One night at camp, Azariah and Alistair were sitting by the fire by themselves since everyone else was already asleep. The two of them just talked about whatever subjects came to mind until Azariah asked a question that had been bugging her lately. "So… Alistair?"
"Hm?"
"You told me you were raised in the Chantry, so does that mean you've never…?" She trailed off, trying to think about how to complete her question.
"Never…? Never what? Had a good pair of shoes?" He teased.
"You know what I mean."
"I'm not sure I do." He teased again with a smirk and a playful glint in his golden-brown eyes. "Have I never seen a basilisk? Ate jellied ham? Have I never licked a lamppost in winter?"
Azariah folded her arms across her chest and let out a "hmph". "Okay, now you're just making fun of me."
"Make fun of you, dear lady? Perish the thought!" He joked, and she rolled her eyes, so he added as he slightly nudged her in the shoulder with his, "So, what about you? Have you ever licked a lamppost in winter?"
Azariah looked at him, a little bewildered, and understood the double meaning behind his question. 'Oh, I see what he's doing.' She thought and smirked, 'Well, two can play at this game!' "Why, yes! I've licked a lamppost in winter!"
"Just the once?"
"A couple times, actually."
"Really? And you didn't lose half your tongue in the process? I'm impressed!" He laughed, then said, "I, myself, never had the pleasure." He drawled out the word pleasure. "Not that I haven't thought about it, of course, but… you know…"
"Seriously? You've really never had the opportunity?"
"Well… living in the chantry is… not exactly a life for rambunctious boys. They taught me to be a gentleman, especially in the presence of beautiful women, such as yourself. That's not so bad… is it?"
"You think I'm beautiful?"
"Of course you are, and you know it. You're ravishing, resourceful, and all those other things you'd probably hurt me for not saying."
Azariah smiled. "I'd never hurt you, Alistair."
"Nor I, you."
Azariah skootched closer to him and lightly ran her hand down his leg and to his knee, where it stayed. "You are very attractive yourself."
"Thanks." Alistair said nervously, and let out a forced laugh. He couldn't help himself; every time Azariah was near him, he got nervous and didn't know what to do.
"And you know… if you ever want to lose your virginity," She squeezed his knee a bit, suggestively. "I'd be more than happy to help you."
"What…? Seriously?"
"Seriously." She answered and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek. "Good night, my charming, handsome Prince Alistair." She then stood up and winked, walking over to her tent, leaving Alistair just sitting there in a state of shock over what had just happened.
The next day, Alistair had gone with Azariah, Wynne, and Leliana to Redcliffe to buy some food and supplies. Alistair tried his best to concentrate and not let his mind wander, but he just couldn't stop thinking about the conversation he and Azariah had the night before. Of course, he had thought about being with her sexually before; after all, she was the prettiest, bravest, and most kind-hearted woman he'd ever known, but he didn't have any experience in this area. Her coming onto him so strongly last night shocked him and made him nervous enough to sweat, but also turned him on more than he ever thought it would.
Meanwhile, Azariah had noticed Alistair staring at her almost all day, and she was taking full advantage of it. After all, her plan was to seduce Alistair and make him want her enough to the point where he would come to her. Although she was a very nice woman, kind and generous, she could also be quite manipulative and sneaky when she wanted to be. She knew exactly what to do to get what she wanted, and right now, what she wanted was Alistair. She had been attracted to him since she first met him, after all, he certainly was not lacking in physical attractiveness. He was athletic and muscular, but not overly so, his blonde hair was soft to the touch and his eyes were the most beautiful shade of gold. It wasn't just his looks that attracted her, though, she was not shallow. She also liked him because he was funny and made her laugh, and was sweet and loving. He was a bit naïve and nervous when it came to the topic of sex; that only intrigued her even more, though. Her previous lovers had all had someone before her, so she'd never been with a virgin before, but the thought of being his first got her excited, thinking about all the things she could show him.
Azariah suddenly looked down when she heard something hit the ground and saw that it had been the ball she had gotten for her mabari, Tucker, and it had rolled under a merchant's cart. "Fuck!" She held out her bag to Leliana. "Would you mind holding this for a moment?"
