First, I want to thank my dedicated reviewers, Deadly Haven, Smashbrawlguy, spectre4hire, mille libri and JayRain. Warm fuzzes to all of the first time and sporadic reviewers out there as well, and lurker cookies to watchers. I wanted to make sure that you all know how much I appreciate your attention since it keeps me going, and look where we are now! 100k words, over 100 reviews, and more than 12k page hits. Much love all around.
Secondly, you guys were pretty unanimous on wanting to see some romance finally happen, and if you don't catch your idea here in this chapter, be assured that I'm probably keeping it in the tank for later. You guys are awesome for spawning plot bunnies. So, as promised, here's the super celebratory chapter, aka: The Most Fanservicy Thing I've Ever Written.
"What do you mean you forgot?"
"Normally I'm not huffy, but I'm with Ammy on this one Basher."
"Things have been busy, time just slipped away…"
Solona shook her head solemnly, Kallain mirroring the mage's expression of displeasure as the two women stared down Aedan, looking equal parts bemused and annoyed. He rolled his eyes and sighed, exasperated. "Look, it's not that big of a deal-"
"Not that big of a deal?" Kallian cocked an eyebrow. "Basher, we're livin' by the seat of our pants here! Any day Howe can come swoopin' in on us an' tear this whole thing apart!"
"Yeah, swooping is bad." Alistair chimed in, crossing his arms over his chest and earning a slow shake of the head from Theron who seemed content to let everyone else at the table do the speaking.
"Exactly." Kallian agreed readily, entirely missing the inside joke that passed between the two Wardens invoked by the comment. "We need every reason to perk up the mood around here, an' your birth day will do it."
"Besides, Rebecca would be devastated if we didn't celebrate." Solona added, folding her hands together on the table in a manner that was entirely too professional given the topic that they were talking about. "She already got all the ingredients for a cake, and you know how hard it's been to get sugar with every ship in the area forgoing trading supplies for shipping people out of Ferelden as of late."
"Ooh, there's going to be cake? Well that just seals the deal, doesn't it?" Looking entirely too cheerful, Alistair tried his best puppy face on Aedan, turning on the childish-charm full blast. "You wouldn't really turn down cake, would you?"
For a long while Aedan held out against the combined power of the three pleading with him to have a little joy in life, then his willpower finally caved in and he sighed, leaning back in his chair. "Fine." The admission was met with various states of glee, though Aedan stopped any preemptive celebrations by lifting his hand. "But! The first person that tries to blindfold me for a "surprise" is getting their arm broken, understand?"
Kallian stood from her chair immediately, almost knocking it over backward and gave Aedan a sloppy salute. "Aye captain! Come on Ammy, we gotta go tell Rebecca that he gave in." Giggling, Solona allowed herself to be taken by the hand out of her seat and followed the elf out of the room, waving over her shoulder as the two disappeared into the hallway. Alistair rose from his chair as well and stopped mid-way, casting a quick glance to Theron who nodded once and then was off as well.
Sighing, Aedan couldn't help the small smile that twitched up the corners of his lips and looked out the window into the garden below where Keran and Falonfen, the Warden's dog were chasing after each other with abandon, glad to have a fellow four-legged friend. "Well, that meeting was productive up until I remembered what the date was."
Again, Theron simply nodded, fingering some papers sitting in front of his place at the table that they had all been at moments before, now abandoned save for the two. He chuckled suddenly, and relaxed against the back of his own chair. "I suppose we all need a day off. The Creators only know when the next time will come that we'll be safe enough to take it easy."
"I'd hardly call our situation safe. We've been lucky so far…" Aedan replied warily, shifting through a stack of papers that he'd had brought back from the nest of slave traders that they had put out of business.
"I don't know. This Howe man being out of the city on business with Loghain seems like a fairly safe time." Standing, Theron shrugged and headed for the door. "I'm going to practice a bit. I'll get that letter to Eamon written for you before we leave."
Aedan inclined his head in silent thanks and watched as the Warden left, moving as silently as Kallian usually did. Bloody rogues. They always moved like ghosts. Sighing, he gathered up all of the papers that had been scattered about during their brief attempt at organizing and making contingency plans, but he realized that there was little hope of getting everyone back together now and in a serious mood enough to concentrate. Once everything was stacked and orderly he stared at the pile, wondering what to do now, then abandoned the study room in favor of watching the chaos unfold downstairs. And there was bound to be chaos if Kallian was going to be the one driving things.
