Chapter 10
"How did you explain your acquisition of the sword to the rest of your people?" The mage is cooking again, having just returned from the wilds with a few roots and a small deer to be prepared for dinner. I was chopping the roots with a shiv, trying not lose my patience with its bluntness. We have settled into a routine of sorts. During the day the mage would leave the cave in search of food, and when he returns I would turn tell my dreams of the previous night while we cook.
"I did not have to. It is not unheard of for a Qunari to venture to the merchant roads in search of…extraordinary things. Many Qunari have bonded with weapons bartered off a merchant. It would be seen as a great honour if your weapon was one confiscated from an enemy, but Seheron was peaceful that time, and such opportunities did not present itself as often as we would have liked."
"I thought Qunari did not trade with outsiders?" The mage tastes the broth, careful not to burn himself and nods in approval. He dishes a big portion into a bowl and hands it to me. He no longer wears his circle clothes, having exchanged it for robes I recognize from Tevinter mages I encountered. I have no idea where he got them.
"Not in the common lands." I say, taking a large sip of the broth. " Merchants from Par Vollen brought these items from the dreadnoughts that sail the 5 seas. They were acquired either by means of trade or combat."
"You add a lot of value to your weapons then?"
"The Qunari warrior uses only one weapon throughout his life. Once he has made his choice, he is bonded to it for life. If caught without it, he will be deemed honorless and executed. It can take many years for a warrior to decide on his weapon."
"So you did not know that the sword contained lyrium?"
"I did not know about lyrium. It is not a Qunari ingredient. I only learned of it later when I started travelling with the Warden. Even then I could not have known that Adaar forged the sword with lyrium. By the time I realized the sword had….magical ingredients, it was too late. It would have been impossible for me to dispose of it without causing an uproar. In any case, I did not want to dispose of it. I lost it once, and it was a terrible time in my life. It didn't seem to have any magical a capabilities."
"Until now, when it lets you enter the Fade".
"Yes. Until now."
"Surely someone must have seen Adaar forging the sword?"
I shake my head. "The village had two forges, one is in a dungeon. It would have been perfectly safe for her to create it at night without being noticed."
I place my empty bowl in a bucket of water and lie down on my bedroll, not wanting to discuss the matter any further. I did not tell him about the many nights I spent thinking of Adaar crafting Asala, her callused hands hammering and shaping the blade into the magnificent piece of weaponry it would become. I spent nights obsessing about how I could have handled things differently, wondering whether Adaar had made it to Ferelden, and if she had found the freedom she sought. I devoted myself to the Beresaad completely, yet her face and yellow stare was never far from my mind.
It would be another 6 years before I would see her again.