Ch. 18

The calm

Nick POV

"Next!" I yelled moving the Orlesian man in front of me away. My moral compass didn't allow me to leave these poor farmers and peasants to die from the Ferelden winter. If I would put Ferelden on an earth map, I would place it in Canada or Russia, and these people were wearing thin cotton clothes, if they were lucky. So, I made a druffalo leather pants, boots, and cloak combo at a Journeyman level and copied them at an intermediate level on mass and have been passing that out to the Orlesians.

At first, I didn't understand why Celene would send a peasant army to fight the Blight, I thought that she wanted to get rid of 'undesirables' like Belen was with the Casteless, but it was Lily and Neria who explained it to me. Celene was playing 'the Game', she is seen doing something about the blight by her fellow nobles, getting rid of any Chevalier that disagrees with her hoping they die out here, and, by the look of some of these people, getting rid of any peasants that weren't pulling their weight. The best part, is if they survive, she gets an army with some experience on the battlefield, any chevaliers that return will be met with honor and praise by their countrymen and will be indebted to her for giving them the opportunity, and if we fell to win, she will get rid of her enemies and blame Ferelden for poor leadership.

Belen kinda falls in the same category but his kingdom doesn't have a mountain range as a buffer, not only that, Dwarves in Thedas are kinda an endangered people. While I'm unsure what the number is, I know it was a fraction of what it used to be, with Darkspawn and low birth rates, he could just send his people out to die. So instead, he sent more skilled warriors, not only to train the Fereldans but also to train the casteless. That way if we win, he gets new warriors, and his army gets used to working without the caste system. At least he sent his soldiers with armor and weapons.

"Next!" I called out for the next person in line. Behind me were 25 robo-golems doing the same, one outfit per person, it took most of the morning, but I think I got everyone, any remaining clothes I'll put to sell at the general store I bought in the Alienage, probably for cheap. Most Fereldans won't spend much on Orlesian fashion.

Walking through Denerim I saw people rushing from place to place. Denerim was on a full war footing, blacksmiths were working day and night making spears and shields, Runners were transporting metals and weapons to the camps, the whole city was making anything and everything the army may need. Walking into the Alienage I found Lyna and Julee talking with Valendrian.

"Nicky~!" Julee called me over. Walking over and gave her a soft kiss as she wrapped her tail around my leg.

"Lyna, Valendrian, good afternoon." I greeted.

"Good afternoon, Nickolas." We shook hands. He looked better than the first time I saw him, but to be fair I've been coming down to the alienage around brunch time and feeding the elves. While it was a nice thing to do for the poorer elves, I wanted to see how my cooking affected them. Sure, I had Neria, Alya, Zevran, and Theron to test, but Neria was a mage, Alya was a cleric, Zevran was a master assassin, and Theron was a warden. I wanted normal everyday people, and I was getting some interesting results. The younger children from 1 to 4 seemed healthier and slightly bigger, 5 to 12 seemed even bigger and gained what seemed like endless energy, and most teens and adults shot up like bamboo gaining an extra 2 to 6 inches, for a moment I thought it was puberty but most of the other elves seemed shocked at their new height, when they asked questions I answered truthfully... ish, proper nutrition and no longer living in a toxic environment. That of course gained many of the cooks' attention so I ended up making afternoon cooking classes for the people of the Alienage, allowing me to see if people could copy my magic cooking, they couldn't, which sucked, but they could use magic cooking utensils that did just as good. I also sold those in my general store.

Of course, food wasn't the only thing I tested. On an occasion, I would go down to the training yard and use Inspiration on the recruits by playing montage music through my prestidigitation to see if any of the soldiers would gain extra muscle mass or learn faster and better, so far all I did was make any pain and aches fade and make any march easier.

"How's the Alienage?" I asked.

"Great! With all the workshops and tanneries in the Alienage, people have been working and earning money more than ever before." Not too surprising, Lyna, Dagna, and Julee made those workshops with some runic machines meant to help the craftsmen have an easier time making tools and weapons, all for a price, of course, 10% of anything they sell, in Warden-backed contracts. I've just been buying real estate and building homes and apartments for cheap rent, so I would have a cash flow, which would go to buying more real estate, it kinda became a cycle, I had to get a financial organizer to take control of all the money, there are a bunch of large fantasy buildings randomly placed throughout Denerim.

"Good to hear. So, whatcha guys talking bout?"

"Valendrian's worried about the orlesians. Bunch of piss-off nobles on shiny horses." Lyna spit out.

"Uh?" I gave Valendrian a confused face.

"One of the rites of passage for chevaliers is to kill an elf." he answered.

"Holy shit! Seriously!?" I asked, Julee looked just as shocked. I didn't read the books or comics about the Dragon Age, and I don't remember that from the games, but it has been years since I played the games back in my old life.

"Yes." he pointed around us. "Have you noticed all the elves?"

"Not really." To be fair the alienage always had elves.

"While it's true that many of the elves in Denerim live in the Alienage not all do. With the Orlesian at the gate, many are moving back."

"Do we have space?" He waved away my concern.

"Plenty, and then some, people are just scared. I have no doubt the Orlesian Chevaliers brought students, we're worried some of them will try and do the rite."

"Agreement," I said, bringing 15 more robo-golems from my inventory, I've been making these guys anytime I can get, and putting them to work gets me ever closer to my Master rank in golem making. I might have to place more in the dalish camp, I'm sure they could take care of themselves, but the extra muscle might keep the Orlesians from doing anything stupid.

"You have my thanks, Nickolas."

"Ain't no problem." We shook hands, and he led the 9-foot metal behemoths to the two gates that allowed entry to the Alienage.

"You didn't have to do that." Lyna huffed.

"Yeah, but you were giving me that puppy-eyed look~." I teased. She gave me a blushing pout.

"No I wasn't!"

"Ahhh~, so cute~!" I held my chest in false pain. She thumped me in the chest, she was somehow weaker than Dagna, that or I'm getting stronger.

"Shut up!"

"Make me, honey~," I smirked, Julee pushed Lyna onto my chest and sandwiched her between the two of us. Lyna had a startled look as she stared up into my eyes.

"Yeah~! Make him~." Julee ordered in a sultry whisper, causing Lyna's face to light up. "Better yet~, we can do it together~." she nibbled at her ear, causing Lyna to give a soft moan.

"A weakness~." I sang nibbling on her other ear.

"Nnnnn! H-hold on! W-wait." she moaned.

"You say that but you're holding me rather close~," I whispered.

"S-shat up~." Unfortunately, anything that may have happened was quickly cut to an abrupt end as ice-cold water was dumped over me. Julee and Lyna gave a yelp and jumped away from me. Yeah~, ice water + winter day = a very tight Nick. Turning my head, I find one of my Robo-golems holding a bucket.

"Public indecency is not prohibited in the Alienage, you have been warned, if this happens again you will be removed from the alienage for 30 minutes. Please take any heavy acts of intimacy indoors. Have a nice day." It spoke in a digitalized monotone voice and began to walk away.

"I'm happy my golems are working, but why was I the only one to get drenched?" The girls couldn't hold it anymore and began giggling. "Yeah, yeah, laugh it up." I used prestidigitation to remove the water from my clothes and warm me up. "Now where were we~?" Lyna poked my chest keeping me from getting closer.

"Nice try Walters, but no. I'm a law-abiding citizen." she teased, patting my face before walking off to her house.

"We'll get her next time." Julee huffed, giving me a one-armed hug and wrapping her tail around my waist. I just looked down at her. She was wearing her glasses, black tank top, blue jeans, and her white lab coat, her smile seemed to stretch from ear to ear, her tan skin was soft to the touch, and her hair was shiny ruby red.

"I love you, Julia Hope," I whispered loud enough for her to hear. Her glowing sulfur eyes fully dilated, and a light blush spread across her cheeks.

"MMMM!" she slammed her face to my chest screaming her lungs out. She finally took a breath and pouted at me. "Nicky! you can't just say that~. You have to give me a warning!" I just smirked at her embarrassed face.

"Never~. Lyna's not the only one I have to surprise~." I leaned down and gave her another soft kiss. "I love you~."

"And I, you, Nick Walters~," I threw my hands into the air spooking her a bit.

"Just a simple kiss and confession of love!" I yelled. Bloody golem nearly snuck up on me, bucket in hand. Julee just laughed into my chest.

"KYA!" Lyna's yelp caught our attention. We find her red-faced, back against her door, eyes wide, and with a shocked look on her face.

"Ya good?" I asked walking over. She just looked at me without saying anything. "Lyna?"

"Uhm... Sky and Ava have become really close friends, huh?" she asked. I gave her a long look then back to the door and then back to Lyna. Has it been a month already?

"On our couch?!" Julee gasped. "Bold~," she smirked.

"Come on, let's give them some privacy, and get some lunch." 'Pizza Time' had a table just for me.

I mean~, if I own the place why wouldn't I have my own table.

-/-

Theron POV

"Deep breaths," I ordered my fellow dalish mages. Ever since some of the mages spotted me practicing my Arcane Warrior skills with Nick, just about every mage in the dalish district begged me for lessons. That is what led me to teach nearly five dozen elves the beginning of the art.

"Umm, Warden Mahariel." a young mage called out.

"Yes?"

"Do we have to do these stretches?" the young elf spoke some sense, just about every stretch Nick taught me was something that you probably shouldn't do in polite company, but I'll be damned if my Mana core and reflexes haven't grown by leaps and bounds.

"Yes, to become an arcane warrior requires both strong ligaments and flexible muscles. Dirth'ena Enasalin will have you empowering your body with magic, if your body can't take the abuse, it will break down and fail you in combat." I explained. "Change." I bent to another stance.

"I understand sir, but... some of these are rather... Risque," they muttered.

"Mmm, you are not wrong, but this is the fastest way for growing your Mana core. Change. You should have confidence in yourself."

"Sure, I guess, but not all of us have the body of an elven hero." They groaned as they bent into the new pose.

"Not yet," I reassured. "But as you keep training, your body will grow to handle your new magic. And breathe. Ok, our cool down is over, those going with us on the scouting mission please get your things in order, the rest of you remember to do these stretches until I return." Ever since we got word that the Darkspawn had been spotted in the Brecilian Forest, Duncan and I have been looking at the globe map religiously, but the dense forest tops blocked any overview image satellites Nick gave us, as well as strange cloud coverage. This worried us a bit, did the Archdemon know about Nick's satellites? Nick doubted it, something about his satellites being so high that nothing could see them, we came to the more logical conclusion that with its reinforcements being attacked underground, working out in the open would make its forces easier to fight, and with the forest leading up to Denerim we concluded that the city would be its next major target.