•º•.•º•
Down on the main floor Theron was wandering around, hopelessly lost. He could navigate though a forest with any number of twists and turns by the guiding lights of the stars alone, but inside a building he was absolutely hopeless. Being enclosed on all sides by the rigid stone was still not something that he was used to, and he always felt utterly bewildered when trying to navigate through an extensive series of hallways. Usually Alistair or Sten would lead the way since they were more of the offence and defense types, the two of them far more used to operating indoors, and that was absolutely fine by him.
Passing by another hallway he saw movement out of the corner of his eye and abruptly stopped, jerking backward to see what it was and saw Kallian walking away from him, striding determinedly like she had a purpose. Deciding that whatever it was she was doing was less important than getting himself un-lost, Theron took off down the hall after her. "Hold a moment!"
She swung around to face him, eyebrow arched in curiosity. "Need somethin'? I figured you an' Basher would be at it for a bit yet."
"Well, no, the meeting sort of fell apart when everyone left the room." Theron replied in a deadpan, arching his eyebrow slightly as if this should have been extremely obvious.
Kallian rolled her eyes and waved off his attitude, larger things on her mind then putting the Warden in his place. "Whatcha lookin' fer, then?"
He considered his response for a second, then eyed Kallian up and down with a quick flick of his eyes then changed his mind. "A fight, actually." Theron said, much to Kallian's utter bewilderment.
"Wha-?"
"Well, sparing, more like. I saw your blade work earlier. I think I'd like to spar against someone that fights… decently." He hesitated, hoping that Kallian wouldn't ask too eagerly for him to explain and tried very hard not to remember the first time that Zevran had pulled him into a sparring match. That had been indecent.
Folding her arms across her chest, Kallian immediately started going into defiance mode, sensing a challenge. "Decently? What, you think you can beat me with hands tied or somethin'? That what you're sayin'?" She narrowed her eyes and didn't let the taller elf respond, snorting and turned on her heel. "Fine! You've asked fer it pretty boy, Warden or no! I'll hand your rear end to you an' have you cryin' to yer mother."
Unsure what had just transpired in Kallian's head, Theron at first didn't move from where he had been standing in the hallway, then realized that he was supposed to follow and started after her, keeping always a couple of paces behind. She led him out into the yard, the emergence out of the hallways and into the garden maze behind the estate startlingly abrupt for the Dalish who before had no idea that he had been so close to the outdoors this entire time.
Once the two elves were outside, Kallian kept walking, following the wall of the building instead of trying to navigate her way through the maze to the other side. The farther from the door they walked, the more that Theron could make out what sounded like fighting. It wasn't the sort of uncontrolled sounds of battle he would expect if they had suddenly been set upon by Howe, but instead it sounded like orders were being yelled which directly resulted in the ringing of steel on steel. They rounded a corner and he saw the reason for the minor confusion. The men that had been recruited so far to the Highever cause were out in the yard practicing drills in what would normally have been small fields of produce to be tended by the house keepers.
Undeterred by the fact that they were in the middle of drills, Kallian strode straight up to the man calling the orders. He paused to listen to her for a moment, chuckled at something she had to say, then ordered the other soldiers to take a break. Theron got close enough in time to hear him say "Just pick somebody's knives and have at it. I'll try and keep them from setting bets."
Looking pleased with herself, Kallian thanked the man and shot Theron an alluring smile, something he was entirely unused to seeing the rough-and-tumble elf do which immediately set him on edge.
"Ready to get beat pretty boy?" She asked with that same smile, walking over to a small cluster of soldiers that had gathered near the training square.
Rolling his eyes at her theatrics, Theron simply waited until she had cowed the soldiers into handing over their weapons. After inspecting the blades, she tossed a couple Theron's way and they stuck in the dirt near his feet. Reaching down, he tested their balance briefly before judging them worthy. "You're turning this into quite the show."
"Well yeah." Kallian snorted, taking another two short swords for herself, swinging them experimentally. "It's not everyday you get to fight a Warden. And beat him. Don't forget the beating part."
Unable to restrain the urge to roll his eyes again, Theron sank into a defensive position, placing his feet carefully and began to tune out the crowd. "If you think that I'm going to let you win then you're sadly mistaken."
"Tch! I would be offended if you didn't try your hardest!" Kallian replied with a wide grin, twisting her swords in a short display of dexterity then got serious, her face blanking. Quicker almost than the eye could follow she darted forward and struck lightly on Theron's blades. He didn't even blink, parrying the test blow automatically and striking back just ask quickly only to meet empty air.
The two circled each other, poised on the balls of their feet and watching one another with an intense concentration. The soldiers intent on their break looked up and began to watch the display as the two faced off, muttering. But neither elf noticed the humans as they talked amongst one another. They were entirely in their own world of action and reaction; there was no space for distraction or mistakes.
