Tabris POV:

I grab Duncan by his harness and begin heaving him off of Leliana. The bard is laughing and petting my Mabari, but I still feel a twinge of regret. I highly doubt Leliana would want to have sex with me only a few moments after officially announcing her feelings for me (I doubt I'd even let her); however, a tiny part of me still yearned to let things come to a more natural end. Finally, I wrestle Duncan off of Leliana. My hound turns to me, smiles, and licks my face. I groan as Wynne decides to make her presence known. "Hello?". I groan and yell out. "Come in!". Wynne steps inside with a bundle in her hand. "Do you want your belongings?". I nod and take the bag from her.

Then, I motion for the woman to sit down. The older mage (who I've already developed an affinity for because of no better reason that she's not Morrigan) sits down and crosses her legs. Duncan collapses onto his side and Leliana scoots into a position so our entire group is making a square. Instantly, I begin taking items out off my bag. As I do, Wynne talks to me. "Some dwarves showed up and have set up shop on the outskirts of our camp. They claimed someone named 'Alistair' gave them permission.". I groan and toss my hands into the air. "I'll talk to them later. Right now I just want to get everything else settled out.". I quickly examine the loot I gleaned from the mages' tower.

A thick black book that's bound in the flesh of elves (I'm assuming), some Mabari 'paint' to put on Duncan, and a few new weapons and armor. I give Wynne some gauntlets and boots to offer mild protection; paint complex yet easy designs on Duncan; and hand Leliana a new and better bow. Now everyone has some decent armor and weapons. I replaced my own sword with a bigger one and donned the heaviest chainmail I could find back at the tower, so I'll be good to go for a while. I make a mental note to give the book to Morrigan, then shove everything else in my bag to sell for later. Finally, I'm free to discuss the current situation with my team.

"We can head to Redcliff and wait, or chase after Alistair. Honestly, I want to go with Alistair. He seems like the kind of person that'd get himself into trouble.". Wynne shrugs in indifference, Duncan barks in complete agreement, and Leliana nods before saying something. "I'd like to eventually visit Denerim after that.". I nod. "We'll visit Denerim in between getting Alistair and going to Redcliffe.". Leliana smiles in content and I spell out our plan. "Tomorrow, I'm going to go find some horses for you two. There's an inn nearby, so I should be able to get a few. Alistair took all of ours, so we'll have to make due with whatever I can find. Then, we need to go and get to Orzammar as quickly as we can.".

Nods of confirmation from my team. "I have no idea what we'll do there, but we'll find Alistair. Finally, I'll lead us and do whatever needs to be done. Hopefully, Alistair hasn't fucked up too badly in my absence.". I look around at all of them. "Anyone have any questions?". Everyone shakes their heads. "Alright. Now go get some sleep. I'll be preparing breakfast in the morning.". An odd pride fills me as everyone settles down (Wynne returning to her tent first) for the night and follows my orders. My happiness at being a warden briefly faltered when my order was nearly destroyed, but now I feel no shame in what I am. I look over at Leliana and try to stroke a fire against humans.

It still comes to me, but it's duller. Like I'm willing to talk to a human before killing them. Now I feel bad for how I've treated Alistair and Morrigan. Not because I like them or trust shem (that aren't Leliana), but because I'm certain Leliana doesn't enjoy watching me treat her fellows cruelly. Maybe when we're all together I can make it up to Alistair and get to know Sten better. Morrigan seems to like me and I have that book I intent to give her (it seems right up her area of expertise), so I don't have to worry about her so much. However, there's still the issue of the dwarves apparently setting up shop right outside of our camp.

I prepare myself mentally, step outside the tent, and find the dwarves with their cart a few feet from my tent. I sigh, spit to the side, and strut over to them. Instantly, the older dwarf shies away. The younger one just stares at me with a blank expression. Finally, the older one manages to gather up the guts to talk to me. "Hello! We're-". I cut him off. "Merchants. Aren't you?". He nods. "Why are you here?". He shudders as he speaks. "We wanted to follow a warden, but the warden we found turned us onto your trail. He said you'd have lots to sell and buy.". I roll my shoulders and motion at him. "Show me what gifts you have.". He begin digging through his cart as I count my coins.

