Leliana, Morrigan, Duncan, and I all make it about halfway to the Mage's Tower when exhaustion finally settles in. All of us set up a makeshift camp for the night. Unfortunately, I get saddled with making dinner while my Mabari sits beside me. I'm tearing up beef for the soup (and occasionally tossing handfuls to Duncan) when Morrigan and Leliana join me. Morrigan is the first to break the silence. "It would have been wise to send Leliana or me with Alistair and Sten. Two people are far more vulnerable and weak than three. It could have been an even split.". I shrug in complete indifference. Both women are silent for a few minutes.
Finally, as I'm adding the beef to the stew Leliana speaks. "Your armor is still dented.". I look down and see a decent dent in my side. I groan, but begin yanking the armor off. As I do I give Duncan a simple command. "Get my hammer, boy!". My dog barks and returns with a slobbery hammer just as I finish taking my armor off. I offer the Mabari a pat of the head before beginning to work on the dent in my breastplate. I'm so focused on my work I hardly even notice when Leliana carefully stands up and walks around behind me. Morrigan cocks her head, but doesn't say a word. I'm still hammering out the dents in my armor when Leliana crouches down behind my back to examine part of me.
I freeze up and twitch when I feel a ghost of her breath wash over my back. I know very well what she's seeing. The quilt of angry, red scars; thick, white ridges; and blackened flesh isn't pretty. Sadly, that's what my entire back looks like. The thug in the alleyway had the decency to 'cauterize' my wound for me before they left. The permanent burns are what make the black marks.
A part of me tells me to flip around and scream at Leliana for looking at something so personal; however, turning around would reveal my secret to Morrigan. I definitely trust Leliana more than I trust Morrigan. I allow the human to keep looking as I consider how many other people have seen my back. Shianni saw it when she found me, my father saw it when he tended to me, and one prostitute saw me when I was dressing while drunk.
Leliana's the first person that's seen it who hasn't been family or some cheap whore. I already know the question that's coming, but I still flinch when she asks it. "How did you get these?". I don't even consider telling her. "That's not your business right now.". Leliana stands up and returns to her place at the fire. A nod shows me she doesn't hold any grudges. Suddenly, Morrigan adds to the conversation. "I already know very well what happened to your back.". I freeze up and Leliana turns to the wild mage.
I stay silent and wary as the witch explains. "I healed you, and I know what causes those marks.". I stand and drop my armor to the ground. Now I'm left standing in my bra before Morrigan. "Like fuck you know how I got my entire back ripped off of me.". Morrigan stands in challenge. "Mass removal of the flesh. Someone tried to kill you.". I scoff and shake my head. "They'd no intent of killing me. They only wanted to watch me writhe in agony.". I sit back down, yank my armor up off the ground, and go back to hammering out the dent. Slowly, Leliana tries to bring up the topic again. "What could you have done that causes someone to want to put you in that much pain?". I humor her, but barely. "I stood up for elves and a human decide to pay with my flesh.". I shake my head and say something I'm sure will shut both of them up for the night.
"They ripped off twenty pounds of fat, muscles, and skin before deciding I had paid for my crimes. The woman with me got death instead of a living skinning.". Both are quiet for a long time. I think both of the humans have lost interest when Morrigan butts in again. "What did your attacker do with you flesh?". I hit my armor a little too harder than required as I answer the witch across from me. "They cooked it up and ate it with a fancy glass of wine.".
Morrigan rolls her eyes. "Very funny.". I examine my armor and tell her the truth. "I'm not lying. She made me watch while she ate it and complimented me on keeping my skin so soft and clean even though I'm an elf.". I thick silence fills the camp as I put my armor back on. Leliana is the first one to gather enough courage to speak. "Did you fight?". I shake my head. "You should have heard me the first time she trapped and tortured me.". I sneer and shake my head. "I screamed. Weak. Pathetic.". Now Morrigan speaks. "You aren't weak anymore.". I nod and stand up. "I'm not weak anymore. If she tried to cook me with some tangy sauce today, then I'd beat her within an inch of her life. Then, I'd make her watch me eat her back meat.".
Leliana cringes and Morrigan nods in approval. The bard of our group tries to talk me down. "Revenge isn't always the best route.". Morrigan disagrees. "It's not, but it's the only route worth following.". I chuckle a little and check on the soup. I begin filling four bowls as the two humans stare at me in silence. It's painfully clear neither of them know what to say about my meat once begin used for dinner. I ignore them and hand them their soup. Neither of the humans eat, but Duncan digs into his with great gusto and even begs me for seconds.