The Grey Wardens had plenty of files on Darkspawn and the Blights and well we don't have them now, Duncan, Warden-Commander Carel, and Warden-Commander Alisse being here, we were given a rough time of Darkspawn growth. While it usually takes anywhere from 3 – 5 years for a darkspawn to reach fighting age, it was well written that they tend to grow faster during a blight, but they didn't know if it was because of the Archdemon's magic or because they had more food, this put us on a timer.

Reaching Mother Base, I spotted Nick talking with Dagna and Julia. Outside the lowered ramp

"Don't forget to do your morning stretches even though I'm not there to stare at your ass." Dagna slapped his shoulder and gave Julia a kiss. "Mother Base is yours until we return, ok?" she gave him a strong hug.

"Come home safe. You too Theron." She turned to me. "Clan Sabrae would be devastated if you died." I gave her a small nod in compliance.

Julia, Jak, and Nick are fascinating people, the number of species outside of Thedas seemed to be endless, from small green humanoids called goblins to huge half man half horse people to sentient turtles and lizard people. This world is larger than I could have ever dreamed, but with those dreams came nightmares. They told me about monstrous underground worms, Elemental giants, that make the giants we have now look like the derpy family member nobody talks about, and that their Gods do in fact listen and help their followers, the fact that Andruil is real still keeps me up some nights. If she's real, is Fen'Harel also real? Is the wolf out there somewhere, cackling madly to himself?

Nick gave me a rough understanding on how gods come to be.

Prayers + followers + Time = holy power

Holy power + imagination + universal essence = Domain

Domain + Figure + Faith + Magic = God

He believes that the elven gods were once living heroes whose legends grew to godhood, given all the time people prayed to them and what Andruil told him when they talked. When I told him about Fen'Harel he concluded that if he was real, he was most likely responsible for the veil, Morrigan gloated a bit, talking about how she called it long ago, Ayla even confirmed that the Maker didn't create the veil. The idea of a single person creating the veil sends shivers up my spine. Was Fen'Harel naturally that powerful? Did he use some artifact? Did the Elven people have different gods that helped him? Why? And more importantly, should I tell anyone?

"Theron, you ready?" Nick called out regaining my focus as Jak pulled up in the newly modified Warthog. Where the old one only held 6 people, 8 if you squeezed together, this one seemed to be able to fit 10 people easily.

"Yes, of course." I gave a whistle, and a screech came from on top of Mother Base as my griffon, Enasalin, came at my command. Man, did it and the other griffons cause a small riot with the other Wardens, everyone wanted their own, but nobody could afford them, at least no individual Warden but I'm pretty sure the Order had enough money for a few. That didn't stop some of the wardens from following Duncan around asking for a test flight. Enasalin was a bit bigger than a horse and made of metal, but its saddle was amazing, it felt like I was sitting on Nick's chair. You would think a giant metal bird horse would make all kinds of noise, but Nick must have put some noise-damping runes or something cause it barely made any noise.

Arriving at the new southern gate took less than 5 minutes by flight, gods I can't even remember what it was like to have to walk everywhere, no wonder Sky and Astral find us land walkers as lesser beings. We met up with Aeden and Nat on their own griffons, and Ayla and Sky on their own warthog already packed with weary scouts.

"Alright, load up ladies! We need to find some darkspawn!" Nick called out, getting any remaining scouts to climb into his car. "Hey? Ya ain't scared of heights, right?"

-/-

The flight was rather quiet, the scouts were mesmerized by the sights, thankfully the griffons had a similar shield Mother Base had so the air wouldn't pound my face. We reached the Bercilian forest within the day, but the forest was huge, and the darkspawn were sighted deeper in the ancient forest. We ended up having to camp for the night, Nick made an earth wall as well as runic mines and wards to keep dangers away. He also gave the scouts runic tents, I wish I knew Nick earlier in life, could have saved me back problems from sleeping on the floor.

"You guys feel anything?" Nick asked breaking our silent visual, Aeden, Nick and I were taking the first watch. I doubt we need to do much, Nick's 15-foot wall was thick enough to make an ogre work to bring it down, but Nick was paranoid, and we did see some huge ogres in the Deep Roads.

I took a deep breath and allowed my senses to spread, I still don't know what the Joining potion was made of but mixing it with my magic allowed me to sense Darkspawn a good distance away, unlike some of my non-mage Wardens comrades. I felt something tapping just outside my range, it wasn't a darkspawn, but it was close, a ghoul maybe? The difference is hard to sense, Darkspawn looked like a moving void in my mind's eye, this person still had some sparks of life, like the night sky but more and more stars kept dimming out.

"There's something. A lone ghoul I believe."

"Someone who escaped but got blighted?" Nick asked.

"Maybe." Suddenly multiple more Blighted signals popped up, about a dozen, these were definitely Darkspawn, but the ghoul wasn't running, but leading. "Hold on. Darkspawn... there heading this way." Nick jumped to his feet and rushed into the tent waking everyone up. I didn't feel any more Darkspawn so this may be a scouting force.

The darkspawn were about 2 miles out, but we made good time due to Nick giving the scouts boots of swiftness allowing them to keep up with us, a few did end up tripping, but they were quick to get accustomed to their new speed. I took the lead being more at home in the forest. I gave silent commands for the team to hide behind some trees for a pincer maneuver.

My Warden Sense TM gave me a clear image of the monsters, then I saw him.

Tamlen.

By the gods. He looked terrible. All his hair was gone, some teeth were missing, his eyes were milky white, and he had a hunched back. I looked back to Nick who was looking back at me and gave me a nod, of course he would know who he was already. I began gathering magic in my right hand and unleashed it as a blinding white light over the darkspawn staggering them, Tamlen sunk neck deep into a hole, and the scouts peppered them with arrows, Darkspawn didn't even know what hit them.

"Nick, is there anything you can do?" I asked looking down at Tamlen's struggling head. Nick gave Tamlen his iconic Knowledge Glare TM, as the scouts, Aeden, Jak, and Ayla burned the bodies.

"Mmm, maybe~. Ayla!" He waved Ayla over from burning corpses with white holy flames.

"Whatcha need?" She's been picking up some of Nick's slang I see.

"I wanna see if you can try and heal his guy," he asked.

"Mmm~," she opened her holy book bathing the forest in a soft light that warmed my bones and warded off the winter night. "Mmm, I can help lessen the taint in his body but I'm not at the level required to cure him entirely." That was still amazing, for anyone to fight the taint is a miracle in and of itself.

"that'll do." Nick nodded, taking a step back. Ayla took a deep breath.

"The darker the night, the brighter the light." Her book flooded Tamlen with holy light and nearly blinded me. The sound of coughing, heavy breathing, and retching was the first thing I heard. Looking back at Tamlen I saw him vomiting black ichor.

"I got ya~," Nick called out holding on to a tipsy Ayla.

"Whoa~, that took more out of me than I thought it would. Thanks." She regained her composure not a moment later. "This armor's awesome. No mana crashes for this woman! You have a great butt." Nick just gave a chuckle at her drunken state and passed me one of his Cure All potions.

"Can't you just heal him?" I asked. He gave me a nod.

"Yeah, I could, but I want to see if this potion can do it without me. I can't be everywhere and if this potion can cure people without me then I don't become Thedas only place to cure the taint."

"You're going to sell it at your store aren't you~?" I asked. He just gave me a thumbs-up.

"Theron? Is that you?" Tamlen's raspy voice gained my attention. I kneeled and placed the lip of the potion to his lips.

"Tamlen, drink this." He struggled in his confusion, but he evenly drank the potion.

"Wha-" the projectile vomited more black ooze. By the abyss!

"Relax. It's the same thing that happened with the dwarf in the deep roads, Rick."

"Ruck." Ayla corrected.

"Him too." Nick nodded; she rolled her eyes. We watched Tamlen blow chunks for another 5 minutes, before he finally stopped, breathing heavily and spitting out the black sludge in his mouth. Nick lifted him out of the ground as I poured some water into his mouth.

"Spit," I ordered. He spit over five times.

"The taste doesn't seem to go away." he groaned. Nick waved for me to take a step back as he put his hand on Tamlen's unaware back, he then threw up some more but to a lesser degree. "Fuck! What was that!?"

"Sorry my good man, the Potion did help remove a large amount of the taint, but not all of it. You should be all better now; you just need some rest and good food." Nick patted him on the back. "Here." he passed him another water skin. "I never thought I would say this, but... don't swallow." Ayla slapped his shoulder. Tamlen looked over at me with a confused look on his face.

"You'll get used to it." I deadpanned.

-/-

Returning to camp took longer than before due to Tamlen not wanting to be carried like a princess, man still doesn't get my awesome sense of humor. It took most of the night to give a decent retelling of my amazing adventures trying to save the world with my sidekicks, Nick, Jak, and Ayla just booed me from the peanut gallery whenever I talked about my heroics, Sky didn't seem to care, and Aeden and Nat just went along with whatever I was saying like true friends.

Tamlen still had a hard time getting his head around everything, but he just took my word for it. He was still uncomfortable with all the humans, and Jak and Sky made him jump every time they looked at him, but we still needed to complete our scouting mission, so he had to come along with us, so he rode with me on Enasalin, it would have been funny if he didn't grip onto me like a drowning man, I nearly lost consciousness twice, I don't even know what the big deal was, we were only 500 feet off the ground.

We traveled for another 2 days, hitting Darkspawn scouts and helping relocate some Dalish clans farther away from the darkspawn hoard that was becoming more and more apparent as we headed south, trees looked rotten, the forest was quiet of all noise, and the Darkspawn scouts were more frequent, it was in the evening of the 3rd day when we entered the unusual storm we saw in the Globe map. It felt wrong, blight magic was laced through the clouds, it messed with my sense flying up this high, and lowering down only made it worse, I felt the tens of thousands of Darkspawn marching ever so slowly towards Denerim, it was like slow-moving ooze through my Warden Sense, and there was something else, something wrong, I couldn't see it, but I could feel it, hear it, the chiming of a song so broken and monstrous that it made me want to vomit. Nick called off the mission and had us fly back to Denerim at full speed.

We had about 4, maybe 5, weeks before Denerim's walls were truly tested.

-/-

Ava POV

The scout team returned last night; they looked a bit haggard; Sky only gave me a 10-second kiss before trotting off to bed, Ayla in her tiredness gave me a gentle kiss on my lips and followed Sky not giving me a second glance, she tasted of strawberries. Aeden, Natia, and Theron were giving their debriefing to Cailan and the Warden-Commanders at the king's estate, Nick didn't want a bunch of people crowding the house, so he made a globe map in the king's war room.

"Hey, having fun?" Nick asked flopping next to me passing me a churro, eating his prepared food was fine but nothing beats fresh, Jak flopped to my other side with two jumbo churros, she definitely wasn't going to share.

"Not as much as you, it seems." I joked, taking a bit of sugary goodness. He and Jak just looked at me.

"... oh yeah, she's a keeper." Jak nodded at me like I was a fine piece of art while stuffing her face.