Theron moved forward with the next strike, tapping lightly on Kallian's right sword, and that's when the fight really began. Her blade slipped under his, drawing along the side with a screech and thrust forward with the point of her blade only to be turned aside by a striking parry that swept both of her blades to the side. Kallian disengaged, drawing her blades back and ducked underneath a high double sweep, swinging inside Theron's defenses but he was already moving to correct the situation, stepping back with one foot and bringing down both swords to parry aside a short bodily jab and slid his back foot forward and out wide, pivoting around it to come around behind Kallian. She turned on the spot following his movement and blocked with a high cross, stepping inside his reach to lessen the impact of the blow.
They fought back and forth for a while, a constant dance of sweeping and flashing blades, the clash of steel on steel ringing out in twos with an increasing intensity. Around them, the soldiers had gathered in a wide ring, shouting encouragement at their picked favorite, jeers flowing in equal measure when one or the other appeared to be put on the defensive.
But the battle was slowly starting to turn in favor of Theron. His greater reach was beating Kallian when things were starting to come to near-misses. She could dodge expertly enough, but when it came to return the favor her shorter arcs just weren't allowing her to retaliate in kind. The effort made trying to make up for those lost inches was wearing on her faster too, and more and more she found her steps guiding her backwards into a defensive position, closer to the line of soldiers ringing them. Realizing that if she kept fighting fair she would loose, Kallian did the thing that rogues did best: she fought dirty.
She parried a thrust forward, sending Theron's blades out wide but instead of trying to leap forward and attempt a stab at his body she fell back, ducking and grabbing a handful of dirt which she threw straight into his eyes. Sputtering, Theron staggered backwards and tried to wipe the grit out of his face. Taking her opportunity, Kallian surged forward, sure of a victory with her blade heading straight for his navel. Then suddenly the world tilted sideways and it was only after a delayed realization that she figured out Theron had managed to parry her blade aside, followed by a roundhouse kick in the back as her momentum took her past.
Kallian nearly bit the dust, managing to get a palm on the ground and scramble back upright then turned only to see Theron quick on her heels, dirt still clinging to his sweaty skin. She dropped under a high swing that could have taken off her head, crouching low and swinging her foot out wide, tripping Theron up. He dropped to the ground ungracefully, caught off-guard by the tactic and quickly had to push himself sideways out of the way when Kallian's blade came singing through the air at him. He had halfway pushed himself up to his feet when Kallian was on top of him again, and this time he swept his foot out to trip the woman up. She nearly avoided it, but his foot caught the inside of hers as she tried to jump out of the way and her momentum sent her falling straight onto Theron. They grappled in the dirt for a few terse seconds, kicking up dirt and dust as they tried to figure out whose limbs were where and where the other's sword had ended up. At one point Theron was sure that Kallian had slugged him in the jaw, though wasn't sure whether she'd done it with her fist or a sword hilt.
The fight ended suddenly when Theron pinned Kallian's shoulder, the flat of his blade pressed hard against her neck. For the span of a few ragged breaths he was sure that he'd won, then he felt a steady pressure against his stomach and looked down to see the length of Kallian's blade there, angled so that if she had given any pressure he would like have been sliced open from rib to opposite hip. He sat back on his knees and allowed Kallian to get up as well, the two of them staring at each other.
Kallian rubbed her nose to get the dirt off, but only succeeded in wiping more on, then started giggling. Theron, equally as dirty and tousled from their roll on the ground startled chuckling as well, and soon both elves were laughing like they'd just been told the funniest joke in the world. Kallian let both of her blades drop, holding her stomach and ribs, tears forming in the corner of her eyes from laughing so hard and Theron leaned back on his hands, seemingly laughing at the sky.
The soldiers, a little disappointed that there was no clear winner and confused now that the two had started laughing like idiots muttered to themselves and started to disband, seeing that the fun was over which probably meant that they would have to get back to work.
Eventually, Theron got control over himself and Kallian was reduced to the occasional giggle. Standing, he offered Kallian a hand up and when they were both on their feet she started to try and pretend to clean herself off, patting down her pants in great clouds of dust.
"I'll tell you what Warden." She said, her words light and breathy, still a bit winded from fighting then having the laugh attack. "You're alright by me."
"I suppose that's a compliment, right?" He couldn't resist asking, though was unable to be annoyed as was typical of his character, the physical exertion putting him in a good mood. It had been a while since he'd had a serious fight that wasn't life-or-death. Alistair was a terrible looser, and Zevran always made things awkward with double entendres and the amazing ability to cut off his opponent's clothing without harming his opponent in the process.
