AN: Disclainer; I own nothing except my OC's and original plot points that aren't found in the dragon age trilogy canon. Dragon age belongs to BioWare. I made no money in publishing this document.
- I'm on the fence about this chapter. Let me know what you think. Please leave a review.
Chapter 5
It took them no time at all to settle in and take over. The very first night of there occupation, they defiled the sanctity of my parent's master suites and made themselves at home. The escort of knights, servants and fellow Mortalitasi mages they brought with them were from Gabriella's family home. Within a few days every senior staff member imaginable had been replaced by those loyal to them, including all 16 of my Guard Captains, my senior captain Liam Hunt and Alron my Stewart. The remaining employees loyal to the regent and his wife were dispersed among the excising servants and guards. I was watched closely by the new staff at Gabriella Volkahrin behest but all they saw was an innocent, well behaved ten-year-old child. I was able to keep Seriel as my personal maid though. That was a mistake on there part, but I wasn't about to tell him that.
This time around, Markus didn't even bother with demotions. He just laid them off completely. I had to hand over all they keys to the Estate, the record books and ledgers, everything. Or, what he assumed was everything. I had kept a second ledger for all my construction projects and businesses separate from the estates which now worked in my favour. He would have no idea that all the new businesses and houses which had cropped up since he'd been gone belonged to me and any monetary revenue, they accumulated along with them.
Also, anyone on the estate itself who had been in the know had been fired already. The only risk was the local peasants who worked as my businesses employees but I don't think Markus would be willing to lower himself enough to talk to them and learn these particular details so there was little worry there.
Both my father and mother's crowns had been squirreled away off the estate within an hour of there arrival, along with hereditary items of import that related to my title, like my family rings barring the Nevarran de Ghislain coat of arms (a rare wild purple rose native to our lands), The official seal matrix (big metal stamp) of the Ghislain's, the family's ceremonial claymore gifted to us by the First Pentaghast Dynasty back during the Glory Age, and other such items. I also added to this the scroll holding the royal decree which made Markus regent in the first place. Years from now I will be able to use the very same decree the regain my land and title from the interloper.
Racial tensions returned to new heights and elven servants pays were cut back to what they had been before. This made more then one of them abandon ship in the middle of the night and look elsewhere for employment. This was especially true for those who had been around back when my parents were alive and remembered the horrible abuses they endured. I could hardly blame them. I made a point of penning letters of recommendation for them and passed them on through Alron who waited for me with those loyal to me in a nearby village Inn I owned after they were laid off.
It was difficult to watch but I was powerless to stop it. All I could do was bide my time and plan my own escape.
Markus and Gabriella didn't stick around for longer then two weeks. Once all the senior staff that had been loyal to me was replaced and Markus counted the silver and asserted his dominance, like a dog marking his territory by pissing on a tree, he and his lady wife left to return to court in Nevarra City.
I had no doubt that some dastardly plan had been set to ensure my tragic demise the moment they arrived at court and confirmed their alibis if not sooner. I had no intention of sticking around long enough for them to hatch it.
The second there carriage (with a small escort of four this time) rolled out the gate, Seriel and I had fled the property though a secret tunnel accessible from my study behind the back wall of the cold fireplace located therein. Before closing the wall back up once we'd crawled through, I placed two fresh wooden fire logs on the grill and set them aflame. Now there was no chance of someone finding the secret passage and following us through.
In the recent past, I had my Dwarven architect Boedrin excavate this hidden passageway in complete secrecy the first year of his employment. There weren't even any receipts or records of it existence which is saying a lot because I loved paper trails. Its one thing about me (among many) that drove Seriel crazy. It was completely hush hush and under the table.
I'm ever so glad now that I had it built. Alron and Serial considered me a little paranoid, but it's not paranoia if they really are out to get you. My gut instincts and forethought are a hell of a lot more refined in this lifetime then they ever had been when I was Audrey Grant and thank the Maker for that or else, I would be long dead by now.