"What I tell ya, she can hold all the sass." Nick joked back to her; they've been like this since Lyna, and I came into Mother Base. "But to answer your sass, we're fine... Physically. There was a lot of Darkspawn." he sighed.

"Time?" I asked.

"4 weeks," Jak answered. "We need to get the civilians out of Denerim, we should have been doing that sooner but where do we send them? We don't have enough ships to sail them away."

"Maybe we send them north to Amaranthine?" Nick tossed out. "Could they even handle a population that large?"

"No," I answered. "Denerim could barely handle 'Denerim's' population."

"Maybe an underground vault?" Jak asked.

"Darkspawn live underground, they dig for a living." Nick countered.

"Maybe we should just send them away from the oncoming blight, ya know just march ahead," I questioned.

"Mmm, maybe. That just might be our best option." Nick muttered munching on his churro, before shrugging. "eh~, it ain't my problem. This is why I'm not the king of anything, too much responsibility for my taste."

"Don't you own half the Alienage?" I asked, Nick has bought and outfitted most of the businesses located in the Alienage.

"Yeah, but I'm paying Telsa to handle the day-to-day stuff." I blinked at him.

"Telsa, as in Telsa the 18-year-old Telsa, pale as a ghost, long black hair, red eyes, constantly looks like the world owes her money and it keeps giving excuses. That Telsa?" she's been like that since she was born, most men don't dare to approach her, and most women fear her 'bold' personality. There are some rumors that she's a rage demon disguised as a woman, some say she was too powerful and killed the demon and took its power.

"That's the one! I saw her stare down a shop owner for a discount, I was super impressed, and hired her on the spot!" Nick laughed. "You can't let talent like that go! I gave her 5% of any money my Denerim Shops make, her own house, and office in the Alienage. Anora looked pissed when she found out, apparently, she had a bit of a reputation at negotiations. She used to work at the docks, but Howe fired her." That's true I suppose, anywhere Telsa goes prices drop, for her anyway.

"You're braver than most, Telsa is rather... intimidating."

"Pish! She is just like Morrigan, all sharp barbs, but a kind soul. Don't tell her I told you that." he quickly added, Telsa or Morrigan? "So, what are you doing up? It's the middle of the night."

"Oh, I'm going on patrol, I'm-"

"I'm ready!" Neria's voice came up from the second level. She popped out wearing a rather tight black leather outfit that showed all her curves, I swear everybody on this ship has no shame, and I'm okay with that. I traced down her very fit body, I'm okay with that indeed. "Nick! Jak! You're back!?" she rushed over and embraced them. They were only gone for a few days, but I guess watching your friends fly off to a Darkspawn-infested forest would worry anyone.

"Well." Nick huffed getting to his full height. "I'm thoroughly seduced." he nodded to Jak, who nodded back and proceed to shove his tongue down Neria's throat. Neria struggled for a moment before just accepting it and falling into his arms. After a good 30 seconds, he released her mouth, leaving a blushing mess, but before she got to say anything Jak took Nick's place and shoved her tongue down Neria's throat, she didn't even fight back this time. Another 30 seconds and Neria was free. "Have fun you two and watch your six out there." he gave Neria one last squeeze and walked off to his room, Jak did the same and followed him.

We waited in silence until we heard his door close.

"They tasted like sugar," she muttered.

"Mmm." I bit into my churro. "I bet."

-/-

Nick POV

You have slept in your bed!

HP, MP, and CP, are at Max

All ailments cured

Waking to a drooling naked Jak on my chest started my day off pretty well. Doing my morning route, kiss Jak awake, shower, dress, and start breakfast, only this time I found Dagna behind the kitchen counter mixing some batter. She was wearing her light green PJs with cute mabari puppies and my apron

"Morning~," I called out.

"Morning! I'm making breakfast!" She had some batter on her face.

"I can see that." I cleaned her cheek with my thumb and gave it a quick taste, sweet but not too much, just right. "So, what's the occasion?" She gave me a confused look.

"It's your birthday."

"My birthday?" I blinked at her.

"Well, Julee told me it was your birthday, is it not?"

"Maybe? Sorry, the dates are a bit different from back home." I gave my status sheet a quick search.

Gamer Human

Nick Walters

Age: 25 → 26!

Lvl: 58

EXP: 37849/59000

HP 1430/1430

MP 950/950

CP 1430/1430

Str: welcome to the gun show... ladies~

Vit: you can go the distance

Dex: you can touch your toes... backwards

Int: you only need to hear instructions once

Wis: you're willing to wait for it

Cha: smile and wave boys, smile and wave

Luk: if you ever trip, there's a high chance you'll fall on a pair of breasts

Stat points: 39

Money: 739G 85S 8C

People indebted to you:

Ferelden: 80,000 gold

The bank of the broken mountain: 15,000 gold

Oghren: 6 gold and a barrel of whiskey

It's your birthday!

Congratulations on reaching one more rotation around a star!

Reward: one 50% gamer store coupon (can't be stacked), gold loot box, 1 gacha token, and one random skill scroll.

Nice~. I focused back on Dagna, who was giving me a weird look.

"Are you ok? It looked like you were staring out into space, but then longer the usual," she asked, putting some bacon on a non-stick pan.

"Sory doing some math, and I'm pretty sure you're right. What's the date?"

"uhhhhh~, the 5th of Guardian, I think."

"Thanks, I'll remember that. So, what ya cooking good looking?" I asked leaning over to swipe a piece of bacon only for Dagna to slap my hand away with a wooden spoon.

"It's not ready, go watch some TV or something." She shooed me away.

"Sweety, 2 dragons, 4 Wardens, and 9 other people live on this ship not adding Shayle, Cailan, Duncan, and the dogs. She smacked her lips at me.

"Pa-lease~, you don't think I know that?" she sassed at me, cocking her hips and giving an unimpressed look.

"I'm here!" Ayla called out rushing into the room. "Oh, come on! It's 6:30 in the morning! Don't you ever sleep in?" She huffed at me, putting one of the extra aprons I have hanging on the wall over her PJs.

"Internal clock," I answered, sitting at the counter watching them work. "And only two?"

"Four." Jak corrected walking into the room wearing one of my shirts that reached her thighs, Julee came up behind her wearing a tank top and PJ bottoms. They gave me a morning kiss on their way past me.

"Gasp! Julee!? Awake before 11? What madness is this!?" I teased.

"That's right!" She laughed like an evil villainess. "I spent the last year getting extra sleep to lay you into a false sense of security for this very day!"

"Gasp! But for what purpose."

"Breakfast." she teased.

"Of course."

"Hey!" Dagna spanked her with her wooden spoon, causing her to yelp. "Eggs." Julee pouted and ran off. She pointed her wooden whacking spoon at me. "And you! Get out of here! I won't have my cooks be distracted by your nonsense."

"Gasp! Me!?" I gave her a mock offended look.

"Yeah, you, mister shirtless." It's true, I put my shirt in my inventory, as Jak and Julee walked in, let the world KNOW that women also like a show! Wither their man be fit or round! Tall or short! Hairy or smooth! Ladies love to see their men as a snack from time to time.

"Gasp the third! Do I distract you Mistress Dagna~?" I smirked at her. She... poked my chest with a spoon.

"Get," she ordered, her blushing face made me want to stay and see how much I could tease her.

"But Dagnyyyy~," I whined leaning over the counter to get face to face with her, I thought she was going to shy away like always, but she just looked me in the eyes and stood her ground. I think she saw that moment of shock and grabbed my face laying a deep tongue-filled kiss. I back away no doubt blushing if Jak's smirking face meant anything.

"Get," she ordered her face as bright as a tomato.

Gamer's mind has resisted Dagna's word of command

"I-o-okay." I stammered, walking backward out of the room, and bouncing off a wall before losing sight of them. When did Dagna get that bold? that straight-up caught me off guard. I heard cheering and hollering from the kitchen. Enjoy your victory for now ladies, I'll be back! I ended up bumping into somebody.

"Watch where you're going, ya doofus!"

"Op! Sorry Mory, what are you doing so early? Gasp! Are you also making breakfast?" She gave me a confused look.

"Wha? No. I wanted to talk to you. You're not making breakfast?"

"No, the ladies are. So, what's up my sista?" she rolled her eyes at me.

"Put on a shirt and follow me." I quickly crafted a shirt with the words 'birthday man' in big blocky glittering gold letters. "It's your birthday?"

"I just remembered today. I'm going to see if Cailan will panic and just throw gold at me." I joked.

"of course." she rolled her eyes at my shenanigans.

We sat out on the porch and quietly watched the sunrise and birds chirping.

"I'm going to do something." she broke the silence.

"Is it stupid?" I asked.

"No... yes... I don't know, but it could save Aeden, Nat, Theron, and I guess Alistair too." I rolled my eyes, those two acted like siblings that want Aeden's attention.

"Why don't you just accept that you and Alistair are friends?"

"I'd sooner have a threesome with the bard." she huffed.

"I'll give Lily a heads up." she elbowed me. "Alright, alright~. What's wrong?" I asked leaning next to her.

"Flemeth... tasked me to gain the affection of one of the Grey Wardens to... Conceive a child," she muttered. I remained quiet, I knew that Flemeth wanted the soul of the old god, but for what purpose I had no idea. "If the Archdemon were to be slain within proximity of my unborn child its soul will transfer to the unborn child."

"And the warden that killed the Archdemon will survive." I finished. She just looked at me, no shock or surprise anywhere on her face.

"You would know about that." she leaned on my shoulder.

"It wasn't too hard to put two and two together. No Grey Warden has ever survived defeating the Archdemons, they all died heroically. I mean, we defeated a dragon, sure she was wounded but we still won, why couldn't the people of the first blight? Are you telling me that in two hundred years an empire of magic couldn't kill one dragon? Please~." I hugged her tightly, beating back the morning cold. "Have you told Aeden?"

"I... no. I do not know how he will react." I've never ever heard her sound so scared.

"You mean before or after he runs up and down Denerim high-fiving people like he just won a million gold?" she elbowed me again.

"Be serious!" she hissed. I laughed.

"I am! Do you think he doesn't have a bunch of baby names ready to go? That man loves you, and it's not that puppy love horny teens have, I mean serious love, the stuff that makes you unbeatable, the stuff that gives you power where power didn't exist. You wanna know how I know that?" She gave me a look that begged me to answer. I nodded to the lifts as Nat, Aeden, and Theron came into view. They looked dead to the world; they must have been up all-night debriefing with Cailan and Duncan, thinking of ways to fight the upcoming blight. As they began walking toward the house Aeden touched his ring, looked up, spotted Morrigan, and seemed to hit his second wind, his back straightened, his eyes regained their spark, and a small smile crossed his face. He didn't run but he definitely moved faster.

"He's going to think I waited up for him." Mory groaned. This time I elbowed her.