"The best." She entered the estate again through the nearest door that would take them through the grand ballroom, a residual smile plastered on her face. The two walked in peace until they got to the foyer, where Solona saw them and very nearly had a fit.
"What happened to you?" The mage gasped, emerging from the dining rooms with an apron on, a generous amount of white flour dusting her hair and a smudge in the middle of her forehead.
Kallian looked down at herself then at Theron and shrugged. "Had a fight."
Solona remained unimpressed. "With what? A pile of dirt? Were you rolling around outside or something? You're a mess."
Theron didn't even bother holding back his laugh, dusting some dirt out of his hair with a flick of his hands. "You have no idea how true that is."
"And you're not exactly clean either." Kallian replied with a raised eyebrow, gesturing at Solona's flour-covered clothing.
She colored slightly at that, but remained mostly undeterred. "At least this just pats out. You're encrusted. Encrusted! You need a bath right away, both of you." She didn't even have to voice the warning that she was hearing of nothing else but their unconditional surrender to her demand that they bathe. "I can heat enough water with a spell fairly quickly…" Without waiting to see if they'd follow, Solona started walking toward the residential quarters, muttering dangerously to herself and patting off flour as she walked.
Shrugging in defeat, Kallian followed without protest and Theron trailed a step behind, too afraid of getting lost again to do otherwise.
After getting the two rogues into their rooms and had water brought from the well outside for baths, Solona started back toward the kitchen. Honestly, she'd never cooked a day in her life, but she had made plenty of other magical concoctions, and it was more or less the same theory. Rebecca was there to make sure she didn't burn anything anyway, as well as any number of the Highever elves that were manning the kitchens. They probably worked better without her there gumming up the system, but Solona was determined to help out somehow as a show of good faith if nothing else.
Just as she was about to enter the foyer, Aedan suddenly appeared from around the corner and nearly ran into her, looking over his shoulder like he was expecting someone unpleasant to appear there.
"Aedan? What are you-"
"Shhh!" Without warning he grabbed Solona by the arm and dragged her into the storage closet located next to Rebecca's room and shut the door.
Now stuck between a shelf full of who only knew what and a cluster of brooms, Solona was past the point of confused. "Aedan, what in the Maker's name is going on?"
"It's that elf." He replied unhelpfully, little more than a disembodied voice in the darkness of the closet except for the gentle pressure of his hand on Solona's arm.
She rolled her eyes, but the effect was lost in the blackness. "You're going to have to be more specific."
He grumbled something unintelligible, and she could sense him making some sort of gesture with his free hand. "The one that came with the Wardens. Facial tattoo?"
"Oh." That definitely rung a bell, for the blonde elf had made a point of flirting with anyone that made eye contact with him, and Solona had been one of those that had accidentally looked him in the eye when she said hello.
"It's worse than 'oh'. Much worse."
"What are you talking about?" She asked, her tone now bordering on exasperation. Mostly, the mage wanted to know why he had thought that it was necessary to shove her in a closet. He was acting entirely too strange.
"He knows." Aedan's voice was oddly distraught, the two words conveying an entire world of unsaid grievances.
Solona waited for him to elaborate, and when he didn't she reached out and grabbed onto the first part of him she could get in the darkness, her fingers brushing against the material of his shirt. "Knows what?"
"That I don't like him."
It was such an odd thing to say that at first Solona wasn't sure if she should bang her head against the wall in frustration or laugh. "Why don't you like him?"
"I'm sure he's a very nice… assassin…" She felt Aedan shift uncomfortably, obviously very bothered by the elf's attitude. "But he keeps… flirting with me. Giving me looks on the sly. And he knows that I'm not interested, but he keeps doing it."
Solona couldn't help it anymore. She laughed at him, at the whole predicament, and leaned against the shelves for support, tugging on Aedan's shirt weakly. "You're scared off by an assassin not because he could kill you with his bare feet, but because he flirts with you. Oh Aedan…"
"It's not funny." He replied stiffly, shifting again though didn't make any move to try and get her to stop laughing at him. "How would you feel if he was the one flirting with you?"
Getting her breath back Solona couldn't help but to grin. "Me? Oh, I don't know. I wouldn't run away though, that's for sure." She could almost see him glaring at her in the darkness and couldn't help snorting again with barely restrained laughter at the mental image. "You're hiding in a closet-"
"Shhh!" Suddenly Aedan pressed his hand against her mouth and his whole body landed against hers, holding her tightly as he listened for something outside the door. Solona tried to listen too, but could hardly hear whatever it was going on beyond the door over the rush of blood in her ears as the pounding of her heart suddenly spiked in its rhythm.
