The Awakening
A Dragon Age Fanfiction
By Bionca Femme
Chapter 5:
Alistair, previous to that night, had never been to a formal banquet before. The Lady Isolde would not allow him to participate in such things whilst he was still the ward of Arl Eamon. In fact, the Arlessa went out of her way to make sure that barely anyone but the elven servants knew of his existence and even then, they mostly just saw to it that he was fed. Once in a while he would be given a large tub of freezing bathwater, but that was as far as her generosity traveled in his direction. Hence the reason that Bann Teagan remembered him most as the 'boy covered in mud'. If he were to re-examine his childhood, with his now more adult mind, he could admit that the Chantry did a far better job at raising him than Arl Eamon did. Even if they did try to turn him into a Lyrium addled zealot, he would learn manners and how to behave like a gentleman, instead of the ill-mannered wild creature that he was when Eamon fobbed him off on the Grand Cleric. So at the very least he could make it through one of these functions without doing something too embarrassing.
The ex-templar leaned his shoulder against one of the pillars in the throne-room and watched as Sidona flitted from noble to noble, charming them with her smile, her wit, and easy banter. She seemed quite at home amongst them and was equally gracious with all. Each one that she talked to was left with a puzzled smile on their face, as if they found her not quite as terrible as they thought she'd be and were confused by it.
Still if the Landsmeet and the adventures of the past year taught him nothing else, it was that one must always be vigilant when it came to those in power. Given half the chance, every one of the nobles now feasting and laughing with his Commander would turn on her, given the right motivation.
Sidona herself seemed to be having a wonderful time until she started conversing with a Knight to whom Alistair was introduced earlier that evening, Ser Tamra. Sidona came to the woman with a smile and a greeting and within minutes the happy smile turned into a stony visage. The warmth that was normally present in her demeanor was gone and seemingly with it, the warmth in the rest of the room. To Alistair it seemed that despite the near sweltering heat the throne-room had taken on with the blazing fire and the closely mingling bodies of the nobility, a chill permeated through to his very bones.
She nodded her thanks to the Knight, then turned on her heel and made straight for Varel. A few words with him and then the Seneschal nodded, his face pale. "Clear the hall! The Arlessa has business to take care of!"
The Nobles looked a little affronted at being shoved out like that, but it was getting quite late and the feast would have had to come to an end soon anyway.
When the last of the Nobles were gone, Alistair made his way up to the head of the room where Sidona was pacing like a caged animal.
"Just let them try and trap me!" she growled. "I survived the Imperial court, I can survive a few inept Ferelden nobles!"
Alistair stopped just short of the seething elven woman and he gave Varel a questioning look.
"Lady Sidona has just learned that there are nobles conspiring against her," Varel offered by way of explanation.
"Oh, well at least we know they're taking her position here seriously," Alistair replied.
Sidona kept on with her pacing, ignoring the two men completely. "Better men have tried and failed to take me down, they will not get away with this!" she seethed.
Alistair couldn't help the amusement that bubbled up at the sight of the tiny red haired elven woman pacing back and forth, frothing in rage. He quickly looked away before he said something that would earn him a black eye. "Varel, what course of action would you suggest?"
"Well, my Lord, we can't afford to alienate the nobility. We'll need them on our side if we expect to keep peace in the region. We could send some soldier's to spy on them, of course. Not that it would do any good. They're decent soldiers, lousy spies," Varel said apologetically.
Alistair rubbed his stubble-roughened chin for a bit in contemplation. "You know..." he started to say and then shook his head. He looked up and realized that both Varel and Sidona were staring at him expectantly.
"I was just thinking that Zevran was a Crow," Alistair explained with a shrug. "I doubt it will be terribly difficult for him to find out what's going on."
"Alistair!" Sidona's icy mask suddenly melted away. "You are a genius!"
"I am?" Alistair's eyebrows knitted together. "Well, that's a switch."
"Then I'll talk to Zevran in the morning, if that's acceptable to you, Commander?" Varel asked.
"Yes, thank you Varel. I'll be needing to take a look at the trade issue tomorrow. There is so much to do, I don't know if I could deal with an attempt on my life on top of all of it," Sidona's rage now spent, the weariness of the evening crept in to take its toll. She yawned.
"Come on, time for bed," Alistair offered her his arm and she took it with a chuckle.
"Good night, Varel," Sidona offered an apologetic smile to the Seneschal, as she was leaving him to deal with the remnants of the evenings festivities.