"Didn't you?" I teased.

"Shut up."

"Well, you stay here and act nonchalant, I'm going to be a real man." With that I hopped off the porch and booked it for Nat who gained a smile as I rushed her. I picked her up and gave her a twirl, getting me a laugh.

"Put me down ya dork~." she giggled.

"Never!" I gave her butterfly kisses starting at her neck and finished with a deep loving kiss.

"I'm all sweaty!"

"Yeah ya are~," I growled into her neck causing more giggling.

"Gross." Theron drawled.

"You're just jealous." I joked.

"Yep, that's what I want, a 6-foot-something man to twirl me around like I'm a princess after a full night of debriefing and two days of non-stop travel." he sarcastically stated.

"You know, I love your honesty most of all Theron, right Aeden... Aeden?" I looked around finding him missing, I found him standing at the bottom steps of the porch looking up at a cool-looking Morrigan standing she was in her classic B-boy stance. I couldn't hear what they were saying but whatever Aeden said turned her into a blushing mess and strolled back into the house with a smug Aeden right behind her. "He didn't even say hello, just straight up ghosted me."

"Yes, yes, Aeden loves Morrigan, can you put me down." Nat huffed.

"Nope~. Come on, I'll help you with your shower." I carried her into the house.

"Watch those hands~." her smirk set my blood a boil.

"Gross," Theron complained.

-/-

Breakfast was... nice.

"It's salty." and there's Morrigan, without any mercy.

"Nonsense, it came out great dears." Wynne complemented eating some of her eggs. "Very... sweet."

"I may have mixed the salt and sugar a bit." Ayla sheepishly answered.

"I've had worse," Sten muttered through his oatmeal. The warden didn't seem to notice any changes and just ate anything within their reach.

"Thanks for breakfast ladies~. So, what are we doing today?" I said trying to change the topic.

"You~." Julee stage whispered with a sultry undertone.

"Ugh!" Morrigan groaned passing her plate over to Aeden who ate it without question. Elissa giggled at her. "Your brother pounds me every night." Morrigan sneered.

"AHH!" Elissa screamed, covering her ears. "Gross!" She passes her food to Alistair.

"Julia Hope! Morrigan Walters! That is not breakfast-appropriate language young lady!" Wynne chastised.

"Sorry Pa... wait. You're not my father!" Julee countered. "And this is my home! Butts!" Wynne just let out a sigh at her rebellious attitude.

"Wynne, what are you doing today?" I asked, trying to distract her from Julee's teasing.

"I'm teaching some of the mages simple healing spells, you'd be surprised how many came out here thinking all they'll need to do is shoot fireballs," she answered.

"Boobies!" Julee called out just because she could.

"Lyna?" I asked.

"Be in awe!" she cheered reaching into her bag of holding and pulled out a... Rectangle with a lens on it?

"Super cool." she gave me a deadpan look.

"You have no idea what this is do you?"

"uh, yeah... I just wanted you to show off." I lied, poorly.

"uh-huh~, it's a video camera!" It is bigger than any handheld camera I've ever held. "Look! This is where you put the disc." she opened the rectangle in half, showing off some impressive rune work. On one rectangle was a DVD disc clicked to a rotator. "The laser was the hardest part, but Julee, Dagna, and I got it working." She looked extra smug. This was pretty impressive, Mother Base had camera's but they couldn't really record things for over 30 minutes. "It even has a projector mode! Watch. Julee and I took some test footage." She put it on the table and pointed it to the empty wall, pressing a button.

"Oh no." I heard Julee whisper. "Lyna, honeybun, wait, hold on." she tried to get up but tripped in her hurry to Lyna's side.

"Is it on?" Lyna's voice was heard from the box, but the only thing we saw was Julee's grinning face.

"Yep!" Julee answered, putting the camera on a table, it looked like Julee's room. Julee backed away from the camera revealing that she was in red silk lingerie, as an equally dressed Lyna in blue lingerie came into the frame.

Lyna was locked in shock, with the inability to press the off button.

Poor Alistair started choking on his food, eyes bulging, and face as bright as the sun.

Elissa jumped into action trying to save his life.

Wynne just sighed, as if she had seen this a thousand times, and being in the circle since youth I have no doubt caught her fair share of apprentices doing nasty things.

Aeden kept his eyes shut and continued eating as if nothing was happening.

Lily, Sky, Nat, Jak, and Zev looked at the footage like five aristocrats looking at a fancy painting judging it for all its worth.

Sten didn't look or care

Shayle looked a bit confused at what they were doing.

Ayla and Sereda were gaping like fish, faces as red as Alistair's, flinging their arms around as if that would do anything.

Theron's eyes were getting wider and wider, his still sleepy mind making sense of what was happening.

Strangely enough, Oghren looked completely calm, gods thank Felsi for arriving with the mages.

The screen suddenly expanded into a wider view allowing us to see everything better, looking over to the camera I find an embarrassed Ava trying to turn it off, but only making things worse.

Morrigan was gagging.

Neria looked enraptured, never had she seen such fine booty.

Julee finally reached the camera but, in her panic, she just grabbed it and flung it as hard as she could out the nearest window.

See... in any other circumstance that would have worked. The camera would have flown into the window, shattering the window, most likely, and launching the poor box out to its doom... but, when I made Mother Base one of the first things I did, was make it as durable as possible, nothing short of a meteor was going to hurt my baby. So, you think 'fine, if the window is a wall the box will shatter when it makes contact, but... Julee, Dagna, and I tend to add durability runes to everything cause we tend to break things.

In conclusion, the camera hit the window, bounced back to the table, and projected the picture... onto my face.

"Ohhhh~, Juleeee~!" past Lyna moaned.

Now, I couldn't really see what was going on, but based on everyone's shocked and embarrassed expressions the ladies were doing something naughty on my face. I had a feeling Lyna would sit on my face one day, but on the kitchen table. Bold.

"AHHHHHHHH!" Quick as a whip Lyna grabbed the box and ran out of the room and down to her room. The room grew quiet, the only noise was Alistair being saved by Elissa with the Heimlich maneuver.

"Alright~, that was... something. Finish breakfast, I'm going to go and see what I can do about, that." I said, grabbing some food and walking out of the room.

-/-

Lyna's POV

I was deep in my pillow fort of embarrassment. Maker why~? How could I forget about the sexy disc!? Why~!?

I heard knocking at my door, but I didn't want to talk to anyone, in forever.

"Lyna~, it's Nick~." Maker not him! Anyone but the man I just came on!

"Go away!"

"What? All I heard was 'please-come-in-so-we-can-talk-about-what-happened-so-we-can-go-on-with-our-lives'!"

"How in the Abyss did you get that!?"

"Get what?"

"For you to come in!?" I bit my tongue.

"Come in? Alright!" Damn it! I heard the door open, and I quickly sank back into my blankets and pillows not wanting to see anyone.

"Hey, champ~." I felt him sit next to me. "How ya feeling?"

"I wanna bury myself and never see the sky again," I muttered.

"Why? You had amazing technique~." He had the nerve to joke!

"NICK!" I yelled at him popping my head from my blanket cocoon exile. He took that moment to shove some Orlesian toast into my mouth. It was okay.

"You forgot some food." He had that stupid smiling face like there wasn't a worry in the world. "That was one fun morning~." I buried myself back into my blanket cocoon. "Hey, hey, no going back in." he dangled a sausage over my head. I'm not a fish ya damn bastard! I nearly bit his fingers off. The sausage was pretty good.

"Nick?"

"Mmm?"

"How are you so okay with this? I mean, I get that you're in this love nest thing with many of the women here but I literally showed everyone everything!" I would lose my shit if someone showed that to anyone.

"Mmm~, scooch over," I rolled a bit allowing him to lay next to me. we just lay there looking at the ceiling, well at least I was, looking over I found Nick just laying there, eyes closed and getting comfortable. "The first time I tried to kiss a girl I ended up making out with her nose."

"What?" he waved his hands creating an illusion on the ceiling. Aww~, he looked adorable no older than Sera, in front of him was a small human girl, they leaned in for a kiss only for him to miss and laid one right on her nose. Nick exploded into a fit of chuckles that got me laughing too.

"We all make mistakes," child Nick looked so embarrassed and ran away from the girl. "But in time we get to look back and find that they weren't as bad as you first imagined."

"I... guess." I still don't want anyone to see my face. He nudged me.

"Julee looked fine in that lingerie huh?" he was bouncing his eyebrows at me.

"Ya perv." he kept bouncing his eyebrows. "Yeah~, she was just, wow~, I mean, WOW!" he started laughing. "Don't laugh! When she said she wanted to view her 'technique' for future 'battles' I called her crazy, but when she walked into the room wearing only 'that' the horny part of my mind took control."

"Ohhh~, I know that feeling all too well~." He sighed as if recalling a fond memory. "ya now she has sex magic, right?"

"yep~, one of the first things she told me. Something about lowering my inhibition and raising my desires~. Didn't really care, still don't really."

"you know the best way to get her back?" I gave him a long look, I care for Julee a great deal but she always had the upper hand in all our lovemaking adventures. I wanna be in charge too damn it! "You must deny her, rebuff her advancements. It drives her into a horny rage, her powers not only affect you but her as well, by denying her she gets desperate and starts bargaining leverage."

"But her power."

"It's all about practice~, my dear. No one is good at anything without sucking at it first." I took a moment to just lay there and think about the conversation.

"Why are we talking about sex?"

"Cause I wanted you to see it really doesn't matter. You were so embarrassed about the tape that you cocooned yourself into a ball. Now, sex is just a thing lovers do. Fair warning though, Zev and Lily didn't look impressed, so they might start giving unwanted advice." he teased.

"Damn it~." I rolled over and groaned into his chest. He gave another chuckle at my suffering, the bastard. He smelled of breakfast. "Hey! Give me some bacon." I ordered, I would have reached over and grabbed some myself, but I wrapped myself a bit too tightly in my cocoon.

"I didn't hear a please~." This bastard.

"Please, give me some bacon," I growled, the bacon was a bit too crunchy. Knocking interrupted my meal. "Wmho mi imt!" I yelled with a mouthful of bacon.

"It's me!" Julee's voice came from the hallway. I swallowed my bacon.

"Come in!" Julee's head popped around the door with a worried look.

"Hey honeybuns~, how are ya?" she asked, not caring how I was lying on Nick's chest, and hopped over to my other side sandwiching between them. These guys run hot.

"I'm fine, just embarrassed." I sighed.

"Oh~, my sweet. If it helps, I nearly killed Nick the first time we made love."

"Really?"

"Uh-huh, she nearly choked me to death," Nick confirmed. "You're welcome."

"Wha? Why?"

"She had to learn not to do that from someone." I just looked at his grinning face for a moment. Oh.

"Thanks."

"Any time~."