Aedan was tense as a strung bow, straining his ears to hear what was going on beyond the door. Foot steps, voices, then quiet again. He remained pressed up against Solona until the danger had passed in full, then finally let the poor mage go, backing away with a sigh of relief. "That was a close call-"
In the darkness something shifted and the brooms and mops carefully stacked against the wall fell over. Instinctively Aedan tried to get out of the way but only managed to trip backward over one in the darkness, colliding with the shelves behind him which set off a whole other chain reaction of any number of cleaning supplies falling on and around him. Solona, scared that the shelves would start falling on her as well tried for the door as a means of escape and knocked her knee on a barrel and abruptly sat down on something squishy when one of the falling cleaning supplies knocked the back of her leg.
"Oof!" The squishy something happened to be Aedan's stomach, and having not expected to be sat upon, he lost his breath and almost his lunch all in one go at the sudden impact.
"I'm so sorry!" Solona apologized quickly, scrambling to get to her feet again even as she blinked back tears from the pain in her knee, silent swearing to the Maker that she'd set the damned thing on fire later.
Then light flooded the scene, and blinking like owls the two looked up to see Sticker standing in the doorway. At first he looked like he was ready to kill something, then after realizing who was in the closet causing so much noise, the elf relaxed, cocking an eyebrow and leaned against the door frame. "You know..." He drawled, assuming a bored expression. "…there are safer places to snog than a broom closet."
Solona's face went red, and Aedan became belligerent. "We were not-!"
"Save it!" Sticker cut in quickly with a grin and a wave of his hand. "I just wish the boss was here. She'd get a kick out of this. Been trying to hook you-"
"It's really not like that!" This time it was Solona who cut in abruptly, narrowing her eyes dangerously at Sticker. "Aedan was just in here because Zevran-"
"He's in here too?" Now Sticker really was bewildered, and perhaps a little impressed, cocking his head to try and catch a glimpse of the Antivian underneath all of the fallen cleaning supplies. "Didn't think you swung for men. Or Elves. Or both put together. Surprises all around today."
"Enough." Exasperated by the fact that Sticker seemed to be twisting everything they said on purpose, Aedan leveled his best murderous glare at the elf. By that time Solona had managed to get to her feet and was rubbing her injured knee, her hands glowing briefly to relieve the pain that knocking it had caused. "I am not into men."
"Oh?" Amused that his little game was progressing so well, Sticker grinned and straightened slightly, his hand on the open door now. "Prove it."
Aedan paused half-way between getting to his feet and stared at the elf like he had been asked to walk across water and summon Andraste out of thin air. "What?"
"Prove it." Grinning even wider, Sticker leaned forward slightly, his tone filled with challenge. "There's a girly right here." He jerked his thumb at Solona, who looked horror struck by the turn of events.
"What? No! I'm not going to kiss her to prove to you that I wasn't here for Zevran." Aedan's face had gone red with a blush but he seemed no less determined.
"Ah, can't cow you, I see." Sticker shrugged in apparent acceptance, but there was a look on his face that very clearly said he was not going to drop the matter. "Though it does make a funny story. A Teyrn waiting in a closet for his elf lover."
Aedan's eyes went wide. "Are you threatening to blackmail me?"
Sticker did his best to try and look innocent. "Your words, not mine."
Sighing, Solona turned abruptly to Aedan. "Look, he's not going to leave us alone until he's had his fun. Just do it and we can all resume our lives." Though she tried to say it as nonchalantly as possible, inside she was squirming. This was such a stupid situation and she had half a mind to try and pull rank on the elf, but quickly realized that even if she brought Kallian into this that there was no way she was going to win. Kallian would undoubtedly side with Sticker and probably even condone his behavior, rewarding him for a job well done.
"W-what?" Aedan sputtered, caught off guard by the idea that Solona was actually consenting to go along it this. "But it's so-" He was about to say 'indecent' then remembered what Kallian had said. Solona was in love with him. All sorts of moral questions popped up then. Would it be right to possibly encourage the mage by agreeing? One look at Sticker's eager expression and he realized that there was little choice in the matter if he didn't want outrageous rumors of his sordid love affair with an Antivian assassin spread all over Denerim.
"Fine."
Sticker looked absolutely pleased with this turn of events, but a look at Solona out of the corner of his eye had her pegged as downright embarrassed though she covered that up pretty quickly and had her game face on, looking more like she was ready to go to battle than get a kiss.
Right. Quick and painless.
