"Your hair is so beautiful," Leliana said as she tried to gently pull a brush through the long, tangled mess. Adele's head still lurched back with every brush stroke. "The color of cornsilk. It would glisten beneath the sunlight if you'd only brush it."
"I never really thought about it," Adele murmured.
Dawn trickled in from the east of Lake Calenhad and already their camp was abuzz with life. Edgar occupied himself with interacting with the locals whose main source of income was the lakeside inn, The Spoiled Princess. One serving girl in particular, he followed around as if he had never seen a woman before. She seemed to enjoy the attention, her father, however, did not.
Silfee spent her time bickering with Rastaban. She seemed to think that they would be stuck at this location for a while and therefore, deserved a bedroom at the inn. Much to her dismay, Rastaban was unmoved by her persuasive displays of cleavage and begging. The qunari, Sten, stood on the shore as if to dare the waves of the lake to swallow him whole. No one had seen Chester in quite some time.
Leliana continued to force her way through Adele's hair. "I do not understand why you don't take better care of yourself," she said. "Once we smooth this down, perhaps we can attach a ribbon or something else to keep it out of your face."
"You really don't have to bother..."
"I know I don't." A warmth always seemed to radiate out when Leliana smiled. "But I want to, that's what makes it special. Maybe a nice blue ribbon, you think? Or would you prefer pink?"
Adele blinked. "Green. Maybe." It was hard to explain. All the attention Leliana doted on her made her belly feel warm. But the quick flutterings in Adele's chest was a bad thing. Years of safeguarding were being unraveled. "My hair's too thin."
"So perhaps we should style it?" Leliana asked. "Braid it and pull it up?"
"No, I..." Adele shrugged. "I like it down."
With her hair down, sometimes Adele would be mistaken for a human girl, instead of the elven woman she was. If she took the time to untangle and brush her hair, it would fall straight and her ears would poke through and upset the illusion. Leliana didn't know. She didn't realize the advantages of appearing human.
Chester's bark offered her a reprieve from Leliana's brush. The mabari was furiously wagging that stump of a tail as he dragged something clamped in his jaws. Bone and from an enormous creature at that. It wasn't that Chester had found a bone or that there was still gristle attached, it was the shredded bits of leather that still clung to it that was unsettling. Leather that looked a lot like the remains of some breeches.
Chester barked again and dropped it in Adele's lap. He rolled around on the grass and looked exceptionally pleased with himself.
"I don't... Chester..?"
Leliana set the brush down and picked up the bone with both hands. She laid it along the length of her thigh. "This is too big to be human," she murmured.
"So it's an animal?" Adele asked.
Chester would not quiet down. The dog ran in circles around them, barking and yipping.
Leliana chewed on her bottom lip. "I don't think so."
"Where did you find that?" For a big man, Sten moved both silently and deftly. The only thing that gave him away was the imposing shadow that his body created.
Leliana held the bone up to him and it matched the size of his thigh almost perfectly. Sten snatched the qunari femur away from her.
"The dog discovered it," Leliana said.
Sten hovered over the dog and bared his teeth. "Where?"
Chester bowed his head and growled.
Sten growled back. "Take me."
And with that, the mabari took off in a full canter toward the property beside The Spoiled Princess. Sten raced after him. Adele looked to Leliana before the two women followed suit.
They followed Chester to a tidy, little clearing. Bushes were cleared away for the skeletal remains of a campfire and there were some painful gashes in the soil that could have been caused by swords or claws. They certainly weren't caused by the dirty vagabond who was being cornered into a tree stump by Chester's bared teeth.
"Hey! Hey, oh, easy there..." The man had his hands raised in surrender to the dog. He glanced over and sized up his gathering onlookers and finally settling on Leliana, he called over, "Hey you! Call off your dog, now! Please? I ain't done nothing wrong!"
"You should not be afraid of the dog," Sten said.
The man gave a nervous, high-pitched laugh. "You'll excuse me if I don't take proper relief from that." His eyes were still frozen on Chester, who had yet to back down.
Sten's oversized hand clamped down on the scruff of the man's neck and hoisted him into the air. The qunari's violet eyes narrowed as he glared murder at the man who he was now holding up to eye level. "You shouldn't."
"I didn't do nothing!" The man yelped and his legs flailed in the air, uselessly.
"But I will," Sten gruffly promised. "There should be a sword here. Tell me, where is it?"
"A sword? There was nothing here." The man's eyes roved the deserted campsite frantically. "I think I found a half-eaten glove! Maybe. Oh, Maker, I think I wet myself... Faryn was the one that sold me this site, didn't tell me he picked it clean. Nothing of value, here, let me go, I beg you."
Adele frowned. "Someone sold you this site?"
"Yeah." The scavenger nodded as fast as his head would bob. "Faryn. Said there were all kinds of treasures made for giants. Didn't tell me he took them all already. Said he was headed to Orzammar, probably to sell them all. You don't have to hurt me now, I've told you everything I know."
Sten's hand opened and the scavenger fell to a heap on the ground. There was a hard gasp as all the air left his lungs when he hit dirt, but other than that, he was unharmed. Sten had turned to head back to camp.
"This is no place for you," Leliana told the man. "You'd best leave."
"On it," the scavenger promised. He scrambled off toward the thick of the woods.
Adele had to scurry doubletime in order to catch up to Sten. Her hand resting on his elbow was enough to still his movements. He stared deep into the forest, where the man had vanished.
She cleared her throat. "What will you, um..."
"I need to return my people to the soil," he said.
"Do you need help?"
"No."
"Okay. I, uh..." Adele shifted her weight to her other leg. Sten was already walking away, again. "I'll put the kettle on," she muttered. "I'll have tea ready when you're finished."
"What was that all about?" Leliana asked.
Adele shook her head. "Don't know. I need to make some tea."
"If you insist." The bard laid a hand on her shoulder. "Come. Let's head back to camp. I haven't heard Edgar's voice for quite some time and it troubles me."
"You think he might be in trouble?" Adele asked.
"More likely, he is the cause of some," Leliana replied. "It would a shame for us to have to flee this area before our friends return from the Tower, yes?"
Adele nodded and followed Leliana with Chester in tow. Back at camp, Silfee was no longer talking to Rastaban. He looked pleased with himself over that fact. He sat on a flat rock, quietly carving little pieces of wood away into nothing. Edgar was beaming, despite the fact that he insisted that the serving girl had wished a drawn-out and painful death upon him. Something to do with her more attractive sister he explained over supper.
Sten was gone for a long time after that. When he returned, the sun had set and his tea was long cold. Adele gave it to him, anyway.