[ ] = translation
...
Nero was faintly aware that he was gaining consciousness, and that he was laying on his back. On a bed? He didn't understand at first, having forgotten that he had already made it to Kirkwall. He realized that he did not know where he was and though he could hear movement and people talking, he did not know who they were. Nero sat up quickly, instinctively on the defensive, quickly realizing he had no weapons on him when his head started spinning.
"Mauris...deum," he said, grabbing his head with both of his hands, slowly he adjusted to the new position. I must have been laying down for quite some time. This is not good. [Shit...fuck]
Nero opened his eyes again and took in his surroundings. He appeared to be on a cot in some sort of medical clinic. The scent of mana was strong here, so he doubted it was sanctioned by the city. His guess was confirmed when he realized that the clinic wasn't exactly...high quality. Everything appeared ratty and second hand. The floor was made of dirt, and it smelled like blood, infection, and vomit with a hint of piss and lyrium potion.
What he presumed to be the healer mage was tending to a child, no more than ten years old. The man whispered to her and the child smiled before running out the door. Then Nero was the focus of the man's attention, and he wasn't particularly happy about it. Nero had not met many mages that weren't egotistical and power-hungry, although, this man looked neither. He looked tired, no... he looked exhausted. But he smiled at Nero anyway, shoving his dirty blond hair off of his forehead and rubbing his scruffy cheeks as he turned to a sink on the other side of the room and washed his hands.
"Ubi est, qui estis?" Nero demanded, although it came out as more of a croak and the mage didn't hear him. [Where is this,who are you]
There was movement beside him and he jumped a little and looked to find an elf who appeared to be waking himself up. His hair was a shocking white, although he was by no means old, he also had strange silver tattoos on his neck and what Nero could see of his arms. They almost looked like Dalish markings, but, aside from two lines on his chin, there weren't any on his face. And in Nero's experience the Dalish always had their tattoos on their face.
Nero's brows knit in confusion, something about the elf's face struck a memory that he could not quite recall. He wouldn't have thought that he would forget such a unique appearance. Nero added it to the list of things he did not understand at the moment.
Absentmindedly he whispered to himself, "Agnosco vos esse I fi." [I think I recognize you]
The elf scowled at him, "placidus deorsum estis amici. Tu commune lingua?" [calm down, you are among friends, do you speak the common tongue?]
Nero would almost say the elf growled at him.
"Uh...yes. I do." he managed to say. His brain did not seem to be functioning well and he started to notice that he was feeling weak; it was getting worse as the seconds ticked by.
"Good, then do so." the elf grumbled at Nero, before he stood and grabbed a very large sword off of the cot that his chair was leaned against and strapped it to his back. "I do not wish to be a translator."
"Ah, so you live yet I see, how are you feeling?" the blond man stood at the end of the cot, Nero wasn't sure if the concern he heard in his voice was real or forced.
"Um..." he began slowly, his brows scrunching together again as he thought "I appear to be very hungry, and very thirsty...and I have to piss so bad I'm surprised I haven't wet myself."
Nero tried to hide the shock at his own blunt words, when he couldn't he decided to blame it on the state he was in. He shifted his focus to the fact that he was barely clothed, and when some bad memories tugged at him he tried to push them back down. Nero stiffened and eyed the door that the kid had left through earlier, trying to gauge how far he would get if the need to escape arose. He honestly didn't think he would get far.
The blond chuckled, "well you've been unconscious for the better part of three days, so I can't say I'm surprised. There is a chamber pot beside your bed, and if Fenris would be so kind as to get you some water I'll find you something to eat." he narrowed his eyes at the white haired elf, and the elf scowled at him in return. Clearly there was no love lost there. "I'm Anders, by the way."
Nero said nothing and the mage strode to the other side of the room shortly after the elf disappeared through a door at the back of the clinic. He took the moment to swing his legs over the bed and grab the chamber pot.
With the chamber pot back on the floor Nero tried to stand, as soon as he put his weight on his legs they gave out on him and he was glad he had decided to keep a hand on the bed. With a sigh Nero pulled himself back up and leaned forward to put his head in his hands. I need to get out of here, this is not safe... shit.
"Take this." Nero looked up at the sound of the deep voice belonging to the elf. He held a mug of water towards him, he cautiously took it.
Before taking a drink Nero stuck his finger in the water. He noticed the elf raise an eyebrow in question at this action but decided against explaining it. After sensing there was no taint in the water Nero greedily drank it. It had a metallic tang to it but, Maker was it ever good.
He held the empty cup in his hand and leaned back as the elf sat down. He still could not place where he knew the white-haired man from, but at the moment it was the least of his worries.
"Where am I and why am I here?" Nero asked.
He turned his questioning gaze to the elf, who stared at the bedridden man for a moment with an unreadable expression before answering.
"You are in Darktown, of Kirkwall. Hawke and I found you half dead in an alley beside the Hanged Man and drug you here. From what we were able to gather you were attacked by a group of thieves and managed to kill them but got stabbed in the process."