"Good-evening, my Lady," Varel bowed.
Alistair awoke the next morning to a pair of smiling dark brown eyes. "Good morning!" Sidona kissed him on the tip of his nose and then rose from the side of his bed to throw open the drapes in his room.
"Sidona? What are you doing here...in my room?" he squinted as the sunlight rudely hit him in the face.
"Well, my sweet. You overslept and our fellow Wardens are waiting for you to get up and dressed so that we can go speak with a trader named Mervis in Amaranthine about the trading situation," she pulled out a drawer in his bureau and took out a pair of his undergarments and tossed them at him.
They landed on his face and when he removed them, his face was pink. "Look, I really like you...I mean really like you. But you can't just come in here unannounced and start pawing through my unmentionables!"
"Unmentionables?" Sidona cooed. "Oh that's so cute! Has anyone ever told you how absolutely adorable you are?"
"Maker! What is wrong with you, woman?" he uttered rhetorically, then he realized that she was regarding him expectantly. "Are you at least going to leave while I change?"
"Why? Are you hiding something under there that I have not seen before?" she inquired with a suggestive glance towards where his bed linens covered his lower half.
Alistair narrowed his eyes at her. She was watching him, waiting for him to squirm until she'd had enough fun with him. Zevran was much the same. But Alistair had known the elf long enough to know that when pressed, even Zevran had a limit. He was betting that Sidona did as well. He endured four women at a Denerim brothel, in every position conceivable, and he was going to be damned if he'd let this woman scare him silly.
"Alright, love. Have it your way," he replied. He got out of bed and ignoring her strangled protests, he whipped off his dirty set of small clothes and padded over to the wash basin, where he commenced washing his face and then took out his shaving things. He turned to regard her with a questioning gaze. "Did everyone eat already?"
Sidona shut her mouth abruptly and then averted her eyes, "No, that's where everyone is now."
"Well, I'll be a minute washing up, stay or go as you like," he said and then worked his shaving lather into a foam with the brush and dabbed it over his face before taking out his straight razor. Just as he was about to start cleaning the stubble from his face he heard the 'clink-clink-clink' of her armor as she made a beeline to the door. He waited until it shut behind her before he started laughing.
When he was finally dressed, armored and shaved, he headed down to breakfast where he found Zevran finishing up his own breakfast. He got his food and sat down next to the elf with a satisfying thud. "Morning," he grunted.
"Morning indeed! Whatever did you do to that poor woman, Alistair?" Zevran asked.
"What woman?" Alistair asked, doing his best to play dumb.
"Our lovely Warden-Commander just tore through here muttering about something very large in your chambers," Zevran purred.
Alistair pinked. "She said...large?"
"She called it a 'monster' actually," Zevran clucked his tongue. "Now whatever could she be talking about?"
"I haven't the foggiest," Alistair kept his attention on his food.
"Mmm, well...it so happens that I have a job to do in Amaranthine today, my friend. So I will be accompanying you and the lovely Sidona on your trip today. Perhaps I will be able to wheedle it out of her, no?" Zevran dropped Alistair a wink as Alistair looked up at the elf with a mortified expression.
"Uh-," Alistair tried to think quickly, "Rats!"
"Rats?" Zevran asked curiously.
"Yes! Big giant Korcari rats! There was one upstairs, that's what she must have been talking about," Alistair replied quickly.
"Alistair, the Korcari Wilds are in the far south of Ferelden, we only have normal sized rodents in Amaranthine," Zevran narrowed his eyes at his human friend. "Might I remind you that I can tell when you're lying?"
"Why is it important for you to know?" Alistair whined.
"Because, I am your friend, yes? And friends tell each other all their dirty secrets," Zevran replied.
"You haven't told me all of yours," Alistair pointed out.
"None of my secrets would surprise you, and thus are not very interesting. You, on the other hand, are very embarrassed about something. So I am interested," the elf smiled smugly. "I am not giving up, so you might as well tell me."
"Alright!" Alistair dropped his spoon into his porridge unceremoniously. "She woke me up and then she wouldn't leave so I could change. She wanted to see me squirm and beg her to leave, so instead I just...sort of...shaved naked in front of her?"
Zevran blinked and then threw his head back and laughed.
"Don't tell her I told you about it!" Alistair pleaded.
"Do not worry, I will not say anything. That would ruin the fun, no?" Zevran replied with a smirk.
