Disclaimer: I own absolutely and completely nothing. Bioware has that particular pleasure.
Summary: A City-Elf/Bann Teagan collection of drabbles and one-shots based on a prompt table from an LJ-community. These will be more or less in chronological order with the faintest traces of added plot here and there. Will vary from drabble length to one-shot.
Author's note: In the end this time :|
In this chapter: Betrayal comes in all shapes and sizes.
There are different kinds of betrayal. That of the mind, that of the heart and that of the body. You can betray a promise you have done to another, you can betray a secret, you can betray an ideal, you can plunge a dagger into another's heart and twist without requiring a blade, you can kill another. A thousand and so many more ways which are all unacceptable for a soldier of the Beresaad. A word, once given, cannot be broken. Logic rules their lives, the good of their people guides their every step and action. Rarely do they find themselves alone and even then, they are expected to remember their lessons as if someone repeats them into their minds during sleep. Ever since arriving in Ferelden twice has Sten lacked this foresight and blood coats the guilt of his first mistake. Disappointment surrounds his second.
Kadan is easily irritated but rarely angered. Trapped between unfamiliar walls - surrounded by unfamiliar mountains - pitted against the noble humans - facing one who she thought to be a comrade - her anger tastes like fire and acid on his tongue, touches everyone around her like a spell as if she can actually command magic. Her hands are closed tightly into fists, brow furrowed in such a manner that it forces him to wonder about the pain it will cause once she relaxes, eyes which seem iced over. This is not her simple dislike for humans – one he could definitely sympathize if that were the case. It is something greater. To try to defend what one thinks to be right and to be shackled, to know exactly what needs to be done and to be stopped by something as simple as emotions, coldly foolish as vengeance. It is injustice and another sort of battle which she does not seem able to win - even though she won the last.
This time, there is no support behind their leader. None raises their voice. It is also betrayal, he thinks, to be idle when action can be taken, to not follow your leader when it is required even if you, personally, do not share the same opinion. He has done so barely days before. And in that room, others follow his example, five promises of aid left untouched as if never spoken. Kadan realizes this, her eyes looking from one member of the audience to the other, wide and pleading and accusing.
Mages are feared, disliked, hated. In his country they wear leashes and their prison is far less great than the one housed in the Lake where he killed. This mage, especially, is a murderer, a coward and Sten would be lying if he dared thinking he cares anything for this life. He'd kill it himself if given the chance. Kadan, however, does. Some say elves have little to no morals but Sten slowly learns Alienage elves cannot be thrown into the category elf and left it at that. They seem to have their own moral conduct, so strict and obvious that little they do falls away from it - or maybe that's just her, he has no term of comparison. She acts as if straying from that conduct will murder the connection she holds to her home. Another trait they share.
Kadan gives importance to different things. Repentance, atonement, courage, care, honor, the knowledge that there are actions that need to be paid for, all these are dear to her. And while others see guilt, a killer who failed by luck, a blood mage, she sees a man risking everything to save a boy instead of fleeing, someone who knew his actions were wrong and wishes to repent. That is why she tries to save him, Sten believes, the same reason why she saved him.
"I would have him released." If he is not, he will die. If he does not, he will not be truly alive. Those are the laws regarding mages.
Kadan is a good leader, strong and fast but owning a tactical mind which can leave much to be desired. If bothered, Sten can tell her a dozen small problems with this suggestion of hers and force her to understand reality. This is neither a backwater country nor a little war to amuse the masses. This is a Blight and there is already one murderer watching her back and following her every step. Two, if he counts the elf. He could, if he found it worthwhile. He could, if he hadn't betrayed her. He could, if he didn't trust her.
Ferelden, he hates Ferelden with his strange smells and dogs everywhere.
What do you find strange about Ferelden? Do you feel homesick?
He hates Lothering, the small village and the iron cage, the refuges and the cowardice filing the streets.
I find myself in need of skilled help. This will be your atonement.
The Tower of Magi disgusts him, a golden prison and the Fade collapsing around him
It is easier to quit. But you gave me your word, Sten.
And of them all, he hates Haven the most, the place who saw his disgrace, his dishonor and the one he cannot forget. He hates her words, fall behind me, understanding but not forgiving or forgetting. For someone like Sten, betrayal is not acceptable. For someone like him, to raise his blade against a leader is shameful. Better had he fallen on Asala that day, because his honor mocks him when not half dead and he follows but feels barely tolerated by her kindness instead of accepted by true kinship. He does not begrudge her; none can trust a betrayer and words cannot make everything right, even ones such as pardon and apology.
He will not allow Redcliffe to become hated as well.
"Grey Wardens are needed," Sten says to the room, a simple comment as if spoken aloud merely by accident but spoken solely to her. It takes her a whole total of thirty seconds to realize what he has declared, immediately followed by who has spoken. Her eyes widen, her mouth opens in a perfect circle – he wants to tell her to close it because she's being horribly obvious and losing any and all chance to impress others with quick wit and knowledge. But Kadan nods, accepts, appreciates. He can almost believe she forgives when her smile appears.
"I invoke the right of conscription,"
And if she doesn't, at least Sten knows his path is not hopeless.
Note: Prompt 013 (Hope) from Troyed community table of prompts.
Author's note: SO I SAVED JOWAN. WHAT OF IT? Seriously now, I never got why DA:O producers chose not to allow the conscription of Jowan. I mean, he was a bit on the dense side where it comes to the Mage origin and so on but he's not a villain. Ending up as a Tranquil after helping out sounds a bit too much :| That and Eamon has the forgiveness of a cockroach, sorry to say. Ahem. Sten makes an appearance~ To be continued.