Chapter 2: Captured

Lavellan found himself laying on something hard, aching his back and neck. Most of his senses were still turning on, at first all he could feel was a dull aching pain shooting from his spine. Slowly his ears began register, a loud banging of metal echoed around Lavellan's head. The banging was irritating Lavellan, whoever was causing it would get a mouthful from him.

"En…Eno…"he tried to mumble, his eyes still refusing to open.

"Inquisitor!"

The banging stopped and Lavellan felt hands pull him up right, his eyes opened to see a worried Dorian. There was relief in the mages eyes when Lavellan stirred awake. Lavellan couldn't help but have a half smile on his lips as he looked up at the panicked mage.

"Look like you've seen a ghost," he crocked slowly.

Dorian breathed out a sigh as he helped the Inquisitor to his feet. "You must stop scaring me like that. I worried you'd never wake."

"Good thing I did," scoffed Lavellan. "If I died you'd never let me hear the end of it."

"Now is not the time to joke," Dorian barked.

Lavellan rolled his eyes and put a hand on a grey stoned wall, keeping himself steady. "Coming from you? My little joking side-kick."

Dorian snarked out a scoff. "Me? The side-kick really? You're ego seems to be even bigger than mine, Inquisitor."

Lavellan turned and kept his back on the stone wall, his limbs still feeling heavy from whatever drug he was poisoned with. With blurry vision, he looked around the room the two were caged in. It was a prison room, with stone walls keeping them from freedom, the door looked heavy and seemed to be made of steel. Whoever took them wanted to make damn sure they never left. A hazy memory fogged into Lavellan's mind, the memory of a servants dress.

"Well Jenevia is most certainly out of a job," Lavellan said, rubbing his temples. The mark on his hand sizzled - he still never got used to the strange sensation even after all that time - he looked up at Dorian. "There's a rift here too."

"Well that explains why the Venatori here have such well equipped guards," grumbled Dorian, leaning on the opposite wall.

"Venatori are here?" groaned Lavellan. "This is all I need. Is there a way out of here?"

Dorian shook his head. "They've got this place pretty well guarded and I can't seem to use magic here, I'm guessing the Venatori mages are doing something to stop me. We're stuck here for the duration."

Lavellan's legs couldn't hold him up for much longer, so he slid down the wall winching slightly as his backside hit the stone floor. "That wasn't a good idea in hindsight."

Dorian breathed out a laugh. "How do you feel?"

"Like Ironbull just punched me in the head," he rubbed his temples. "Why aren't you all woozy?"

Dorian pushed himself off the wall. "Oh, I was." He wandered next to Lavellan and slipped down beside him. "You'll feel better in about ten minutes." He nudged Lavellan with his shoulder, trying to boost his mood.

"From now on we do background checks," suggested Lavellan, bringing one of his knees. "Save us going through this again."

Dorian smiled. "I agree with that."

The two sat together in silence for a moment looking ahead at the stonewall. Lavellan tried to see if there was anyway he could escape from their prison. He guessed he perhaps could try to pick the lock but there didn't seem to be any tools for the job. They really were stuck there until an opportunity arose.

"Do you know what they want?" asked Lavellan, closing his fists around the mark on his hand.

Dorian shook his head. "I woke up in here and no one seems to want to talk to me. Is there something stuck in my teeth?"

Lavellan looked at the pearls in Dorian's mouth. "I don't think it's your teeth."

"Perhaps my looks intimidate them?" Dorian said smugly.

Lavellan scoffed out a laugh. "By the Grey Wolf, you're ego gets bigger by the second. I love you, but you really should tone down-" Lavellan froze, they both did.

While the two had been romantically involved for several months now those three words hadn't been uttered between the two. Granted they had suggested it with words like 'I adore you' and such but never had the two spoke about 'love'. Lavellan actually found himself surprised, he never thought he would have been the first to say it.

"Tone down your attitude," Lavellan tired to pass off as if nothing had happened.

Dorian looked at the Inquisitor, the two knew perhaps they should have an adult conversation but neither of them really knew how to go about it. The awkward silence between the two hung around like a dead, strung up chicken. The two knew they would have to talk about what was said but neither could find the words, and was hoping the other would speak first. Dorian hoped that, since he was the elder of the two, Lavellan would speak up first. He looked at the elf who refused to turn his head to look back at Dorian, a pink shade glazing his cheeks.

No one had every really told Dorian they had 'loved' him. Back in Tervinter relations were none yet sex and passion was abundant.

"I'm sensing this awkwardness and I'd really like to move on," Lavellan finally said, still not looking at Dorian.