Its been two months since I escaped my home back in Nevarra. I am now in Val Royeaux, the shining capital of Orlais. Under a false identity, I purchased a walled eight-bedroom house just past the docks on the outskirts of the city tucked along the waterfront. It boasted a large backyard garden and green house, a boat house with a guest suite above it right up on the water, A sperate guard house with a barracks and training grounds, and a stable that could house 10 mounts. Last but not least it had a coble stone courtyard in the front with a fountain in the center just beyond the wrought Iron front gate. It was much smaller than my family Estate back in Nevarra but still too big for my needs.
I only Brought Alron, Seriel, and Seeker Liam Hunt. I also only had five of the original sixteen Guard captains Markus had laid off. Two were dwarven men, One an elvish female, one an elvish male and one a human female. They were the most trustworthy of the lot who had offered to come with me who had waited for me at the Inn. The rest were either offered other employment at my businesses of given a letter of recommendation and sent on there way with a small severance to keep them afloat for the time being.
I might have tried to find a smaller (less eye catching) house to buy, except real-estate was hard to come by in Val Royeaux, and to the stuffy ostentatious Orlisan nobles, this was a small house where they would expect a lesser noble of little note to reside.
I had been incredibly lucky in acquiring it. The lesser Orlisan Noble by the name of Lord François La Mar who had been the pervious owner had been deeply in debt because of a gambling problem. To pay them back he decided to sell his summer home (that's all this place had been. His summer home. He had other properties in the countryside where he spent most of his time.) at almost twice it's worth.
Seeker Liam facilitated the purchase of the property on my behalf. During the initial exchange over dinner, the seeker confessed to the Orlisan 'in confidence' that we would pay 2/3rds of the inflated price if he would agree to keep his silence. Intrigued, Francois agreed but fished for details like a true Orlisan socialite. Throughout supper and during after supper digestives in the cigar room, Seeker Liam 'begrudgery' confessed to Francois under a false inebriated slur that I was the bastard child of a rich Antivan merchant and his mistress, an unknown Nevarran women who had recently died.
To both hide me and protect me from those who would try to use me against my Antivan father (an unspecified individual of the Medici family). I'd been sent away to Orlais. Naturally, I was now searching for properties for sale in Val Royeaux as I had been excepted at the prestigious University located here to further my education in painting and the arts of which I had some natural talent for.( I now go by the name Estella Medici.)
Liam's performance had been flawless, and Francois had bought it hook, line and sinker. There was no way François would keep that kind of juicy gossip to himself even if we paid him to keep silent, so my new identity and false history was legitimized in one foul swoop. Francois would take our money and return to the clandestine gambling rings in Val Royeaux with his newfound wealth, spreading the irresistible detail about my arrival on the local scene.
What was even better was that my very real enrolment to the prestigious University of Orlais had been facilitated by Mariana Medici herself giving further credibility to my new identity. What was also true was my natural artistic talent which is a remnant from my first life as Audrey. You know what they say, the best lies are partial truths.
I spent the next six years in Val Royeaux. After leaving Nevarra, Mariana and I returned to exchanging our monthly letters via Ativan Crow assassin pick up and drop off. These letters were now also coded using a cypher know only to Mariana and I. The reason for this is because now that I have gone out into the world at large, Mariana has decided to collect on the many favors I owed her. She is using me as an informant once again, but this time it is with my full knowledge that I am her spy, unlike when she began this unusual exchange when I was two. As I go around town with classmates and acquaintances visiting cafes, salons and going to balls during the social season, I collected any information and gossip of note and reported back to Mariana.
One of the earlier pieces of insider information I had been able to deliver was the successful death of the fifth blight's Archdemon Urthemiel at the Battle of Denerim by a Warden by the name of Elissa Cousland, newly titiled The Hero of Ferelden. What is less commonly know was that Ms Cousland was ser Alistair's lover, the same Alistair who is to be crowned the new king of Ferelden in the coming months which means Elissa Cousland will likely become Queen.
