Morrigan's mother seemed nice to me, even though the men had an uproar about her on our way back to Ostagar. "She's a Witch of the Wilds. Why would she do something like that for Warden's?" Daveth kept repeating.
"What does it matter? Be glad she didn't burn the damn things. We're lucky she had sense and moral." I countered. "Moral? She's a witch!" Jory turned to his left side and spit on the grass.
"And I'm a woman. Would you rather I be referred to as a witch? Don't take things at face value. That will get you an early grave." I muttered. All three men grumbled, keeping quiet. Enjoying my little victory, I was pretty smug with myself. "And now the men are speechless. I love the silence in this triumph."
()()()()()()
When we returned to Duncan in Ostagar, Paws was all more than happy to see me. But being the little traitor he was, he ran up to Alistair and slobbered all over him and gave him kisses. Being suspicious, I remembered that ever since Paws was a pup, he didn't like Howe. Mabari were excellent judges of character, so Alistair couldn't be all bad.
"We will begin the joining now." Duncan declared.
Being the little rogue I was, I looked over at Alistair to see if his facial expression would tell me anything. Of course, all I saw was sadness written on his expression. I stopped, falling behind the group. This is what the Darkspawn blood was for, I knew it.
Alistair looked back at me, raising an eyebrow. "What, got cold feet?" he mused.
I shook my head, giving a light smile. "No, just thinking about how much I'm gonna annoy you once this part is over." I smugly pointed out, walking right by Alistair who again today, seemed confused. I couldn't help but smirk. He reminds me of Fergus.
()()()()()
""Join us brothers and sisters. Join us in the shadows where we stand vigilant. Join us as we carry out the duty that cannot be forsworn. And should you perish, know that your sacrifice will not be forgotten. And that one day, we shall join you."
Alistair sadly recited. He was telling the Joining oath of the Grey Wardens, and I was seeing first hand that the Warden sacrifice started with actually becoming one. Daveth had dropped dead after drinking the Darkspawn blood (which I was correct about) and Jory outright refused to drink it. Duncan stabbed him, since of course there's no turning back with becoming a Warden. I understood completely why he did it. Once you commit yourself to this life, you cannot be selfish and try to back out. That gives all the Wardens a bad name... Us.
I was a Warden now, and I was trying to process everything after waking up. Apparently I lived to tell the tale of the Joining, and Maker did I have a major headache after that stuff. Again with my infinite curiosity, I wondered what made the original Warden's think, "Oh, let's drink Darkspawn blood to fight them, this is the way and I know it." or maybe Warden Magi did experiments or-.
"Ava? Are you alive? We have to get to the tower, we have to hurry." Alistair shook me from my thoughts, nudging me to get up. Shaking my head of the thoughts flooding my mind, I grabbed my daggers and put them on back in their sheaths. "Let's go. Maybe we'll get some action after all and you won't have to be sad." I laughed, patting Alistair on the arm. He sighed, rolling his eyes while Paws barked and happily followed after me. He always did like killing creatures with me. Especially rats in the kitchens at the estate...