A/N: This was a dare, from my dear friend Tallon. She gave me the song and told me to run with it. The result is you get songfic fluff! The song is "Two is Better Than One" by Boys Like Girls. Definitely not my normal genre of music, but it definitely made the challenge fun. Hope you like!
I remember what you wore on the first day
You came into my life and I thought
"Hey, you know, this could be something"
'Cause everything you do and words you say
You know that it all takes my breath away
And now I'm left with nothing
I hurried around the encampment, not feeling comfortable interacting with anyone here. They all looked at me and saw a mage, not a woman. Duncan had told me to talk to the other recruits and to find Alistair, the junior member of the order. The other recruits could wait; we would meet soon enough. I wanted to ply this junior member for secrets Duncan refused to give up. Why was he so hushed about the ritual that would make me a Grey Warden.
My hands were twisted in the cloth of my robes, keeping the hem from dragging the ground as I moved up the ramp to an old part of the temple. Cresting the top I saw a young man arguing with one of the Senior Enchanters. My lips quirked that someone would stand up to him, most soldiers feared mages. The Senior Enchanter almost bowled me over, and had we not been in the company of someone else I might have sent a jolt of electricity his way. I glowered at his back, and then turned hearing a bemused voice saying, ""You know, one good thing about the Blight is how it brings people together."
When I turned to look at him, my voice stuck in my throat. He was smiling down at me, and I felt like I was fourteen, awkward and just discovering that boys were attractive. My face felt hot, I wondered if it were as red as it felt. He was talking, but Maker's Breath, I had no idea what he was saying. It took him snapping his fingers in front of my eyes to make me remember to breathe. I croaked out my name, "Asraii... Asraii Surana."
I forgot all about gathering information from him. He talked as we walked back to Duncan's fire, but my eyes were memorizing him. The dark gold of his short hair, the pale brown of his eyes, the dimple on the left side of his face that seemed deeper than the right, and the careworn splintmail that had obviously seen a fight and had been lovingly repaired. I filed and stored every visual bit of him in my mind, hoping that I would not need it.
So maybe it's true
That I can't live without you
And maybe two is better than one
But there's so much time
To figure out the rest of my life
And you've already got me coming undone
And I'm thinking two is better than one
They were like two lovesick teenagers. Honestly, I cannot see how they have gotten anything done as much as they moon over each other when we are back at camp. I watch as Alistair pulls her over to the edge of camp to talk, and I cannot help but grin. Even from here he looks like he is shaking as he opens his hand and shows her the rose. I wonder what happened to that hardened scholar that I had seen at the tower when her eyes go as wide as saucers. I turn my head when they kiss.
I wonder if they know that their love is folly, that in this quest they could very well lose one another. They should keep their eyes on the goal, instead of falling into the selfishness that is love. Though nothing dire has come of it yet, you can see it when we go into battle. Their attention is more on the well-being of the other, than worrying for their own safety, or the rest of their companions. Alistair always throwing himself in front of anything that tries to get to Asraii; Asraii stopping her primal spells to heal him, when I am perfectly capable of doing so. I must speak with her tomorrow. They must put away these fancies to be able to accomplish their goals.
I remember every look upon your face
The way you roll your eyes
The way you taste
You make it hard for breathing
'Cause when I close my eyes and drift away
I think of you and everything's okay
I'm finally now believing
In all this darkness, in all this insanity, to have found her was a complete miracle. She just has to look at me and I feel like my heart is going to burst through my chest. I'm spinning and it's all her fault. Out of all the possibilities that my life has held, I never believed I would have been here with her.
Her white hair is spilled out behind her head, and she sighs as I am just caught by her gaze. Those blue-grey eyes giving me a mildly exasperated look. "Are you alright, Alistair?" Her voice is that of a whisper and it pulls me from my spell.
"I still have a hard time believing this is real." My breathing is unsteady, the words shaky. Her small hands reach up and trail over my naked chest, up my shoulders, finally catch my face, pulling me down to kiss her. The ghost trail of her fingers feels like fire over my skin, and I lose myself in that kiss, the knot of nervousness inside me slowly unwinding. My hands are exploring her, gently, and savoring each small gasp and moan that she breathes into my mouth.
The taste of her mouth, the salt of her sweat slicked skin, the feel of her warm body beneath me makes me feel more whole than I ever have. I could spend an eternity worshiping the bend of her hip, the curve of her shoulder, the pointed tips of her ears. This moment was heaven, a completion of what we feel for each other, and each sound she emits as we join together, every shudder of my body, sings to the Maker that this is right. It is worth keeping. It is worth fighting to hold onto. Looking into her eyes again, I know I will never let her go.
That maybe it's true
That I can't live without you
And maybe two is better than one
But there's so much time
To figure out the rest of my life
And you've already got me coming undone
And I'm thinking two is better than one
Love is ultimately selfish. I still remember Wynne's words even now. I still disagree with her. Perhaps it was selfishness to keep that love whole between us, to hold onto each other as tightly as we have, but even now when I wake up and see him beside me I could not imagine doing anything differently.
We needed each other more than we could have known in those early days. Without his strength beside me, without his purity of beliefs, I could have become something I abhor. I could not have walked the path that led to ending the Blight without his comfort, his confidence in me, or his love. Together we faced an unimaginable evil, together we were scarred by it, but together we came through it whole.
We have rebuilt the Order to which we both belong together. We have trained, we have fought, we have learned, and in the end none of this could have happened without each other. My fingers brush over his cheek, and the corner of his mouth tugs into a sleeping grin. I lean in and kiss the corner of his mouth, wrapping my arms around him, and snuggling into his embrace. Perfect, whole, and happy.
