Promises of the Grey

celestia193's Author's Note: Just a few things to clear up about politics in this chapters. First, a mage generally cannot hold title or inherit lands/titles (this is not true in all cases, however, but is generally true if the Circle gets hold of them). Second, Fereldens are...really bad at following the rules anyway, apply this to the above. Third, Grey Wardens are allowed, and even encouraged to retain their titles or fortunes, as such connections can open doors for the order to operate through (example: Alistair is the current king of Ferelden, as per my story choices in the game, and sets up the wardens in the Arling of Amaranthine). Now you know something more about Thedosian politics.

Chapter 3

He hadn't really gotten a good look at it the night before when he was trying to extricate his brother and cousin from within the Herald's Rest tavern, but back inside for a second night in a row had Sasuke thinking that this place was…very Ferelden. A large central stone fireplace, threadbare rugs pulled across the wooden floor, and lofts above the ground floor holding the tables and a few living spaces for the ale-inclined. He could even smell the stew thickening in the kitchen behind the bar.

It felt and smelled so familiar that Sasuke almost felt a little homesick for the family estate in the Dragon's Peak bannorn. He could see easily why his brother and cousins liked it in here so much, despite the raucous noise hailing from every corner. Loud, warm, chaotic…free. Just like home.

Still, that didn't mean that Itachi had to manhandle him inside. "You know, Itachi. Keep drinking like this, and you'll end up with a belly like Grandfather Kenji."

"I'm not particularly concerned about that. Between darkspawn and keeping you in line, I get plenty of exercise." Itachi chuckles as he pokes Sasuke's forehead affectionately. "Grandfather wasn't a warden and I can only presume his twin was a little less hotheaded than you."

"Arse…" Sasuke scowls as he rubs his forehead. "I bet you're just going to go for the girly wine again, anyway."

"There is nothing wrong with beverages that taste pleasant. Besides, you still have a few things to learn about women." Itachi smiles at Sasuke as though he was about to bestow a great secret upon him. "Anything that differentiates you from the other men or you share in common with women can only work in your favor. There is a method to my madness. I learned this secret from our dear cousin, Shisui."

"Yeah, yeah. This coming from the one who never spends more than a single night in bed with the women he fancies." Definitely not long enough to be given the title lover. And Sasuke knew that he wasn't so much trouble that Itachi couldn't have found a real lover if he'd wanted to. Sasuke figured that two years was a long time to go without a proper lover, at least for his brother.

Itachi shakes his head. He probably wasn't setting the best example for his brother, but he was a Grey Warden. There was nothing out of the ordinary about Itachi's behavior. "We live dangerous lives, Sasuke. It takes a very special woman to love and stay with someone that she knows may not be able to return to her the next day." In his view, it was best not to get too attached. If nothing else, he had always made his intentions clear towards whatever companion he might occasionally take for the night.

The argument quiets Sasuke's retort. "Yeah, I know." He knew the danger all too well, having grown intimately familiar with it the day that they had been sent out by the Warden-Commander on their trial before the Joining. Sasuke would never look at a peat bog the same way ever again.

"That doesn't mean we can't enjoy yourselves as long as we find someone who desires the same." He smiles at Sasuke serenely. "Oh look, it seems a card game is going on. Perhaps they'll let us join."

Right, because Itachi loved his games, and he loved beating Sasuke at them to 'test his little brother's mental faculties and fortitude'. "Are you really so bored that you feel the need to beat me at cards?"

"Are you actually sulking that you can't beat me at cards?" Itachi laughs softly.

"Hn." Sasuke was sure that Itachi would if it were the other way around, and Sasuke was the older brother who always won instead of him.

"Well, I suppose if your pride is that fragile, you can just observe and enjoy some good food and ale." The other warden heads towards the table.

"Tch." Sasuke's pride was NOT that fragile. He was just sick of losing to his brother. He strides forward, nearly matching his elder brother's steps. "Fine, but if you try any of your mind games, I'll tell all of them what you're doing."

