Chapter 3 I guess.. They saved Connor, got the mages as allies and heard the story about the urn and headed to Denerim to find Genitivi. I know its a huge jump from fade to here, but if you played through you know what happen :P.. Sorry for the jump I'm terrible at consistency. Oh and if your wondering about the odd format, it's what i had to use on Bioware Social Network when I posted it on the blog. Hopefully if I get the story moving again it will be better formatted for this site.
It took them just over a week to get to Denerim after they managed to save
the mages and kill the demon that plagued Connor, the human boy in Redcliff.
They promised Teagan they would search for this vase of ashes, much to Morrigan
and Sten's very blatant disapproval.
She didn't know how long she stood there, head cocked to one side watching
the sister recite the chant, nor did she hear the Antivan walk up behind
her. Her mood had definitely improved over the last week or so, but if
anyone noticed, (and there was little chance they were blind enough to miss it)
they were too polite to point it out.
"You will draw much unwanted attention if you keep standing there like
a dim-witted four foot human." He all but whispered in her ear.
She jumped and growled. Turning, she hit Zevran in the chest and then spewed a
few dwarven curses as she shook out her hand. She forgot they upgraded Zevran's
armor which now consisted of a light weight, but very strong chain mail tunic.
I'm four foot five thank you" She growled defensively, trying not to smile
as she looked at her hand. It would no doubt bruise, maybe Morrigan could fix it.
"The Veal holds no uncertainty for her, and she will know no fear of death,
for the Maker shall be her bacon and her shield!" Her attention turned back
to the sister who was spouting what sounded like nonsense to Nahalanee. She
wondered if bacon and veal in human tongue was something different then what
she thought they were.
"Did you find out anything about Brother Genitivi?" Zevran asked. She had gone
to the chantry thinking they might beable to help her locate him.
"No, the chantry is closed.." She replied looking up at Zevran. "Hey Zev, can I
ask you something?"
"Ask me anything, but only if I get to stare at you luridly as you do so." He purred
and grinned at her. She hated when he said things like that, they always made her
pale face turn a bright shade of red.
They had been dancing around each other since the circle, Alistair complained
on more then one occasion about their battlefield flirting and how it was
going to get them all killed. Morrigan even had to chime in a few times while
they flirted in camp about how she was going to vomit if they didn't stop.
Morrigan's complaints she understood, kind of, but Alistair's, not so much.
Sure they flirted on the battlefield, but it mostly consisted of trying to
outdo the other, in technique, kills, and grace. She won in technique and
body count many times, but nothing, she thought on more then one occasion,
would ever best the grace and agility of the elf, even his golden hair
seemed to flow in perfect sync with his every move.
If anything Alistair should be happy, the harder they tried to impress
each other the faster the darkspawn and bandits died.
She was grinning staring up at him, when Zevran pipped in "I know I'm
beautiful but if you keep staring at me like that, I might just melt away,
and then who will you think about during those long boring nights on watch?"
He smirked. She blinked pulled from her thoughts, and blushed.
"Oh right, umm..."she thought "Oh yeah!" she turned back to the sister and
pointed her tone serious once more.
"See that lady there? I think shes one of those chanters or something, shes saying
that light chant the humans worship." She paused. Zevran frowned in confusion.
Nahalanee knew humans were daft, but she hoped they weren't THIS daft. At the very
least hoping those words meant something else.
"Humans don't really worship bacon and veal do they?" She spouted out just as
Alistair and Leliana walked up behind her. Zevran looked at Alistair, Alistair
looked at Zevran then Leliana, Leliana looked at Alistair then Zevran, this
went on for a few more seconds then they all looked at the dwarf who was staring intently.
The serious look on her face unhinged them all and they all burst into gales of
laughter. That was all the answer she needed, and soon she was laughing with them
despite her attempts to look angry and hurt. She always did have a problem of taking things too literal.
"Come on Nahalanee we found him." Alistair said after he could speak again,
wiping tears from his eyes. Then he burst into another bout of laughter,
everyone looked at him as if he'd just cracked.
"I'm sorry I'm sorry." Alistair said, a big grin on his face. "I just thought
of the first time Nahalanee was in a chantry back in Lothering when she was
asking about the .." He had to stop and catch his breath. "About the sacred flame
of Andraste." Nahalanee turned red.
"Hey it was a legitimate question at the time!" She snapped at him, but she
was smiling despite herself. She didn't find it that funny, but it never
failed to make Alistair laugh.
"Fill us in, won't you warden?" Zevran said as they walked toward the other
end of the market and toward Genitivi's house.
