Tabris POV:
When I wake up I'm surrounded by warm bodies with Leliana shoving items into my hands. I take whatever she offers and heave myself into a sitting position. Meanwhile, Leliana settles back down beside me. I look at a plate of bread, bacon, and eggs. My other hand has a bottle of beer in it. I look around and see everyone's still surrounding me in a pile besides Alistair. He's currently lying on the floor a few feet away from the pile of friends. I take a swig of beer and try to remember what we were all doing here. It takes a few minutes, but I manage to remember the gist of what was happening. I focus on eating my breakfast while thinking about what I need to do next.
Alistair needs to go to Redcliffe and attempt to redeem himself for his failure. He can take either Morrigan or Wynne with him, but nobody else. He fucked up, so he's going to have to fix this. If that means he ends up getting his throat slit and I'm the only Warden left that can stop the Blight, then so be it. I won't allow a loser or quitter onto my team. When I'm done eating I decide to wake my team up. Duncan easily wakes up, Morrigan complains, Wynne takes five minutes to rouse, Leliana is already awake by the time I get to her, and I toss one of my shoes at Alistair to wake him up. Quickly, everyone gathers around me while I'm putting my shoe back on.
"Alright. Anyone care to tell me what happened?". Everyone turns to Alistair. The man can't meet my eyes as he recounts his failings.
"We came down here unprepared. The Broodmother stopped us completely. There wasn't even a tiny chance we could kill her. Sten kept arguing to go in, and eventually he charged in by himself when I refused to go. We don't know if he died or just left when nobody was looking, but he was nowhere in there. The dwarf, Oghren, argued with me and challenged my authority all the way through the search for Paragon Branka. We ended up having to kill her, and Oghren decided we weren't worth following. I'm assuming he's back at the bar we originally found him in.". I suck in a deep breath, hold it for a few seconds, and release it before asking a question.
"So, we don't have a paragon? Exactly, why did we need one?". Alistair continues to not meet my eyes as he explains what's going on.
"The dwarves had their king die, and the rightful king needed help becoming the real king. He wanted a paragon's word. Branka died, but another paragon gave me a crown to give to the dwarf I wanted to be king.". I nod to show I've heard him, then give him his assignment.
"Take either Morrigan or Wynne and return to the dwarves. I don't care what you do; just get their aid. Then, go to Redcliffe. Hopefully, you can redeem yourself.". Alistair looks like he wants to argue. I glare at him to show him that I'm not in the mood. Reluctantly, he bows his head and nods. Now, however, Morrigan feels the need to speak.
"I want to go with you.". I glance over at the dark witch who's looking at me like if I refuse to take her she'll hate me forever.
"Why? You don't know any heal-". Morrigan speaks over my sentence and interrupts me.
"I know healing spells! I just never used them...". She briefly breaks my gaze at the confession before looking back and once again speaking to me.
"Take me. You took Wynne on your last mission. Take me and make Wynne go with Alistair.". Wynne adds her own opinion to the mix.
"I wouldn't mind going with Alistair.". Alistair destroys the whole thing.
"Why do I only get one companion?! It should be even! I should get two and you should get two!". I glare for a second time and the man falls silent. Finally, I tell everyone where I'm going to go and what I'm going to do.
"Morrigan, Leliana, Duncan, and I will go to Denerim. Hopefully, we can get new and better armor/weapons, and take care of some unfinished business. We'll also stock up on healing supplies.". Leliana and Morrigan nod while Duncan just looks at me like a dog. Alistair pouts and Wynne just nods a little in acceptance of my decision. I heave myself onto my feet, clap my hands together, and try to get everyone moving.
"Well, let's start heading out. One team per bronto.". Alistair seems a little happy about getting his own bronto, but doesn't thank me. It takes everyone about an hour to pack up camp, load down the brontos, and begin heading out. Alistair takes a different path than us without any explanation, but I don't bother questioning him about anything. Instead, I just focus on my own bronto and allow my idiotic companion to go free. Leliana is the one guiding the bronto, so I lean back against Morrigan and try to strike up a conversation with her.
"So, has your spell finally worn off?". I manage to glance over my shoulder to see the dark witch nodding at me.
"Indeed. Expect a few mild effects here and there for the next few months or so, but nothing that'll make you an uncontrollable idiot that goes running at Broodmothers.". I nod before leaning forward and whispering in Leliana's ear.
