Title: A Child Unexpected (Part 13 of 14)
Author: skybound2
Characters: Fem!City-Elf PC (Kallian Tabris), Sten, Zevran, Alistair, and Morrigan (the overall fic is Zevran/Tabris with Sten and some others tossed in. Liberally, at times. References Alistair/Tabris, Alistair/Anora, and Zevran/Other.)
Word Count: ~7000 this chapter (~54400 so far)
Rating: T
In this bit: Our little almost-family's last days at Weisshaupt.
Spoilers: Through end game. References to a character/plot from "The Calling", and hints at "Dragon Age: Awakening" (though no real overt spoilers for either).
Author's Note: *head desk* This? This was the chapter that did not want to be written. It gave me one hell of a time folks, hence the massive delay in posting. For that, I apologize. As a result, it's also the chapter I have been least sure of while working on this fic. *bites nails* Many oodles of thanks to pennydreadful for the beta. Without her help, this chapter would be a complete disaster.
Chapter 11
Weisshaupt: Twenty-four Months after the Fall of the Archdemon
Kallian couldn't be certain, but she thought that maybe, just this once, she had managed to luck out beyond all hope and expectation.
The Wardens were dropping their incessant questioning of her. They were prepared to leave her and her child be, despite their obvious misgivings. (She highly suspected that much of that was due to Fiona's influence, who seemed much more inclined to understand Kallian's position as a mother, than anyone else.) They were willing to allow her to walk away from the order, if she so chose, once her assignment was complete. They were willing to have letters sent on her behalf to whomever she wished to help organize her affairs should the worst come to pass. They were going to give her a compliment of Wardens, of mostly her own choosing, to take with her to the Keep. And they were willing to pay for the safe passage of both Adaia and Zevran to a location of her choosing.
And Enrich had been practically smiling while he agreed to it all. It had been rather unnerving.
It was as if she had stumbled upon a large chest of gold, with the lock broken, and a note indicating that the contents were free for the taking. Sten would be sorely disappointed in how quickly she had pounced on the deal. He would have admonished her for her foolhardy acceptance of an obviously suspect set of promises.
'I have never known you to be an idiot before, Kadan. Perhaps I have been mistaken.'
She wished that he was here, and not back in Seheron. Perhaps hearing such words from his lips as opposed to in her mind would do her some good. There was nothing to be done for it though. She could only hope that the Wardens were as desperate for a new Commander to be in place at the Keep as they claimed. She really had no other choice.
Of course, there was one little, tiny thing that she needed to do before any packing could commence, and any Andraste-forsaken horses saddled. Namely, convincing Zevran to go along with the plan. And Maker's breath, but he was being unreasonable!
She tried to keep her voice even in the vain hope of keeping their conversation at least somewhat private; a hard task to accomplish out in the courtyard as they were, with training sessions going on all around them. "I – she won't be safe in Amaranthine. Please, Zevran. Do this for me."
"Ahhh – to hear such a delectable elf such as yourself beg something of me…there was a time when I would have given all of the leather in Antiva to hear you do so."
"Ugh!" She threw her hands in the air. "This is not a joke, Zevran!" There went any attempt to keep nosy eyes from looking their way, but Kallian didn't really give a damn anymore. Still, she managed to avoid stomping her feet like a child, which she counted as a small victory.
"Hmm, are you quite certain? I for one find the idea of you abandoning our daughter to rejoin the Wardens highly entertaining."
Kallian clenched her jaw, and fought the urge to scream. "I am not abandoning her. You are her father. I am simply asking you to care for her, for a short while. It's not like I won't be coming back." She had to. She couldn't even begin to entertain the alternative.
"Ahh, I must have misunderstood. Here, I thought you were asking me to watch after her while you joined a highly dangerous mission that could quite possibly lead to your death. I suppose that you only plan to engage the darkspawn in diplomatic discussions, hmm?"
"Could you just drop the sarcasm for one minute, and discuss this with me rationally please?"