She sighed . "I asked a brother if I should set myself on fire if I sinned.
It's not my fault, he told me that humans use fire to cleanse themselves if
they sin." She stuck her tongue out at Alistair. A childish move, but she
didn't care, she was happy.
Leliana gasped "I'm surprised he didn't slap you right there!"
"Oh yes very brotherly like. A man in a chantry dress beating the daylights
out of a four foot warden, the scandal!" Alistair added.
"Four foot five." Zevran replied in a mocking tone, and they all started
laughing again.. everyone except Nahalanee who had frozen mid step. Her face,
which was naturally pale, became deathly white, IIt couldn't be,/I she thought
to herself.
Zevran grabbed her by the shoulders and blocked her view, she leaned sideways to
look around him. "Warden?" He said with what sounded like genuine concern. Her
face twisted into a look of several emotions, any other time they might have laughed.
"It's Gorim." she whispered. Of all the rotten luck! Why now "The ancestors have
a sense of humor," She mumbled. She shook her head and blushed. "Sorry its nothing can..
Umm... I need a minute." She shrugged Zevran's hands off and walked away. Leliana made
to follow her but Zevran grabbed her arm and shook his head, a small smile playing on
his lips. She stopped and watched the dwarf wander away.
Nahalanee took several deep breaths, it had been months since she saw his face,
she had put him behind her. She never forgot him, he was always her first love but...
Her thought trailed off there as she thought of Zevran. Damn the ancestors,damn
the paragons, damn the stone. Part of her was happy to see him, but another
part of her hoped he had forgotten her.
She lost her nerve while she was still a good ten feet away and spun on her heels to
make a quick get away. Please don't see me please don't...
"Dwarven crafts, fine dwar... My lady Aeducan?" She gave a look that
would melt the very stone. She shouldn't be surprised he noticed, her hair was
always a dead give away in a crowd. She wondered if cutting it off would help her
blend in, but in truth her vanity would never let her stoop to such levels.
Curse the ancestors and all their began again in her mind. damn
the paragons, damn...She turned smiling "GORIM!" She yelled, maybe a little to
loud and ran up to him giving him a huge hug.
"My lady! My lady Aeducan! It is you, I had given up hope you even survived!"
"I'm not that easy to kill" She winced, remembering that was one of the last
lines she spouted before her men betrayed her to her brother. It was clear
Gorim was thinking the same thing.
"And please Gorim, it's Nahalanee. I'm no longer royalty."
He nodded "My la... Nahalanee what happened to you? Tell me!"
She gave him the abridged version - wardens, Loghain, assassins, blight.
"Wow, I knew you were destined for great things my lady."
"So how are you, Gorim? Ready to take your place as my second again?" She asked before
she realized it. Idiot, that was stupid, she thought to herself.
His face turned grim "I... My lady I thought you were lost I've... I've found
someone. I'm married she's a good woman her father is a great smith and he gave me
this job" His answer came out rather quick. The sentence seeming to meld into one
really long word, and perhaps sounded a little more defensive then he would have liked.
"A wife!" her surprise was genuine, the 'I'm glad for you' tone wasn't. Oh she was
shocked alright, but more along the seething hatred side rather then the, 'good for
you!', side.
She smiled, well that didn't take him long she thought bitterly, but she
was breathing an inward sigh of relief. She was glad, glad for him, and glad for
herself.
"Yes, Naha, My lady. I am warrior caste you were heir after Trian, we both knew.."
She stopped him mid sentence.
"Nahalanee, Gorim. Please" She really wasn't in the mood for the caste speech.
Trian, Behlen, and about a hundred cousins used to spout it at her daily, sometimes
while they were beating Gorim black and blue when they were caught them doing anything
other then swinging swords at darkspawn.
"Of course, Nahalanee" He smiled weakly.
"So when do I get to meet this wife of yours" She said in a pleasant tone. Gorim's
relief was very noticeable as she continued to smile that diplomatic smile. Underneath
she was starting to get very uncomfortable, she linked her hands behind her back,
right hand holding her left wrist, a gesture she used many times in a situation when
she didn't want to reveal her true feelings.
"Soon I hope, she reminds me a lot of you. I think you will like her, I would love
to have you for dinner sometime." Gorim said happily, relief again crossing his face,
mistaking Nahalanee's smile for genuine happiness. She was glad he couldn't read her,
then again he never really could.
"I would much enjoy that Gorim, perhaps after I save Ferelden, that dragon isn't going
to slay himself you know." She gave what she hoped sounded like a pleasant enough laugh.