He pouts a bit at that. "That takes most of the fun out of it."

"Then don't do it. It's not like you need the sadistic mind tricks to win." Sasuke knew that Itachi was more than capable of winning without them.

As the two wardens approach the table, Sasuke raises an eyebrow, surprised to see his cousin already at the table with three other men. Well, one man, one dwarf, and the boisterous Qunari from the other night. "Really? You're already gambling with them, Shisui?"

"Of course, I am. One never knows when the next opportunity for some levity will arise." Shisui winks at him.

"Oh, so these are your cousins, huh?" The dwarf's eyes twinkle at the sight of the two wardens. "You two showed us quite a match in the courtyard earlier. I think half of Skyhold turned up to watch that match."

Itachi smiles at that and nods. "Aye we are and thank you. I fear we may have gotten a bit carried away though."

"Ah, don't worry about it. We were due for some good entertainment!" The dwarf laughs and shuffles his chair over and makes room at the table. "Pull up a couple of seats and join us. Your cousin makes me wonder if you're all a bunch of cunning sons of nugs."

Sasuke tries not to bristle at the playful jest, feeling it poke at a sore spot inside him. "Glad you were entertained."

Itachi shoots Sasuke an apologetic look as they sit down. "So what game are you all playing?"

"Wicked Grace." The dwarf gathers up all the cards and reshuffles them. "I'm Varric Tethras, storyteller extraordinare." He motions to the large, horned Qunari with a dramatic wave of his hand. "This is Iron Bull, Captain of the Bull's Chargers. And this is one of yours." He waves at the bearded man. "This is Blackwall. We found him wardening around Redcliffe a while back."

"Well met, all of you." Itachi nods politely. He'd never heard of Blackwall before, but that didn't mean he wasn't a Warden. Their numbers were minuscule compared to the general population, but there were still a fair few Wardens. There had to be to fight darkspawn successfully.

"Well met, indeed." Blackwall sits back with a flagon as Varric deals the cards. "Can't say that I've met the Ferelden contingent before. The last I heard, you were still rebuilding after Ostagar."

"We're still rebuilding and it's a slow process, but we're more focused on quality than quantity at the moment." Shisui winks at the other warden.

"So it seems. I caught the end of that match in the courtyard." Blackwall eyes the two younger wardens. "It was very impressive to witness."

"I suppose." Though the thought of just how they'd acquired those skills grated on Sasuke. "Shisui had to learn actual skills somewhere, and the Circle wouldn't have taught him." They'd only gotten him back because the Circle at Lake Calenhad had collapsed and nearly been purged. If Shisui hadn't escaped during all the fighting when the Grey Wardens were there during the Blight, they would have lost their cousin to the damn Templars.

"Sasuke, I'd rather not dwell on that unpleasantness." Shisui shakes his head before turning his attention back to Blackwell. "Well, let's see how you are at Wicked Grace then."

"You're on." Blackwell chuckles, taking his cards and glancing at them carefully.

Sasuke groans silently as he picks up the hand of cards set in front of him and glances at them. Not bad, but not great either. As long as he didn't say a word, maybe Itachi wouldn't notice.

"So, I've been wondering." Varric flips in a couple of silver coins. "Hero over here's got some great stories from when he was off wardening. You boys must have some good stories of your own, right?"

Itachi smiles as he looks at his cards. "We've had our share of...unconventional incidents to say the least."

Unconventional was one way of putting it. And slowly, a wicked smirk spreads across Sasuke's face. "So, you want to hear one of our stories, do you?" Oh, this was going to be good. "How would you like to hear about the time eight Warden-Recruits and a Warden mage got stuck in a marsh and had to fight their way out through a horde of darkspawn by setting a bog on fire?"

Varric's eyes alight with interest. "Darkspawn and Wardens in a flaming bog? Now this I have to hear."