Kallian was often amazed by the sheer cruelty that Zevran could infuse a laugh with. It sent chills up her spine. "Rationally? What an interesting suggestion. For certain, if you understood the concept, you would have turned down this fool mission, and we'd be taking our leave of this place and the Wardens." His hands were balled into tight fists, eyes flashing with something more than just anger. What it was though, Kallian was at a loss to identify. "They will be the death of you, Warden."
"Yes, they will, Zevran. One day. I've been damned to that fate since I first took the joining." The words hung heavy in the air between them. A thick fog that neither seemed capable of penetrating just yet.
Kallian leaned heavily on the fence post in front her, mirroring Zevran's posture, and together, they watched Adaia scurry to and fro between Theodore's legs out in the training yard. (The over-sized human was patient with Adaia, and seemed to enjoy the little girl's antics, even if they did include the child flinging her mud-covered self at his unsuspecting person on a semi-regular basis. Better still, was the fact that he seemed not to care what anyone else had to say on the matter.)
"I wish that I could just toss all sense of responsibility and duty out." Uncaring of their visibility to those around them, she reached down and circled one hand around Zevran's wrist, slowly stroking down to his hand, and attempting to pry open the digits. He allowed her to, only marginally. It was the first time she had touched him since she'd fled from his bed that morning, and it sent tingles up her arm. "But I can't. Not anymore. I've done that for far too long already, and it's eating away at me.
"The Qun – the Qun talks of struggle, and the uselessness of it. How one should know their purpose, and accept it. Or at least, I think that it does." She let a self-deprecating laugh escape her, "I was rather bad at interpreting it, you know. 'Just a dense, elf.' That's what the philosophers would say. If you thought Sten was frustrated with us back at camp, those qunari gave new meaning to the word. But I think…I think that I get it now. At least, a bit of it."
He held his entire body still, but even so, she could feel it vibrating with tension. Her hand continued to hold onto his, but he didn't return the gesture. "You speak so easily of duty, Warden. So what of your duty to Adaia?" There were other words, left unspoken in the air, but he didn't give them voice, and she didn't call him out on them.
She stroked her thumb over his. Once. Twice. Little round paths. She took comfort out of the small twitch his skin gave in response. "It is precisely for Adaia that I am doing this. She deserves to grow up in a world not torn apart by a blight, Zevran." As she spoke, she left the path of her eyes trail away from Zevran's stiff posture, to the sight of their little girl, who was currently ducking behind a bucket – giggling whenever Theodore would walk past. The parts of her hair that were not caked in mud glimmered gold in the mid-day sun.
Zevran's voice broke the happy trance watching Adaia had created. "Oh, so now it is a blight, hmm, Warden? Earlier I believe you were insisting that it wasn't. Perhaps you would like to get your own story straight before we continue with this…discussion?" There was so much venom in the last word, that it was nearly spat out.
Kallian sighed, wishing that she could return to a time when the worst thing she had to deal with was the worry about whether or not her father would actually force her to marry a total stranger. Those were such uncomplicated days. "The Warden's don't seem to think so. There has been no evidence that another Archdemon has risen. But, they have no explanation for the resurgence of the darkspawn either. We should have received several more years of peace and quiet, at the bare minimum."
The amber of his eyes was shuttered behind narrowed lids. "So then a blight is likely?"
"I think that it is a possibility. It is also a possibility that something else is causing the darkspawn to surface. And I..." She sucked in a deep breath, warding off the nausea that threatened to overtake her. "I have to accept that my own actions could partly be responsible."
"Ahh, now we get to the meat of it! You are feeling, what? Guilt?" He pulled his hand from hers, and stepped away. She tried not to feel bereft at its loss, and gripped the post in front of her with both hands. "You believe that Morrigan-"
She turned away from the yards and her giggling child (who was now having some sort of tug-of-war with their mabari over the bucket), to face him directly. "Shh! Please, don't – the less we discuss of her, the better."
He cocked an eyebrow. "I have never known you to be superstitious, Warden."
"It is not superstition, merely...paranoia. The Wardens' have proven to not be above spying. I don't trust so much as a blade of grass in this place."
