Mhairi walked through the streets of Highever with an extra spring in her step. She had walked down these streets many times before during her childhood and youth, but this time everything was different. She wasn't just some working-class peasant betrothed to some nobody trader or some grunt in the army anymore; she was a Grey Warden recruit. Not only that, but she was the recruit who was given the privilege of escorting the Hero of Ferelden back to Amaranthine. Even though her more logical side told her that the only reason she was selected for this job was that she actually grew up in Highever, the knowledge that she would be the first to meet the Commander made her walk a little taller, with her head held just a bit higher as she made her way to the Noble Mabari Inn and Tavern.
Making her way into the inn, she wrinkled her nose a bit; it was just as drab a place as she had remembered, definitely not an establishment that she felt was worthy enough for her Commander. She had hoped that Commander Tabris would be waiting for her in the tavern, but upon entering, she found that, apart from a few insignificant traveling merchants, the tavern was empty. Sighing to herself, Mhairi strolled over to the inn's proprietor.
"Hello, good fellow," she said, her voice oozing arrogance and self-importance. "I am Mhairi of the Grey Wardens, and I am here to retrieve Commander Tabris. Would you be so kind as to fetch her for me?"
The innkeeper gave her an amused. "I'd be happy to. Come to think of it, I haven't seen either Zevran or Eriana today. I'll run upstairs and make sure they know you're here."
Mhairi nodded, a bit miffed that this man deigned to refer to her Commander in such a familiar manner; didn't he know who he was talking about? She knew that Tabris was an elf; perhaps that made people more likely to treat her with such casual familiarity. The old man returned alone a few minutes later. "She will be a moment, Ser. You may want to take a seat, and I'll get you something to drink." Mhairi nodded and sat down as the innkeeper moved over to his wife and whispered something in her ear. A surprised look crossed the woman's face, and she moved quickly to the door and disappeared upstairs as her husband brought a drink over to her table.
Mhairi sat there, slowly drinking her mead, and watching the door, waiting for the commander. When news had reached her that the Grey Wardens were accepting recruits, Mhairi had jumped at the prospect, and not only because she wanted to be a part of the legendary order of Warriors. As excited as that prospect made her, the chance to work with Eriana Tabris was the thing that excited her the most. She had heard tales of this elf; well, who in Ferelden hadn't? She was the woman who had nearly single-handedly stopped a Blight. Who wouldn't jump at a chance to work with such a soldier? Much to her disappointment she had arrived in Denerim just a few days after the Wardens had departed, so she was forced to wait several months to meet her.
Finishing off her drink, Mhairi began to review everything she knew about the Commander. According to the palace guards, the elven woman was one of the best duelists that they had ever seen, wielding duel weapons with unprecedented speed and precision. Those who had fought alongside her in the battle of Denerim commended her skill with a bow, claiming that they had seen her kill darkspawn with a single arrow. And of course, all of Ferelden spoke of her beauty, but those reports were often exaggerated, so Mhairi didn't give them much credence. But the thing that excited her most of all was Ser Perth's opinion of her; according to Perth, she was among the kindest and likeable people he had ever met. True, she was a focused and stern leader, one to always get the job done, but there was another side to her that you couldn't help but love. The other guards confirmed it, talking about how they missed her smiling face the sound of her laughter in the practice yard. After years of working with sour-faced, overly-serious Generals, she was ready for a commander that she could actually like, someone that she might actually call a friend.
In her musing, Mhairi lost track of exactly how much time had passed, but slowly she came to realize that she had been sitting there for nearly half an hour with no Commander. "Excuse me," she said, calling over the innkeeper, "are you sure the Commander knows that I am here?"
"She knows; just give her some time. She has, um, some unexpected things to deal with."
So she waited with growing impatience and frustration. The man brought her another drink and some food, but Mhairi just picked at it, her eyes focused on the door that led up to the rooms. The Commander had known she was coming, right? The seneschal had sent word ahead and arranged for them to stay in the inn after all. She asked the innkeeper again if everything was alright with the Commander, and he merely waved her off, assuring her that the Warden would be down shortly. Another half an hour passed before the innkeeper's wife appeared in the doorway, carrying a pack and a gray cloak with the Grey Warden Griffon embroidered on it. Behind her followed a short elven woman in a violet set of light armor, her blond hair tied up in a messy knot on the top of her head. It took Mhairi a moment to realize that she was looking at the Warden Commander herself. She fit the description that Perth and the other guards had given her, but in a way, she seemed completely different than what she expected. Instead of the smiling, personable elf she had expected, there stood a dour, stern-looking woman. The elven woman looked tired, and there was a cold, joyless look in her eyes. Commander Tabris glanced around the room, and Mhairi felt those cold, calculating eyes fall on her, appraising her for a moment before they returned to the innkeeper who was now talking to her. Mhairi shuttered involuntarily.