Thirty gold, fifteen silver, and ten copper. Enough to buy whatever I want. The dwarf lays out all of his gifts and I place three gold down in front of them along with five silver and a copper. The man scoops the treasure up as I take every single gift he has. I even buy a few 'specialty' items. Like a lute for Leliana, charm for Wynne, stick for Duncan, etc. Things my group will love more than anything else in their entire lives. I even buy gifts I know nobody will like just in case I have use for them. Like a bag of wine and some brandy. I carefully place the gifts up and consider if I should sell anything. Quickly, I decide to lose some of my junk.

I hand over some weapons, armor, and other items I'm not using. The dwarf frowns and reluctantly hands over twenty gold for all of my items. I take the coins and smirk. My carry weight is now almost nothing and I have a decent amount of coin to spend if the need arises. I do a quick mental check of everything, then return to my tent. Leliana's moved our sleeping mats together, but Duncan has wedged himself in between the two. I bite my lip and make a rash decision to get things ready tonight for tomorrow, so I can sleep in tomorrow before making breakfast. I strip down to my undershirt and undershorts, put down my weapon, and take off my shoes.

I'm not much of a rogue, but my mother taught me the very, very basics. I was never very good at it (which is why she chose to teach me her warrior skills), but I was decent enough to be able to sneak up on the occasional drunken shem that wandered into the elven areas of Denerim. That's when I'd show them the warrior skills my mother taught me. However, tonight I won't need to slit anyone's throat. Now all I need to do is sneak up to some horses without spooking them into running or braying in terror. Shedding my bulky armor and weapon along with my shoes will make my goal easier to achieve.

I slide out of my tent and begin returning to the Circle Tower. My feet get filthy along the way; however, I've built up enough callouses due to my lack of proper shoes (prior to a few weeks ago) that my feet don't pain me. Without any enemies to fight or traps to walk by I'm able to make it back to the Circle Tower's shore within a few minutes. Thankfully, 'The Spoiled Princess' is packed. Lights are still blazing inside, dirty songs are leaking out as loudly as if the singers were right beside me, and I can see figures dancing with drinks in their hands through the window. More importantly, there are at least fifteen horses tied up around the building. I quickly see some that are tied to a tree off to the side because every tying pole is occupied.

There are five of them and I only need two. Unfortunately, I'll have to untie all of them and just hope that the three remaining ones don't wander off into the woods. The reason is because they're all tied together and I can't let anyone know there was a thief here. Thus, all of them need to be released to make it look like the rope was just lose and came undone. I take two by their leads and begin guiding them away. My heart aches as two of the three remaining ones begin slowly wandering into the woods, but I can't do anything about it.

As I lead the horses back to camp I briefly consider going back and getting the one that remained. Then, I decide against it. Leliana is Orlesion and Wynne sounds like she's lived a long and full life, so both of them probably know how to ride a horse. I, however, have no idea how to ride a horse because one of the three main rules about elves in Denerim. An elf with a weapon is to be beaten; an elf that goes against a human is to be beaten; and an elf with 'human' luxuries is to be beaten. A secret fourth rule is 'If you wanna beat up an elf for no reason at all, then go right ahead.'.

I didn't listen to any of the rules because I proudly wore a sword at my belt, went against any human I could, and had as many 'luxuries' (like human whores and leaving the walled off area of the city meant for elves); however, I was never daring enough to ride a horse. Riding with Duncan to Ostagar was my first experience, and that was with a trained horse that mostly ignored my commands in favor of following Duncan's steed. Besides, Duncan the Mabari handled me fine and listened to me well. I've reached the clearing during my daydreaming and go to work. I tie the horses up and do one final thing before going to bed. If I'm going to ride Duncan, then I need him to be calm. Smearing some of his paint on me should help him keep a level head.

A quick examination of the clearing reveals I'm alone because the dwarven merchants have gone to bed, so I quickly get naked. I dig around to find the paint I used on Duncan. Carefully, I rub some on the sides of my face, around my neck, around my wrists, around my ankles, down the length of my stomach, and covering my breasts. I made sure to rub the areas that'll be pressing against Duncan.

I briefly consider rubbing some on a certain part of me, but I eventually settle for painting some on my inner thighs and leaving it as that. Hopefully, Duncan will smell his own paint and mine and realize it's always just me. I quickly add a few more drips of scarlet paint to my arm and legs. Finally, I've painted every area I want to. I allow it to dry, redress, and slide into my tent. I've done so much I'm out before my head even hits the pillow.

Note: Thank you for your patience. I'll return to the normal 'one week' updating rate.