"Mmm, upon that we agree."
She eyed him carefully, hoping he could discern her own turbulent emotions better than she could herself, like he often had in the past. "I think that we agree more often than we realize, Zevran." She sighed, "But, I must at least acknowledge the possibility that my…pact with her… could be at fault here." She swiped at an errant lock of hair, teased down from her perpetual bun by the wind. "It was the right decision. I'm sure of that. But there is much that I'm not certain of, especially given her disappearance."
His gaze, intense as the sun, remained on her for several moments before turning away. The hand that she had previously held found its way into a pocket. She watched the muscles of his forearm flex, as though his hand had bunched into a fist within the cloth confines. A habit of his that she had only picked up during the voyage from Seheron.
"Why do you do that? Stick your hand in your pocket like you're afraid you're about to lose all your coin?" His back stiffened, and he removed his hand quickly, fingers relaxed, and palm empty.
His eyes stayed focus on Adaia, but his voice was distant when he spoke. "You would do well, if you are going to the Keep, to have someone skilled with poisons in the group. Declan would be an obvious choice. I had occasion to discuss some of the…finer techniques of my craft with him over these past weeks. He is far too clumsy to make a decent assassin, but he is quite knowledgeable in his own way." He turned back to her, considering; his heated gaze sweeping over her from toe to head. "And he also pushes your buttons splendidly if I recall – and in my experience it is always good to have one such as that along."
Irritated, and somewhat flushed from his appraisal, she crossed her arms and leaned back against the post. "You're changing the subject."
This time he mirrored her posture, and held up a finger in an old-school–marm gesture that looked entirely ridiculous. "Ahh-ahh-ahh my dear Warden. I do believe that we were discussing this foolish plan of yours, which is precisely what I was continuing to do. You have Wardens to select after all. You were the one attempting to redirect its course. I am a master of distraction, mia cara, do not think I am unaware when the tactic is being employed upon me."
Her cheeks grew warm at the admonishment. "I hadn't meant anything by it, was just curious. And…" The warmth that was in her cheeks spread down her neck, but she pressed on. "Last I saw, there was nothing but lint in your pockets." She pulled her lower lip in by her teeth, gnawing at the overly dry skin.
His head titled as he continued to observe her in a fashion that made her feel utterly exposed. A moment later, a full-throated laugh broke free of his chest, splitting the tension in the air as easily as one of his knives could cut skin. Before she even had time to register it, he had closed the distance between them, the warm pad of his thumb tracing her lower lip, and pulling it free from her teeth with a small 'pop'. Her whole body shivered in response to the heat of him.
His voice lowered in tone, and depth, to that huskier register that unerringly sent waves of want through to her center. "Are you aware that you abuse this poor, unsuspecting lip? I believe that the treatment which it has received is unmatched in cruelty throughout all of Thedas."
"Wha-?" She couldn't form sentences. Couldn't form words. Her whole body was gravitating towards him, leaning ever-so-slightly forward, hoping – wanting – needing to close the gap between them. If only for a minute…
But, then he dropped his hand, and stepped away, lengthening the distance between them by three footfalls; understanding blossomed in her chest before he spoke. Master of distraction indeed. "Now, back to the matter at hand, Kallian."
She swallowed a desperate lump of air at the sound of her given name on his lips, and nodded. The sudden need to reclaim the footing which he had so easily stolen from under her was piercing in its intensity, but she stamped it down in favor of being humble. "Please, Zevran. You say you like to hear me beg? Well this is me – begging. Please do this for me. I think we both know that Antiva would be a less than ideal place for the both of you right now. Returning to Seheron…it's the only…" She took a breath. Why was this so difficult to explain? "It's the most logical choice. And it is not as bad as you may think. Sten-"
The look he bestowed upon her would have made a lesser person tuck tail and run. "No."
Disappointment swirled in her heart, only to be quickly snuffed out by irritation. "No?"
"That is what I said, yes."
