9:30 Wintermarch 26th
Bodahn was busy when he was following us. He did actually do a lot of business and was well stocked. I was surprised that mule was able to carry everything. Of course we had enough money to buy food though buying better weapons was out of the question. Either way, I knew that Eren wouldn't let go of his ancestral blade or shield. Derek and Alistair had their weapons from Ostagar so they were average. The others though were making use of the cheap weapons we were able to get at Lothering. Even my own were starting to become dull.
We made do with a sharpening stone that Eren had. He even decided to sharpen our knives since he had the most proficiency at it. The rest of us got together with a bucket that Bodahn loaned to us and some soap that Wynne had. It wasn't much of a bath but more of a wipe down. Still, it feels good to feel slightly clean.
After a hearty meal of boiled meat and potatoes, we all gathered our things to set off. I was waiting next to Eren for my daggers. There was still tension between us. I didn't want to be the better person and apologize. It wasn't my fault. At least not this time.
"Here, they're sharpened." He said, giving them back to me. I observed the blade and smiled. The gleam, no cracks in the blade, and I flicked it with my thumb. Eren caught my hand though. "What did I tell you from before? You're going to cut yourself again."
"I'm more careful than last time." I took my hand back while putting my daggers back in their sheathes.
"I'm sorry for what I said. I didn't mean to lash out." Eren quickly said. I frowned.
"If you didn't mean to lash out then what did you mean when you started telling me all of that?" I asked. Eren remained silent.
"Don't you two start again, come on, out!" Alistair grabbed me by the shoulder.
"Hey! My armor is still inside!" I fought.
"Out!" Alistair pushed me out and went back in. I shivered as I didn't have most of my upper armor on me.
"I must say, being in this position Wynne, I have begun to admire your maturity." Zevran flirted as Wynne over looked his arm.
"Careful young man or else I can do more than just heal your wounds." Wynne glared.
"Did I ever tell you about a man in the Pearl who used magic while doing the deed? He had this electric-" Zevran started before Wynne pinched his wound. He hissed in pain.
"Well, it will be sore but you don't need stitches or anymore healing." Wynne smiled politely before using her staff to help her get up.
"Oh ho, such a dangerous woman you are Wynne. You are like a fine wine, better with age." Zevran chuckled.
"Please keep those comments to yourself." She glared. Alistair came out with my armor and I quickly put everything on.
"Well then, I'll keep close to you. Wouldn't want to get in the way of any of your fighting of course!" Bodahn said.
"No enchantment?" Sandal asked.
"Not now boy." Bodahn patted his head. We said our farewells and started our march toward Ostagar again. Now that the sun has fully risen, we were able to see Lothering. It was like a black mist had descended onto the town.
"It's the Blight sickness. It even saturates the land." Derek grumbled.
"Is there any way we can purify it?" Talen asked.
"We have these things called Deep Mushrooms back in Orzammar. It seems they are able to soak up the Blight and clean the land underground. I don't know if they can be used up here though." Derek sighed.
"The land slowly purifies itself although the taint might still live on slightly. In the Anderfels, the reason why nothing grows there is because Blights have ravaged the last so much that nothing even grows. So there is a point where nothing can be done." Alistair explained.
"Then I'll find it myself." Talen announced, walking toward where Lothering was. "You hear that! I'm going to research the Blight itself! I'm going to find a way to untaint the lands! I'm going to try my best to bring you back!" Talen panted as he shouted. "Magic can be used to help others." He turned towards us. "Wynne, the other Senior Enchanters said that once I passed my Harrowing, I can choose what I would research. Then I'll use my magic and my taint to good use."
"That sounds fantastic Talen." Wynne smiled proudly. Leliana ran past and hugged Talen tightly.
"Wah!" Talen stumbled.
"Thank you." I heard Leliana say.
"My, what an astonishing development." Zevran purred. Derek cleared his throat really loudly as Leliana let go of Talen. His face was bright red. I chuckled next to Wynne as she gave me a playful smile.
"If you love birds are done, we need to keep going." Derek guffawed. Leliana shook her head while Talen sputtered.
"We're not love birds!" He shouted.
"Whatever you say priss!" Derek laughed.
"We're not!" Talen growled. I looked over at Lothering and wondered if Talen can do it. I know that the Hero of Ferelden started to research the Blight on their own in order to defeat the Calling. There was Avernus that was able to prolong his life by centuries using blood magic. Fiona that was able to cure herself of the Joining and subsequent attempts afterward. There is a way but how is the question. At this point from all my readings, all my obsession, all the playtimes, constantly analyzing everything, reading every scrap of codex, novels, comics about this…and I still don't have an answer.
Even Fiona didn't have an answer and she was the recipient of it. Did it have to do something with Maric? With the dragon's blood that he drank? Was it pregnancy that helped Fiona? Was it the taint and dragon's blood? What was it? There was so much evidence and nothing points to anything. It was making my head hurt. I hope that Talen might be able to find something.