-/-

Nick POV

I ended up staying with Lyna until she finally bit the bullet and walked out of her room. She was the butt of a few of our jokes but we when easy on her, we did promise we'd make some better jokes when she can laugh about it.

Sky loudly announced that she was going to make lunch. Jak and Ava volunteered to help (Read: stop her from burning down the house) her, so lunch would be ready on time. With some free time, I headed off to the alienage with Dagna, Julee, Ayla, and Lyna with her camera, filming everything.

"Lyna, you're far stronger-willed than I thought," Ayla muttered. "I would have burned that thing and buried the ashes."

"It's not like it failed or anything," Lyna muttered, a faint blush painting her cheeks, pointing the camera at her. "I just forgot about the disc."

"Aww~, is this why you enjoy embarrassing me?" Dagna asked. "This is dangerously addictive." she got a mischievous smirk on her face. "Lyna, you have great hips!"

"Dagna!?" Lyna cried out, her blush spreading. "You've been hanging out with Nick too much."

"Not enough, I say." I countered, shaking my head at Dagna's forward method. "You can't just go straight to the sleazy comments Dagny. You need to work up it. Start with her hair."

"Hair?" my apprentice inquired.

"Indeed, she's put it in a ponytail today, usually she lets it flow around her face and shoulders, a small compliment about how beautiful she looks."

"Please don't teach your student to seduce me." Lyna deadpanned playing with her hair.

"I love your eyes!" Dagna yelled, getting in Lyna's face like she was trying to spook her emotions into Lyna.

"Please stop." Lyna was thoroughly unimpressed and unseduced.

"Too forward!" I chastised. "Watch." I took a breath to center myself. "You had a really cute birthmark on your butt." DANGER! I bent just out of the way of her foot that was aimed at my head. I grabbed her leg and bent her into a rather... Compromising position. "And you complained about morning stretches~."

"Hold still and let me remove those memories." she hissed; her face couldn't get redder.

"See Dagna~, now all she wants, is me," I smirked.

"Yeah, she wants you, dead," Dagna muttered blushing at the way I was holding Lyna.

"But she wants me~. All I have to do now is be 'just' out of reach but close enough that she won't give up." Lyna then did a move only circus du soleil performers and Scarlett Johansson could do, and flipped her other leg over and trapped my head between her thighs. "Well, aren't I in a pickle?"

"Kya! Don't talk!" Lyna squeaked. That made everyone freeze. They couldn't see it but a face-splitting grin crossed me face.

"... so today, I have to talk with Telsa and see if my shops need anything." I began talking about what I was planning on doing today emphasizing every word. Lyna began panting and tightening her legs around my head.

"You... bastard." she panted thumping my head but she didn't put any strength into it, or at least couldn't.

"He has a hard head," Ayla said.

"Julee, is Ayla blushing?" I couldn't really see with Lyna's legs around my head.

"NO!" Ayla yelled.

"Yep~!" Julee countered. "She's a voyeur~."

"No I'm not!"

I started chuckling which caused Lyna to grip my hair and let out a soft moan. Alright, alright, I teased her enough, I pried her off my head and continued my walk to the Alienage with her in my arms. She shoved her head into my neck and muttered about how she was going to kick my ass when she could feel her legs again.

"It's okay Ayla, I don't kink shame... mostly. As long as it's nothing too weird." The internet is a terrible place. "So, what are you guys doing after this?"

"I have a sermon the Maker asked me to do, and you have to fix up the chantry... you forgot about fixing the chantry, didn't you?" Ayla asked.

"But it's my birthday~," I whined; I've been pushing that off for later. I mean it would suck if I make it all nice only for Darkspawn to mess it up.

"See, if it was cause of some minor vandalism, I wouldn't have cared as much, but you sculpted me butt naked!" she huffed.

"First, you have no proof it was me, Second, it wasn't 'naked' it was 'nude' there's a difference, and lastly, I didn't do it." I counted out.

"Forgive me if I don't believe you." she deadpanned. "And let's say you didn't do it-"

"Which I didn't!"

"Shush. One, you would have hunted the artist down, whether it was for an autograph or to beat them up, I'm a bit scared to find out, two, you owe me for framing it, and three, I have to see me every time I go into Julee's room."

"I thought you were into that?" I teased.

"Shut up. Besides Lily's already there, if you don't show up, she's going to scream your ear off, birthday or not." she huffed. I let out a long sigh.

"When you're right, you're right." I've been dodging that quest for some time. "Let's hope Telsa needs my help." I muttered walking into the Alienage. I loved the alienage; it doesn't smell like shit like the rest of Denerim.

"Are you going to put me down?" Lyna muttered.

"No," I answered walking into the new trade center building in the heart of the alienage. It was rather large standing at 7 stories and taking up nearly 4000 square feet with a magically expanded inside, I was just happy Valendrian and I left enough space for it. While we didn't know what that space would be for, we thought about a school or maybe an orphanage, but Anora beat us to it, still, we had space for those things later. Greeting the doorman, we took the lift to the top floor and entered Telsa's corner office.

"Nick." Telsa greeted not looking up from her paperwork. "Lyna, Julia, lady Ayla... Dagna." Telsa hissed Dagna's name.

"Telsa." Dagna hissed back. These two got this rivalry going on and I'm not sure why.

"Telsa~, my perfect CFO! How are you?" I sang sitting on a chair across from her. Telsa was cute, in a kid Wednesday kind of way, snarky, rude, and no-nonsense. She also had a great eye for business and finances.

"Fine. What do you want?" she drawled.

"Gasp! can't I just come see my best employee?"

"I'm the only employee you know."

"Whaaaaa? That's not true. I know Rick at the general store."

"His name is Ronald." oh.

"Nicole at Pizza Time."

"Nancy."

"Steve at the laundromat."

"You mean Samuel?"

"mmm, Sarah at the blacksmith workshop."

"Sasha."

"Okay, I've made a fool of myself."

"I know, so what do you need?" she asked not looking up from her paperwork.

"Hold on, are those employee records?" I asked, she quickly slid her paperwork into a desk.

"... no."

"Heh, guess you're not that great." Dagna snarked.

"What was that? I couldn't hear you from down there." Telsa's ever-calm face gained a sneer.

"Ladies~! You're both very pretty." I cut in stopping an argument. "I came to see if the shops needed anything?"

"mmm, the general needs restocking, things are selling like crazy with so many people gearing up for the blight." she passed me a list of objects that the stores needed, it ranged from ingredients for the restaurant to toilet paper to just coin change for the laundromat.

"mmm, when do you think, some of these stores can become self-sufficient?" Julee asked reading over my shoulder.

"The laundromat and the blacksmith's workshop are practically running themselves at this point, the restaurant will need some time but as soon as the Blight is over with, we can get more ingredients from all around Thedas, merchants are just weary of the darkspawn, and Howe and Loghain didn't make things better with the mismanaging of the docks. The major problem is the general store, while everything is selling only you, Julia, Lyna, and... Dagna, can make goods. We could hire the mage tower to make some of the objects we sell but from what I understand your people are a cut above the rest. That's not the only thing."

"mmm?" I asked

"Location. At the moment we're only in Denerim, which is fine, being a capital city and so close to the sea, we can trade with other nations relatively easily, but when we expand, distance will be our enemy."

"When?"

"Nick." she looked me straight in the eyes, "I want to succeed. I want my name to send shivers up the spine of any merchant who thinks of crossing me. I want a general store in every city from here to Anderfels. I want my wealth to be so vast that I could buy and sell Orlais. I WILL be the greatest merchant that ever lived." her eyes had an unnatural glow.

Gamer's mind had blocked Julia Hope's racial ability: Lust

Oh, now I understand why she and Dagna keep butting heads. While their dreams might be different, their wills aren't. Two kings have met, and they won't let the other get in their way, and I'm the one who can help them reach that goal.

"I'm picking up what you're putting down. I'll make a warehouse in the shop and stock it to the brim and help think up some ways for the distance problem." I nodded. Best not to strangle my golden goose. I got up and got ready to leave.

"Oh! One more thing. I'll be staying in Mother Base." she wasn't asking but telling.

"Absolutely not!" Dagna answered for me.

"Do calm your tits shrimpy. I'm only staying until the blight is dealt with, I work better here in the Alienage, but with the horde at our doorstep, I wish to be in the safest place possible." I'm a little worried she and Morrigan will get along and plan to take over the world.

"Mother Base is my home, not a safe house for your greedy ass." Dagna hissed.

"Is there a reason you can't stay here?" I stepped in between them. "Do you feel unsafe in the alienage?" I made this place into a fortress.

"No, the Alienage or, what people are now calling it, Revasan-"

"The place where freedom dwells?" I asked, my elven was getting better with all the elves in Denerim and Theron teaching me a bit, but I still needed some work on it.

"Mmm, not surprised you know some elvish." she nodded. "Yes, the elves in the city got the idea from some of the Dalish. Less than two months ago we all felt like we were living in shackles, some literally," she rubbed her wrists, "but now, anything is possible. To answer your question, no, Revasan is plenty defended, but it pales in comparison to whatever you have in Mother Base, I'm willing to fight for my dream, but I need to be alive for that to happen."

"Mother Base isn't going to sit out the battle," I said looking her in the eye. Mother Base has some real power, but using it outside of serious battle would scare the people, that's why I didn't use it earlier, we needed to win hearts and minds, and having Mother Base's power hanging over people's heads will only give us fear and doubt, but we got the people, we got the army, now we use the power.

"I understand, but I'm still going," she said not standing down.

"Your life is on the line," I growled unleashing my Intimidation skill, to see if she would back down, she didn't need to run, just take a single step back.

"That's every day for an elf," she growled out, standing her ground. We stood there for a moment, before I leashed my skill, dissipating the harsh weight of power.

"Very well." I tossed her a badge. "That will let you into the Base."

"Nick!" Dagna complained. "Are you really going to let her into our home?"

"Let this be a lesson Dagna, sometimes you have to work with people you don't like or agree with to get closer to your goals." I turned to Telsa, "Jak's at Mother Base give her a call and she'll help you settle in." she nodded sitting down and pulling out some paperwork acting nonchalantly, but I spotted the tremble in her hands, and her deep breaths to calm her nerves. Fereldans sure are stubborn.

"And Nick," Telsa spoke up.

"mmm?"

"Happy Birthday." and with that, we left the room.

Going down the lift Lyna spoke up.

"Can you let me go now?"

-/-

I did eventually let Lyna go, she had to get something from her house, and I had to make one of the broom closets in the general store into a spacious warehouse, magic is awesome. I quickly made copies of things we sold in the store from toilet paper to toilets, I tend to buy things in the Gamer's Store at top dollar and make copies of them, they might not be perfect but they got the job done. Telsa's going to have to hire more people to manage this place. I also had a few Robo-golems for security and helping the maintenance crew move heavier goods. I also made Pizza Time's walk-in fridge four times its original size and stocked it to bursting.

