples to be exact, so the ladies started chomping on them with complete abandon, wiping the juice coming down their chins. It was no time for mannerly eating.

In the mean time, I got a fire going with the remains of a smashed box and my lighter, which apparently didn't draw much interest from my companions. I opened my pack up, and broke out the pre-cooked meals, sealed in shiny waterproof bags, along with a mini-tripod to heat up some of the food.

Both Julie and Tam watched me open one in alarm, as I checked the various tins and containers for what I had.

"What are those?" asked Julie, pointing at the discarded bag.

"The bag or the food?" I asked in return.

"Both," said Tam.

"The bag and the containers are made of plastic, a material from my country," I said, "The food is an MRE." Truth be told, I wasn't even sure what plastic was made of myself, except that you needed crude oil or something like it to manufacture the stuff.

"Emeree?" said Julie, turning her head slightly, "What is that, an animal?"

"It stands for Meals, Ready to Eat," I said in Common, guessing correctly that acronyms weren't a big thing in a Thedosian societies, "Food that's cooked beforehand, then preserved and sealed in these containers. It's soldier food."

"Are you a officer?" asked Tam, "You seem to be more knowledgeable than a footman."

"What I am is more complex, but I'm an officer, yes," I replied, "We can talk about our professions later. Here, just taste some of mine, I brought the good stuff."

Well, as good as rations got anyway. These ones were at least more fresh than normal.

I opened the container for the crackers, handing the former to Julie and put a container for some cut chicken breast on the fire to heat up. Julie grabbed a cracker and wolfed it down without hesitation. She hadn't eaten in at least three days as far as I knew, so I hardly blamed her for not appreciating the glory that is the military-issue cracker.

"He's right, they're good," she said to Tam, "Here, try one."

The packet was held out to the Qunari, who took a cracker and ate more deliberately. She nodded her approval, and the pair of them ate all my crackers before I could get a look in. Small price to pay for their company, maybe, but the sight was too interesting for another reason; it was strange, watching the two women from another world gobble down something that wasn't even made on their planet.

I wondered about bacteria and the like for a second, but I hadn't had any trouble myself with the native water, so I figured it would be fine. I just sat back and enjoyed watching them eat. Hadn't seen women outside a uniform eat in a long while by that stage.

The sun remained low in the sky, so the fire flickered light around our campsite while it heated the curried chicken up quickly. A few minutes later, I opened the pack, releasing the smell of cooked meat and spices into the air.

"That smells great," said Julie, eyeing the packet hungrily. In truth, it was pretty crappy by Earth standards, but it was probably new to her. I doubted then that there were such spices in Thedas, and to this day I have not found most of them. Although that hasn't stopped me creating an equivalent. I miss my curried chicken.

"Do all of those Emerees have meat in them?" Tam asked.

"Yeah," I replied, "The ones I have with me anyway."

"You eat meat for every meal?" she said, as I got out a knife and fork to eat the contents in the bag, "We may have more in common that I thought, but even for Qunari soldiers, every meal is a lot."

If you've ever seen a Qunari soldier, you'd understand why they'd need protein regularly.

"In my country, we eat meat a lot of the time, yeah," I replied, "We even have a name for people who don't eat meat. I take it you don't eat it often?"

"We would run out of animals if we did," said Julie, reaching for the meal. I gave it to her after popping a chunk of chicken into my mouth. She gathered a ball of rice and chicken together with the knife and fork, and ate it. A hugely satisfied smile spread across her face as she chewed, lingering after she swallowed the first bite.

Tam looked on in envy, as Julie gathered her second bite greedily. I looked on in amusement, and took a swig from my canteen. Then promptly sprayed the contents back out in surprise.

A noise erupted from the cart.

It started with a banging, and was soon augmented with cursing. We all hurried to stand up, and I raised my weapon. Tam grabbed her bow and nocked an arrow, though kept it lowered. Julie kept eating even as she stood, watching like it was a show. It would become one soon enough.

Finally, a box split open, one of the ones that was big enough to hold a person, and a figure emerged from it. Shaking broken planks of wood off of himself, he turned around and found us staring at him. He froze on the spot. The stand-off continued to the sound of Julie's food-muffled giggling.

The figure was an elf.

He had a short crop of messy black hair on top of his head, blue eyes and was pencil-thin. He wore a flowing hooded robe over a tunic and pair of trousers, all of which were a light grey with red lining the edges. He was armed only with a long stick or a spear of some kind, which drained a lot of my aggression. I didn't realise that it was in fact a far more deadly weapon.

However, I don't think I would have reacted differently even if I had known. His demeanour was calm and cheerful. I lowered my weapon and stood at ease, as he hopped down off the wagon. Tam twitched and Julie stopped eating her meal as he did so, but he just took a few steps towards us and supported himself on his staff.

"This might seem a bit sudden, but could I have some of that?" he asked with a grin, pointing at the chicken.