That information put me in Mariana's good books and a wonderful start to paying her back for all her help.
During my informative and unique years in Val Royeaux, I not only refined my artistic talents and social skills (aka spy skills). I also got back to training my self defence abilities in earnest. I did practice some of what the Dwarven female Jarvia had taught me during my first years as Duchess, but I had been so buy and overworked the last few years that I let it mostly fall to the wayside. Now, I had more free time then I was used to, so I decided to fill it by catching up with things I'd been too busy to properly concentrate on before.
I had one of my dwarven guards by the name of Ruston go out and try to track down Jarvia. If not Jarvia then someone else who comes highly recommended by our friendly merchant contacts.
It took some time, but he returned with a young teenaged dwarven female by named Malika Cadash. Alron was a little skeptical because of her apparent youth but he should know better by now then to judge someone by there age, especial as my employee.
Malika was a stunning young woman. She was short like most dwarves with a curvy voluptuous figure. Her hands were covered in intricate Azura blue tribal tattoos which crept up her arms and disappeared under the sleeves of her tunic. She had natural bright carrot orange hair kept out of her face by a complex braid. Her best feature though had to be her eyes. They were large and would have been perceived as innocent looking if not for there sharp distinctive amber yellow colour of a predator.
Her skin was as lily white as my own without a freckle in sight. She wore no makeup except for the kohl lining her eyes making them stand out that much more. It was very tastefully done in my opinion.
She was an even more accomplished rouge then Jarvia had been. Beyond refining my skills as a two daggered rouge, she extended my training to include basic first aid Thadus style. This extra training concentrated on alchemy training for crafting potions, slaves and even making bombs and poisons. It was like a medieval version of a botanist mixed with a chemist. She taught me how to identify a wide variety of fauna, where to find them in the wild, how to handle them safely and prep them for potion making.
A lot of the highly prized potion recipes she shared with me were Cadash family secrets which I would take with me to the grave on pain of death. In return I shared with her some of my grandmother's bakery recipes like nana's Christmas brownies from my first lifetime to try and compensate but I knew they fell woefully short in comparison.
She only stayed two years with me before she returned to the Carta, but we became close during our time together. She was the first true friend I ever made in Thadus who wasn't decades older than me. Even though she'd been on the pay roll at the time, you wouldn't have known she was my subordinate. She was a free-spirited witty individual who took shit from no one. Malika never feared reprisal when speaking her mind and I could always trust her to tell me like it is.
It was the first genuine equal relationship that was based off more then a mutually beneficial exchange. Don't get me wrong. I love Alron, Seriel and Liam dearly and I was secure that they returned the sentiment, but they were very deferential to me in all things which created a sort of invisible wall around me. With Malika, that wall disappeared. Until I met her, I didn't really realize how lonely I actually was. I didn't whine about it because, regardless of my problems with Markus, I had been very lucky. I could have been born into vastly different circumstances or even a different race and my life would have been much worse off as a result. I was very privileged, but unlike other nobles, I was humbly grateful for the fact and consciously aware of others who were much worse off then I was.
But, like all good things, my time training with Malika ended. She could no longer delay returning to her clan and she taught me all she could. The rest was up to me. We both refused to say goodbye. It was until next time.
Another novel experience I had in Val Royeaux was medieval housekeeping practices. Up until this point I'd paid others to do the cleaning and cooking but because of the clandestine nature of my retreat, I didn't have a full entourage leave with me like most nobles. Just the trusted few in the dark of night. That means no kitchen staff and no housemaid or laundresses. This also meant that everyone, be it me, Alron, the Guards and even Liam had to work together to keep things clean and sanitary. I sorely missed washing machines and modern cleaning chemicals from earth, but these were useful lessons that would be invaluable if ever I went without servants again in the future, so I was a model student for Seriel.
