A/N: (I always forget to put this on my first chapters.) I do not own the rights to Dragon Age or any of its lore, though this story is of my own ideas. Rights go to David Gaider and the creators of the Dragon Age series and all of its medias (which are all touched on to some extent in this story.). Thank you all for providing such an amazing world for me to write about! Hopefully I do it some justice. -Showers' Inc
Location: Tevinter Imperium, west trails of The Hundred Pillars
Time: The Dragon Age 9:38, 7 years after Darkspawn Civil War of Ferelden ended (8-9 years after the Fifth Blight)
Canon: Sophia (Sophie) Cousland is Warden-Commander/queen of Ferelden, sharing the throne with Alistair Theirin.
Companions: Sophie(Warden)-Oghren-Gatsby(name given to Mabari)-Sigrun
Chapter Two
"Just like home, eh, Oghren?" Sophie laughed as she brushed more snow off of the shoulders of her chainmail armor.
Her dwarf friend huffed as he readjusted the war hammer on his back. "If this soddin' thing would quit pulling me down, I'd probably be laughing, too."
"Actually, I'd count the ale in your pack as what's weighing you down," Sigrun smirked at Sophie. "We saw you slip some at the last town."
"It's not my fault these mages don't know how to drink! Takes twenty pints before I even get fuzzy!"
"You seem pretty fuzzy all the time," the Warden-Commander jabbed her fellow Grey Warden in the side with her elbow.
The past years had brought so many changes forth for Sophie Cousland. She was now the "Hero of Ferelden," the Warden-Commander, the queen. Though that last title seemed undeserving for the time being. Teagan and Eamon were left in charge of Ferelden politics more often than not for the past three years, mostly due to the continuing absence of herself and her husband.
She felt more at home managing the workings of the Ferelden Grey Wardens, anyway. To Sophie, continuing their patrols and watching for any unusual activity during the Thaw were the most important things to attend to. Granted, they hadn't sighted a darkspawn on the Ferelden surface for nearly two years. The news of possible openings in The Hundred Pillars of Tevinter Imperium came as a relief to her and her remaining Grey Wardens. It gave them a chance to use their abilities again, to be who they were meant to be.
Howe was now left in charge of the maintaining of Vigil's Keep and the remaining area, though Sophie considered him more of a "casual" Warden nowadays. After saving her older brother's life, however, she could never guilt him for it. He was in the process of having his own family. The last time they talked, before Sophie and her group were to leave for the Free Marches and onward, he was practically giddy over the confirmation of baby number three with his lovely wife.
Velanna disappeared after the battle at the Keep. Several witnesses accounted that she had a stone wall break upon her, but clearly the rubble proved fruitless. The elf woman was simply gone. Sophie liked to think she staged the event, looking to reunite with her sister, Seranni. The voyages around the entrances of the Deep Roads after the Thaw were specifically in hopes of seeing if there were signs of Velanna passing through. One mage taking on the entirety of darkspawn in the Deep Roads was inconceivable, but if any held the ability, it would have been Velanna. Unfortunately, Sophie and the others never found a sign she had been hoping for.
Justice left the Wardens shortly after their final battle in Amaranthine, which Sophie agreed to somewhat reluctantly. Despite the fact that he was indeed a corpse, she enjoyed having him around as a sound conscience for the group. She was the first to admit that she was more prone to feed emotion into her decisions, not rationality. He turned down her offer to stay with them, and, a couple of years later, the Wardens heard news of the body of Kristoff being "deposited" on his wife's doorstep. Kristoff was finally able to be put to rest, yet there seemed to be no sign of Justice's spirit. All Sophie could hope was that her friend found his peace.
Anders … Anders changed. The young mage held a lot of potential, and he seemed more than willing to show it off. There were discussions of him training fellow mages as they entered into the Order, but Sophie always joked that he would teach them nothing but fancy escaping tricks. For several reasons, Anders reminded the Warden-Commander greatly of her husband, cracking jokes and answering serious situations with sarcasm and playful ignorance. He practically single-handedly kept the darkspawn at bay at the Keep, so he was one of the most popular Wardens to date. Anders stayed with the Order for two years before he began to become more quiet and withdrawn. One night, as they were drinking together at the Keep, he confessed that he didn't feel he was fulfilling his purpose if he stayed with the Wardens. Especially after some of the other Wardens forced him to get rid of that silly cat, he felt more alone than ever there. Sophie hated hearing that her close friend felt so detached, but there was nothing she could do to make him feel differently. Three nights before he disappeared, she hugged him and told him to find whatever he believed his destiny to be; he had her blessing. Part of her still wondered if he would have stayed if she had said something different.
Sigrun claimed that she was to go meet her end, much to Sophie's worry. She never had the heart to ask where the Legion of the Dead member went, figuring it was something to do with her Legion's traditions. On one occasion, Sophie and her group found her in the midst of a resistance pocket of darkspawn near an abandoned thaig entrance. The dwarf and Warden-Commander mad it an on-going joke that the two would be each other's end, not some weakling darkspawn. Thankfully, despite how often she would disappear, Sigrun always returned to the Keep, demanding a drink and some time with her friend Sophie.
And Oghren had been and always would be Oghren. It was incredible to see the dwarven man remain almost exactly the same since Sophie met him in Orzammar eight years ago. Having the chance to show his abilities gained him quite the fan-base within the Order, where people would find him in the dining hall after their travels. There, everyone would try their damnedest to drink equally what he did. Few ever succeeded. He and Felsi agreed to have him stay in contact with his young son, also named Oghren. Oghren even began referring to his boy as Oggie, much to Sophie's amusement. She was glad he was able to still be part of his son's life, but she was even happier to have him still with the Order.
So many of her friends had come and went since the events of the Blight, and the aftermath with the Architect and the Mother, but Oghren and Sigrun were the two who had remained faithfully at her side. Because of this, she considered the two of them her best friends.
As if on cue, a nose bumped into her lower thigh, followed by a quick yap of excitement. Her old Mabari, Gatsby, was also at her side. On travels like these, when the wind was harsh and the cold seeped into their bodies, Gatsby would often find a way to sneak into Sophie's bedroll beside her. How he did it without waking her continued to baffle the woman. He barked again with slight urgency, jabbing her with his snout again.
"Gatsby, enough," Sophie said, tapping his nose with two fingers. "What is it?"
The hound snorted in semi-offense before trotting briskly off ahead of them. Sophie's whistle went ignored as his form disappeared into the sheet of white ahead of them. Oghren and Sigrun stopped beside her as she attempted to bring Gatsby to her side again.
"Stubborn mutt," Sophie muttered to herself.
"Do you think he's found something?" Sigrun suggested. "Maybe we're on the edge of another town …"
"No, we would've seen something by now, even with this blowing snow. Unless he caught smell of a nug or something, he hasn't eaten in a while." She turned to Oghren. "Are there nugs in Tevinter?"
The red-headed dwarf shrugged. "How should I know? S'not as if I stepped in Tevinter about as many times I pissed in a cave."
"Pissed in a cave?" Sigrun repeated with a raised eyebrow. "Exactly how many times have you done that?"
Oghren chuckled. "I'm from Orzammar, sister. Caves were pretty much all we got."
Gatsby's bark cut off their conversation abruptly. Sophie drew her longsword and dagger while Sigrun prepared her dirk and axe. Oghren's hammer was held ready above his head. Together, the three slowly followed after the Warden-Commander's Mabari.