"Sure." Leliana took the bag as Azariah got down on her hands and knees to try and find the runaway ball.
Azariah suddenly got an idea and smirked, moving the back of her body around a bit to where she knew Alistair was standing and bent forward as she reached under the cart to grab the ball. This way, her ass was up and in plain view of him as she pretended it was simply to grab the ball. When she grabbed it, she made her way back out from under the cart and stood up, dusting herself off as if nothing had happened and took her bag back from Leliana, "Thank you." She flashed a smile to the three of them. "Come on, we should head back to camp."
"Right behind you." Leliana replied with a smile of her own.
While on the way back to camp, Azariah couldn't help but overhear a conversation between Wynne and Alistair.
"Why are you smiling like that?" Alistair asked. "You look suspiciously like the cat that swallowed the pigeon."
"Canary." Wynne corrected.
"What?"
"I look like the cat that swallowed the canary."
"I once had a very large cat, but not my point. My point is, why are you smirking?"
Wynne chuckled. "You were watching Azariah earlier, with great interest, I might add. In fact, I believe you were… enraptured."
"She's our leader. I look to her for guidance." Alistair said, trying to sound convincing.
"Oh, I see!" Wynne laughed again. "So, what "guidance" did you find in those shapely hips, hm?"
Alistair's face flushed a bright red. "No, no, no! I wasn't looking at… you know… her hind quarters."
"Certainly." Wynne replied, obviously not believing him.
"I gazed… glanced in that direction, maybe! But I wasn't staring, or really seeing anything, even!"
"Of course!"
"I hate you!" Alistair pouted. "You're a bad person!"
Azariah smirked as she continued walking forward and Leliana walked up next to her, obviously hearing Alistair and Wynne's conversation also, said, "Looks like your plan to seduce Alistair is coming along very well." She whispered.
"Yes, it is." Azariah whispered back, somewhat smugly. "It's only a matter of time, now."
"Make sure to tell me all about it. I want to hear every little detail; let me live salaciously through you."
"Don't worry, Leliana, you'll be the first to know."
That evening during dinner, they were all gathered around the fire and eating while Tucker ate the meat off some sheep bones. Alistair was just finishing up his bowl of chowder when he looked over and saw Azariah taking a bite into a strawberry and licking the juice from her lips.
Azariah caught Alistair staring at her and smiled, acting innocently, she held out the basket of strawberries. "You want one?"
"Oh, no thanks. I'm okay." He looked away, his face once again a bright red. 'Get ahold of yourself, Alistair! Stop being such a pervert!'
Azariah ate another strawberry as she thought, 'Oh yeah, definitely only a matter of time.'
A couple hours later, Alistair was lying flat on his back in his bedroll, staring up at the top of his tent. He tried falling asleep, but no matter what he did, he just couldn't; his mind just kept going back to Azariah. Eventually, he just couldn't take it anymore and got out of his bedroll, left his tent, and made his way over to Azariah's, and when he went inside, he saw her sleeping peacefully. He crawled over and put his hand on her shoulder, lightly shaking her awake, "Azariah…"
"Mm…" Azariah groaned as she woke up and looked over her shoulder. "Alistair?" She sat up and stretched her arms out. "What are you doing in here?"
"I can't sleep."
"…And?"
"And it's because I can't stop thinking about you."
"Thinking about me? What about me?"
Alistair blushed and looked away for a moment, then back at her. "You're probably going to think I'm a total pervert, but… I keep thinking about being with you… you know… intimately?"
Azariah chuckled and lightly ran her fingers through his hair, which caused him to shiver involuntarily. "And why do you think I would think of you as a pervert because of that?"
"Because… only perverts think that way?"
Azariah just chuckled again as she shook her head, "Alistair…" She looked him in the eyes. "The chantry may say otherwise, but everyone has sexual desires and there is absolutely no shame in them. So, I would never think badly of you for you wanting to be with me that way. In fact, I'm flattered that you want me so badly."