Steeling himself, Aedan held the mage's forearms lightly and bent his head, pausing a small distance away. Her calm façade wavered and she closed her eyes, visibly tensing herself, then he kissed her.
It wasn't overly long or especially passionate, Aedan keeping in mind the whole time that there was an audience to this display, but all the same he felt a peculiar twisting in his chest. When he pulled away, Solona's eyes slid open again and she pinned him with a look, and he felt his body still. It was just like that time when they had first met, inexplicably frozen by the magic of her eyes alone.
Suddenly she turned and swept out of the closet, game face on again. "Happy now Sticker?" She asked, not bothering to stop in case he said no.
"Eh, it'll do." The elf shrugged, chuckling and patted Aedan heartily on the forearm. "Good job Basher." Grinning, he left the stunned human where he was on the threshold of the closet and headed back out into the foyer to ruin someone else's day.
Now standing by himself half buried by fallen brooms and buckets, Aedan rubbed his jaw and leaned his shoulder against the doorframe, looking down at the floor in pensive thought. He should have been more angry about the situation, but a quick assessment of himself and Aedan came to the very firm decision that he was most certainly not angry. Embarrassed, but not angry, and that was odd enough by itself. But added to the string of mysteries was this his heart was beating abnormally fast, and a strange almost giddy sensation had taken root deep in a section of his emotional well that he was sure had died with Highever.
•º•.•º•
Cobert was not normally a man given to wild abandonment of social protocol. He was an earthy man far along in his years that had seen far too much of life to get overly excited about little things. However, the man was hobbling along at a near running pace, asking everyone who he came across where the young lord had gotten off to. After receiving a mixed report, he finally ended up on the second floor outside of Aedan's room and rapped on it three times, clutching a battered envelope to his chest. His presence here would probably be frowned upon, but given the circumstance, he didn't particularly care.
Surprised to see Cobert standing at his door, Aedan at first didn't know what to say. He expected maybe Kallian to saunter up and threaten to hang him for what had happened in the closet, or else come to gloat. Perhaps even Solona, though he wasn't sure what she would come to say or how he would handle it. But the wizened groundskeeper was definitely low on his list of people that he expected to see, especially flustered as he was. "Yes? Has something happened?" He asked, expecting to get a lecture about keeping Keran in check. The two mabari had probably been tearing up the garden something fierce.
"Your Grace," Cobert gave a bobbing bow of respect, then held out the grubby envelope "You should see this." He said, waving it closer until Aedan took it from his hands with a curious raise of his eyebrow. "It's from my granddaughter. She works as a maid in Highever, ser."
The groundskeeper waited patiently while Aedan opened the already unsealed envelope. Two letters were inside, both on cheap parchment but one far more considerably weather beaten and looked like it had been wadded up and smoothed out again. He read the newer looking one on top first, sorting out the messy scrawl quickly and went still. The letter was from Cobert's granddaughter, it was true, but that wasn't what had him reading the second paragraph over and over again. He nearly dropped the first letter and the envelope to get to the second one, opening it with a snap and immediately recognized the neat flowing letters that comprised the letter. It was from Fergus.
Oriana,
My love, I write this letter to tell you that I am still alive, though only by the Maker's hand. We were assaulted by a band of darkspawn on the way to Ostagar, and through some miracle I managed to survive when the Chasind took me in. I was grievously wounded, and if not for those folk I would most certainly be dead. I've healed well enough and am currently in Gwaren living off what coin I had with me when I left Highever. I would petition Teyrn Loghain for a place to stay and perhaps an escort to make my way back to you, but it seems that he's left the Tyernir and taken everyone of relative importance with him to Denerim. Word is slow here so far south with the wild Brecilian blocking the city from most land trade, but I have heard of what befell Ostagar. I suppose I am lucky that I was accosted before that battle; else I would most likely have shared that fate.
Tell my brother that I'm all right, and any news concerning the fate of our father and Arl Howe would be greatly appreciated. In the meantime, I'll see what can be done about leaving Gwaren. I'm doing no good here stranded like this. Give my love to Oren.
With all my heart,
Fergus
Oh Fergus. Aedan chocked back a wealth of sadness, knowing that when his brother had written this there was no way for him to know that it would remain unanswered. Oriana would never be writing him a letter again. He cleared his voice before attempting to speak, but even then his throat was constricted with emotion. "Did Howe get a hold of this letter?" He asked, holding up the battered and crumpled parchment that Fergus had written on.
Corbert hesitated, his eyes sad, and Aedan knew what was coming before he even said it. "That's what my granddaughter was trying to tell me, yong master. She found the letter in the Arl's study. He knows."
