So, here is the next chapter! =D Sorry that it's out a little late. My brother came home from college today and I helped him put together a futon. Enjoy!
Crestwood was a mess and Marian was not in the mood to clean it up. She had one mission in mind and that was to find Stroud. Though, Crestwood reminded her a lot of Kirkwall. There were undead everywhere, it was constantly raining, the people were questionable, the mountains were volatile, just like Kirkwall, before it blew up.
The real difference was the team she was traveling with for the first and last leg of her journey. Varric was staying at Skyhold and Solas and Sera were bickering the entire trip there. While it was funny at first, they ended up grating on her nerves more often than not.
Luckily, the Inquisitor was willing to run around and fix the people's problems while Marian went looking for Stroud. It didn't take too long of course. The hardest part was waiting for Ellana to show up because that woman loved taking detours to help and explore. Marian swore she saw the elf more than once on the horizon, but that could just be her own wishful thinking.
So, this left Marian to her thoughts, a dangerous place for her to be. Thinking about the future always made her nervous, especially with Anders being as volatile as he currently was. There was also the promise of help from the Inquisition while she was away. That was part of the reason that Varric was at Skyhold, he was making sure that Cassandra didn't execute Anders, if she found him.
Marian knew that Cullen was running interference for them. Just like old times. It seemed the Inquisition's Commander had a weakness for Bethany asking him favors. "He's been attempting to court Bethany for months. The man is hopeless," the Inquisitor had confided in her one evening after a grueling day of traveling through a constant drizzle. They group had set up tents and Marian and the Inquisitor had decided to take the first watch around the quickly dying fire.
"And how do you know this?" Marian inquired, hands in front of her in a very business like manner.
The elf gave a very undignified snort that really didn't fit the woman's profile, "We're friends and he trusts me. We play chess often enough and eventually he came to me for some kind of advice on courting of all things."
Marian's eyes widened. Does the Commander think before he speaks to women? Ever? "He does realize that you're Dalish, right?"
She grins in response. "I mean, when I told him to go and hunt some great-bear and present a pelt to her, he did that blushing stutter thing. I laughed at him and then gave him some actual advice."
"He still does that? Maker, that man needs to get laid."
"He's trying," the Inquisitor replied with a wink, her grey eyes twinkling. Marian resisted shuddering. That was her sister she was talking about.
"So, what did you tell him, in the end?"
"I told him to go and talk to her, outside of training and official business," she said with a shrug, poking a stick into the crackling fire.
"Did it work?" Marian asked, hoping to hear a little bit more about her sister. Even though Bethany had agreed to help Marian, she knew that her sister hadn't really forgiven her for what happened in Kirkwall. They hadn't kept in close contact after the explosion and the fact that she let Anders off had caused an even larger rift grow between them. The only reason Marian knew her sister was in the mage alliance was because Varric saw Bethany and contacted her.
"They walk the ramparts together quite often. They both flirt rather shyly with one another, but they keep their relationship private for the most part. The soldiers think it's adorable, as does the entire inner circle."
"Even that stuck up elven apostate of yours?"
She scoffed, rolling her eyes. "He's hardly mine. Solas belongs to no one, a lone wolf that one, but I think he finds their relationship hilariously ironic."
Marian grinned at the Inquisitor mischievously, "So, are you and the apostate seeing each other?"
"No."
Marian raised an eyebrow at the response. It was clean answer, no hesitation. It seemed like she was telling the truth.
"You're really close. I could have sworn…"
She let out a sigh and pulled out a necklace from her coat. It seemed to be a pendent of some kind, with intricate designs carved around it. "This is an engagement present from a warrior of my clan. I'm not eligible for any kind of relationship outside of friendship. If Solas wants to date a Lavellan, he can date my mother, seems like she's waited centuries to get some action outside of being the keeper," she responded with a dramatic sigh.
"So, who is this fiancé?" Marian asks wit wiggle to brows causing the Inquisitor to chuckle.
"That's for me to know and no body else to find out. Unless he feels like making the trek to Skyhold and revealing himself to the shemlen masses. He is free to remain anonymous."
The conversation ended there, creating more questions than answers in Marian's mind about the Inquisitor, but there was nothing to do to change that. It was going to take more than a few passing words to understand a woman that was effectively running Thedas.