Thankfully, he joined in. She was becoming more and more uncomfortable by the minute.
She didn't know why, she should be happy but that small part of her wanted to rip out
his spine and beat him repeatedly for forgetting her.
Isn't that what you did? Or did you forget flirting with Zevran already.
Her mind mused, a voice that sounded not unlike a female Trian, same
mocking tone her brother used to have. But marriage? She thought at that
other voice then growled inwardly at herself. Great, now I'm arguing with myself!
Her left hand balled into a fist behind her back.
"well if I can help let me know, my fighting days are over, but I will give you
a discount on my father in laws wares, he can deal with it"
"Thanks Gorim, you are a true friend."
"Anytime My Lady." He continued to ramble on about his new family and how great
the surface was, and how great it was to see her again, she nodding in the right
places, smile plastered to her face, jaw tense. "Oh and I was told to give you
this." He turned and pulled a shield from under one of his tables.
She gasped, The shield of Aeducan and a letter sealed with the Aeducan crest. "You saw
my father?" she said remembering when they stripped the ring of Aeducan from her finger.
"Indeed, if ever there was a man who died of regret, it was him. He believed you
were innocent you know." she took the shield and letter from him. She slipped the
shields leather strap over her shoulder and stared at the letter. Gorim went on again
about random things, she continued to nod and smile.
All at once his voice trailed off and his eyes moved over her shoulder, she looked
behind her and saw the Antivan approaching, she was never so happy to see him, but
that thankful moment was very short lived as Zevran opened his mouth.
"I am sorry to cut your reunion short, Ser dwarf, but I must steal the beautiful
Grey Warden for some... personal business. I am sure a handsome ladies man such
as yourself understands." He grinned and winked at Gorim as he threw an arm over
her shoulders. She could have killed him right there, she imagined what it would
look like to see Zevran's head roll across the market place. But she was inwardly
grateful for the rescue.
"Of course, it was very nice to see you again Nahalanee I hope I see you again
soon." He gave a courteous bow.
"I so very much look forward to it." she smiled and returned the bow. All those
years as a royal really paid off, she thought for not the first time.
Zevran gave a bow of the head then turned to Nahalanee. "Shall we?" He was using
what she came to call THAT tone, and she wondered if his headless body would live
long enough to feel his arms ripped from their sockets and shoved up his back end.
It wasn't the first time she thought, maybe father was right, I should have been a
berserker.
Her hand begun to hurt and she looked down, realizing she had balled her fist so
tight her nails bit into her palm hard enough to draw blood. Great, she
mused bittery, another speech from Morrigan about healing superficial and totally
avoidable wounds.
"Thank you" she mumbled to the elf, she didn't know why she felt so horrid all of
a sudden, or rather she tried to tell herself she didn't.
Gorim would always have a place in her heart, to find out he was with another person
all this time hurt, but probably not as much as it would have two weeks ago. She
sighed softly and looked up at Zevran.
"Perhaps later we can discuss payment for rescuing you, hmm?" He said with a grin.
She hated that grin, but when she saw it, her mood quickly turned back for the better.
"Perhaps. We shall see, Assassin." She said in a low voice as they approached the
others. She still wanted to kill him for that little show he put on for Gorim though.
Alistair and Leliana were standing outside the door of Brother Genitivi's house.
"Ok sorry, lets get this over with." She grumbled.
"Oh, not going to regale us with tales of lost love, of a time when two hearts soared
together through molten rock and hot iron. When..."Alistair was cut off mid sentence
as Zevran shot him a look that said something along the lines of one more word and
I will finish what I started, oath or not. He looked at Leliana, then dropped his
gaze and sighed dramatically when he saw she was giving him a look very similar to Zevran's.
Nahalanee knocked on the door, waited, knocked again and waited some more.
Alistair's words had soiled her mood, again. She heard sounds from inside and
grumbled.
"Then we do this the hard way, STEN!" She was glad for Sten's presence, he was
a hard man to like, but he could kick a door better then any berserker she knew.
Sten came around the corner where he had been keeping watch and raised his eyebrow
at her. "There is a door in my way." He nodded, walked up to them and with one
huge foot, kicked the door in.
"Andraste's great flaming arse! What is the meaning of this!" A whelp of a human
yelled as the dwarf stepped through the shattered door. His look of anger and
annoyance vanished rather quickly however when she was followed by two humans,
an elf, and a seven and a half foot bronze giant. Nahalanee smirked, it was probably
Sten that scared him the most. Again she was grateful for him.