Alistair lightly stroked Azariah's cheek with his thumb and asked, "So, can I… could I kiss you?"
"You may." Azariah answered right before Alistair pressed his lips against hers in a passionate kiss, and she let out a soft moan as she wrapped her arms around his neck, running her fingers through his hair again.
Alistair broke the kiss slowly, took a deep breath, and let it out slowly. "Azariah, I…I'm not quite sure what to do here. I just… I care about you so much, but every time I think of this, I feel like a bumbling idiot, all… hands. I just wish I could be better at this, I want to do it right."
Azariah smiled softly as she placed her hand against his cheek. "You really need to relax, Alistair. You're only stressing yourself out."
"I really do, don't I? Ah! I keep telling myself that!"
"We don't have to do this now, you know. If you rather we waited, then I can wait."
"No, no, I want to do this! I do!" He then stopped and said, "I mean, not that I want to seem over-eager, but I do want to try this with you; I don't want to wait."
Azariah chuckled. "Then you need to stop over-thinking everything." She gave him another kiss on the lips while lying down, pulling him on top of her. "Just don't think at all, let yourself do what you feel is right. The only way you're going to learn is if you experiment."
"Are you sure this is what you want?" Alistair asked. "I mean, I don't want you to feel as if I'm forcing you into this." Azariah laughed, and Alistair got confused. "What's so funny?"
"Alistair, why do you think I've been coming onto you? It wasn't simply to tease you."
"Wait… you've been waiting for me to come to you?"
"Ah, now he gets it!" She teased.
Alistair looked shocked for a moment, and then smirked. "Why, you clever, little minx!"
"What can I say? I know how to get what I want." She then leaned up and kissed him, bringing him back down on top of her.
A while later, the two of them were lying on the bedroll, both panting heavily after their intense love making. Alistair was still lying on top of her, but had his weight being supported by his lower arms so he wouldn't crush her. He looked her in the eyes and gave her a kiss on the lips passionately as he moaned and then broke away, "Was… that okay? I mean, did I do it right? It felt really good…"
Azariah laughed. "If it felt good, you couldn't have been doing it wrong."
"I suppose that makes sense." He chuckled and kissed her again. "So, you did enjoy it?"
"Very much!" She replied happily. "I'd heard stories about how wardens have remarkable stamina, but wow! I never would've guessed you are a virgin… or were a virgin, I should say!"
Alistair just laughed and kissed her again before lying down beside her and nuzzling his nose into her neck as he wrapped his arms around her waist. He sighed contently and whispered, "I love you, Azariah!"
Azariah's eyes widened in shock and she looked at him to say something but stopped when she saw the smile on his face and his eyes closed as he was about to fall asleep. She decided to just go to sleep too, and try to talk to him in the morning.
The next morning, Alistair woke up and realized that he was alone. "Azariah?" He sat up and looked around, "Azariah?" He got out of the bedroll and got dressed before leaving the tent and saw that everyone was already awake.
"There he is!" Zevran said with an amused tone. "Azariah must be one hell of a sex goddess if she wore you out so much last night!"
Alistair blushed a bright red and just cleared his throat in embarrassment. "So, uh… speaking of Azariah, has anyone seen her?"
"She's down by the lake, I believe." Wynne answered, and Alistair nodded before heading down there himself. When he got down there, he saw Azariah kneeling by the shore and talking to Leliana, who was standing there next to her. He decided to just stand there and listen to what they were saying.
"I don't understand why you're so upset… you got what you wanted." Leliana said, trying to make Azariah smile.
"Yes, but in doing so, I ruined everything."
"What are you talking about?"
"Last night… Alistair told me that…that he loves me."
"I don't see why that would make you upset, Azariah…" Leliana pointed out. "I mean, shouldn't you be happy about that?"
Azariah looked up at Leliana with sad eyes. "Leliana…" She sighed, "I wasn't looking for… something long-term, I just… wanted to have some fun."
At hearing that, Alistair felt his heart break and shatter in his chest, and Leliana became visibly angry at Azariah. "What?! Azariah, how could you do that to Alistair?! I thought you were better than that!"