Whatever hope he had of finding his brother alive still sank with those softly uttered words, and Aedan felt them dropping to the bottom of his stomach like a cold stone. Shuffling the first letter to the top, he read the last half, the damning words there clearly.
…he sent some soldiers to Gwaren. I heard him talking about hiring assassins, but I couldn't stay long enough to hear the whole conversation. I wish that I had found the letter sooner, before the Arl could get his hands on it. I pray to the Maker every day that Master Fergus will remain safe and that he will be too clever to be caught...
With shaking hands, Aedan handed the girl's letter back to Corbert, though kept Fergus' for himself. "Thank you for bringing me this news." He said, folding the letter in his hands carefully.
"Always, my lord." The groundskeeper gave a short bow, then shuffled down the hall at a much slower pace than how he'd gotten up here, leaving Aedan to his own devices.
•º•.•º•
The door was mocking her, she was sure of it. If it had a mouth, it would be laughing right now, taunting her. Damned door. She would kick it, but she was too afraid to go near it, some lingering thought telling her that the moment she got too close someone would open it up and drag her down into the basement, never to see the light of day again. Why, why did they decide the throw the party in the basement? Kallian was well aware that parties could get loud and that they didn't want to draw any undo attention, but really. Couldn't they have gone outside, just this once?
"You must have eaten something sour to hold such an expression."
Whipping around, Kallian came face to face with Theron, the taller elf standing almost right next to her and looking down with a mildly curious expression on his face. He had cleaned up from their scuffle, the only evidence of their fight being a bruise on his jaw where she had punched him. He was also barefooted, an irregularity that Kallian was curious about but decided not to comment on, deciding that it was probably a Dalish thing, but otherwise was clothed normally in a brown shirt that was a bit on the large side (probably made for a human) and soft brown pants.
Kallian had dressed in a similarly casual fashion, though she was wearing her boots seeing as they were the only pair of shoes she had and had let her trademark braid hang loose to facilitate her hair drying. "No, that's not it." She replied with a pout and crossed her arms over her chest. She didn't really want to explain that she was terrified of basements, but Theron's presence was going to make that hard.
"So, what are you waiting for?" He asked, his voice drawling with that peculiar Dalish accent and headed for the door. "Leliana promised that she had found some instruments hidden around the estate and put together a band. If she's in charge of music, then you really don't want to miss it."
Still, Kallian didn't budge. "I just… I really can't."
Theron turned and examined her closely, noting the hint of fear in her voice. Retracing his steps he went back to standing just in front of Kallian, but she wouldn't meet his eyes. "Are you… scared?"
"No!" The denial was instantaneous, Kallian's eyes flaring with anger. "I ain't a coward!"
"I never said you were." He replied calmly, dark eyes flicking over the features of her face. Theron knew that Kallian was the type to put on a brave face, but it was odd to see it crumbling when faced with the prospect of going down the stairs, and for the life of him he couldn't fathom why. He hated being indoors as much as the next Dalish, but he didn't lock up and freeze when asked to delve into a basement, even if it was filled with bandits or werewolves or what-have-you. To see a city elf afraid of being indoors absolutely boggled his mind. "I don't understand."
Sighing, Kallian rubbed the bridge of her nose with her thumb, putting her free hand on her hip. "I just… look. I spent some time locked up in a dungeon, all right? Remember what I said 'bout the shems not bein' nice to elves who couldn't pay the fee? I got personal experience."
The short explanation suddenly cleared up a lot of unknowns about the elf, and yet Theron was still puzzled. He had been to the downstairs of this estate. It looked very little like any of the dungeons that he had been in. The furnishings were sparse, but they weren't grim. It was a holding place for soldiers, not for prisoners, and the elves that had taken up residence down there had gone to great lengths to spruce the place up for their own enjoyment, and even more for the celebration that was supposed to begin in a few moments. "What are you afraid is going to happen?"
She spared him a long look, then her gaze flicked to the door and she clenched her fists. "I don't know." It was a lie. She knew precisely what she was afraid of happening. Images of Vaughn's ugly face flashed in front of her eyes and she shivered, remembering the chill of the cold floor. "Look, I just can't-"
"Can't is another word for won't." Theron replied, pinning her with a stubborn glance. "Come with me. Everybody is waiting, and they probably want you to give a speech."
Her heart sank. She was terrible at speeches. "I'll come down on my own time."
"Meaning never?" He shot back, deliberately goading Kallian now. It had worked fine enough to entice her into a sparring mach. Maybe poking at her legendary vanity would work now. "Maybe you are a coward."