But, that happened about five days ago and the group had split since. Marian was to carry out her mission, while the Inquisition dealt with the undead. The main problem was Marian was having was bypassing all the other Grey Wardens in the area. It seemed that the Inquisition wasn't the only organized group in Thedas looking for Stroud. Marian had always wondered about the morality of the Grey Wardens. She had admired them at first, like many in Thedas. They were there to stop the blight after all, but after everything that happened in Kirkwall and finding out about her father's involvement with them, she realized that they were a little bit more than morally corrupt. Though, she never expected them to turn on their own in this manner. Which made Marian question Warden Blackwall's loyalty to the Inquisition. Wardens were always Wardens first. They weren't supposed to get involved with politics, which made Blackwall's presence questionable at best.
Marian just hoped that she was wrong about Blackwall and that he wasn't hiding something from the Inquisition, because from what Marian had seen of the Inquisitor she was not a woman who took betrayal lightly. While she did not wear her authority overtly, Ellana commanded attention when she entered a room, her head was always held high and her eyes calculating. Even with her Dalish markings, braids and different piercings she looked the part of a dignified ruler.
By the way the sky cleared a day and a half ago, it seemed that the Inquisitor might have come up with another miracle and Marian stayed outside the cave entrance waiting for the Dalish elf and her team to meet her.
It took nearly another day for them to reach her. It was almost nightfall and the group looked tired and irritable, but the Inquisitor seemed eager and ready to speak to Marian's contact. The Inquisitor motioned for the group to stand down. "Take a rest while I talk to contact. Sera you're lookout."
The archer nodded, climbed a rock near the entrance and sat on it. Marian just gave the group one more curtsy glance. Blackwall looked exhausted, his shield was going to need to be repaired, there were huge dents, burn marks and scratches littering the metal. Solas just seemed annoyed, but Marian always thought the elf looked like he had a stick up his ass, but he was always watching the Inquisitor. Marian was sure something was going on between the two, but the Inquisitor had put those thoughts to rest on her end. It could be unrequited love, the worst kind. The Inquisitor seemed alright for the most part. Her weapons were in tact and she didn't seemed injured. That was until Marian caught the sight of a rather large hole in her chainmail. It looked like a rage demon may got a hold of her. There was no sign of injury, no doubt healed by Solas, but she was going to need to repair that with so many Red Templars in the area. Though, all their armor was rather damp, considering the sunny weather.
"You all seem…waterlogged."
"Yea, you'd be to if you spent your week ass deep in a friggin demon hell-pit," Sera snapped, as she fidgeted with some of her arrows.
Marian turned to the Inquisitor who shrugged. "She isn't lying. We ended up in a part of the deeproads where I had to close a rift at the bottom of a lake, which was infested with demons."
"Demon. Hell-pit. Never again."
The mention of the deeproads caused a shiver to go up Marian's spine. Never again. She was glad that Varric wasn't with them, he hated the deeproads more than Marian did. "I'll take your word for it."
"Come on, Hawke, let's talk to your contact. I need to get me people back to Skyhold."
The Inquisitor had made it very clear that Marian was welcome to travel back to Skyhold with her group from Crestwood. Solas made for great conversation on magical theory and even though he was a bit distant, he was very intelligent. Warden Blackwall was interesting to Marian. She really enjoyed his sense of humor was he wasn't talking about war. Sera's nonsensical way of speaking grew on Marian the longer she spent with the young elf. The only issue Marian had with Sera was her obvious distain for elves, which she could tell bothered Ellana, even if she tried not to show it.
But, sometimes, Solas and Ellana made it rather difficult to follow their conversations. Half of it would be in common and the other half would be in long strings of elven that in all the time that Hawke had been around Merril, she hadn't heard her speak that fluently in a nearly dead language. It did made the two elves happy though and when asked Ellana would explain what they were talking about.
Most of the time, the two didn't even notice that they were speaking in another language and it never lasted too long. Ellana was usually the first to notice the rest of the group's confused looks.
And, as much as Marian loved spending copious amounts of time with the Inquisitor and her friends she was more than a little relieved when she saw the gates of Skyhold. She desperately wanted to see Anders, to make sure that he was still all there. Ellana had promised he'd be alright under the watchful eyes of Dorian, Bethany, Cole and Cullen, but she still worried.
Even though she promised that she sent for to attempt to remove Vengeance from Anders, it seemed too good to be true. All her remaining time with what was left of him was precious to her and she hated leaving him alone.
"I can wait for a bath."
"You Dalish efly-elves believe in baths?" Sera quipped and the Inquisitor only grinned, grey eyes alight with mischief. Reminding Marian how young she was.
"Well, the Dalish communally bathe quiet often, it's something I miss. Baths alone aren't nearly as amusing."