It was very amusing watching everyone in the house silently struggle to come to terms with the fact I was doing domestic backbreaking work right along side them. The class system in Thadus and the discriminatory entitlement endemic to the upper classes were so internalized by the people that it made me cringe. Thank the Maker for my memories from my life back on earth or I would be a wholly spoiled, cold hearted and callous wench otherwise.
I also gained a new respect for the laundry maids in particular. Washing clothes by hand with soft soap made from ash lye and animal fat in large vats of water was exhausting. Before even soaking your laundry, the stains had to be treaded with specific potions, blood and ink being the most stubborn stains. Then, the laundry had to be separated into colors and then further separated depending on the type of material they were made with.
For example, wool couldn't be washed with silk, rayon or cotton clothes and you don't want to wash a shirt dyed black along with a light coloured cloth or you'd run the risk of the dyes in the materials bleeding and permanently staining the lighter materials mixed in the load, forever destroying them.
Once everything was treated and sorted, they were soaked in large vats, of hot water (or cold water again depending on the material makeup of the garments) mixed with soft lye soap. The soap we used was made with lavender for scent which was dreadfully expensive. The soiled clothes are soaked and scrubbed by hand against bumpy metal or wooden washing boards before being rung out and rinsed in a separate soap free vat of clean water. Once free of soap it was wrung out for a second time and then passed though what was called a mangle or wringer (which is a mechanical laundry aid consisting of two rollers in a sturdy frame, connected by cogs and powered by a hand crank) and then hug on a line to dry.
You would think that's the end of it right? But no. Clothes and linens were wrinkled beyond recognition by the time they finished drying in the wind so then they needed to be ironed which deserves hazard pay. The old school irons were a container made of brass and filled with hot ashes and then applied to fabrics. There were no temperature control options on the iron like the one I owned back on earth, so I burned more then one fancy dress while I was learning to do this. Things made from cotton, linen or lace had to be treated with starch before the were ironed as well. Then, finally the clean laundry was folded in an extremely specific fashion and put away. It was exhausting work, but it was great for building muscle mass and stamina, so I made sure the guards helped whenever we had a laundry day.
The whole reason we had to do this for ourselves was because we were in Val Royeaux and in Val Royeaux, any extra staff you might hire could not be trusted because it was guaranteed they were a spy for one noble or another. Secondly, I was in hiding under a false identity, so we had to be enormously careful about who had access to my home because of it.
So, until Seriel and Alron could hire trustworthy servants from outside of the city proper, we had to fend for ourselves. It was an interesting learning experience for everyone to say the least.
Something else I did was get back in touch with my Dwarven architect Boedrin to do some remodeling work on the house. If there was one thing, I could admit to being snobbish about in this life, it was contemporary amenities in any property I chose to live on. I learned that Val Royeaux did have a subterranean sewage system but not every estate had the modern plumbing to attach to the sewage and clean water systems. This house was one without, so I had that grievous oversight quickly corrected with indoor plumbing and bathrooms introduced on each floor of the house. I also had a portion of the back garden torn out and turned into a uniquely engineered laundry room.
Rather then heavy wooden vats that had to be emptied a million times by hand and cause permanent spinal damage to my help, there would be tall stone basins that stayed in place with a plug and drain accessible from the outside which empties into a grate in the floor. There would be two faucets over each vat to make them easier to fill. One faucet would draw from a cold-water tank and the other would be attached to a special hot water tank with magical rune work which would automatically heat the water.
There would be specially made trollies with wheels to help transport heavy wet and dry laundry loads and the house would be retrofitted with a discreet laundry shoot which deposited the soiled clothes into wheeled baskets at the end. Also, there was a folding table with chairs installed and iron tables that could be folded away or folded out from a recess in the wall where they're stored for easy accessibility. Most importantly, this room would be well ventilated with numerous windows to keep it cool for the comfort of the laundry maids who worked there.
This room would be revolutionary, the first ever of its kind on Thadus, but it didn't change the fact that laundry was a pain in the ass in this technologically primitive world. With luck, word of my 'laundry room' would spread and other people would have them built into there home to make the lives of there hardworking servants just a little bit easier. Here's hoping anyways.
