Chapter 6
Royal Palace Gardens, Month 3 - Stargazing, 9:10 of the Dragon Age.
"Mamil!"
The High elf turned to see her two small girls running towards her, followed by her eldest daughter and godson. Their laughter aloft in the air caused her to laugh along with them.
The youngest trips fell on the soft thick grass, Deedo quickly goes to stand by the young girl, her sister kneels next to her to help her up, Deedo places a hand on her arm to still her, with Cailan and Lili'Enyel stopped to see if the little girl is well.
"She must get up on her own. How else will she grow? Tenkou my little love on your feet or your tears will cause it to rain."
Ruroni held her sister's hand once Tenkou got to her feet well by herself. "Thank you, mamil."
"My little darlings." Deedo looked over her shoulder, "Come it is lunchtime, I can hear Cailan's tummy from here." She smiled, took each girl by the hand. Maric looked on as the two older children ran circles around Deedo, who made their way towards him.
Crossed his arms, his brow furrowed. "How do you do it?"
"What?" Deedo smiled, trying to contain her laughter.
Maric unfolded his arms. "The children, how do you manage them so easily?"
Deedo laughed as Cailan tackled Lili, as Maric went to reprimand him, "You let them grow, they are like bundles of energy, each different, but their laughter, oh and their light." She smiled softly as she placed a hand on Maric's. "When Kal'an was born, I never thought my heart could fit anyone else in." She looked at Maric, who returned her gaze. Her smile broadened when she saw Kal'an approaching with Loghain, as well as a little blonde girl at his side.
Deedo gathered her son in her arms, whispering to him in elvish. She greeted the man with a warm, friendly smile. "Loghain, who is this lovely?"
"Anora, my daughter."
Deedo's eyes shined, looking at the young girl who watched the others play and wanting to stop Cailan from roughhousing with the half-elven girl he tackled, with a stamp of her foot, "I dare say she has your temperament." Deedo leaned close to the Teyrn's ear. He stifled a chuckle as he cleared his throat.
Addressed the young girl, "Would you care to join the others in play or have something yummy to eat?"
"I dislike playing with other children." The small blonde said.
"As you wish, my dear." Deedo smiled and nodded, tickled with the young girl's response, as she summoned her youngest to get the older children.
"Yes, she definitely has your temperament." Loghain closed his eyes, shook his head with a snort.
Loghain turned from the children, who were merrily chatting to sit on the soft grass for lunch. "My Lady, what does, Eteir mean?"
"Does Kal'an call you that?" She looked to see the children as Anora joined them, leaving the adults' to talk. Maric looked at the Elven woman, waited to hear the answer himself. "It means Father. He must have thought of a way to not shame you."
Loghain, exasperated, Deedo with her constantly thinking his son would shame him. He objected every time she mentioned it. Shook his raven head. Loghain made sure she knew once more. "He does not shame me, nor will he ever. Our son just addressed me as he should."
Deedo had her arms about her, smiled at the thought as she looked upon the children. Her smile broadened when she realized her two dearest friends stood with equally loving smiles as they watched their progeny.
"No cousin, I taught it to him." Xellexes returned from the castle library to attend lunch, and found all members were out partaking in the fresh air, "The time is nearly upon us, tell them." As he went to sit with his nieces and nephews.
Deedo smiled softly, looking at the Raven head of her firstborn. "Loghain, Maric… Take care of my baby. We shall head home soon."
"So soon. It feels as if you have just gotten here." Maric has grown accustomed to her being here for this extended time. He knew it was for her to help with his boy, for that he will be forever thankful.
In Maric's mind, he needed to secure his light, to make sure she returned for longer. Even allowed access to his library, having had books brought from Kinloch for her cousin to study to find a way for them all to stay, "Deedo, may I have a word?"
Deedo nodded at Loghain to sit with the others as Maric took her into the castle.
A pocket of Time, Plane of Time, Norrath, Year - Unknown, Month Unknown. 9:1? of the Dragon Age.
Deedo arrived on the Plane of Knowledge. A month after her return to Norrath, sought access to the restricted sections of the Great Library. Deedo, along with Xellexes, helped fund scouting trips to Kunark and Velious. They were seeking ways to travel back to Thedas without the exhaustion of mana.
One such trip, Deedo found herself no longer in the halls of the grand library but placed in a large room, the size of her room in Qeynos, which looked comfortable enough with its pleasant decor, groggy as aches pulsed, she stood from the plush bed and examined her surroundings.
A door on the opposite side from where she lay. She reached for the latch until she found the door would not budge. 'Do not panic, there has to be someone around.' She thought to herself as her stomach churned. She felt a wave of nausea wash over her. Finding a pail close to the door, she released the contents of her stomach.