"I hadn't joined the Wardens that long ago, when my cousins decided they wished to follow in my footsteps." Shisui smiles at Sasuke and Itachi. "Their reasons were a bit more altruistic than mine, but I was so pleased when I heard they were new recruits."

"Maybe, but you weren't the only one who wanted to avoid going to the Circle." Sasuke wouldn't lie and say that they had only one motive in joining. Though perhaps Itachi did. After all, if Sasuke hadn't insisted, Itachi likely would have been content to hide his magic and continue running their father's Bannorn. Sasuke could have just left with their cousins. "Anyway, the reasons for why we joined aside, it was the run-up to our initiation that was kind of…interesting."

"Interesting how?" Varric eyes the two excitedly. "Was there a spot of trouble in what was supposed to be a well-laid plan?"

"Something like that." Sasuke smirks. "We'd been sent out by the Warden-Commander on a mission to gather a few things for our initiation. Which is how we ended up walking into the marshes with nothing but our staffs and the armor we'd brought from home. And Shisui was there watching us to make sure that nothing happened that we couldn't handle."

"In that respect, things didn't go exactly as planned." Shisui rubs the back of his head sheepishly as Itachi snorts.

"Not so much, since a couple of genlocks showed up and started throwing spells over our heads." Sasuke remembered the first spell whizzing towards them and nearly hitting his brother. "One of our cousins had taken a wrong step and gotten his foot caught between a couple of roots and had started sinking into the marsh. So this genius…" Sasuke jerks his thumb at his brother. "Decided to go down and rescue him while I started throwing spells at the darkspawn. Only what Itachi didn't know was that there were a couple of darkspawn just behind the tree, and one of them nearly took his head off while he was trying to free Kaito."

"The damn darkspawn snuck up on me while I was helping Kaito." Itachi glares at Sasuke as if he was out of his mind. "Did you really just expect me to leave him there? Anyway, we were sent flying into the bog after the trees were uprooted."

"And I seem to remember that you were the one who uprooted that tree when you tried to shoot a fireball at them, and ended up lighting the bog on fire." Sasuke smirks smugly. "And no, I didn't expect you to just leave him there, I just wanted to point out how funny it was to hear you scream like a girl when the fireball blew up in your face and got both you and the darkspawn flattened. Sure, you blew them up, but you also plunged yourself and Kaito headfirst into the bog. The two of you smelled so bad when you finally came back to help us out with the rest of the three dozen darkspawn that were attacking, that I thought the smell would NEVER come out of your hair. It was like a dead bogfisher left to sit in the sun and stew for a week."

"Sasuke, I wouldn't taunt him about that too much." Shisui chuckles at his cousin's smugness. "Though the battle only grew worse from there. Itachi and our other cousin were ambushed by some other darkspawn. Naturally, Itachi set them on fire and the two got back to our company. We were severely outnumbered though. So perhaps what happened next was only to be expected."

Sasuke glowers sourly at his elder cousin. "Well what other choice did we have? They were closing in on us from all sides. Besides, it's not like anyone actually lived in that part of the marsh anyway!" But he had to admit that he got a thrill from remembering what happened that day.

"Action, magic, embarrassment, and there's still more?" Varric chuckles enthusiastically. "Don't keep us in suspense."

"An explosion. That's what happened next." Sasuke takes a short swig of his burning ale and smirks. "Between me, Shisui, Itachi, Kaito, and Amara, we managed to light up the bog and nearly blow ourselves up." He shrugs. "But it put down all the darkspawn. Everyone smelled terrible for about a week, but none of us would even sleep in the same tent as Itachi and Kaito. They got it worse than the rest of us."

Iron Bull chortles heartily. "You're shitting us. You twirled your fancy little magic sticks and blew up a whole bog?"

"One should never judge a book or a stick by its cover." Itachi chuckles at him. "It is not appearance of the stick, but how one uses it that matters most. They're merely a tool to make channeling our magic easier and they do double as staffs and swords in battle. At least ours double as swords. The blades on ours are not quite standard issue."