The ast stage of the remodeling plans was to have the small wine cellar basement expanded to stretch the whole length of the house which add an extra floor to my home. Here, a cold storage for the kitchens was built along with large, comfortable servants' apartments (toilets and washrooms included) which the house had been lacking. There was also a panic room staged as an office built in case of emergencies with another secret escape tunnel that lead to the boat house outside the gates. I was becoming quite fond of those.
The only thing I wasn't looking forward to when I commissioned all these projects was living in a construction zone for another five years like I had back in Nevarra but Boedrin and his small army of worker bee's were able to get my long list of demands finished within twelve months. I was suitably impressed and made sure to properly compensate the man for his quick and professional work.
After all the construction was compete and Seriel had found six servants to hire, it was smooth sailing. With my new rose gold Orlisan mask that obscured my features, Markus and his cronies never did end up find us here.
It is now the spring of Dragon Age 9:38. We have been living in Orlais for almost seven years and I have gone though puberty for the second time. I'm sixteen, almost seventeen years old and its not vanity speaking when I say I've turned into an exquisite representation of a bell dame.
I'm more curvaceous due to both my short stature of 5 feet 3 inches compounded with my Antivan heritage. (Antiva is known for its beautiful people.) I'm also blessed with wide birthing hips, shapely legs, dainty hands, aristocratic features and a generous bosom inherited mostly from my mother, even my thick curly hair. If it wasn't for my teal eye colour from my first lifetime and mild albinism which gave me silver hair and lily-white complexion instead of the sun kissed skin my mother had, I'd probably be her spitting image.
I'd be ecstatic about it too if it were for all of the amorous attention I was receiving from both women and men alike since the age of fifteen. I can't tell you how many times I've been proposed to now, or how many people have had the gaul to as me to become their mistress.
What's worse, since I'm considered to be some Antivan merchants dirty little secret because of my fabricated back story, some aristocrats are under the impression that I have no right to refuse there attentions, they being my social superiors and all so they haven't taken my rejection well to say the least. A lot of them were already married too which was just disgusting in my opinion.
I don't go anywhere anymore without some sort of armed escort. I had one 'gentlemen' at the university try to force his attentions on me once (yes, he tried to rape me for those who may be confused) and he very well might have succeeded if I had been one of those common soft noble women who'd never even seen a training yard before. Unfortunately for him I was a highly skilled combatant at this point with more then one concealed weapon on my person so something very precious (his dick) to him had been slashed open as a result. I wonder what excuse he told the healer.
I told a professor what had happened as soon as I able to run free of my attacker and I hadn't seemed the rat around campus since. He was some Ferelden duke's nephew, so it was probably all very hush hush and quickly covered up and sent his packing back to his family. I certainly didn't see him in the pillory, like other criminals and no apologies were made to me by him or his family which was frustrating for me.
At the very least though, word had gotten around as it always does in Val Royeaux and the man was labelled a scoundrel by his peers. Such behaviour against gentile noble ladies like myself was 'not done' so he was socially shunned and he could never show his face in this town again and anyone else who might have had similar plans for me know now that I'm no shrinking flower.
Speaking of the university, I'll be officially graduating in a few weeks. I have gained quite the reputation for my unique painting style. (think fantasy digital art from earth except in Thadus, what had been considered fantasy back on earth was an everyday reality on Thadus.) I had also taken some useful side classes like seamstress and tailoring classes, language classes so I now know how to speak both Orlisan and Ativan (which were reminiscent of earth's Spanish and French languages) and calligraphy classes.
I've taken to practicing embroider on the hems of my cloaks and knitting socks and such items during my downtime in the evenings. It's very therapeutic repetitive tasks I've come to enjoy.
I had tried to stay enrolled at the university for as long as possible. Mostly it gives me something constructive to do with my time as I wait to turn 25. Regretfully, my life seemed cursed to be transient. I am preparing to leave Orlais because once again, a man has set his sights on me with malicious intent.
