Chapter 7
"Do you ever wonder what lies beyond the borders of Seheron?" Adaar stands by the edge of the cliff overlooking the vast forests of Seheron. It is green as far as the eye can see, and the glittering water of the forest swamps through the trees make it seem like the forest was built on a bed of stars.
It has been two years since our first meeting and I have honored her request to act as her Arvaraad. I am no more comfortable with it as the first time she requested it of me but it is too late to turn around now. What is done is done. She carries a sword with her, and the other Qunari believe that I teach her the art of battle to aid her in crafting the weapons she has come to be known for. I look forward to these meetings; after she is done we would often spend the hours talking about everything that we could possibly think of, yet other times the time was spent in a comfortable silence.
"Beyond?"
"Yes, beyond Seheron. Ferelden? Land of Templars and dark spawn. Are humans truly as dirty and conniving as the Tamassran teaches us? What does cake really taste like?"
"Still the cake thing? You have been pondering on that for four years, ever since I met you at the festival. Perhaps you should just bake this cake thing yourself and be done with it." I pull the loop of the rope through the metal jaws of the trap I am making, but the shards fall to the ground and the trap fails. "Vashedan! Perhaps you should look in those books for better plans for traps. These are useless." I kick the broken trap aside. "Your fascination with the common lands will get us both into hot water still, Adaar. It's just a matter of time before the Tasmassran finds your collection of books you buy off the merchants. Another transgression."
"You're preaching again, Sten."
I shake my head at her usual disdain for rules and regulations. "We have no business wanting to know the ways of the common lands."
"But surely this puzzles you too? A life beyond what we know?" She gestures wildly at the plains far below us.
I shake my head and laugh. "I am a simple creature, Adaar. I like swords, I follow orders. There is nothing else to it."
Adaar turns back and lies next to me on the grass, resting her head on her folded arms. "I don't believe for a second that you have n not wondered about these things yourself. You, my friend, have a keen mind and inside that keen mind you question things. You would fit as much with the Ashkaari as with the Antaam. Only the Ashkaari would require you to speak more than 10 words at a time, which might prove difficult."
Adaar enjoys teasing me about my quiet nature, but it is good natured and I let her. I would not admit this to her, but she is right. I have often wondered about the lives lived outside of Seheron, outside of the Qunari society and its people. Adaar has given me books to read on the subject, and for the most part life in the common lands seemed chaotic and uncoordinated. There was little structure, and societies seemed to function as separate entities rather as one – as the Qun does.
"Besides, what could that land possibly have that any of us would want?"
She turns her head and looks at me with a strange expression and it is several moments before she speaks again.
"The one thing I crave more than anything else, Sten. Freedom."