"So once they heard what happened, the Couslands sent down a cart for you. The messenger said that you were to keep the cart, just attach it to your horse. They also sent some supplies and some of your things that they were going to ship to Amaranthine," the Innkeeper told the Commander.
"Will my horse do that? He's a warhorse not a draft horse."
"It should be fine; he probably won't like it, but he's definitely strong enough. I'll go put your pack and weapons in the cart for you. We'll be there whenever you're ready."
Tabris thanked the man and handed the man her long, elegant bow along with the quiver of arrows. Mhairi moved to introduce herself to her Commander when the innkeeper's wife returned and, much to her surprise, pulled the elf into a huge hug. Tabris didn't seem to mind; in fact, she seemed to be hugging the woman back. The woman then whispered something in the elf's ear and patted her on the cheek in an almost maternal way.
"Now, dear, I have packed you some of that raisin bread that you loved so much along with some dried meat and cheese."
The Commander smiled weakly, "Gloria, you didn't have to do that."
"Of course I did, my dear. I have to take care of our hero don't I?" The woman smiled down at the young elf. "I just wish there was more I could do for you." Gloria sighed, "Now the next time you come to Highever, be sure to come and visit. There will always be a room here for you."
Tabris thanked the woman again and then walked over to Mhairi. "Are you the Warden recruit?"
"Yes," Mhairi said stepping forward and extending her hand toward the Commander, "I am Mhairi, and it is a great pleasure to meet…"
"Can you drive a cart?" Tabris asked abruptly, ignoring her hand.
"Um, well, yes, of course," Mhairi stuttered, surprised by the Commander's cold manner.
"Good," Tabris said. She glanced down to the floor on her right for a moment before sighing and quickly moving past her and out into the street. Mhairi stood there for a moment, confused. Then she realized that the Commander was alone.
"What happened to her companion?" Mhairi asked, turning to the innkeeper's wife. "I thought she was traveling with someone else."
"He left this morning, and Eriana was not happy about it. It would be wise if you avoided that particular subject with her," the woman said sadly. "It would also be wise if you didn't keep her waiting."
Mhairi nodded and hurried out the door after her Commander. Perhaps once they got going, Tabris would loosen up a bit. She found the Commander in the alley, talking very seriously to her horse. "I know, I know, you are not a plow horse, and I don't intend to make you one. But I need you to do this for me once, only once." The horse snorted and shook its head making the elf laugh softly. "Hey, I'm not lying, but we've got to get to Amaranthine, big boy," she said, patting the horse on the neck as she moved around it and climbed up on the cart.
Mhairi climbed in beside her, "Were you just talking to the horse?"
Tabris nodded curtly. "It's a trick I learned from the Dalish," she said as she secured her bow and arrow in front of her. "Well, let's get out of here; I've had enough of this city."
The next three days were the longest that Mhairi ever experienced. Her excitement and joy at meeting the legendary Hero of Ferelden were soon demolished as she spent time with the woman herself. The first day of the journey, Mhairi asked her questions about the Grey Wardens and the Blight, but the Commander only seemed interested in giving one or two word answers. In fact, she didn't seem interested in talking at all. If anything, the more Mhairi talked, the more annoyed the elf seemed to get with her.
When they stopped to make camp the first night, the Commander grabbed her bow and took off toward the woods. "Wait," Mhairi shouted, "You can't go out in the woods alone. It's too dangerous."
"I won't be alone," the elf said as she disappeared into the trees. A half an hour or so later, after Mhairi had gotten the fire started and the tents set up, the elf reappeared with a huge white wolf walking beside her. Mhairi gasped and drew her sword, but the Commander merely waved it off. "Don't worry about him; he won't hurt you. I told you; it's an old Dalish trick. I can summon animals to fight, hunt, whatever. He will stay with us tonight and his pack will keep watch. That way one of us doesn't need to stay up all night."
Mhairi put her sword up and watched as the elf pulled a few rabbits from her pack and began systematically cleaning and cooking them, all in complete silence. As they ate, Mhairi tried to make conversation light conversation, but the Commander simply ate in silence, picking at her food. About half way through the meal, Commander Tabris simply placed the her plate on the ground in front of the wolf and pulled her legs up to her chest and stared into the fire. Occasionally, the elf would reach out and absent-mindedly stroke the head of the wolf that was laying beside her.