"Does your offer about taking care of your old mentor still stand?". Leliana nods without looking back at me. I lean back to Morrigan and glance over to check on her. Questions are clear on her face, but she doesn't voice them. Good. That makes things a little easier on all of us. I'm not loopy during the ride, but I do manage to tune myself out for quite a while. Leliana and Morrigan argue a little, Leliana talks to Duncan, and Duncan tries to get Morrigan to give him a treat. All of the conversation are rather useless and boring due to the act none of them include me. Well, that's a lie. Leliana tries to bait me into conversation about my mother (by subtly asking 'So, why was your mother in jail when I freed her?'), but I brush her off due to the fact I don't wanna talk about that in front of Morrigan.
Morrigan, thankfully, doesn't try to bring up my mother. After a few hours, Leliana suggest making camp. Quickly, I veto the idea and tell her to keep going. The bronto has gotten a full 24 hours of rest and I don't want to stay in the Deep Roads any longer than I absolutely have to because the Deep Roads are absolutely terrible. Leliana seems skeptical of my call, but doesn't vocally say anything about it.
Morrigan and Duncan don't seem to care either way. Although, I doubt either of them have strong opinions about anything. Well, I doubt Morrigan has any strong opinions for anything; I know she has strong opinions against things. I try to stay awake with my group for the remainder of the ride, but eventually I find myself lying back on Morrigan and resting my head on her shoulder. As soon as I realize that; I decide to give up and sleep.
I wake up in Leliana's arms. The woman is once again struggling to carry me. I reach upwards and tap on her face. Leliana glances down and gives me a weak smile.
"Stop spoiling her!". Morrigan, once again, advises Leliana to put me down. I nuzzle up against the bard in argument. Clearly, Leliana sides with me and allows me to curl up in her arms and continue being carried. Currently, Leliana has one hand on the back of my thighs and another in between my shoulder blades. My spine is curled downwards and my head is pressed against the woman's clothed chest. My hands are locked together on my stomach and my arms are dangling below me.
"Where are we?". Leliana struggles to answer and keep carrying me.
"Outside Orzammar. You didn't want to wake up on the bronto, so I carried you out.". I chuckle a little at the mental image of all the dwarves watching Leliana carry me out. Then, I remember a promise I made. I shove Leliana away and stand on my own. I see we're almost out of the mountains surrounding the home of the dwarves. I bark commands at my team before I run away.
"Make a camp; I'll be back!". I begin running as quickly as I can back to Orzammar. It takes me about an hour to return to the surface area of the city, run through the mountain part of the city, and find the slums where the poorest of the poor are. I find a filthy dwarf wearing rags that's standing beside a muddy pool full of nugs.
"You! How much for a nug?". The man begins fumbling for words. I toss a single golden coin at him.
"Find me the biggest, cutest nug you can!". The man gaps at the coin before running away with my coin. I swear if he doesn't return I'll kill him. Thankfully, I don't have to swear vengeance against any dwarves that day. The man returns with a squirming pig-like creature in his arms. I snatch the beast away and begin running back to where I came. However, I run out of steam when I reach the surface area of Orzammar and begin walking.
As I go, I take the nug in both hands and hold his little face up to mine. Beady eyes, wrinkled pink skin, and freakishly long whiskers. The nug flicks his large, donkey-like ears before reaching out to me. I swear human hands come to rest on my face, but the nug's hands are too hot and have claws attached to them. The beast's rat nose curls upwards to reveal teeth meant for chomping stalks of grass. The nose begins to wiggle and a noise comes from the monster.
"Squeak!". I shove the nug under one arm and make a promise to myself never to ever look at him again. Nugs are horrible, horrible creatures that don't deserve to be looked at. But if Leliana wants a nug as a pet, then Leliana's going to get a nug as a pet. The camp is already erected and Leliana is waiting for me. The moon high in the sky explains why Morrigan and Duncan didn't bother staying up. When Leliana sees me she begins stomping the fire out. I smile as I hold the nug out and whistle when I arrive in camp. Leliana looks up and lets out a squeal to rival the nug. Instantly, the nug is fighting me to get free and join his master. I release him and the two collide. Leliana scoops the nug up and begins rubbing their noses together. I walk over to them and Leliana turns to me with a smile beaming over her face.
"My very own nug!". I nod and motion towards her pet.
"Be careful. He's a nipper.". She begins rubbing noses with him while talking.
"Oh, nonsense! He's just hungry.". The nug begins kissing Leliana.
"Look, he's snuffling me! Snuffle snuffle!". Leliana kisses me on the cheek.
"Thank you so much; you've made my day!". Leliana kisses the nug.
"I'll name him Schmooples.". She begins walking towards our tent with the nug over her shoulder. Schmooples raises a single hand and clenches it twice in a sort of wave. I shudder with a single thought running through my mind.
Hands.