Calling
Leandra was never sure what to make of Mother and Father after she'd been told their story on the road three years ago. She'd understood why they'd had to run, certainly, but not why they'd done it in the first place. She asked once why they didn't turn themselves in to pay for their crimes.
"Because as much as I regret the consequences of what happened, I don't regret what I did," Father told her. "It needed to be done."
"People died!" she cried, horrified. Father's shoulders had sagged.
"I know," he sighed.
She also knew that Mother and Father would do anything to protect her and Carver, even if it meant killing again, and she knew that if anyone was killed because of her, she would feel terribly guilty.
In the last three years, she and Carver had grown apart. They had passed through several towns, and in each one she had asked if they could settle, and he had insisted they move on. They started quarrelling over everything, from the love interests of the other to the chores they shared.
They had settled once, but the Seeker had found them again. From then on, they kept moving.
"Why don't you want to help prevent this war?" Carver had asked. Leandra had listened eagerly in.
"I do," Mother'd sighed, helplessly. "But that would mean being away from you. And I'm not a good enough person to give you up."
"You are a good person," Father had said, coming up behind her. "A better person than me. Had I being a better person, I'd have left you. I wouldn't have dragged you into this."
"It was too late, Anders. I'd have been dragged into it anyway- being the Champion of Kirkwall tends to do that."
"I suppose so," he replied.
Leandra's curiosity was left unsated.
XX
When the Seeker next caught up with them, Leora was packed and ready.
"Tell me, Seeker," she began, "Why are we so selfish that we cannot let go of what is good for us to do what is good for others?"
"We feel we deserve happiness more than others," Cassandra replied. There was a long silence, then she hefted her pack on her back.
"I'm ready."
"Then let us leave."
Carver and Father watched her go with the Seeker until they could no longer be seen. Leandra refused to watch.
XX
She was away for two years. When she returned the tensions between mages and Templars had been soothed- at least for now.
Father ran to her and held her so tightly Leandra was surprised he didn't break her in half. She kissed him fiercely, clutching at him, until she calmed down enough to greet her children.
She held her arms out and both ran to her, throwing their arms around her as if they were eight not eighteen.
"Look how big you are," she whispered. "How much you've grown. Oh how I've missed you."
"I missed you too, Mother," Carver said.
"So did I," Leandra admitted. Mother hugged them even tighter.
The Seeker watched and smiled.
XX
Now the crisis was over, they finally settled in Ferelden, and Carver met a lovely boy whom Mother and Father approved of. They had taken the news that their son liked boys without batting an eyelid- Leandra was less approving and did not associate with his lover, Shawn.
Shawn was a wild, fun loving boy, a far cry from Carver's quiet, serious contemplation. Shawn had brought Carver out of his shell, and her twin had become much more playful and happy lately.
Still, Leandra did not approve.
"Honestly, you'd think my sister would be happy I found someone," he exclaimed one day, throwing his hands up in surrender. "Haven't you always said that I ought to find someone and get myself laid?"
"I meant a woman," his sister snapped.
"And what's wrong with Shawn?"
"Nothing, dear. Nothing at all," Mother said, coming up behind him. "He's a lovely boy and I'm happy for you."
"Thank you, Mother! It seems you're the only one who is around here." Carver glared at his sister.
Anders pulled his son aside and told him about a man called Karl he had once loved.
"What happened to him?" Carver asked.
"Our paths diverged," Father replied evasively. "And I found your mother."
"Does that mean you don't like men now?" Leandra asked insolently. "Maybe you'll be a good example to my brother."
"It means that I found a woman who is as good as any man," Father said, voice hard.
"That's no way to speak to your father," Mother snapped.
"Gee, fine," the girl muttered, storming out.
XX
Even Leandra couldn't fail to notice that Father seemed agitated lately, distracted. During the years Mother was away she'd seen it in him, but put it down to him missing Mother. She often saw him staring at the floor and gripping his hand about his staff restlessly.
Mother seemed worried. Once she happened to hear the pair talking.
"It's the Calling, isn't it?" Mother asked anxiously, pacing back and forth across the floor in front of the fireplace, wringing her hands together.
"I have to go," he said, half rising before he sat back down. "I can't stay. I want to but… it calls to me… I have to go…"
"Then I'm coming with you," Mother said firmly. "Till death do us part, remember?"
"The children…"
"They're old enough to take care of themselves. You're not going down there without me."
He smiled weakly and gripped her hand.
"Thank you," he whispered.
Leandra left the house to find Carver.
XX
"Carver, I heard Mother and Father talking," she said, running into her brother. He was humming happily as he strolled towards the house, cheeks flushed. She felt disgust fill her- she knew what he'd been doing- but this was too important to berate him now.
"Mother mentioned the Calling. Said she wouldn't let Father leave without her, and that we're old enough to take care of ourselves."
Her twin brother frowned.
"What? They're leaving?"
"Sounded like it," Leandra replied.
Together, the twins ran back to the house.