In the end we followed the forest path outside of the forest, avoiding the imperial highway that cut through Lothering. It was too dangerous to go in there, especially those that weren't Grey Wardens. Not only that, remaining forces might have stayed there. I heard Leliana praying under her breath. I didn't blame her. Highever Massacre, the takeover of the Circle, Lothering's destruction…there are a lot of times where I've prayed.
Sometimes I even wonder if praying is doing anything good. My God doesn't exist here and, at this point, I'm doing it to hold onto a part of my world. I wonder if that's for more my own mental health than anything.
"You alright? You've been pretty quiet." Alistair wondered. He was in the back with me and Zevran. Alfred was left with Bodahn since we're getting close to the epicenter of Darkspawn territory.
"I'm just thinking about what Talen said. The Blight has been around for centuries right? If all those times, we had one person working on the Blight, don't you think we would have seen progress now?" I asked.
"Well if they did make progress then all of it should be at Weisshaupt. They have all the records of all Grey Wardens and Blights. There are things they don't even know. Most Grey Wardens aren't all in the know-how of things. I don't like it but even Duncan mentioned that all the higher ups have secrets that they don't tell anyone." Alistair explained.
"Such as?" Zevran asked.
"What?" Alistair wondered.
"What are those secrets?" Zevran asked.
"I wouldn't tell them to you." Alistair glared.
"Ah come now, we are compatriots vying for the same cause!" Zevran said.
"No we are not. You're just someone we picked up and decided to let live because you have information. Just be glad we didn't leave you to freeze with the rest of your assassin gang." Alistair scoffed.
"Jesus Christ Alistair, tone down the hate." I frowned. "I get that you're angry at him but this isn't the time."
"Have you forgotten that he tried to kill us!? Even before we recruited him, you knocked him out instead of killing him the way you supposed to!" Alistair yelled. "Exactly what is your deal regarding him?"
"My deal is to try to save as many people as I can. It's called having faith." I argued.
"Having faith would put a dagger in your back." Alistair glared.
"Is this about Loghain quitting the field? The fact you trusted him as a general and he left you guys to die, for Duncan to die?" I snapped. Alistair growled.
"You weren't there! You didn't see how his men could have saved us! He left everyone to die! Duncan would have been alive, he would have lead all of us to victory against the Archdemon!" Alistair shouted.
"Is that what you really believe? From the way I saw it, Duncan was already getting on in years." I said.
"He was a formidable warrior and leader! If he was alive, then we would be able to gather everyone without having to deal with people like him!" Alistair glared and pointed at Zevran.
"Hey!" Eren came and grabbed Alistair's shoulder but he shrugged it off. "Enough! I've had it up to hear with you and Zevran!"
"I haven't done anything though!" Zevran stated while Eren gave him a mean glare. "Anything as of recently…"
"Why did you take him in?" Alistair growled.
"If Nia says we can trust him, then I'll trust her faith." Eren said.
"You're only saying that because you're in love with her!" Alistair shot back.
"What did you say!?" Eren got close to Alistair.
"Oh my God, our leader is an idiot." I said flaty as I face palmed.
"All of this for me…" Zevran complained.
"What's going on here!?" Derek demanded as Eren and Alistair both turned to face him. I got my daggers, crouched low, sprinted right between them and clocked both of them in the royal jewels. They both wilted like flowers on the ground.
"This dissent cannot continue if we are to defeat the Archdemon." Sten grumbled.
"You're right big guy, it can't. Everyone stop! We're gonna have to talk one on one now." Derek said, dragging both Alistair and Eren on different trees, facing each other. "Missy, what got their panties in a bunch?"
"Don't be so crude." Wynne shook her head.
"I'm the next in charge, so shush. Missy?" Derek asked.
"Alistair was complaining about Zevran again. I tried defending Zevran but Alistair wouldn't have any of it. I kinda threw Duncan's name out there and Alistair got more heated. Eren came to stop Alistair from yelling and then Alistair threw Eren's affections of me into the conversation. Then I punted them both in the dick." I explained. Talen snickered while Leliana gave him a glare.
"This is nothing more than a child throwing a tantrum." Morrigan scoffed.
"Alright, this has gone far enough. Prince, what do you have to say for yourself? You're the one that keeps talking about elf over here." Derek asked.
"Is this normally how he refers to someone? He doesn't call anyone's name?" Zevran asked. I shrugged.
"It's his thing." I frowned.
"We wouldn't be in this situation if Loghain didn't betray us in the first place." Alistair groaned.
"But the elf hasn't done anything as of yet so he is innocent until proven guilty." Derek reasoned.
"He tried to kill us!" Alistair shouted.
"Silence!" Sten roared. It made all of us stand quiet for a good while. "The elf is looking for atonement through his mission to fight against the Archdemon. Within that, you can be assured. Isn't that right elf?"
"Uh of course! I'm not going to try anything, I swear on Andraste's sword!" Zevran quickly said. Sten glared down to Alistair.
"I must admit, I respect your ability in combat but you are misguided by your emotion. You must find balance in yourself or be swept by the tide. All of you are writhing in your own emotions for not trying to attain balance. We will not defeat the Archdemon like this. If such a situation arises again, then I will lead." Sten threatened. I knew it was also a threat he would take seriously. After that Sten walked away from the group.