"I know, I'm a bitch, and I feel awful! I just… I don't know how I'm going to break it to him…"
Leliana looked over and spotted Alistair. "I think you just did…"
"What?" Azariah asked and Leliana pointed, which made Azariah turn around and she spotted him, too. "Alistair!" She stood up immediately. "How long were you standing there?"
"Long enough…" He looked at her sadly. "You don't love me…?"
"Alistair, I…I am so sorry! Had I known that you felt this strongly about me, I never would have-" She stopped when Alistair held up his hand with an angry look on his face.
"I trusted you… I gave you my virginity, and now I find out that you don't even care about me?!"
"I do care about you, Alistair, I just didn't want something permanent…"
"Oh, of course you didn't! You just wanted to use me like some cheap whore house worker that you could use and then leave!"
"It's not like that!" Azariah desperately tried to explain.
"Then tell me, pray tell, what is it like?!"
"I wanted… just one night so I could… forget." Azariah said, her eyes tearing up and a couple tears escaping and rolling down her face. "My life has been a living hell since my family was murdered and Rendon Howe stole my home from me…" She said. "Now, just because I'm a warden, everyone suddenly expects me to know what to do, how to lead and how to save them. Hell, even Eamon said he wouldn't do anything without my consent, like I'm supposed to know how to protect Ferelden from Loghain and the darkspawn! Who am I to make that call? The woman who couldn't even protect her own family? I just wanted one night where I didn't feel the weight of the world on my shoulders…"
Leliana and Alistair looked at each other with matching guilty looks and then back at Azariah, both now understanding where she was coming from.
"Azariah, I…" Alistair sighed, now not angry at all. "I had no idea this all was so hard on you." He glanced at Leliana. "Leliana, could I talk to Azariah alone for a minute…?"
"Oh! Of course, don't mind me!" Leliana said and quickly left to give them some privacy.
Alistair turned back to Azariah and slowly walked over. "Why did you never say anything?"
Azariah sniffed softly. "Because you all had so much faith in me… you all were so sure that I could do what had to be done, and I didn't want to disappoint you. I didn't want to feel like I failed you… like the way I failed my family, because I couldn't save them…"
Alistair slowly wrapped his arms around Azariah and held her close, but carefully. "You didn't fail your family, Azariah, and you didn't fail any of us. We all should have been more considerate and not just unloaded all our baggage onto you and expect you to be alright with it. We're all to blame… me, especially." Azariah looked at him with a confused expression, so he elaborated. "I was the one who started following you first, because I didn't want to lead. I was selfish and instead let you take on the responsibility just because I didn't want to. I shouldn't have forced that on you and encourage everyone else to do the same… I'm so sorry." He pulled her close and kissed the top of her head.
Azariah wrapped her arms around Alistair's waist and clung to him, almost desperately. "I'm sorry, too, Alistair! I never should have tried to seduce you just to make myself feel better…"
"It's alright… I forgive you."
"I do care about you, Alistair," Azariah insisted as she looked at him, placing a hand against his cheek. "And I never wanted to hurt you!"
"I know, and even if you don't feel the same way… I still love you."
Azariah's eyes teared up again and she once again clung to him.
A few days later, things were, more-or-less, back to normal. Azariah took Alistair, her mabari, Tucker, and Wynne with her to a small fishing village nearby to get some supplies, but on the way, ran into a group of refugees who were trying to fight off some darkspawn. Of course, the refugees were unarmed and had no armor, so they were no match for the darkspawn, but Azariah charged straight at the darkspawn from behind, with Tucker, Alistair, and Wynne right behind her. Sensing their presence, the darkspawn turned and stopped attacking the refugees in favor of killing them.
Tucker struck first, using the mass of his body to tackle a genlock to the ground and latching onto its neck with his jaws. When a hurlock tried to attack Tucker, Azariah came in with her sword and chopped its head clean off. Meanwhile, Alistair attacked the other side of the darkspawn group while Wynne stayed back, casting fireballs and shock spells to help. While fighting, though, Alistair saw one of the darkspawn about to kill one of the refugee's children and stepped in the way, causing him to become impaled by the darkspawn's blade. "No!" Azariah cried as he fell to the ground and she ran over, quickly killing the darkspawn after Tucker had pinned it down for her; with that… the battle was over.