Seeing how awkward he had made the great Herald of Andrasty, Dorian smirked and could feel himself getting drunk off his new found power. "So you love me?" he said slyly.

Lavellan didn't say anything and instead scowled at the stone wall he had his eyes fixed on. Feeling like a badly written character in one of Varric's romance novels, Lavellan wished that one of the Venatori would swoop into the prison and slice his head clean off.

"I guess one of us would have to say it eventually," said Lavellan, eventually. "I'm just surprised it was me."

"Ouch," winced Dorian playfully. "You wound me, Inquisitor. But in all serious." he took Lavellan's hand. "Thank you."

Lavellan laughed as he rolled his eyes. "Exactly what ever man wishes to hear after he says I love you. 'Thank you'," he mimicked Dorian's voice. "Destroy my pride why don't you."

Dorian shut up the smug elf with a kiss, he pulled away but kept his face close to the surprised Lavellan. He found it strange that such an experienced person such as Lavellan could still be surprised to such moments of affection. It made Dorian feel good that he could make such a cocky and arrogant elf could melt into putty in his hands. It was a power saved only for Dorian, and he relished in the thought.

"I love you too," he said.

It took Lavellan a few moments to process the actions suddenly taken by the two lovers. Eventually he was able to compose himself and say the first snappy comment he could think of. "I bet you say that to all the men."

Dorian shook his head and pushed out his bottom lip. "Nope, just you."

Lavellan jerked his head back slightly in surprise. He remembered Dorian speaking about how having romantic relationships with another man in his family was practically shunned but thought he at least had on pervious love before him. It was hard for Lavellan to believe that a man with so much charm, wit and good looks had only confessed love to one person. Of course he was more than flattered, in fact his stomach flipped inside his body, however there was still doubt in his head.

"You've never loved another?" questioned Lavellan, his eyebrows raised.

Once again Dorian shook his head. "Don't look at me like that. Surely you cannot be that surprised, after all we've been through."

Lavellan tried to shake away his surprise yet it remained. "I feel like defeating an ancient darkspawn who was said to have gotten into the Golden City is more plausible than the fact that you've never loved someone."

Dorian gave Lavellan a dull and unamused look. "Oh, I have loved someone. A certain arrogant elf. Actually I'm thinking of breaking things off with him. Do you know how I should gently put it to him?"

Letting out a sarcastic laugh, Lavellan bumped his shoulder with Dorian's. "However, in all serious, no one else?"

With increasing irritation Dorian shook his head again. "No one. Why is that so hard for you to comprehend?"

"Have you seen yourself?"

"Many times, I have to force myself not to kiss my reflection," Dorian gave Lavellan a smug look. "Though thank you for the compliment. Your not so bad looking yourself…" he took a hold of some long chin length strands of hair curtaining Lavellan's face. "Could use a haircut. Remind me to put you in touch with a great stylist in Orlais."

Lavellan pulled his head away, letting the jet black strands escape Dorian's grasp. "I'll have you know I quiet like my hair like this."

"You're an archer, how can you even seen through so many locks." He reached his hand up to Lavellan's forehead, pushing back his unorganized hair. "Look at that, I can actually see your face now."

Despite being highly irritated, Lavellan couldn't help but have a genuine smile on his face as Dorian stared at him. All the feels swirling inside Lavellan made him feel like a love-struck maiden, loving every minute was his guilty pleasure.

The two lovers shared a sweet smile between them, before Dorian dropped his hand back to his side. "Other than my good looks, what makes you think I've never loved another?"

"I just cannot believe I'm the first, I feel more than privileged I must say," smiled Lavellan, running his hand through his hair.

"What about you?" asked Dorian. "Am I the only one or has there been others?"

Lavellan thought back to his time with his clan. "There was one..."

Dorian was slightly struck with intrigue. "May I ask about this love you once had?"

"You sure you wish to hear about her? It's a long, long tale…I actually don't think I've ever told anyone about it," Lavellan said, putting his elbow on his raised knee. "Do you have such patience for it?"

Dorian let out a long sigh. "Well until we find out why the Venatori want with us, you may as well tell me to pass the time."

Lavellan smirked. "When I was young I got lost from my clan…"

An elf child alone in the woods wandered through the large trees, searching for his clan. He called out for someone but none answered his plead. After going in one direction for too long he figured his clan wouldn't be there, so he retraced his steps back to halla tracks left by his clan. Once again he followed them and soon got lost as the tracks faded through a stream. The young elf didn't panic, however, he had gotten lost before and always managed to find his way back to his people.

The only thing worrying the boy was the roaming bear which he had spotted once. For most of the time he had been able to dodge the large bears sniffing. Whenever the bear got close to him he would quickly pull himself into a tree and wait for the bear to pass.