"No? And why not? You are honestly refusing to care for Adaia while I am gone? What would you have me do? Would you prefer that I shuck her off on a stranger? Or leave her here? I know that Theodore is quite fond of her, perhaps he would like the job." She shook her head, trying to dispel the thought – he couldn't walk away so easily, could he? This had to be something else. "If this is about us - do not take your annoyance with me out on her, Zevran. She deserves better than that!"
He laughed, low and brittle, the sound sent wisps of cold through her. "Truly, whether or not you deign to remain in my bed after sunup is entirely your decision to make, Warden, and has absolutely no impact on my relationship with Adaia. If you still believe that I would abandon my child for any reason, then there is nothing I will be able to do to convince you otherwise."
Her stomach twisted, how did she always get things wrong? "No, of course I don't – I'm...sorry." And she was, for more than just the unwitting accusation. He nodded once, but she couldn't quite make out the emotion behind the near perfect mask covering his face. "Then what-"
"I simply mean, Warden, that when you travel, Adaia and I will be accompanying you."
"Absolutely not!"
"It is quite adorable, mia cara, how you seem to think you have some say in the matter. Either you are allowing me to care for Adaia in you absence, in which case you have no say in where it is I choose to take her, or you will have to turn down this fool position in Amaranthine. In which case, you still will not be free of me."
"I am not trying to be free of you, Zevran! Damn it." She reached up to rub her brow, hoping to keep the oncoming headache at bay. "Can't you see that it's for Adaia that I have asked this of you? She won't be safe at the Keep."
His eyes fairly twinkled as he looked upon her. How could his emotions change on a hairpin like that? "Then it is just as well that I have no intention of taking her to the Keep."
She sputtered. She'd been doing that a lot lately. "But, but you said-"
He waggled a finger at her; a sudden reappearance of that unending supply of charm he possessed taking over. Though the gesture still looked ridiculous to Kallian. "I said that we would be traveling with you, I never once said that we would be going to the Keep with you." He made a clucking sound with his tongue. "Denerim is but a short distance from Amaranthine – especially when we have four legs to carry us there. If this is not truly a blight, than we should be quite safe within those walls."
She blinked. Why hadn't she considered that? The only place that it had occurred to her to send Adaia had been back home. To Seheron. And Sten. When exactly did Denerim stop being home? Now that she thought on it, the idea began to grow on her. Having her daughter so near, yet safe. The chance for her to meet her grandfather, and cousins…it held quite a bit of appeal. "I suppose that would be acceptable."
He clapped his hands together, "Good! There is a certain Monarch that whose expression I'd quite like to see when we arrive on his doorstep. Perhaps it will ease the blow if I stop and pick him up a buxom beauty or two, as I am sure he has grown frustrated these long months with only Anora to entertain him."
"Zevran."
He pouted. The expression did something to her insides that was both unexpected and delightful. "Aww, you would deny me the pleasure of riling up our dear former Templar, then? Hmm? Pity. Fine, I promise to be on my best behavior." He made a crossing motion over his heart, and put on the most innocent expression she'd ever seen him wear. It appeared that Adaia was rubbing off on him as much as he was on her.
The brushed the stray hair back behind her ear once more, annoyed with its persistent presence in her eyes. "That really isn't saying very much, Zevran. All right. The two of you may travel south with me. When we reach the crossroads, you will head to Denerim with Adaia." If her heart had skipped a beat at the realization that she would be traveling with him, for months on end, she would never admit it.
He gave her a smile; one that she'd only ever been witness to a half-dozen times, and that feeling of lightness within her became even more pronounced. "We've become thick as thieves – the respectable kind mind you, not the scoundrels that plague the highways – but I don't know that she would be as comfortable if you were gone entirely."
Kallian shook her head. "No. I suspect not. Although, she has done surprisingly well with Sten's absence these past weeks."
And it was true, she had. There had been some grumblings initially (okay – maybe those were more like all out screaming sob-fests that lasted from the second to fourth days on the boat), and once or twice on the road she'd woken with a fright and cried for the qunari, and those had been…difficult situations to deal with. But she'd gotten attached to Zev so fast, that as far as Kallian could tell, she was happy as long he was around.