Sera cackled. "You enjoy seeing everyone's bits out and about?"
The devious smirk on her face only made Sera more interested in her answer and Marian wondered if the clan was a little relieved to have the Inquisitor off creating havoc somewhere else for a little while.
"Great time for pranking."
Another crackle. "Elfy bits."
Upon arrival it seemed that they had people waiting for them at the gate. The Inquisitor rushed forward to intercept her Ambassador, who seemed more than a little flustered. She waved them all off as she tried to figure out what was going on when the Inquisitor sprinted past all of them and ran straight for the keep.
More than a little alarmed the group followed into the dining hall to see the wildest looking Dalish elf Marian had ever laid eyes on. He was standing next to Varric, his thick blonde hair tied together in multiple braids and pulled up in a horse tail on his head, he had burn marks up and down his arms and a feral grin that should send people running in the opposite direction. He was dressed in elven robes, but they were of better quality than Marian was used to seeing on the Dalish.
There was something familiar about him and it wasn't until he turned to face them, familiar grey eyes and vallaslin to Mythal high on his cheeks staring back at them did she realize that this elf was the Inquisitor's brother. The brother she spoke so fondly about throughout her trip to Crestwood.
Speaking of the Inquisitor, she rushed forward and tackled her brother in a rather aggressive hug, nearly knocking him off of his feet. They chatted briefly in elven with wide dramatic head gestures and broad smiles. Marian recognized part of it as a greeting. She'd heard Merrill say this to her clansmen, before everything went horribly wrong, of course. Marian wished that she had asked Merrill for a few lessons on Elvish. Between dealing with the Inquisitor, Solas and now her brother, there was no doubt going to be quite a few secret conversations in that group. Marian wondered if her Chantry loving inner circle members were worried about the same thing. It wasn't often that there was a group of elves that were as fluent and unafraid as these three seemed to be about speaking their ancient tongue in front of outsiders.
Marian turned to Solas, to see what his reaction was to the newest Dalish elf and she was surprised when he looked as if he had seen a ghost of some kind in the Inquisitor's brother. Then again, the bald mage had mentioned his disdain for Dalish elves and this elf looked as Dalish as one could get.
"What are you doing here? I thought you weren't arriving for another few weeks?"
Ah, they switched back to common.
"I lied. I wanted to surprise you, but you weren't here. We've only been here for an hour or so anyway. What's the point of you leading an organization if they have you doing all their work?" Much like the Inquisitor, her brother had an odd accent. Not one that was easy to place. Though he brought up a good point. Marian had honestly been wondering the same thing for about two weeks now herself. Why did the Inquisitor do so much dirty work for the Inquisition?
Wait, did her brother say mention more than one person had arrived with him?
The Inquisitor smacked him hard enough to make him flinch. "Not all of us are lazy First's like you, Ven."
He looked almost hurt at her accusation. "Me? Lazy? Never! I climbed a mountain for you, sister. Would a lazy brother do that, hm?"
"Please, you're just here to show off your magic with spirits. Otherwise you'd still be home."
He threw an arm around her shoulders. "You know me so well. Now, introduce me to your friends. I've met Varric, here, but it seems there is more to your inner circle than just him."
The Inquisitor sighed fondly a genuine smile on her face. Marian wondered how long it had been since she had last seen her family. Probably well over half a year. "Alright, I'll introduce you to those that are here right now. After that, I need a bath and a goodnights sleep before Josie gets me up at some ungodly hour to teach me how to dance for the Winter Palace."
We finally get to see Ellana's brother! He's going to be an interesting character throughout the rest of the series. The next chapter is going to be back with Solas for a bit as well as introduce some plot twists I've been setting up for! Ah, I'm so excited!
I hope you enjoyed the nice long chapter, it's about 3000 words, 1000 longer than I usually write.
Also, next week might be a little late. I just got a new laptop this morning, so I'm moving files over and getting used to using a windows computer after using a Macbook for 5 years. (I'm going to miss that laptop, but it's too old to get updates so it's no longer a very secure computer...it also crashes quite often and doesn't like microsoft word or fanfiction or really any website...) Maybe it was time to get something else, but the keyboard on macs are just so good. Ugh, the writer in me hates giving up this keyboard. I'm also babysitting my cousin for like 4 days, so she's is going to keep me busy.
Oh well, enough about that...
Thanks to everyone who has favorited and followed. You guys are the best!
Also, happy early Halloween! Get into all kinds of questionably legal mischief!
See you next week,
Animerocker