Distraction is what gets most Grey Wardens killed, Alistair surmised. Distraction, or overwhelming odds. And with the taint buzzing angrily through his veins, they would be nearly upon a band of marauding dark spawn before they felt it. The ground below their feet must have an underground tunnel system, he theorized. It could be why the Keep was ambushed, he decided that he would ask Sidona if there were any tunnels below it. For now however, he tried to stay alert and listen for any signs of threat over Zevran's teasing chatter and Sidona's grunted responses.
"Come now, my dear Commander. Surely you can tell me about the very large thing that scared you in Alistair's room earlier? I am his friend, after all!" Zevran prodded for perhaps the one hundredth time since they began their journey.
"It was nothing, and, no, I will not talk about it. Its not really any of your business what goes on in Alistair's room when his door is closed, 'large' occurrences or not. Perhaps I was merely discussing his performance with him? It would be poor form for his Commander to discuss that with anyone else but him," she pointed out.
"Oh? Well you see, I already know a great deal about Alistair's performance. I myself am responsible for his education. I happen to know that Alistair was able to fully satisfy four different women of the professional variety the very night we had the pleasure of making your lovely acquaintance. I assure you, if you have questions about his performance, you will not be disappointed," Zevran purred out.
"Zev!" Alistair barked out. "Will you please drop it?"
Sidona whipped her head around to regard him with an intrigued expression. "Four?"
"Oh yes! Four very voluptuous and experienced women, absolutely spent by the time I finally dragged him back to our room. Sanga, the establishment's madam, told me that the next time I bring him by, she wouldn't even charge, marvelous, no? You see, the women are mostly there for the pleasure of others, it is not often that they get such an attentive patron, one that takes direction quite so well, nor one that has a stamina as 'monstrous' as our dear Alistair," Zevran said proudly. "It is likely you have already seen what he has to work with, yes? Perhaps that is the 'monstrous' thing you were muttering about this morning?"
"No," Sidona growled.
'Maker, Please shut him up!' Alistair pleaded silently.
"Oh? Pity. Maybe if we ask him nicely we can convince him to give us a demonstration," he turned around and grinned at Alistair while walking backwards. "What do you say my friend? Will you show us your...sword?"
Having had enough of the elf's mouth, Alistair drew his sword from its scabbard, "Sure...where do you want it?"
"Ohh, so testy," Zevran chuckled.
"Isn't anyone going to shut him up?" Nathaniel asked argumentatively.
"Be my guest," Alistair replied. He watched as Zevran, sensing a new victim, dropped back to harass Nathaniel instead. Seeing his opportunity he lengthened his strides until he was walking by the commander's side.
She made no acknowledgment of his presence so he cleared his throat. "Uh...sorry about him."
She shrugged. "He is Antivan, it is practically in his blood to tease a woman so."
"Are you...are you angry with me?" Alistair asked after a moment's silence.
"No," her tone had softened. "I am not angry with you."
"Then what's wrong?" he asked worried.
"Alistair, did you mean what you said this morning?" she asked suddenly changing the subject.
"I usually mean everything I say, unless I'm joking of course. Why? What did I say?"
"You said that you like me. Is that true?" she turned then and looked up at him with an indescribable emotion in her eyes.
Alistair felt his heart speed up. "Sidona, you know it is."
"Good," she said with a smile. "Then it's settled."
"What? What's settled?" Alistair blinked. "I didn't realize this was a debate, did I win?"
Sidona chuckled. "Maybe, mon amour."
"What does that mean?" Alistair asked.
Sidona only grinned archly. "You will see."
"That sounds distressingly familiar," Alistair replied.
Just after midday they arrived in Amaranthine to find the City gates heavily guarded and refugees camping just outside the walls. Sidona was not pleased, and considering the condition the refugees were in, Alistair couldn't blame her.
"They used to display the heads of traitors on these walls," Nathaniel commented. "I wonder if my Father's would have ended up there."
"Well, aren't you just a little ray of sunshine? I bet you're marvelous at parties!" Alistair bit out sarcastically.
Nathaniel didn't have a chance to retort because Sidona had marched up to the gate, intent on speaking to the Captain of the Guard and was stopped by the gate guard. "Sorry miss, I'm going to have to check your things," he held out his hands, barring her path.
"I am the Warden-Commander of Vigil's Keep," she stuffed her gauntlets onto her armored hips. Alistair almost expected her to stomp her foot.