Zevran gave her a wide, beaming smile. "That is only because I am highly skilled at distraction. Did you know that there are three separate 'hidden' passageways between our chamber and the hound pens? Adaia managed to find two of them entirely on her own."
"I'm hardly surprised. She is your daughter after all." She paused, considering her next words – not wanting to broach the topic, but seeing no other choice. "What you said earlier – about my running from your bed before sunrise?" She kept her eyes focused on Adaia and the mabari out in the courtyard, not quite ready to look Zevran in the eye. "You're right, obviously – I'm, not certain that two times quite makes a habit, but it certainly is the start of a bad pattern. And I never meant for it to be. I've been…indecisive, and that needs to change." She sucked in one steady, breath, and turned back to him, only to find him watching her, a look of confusion on his face. The look was gone almost as soon as she noticed it, however.
"She will of course keep the hound." His statement was jarring in its subject jump, but it had the intended effect of bringing her back to the present, and the vision of their daughter barreling towards them, a war hound at her heels with a bucket in his jaws.
"Of course. Who else is going to go jumping in mud puddles with her?" At Zevran's light laugh, Kallian felt a heaviness that she had not even known was weighing on her, suddenly lift.
Kallian felt a clawing at her britches, the result of the most mud-covered little elf that she had ever seen. "Mama! Mama, Mama! Up!" Laughing, she swung the child up into her arms, letting her settle onto her hip; uncaring that she was now as coated in mud as the little girl.
She would be without her all too soon, and she wanted to savor every moment now, just in case.
Zevran's voice, when he spoke, was much closer than she had expected, so much so that the nearness of it made her jump. "When do the Wardens wish for you to depart from this lovely fortress of theirs?" He reached up, and tucked the damnable lock of hair behind her ear, his warm fingers lingering for a moment at the nape of her neck. Kallian was thankful for the distance that their daughter put between them.
"The Wardens wish me to leave for the Keep before sunup the day after tomorrow."
"And you are to pick a contingent of Wardens to accompany you before then, yes?"
"I've been allotted the use of three. Why? Do you have any suggestions?" Kallian wrinkled her nose. "Aside from Declan."
Zevran's hand skated down past her elbow, before alighting on her hip momentarily. "Several come to mind, but first, Warden, I think we have a small matter to deal with." He brought his hand back into view, wiggling mud-streaked digits at her in time with his wiggling brow. "A bath appears to be in order."
Kallian didn't think that it was fair that the way that Zevran's voice dropped, and that the way his eyes lingered on portions of her body distinctly south of her neck, had the ability to render her nearly speechless anymore. She remembered a time when she was entirely immune to his charms with some longing.
Adaia, Maker bless her, chose that moment to twist around in Kallian's arms, and grapple onto Zevran, giving him large mud-covered kisses all over his head. Kallian did her best to contain her laughter at Zevran's affronted, yet affectionate, face as Adaia settled into his arms.
Channeling him, she waggled both eyebrows, and was rewarded with her daughter's giggle. "Now about that bath…"
~~~\/~~~
Since becoming acquainted with his daughter, Zevran had become quite adept at getting the squirming child to sit (relatively) still for meals. It was a measure of the point that his life had reached that he considered it one of his more impressive victories.
It was during one such successful mission within the mess hall before their departure from the fortress, that the Warden mage, Fiona, decided to settle herself at their table and attempt conversation. (Kallian was still nowhere in sight – off in talks with Enrich supposedly.) Adaia paused for only a moment in her eating to observe the new arrival, but seemed to dismiss her just as easily, opening her mouth for another spoonful of food.
The mage did not speak for several moments. Instead, she seemed content to watch as Zevran continued to feed Adaia, which was fine by him. He was still mulling over his talk with Kallian earlier that day; wondering about her actions towards him – the hand holding, the apologies, the flirting and teasing about baths (to his disappointment, she did not let him join, much to his continued frustration) – so at odds with the fact that she seemed incapable of remaining near him for long, once the sun rose.