To better understand you need to know Olrisan culture better. The harsh lives of the common classes (non-noble) and especially the elves are the worst in Thadus, probably only second to the Tevinter Imperium. Its a harsh life of servitude with only the chant of light and their religious beliefs to uplift them.
To add to this, unlike the nobles, the commers are greatly impacted by the needs of the nations. They are the first to be coscripted or starve when war and other such political effect the Orlisan empire. Additionally, nobles and lord but especially and most specifically, the chevaliers (the noble armed forces of the empire) are allowed great liberties with commoners, up to and including murder and sexual assault. I shit you not! So, if they can get away with whatever they like with there own citizen, imagine what they could get away with regarding a foreigner like myself? If my attacker at the university had been an Orlisan born noble who counted himself among the chevalier, things would have turned out very differently for me. It is also the crux of my current problem.
Even though the man is married, one of my most ardent suitors is none other then Grand Duke Gaspard de Chalons. I had been introduced to him during the winter ball held by Empress Celene a few months ago and he hasn't left me alone since. What's worse, he's not only one of the most powerful nobles in all of Orlais besides the empress herself, he is the leader of the Chevaliers in its entirety and benefits from limitless liberties as such.
That means that if he so chooses, he could kidnap me and lock me in a tower to be kept as his pet to rape repeatedly at his leisure if he so choose and I had no legal leg to stand on in protest.
It has not come to that point, but I will have to leave Val Royeaux before it gets to that point. This time around I won't be able to take my supportive staff with me. Liam just had his 68th birthday and Alron is in his late 80's now. Seriel has been managing my businesses back in Nevarra via a small army of messengers on top of helping Alron keep the house in working order. She even makes a bi-annual clandestine trip to my fiefdom to check in on things on person. I'd be surprised if the business employees even remembered that I'm their boss and not Seriel, but that's fine. She keeps me appraised of any major decisions and she loves what she does (which I pay her very well for) and I wouldn't take that from her now. Her job would become nigh impossible though from the road so I'm going to have to leave her here in Val Royeaux when I do go.
Not even the small but loyal security force who originally followed me from Nevarra. They will be needed here to protect my aging, mismatch family of servants that I hold close to my heart from the Orlians vipers.
After a wide search, I found an older Qunari mercenary for hire. He went by the name of Katari which meant 'one who brings death' in Quinlet. I found it a promising sign regarding his skills. Katari was a large seven-foot muscular warrior, who had been Tal-Vashoth his who life. He had long white shoulder length hair pulled back and out of the way in a low man-bun at the back of his skull. His thick, ribbed black horns curled back close to his skull and reminded me of a ram. He has handsome intelligent purple eyes and a neatly trimmed snow-white beard, sideburns and mustache which didn't soften so much as enhance his sharp facial bone structure. His dressed in well used but well care for tight, dark brown leather breeches tucked into armored ridding boots. On the upper half of his body he had on a sleeveless leather armor built with wide individual strips of leather that looked to be weaved together in a herringbone pattern.
Overtop of this was a harness he used to strap a monstrously big two-handed double-sided axe to his back. He was a man of few words but reliable. Alron had written former clients of his who all gave his glowing recommendations. Once a bi-weekly price was haggled, it was finalized and Katari would be my traveling companion for the forceable future.
I was a little disheartened that circumstanced were once again forcing me to abandon my home, but a larger part of me was excited. Outside of escaping rural Nevarra to the city of Val Royeaux, I had seen nothing of the world. I was a nearly a grown woman now. I had been training and learning most of my life to have the strength to stand up under my own power against the harsh truths of this world and survive. I was more then ready now to go out and discover it for myself. I want to go and see for myself some of the amazing things I'd heard so much about as I lived in Val Royeaux like the haunting beauty of the elven Ruins in the Dales, visit the famous underground metropolis of the Dwarves, Orzammar under the frostback mountains, see the Arbour Wilds, Ferelden and many more of the wonders of this world.