A short time after Deedo freshened herself the locked door opened revealed a man, someone she recognized from visits to the Grand Library. Khol stood with his ice-blue eyes, smiled tenderly at Deedo - who assumed he was there to help her leave.
"Khol, thank Tunare you are here. I do not know what has happened or where I am. I knew I was at the steps of the Library and the next I awoke here." She gestured around the room as Khol stepped closer to her.
Cupping her cheek, stroking her smooth skin affectionately. He smiled kindly at the woman he came attached to. "You are in a safe place. You look a little pale, are you faring well?" He looked her over and placed a hand on her abdomen. "I would say that holding one in suspended time has a slight effect. How is our child growing comfortably, I hope?"
Deedo looked up, flabbergasted, "What?" She felt sick once more, then a sharp pain in the lower part of her stomach spread across her belly.
"Our child, mine and yours. I have had you, my Deedo for years." Rubbed her stomach once more. "We will wait until the woman who paid for her arrives."
That is when things turned worse as the sweet expression of the man who was so kind and attentive soon twisted into someone very unrecognizable.
Advancing, he stood to meet her eye to eye, pressing her into the wall. He grabbed her face, directed her with minimal force to the bed. He ignored her screams and pleas as he held her mouth open; she went to cast, found she could not.
He cast a spell, immobilizing her in place while he performed his evil, pouring a foul liquid down the High Elf's throat, he slowly removed his robes, laying them neatly on the bed as the liquid took effect, he would take her as she was still awake.
It was hours he spent relieving himself with her awakened prone, delicious body; he made sure she knew how good she felt to him, violating her, his disgusting praise. It sickened her. When he satisfied his hunger, took a different vial. Pouring the glowing liquid across her stomach, Deedo watched as her taut stomach grew, swelling to be large and round. Something was alive within, stirred rapidly inside. She could feel it.
Deedo's pain was so great at the rapid expansion of her taut stomach, she lost consciousness. When she finally awoke, she felt sore. She could move. Shaking her head, her body screaming at her to rest, she rubbed her hand across the sealed wound; it was neat, as if a cleric stitched her together. The scar would heal, like most other wounds, so she did not worry.
What caught her Elven ears were tiny mewling next to her, two small infants asleep next to her. Honeyed complexion like her, one a single white curl on his small head the color of the brightest moonlit night, while the other sable the color of the newborn fawns in the Spring. They were beautiful, perfect.
Taking them from the plush bed in her arms, she felt the essence of herself within them. The tiny babes stretched and burbled, Deedo could only stare in amusement. She kissed chubby cheeks, counted tiny fingers and toes, and ran a loving finger over their tapered little ears. Finally nuzzled her children, held them close. "Rowan again, you are right. Oh, if only they could see you." Happy bittersweet tears trickled from the High Elf's eyes.
For years, three Deedo had kept track from the time her young children were born, held against their will, her children and she. Were there others looking for her? Had Maric or Loghain known? Did her cousin send parties to search for her? She still did not know where she had sustained it.
Time crawled once again as her children grew. She doted on the children, told them stories, taught them everything she knew, and talked of her journeys. Making the best of the situation, much like she did on Thedas. Save the difference. Named her son Okhor, he took after his father; she knew his face, a strapping young lad, even for his young age. Her daughter Deedolett–Little Deedo who favored Deedo except for the color of her hair.
Deedolit taught them to read and write from the books that were left in their room, found them to both be very intelligent, eager to learn, and absorbed even the smallest thing their mother spoke of.
Deedolett sat on the rug in the middle of the room one evening staring at the fire flickering on the candle as it set on the mantle of the fireplace, while Okhor swung around with a play sword.
"Mummy, I will be a knight like An! TAKE THAT!" the young boy shouted, swung the sword at a large pillow in the room's corner.
"Okhor, you shall need to learn to ride a horse, and if you are any more like your father..." Deedo stifled a giggle, "Let us hope you will not find yourself soundly on your bottom, please be careful, My Heart."
The elder Deedo smiled and watched them from across the room, "Olett, My Love, the flame will not move because you wish it." Deedo then saw as her daughter moved the flame from the wick to eye level.
"Well now, I take that back. Can you do anything else with it?" She carefully stood to sit next to the small Elven child, gathering her boy in her lap. Deedolett smiled and made a figure of a bunny and they watched as it hopped about, they giggled and clapped, and before Deedo knew it, the bunny turned white.
"Mummy is cold!" Deedolett exclaimed excitedly.
"Letty can do magic!" Okhor cheered for his sibling.
"Yes. My love, cold, so you can control the elements. With your favor of the sword." She kissed the soft curls of her children as she watched them continue to play.
Deedo had prepared trinket boxes for the twins, filled them with a few enchanted necklaces she had made, along with a few coins and a map of Norrath with other miscellaneous items, several things that she found about the room to make her captivity much more pleasant.