At first, he'd been so certain that she was asking him to take Adaia, not for Adaia's sake, but for her own. That she was so desperate to be rid of him, that she was willing to send her daughter away from her for a time as well. Then he had begun to realize that no, she was not nearly so self-centered. Rather, she was just unbelievably foolish, and had actually fallen in with the manipulative actions of those thrice-damned Warden (including the one sitting across from him at the moment), and genuinely wanted to thwart whatever darkspawn threat had fallen upon Ferelden these past months.
Ever the hero. He hated that a part of him loved that about her.
It was a strange thing, really, that he was continued to be confused by Kallian's conflicting actions. He'd known her long enough to be able to predict how she would react at any given time, even if she never seemed to know herself. It was part of the reason he had chosen not to pursue her, rather letting her come to him.
He could have guessed that she'd run away one minute, and be plying him with soft words and even softer hands the next. And he'd meant what he'd said before, that whether or not she stayed in his bed was entirely her choice to make. But that didn't change the fact that he knew what he wanted her choice to be. Nor did it change the fact that he was not as wary of that knowledge as perhaps he should have been. She possessed a hold on him that was unlike any other, and he never wanted her to relinquish her claim.
It should have been a much more frightening thought than it was.
Eventually, the Warden across from him broke his silent contemplation; which was fine by him, as he could use a distraction. "Evening, Zevran Arainai."
Zevran flashed the mage his widest grin at the greeting. "So formal, Warden? After all of the times that you have so successfully blocked my attempts at interrupting your little interrogation sessions, and at getting you to join us in bed, I would think that we had at least graduated to first names."
That same, self-satisfied smirk that Zevran had often seen directed his way from the mage lit her face once again. "And yet, you continue to still address me as 'Warden' which belies your own supposed feelings of familiarity."
"An excellent point. So then, lovely Fiona, is there a reason that you have chosen to grace us with your presence this evening? Have you perhaps rethought my earlier offers, on account of our eminent departure from la fortezza? I can assure you, that you will no regret it if you have."
She scoffed, but there was a slight lift to her lips that Zevran found most gratifying. "Hardly. And does Kallian know that you so freely invite others to join you at night? Or do you just plan on bringing a new arrival to your bed, and hope that she doesn't notice?"
Zevran laughed loudly, the sound coaxing Adaia to clap and giggle in time with him. "Oh, I am certain that she does – and despite what you might think of me, I am not so callous as to spring such a thing on someone unsuspecting. There is a certain…finesse required for such activities to be successful. But, I am getting away from myself. If your intention is not to allow us to do unspeakable, yet delightful, things to you, then why are you here?" Zevran had hoped to at least earn a flush from her, but was so far unsuccessful. A pity.
She settled back in the chair, her hands out and crossed on the tabletop in front of her, looking more prim and proper than anyone should outside of a war meeting. "I was interested in learning what your opinion is of the task at hand." Her eyes strayed once towards Adaia, before landing back upon him.
Zevran did not pause his hand's movement as he fed the next spoonful of mushed vegetation into his daughter's open mouth. "I think that she would prefer to hold the spoon herself, but I prefer not wearing the remnants of the meal. It's a constant struggle." Proving his point, Adaia snatched at the utensil, only to have Zevran pull it just out of her reach, eliciting a series of small giggles. The fond look on Fiona's face did not go unnoticed by Zevran as he turned back towards her. "Or were you referring to some...other matter?"
Fiona seemed to snap out of the child-induced haze, and focused on Zevran once more. "I believe you know to what I am referring."
"Ahh, so you are wondering about my opinion on the matter of you sending Kallian off to replace the Orlesian Commander who let a few talking darkspawn get the best of him, correct?"
The Warden blinked, but otherwise showed no emotion at his statement. "Yes."
"Are you curious about my personal or tactical feelings on the matter?"
The Warden seemed to consider this for several moments, before making an off-hand gesture. "Why not both?"