"I agree with the big guy. We won't get anywhere fighting like this. Alistair, don't talk to Zevran. Zevran, don't antagonize Alistair." Derek said lowly.
"Why did I-" Zevran started before I elbowed him.
"Also you're not the only one that's mourning Duncan. He took me out of my life and made me a Grey Warden. I can go back home, I can see my sister, I can hold my head high because of him!" Derek announced. He sniffed. "You're not the only one missing him. Now, get up, both of you! We've wasted enough time as it is." Derek continued on. Eren and Alistair glared at each other before getting up. Alistair went to the front, Eren stayed at the back.
"Men." Morrigan scoffed. Wynne and Leliana nodded. Eren sighed and rubbed his face.
"Well, so much for comradery." Zevran said. Eren and I glared at him. "Hm? Too soon?"
"Let's just keep going." Eren shook his head. The tension was back in the group. Just once I would like to go a few days where we aren't at each other's necks. We were able to clear Lothering and the path seemed to take us near a forest.
"This is where I will stop. I do not know if my mother will try to take over my body during the fight. Once you have recovered mother's true grimoire, then you can find me with the dwarf merchant." Morrigan explained before turning into a raven and flying away.
"I wonder if she could show me how to shapeshift." Talen wondered.
"Why would you need that?" Alistair asked.
"Having two bears on the field would help us." Talen smirked.
"If you can even accomplish that. Arts like those can be testy and would take years of concentration and effort." Wynne explained.
"How would you know if we don't have books that even cover that type of magic in the Circle?" Talen shot back. Wynne shook her head.
"Let's be off please." Wynne sighed. I get the feeling that Wynne likes to think she knows everything. By the few scattered darkspawn corpses, Alistair reckoned that the horde went and attacked Lothering soon after we left. The forest was still green and the canopy protected the floor of the forest from the snow.
There was a path but it was beaten and cracked. Several vines concealed it and pot holes were everywhere. The only one that didn't have difficulty walking was Sten. I almost tripped again and Zevran caught me before I fell.
"Are you sure this is the way to Flemeth's?" I growled, getting annoyed at the ground.
"It's difficult to tell. We weren't able to place markers and the witch led us the first time around." Derek huffed.
"Then her mom saved us from the tower. You sure you still want to kill her?" Talen wondered.
"If it has to come down to it." Eren nodded.
"She plucked four Grey Wardens off the Tower of Ishal and Morrigan knows how to shape shift. If she learned from her mother, Flemeth knows how to change her form too." Talen gathered.
"Yes, Morrigan has told me that though she doesn't know exactly the extent of her mother's shape shifting." Eren said.
"Then what can carry us and fly out back to her hut?" Alistair asked.
"A dragon." I blurted out. All the Grey Wardens looked at me. "What? It's big enough to carry all four of you and fly."
"There is a legend of Flemeth passed down through the ages. It can't be the same as she, could it?" Leliana asked.
"There's only one way to find out." Derek said lowly. Unfortunately the sun was already setting and I got the feeling we were only going around in circles. We found more darkspawn corpses all about the forest but nothing pointing to a hut.
"If we don't find her soon, then we need to start making camp." Wynne said.
"I think I recognize those ruins." Talen squinted in the distance. We found the original Grey Warden tower in all its ruined glory. "Well from here I'm pretty sure we can figure it out."
"Either we look now or save it for the morning." Derek suggested. Something felt off about the forest. I heard rustling and some cries of animals but the more we traveled, the more I felt scared.
"We can't lose anything if we do decide to search. I have been marking our way so we can follow the path back." Leliana said.
"Then we keep moving." Eren said, taking the lead. We followed him through the brush. We found a river and he followed that. Before we knew it, we came to a clearing with a small hut right next to a pond. I gulped audibly. There was something in my chest, something primal telling me to run. A being with great power rested here.
"So who's going to knock and tell mother dearest?" Derek chuckled. I wanted to go back to the forest, darkspawn be damned. I went to the pond to try to breathe as dusk settled. I heard someone walk behind me and I saw their reflection. An old woman.
I gasped and immediately turned. I slipped and fell into the pond. I heard her cackle. Her golden eyes seemed to glow in the dark. The others finally realized that she was there.
"I am so sorry for frightening you. Welcome to the Korcari Wilds girl." Flemeth looked down at me with her image of a frail old woman. But something inside showed me something for a split second, something beautiful, something fair, something dangerous and deadly. It took all I had not to bow down.
This was Flemeth, Witch of the Wilds and Mythal, one of the Evanuris that ruled the elvhen.
Well. Shit.
Beta'd by FearaNightmare and Syutaku!
No matter what, after learning so much of Flemeth/Mythal, I will always be scared of her in Origins lol As such more tensions rise since everyone is carrying some sort of emotional baggage of sort. It will work out eventually. Also thank you txchimama for looking out for me and my story! If you ever find one of my stories with the penname, YamiAyala, don't worry it's still me.
Thank you Ruri7533 and Nick-Stark42 for following/favoriting! Thank you XInsanityXGuiltechXShadowwindX, Chimera Spyke, and Syutaku for reviewing! Please Review!