The High elf continued to tell more stories of her time in Ferelden, of tragic romances, of Kings, Generals and battles, and of love.
Deedo has long abandoned the idea of communication. No one heard her calls. She thought of her firstborn, the older girls, feared they thought she had perished, with Loghain kept Kal'an safe and her older children looked after by her cousin and immediate family. She did not fear as much.
Deedo missed her otherworldly friends and wondered if they missed her as well. She took it in stride. No further harm came to her, or the young ones, as Khol left things that were needed for them. He knew her likes and did well to keep her and the children comfortable and content.
Other moments she would lay awake and cry, she was so close to being able to go back for longer times. Deedo felt somewhat at ease, but still leery. Her son and daughter were her only concern, and the children were happy as they could be. Deedo did the best she could under the confined conditions he had kept them in.
One peaceful night still locked away from the rest of the world, she and the twins turned in after thanking Tunare and Erollisi for their many blessings, as all was peaceful the three slept comfortably.
Some hours had passed, and all was quiet, save for the sound of the rhythmic breathing twins in their deep sleep, when the door opened to reveal Khol with a hooded shadow close behind.
He and the shadow entered only after a tingle of magic cast, a hindering hex paralyzed the three that lay a few feet before them, thinking they had stunned the trio, came over to the side the babes slept to snatch the young girl from her mother's grasp.
When Deedo heard them enter, she was ready as she had been from the time he violated her. Felt Khol edge closer to her–she felt the hum of the strange liquid that hindered her movements.
The tables had turned to Deedo, stunned Khol in place; she sprung from bed, scrambled across and off the other side with Okhor in her arms. A long thick ribbon to hold her son to her chased after the cloaked figure. They, Olett and the kidnapper, had just crossed the threshold into the hall when Deedo fired a chaotic spell, a jolt that should cause discomfort enough to halt it, the cloaked figure moved quickly, a second spell whizzed past their head and hit the stone wall behind.
Missed her target, Deedo took to chase after the woman through the torch-lit halls, which seemed like an enormous maze. Finally reached the end of this massive structure, full of turns and corridors. The elderly woman carried her baby out into the warm night air, stopping in a large grass field.
The moon shone bright and high in the clear star-filled night sky illuminated the kidnapper who held her still-sleeping child close, Deedo hindered from further advancement and watched in horror as a woman, the woman she met years ago in Thedas was before her now a younger version of herself.
Spoke in a lucid motherly voice, she sang sweet words to the waking child, "Sh, sh worry not my precious love, you will be home soon." Then, opened by a portal of black and purple, Deedo could feel the frigid temperature against the warmth of her skin from where she stood. Asha'bellanar! To turn her back to the Enchantress was a mistake. The Enchantress sent a spell so strong that soundly grazed her head, sending her stumbling through the portal.
Deedo went forward determined to continue the pursuit, just before she could run through, suddenly everything came to a crawl prickles along her skin she could feel her energy-drain, "Deedo listen to me, I know you cannot trust me now but I had my reason, I know where she has taken her." The languid echo of a ticking clock far in the distance, she feared where she was being held.
Hearing Khol coming up behind her, she felt rage.
"Khol almë Sepset, hear me and listen well, I know who has taken her." Deedo turned quickly, sent a major stun spell, causing Khol to lose grip of her, clutching his head in pain.
The portal, now too small for her and Okhor to go through. Rain flitted through the smell of fresh earth. Strong urgent need rose from her belly, Deedo panicked, shouted into the rapidly closing portal to her loves, "Kal'an, Maric, Loghain, if you can hear me, save my baby! Kal'an save your sister, tell your father and the King!" Pure uncontrolled rage as the portal closed with a quiet flash before her.
Deedo turned angry tear-filled eyes to the tall half-elf before her, "When I am free of this place I will not hesitate to kill you."
Wiping the blood from his nose, his eyes cold shifted red, in a harsh whisper, "I am sorry to say, my dear, you may never get that chance. But I shall allow you to keep our son."
Deedo laughed in his face, weak, and drained, clung to her son, her and Maric's little boy, "You know as well as I, this boy is not yours." Raised her hand to cast. Before she could blink, he was at her side. The signal of the hour chimes. Glancing behind Khol, she could see shapes in the night sky, numbers, and large looming hands of a clock. Faint.
Terror of reality, she knew, "No. They never knew I was here…"
Deedo's eyes went wide as everything around her went black. A quick, hard pacification spell put her out like a windblown candle. When she finally awoke, a dull throbbing pain in her head, she could hear the frantic cries of Okhor and her daughter's calls, "Shush my… Darlings…. It is… safe." The sound of hurried footsteps filled her ears.
"Cousin! Girls back up. Cousin!"
"They found,… us." She smiled as she drifted off once more, latching tightly to the son of the King.