Zevran let his lips pull in a small, unkind smile. "Another excellent point! You are quite good at this! Why not, indeed? Personally, I would have rather you tasked anyone aside from her – she has given much for your order. I do not feel she owes you anymore. And selfishly, I would like to keep the mother of my child out of the claws of darkspawn. Tactically, however, I cannot think of anyone else that would be able to accomplish the job. She has both skills, and a background, that make her uniquely suited to the task."
Zevran fed another spoonful to Adaia, taking a moment to wipe away fallen bits from her chin, while the Warden processed his words, seeming to be unaware that her gaze was focused entirely on the child "Is that why you have agreed to her request? Because it was sound judgment on our part"
It amazed him how very controlled every statement she made seemed to be. And also, how highly leading. Is this how the questioning sessions with Kallian always went? He had the suspicion that it must have been. In which case, many of his own questions regarding Kallian's decision were beginning to be answered.
"Kallian's vantage point is...skewed. I have seen few people who can so effortlessly charm others into doing their bidding such as her, but the art of true manipulation? That is something that she does not possess. And it is something she often misses in others. Just because she hasn't noticed the way that you and the other Wardens have been pulling at her strings, does not mean that I have."
A heavy breath, and then again she spoke, so controlled. It was impressive. He wondered what it would take to make that control slip. Though, as she continued to watch Adaia, he suspected he knew the answer. "You think that we are manipulating her?"
Adaia grabbed at the spoon, taking issue with Zevran's long delays between refilling it, and brought it to her mouth. "Think? No. I am certain." He paused, scraping out the remains of the bowl onto the spoon, and feeding it to Adaia. Once done, he fished out some dry cereal from a pouch and dropped them into the bowl, handing it back to the child, who happily began munching, no longer in need of Zevran's assistance.
"You are very sure of yourself."
He turned to Fiona, and met her cool eyes with his own. "You wish for me to confess how it is that I have been able to see through your poorly veiled plots? Seems rather obvious to me, but, I will humor you, if you wish." He leaned back in his chair, and settled his hands behind his head. Watching, with not a small amount of delight, as she shifted almost imperceptibly in her seat.
"Your...attempts, at questioning her? They have been fruitless, unending circles of interrogation, designed entirely to frustrate, and with little to no hope of achieving any kind of useful result. Perhaps the first few sessions provided you with information that you did not already have, but the rest? These were intended to fray her nerves. To make her worry about what your true intentions were. The implication that you would go after Adaia if anything Kallian said could not be verified? It was all deliberately arranged to keep her on edge so that she would jump on any guarantee that it would stop."
The quick breath of air that the Warden sucked in would have gone unnoticed by many, but not by Zevran. "And for what purpose do you believe that we did this?"
He let a slow, predatory smile grace his face; eyes narrowed just enough to showcase his thoughts on the matter. "If you do not wish to skirt the issue, then neither will I. You have been using her since the very beginning. Your intentions have always been to place her back in your service, and under your command at the Keep. Having the Hero of Ferelden doing your bidding at Amaranthine has a much greater chance of success then having a foreigner attempting the same. You want to secure the Wardens' hold in Ferelden, and what better way to do that then through the Arling?
"And you wanted to make certain that she would take the position willingly. Playing upon her guilt, and her fears, was the best way to do so. As was making promises you know you will never need to uphold, as there is little chance that the Keep will ever be stable enough for Kallian to abandon, even after the darkspawn are dealt with. Is there?"
To the Warden's credit, she had managed to school her facial features into an emotionless mask once more, doing a commendable job of giving nothing away, aside from her regular and somewhat wistful looks at Adaia. "If you are so certain, then why are you telling me this, and not her? And why have you agreed to assist her by taking on the burden of caring for your child alone? You could have refused."
"Refused?" The fact that the Warden seemed to believe that she could play Zevran as easily as she had managed Kallian was the deciding factor in Zevran's next move. If she wished to manipulate others, she would do well to learn how it felt herself. He waited a beat, until the Warden's gaze was entirely focused on his child once more, before speaking. "Tell me, Warden – was giving up your child a relief, or did you feel some emotion upon doing so?"