XX
"Kids," Mother began as Father stared at the floor, fingers twitching towards his staff, "We need to tell you something."
It was then that Carver realised she was in full armour. It was the first time he'd seen her in full armour since she'd returned with the Seeker.
"What's going on, Mother?" he asked, staring at the daggers on her back and helm sitting on the table.
"Your father's Calling has come," she said. "We're going to the Deep Roads. And we won't be coming back."
The previous year Father had told them all about the Grey Wardens, and how he thought he would soon face his time. They both knew exactly what Mother meant.
"Does this mean…" Leandra's lip shook. "You're going to die?" She wasn't certain if she liked her parents. But she loved them and the possibility of losing them terrified her.
"Yes," Father said, looking up for the first time, seeking out the familiar comfort of his children's faces. They had Leora's nose and lips. They had his eyes. Carver had his mother's build, but his height. Leandra was short like her mother, but of his build. The pointed chins were his. The steely determination in Carver's eyes was his, tempered with Leora's kindness and gentleness. The defiant, reckless sparkle in Leandra's eyes was just like her mother's when she had been a younger woman.
Leora was older now, and time had changed her just as it had changed him. She had crow's feet and couldn't throw a dagger as hard or straight as she once could. She tired more easily and didn't say the spirited comebacks that had once spewed from her mouth like lava anymore. She had no wish to fight now. She just wanted to be a good wife and mother.
Which by no means meant that she was slacking off. Most mornings still found her training on the practise dummy she'd erected in the backyard, and she was still the most spectacular sight he'd ever seen. He found her more beautiful every day, as tired as she was, as old as she was.
He'd fallen in love with a young woman of twenty one. Now, at forty six, she was more than his lover as they had been then. She was his wife.
"You kids can take care of yourselves," she was saying. "I know you can do it. Father has taught you well. Don't doubt your abilities. The surest way to lose a fight is to believe you can't win it."
It was the motto she'd lived her live by. She'd nearly died during the duel with the Arishok so many years ago, despite her skill, because she'd doubted herself. It also extended to other areas of life. When Carver had first told her he liked Shawn but didn't know how to tell him, she had told him that if he believed he could never tell him, he never would.
"Those who don't try never succeed, son," she'd said.
The next week he'd come home with a boyfriend.
"Follow your dreams. Remember- those who don't try never succeed."
Leandra ran forward and hugged her mother fiercely.
"Why do you have to go too?" she asked. "You're no Warden."
"Your father needs me. And it's time to let go of you. I once told you I wasn't a good enough woman to do that." Mother paused. "But you convinced me to do what was right, Leandra, that I had a situation to fix. You're a better woman that I ever will be."
Tears filled Leandra's eyes.
"And you, Carver. You're such a good boy. So kind and compassionate. You're just like your father. He fights for what he believes in, no matter the cost, too." She glanced at Father, who smiled slightly. "I know you'll understand that we have to leave, like you'd go with Shawn if he had to leave. I love you, Carver. I love you, Leandra. More than the whole world."
"Papa," Leandra whispered.
"Oh, darling," Father said, hugging her tightly. "I still remember you coming to me at night after you'd had a nightmare when you were eight. So scared but so brave. You two are the best thing that ever happened to me. I didn't even think it possible I could sire children. I'd not sacrifice either of you for anything."
"Stay strong, Carver. There will come a day when you will have to choose between what is right and what is easy. We all have to choose that one day. Just remember, it's only when you're falling, you learn if you can fly."
Mother's mouth twisted into a smile as she picked two things up off the table.
"This was my mother's," she said, handing a tarnished silver locket to Leandra. The girl opened it. Inside were two pictures.
One was of five people. She recognised Aunt Bethany- her aunt's face had changed little since the picture was painted- but it was the dark haired girl with the defiant sparkle in her eyes in the front row, older than Aunt Bethany, but not by much, who caught her attention.
It was Mother.
"I was your age then," Mother said. "Bethany and Carver were fifteen." She pointed out the boy beside Bethany, a strong jawed, steely eyed boy who strongly resembled Mother. "Father died not long after this was painted. Mother…" Mother hesitated on the picture of the woman holding young Leora in her arms. "Mother was the best mother I could have had. I wish she'd survived to see you."
The other was of the four of them. She remembered the day it had been painted. She'd been eight and impatient to play with her friends, but Mother had insisted she stay still. Carver had held her hand and spoke into her ear to calm her. Leandra focused on her mother's face. She looked so young, so vibrant and happy, as did Father.
"She'd have been so proud of you, Leandra. You're everything she would have wanted in a grandchild. And Carver… this is my father's staff." She handed him a staff, an old, delicate thing. "It served him well. I hope it serves you better."
She put her helmet on as the children examined their gifts.
"And now we must go."
The couple hugged and kissed their children one last time before they left the house hand in hand. The twins stared after them, unwilling to tear their gazes away the last time they would ever see their parents.
"Goodbye," Carver whispered, gripping Leandra's hand tight.
"It's just you and me now, sister."