When we're done I stand and begin packing up. Instantly, my human fellows question me. "What are you doing?". I can hear the disdain drip from Morrigan's voice as she snarls at me. I keep packing and give her a simple explanation. "You've put me off of the mood for sleeping. We're going to go to the tower and sleep outside until tomorrow.". The two begin arguing with me, but before I can defend myself Leliana gives in.
Soon enough, Morrigan realizes she can't argue against a majority of our group. So, we all set out in the middle of the night. It works out about as well as expected. Duncan gets his head stuck in a gopher hole, Morrigan falls down three hills on six different occasions, Leliana (who was running as quickly as she could downhill to save Morrigan) ran into a tree, and I accidentally get shot in the leg by Leliana when I went to relieve myself.
Morrigan offers to light torches, but the distant howling of wolves makes all of us reconsider. Lighting torches would let us see better in the darkness; however, it could very possibly attract attention we don't want. The rest of the trip is spent moaning and groaning about aches and pains. Morrigan manages to twist her ankle while I break off the arrowhead trying to dig the projectile out of my limb. Everyone's spirits quickly die and shrivel up in the face of reality.
Briefly, Leliana tries to raise our spirits with a song. She barely gets a note out before Morrigan 'accidentally' fires off a spell at her. I groan at the two as they begin bickering like children. Thankfully, I'm able to avoid getting dragged into the conversation. The rest of our walk is spent like that. Well, almost. My feet begin throbbing and the muscles in my leg tighten.
Duncan comes up to about my chest. That's like the size of a small horse, right? I begin lightly petting the Mabari and shushing the quiet hound. Slowly, I climb onto his back. My dog keeps walking, but looks upwards and attempts to kiss my face. Morrigan and Leliana stop arguing at once and complaining. Well, Morrigan does. "Why do you get to get out of walking?". I hang onto the Mabari's neck and mumble sleepily into the fur on his neck.
"I'm the only one tiny enough to carry. The mage seems dissatisfied with my logic; however, she doesn't question me and we don't have any more arguments while heading to the Mage's Tower. Our journey is uneventful for quite some time. The gods seem to be getting bored because disaster strikes us once again. Mostly it strikes me. I fall off of Duncan into some mud and lose a beef sandwich I made a few hours ago, the tent I was carrying, and my dignity. Damn, I was looking forward to eating that sandwich.
Leliana heaves me out of the mud and places me back on Duncan's back. I mumble a weary thanks before all of us start heading towards our destination again. By the time we get there the sun is barely peaking over the horizon and my entire team looks like we've been drug through ten different kinds of shit. Morrigan's ankle is swollen, Duncan's face is covered in sores from the gophers, Leliana's nose is bleeding/black, and my leg still has an arrowhead buried in it. I walk over to the softest looking patch of dirt and collapse. Morrigan walks over and falls on top of me. Duncan follows Morrigan's example and collapses on her. All three of us don't do anything or say (bark in Duncan's case) anything at all. We're all just so, so exhausted and want the travel to be over.
Leliana is the only one who's still standing out of the group. Leliana manages to put up two tents. Then, the bard drags Morrigan into one of the tents. Duncan follows her inside and I silently curse him. I'm being drug into the other tent when I manage to get enough of my wits. "We have three tents.". Leliana shakes her head. "It went into the mud and nobody got it, remember?". I groan in agony and begin trying to push myself up off of the floor. I'm going to have to go all the way back there and get it so nobody has to sleep on the ground.
Leliana sees me struggling to get up and gently forces me back to the ground. "What do you think you're doing?". I point in the general direction of where we came. "I have to get the tent.". Leliana shakes her head. "It's too far. Besides, you can sleep with me.". No. No, I really can't. Sleeping in the same tent as someone else is probably the worst thing for me to do. However, I can't tell Leliana that without going into specifics. I take a deep breath and try to reason with the human. "I can go sleep outside and make it easier on everyone.".
Leliana glares and closes the tent we're in. I try to fight, but the human places a pillow beneath my head and a blanket over me. Well, I guess there's not really a point in trying to fight it anymore. The human will only keep pushing until I finally accept her offer, so I might as well go with it and save myself all of the trouble. My heavy eyelids begin sliding shut and I mumble incoherent threats about forcing me to do something I don't want to do. Leliana smiles and allows me to peacefully drift off into nothingness.