"Commander or not, I still have to check. Smugglers have invaded the city you see-," the guard was cut off when his superior cuffed him on the back of the head.
"You idiot! Are you accusing the Commander of the Grey of smuggling?" the Captain barked out.
"I...no. You said-," he started to reply only to be interrupted again.
"I know what I said. Use your bleedin' common sense, man!" the Captain pointed to where the guard had been standing post. "Get back to your post!"
"Y-yes, Sir!" the man saluted and then scrambled back to his post.
"My apologies, Commander. The city is overrun with smugglers. We're doing our best to control the situation, but its become quite the chore with all the refugees piling up outside the city," he gestured towards the gates where even now, an elderly man was bellowing about being separated from his family.
"There are dark spawn ravaging the farmlands Captain, your gates will soon have more refugees than you can handle. Soon the smugglers will be the least of your concerns if you don't let these poor souls into the city!" Sidona glared at him and then took a calming breath before continuing. "Why haven't you taken care of the smuggler's?"
"Well, we tried, only they know our faces and we can't seem to get close enough to find out where they're hideout is," the Captain sighed theatrically.
Sidona's hum in response, sounding thoroughly unconvinced. "I'll see if I can't resolve this issue for you. After I get rid of them, I want the gates opened and the refugees directed to the chantry. Do I make myself clear?" she narrowed her eyes at the man.
"Absolutely, my Lady!" the Captain inclined his head.
The two Wardens and the Assassin followed the Warden-Commander down into the Market district. Once there Zevran clapped his hands together and rubbed his palms against one another. "Well, my friends. This is where we part ways, I shall catch up with you in a few hours, yes?" he directed this question to Sidona.
Sidona nodded. "Good luck, Monsieur Arainai."
"Ah, such a pleasure to hear such a lovely voice say my name. I shall return shortly, never fear," he bowed theatrically, earning a giggle from the Warden-Commander and a scowl from Alistair, before he disappeared into the crowd.
Nathaniel stepped up to Sidona's side, his bicep level with the top of her head as they both looked off into the crowd of the market. "My sister, Delilah, is now married to one of the merchants in the market here. Do you mind if I attempt to find her?"
Sidona looked up at him and nodded, "Remember, you no longer belong to yourself. Do not think to escape Nathaniel, neither the dark spawn nor I will let you."
Nathaniel bristled at the warning but nodded none-the-less, "I...understand Commander."
"Then go, give your sister my best," she said.
"Thank you," he replied and then he, too, disappeared into the crowd.
Sidona turned to regard Alistair with a very large and predatory grin that had him swallowing, hard. "Well, it seems its just you and me now, yes?"
Rather than answer Alistair took off one of his gauntlets and stepped into her space, he grasped her chin lightly between his thumb and forefinger and tilted her face upwards so that she was looking into his eyes. "Just you and me," he smiled, then leaned down and brushed his lips lightly over hers. He pulled back to gauge her reaction and found her eyes were still shut, her small pink tongue darted out and swiped over her lower lip and Alistair restrained himself from capturing her lips for a more heated encounter. Instead, he gently released her chin in favor of brushing his knuckles up over her cheek. "That...that wasn't too soon...was it?" he asked nervously.
"No. No, it was perfect," she hummed contentedly.
"Aww, now isn't that sweet?" a man's voice cut through their tender moment. "You know what would make it even sweeter? I've got some wine and a few trinkets, Sir. You won't find any better in the market. You wouldn't want anything less than the very best for the missus, now would you?"
Alistair and Sidona turned to look and watching them with his arms folded was a man in studded leather armor and armed with two daggers. The man's grin faded as he caught sight of their faces. "Hang on a minute, you're the ones my boys saw talking to the guards!" he exclaimed.
Alistair and Sidona exchanged a puzzled glance and when they turned back around the man was disappearing through the crowd. "You know, I think that was one of the smugglers," commented Alistair.
"Lets follow him," Sidona said and then took off after the man.
"Sidona, wait!" Alistair growled as she disappeared. He plunged into the crowd after her. She was smaller than he and thus navigated the sea of people much faster. On his way through he spied Nathaniel speaking with a dark haired woman that resembled him a bit. Alistair cut through a small group of shoppers and grabbed Nathaniel by the forearm. "Hello, you must be Delilah, I've heard so much about you! Hey, I've got to borrow old Nate here for a moment, do you mind?"