"Indeed…you must have had a great deal of outside training to be able to fight like that." Blackwall knew for a fact that those sorts of skills took years to master, and he doubted that the circles taught them.

"You're right about that." Shisui shrugs, hoping that the man would take it as a casual gesture. "Though it doesn't do to reveal one's hand so early on. I suppose if Sasuke and Itachi do not mind, it will harm nothing now that we're all Grey Wardens."

Sasuke shrugs, his emotions cooled now, when earlier, a slight mention of their skills had set him off. "Doesn't matter to me. Itachi's the only one who's gotta be careful about getting tangled up in politics." His older brother was the heir, after all.

"We were fortunate that a swordsman in our father's bannorn took a liking to us." Itachi casually takes another gulp of his ale. "You could say that we had a head start on most of the other recruits in terms of swordsmanship."

"Oh? So a couple of nobles' sons, huh?" Varric laces his fingers together, all the more interested in their story. Though those weren't the only eyes on the three of them. "Was joining the Grey Wardens all of the excitement and danger that you expected?"

Varric's tone was friendly and that was the main reason why Itachi's irritation was only a simmer and not a boil at the implication. "We didn't join for excitement. While Sasuke is right that we had many reasons for joining, there was one in particular forged our destiny more than the rest." It would take some digging, but Itachi didn't feel there wasn't a reason not to tell them this. It was something any of them could have found out now that they had their names, if motivated enough. "Our parents were killed during the last Blight. So Sasuke and I decided to join the organization that is responsible for protecting people from the very same horrors that killed them."

That silences the storyteller in an instant, though he does look somewhat contrite. Sasuke's gaze found his cards again, his emotions somewhat numbed to the mention of their parents. It had been a long time ago, and he had done a great deal of his raging already. Yes, he hated darkspawn, but the life of a Warden had helped to dull the emotions that had originally given him drive.

Now, he had new goals to give him drive. Itachi was right. There were people who needed protection from the darkspawn, and he wanted to be where he could do the most good. "That's why we're here to lend our power to the Inquisition. And maybe once all of this is done, the Bann of Dragon's Peak can go home and let his brother do all of the traipsing across Thedas for him." He shoots his brother a knowing look.

"He is so eager to have me do the real dirty work." Itachi throws his head back and laughs, his spirits lifted by his little brother's jibe. "Politics."

"Well Grandfather isn't going to be around forever, and I hate politics more than you do." So by default, it had to be Itachi. Sasuke wasn't going to do it. "Besides, your title will make you a more appealing prospect for that Antivan you've had your eye on."

That did it, Itachi cuffs Sasuke on the back of his head. "Forgive my foolish little brother. I believe he's had too much ale, and the regaling of the peat bog tale has already addled his senses."

Sasuke scowls and rubs the back of his head. "That's shit and you know it, Itachi." He picks up his cards again and glances at them once more. "Now, if storytime's over, let's play." At the very least, he wanted to have a good go at beating Itachi before they turned in for the night. Whatever time that ended up being.

"Alright, you're on." Varric grins as the atmosphere lightens again. There was ale and time enough for a half dozen rounds before morning.

"Oh, Rodina, look over there, it's the wardens." Sister Annas giggles as she points down to the first floor, where the four wardens could be seen playing cards with the dwarf and the Qunari. "Aren't they handsome? And so young!"

"Oh they are." The mage giggles in turn, her duties for the day done. "They're also powerful judging by the spar they had earlier. I wonder if there is any merit to the rumors about Wardens."

"Oh, I hope so." The sister's expression grows excited as she leans a little closer to the railing, hoping to catch the elder brother's eye. "And I'd love to…investigate the matter personally." Improper, most certainly, but did she care when the world might very well be about to end? They never had any fun in the cloisters.

"Well, they seem like the friendly kind. Playing cards and such...maybe it's possible." She smiles at her as she looks over at the game. "I don't know if I could really catch one of their eyes, but it could be fun to try." Of course, Rodina was certain most of the female members of the castle were having similar thoughts.