"Commander," Mhairi said, suddenly remembering something, "I thought you had a mabari." The elf looked down at the wolf and nodded. "Did something happen to it?"
"No, he's staying with the Couslands for a few months."
"Do you miss him?"
The elf reached out and stroked the head of the wolf for a moment and sighed. "More than you could imagine." Without saying anything else, the elf got up and disappeared into her tent.
The second day of travel was just as painful as the first; Mhairi tried to talk about more generic things, her childhood, life in the army, and things like that, but Commander Tabris seemed even less interested in talking about that than talking about the Blight. By the third day, Mhairi decided that there was no sense trying to talk to the elven woman and was quite ready to be back at the Keep among people who would talk to her.
The sun was just setting when they approached Virgil's Keep and a heavy rain was starting to set in, a perfectly dreary ending to a perfectly dreary journey.
"Something is wrong," the Commander suddenly said, breaking the silence that had hung over the two women all day.
Mhairi looked around, "Yes, there should be some Wardens here to greet us. What is going on?" She glanced over at the silent Warden beside her.
"Leave the horse here; we continue on foot," Tabris said, securing her weapons and putting on a helmet as she leapt from the cart. Mhairi followed her, drawing her own sword. As they approached the gates, a guard came running toward them, a host of darkspawn at his feet. "Stay close and watch out for their blood," Commander Tabris shouted as she knocked an arrow and fired at the nearest darkspawn. Over half of the creatures fell to her Commander's arrows before they were even in melee range. Mhairi was impressed; cold and distant as the elf may seem, there was no doubt that she knew what she was doing when it came to killing darkspawn.
Once the last one fell, the Commander turned to the guard. "What happened here? Where are the other Wardens?"
"I don't know, My Lady; it all happened so fast. There was someone behind me, but I don't know if he was a Warden. All I heard was screaming. I got out as fast as I could."
"I left my cart with some supplies back a ways just off the road. Go there, and I will send any survivors I find your way." The guard nodded and ran off down the road. The Commander turned back to her, "We don't have much time; we need to clear the Keep." Then she stopped and looked up at the fortress. "Just stay close to me and don't go off on your own. We need to be efficient."
Mhairi nodded and followed the Warden into the keep; it was like walking into a nightmare. There were bodies and darkspawn everywhere. She wished that she had time to process the true horror of the situation, but before she was able, the monsters were on her. She threw herself into fighting, cutting down as many of the vile creatures as she was able to, but as soon as one fell, two more seemed to be there, ready to attack. Before she knew it, she was surrounded by the darkspawn. Just as one of the large ones was about to bring its sword down on her, the Commander appeared out of thin air and cut the beast down. The huge white wolf leapt on the beast, tearing out its throat as the elf spun around, cutting down two smaller darkspawn with a single sweep of her sword. Mhairi struggled to her feet and rejoined the fighting.
"I thought I told you to stay close to me," Commander Tabris shouted once all the darkspawn around them lay dead. "You got off on your own and were nearly killed. Do you even pay attention to what's going on around you?"
"I'm sorry commander; I got so caught up in fighting that I didn't realize I was so far away from you."
"Look, there are two of us, that's it, two of us, and there are likely hundreds of them. If we just go running in there without thinking, we die! Do you understand that?" The elf's eyes seemed to be burning with anger as she stormed away, the white wolf following at her heels.
Mhairi sighed and followed, purposefully staying very close to the elf as they fought their way through the courtyard of the keep. It was a grueling task, but the Commander was efficient and deadly. Once they were done, Tabris stood with one of the guards discussing the keep's fortifications and the state of things within the fortress. "Gather together anyone who is still alive and set up a base. I have a cart full of supplies and health potions just down the road if you can send someone to fetch it." The guard nodded and signaled to another soldier to go after it before handing the Commander a canteen. She took a long drink and held it out to Mhairi. "Here, drink."
"No thank you, Commander; I'm alright."
"It's not an offering; it's an order. Hydrate yourself; you don't know when you'll get another chance."
Mhairi sighed and took a drink. It seemed that she could do nothing right for the Commander. "This was the first time I ever fought against darkspawn. I had no idea how horrible they were."
Commander Tabris rolled her eyes, "So what did you expect, puppies throwing kittens? Yeah, they're horrible, they're darkspawn. You did realize what you were signing up for, right?"
Mhairi didn't reply. Instead, she just finished the drink and handed the canteen back to the guard. She was done trying to convince herself that Tabris was just angry or stressed out. After spending three days with that woman, one thing was certain; her new commander was a bitch.