We all met up at the south exit of Revasan being the closes to the Market square and the chantry, I let out a sigh. I didn't want to go back there, not because I trashed the place and made tasteful art, but because that puts me under the direct eye of a god. Still, I made the mess, and my parents taught me to clean up after myself.

"I'm here!" Lyna called out running over to us, she had a different outfit on, an opened button plaid shirt, blue denim pants, a white t-shirt with the words

I got a dig bick.

You that read wrong

You read that wrong too

And thick leather boots. She looked like she came right out of the 90s.

"I like your new outfit!" Dagna complimented.

"Oh! Uh, thanks." Lyna gained a soft blush and played with her hair. Dagna turned to me with a huge smile, which I just nodded at. Good, she's learning. "So, to the Chantry?"

"To the chantry~." I sighed. Julee wrapped her arm around mine.

"Don't you worry, if the Maker tries anything, we can do blasphemous things to his cleric~." she stage whispered, causing poor Ayla to swallow spit down the wrong pipe.

"You always know what to say~." I joked, moving my hand around her hips, bringing her close.

"That's a joke right!?" Ayla coughed out. We just smiled at her. Walking through the ever-busy market we reached the chantry. Now that I wasn't running away from it, I realized it wasn't as grand as I remembered. It wasn't run down but it has definitely seen better days.

"There you are!" Lily waved us over from the entrance. "I thought you ran off."

"Nah, just needed to do other things, but I'm here now... for about two hours, 'cause I ain't missing lunch." I stated, freezing before the door, "what if I make the kitchen out here and you put it inside?" I really don't wanna go in there.

"No chickening out!" Ayla led me inside, good news, nothing happened, bad news, everyone was bending a knee to me, no, not to me.

"You don't have to be in here," I whispered to Ayla. These people gave me a cultist vibe.

"Nah, I'm fine." she took a deep breath and walked up to the podium. Opened her book and bathed the room in holy light, causing the churchgoers to oh and awe. Supernatural lights came through the windows lightening up the room and making the stained glasswork give the room a colorful glow.

"Yo Giss," I called out to Mother Giselle, breaking her from Ayla's sermon.

"Oh, uh, Ser Nickolas, I see you've returned."

"Yep, can you show me to the kitchen and empty closet?"

"Of course, come with me."

Making the kitchen and bathroom didn't take longer than 30 minutes with everyone's help. Returning to the oratory we found it filled up to the rafters, men, women, children, elves, humans, dwarves, and even a few kossith in the crowd. Ayla was still talking out of her book with everyone in the room giving her their undivided attention. It took another 30 minutes for her to finish, she then pulled out a bag of silver powder and tossed it into the air where it began to glow, spreading out to the walls, slowly gilding itself to doors, windows, pews, the floor, making beautiful art and decoration, it even grafted itself to the ears of a shartan statue making him look like an elf.

You have entered an area of Holy Protection!

Spirits of Malicious intent cannot enter this area!

Health regen has increased two-fold!

Mana regen has increased two-fold!

You have been blessed by the Maker!

For the next 12 hours, your instincts will be able to better spot lies and malicious intent.

You were there when the Maker returned to Thedas!

Your HP has increased by 50!

Your MP has increased by 50!

Well, isn't that nice? The crowd was in awe looking around the room, I took that moment to observe the people in the room. Unlike myself the crowd gained only about 10 points to their HP and MP, I doubt they would be shooting out fireballs but their health should increase. Ayla jumped two levels and gained 100 HP and MP! Hot damn!

As the Ceremony ended and the light show dimmed, Ayla called an end to the sermon. It took another 30 minutes for people to siphon out, bowing and shaking her hand. Finally, she was able to escape the crowd and walk over to us, some people tried reaching out to her, but froze as they walked into my zone of intimidation, backing away in fear.

"So~, how was your first sermon?" I asked her.

"Oh, it was great!" Lily interrupted. "She should- gak!" I shoved a cinnamon bun into her mouth. She punched me.

"Ayla?" I asked.

"I didn't really like it. They all had this creepy look in their eyes." she shivered. "Let the priest do the preaching. I'll stick to the mace bludgeoning and holy magic." she joked swinging her Mace around. "Still, I do feel stronger."

"That's cause your god gained more power," Julee answered. "More people know the truth of your Maker, and with the priest teaching your sayings, your god will grow in Might."

"I'm guessing you're not staying," Giselle spoke up, walking over to us.

"Sorry Mother Giselle, I'm built for adventure, not public speaking."

"That's a shame, but the peaceful chantry isn't for everyone. I wish you good fortune on your adventure, and may the Maker watch over you." I actually felt a presence when she said that, sending a shiver up my spine.

"And to you." Ayla bowed.

"Catch ya later." I waved goodbye. "So... rooftops?" if we took the streets, we would get swarmed.

"Rooftops," they confirmed. I grabbed a surprised Lyna and jumped out a window.

-/-

Lunch was... meat.

Meat everywhere. Deer, moose, druffalo, goat, sheep, rabbit, chicken, nug, pig, cow, and what I believe was Yak, Sky went all out. She looked super proud and to her credit, it tasted pretty good but it was just too much meat. So, I sat between Sky and Nat and would sneakily pass some of my food over to one of them so it looked like I ate a great deal of food.

"Oh Maker~, I'm getting the meat sweats." Alistair groaned.

"That's what you get. I warned you about eating so much." Elissa said passing him some water and used some healing magic to ease his pain.

"It was too good. Couldn't stop." he groaned taking slow sips. "I love you so much." Elissa rolled her eyes but still gained a small blush.

"I'm in love with an idiot." she sighed. Alistair gave a soft cheer.

"Gross." Mory gagged.

"You're one to talk." I pointed out. Mory was helping Aeden move to the couch. Man looked more like a circle than a human.

"Shat up," she growled.

"Nicky~, did you like it!?" Sky asked, getting right in my face, looking for any lies.

"It was delicious." I gave her a soft kiss, that made her smile and tail wag. Sky was a pure soul, sure she might be a dragon that could kill just about anyone and show no mercy, but as a person, she was kind, loving, and wore her heart on her sleeve. She was also a bit prideful.

"I'm the best. Not only do I defeat all my enemies, but I can also cook anything," she smirked at me. "You should let me do all the cooking~, I'm clearly the superior in all things." she teased.

"Are you... testing me, Sky Skipper? Are you challenging me, in my own domain?" I got all up on her... chest. She's still 8 feet tall and made of muscles, scales, and sass.

"I am."

"Then let it be known! That Sky and I shall duel! The challenge: food!" I turned to Sky, "Dinner right, I don't think we can eat anymore." I whispered. She shyly nodded. "Dinner shall be the meeting time! We shall make a four-course meal!" I pulled out a box. "Please any suggestions in this box, three meals will be pulled out at random, and the last one will be a dessert of our choosing."

"Are there teams~?" Neria asked smirking at my overly dramatic acting. I looked over to Sky who shrugged.

"I guess~," I answered.

"who's judging?" Theron asked.

"Wynne, Sten, and Cailan, the poor guy needs to get out of the war room at least for the night," I answered.

"What do the winners receive?" Sereda asked, looking mildly amused.

"Other than bragging rights?" I asked, she nodded. "Mmm, what do you want?" suggestions started flying around from cars to money to golden tickets, we fell on a fancy golden statue I made of a hand holding a haunch. Well, it may not be something awesome like a car, but we weren't doing something car worthy, we were cooking dinner with extra steps.

"Is this how you eat dinner here?" Telsa asked, poor girl could barely finish a plate.

"No, but Nickolas enjoys making things fun, even in dark times," Wynne answers, with a soft small.

"We shall now pick teams! 3 against 3!" I pulled out a gold coin. "Call it in the air!"

"Tails!" Sky proclaimed; she knew her gold, cause she won.

Teams

Me, Telsa, and Zev VS Sky, Dagna, and Ava.

Dishes

Gnocchi (zevran)

Classic Ferelden lamb stew (Alistair)

And Druffalo haunch (Sky)

-/-

We ended up with a surprise judge in the form of Anora, mostly because we were caught on our way out, so we had to move dinner to the king's estate, which was for the best, my kitchen's great but fitting six people in one place would have pushed it, Cailan's kitchen, on the other hand, was meant for a full team of cooks ready to make food for an entire estate. Julee and I had to bring the kitchen up to my comfort. I gave Cailan's chiefs a quick rundown on how the kitchen worked. Telsa gave an annoyed Anora a bill for my work.

And so, the duel began.

There was, of course, rampant cheating, I'm pretty sure Ava snuck some spicy ingredients into my gnocchi, poor Cailan looked ready to spit fire, Astral like it though. We of course retaliated by switching their lamb with beef, it didn't come out bad, but the dish asked for lamb, therefore, we got the point by default. The Druffalo haunch was the hardest, it was thick and meaty, so it needed time to cook, we had to constantly run interference stopping Ava from sabotaging and Sky from taking a bite from ours, thinking fast I helped season Sky's haunch forcing Ava to back away and stop Sky from eating their own haunch. And of course, there was smack talk, as any extreme sport should have.

"You call that cooking! I've seen Alistair do better than that!" Dagna taunted.

"Hey!" Alistair's insulted voice came out of the crowd.

"Oh yes, please tell me how good your prison slop is~." Telsa snared.

It wasn't good smack talk, but we were only cooking dinner. The Druffalo Haunch was split between the judges. Anora and Wynne enjoyed my spices and presentation, while Cailan and Sten enjoyed Sky's more simplistic and lighter seasoning. It ended in a draw, so for the final dish, we added Elissa to the judge's table as a tiebreaker.

Dessert was my bread and butter, well, sugar and frosting, would more accurate. I decided that a message needed to be delivered, not only to Sky but to everyone. I am the cook here. I picked Telsa, for one reason and one reason only, to distract Dagna. Dagna is my apprentice. I had taught her much from using cool laser swords to runes to healing, but also regular life skills, from sowing, knitting, and of course, cooking. So, I unleased Telsa, giving her some cute/embarrassing picture of Dagna, causing a fight, and angering Dagna out of the duel. I had Zevran block all and any attacks from Ava as I got to work. Not wanting Sky to copy me I made an illusion of me making a humble apple pie, and it wasn't some mean-spirited fake that, if copied, would make a disgusting dessert. It would just be a regular apple pie.

As the timer ended, I released my illusion and revealed my masterpiece! A towering cake nearly as tall as Sky, enough for everyone in the room and then some.

"Be in awe!" I shouted. It was a red velvet cake covered in white frosting with a beautiful flowery design. I got uws' and awes'. Looking over I found an annoyed Dagna, a calm but annoyed Ava, and a proud Sky standing next to an equally steaming humble apple pie.