As twilight began the bear still roamed the forest floor near the tree a pre-Inquisitor Balsin Lavellan sat in. Cockiness grew inside him as he imaged that the bear couldn't see him as darkness and thick leaves cloaked him from sight. With a cheeky smirk on his face he broke off one of the thicker branches and hurled it towards the bear. Unaware of Balsin's presence, the bear roared into the setting sun, looking around for his assailant.

Balsin watched as the bear picked up on a sight away from the tree he was in. A devilish titter escaped his mouth as the bear chased off in search for what it had saw. Balsin jumped down from the tree once he deemed the bear to be a safe distance from him. The thrill of irritating such a large predator made his blood race and heart pound, excitement beat through him and he felt like he could take on the world.

The only thing which ceased his excitement and turned it into terror was the chilling scream of a girl followed by the booming roar of the bear. Balsin grabbed the first thick branch he could find and took off in a sprint towards the comotion. Thin branches whipped and starched at his face and arms as he sped through the forest, following the sounds of fear.

Balsin found the sounds coming from the mouth of a cave he had previously explored. There he saw a young Shem girl backing into the cave. She turned around to look at the bear and tripped over a rock, falling on her backside from terror she screamed again. The prejudices installed within him made him pause, he thought about just leaving the girl and showing a blind eye. However, something stopped him as the bear held up its paw and swipe down its claws on the girls face. Blood trickled from her cheek and the bear went in for the killing blow. Balsin called for the bear while throwing rocks to gain the beast attention. With blind rage the bear turned to Balsin.

"Climb into a tree!" called Balsin, running away as the bear chased after him.

Watching the elf boy the girl clutched her bleeding cheek as it burned with pain. With no other option, the girl scurried into the nearest tree like a novice squirrel. There she watched as the boy ran around the bear, throwing sticks and rocks at it. Fascination burned through her as she watched with one good eye as Balsin ran away from the bear. Unable to catch the limber Balsin the bear soon gave up and went about its way, far from both the girl and Balsin.

The girl waited until the sky was as dark as coal, with only the moon and stars to light the forest before she slid down the tree. Her face burned like embers and she cried out in pain when she looked down at her palm and see it caked with blood.

Balsin watched the girl from a near by tree as she broke down.

"Shems," murmured Balsin, as he prepared to leave.

Too much time had been wasted and he knew his clan would quickly worry for him. Most likely they would have sent out some hunters to bring him back to the clan. He knew the keeper would be very angry at him, he hated the wrath of the keeper and didn't want to leave the clan waiting for long.

He skipped away from his previous branch and jumped from the tree. Balsin only made a few paces before someone spoke behind him.

"Wait!"

Balsin turned to see the wounded girl, he took pity on her as he knew her face would scar.

"Please wait!"

Balsin raced towards her and put his hand over her mouth. "Be quiet, Shem! Do you want the bear to come back?"

The girl looked up at him with only one eye, all it held was fear along with admiration. She had been saved by the elf and she felt as if she owed him everything. Once the girl seemed to settle down Balsin took away his hand.

"You best get back to your village, little girls like you don't do well in the woods," Balsin scoffed, he turned to leave when the girl grabbed his hand. "Let go!" he hissed, trying to pull away his hand. The little girls grasp was far too tight, she clung onto Balsin as if her life depended on it.

"Please don't go," she said. "I don't have a village to go back to."

"Well that isn't my problem."

"At least help me with something," she begged.

Balsin rolled his eyes, perhaps he should have just left the girl to the bear. "What is it?"

The girl took him to the cave. Balsin didn't see anything important when he had previously explored it but as the girl guided him through she pushed away a small yet sturdy boulder. Behind the boulder was another section of the cave. Rags, leftovers of a burning fire and pieces of meat were cluttered around.

"You live here?" he asked.

The girl nodded and sat on one of the rags.

"What is it you need my help with?" Balsin asked.

The girl went reached into her dress and pulled out a pouch. She opened up the pouch and contents spilled out of it.

"What is all this junk?" he said, kneeling on the floor and inspecting the items.

"I've been trying to make a weapon, could you teach me to make a bow?"

Balsin was taken aback. He actually didn't know how to make weapons, in fact he was suppose to learn that afternoon however the clan had decided to move on due to the campsite being too close to a Shem village. Yet for some reason he felt compelled to help the girl, knowing that the bleeding on her face was his fault. Deeply sighing, Balsin made his decision.

"I'll help you, but first let me clean up that gash on your face."

A/N: I would be very thankful to all who have read and reviewed this work of mine. Thank you in advance for any reviews.