Azariah kneeled next to Alistair and flipped him over on his back and saw the wound just spilling blood until the ground ran red, and he was unconscious. "Alistair! Come on, wake up! Please, don't die on me!" Azariah pleaded.
Wynne rushed over and used some bandages that the refugees had given to her from their own supply and quickly patched up the wound as quickly as she could. "That should hold him until we get back to camp so we can heal him properly."
Azariah nodded and looked at the concerned refugees. "Thank you."
One of the men nodded and replied, "He saved my daughter's life, it's the least I can do."
The other children who were with the refugees were currently giving Tucker a lot of attention and he was loving it, wagging his tail and panting happily.
Wynne helped Azariah pick up Alistair and they both had one of his arms around their shoulders. "We should get back to camp now."
Azariah nodded in agreement and whistled for Tucker who barked at the children to say goodbye and followed them.
When they got back to camp, Leliana was the first to spot them and immediately ran over, worried. "Maker, what happened?!"
"We ran into a group of darkspawn and Alistair was hurt bad. Can you go grab his bedroll so we can lay him down?" Azariah asked, and Leliana nodded, rushing over to Alistair's tent to go do just that. She dragged his bedroll out from the tent and laid it close enough to the fire so that he'd feel the heat, but far enough away for it also be a bit cool. Wynne and Azariah slowly and carefully laid Alistair down as he started to regain consciousness.
Alistair looked up and saw Azariah looking at him worriedly. "A…Azariah…?"
"Shh." She whispered as she placed her finger to his lips. "Don't speak, you need to save your strength." She started taking off the top half of his armor and then his undershirt so she could closely examine the wound. She breathed a slight sigh of relief. "It's not as bad as I feared, but we still need to get it stitched up." She looked up, "Wynne, could you hand me my knapsack?" Wynne handed it to her, and she looked through it before pulling out a wine bottle, taking the cork out with her teeth and spitting it back out.
"Ah, good, I could use a drink." Alistair said right before Azariah spilled some of the contents onto his wound, and he gritted his teeth in pain as it stung. "Mph! Feels like a 9:25 Burgundy… not a good year." He joked.
"That little girl would have died if it weren't for you." Azariah said as she began stitching up the wound with a needle and small thread. "You're either the bravest prince I've ever seen, or the craziest."
"Bastard prince, remember?" He looked down and watched as she stitched him up. "Why is it that every time I go out somewhere with you, I end up bleeding?"
"You should consider yourself lucky." Azariah broke the end of the thread with her teeth after she was down stitching him up. "That blade almost pierced your heart."
Alistair suddenly grabbed her hand and placed it against his heart gently. "I'm not so sure it didn't…" Azariah just sat there, looking at him, stunned, and he sighed. "I know, I know… you don't feel the same."
Azariah then smiled and leaned down, giving him a loving kiss on the lips, and when she pulled back, she saw him look at her with wide eyes. "And what if I told you that I've changed my mind about not wanting something permanent, and that I love you too?"
Alistair just laid there for a moment, still looking at her with wide eyes before he smiled and leaned up to give her another kiss, and she met him half way. Afterwards, he laid his head back down and smiled before closing his eyes and falling asleep, while Azariah smiled and placed her hand against his face.
Roughly five months later, Azariah woke up on the bed, comfortable bed in the royal chambers of the palace. When yawned and looked over her shoulder, seeing Alistair, who was now her fiancé, lying there with his arm around her waist. She smiled and gently turned around to not wake him up and kissed his cheek. "I love you, Alistair." She cuddled into his chest, and didn't see the smile spread on his face.
––
Hey everyone! I know, this story started off a bit steamy and then got more dramatic, and then sappy, but that's what happens when the writer is constantly changing moods. Lol! Anyway, I hope you all enjoyed! See you in the next one!