You would think I had this in the bag but it was closer than you might imagine, Sten and Cailan fell in love with the apple pie, hard, Sky barely added any sugar and made the apple really stand out, I made the mistake of calculating the sugar to match Jak's and Julee's preference, still, I gained Elissa's and Anora's vote with pure presentation alone. Now we stood looking at Wynne taking a sample of both, taking her sweet time.

"Mmm~. I enjoy the apple pie, it's hearty like my old Ferelden heart, but Nick's cake reminds me of my youth, bold, flashy, and determined to leave a mark in history." What kinda description was that!? It's cake. "it's so hard to choose."

"Wynne, I love ya girl, but we're losing cake." I pointed to Jak and Julee who were inhaling cake at an alarming rate. This is why I didn't make them or any warden as judges, they would just eat everything without thinking.

"right~. if I was younger, I would have gone if your-"

"Now before you answer!" I interrupted summoning a fancy wine bottle I... Procured, from the Chantry and served her a glass cup. "Mine comes with a drink."

"HEY! That's cheating!" Dagna yelled.

"Don't you know it's customary to have a sip of wine with dessert~?" Telsa teased. "What a child." The vein on Dagna's neck looked angry. Good job Telsa!

"Oh~, this is nice~." Wynne took a few sips.

"Nick, where'd ya get that bottle?" Ayla asked, eyes squinting, trying to get a better look.

"Market," I answered putting it back into my inventory. Suddenly a mug of cool refreshing... milk? Landed on the table right next to my wine glass. I followed the smooth dark-skinned hand back to its owner, looking a smug Sky in the face.

"Sky? What are you doing, sweetheart?" I asked.

"Nicky's smart, and tricky. I knew you'd try something like this. I also drink as I eat, but I noticed that you only served fancy food but no fancy drink." holy shit~, she's got my number. The wine was my secret weapon, but to be caught like this.

"I'll admit, you caught me, but do you really think milk will defeat me?"

"No, but it's not meant to."

"Mmm~." I looked over to Elissa drinking some milk and eating some cake to go with it.

"It's only to undermine you," Sky smirked.

"Nick why didn't you use milk as a drink, guess you don't know everything about cooking. Huh." Elissa teased. I looked over to Jak and Julee chugging milk like Oghren does booze. Traitors.

"Sorry Nickolas, I need to give this one to Sky." Wynne apologized taking a bite from my cake and sipping some milk.

Sky let out a roar and threw fist in the air, Dagna came up behind her cheering at their victory, and Ava gave a thumbs up. I, of course, took the traditional Yu-Gi-Oh defeated pose, on all fours groaning in defeat. I got cocky, and the underdog got a surprise uppercut and laid me out.

Oh well~.

I congratulated Sky and rewarded her with her new trophy. Losing sucks but being a sore loser only makes things worse, so I got in the swing of the celebration, laughing, eating, and cheering.

As the party died out, I got to sit with Cailan, man looked stressed, running a kingdom during a war must suck. We talked about what he was doing, what he needed, and how the preparations were going.

He said he was fine, but I could tell he needed more sleep, the bags under his eyes told me that, so I promised to upgrade his bed with some comfort and HP regen runes, so he didn't wake up stressed. He also gave me an update on the Ferelden army and how they were getting used to their armor, weapons, and training, all and all it was looking pretty good, if rough around the edges. The Dalish and Dwarves were willing to join human troops in battle, but everyone was weary of the Orlesians. Orlais didn't make many allies during its time, from the Ferelden war to the destruction of the Dales, to the Chantry openly talking about how Dwarves didn't souls and elves being a lesser race. Working with them was rough.

Still, I wish Cailan luck with the troops, added runes to his bed, and carried a sleepy Jak and Julee back home, they curled onto me wrapping their tails around my waist, and hugged me close.

"They ate way too much cake." Nat pointed out as we walked back home.

"Did you like the cake?" I asked.

"I did~, I'm sure it rotted a tooth, but it was worth it."

"Nicky~, can we put the trophy in the kitchen?" Sky sang.

"Gasp! And wound my ego?" I teased. Sky came close and rested her head on me, causing me to stop.

"I want you to see that I can help too," she muttered. Oh. She's insecure.

"Sky... you know I know you can help me, right?" that... came out strange.

"You work long nights. You put heavy burdens on your shoulders. I am here." I turn my head so I can see her properly.

"I love you, Sky Skipper." I smiled, her face showing a brilliant smile that lit up the night, and gave me a kiss as deep as the ocean and as powerful as the sun. What a woman~.

"And I love you," she whispered.

"I love you too~." a sleepy Julee moaned, subconsciously pursing her lips. Sky giggled and took her and her sister off my hands.

"I'll take them home. Meet me at home," she whispered. I let her take them off my hands, watching her sprout wings and fly away.

"That leaves only you and me~," I teased Nat.

"Mmm~." she hummed as we walked the quiet streets, mage light poles every 20 feet lighting up the streets, the night stars over us. I put my hand on her hips and brought her close. "hands~."

"I just want to keep you warm~."

"Are you now?" she tossed me a sassy smirk.

"Of course, a gentleman should keep his lady warm."

"Then I guess we should hurry home. I don't want to freeze." Hearing the invitation for what it was, I scooped her up and launched myself to mother base.

-/-

You have slept in your bed

Max HP, MP, CP

All ailments cured.

Waking to a nude dragon spooning me for my warmth and a warm dwarf trying to bury herself into my chest was one of the better ways to start the morning. You know what? I'm going to sleep in today! Cook your own breakfast ya freeloaders!

Suddenly a tiny red light turned on, under it read a plaque with the word 'Alistair's in the kitchen alone', I just stared at it waiting for it to turn off, indicating that someone was in there with him. 30 seconds. Alright, there's no need to panic, I got this. Trust in Alistair, maybe he's making a sandwich or hunting for cheese?

.

.

.

What if he's making soup? He could burn down my kitchen!

No! No, Alistair's a grown-ass man, he can cook for himself.

.

.

.

Where's Elissa? Isn't she supposed to keep an eye on him?

Maybe she is in the living room watching TV while instructing him on the proper way to make a sandwich.

.

.

.

"Just go~," Nat muttered.

"Iloveyousomuch!" I kissed her as deeply as I could for a moment, and then another moment, you know one more moment wouldn't hurt. Man, her ass was soft~.

"Sore~," she warned, oh she wouldn't stop me, but it wouldn't be as enjoyable if I knew she wasn't into it.

"Right! Sorry~." I gave her one more kiss... and another for luck... and another to apologize.

"One more and you're not leaving," she warned.

"Is that a promise~?"

"As long as you focus on us and not what Alistair's doing in the kitchen~." I grabbed a pillow and threw it at the red light covering it from my view. Out of sight, out of mind.

It took me 2 hours to make it out of my room, it would have been sooner, but Sky woke up and wanted her turn, and I'm nothing if not accommodating. Walking to the kitchen, I didn't find Alistair, but I did find Elissa... eating a pickle.

"Elissa, morning?" She gave me a wave. "Is Alistair here?" I asked walking behind the counter, I guess he had other things to do. I'll make some breakfast for the girls. "Thought most of the group would be back at the estate."

"Alistair doesn't want to be seen with his brother in front of so many people who knew what Maric looked like," she answered munching on her pickle.

"ah, you know about that~?" I questioned taking out some food from the fridge.

"Pa-lease~, I love that man, but I'm not blind. I'm just waiting for him to come clean so I can act shocked and take him in my arms and ease any of his worries." she acted out her master plan mimicking her hugging and kissing Alistair.

"You thought this out~." I teased. Making some eggs.

"Of course!" she huffs. "I have a plan, Nick. First, get to know him, second, seduce, third, marriage, fourth, three kids, two girls, one boy, and finally live happily ever after." I just gave her a long look.

"Genius."

"It's all about simplicity Nick, don't overthink it." She looked so sure of herself that I didn't know if she was joking or not.

"I'll keep that in mind, do you want anything?"

"Nah, I think that food you made last night upset my tum-tum."

"It was Ava! She spiked my food!"

"Uh-huh~." she didn't sound convinced.

"Whatever~, shrimpy." I teased walking out of the kitchen, checking the rune network on the doorway real quick, and found it perfectly intact, but a light was still on. Strange. I turned the rune off; I would have to check on it later, I have brunch to cook.

-/-

Dagna POV

I need to stop drinking so much. Feeling Astral's warm body, I snuggled closer, while slowly healing myself. I love her smooth skin~. Not wanting my mind to scream at me, I slowly climbed up my girlfriend's body with my eyes closed, leaving soft kisses all the way to her lips. She played hard to get but by the time I got to her lips, she became putty in my hands. Her cute moans and groans were music to my ears, Nick's super embarrassing sex ed lessons really came in handy. Opening my eyes to see her cute needy face I froze. This wasn't Astral.

"Ayla?" she opened her eyes and looked right at me.

"Dagna?" she questioned.

"Ladies~." we slowly turned to a half-naked Julee sitting in her chair with an amused look on her face. "I see why you like to watch Ayla, very sexy~." Looking around the room I found that I wasn't in my room but Julee's.

"Uh~?"

"You're probably wondering what you're doing here~. Well funny story, you two half drunkenly stumbled back to the house guided by patrol golems, yelling about how who was the better kisser." oh stone, please, no~. "With all the confidence of two drunk randy women you started marching towards Nick's room."

"Please don't tell me," Ayla begged.

"You didn't. You were making such a racket you woke me up. Any other day I would have followed and taken pictures," Julee nooooo~, "but Nick was getting his birthday gift from Nat and Sky." she bounced her eyebrows. Sweet stone, please, no. Even with my healing, my brain's thumping. "So, I dragged you horny punks into my room, and you immediately fell asleep in my bed, didn't even get a single kiss." Thank the Stone! "So, I just took a bunch of funny pictures of you two and put them in the hall of apprentices!" the Stone giveth and the Stone taketh away. "But I do have one left~." she raised her phone showing us a picture of us full-on making out. "I figured since I couldn't get Nick a present~."

"What do you want?" Ayla demanded with a serious face.

"Ayla!?" bending to her whims so easily!?

"Dagna, if Nick gets his hands on that he's going to wear it as a shirt with the words 'Maker Approved' till the day we die." I gave her a long look... would Nick do that? Flashes of his previous shirts flew past my thoughts.

"Hey, Dagna! How's this one?" his shirt had a picture of drawn on breast with the word 'boobs' underneath.

"What about this one?" It was a picture of Neria in her leaf bikini holding a spear with the words 'nurture my nature', I remember that spear, Neria was trying to shove it somewhere the sun didn't shine.

"This one!" It was a picture of Sky wearing her hunter's outfit, her sexy hunter's outfit, with the words 'hunting that booty'.

"What do you want?" I demanded. Nick must never get his hands on it.