Those cool eyes of hers blinked rapidly at him. The muscles in her jaw slackening just enough for the look of surprise on her face to be readable to anyone who walked passed. "Wha-what?"
Zevran leaned over Adaia again, deliberately making a show of cleaning up the mess that she had made with her cereal as he spoke. "Were you happy, to finally have the mewling bundle away from you, where you would no longer have to listen to its endless cries for food and attention? How long, I wonder, did you wait before tossing the babe out with the trash? Did you allow it to sup from you for a full moon, or were you unwilling to give it even that much?"
Zevran could feel the low-boiling rage seething from Fiona when she spoke. "How dare you."
He arched an eyebrow. "It is a simple enough query, Warden. Did you feel any love for your child, or was all of your affection – your duty – to the Wardens and the Wardens alone?"
There was a fire in Fiona's eyes, finally. "You have no right to speak of such things to me." The energy that was beginning to crackle around the mage did not go unnoticed by others in the hall, but Zevran paid it no mind.
"Do I not? Now, why is it that you can ask the mother of my child any and all questions that you wish? That you can grill her endlessly for days about whatever topic strikes your fancy? That you can send her off to do your dirty work, while you sit here, safe as can be within these walls, knowing full well that she may not survive. That my child may be left as motherless as yours was, after you abandoned it."
"I did not abandon my child!" All noise and clatter in the mess hall stopped quite abruptly. Even Adaia, who had likely picked up on the tension, had shushed her activities for a minute. That blush that Zevran had hoped to achieve earlier, finally found its way into Fiona's cheeks as she realized just exactly where she was.
He cocked his head. "No? My apologies. Is he, or she, here then? Did you raise the babe amongst the Wardens? Did it grow to be one as well?"
Her eyes were closed, and she seemed to be chanting something under her breath. He waited, feeling no rush. "My son was raised elsewhere – he, he never knew of me. But – I did not abandon him. He would not have been safe, raised by me. So he was…given to someone who could care for him in the way that I never could. He has lived a good life."
"As far as you know."
"What?"
The look of absolute confusion on her face brought out a small wave of pity in Zevran, something he never would have felt before. Knowing Adaia had done strange things to him. "You gave him up, so any stories you have heard of him, are just that: stories. You have no way of knowing what his life was truly like, because you weren't involved." He let his gaze linger on her newly ashen face for a few moments before pushing back from the table to stand, and gathering Adaia into his arms (who immediately began to undo the braid in his hair). "Now, I must be off. Adaia does so enjoy her after-dinner naps, and I would hate to deprive her one of the last ones she will have in an actual bed for quite some time."
Zevran clicked his heels together, and bowed his head slightly, before turning to walk away. The Warden's subdued voice drew his attention back to the table, however. "How – how did you know? About my son?"
He paused, considering. "I didn't. Not for sure." Of course he had long suspected, and even had some suspicion as to who that child may have been – not that he would ever breathe a word of it, of course. It was not the sort of the thing you accuse lightly, after all. "Anyone with eyes could see the way that you look upon Adaia. It was not a difficult leap to make." He placed a kiss on his daughter's head, enjoying her beaming smile in return.
The expression on the Warden's face as she watched them could only be described as forlorn. He didn't care for the range of emotions it brought out in him in the slightest. Absentmindedly, Zevran's free hand found its way into his pocket, fingering the small object encased within its depths as Adaia tucked her head beneath his chin. The small bauble rolled back and forth smoothly between his fingers. He had thought about gifting it to Kallian, on so many occasions, but something always held him back. And when she had brought it up, well, he was loathe to discuss it with her until he was certain that they both wanted the same thing.
A tug on his hair brought him back to himself, and he released the object back into the depths of his pocket once more, this time in favor of running his free hand through Adaia's hair. She was quickly fading, if her yawn was anything to go by. She always slept like a rock after meals. And that combined with the sudden urge to find Kallian and coax a favorable decision out of her by any means necessary, was impossible to ignore. With one last nod in Fiona's direction, he left the mage alone with her thoughts, and carved his way out of the mess hall.
Last chapter coming soon folks! Promise!