"Well, I-," Delilah stuttered. "No, I suppose not."
"Great!" he turned his attention back to the rogue in his grasp who opened his mouth to protest. "Commander, smugglers, trouble, as in NOW!" he growled.
Nathaniel's eyes widened and he nodded. Together they pushed their way through the throng of people and soon they found themselves pushing through to where people were gathered around what appeared to be a brawl. When they practically fell into the clearing, they found Sidona fending off three armed men and a mage. She saw them in her peripheral vision. "Alistair! Do something useful and Smite that Mage salaud!"
Alistair ignored the fact that he didn't know what 'salaud' meant, he reached out with his templar abilities, and his arms threw themselves out wide, his own will pulling at that of the Mage. The surrounding air crackled and from above the warring energies rebounded on the Mage, stunning him and knocking him to the ground, sapping him of all his mana. Alistair pulled his sword and shield, "Go help her!" he ordered Nathaniel as he rushed forward to take care of the incapacitated Mage before he could recover and use a lyrium potion.
He dispatched the mage easily enough and he turned around in time to see Sidona run through the last of them with her sword and push them off again with a shove of her shield. The three Wardens looked up simultaneously at the smuggler who had run. He gave them a sheepish look, "Nothing personal, just business!" he said and then charged off into the crowd again.
"Come back here and die like a man!" Sidona screamed after him.
Alistair chuckled, "Come back here and die like a man?"
Sidona shrugged, "He's only delaying the inevitable."
"Where do you think he's gone?" Nathaniel interrupted impatiently.
Sidona followed the man's escape route. "That leads into the foreign quarter. Come," she gestured for them to follow her as she disappeared briefly into the crowd again and reappeared higher on the stone steps leading into the foreign quarter of the city.
The Smuggler led them throughout the city and into pockets of his minions, each had a mage and by the time they chased him out of the city and into a cottage on the outside of the city walls, Alistair thought he was going to collapse from the effort. The last time he had used his Templar abilities so often had been as he Wynne, Sten and Lyna had fought their way to the top of Fort Drakon.
He waited as Sidona talked to the Captain at the gate about the Smugglers hideout, with his hands clasping his knees and a stitch in his side.
"Are all Templars so easily winded?" Nathaniel asked snidely.
"You try running around in Plate Armor and sucking the mana out of all the Mages, it's not as easy as it looks you know," Alistair growled. He glanced at Nathaniel and noticed that he didn't look entirely convinced. "Anyway it's easy for you to say, you get to run around in a leather skirt!"
Nathaniel narrowed his eyes and then opened his mouth to retort when Sidona rejoined them with a scowl on her face. "Once, just once, I would like for people to solve their own problems. We found out where the smugglers are hiding, but can they go and clear them out themselves? Obviously they are too incompetent to even accomplish that much. When we re-garrison the Keep I am sending someone to replace that imbecile!" she fumed and then realized that Alistair was bent over trying to catch his breath. "Alistair, are you alright?"
Alistair straightened, "Yes, I'm fine. Just a little winded."
Sidona gave him a smile and then she stuffed her hand into the small pouch at her side. When she withdrew it she had a small vial with a red substance in it. "Here," she handed it to him.
He took it and looked at it quizzically, "What's this?"
"Something Anders calls a 'Stamina draught'," she replied and then gestured for him to drink it.
Alistair shrugged and raised the vial to his lips and threw his head back, swallowing the contents. It tasted vaguely like, "Cherries?"
Sidona laughed, "Anders seems to think that if it tastes better, we'll use it more often."
Alistair's face screwed up as the aftertaste hit his mouth. "Andraste's arse! I can see why!"
"A bit like old socks, isn't it?" Sidona chuckled.
"Commander," Nathaniel interrupted again. "I found this key on the last of the brigands," he said as he handed it to her.
"This is the key to the trap door we found?" she asked.
He nodded. "If I recall, directly under this part of the city is a hidden cove. It leads out into the Amaranthine Ocean."
"Come on, let us get this over with," Sidona muttered.
A/N: Nate can be so moody! lol
Well I hope that this chapter doesn't seem too over the top. I'm debating on whether or not to actually follow the story line of the game or to go off on my own made-up quests. Let me know what you think.
A big thank you to Melismo for being very encouraging (and endlessly patient) whilst I fret needlessly, and as always for doing such a wonderful job as a beta.