"Well~, you see." she walks over to her closet, unlike our closet, her closet was large enough to walk into. Getting off each other, we followed her in. She had everything, from noble Ferelden clothing, wolf pelt included, to Dalish hunters' armor, to noble Dwarfish robes. Even the cloth used felt amazing. "I need models~." she stopped in front of another room, inside her closet, never a good thing to have.

"Oh my," I whispered as she opened the door.

-/-

"There's a breeze," I whined. Trying to cover myself with the nonsense Julee called an outfit. The skirt was way too short! You could practically see my ass in this! And these 'leggings' only made my butt shapelier. And the shirt is just big enough to make it seem like I'm not wearing the skirt in the first place.

"Could be worse." ah poor Ayla, her hips were on complete display, every inch of her smooth slightly muscled tights for the world to see. Wow~. She was wearing a dress that covered her inner thighs but left a rather large boob window.

"Oh yeah~, perfect." Julee nodded, walking around us getting a better look. "Stand up straight." she ordered getting a squeak from Ayla as she 'woman-handled' her. "There~, see? Confidence makes a dress sexy, not the dress itself." Wow~, Ayla's dress looked ready to quit, but with what I could only imagine was her god's will, held her breast together and up. They're like pillows~. "See! Dagna can barely contain herself."

"Uh! Wha? NO! I was... lost in thought! Yeah, that sounds right." I stammered. Ayla had a smirk crawl across her face.

"Really~." She bent over, giving me a clear view of paradise. Stone, I'm so tired, a little rest wouldn't hurt~. NO! I backed away; Nick trained me better than that... wait a second... no he didn't! He only trained me in Runes, punching people, embarrassing stretches, magic, and cooking... nowhere in his ridiculous 100-page syllabus was there a mention of 'seduction avoidance'... I think, it was really long, and it went step by step. "Dagna~, I feel cold." Well~, we can't have that. I sunk my face into her pillowy goodness. By the Stone, she was so warm~ and smelt of lavender.

Click.

I slowly turned to a grinning Julee. Her phone held in her hands. You've, got to be, joking! Do I not learn from my mistakes!?

"Come on ladies' brunch should be ready~." she sang.

"Our clothes?" I squeaked, only for Julee to send them down the laundry chute. "Can we wear-" I was cut off as she pressed a button that locked her regular clothes behind some glass, how long has she been planning this!?

Walking into the kitchen went as well as you may have thought. Zevran and Leliana jumped into action critiquing every little thing to a patient Julee who was taking notes of everything they were saying. Alistair learned from yesterday and was eating with a sleeping mask on, proving the wardens could navigate with smell alone. Astral and Sky were giving us looks that had me worried for our chastity. I sat next to a grinning Nick.

"My birthday was yesterday, but thank you."

"Shut up," I muttered. My face was on fire. At least he liked it.

"You look ridiculous." Telsa snorted.

"You're just jealous you can't pull this off." I huffed. Stone, why did Nick let this leech live here?

"Your right, I would prefer to wear clothes."

"Yeah, I wouldn't like to be seen with chicken limbs either." I hissed.

"Ladies~, you're both very pretty~, but brunch is getting cold," Nick called out. I huffed, damn chicken-legged bitch, she should know her place. "So, what are you ladies doing today," he asked, shoving eggs into his mouth.

"WE, are going to the Dalish district, to give the elven mages the components needed to make their arcane blades." I emphasize the 'we' so Telsa could hear. That's right you willowy bitch, I'm his apprentice, and your just his bootleg secretary.

"Quaint, Nick we need to talk about the selling of Mirror phones in the general store." she scoffed at me.

"I didn't know I was selling Mirror phones?"

"You're not and that's what I want to talk to you about. Your phones can change the way we communicate throughout all Thedas. We should market them."

"Mmm, if this wasn't Thedas I would agree, but Thedas has a problem with magic, they tend to poop themselves whenever it comes up, there has even been debate about the cartoon theater I put up for people to view for free." I munched on my cereal. Yeah~, I can only imagine what the chantry thinks about me.

"Mmm, you do have a point. How about we only send them to dignitaries, ambassadors, men and women who need to contact their countries in quick order, I feel like that would spread the news of this new invention rather quickly."

"mmm, I guess. You know Ferelden's ambassadors?" Nick asked.

"I can bring it up with Anora at this week's financial meeting," she answered, eating her eggs.

"Financial meeting?" I asked. Nick's never been to any of those.

"Yes~," gods her smug look practically screamed that I slap it off her face. "Nick owns a large amount of land that he pays taxes for, Ferelden also owes him a great deal of gold, which I'm in charge of. Which reminds me where do you keep your gold?" damn gold digger.

"Sky sleeps on it," he answered. She just blinks at him.

"What?"

"Sky is it okay for me to show Telsa the vault?" Sky just waved him away, busy kissing up a blushing Ayla's arm. Get a hold of yourselves. Quickly shoving my food down my throat, I followed Nick.

"You don't need to follow little duckling." Telsa snarks.

"I'm his apprentice, you never know when a teachable moment might come." I hissed back. Walking upstairs to Sky's and Astral's room or what Nick calls 'the vault'. gold, silver, and copper coins littered the place, along with artworks, artifacts, shiny armor pieces, Sky's handmade jewelry, weapons, a bunch of Sky's rather skimpy outfits, gods that cavewoman outfit made some trips in my thoughts~, and of course, their armor and bed.

Telsa just looked at the place in awe and shock.

"You just leave your gold laying around?"

"No silly, I have two dragons sitting on it." he laughed, dumping a bunch of coins from his hammerspace, along with some armor the thugs that attacked us, jewels, and ingots of gold.

"I suppose. But would it be better to invest this wealth?" she asked, looking at some of the artwork Nick swiped from the deep roads, along with a full armor set of the legion of the dead, alongside dalish hunter armor. "Some of these things could be worth a fortune."

"This is nothing." I scoffed. "Did you know he can create rings that can prevent pregnancies?" She gave me a long look and seeing that I wasn't joking she snapped at him, giving him a look that screamed 'are you an idiot!'.

"Is this true?" she whispered.

"Yep, Julee knows the rune sentence. But that's not where the money is," he said as if people wouldn't sell their firstborn to get one. He then proceeded to pull out a box of squares. "These bad boys are condoms." He then went on to a long explanation of how they're used and how it was a one-use item so people would have to buy more. It was embarrassing but Telsa looked like she was about to froth at the mouth at selling them. "Problem is, I need to work crafting them, a lot of the materials I need aren't really found in Thedas, and if this doesn't work, Lyna and Julee have been working on a ring that eases the pain of periods." Ain't that the truth, they're working with high-level runes, I'm super jealous.

"Nick, how much do you trust me with your wealth?" she asks.

"I trust you want to be rich beyond anyone's imagination, and if I help you, I reap some of that wealth. So, a lot. I guess." he shrugs. Nick has so much money he doesn't really care about it.

"Will you give me control of the money Ferelden owes you?" he shakes his head.

"Half the money I got for the wall belonged to Julee, Dagna, and Lyna, and 25% to Sereda. 25% of the Alienage remodeling belongs to Dagna, 25% to Julee, 10% to Sereda, and about 2% to Ayla for the healing. But whatever's left of that you can play with." She took a moment to calculate the amount.

"That leaves you with 38,820 gold," oh damn that was fast. "And with all your businesses and properties constantly producing money, at a steady rate," she started mumbling moving her fingers around as if she was using an abacus. What a nerd.

"She looks just like you when you're thinking of magic." Nick teased.

"Shut up, no I don't. I look nothing like her." The nerve.

"Telsa! Relax, I hired you to manage my wealth, so you have whatever I have left in Ferelden, as long as you know what you're doing." Nick snapped her out of her muttering.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes. We'll sign the paperwork after Sereda's gotten a look over it. I'm not going to be in Thedas forever so if you believe you can use my wealth to gain more wealth, then I'm fine with that." Ugh! You're too trusting Nick!

"I won't let you down, I promise!" She bowed so deep it looked like she could kiss the floor.

"Alright, alright. I get it. Do you want me to leave a box of phones in your office?"

"Yes, please! Maker, I have so many things to do!" she skipped, skipped! Out the room.

"Nick, don't you think you're giving her too much?" I asked, Nick's always had a kind heart, but this?

"I remembered a strong-willed dwarf that begged me to give her a shot at an unbelievable dream, and that worked out great for me. Why not roll the dice one more time?" he smirked. Because she might take you away from me.

"I guess. She won't be staying here after the blight, right?" I asked.

"She can't take care of my money elsewhere."

I guess that will have to do.

-/-

Nick POV

"Hey, Theron." I waved at the man, as he finished giving his student their cool-down stretches.

"Do I look half as embarrassed as them?" Dagna whispered.

"Nah, you look sexy as hell~." she rolled her eyes.

"Nick, good to see you. I guess you have the materials?" I give him a nod, summoning a table, and proceed to place different kinds of metals and lumber on the table, all magically imbued and ready for crafting into arcane blades. With the blight on the way, we couldn't wait until they were ready. "Students, this is Nick Walters, my teacher. Of sorts." I waved, as he led them over to me. "He was taught by an ancient memory of an arcane warrior, to spite me." They all gave me confused looks.

"It wasn't only to spite him... I also wanted a cool laser sword." I unleashed my yellow blade shocking the students and surrounding elves. "I'm still trying to change its colors though." Sith all the way baby!

"Today you will craft your own blade." Theron started. "Tap into your magic and reach out for the metal and wood that calls to you." one at a time each mage would find their ingredients and move off to the side. The last one was some kid no older than 13, he looked familiar.

"Hey, this kid ain't going to be in the battle, right?" I asked Theron.

"Mahanon? No, but he came into his magic recently and wanted to pick up the skills," he answered.

"Cool-cool." Theron and I started teaching the older students their blade crafting while I had Dagna help the kid. 3 hours later and everyone was playing with their new swords and immediately cut themselves. Nothing too serious but it taught them the dangers of a blade with a sharp edge. I then gave Theron a crate of wooden swords to teach his students swordplay. The kid could barely last 20 minutes, still impressive though. I left Theron to it.

-/-

And this was what I did for the next few weeks, help with the troops, make money, fix Denerim, fight crime with Ava, make more golems, anything to ready Denerim for the oncoming storm.

It was three weeks later that we spotted the blight storm on the horizon.

-/-

A/N: and another chapter down. The Archdemons come knocking and the end is in sight.

I read some reviews and I wish to thank you for your kind words, they help me continue my story by having people enjoy my work.

There was a comment about how Nick was unrelatable, and I'm happy he came out that way. Nick isn't a normal person; all his emotions have been dulled by the Gamer so he could function without being crushed by the guilt of him killing people. I am sorry if that came, off-putting.

I also added Telsa a bit late, but she wasn't really meant for Origins. Just laying down some groundwork for future projects.

Like always comment and I have a DeviantArt page link in my Bio.