Anders sighed and sank back against the wall of the cell. Escape attempt number seven had been a roaring success, and now he was once again surrounded by templars and headed back to the tower. At least he had a bed of sorts to sleep on tonight because, judging by the sounds of rain on the roof, it would have been a nasty night to sleep outside. As he was beginning to doze off, the sounds of screams and fighting outside woke him up completely. Around him, the templars were getting to their feet and pulling out their weapons.
"You know," he said hopefully, "if you let me out, I can help you kill whatever's out there."
"Shut up, apostate," one of them, Biff, he thought, barked at him as he moved toward the door.
Suddenly the door flew open and several horrible monsters came streaming in. Darkspawn, Anders instantly realized. The creatures wasted no time, launching themselves at the templars, razor-sharp teeth bared. Magic flared up around Anders as he launched an attack against the monsters, knocking several to the ground. Biff ran to the cage door and pulled it open. "Finally," thought Anders as bolted out of the cage summoning a fireball and flinging it toward the main cluster of darkspawn, "some common sense from a templar." It occurred to him how strange it was fighting alongside templars rather than with them, but he didn't really have time to dwell on it as the fighting intensified. One by one, templars and darkspawn began to fall around him (not that he was heartbroken in the least to see either fall) until there was only one creature remaining. Summoning the last of his will, a column of fire erupted from his hands, consuming the final darkspawn and carrying it to the ground.
Shaking the fire off his hands, Anders turned toward the door and was surprised to find a beautiful elven woman standing there, an amused look on her face. The soldier behind her had a sword out, ready to attack him if necessary. "Um, I didn't do it," he said quickly, realizing how it would look to an outsider, a mage standing there surrounded by the bodies of dead templars. "I'm not broken up about it or anything, don't get me wrong. I mean, Biff there made the funniest little gurgle when he went down."
The elven woman cocked her head and looked up at him. "Did you kill these darkspawn yourself?"
"Well, they helped a bit, and then they died, goodie for me," he said and was pleased to discover that the elf grinned slightly with that. "Well, I suppose introductions are in order. You may call me Anders my dear lady," he said with a flourish. "I am a mage and sadly a wanted apostate."
The warrior behind the elf spoke up. "An apostate? At Virgil's Keep?" She sounded appalled and insulted by the thought. The elf however just rolled her eyes.
"We were just stopping here on our way back to the tower, just a short rest, and now they're dead. Such a shame."
"So you weren't willingly going back to the tower I take it? " the elf said as she stepped up to him and looked down at the dead bodies.
"I wouldn't call it willingly, no. More like kicking and screaming." He turned and looked down at the elven woman who seemed to be the one in charge. "Perhaps it's a sign that the darkspawn attacked."
"A convenient one," the elf muttered.
"Isn't it though? The Maker works in mysterious ways."
The elf gave a weak laugh the said saddly, "A friend of mine used to say fate is a tricky whore, same basic idea, huh." She sighed and looked up at him. "I'll tell you what, Anders was it?" He nodded, "Well I'm Eriana Tabris, Commander of the Ferelden Grey, and I find myself in dire need of a healer. You wouldn't so happen to have any experience in that area, do you?"
Ah, so this was the famed Hero of Ferelden everyone had been talking about; no wonder she was in charge. "My lady, healing happens to be my specialty."
"Good, so primal isn't the only school of magic you specialize in; that's good to know." Anders was impressed, a non-mage who knew something about magic and wasn't afraid or intimidated by it. He liked this woman. "I'll tell you what; you help me clear out my keep, and I'll do what I can to get the chantry off your back."
Anders was surprised, "Really? You would do that for me?"
"Well anyone who can wipe out this many darkspawn singlehandedly doesn't need to be locked up in a tower, lighting fireplaces, and studying the side effects of rashvine poisoning."
"Commander," the warrior behind her spoke up. "Are you sure we can trust him?"
Eriana rolled her eyes again before turning around. "We need all the help we can get right now, and he's proven that he can hold his own against these things. So yeah, I trust him." Then she turned around and muttered under her breath, "A lot more than I can trust you."
Andres smiled, he really liked this woman; things might actually work out alright for him for once.
Mhairi always annoyed me in the game, so I hope I captured her voice. If you want to see Eriana's reaction to waking up without Zev, I included that at the end of "Just Follow My Lead" and didn't feel like I needed to repeat it.
Welcome to my newest followers: Arsineo d Blassenville and Sharem; I hope you enjoy! As always, thank you to my reviewers: Eva Galana and Jen43011 – You guys rock!