"Oh, I think it's more than possible. They just need a little…persuasion, I think." Annas tugs Rodina to her feet and heads for the stairs. "Come, let's try our luck. And maybe in the morning, we'll know whether the rumors are true or not."

She giggles. "Anna, you're impossible, but okay!" One only lived once after all.

A Seeker in the corner scoffs as the two eager young ladies race down the stairs towards the wardens, treated to a full view of the ensuing spectacle. "Honestly, how crass. A chantry sister should not be indulging in such…such…" Cassandra glares at their backs, offended by the notion of such dalliances.

"Seeker, please do go easy on them." Hinata smiles at Cassandra, hoping to prevent a scene. "We live in a dangerous world where any of us could die at any moment. Can you really hold it against people for trying to find pleasurable respites from that reality from time to time?" Her eyes twinkle slightly with mischief. She couldn't help it. She was from Orlais, it was in her nature to romanticize things. "Besides, they do have exceptional taste if nothing else. If one is going to behave in such an improper fashion, I suppose it's best to do it the proper way?"

Cassandra pouts sourly. "I have no authority to stop them. It is simply…" It was so improper! Did no one take the task at hand seriously in Skyhold? "I am…aware that in the Circles it is normally unheard of not to…indulge in such things. But those who devote their lives to the Chantry are meant to be above such things."

"I understand that you wish for them to uphold a certain reputation, but worrying over such things will turn your tresses snowy white or as a silver as an ice mage's robes." She smiles at her and places her hand on Cassandra's shoulder. "Besides, it's merely flirtation. Even you must engage in such things from time to time. Though perhaps if you wish to remind them that they should take their duties more seriously, you could join in the game. The sight of their Seeker indulging in frivolity will likely floor them enough to remind them to take their duties more seriously."

"I-I could not possibly…" Cassandra was quite scandalized at the notion of…indulging herself in such a fashion. She was a Seeker, one of the faces of the Inquisition. If the soldier knew that she indulged in smutty literature and romantic poetry, her reputation would never be the same. "I-I have no intention of doing THAT and throwing myself at those who have come to protect against darkspawn." She gestures handily at the Chantry sister hovering about the elder sibling, and the mage sliding herself into the youngest's lap.

"That's not what I meant." Hinata quickly shakes her head. "I was merely suggesting that you could join in on the card game and if it pleases you, some mild flirtation. Besides, you can think of it as practice." She pauses deciding she might as well get some entertainment out of the evening and the poor Seeker really did need to 'lighten up' as most would say. "Seduction is a powerful tool in any woman's arsenal and one does not need to share a bed with their target in order to achieve their goal. Sometimes a few well placed words are enough."

"Seduction!?" The scandalized expression only intensifies at Hinata's words as the Seeker contemplates the prospect. "I-I believe that I shall retire for the evening." Yes, that sounded like a much safer plan than allowing the First Enchanter to pull her into her 'games'. "I have duties I must attend to in the morning. Besides, it appears as though their game is ending." She motions to the clearly distracted men below, and the two wardens who were not protesting the attention lavished on them in the least.

Hinata blinks. She had always been told that she was innocent by Orlesian standards, but apparently the Seeker made the bluenette look like a legendary seductress. "Of course, Seeker. Well, that does seem a shame since the eldest Warden appears to be more focused on you than the woman trying to get into his lap. I hope you enjoy your evening and I deeply apologize for upsetting you." She bows politely.

"What!?" Cassandra's eyes turn on the third of the young wardens, who now had a guest of his own attempting to crawl her way into his arms. "P-Preposterous." She turns on heel, abandoning her mug as she climbs the stairs to the attic and towards the battlements, escaping the dark gaze of the eldest Uchiha.

"Well, that was...unexpected." Hinata watches wide eyed as the other woman storms off. Who knew their no nonsense commander was really such a bashful maiden?