Lili'Enyel and Tenkou being the first to find her, got their Uncle Xellexes to help carry her in their home. That is when the healing began as well as a barrage of questions to which over the next several Norrathian years they found the answers they all sought, the gateway from Norrath to Thedas.
The Spoiled Princess, Lake Calenhad Docks, 9:15 Month 3 - Drakonis of the Dragon Age.
Kinloch Hold, the librarian tower, the Circle of Ferelden home to the Mages sat in the middle of the lake, and it was quiet. A portal opened in the forest thick with snow on the other side of the bank, letting a woman stumble through, bleeding from a head wound.
Hurrying her steps to the door of the Spoiled Princess, she requested immediate passage to the tower.
Once on the small rickety boat, big enough for two, the small rowboat made its way to the tower. The babe made a slight grunt after being jostled, "Hush my darling; we will be there in a few moments." She had whispered, voice wavered as she was gripping the babe close.
The tower was within reach. "Just a few more feet, 'She hit me harder than I thought." She reassured the babe- and herself as they neared. It was bitterly cold, and the woman covered the baby tightly in her cloak to keep the infant warmer.
As the boat neared the shore, a young Templar asked, "Would you like me to wait for you here, miss?" As he stopped at the quay.
Ignoring the man, the woman hurried up the drafty stairs that led to her destination, carrying the babe tightly to her chest as she made her way to the great doors of the tower. Laying the basket close to the doors, and knocked hard with the last bit of borrowed energy she had.
"I wish you to grow well, my vassal." She placed a kiss on the babes' head, a smirk as she moved light brown strands of hair on the babe's forehead before covering its face quickly.
To produce another blanket out for the child to warm more, she looked startled by the sound of the door opening. She ran quickly, summoned a portal that disappeared on the other side.
The Templars who stood a few feet from the door on guard heard the knock, and one of them stepped out with a torch in hand and stood looking around, "Who would come this time of night?"
"Ahh, no one here." He turned to leave and, hearing a small muffled sound, he stopped and listened closely again, though it may have been the wind.
As he turned around, walked back the way he came, bumped into the basket at his feet. Looking quizzically at the basket, he brought his torch down and heard a small, muffled cry come from within.
There was blood on the blanket, "By the Maker." He gasped. His eyes followed the blood trail splattered from the basket into the stone they left the basket on. He dropped the torch and picked up the basket, gently carrying it inside.
The Templar stepped inside the Tower with the basket in hand. "Hurry, get the First Enchanter and Knight Commander Greagoir. I will need to look more outside for who left the trail of blood." Speaking to the younger Templar as he entered.
The man waited until his brother in arms came back to relieve him of the basket. He went back out into the cold of the night, followed the trail, and found no clue, other than footprints in the slick mud, as to the owner of the child. Although he noted the tuft of snow disturbed by the cliff's edge, shook his head sadly.
He made his way back into the tower. By then several mages and Templars were standing about, trying to get a look at the newcomer. First Enchanter Irving and the Knight Commander entered just as the first Templar who had found the child came back in.
When the young Templar who carried in the basket removed the outer bloodstained blanket after setting it down on the floor, several gasps chorused, a tiny elf child lay in tears, its caramel complexion reddened from crying, tiny pointed ears pierced, and when it opened its eyes, all the women sighed beautiful big light aquamarine eyes. The child let out another small whimper. Irving picked the child up, heading to the Circle nursery, to get food and a change of clothing.
Irving spoke softly to the tiny girl in his arms, "No crying little one, we are all your family now."
Helias knelt on the floor, rummaged through the basket before getting up to follow.
"First Enchanter?" the young man asked
"Yes, my boy?" he turned and looked at the young man.
"This was at the bottom." He handed the piece of vellum and a wooden box on the lid, a horned horse and mabari, to Irving, who handed the child to Greagoir. The Knight Commander stood mortified at holding someone so young. As she gabbled and giggled at the sight of Greagoir, ice-chilled by the Knight Commander's nose, one lady promptly took the baby from him.
Irving chuckled as he unfolded the vellum "Deedolett Vanimelda Itarille Swiftleaf., that is all it says." He smiled warmly at the tiny girl.
"Well, you have a name, my dear, and an exquisite name at that, Miss Surana." He took her in his arms and talked with her on the way to the nursery.
Over the years, she breezed through the basic studies, surpassing all the basics of the elemental arts. Spent most of her time studying the languages of the world in her books - Antivan, Orlesian, and ancient Tevinter.
She studied everything from the outside world, but; she found the most comfort within the sleeves of every book she read about, Lady Deedolit Meleth Swiftleaf of Felwithe, the Savior of King Maric, The Light of Ferelden.
Irving had made it a point to give to her new books when the new trade came in. None held her interest more than that of her namesake.
Deedolett helped when she had finished her studies in the nursery with the other children to help them adjust to life in their new home. She would make sweets for the children, it helped most with the transitions.