Anders had returned and handed Nero a loaf of bread and a chunk of cheese with an apologetic expression and a shrug of his shoulders. Nero didn't care, he was very grateful.
"Speaking of which, how did you manage to put holes in the chests of that many men? You are not a mage, but I can think of no way other than by magic." Anders asked.
Nero tensed, despite saving his life these people did not have his trust, and he would not divulge what he was capable of. So he ignored the question.
"I cannot pay you, either of you. I have no money-" he began instead.
"No, no, that's not necessary." Anders said "I don't charge anybody, although fixing you did take up a great deal of time and even more of my energy. By all rights you should be dead."
Nero scowled, "then what do you want?"
"Nothing."
He snorted, "nobody does anything for nothing."
"That attitude must be a Tevinter thing, you sound just like Fenris." A dark haired man said as he strode into the clinic, Nero's eyes immediately shot to the sword and shield on his back and the few knives at his belt.
Nero scowled, how did they know where he was from?
"See! Your both scowling at me, it's eerie. Stop it." He chuckled as Nero and Fenris glanced at each other before quickly looking away. "Glad to see your alive, I'm Hawke. Sorry for sticking you with Anders and Fenris at the same time. To be honest I'm surprised they're both alive too." He laughed before turning to Fenris. "Varric and Isabella are on their way if you wanted to head home, you've been here for quite some time."
Anders snorted "He spent most of it sleeping."
"I was not sleeping." Fenris growled "And I am not leaving, I have questions for you." the last was said to Nero.
"I would not expect many answers were I you." Nero told him coldly.
He was starting to wonder if the elf ever stopped scowling, but then he realized they could wonder the same thing about him, and tried to relax his features. The door to the clinic opened again, letting in a very busty and...scantily clad woman and the hairless dwarf Nero recalled seeing at the Hanged Man.
The woman stopped short when she saw Nero, then she rushed forward till she was at the foot of the bed, still staring at him. Nero blinked in shock a few times.
"I thought Fenris had pretty eyes, but holy Maker, your eyes are gorgeous!" She told him gleefully.
"Isabella." Hawke warned.
She stood up and put her hand on her hip, "Well shit, Hawke. His eyes are purple for Andraste's sake. That is awesome." she winked at Nero, "You have gone from cute to sexy my dear."
He raised his eyebrow in response.
"Never mind her," Hawke said, "she has the libido of an 11 year old boy. It's disconcerting. Anyway, we've been spending the last three days trying to figure out who you are and what your doing here. Care to shed some light on the mystery?" he gave Nero what he suspected was supposed to be a reassuring smile. But Nero had had reassuring smiles preclude beatings enough times that he didn't trust it.
" I don't know who any of you people are, why would I tell you that?" he asked.
"Pfft, buddy, we saved your life." The woman huffed. "we're good folk! Who else can you trust if you can't trust good folk?"
Nero did not reply.
Hawke sighed and then told him about why he was in Kirkwall, and how he gathered his rag-tag group of friends. And that he was doing odd jobs here and there to get enough money to partake in an expedition to the deep roads. Nero was surprised, from what he had heard of the deep roads, it was not a safe place to go by any means. WHen he mentioned it the dwarf laughed and said "but the gold, the gold!"
Being in need of coin himself, Nero found himself nodding his understanding.
"From what I've seen, you can stand your ground." Hawke continued "if your able and willing I think I could find myself in need of someone of your talents down there." He laughed.
When Nero explained that he was only looking for a way to Ferelden (although he would not elaborate as to why) Hawke told him that he would be compensated upon their return from the deep roads with more than enough gold to get him to Ferelden and back multiple times.
Nero found himself agreeing, later he would think it was unnatural the way Hawke seemed to convince him so easily to take a dangerous trip below-ground with a rag-tag group of strangers. Although weary, Nero managed to convince himself that it wouldn't be bad to hide in the deep roads for a time. He did not think his hunters would follow him there.
Fenris, having not said a thing the entire conversation, spoke up. "Maybe we should learn a little bit more about him before we make him our companion, Hawke."
Hawke sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose, but said nothing. Fenris took this as permission and turned on the man in the bed.
"Who are you?"
"My name is Nero."
"Why are you here?"
"To get a ship to Ferelden."
He sighed, then tried again "who are you?"
Nero was confused "My name is-"
"Dammit!" Fenris growled and stood, glaring at the other man as he leaned forward. "Why is the Archon's slave here?"
Nero stiffened and paled, driving Anders to intervene before Nero could even think of a believable lie. "Fenris, back off. He just woke up from an extremely fatal abdominal wound. I can see that he is already tired. He needs to rest, so hold off your damned interrogation."
Fenris glared at Anders, and, Nero thought he might be hallucinating things due to his weakened state, but he was fairly certain the elf's tattoo's glowed. But then Fenris was gone from the clinic and the others were leaving before Nero had a chance to ask anyone about it.