I would be keeping my false identity of Estella Medici and travel among the common folk under the guise of a traveling artiest. Which is what I will be so its not much of a lie. I hope to make some lifelong friend among my travels hopefully starting with my traveling companion Katari. We would be spending a lot of time together after all. I would also be brining Isis, my Mabari with me as added protection whenever we camp out in the wilds.
Seriel, Alron and Liam were sad to see me go. I was only supposed to leave with a small pack attached to my Red Hart along with a strong stallion able to carry Katari's weight long distanced without tiring.
The three worry warts insisted on adding a pack horse to our party which was weighed down with every possible luxury imaginable I might need. Bars of laundry lye soap, three sets of spare clothes, a large canvas tent, cooking gear, traveling cups, plates and utensils, potions, slaves, dried herbs and special made grooming potions like my favorite shampoos and minty toothpaste I made with baking soda, a brush for my hair and a care pack for the animals.
Also, for entertainment she packed coloured wool and my knitting needles, a field sewing kit with thread and spare material. She packed flee powder, spare bed rolls, extra water skins, flint stones, feminine products for my monthly's, a collapsible traveling writing table with a full stationary therein, even oil lanterns. Traveling hardtack was added which the cooks made for us yesterday eve in bulk as well as bread, flower, cheese, apples, pre-ground coffee beans, sugar, tea, and other foods that would keep us fed while we traveled between inns. Maps of every country and major city across Thadus known to man, a useful tool kit like a small wood axe and hammer, etc. The list went on. I let them have there way for the most part to try to relieve some of there concerns but also because they hardly ever insisted anything before now. I was forced to put my foot down when Alron tried to add court dresses, makeup and jewelry to the growing pile 'just in case'. Anything else and the poor pack horse would have to be pulling a cart instead.
Katari was clearly unimpressed but he kept his peace. I couldn't blame him; all these packs could only attract bandits and a cart would have guaranteed we'd be ambushed at one point or another. While this stuff was all useful, I was hoping to avoid that eventuality for as long as possible. I'd never had to kill anyone yet in self defence and I wanted to keep it that was if at all conceivable.
Once everything was packed and ready to go, I rose early in the wee hours of the next morning and dressed into my new medium armour I had commissioned especially for this trip. The black Smith called it Superior Prowler Armor. The tall riding boots and gloves were made from soft fade touched halla leather stained a pale green colour which were exceptionally comfortable. The metal breastplate was made with Fade-Touched Bloodstone, extremely light weight, nigh indestructible and a lovely pale silver/red colour. My leather travel breeches were made from same fade-touched halal leather but stained a matte gray which matched the gray Fade-Touched Dales Loden Wool wrapped numerous turns around my waist. I had an unseen green silk blouse under the armour, but my favorite had to be the buttoned short armoured vest made of pale green dragon scales that sopped just above the belt wrapped around my waist.
A tool belt rested against my hips which help a lock-picking kit on the front and my twin dagger made of Fade-Touched Paragon's Luster against the small of my back.
Over top all of this I had a gray waterproof, oil treated, fade touched halla leather traveling cloak. It was new (like the rest of my outfit) with a deep hood which I planned to embroider the trim as I traveled in pale red thread to match the metal of my chest plate.
Over my right shoulder was a simple bow and a full quiver but that was only my secondary weapon. I relied more on my daggers.
I was nervous and took a long time to dress but eventually I was ready. Alron, Lima and Seriel sat with Katari and I as we broke or fast. Once the dishes were cleared Katari would stand no further delay and we went to saddle our mounts. The goodbyes were hard. Seriel cried as she hugged me, but I promised to write as often as I could, and I told them to look after each other while I was gone.
Eventually, I passed under Val Royeaux city gates seated on my hart I named Yakul after the elk in the princess mononoke animated movie back on earth. This began the next chapter in my ever evolving lifetime here on Thadus.