Kallian's face colored with instantaneous rage, and she swung her balled fist at Theron, only to have him dodge out of the way. "I ain't no bloody coward, pretty boy! Do I have to beat you again? 'Cuz I will."
"Firstly it was a draw." Theron replied with a grin, on the balls of his feet just out of striking distance. "Secondly, I don't see you going down those stairs any quicker, coward."
As she saw it, there were three choices. One, chase down Theron and beat in his face until he begged for her forgiveness. As appealing as that was, she knew that she'd never be able to catch him with his longer legs. Two, storm off after giving the blonde elf a piece of her mind, which was slightly less appealing because in the end he would still have won the argument. Or three actually go down the stairs. Looking at the door she swallowed, trying to fight down her nervousness, which was slowly overtaking her anger. Maker help her.
With a determined stride that was all show and no heart, Kallian stomped over to the door, put her hand on the handle and swung it wide open, then stood there and stared. She could hear lively chatter coming from down the stairwell and the beginnings of some music, which was met with a cheer. She took a step back but ran straight into Theron, her back bumping into his chest.
"Go on." He said, voice amused to no end. "You're blocking the way."
She almost elbowed him for the comment, but was entirely too terrified to try. Gulping, she took her first step down and shuddered. When nobody spontaneously popped out of the wall to grab her, she continued down another step, standing ramrod straight with all senses on high alert. It helped that she could feel Theron right behind her, never more than a couple steps away. When she finally set foot on the bottom stair it was with great relief and she was happy to see that it wasn't all dreary and gloomy. Paper lanterns hung from the rafters everywhere, lighting the space with soft ambient light. Against one side of the wall several tables had been pulled together so that they were flush, creating a waist-high stage upon which the red-headed bard and several elves were playing music, the space created by the mess hall tables being pushed aside used as a dance floor. The mess kitchen was active, Rebecca directing traffic and generally controlling the flow of things with the proficiency of someone extremely experienced with the job. Opposite the ragtag band were the other tables, piled with food and a gathering of those who weren't looking to dance. Among them was Solona, who beamed when she spotted Kallian and waved her over enthusiastically.
"Good job." Theron said with a chuckle, clapping Kallian on the shoulder in passing and headed over to Alistair, who was browsing the bread and cheese section like a kid in a candy store.
Smiling to herself, Kallian joined Solona off to the side and received a massive hug from the mage who was grinning from ear to ear. "I was looking for you." She said after letting go and stepping away from the food table in order to not be constantly bumped by those who were hungry. "I was worried you wouldn't make it down here."
Kallian shrugged, doing her best to not look embarrassed. "I had a little help." Looking around, she noticed that there were any number of humans mixed in with the celebrating elves save for one particular man, and frowned. "Where's Basher? This whole shindig is for him." In the dim light Kallian couldn't be entirely sure, but she thought she saw the mage blush.
"I don't know." Solona replied truthfully, shrugging in as casual of a way as was possible. In truth she had been looking for him too, but had the awful feeling that he wasn't coming down because of what had happened earlier that day. She had tried to play the whole thing off like it didn't concern her in the least, but truth be told her heart had been fluttering ever time she thought of it. The whole thing was a mess…
The song ended and there was much clapping from the dance floor. The band members were offered something to drink, and one elf leapt up onto the stage and started talking animatedly to Leliana who nodded in return. Grinning from ear to ear, the elf jumped down and the bard said something to the band who all seemed to agree. Soon after, Leliana struck a chord and they were off on a happy foot tapping melody.
Kallian perked up the moment she heard it, grabbing Solona's arm. "Well to the Void with waiting! Lets go dance!" She stopped short when Solona resisted the pull, shaking her head.
"I don't know how." The mage admitted, obviously selfconscious.
Kallian gaped. "You don't know the Remigold?"
Again, Solona shook her head. "They don't really teach you how in the Cirlce."
Before the elf could make a rude comment on the educational system of the Circle, Alistair brushed past, dragging along a very reluctant Theron. "…you absolutely must learn it. Just in case we ever have to face off against a horde of darkspawn again."
"You might think that Eamon would order you to put on a dress and start shimmying, but I seriously doubt it." Theron grouched, trying his best to avoid being dragged to the dance floor and failing miserably.
With a grin Kallian turned on the Dalish elf, intent on poking some fun at him. "What, scared to learn a new dance?"
Theron rolled his eyes. "You're not getting me with that."
Abandoning Solona, Kallian took Theron's other arm and helped Alistair usher the reluctant Warden to the dance floor.
Smiling to herself, Solona happily stayed back and watched, following the movement of the three as they tried to show the Dalish elf how to dance while not getting run over by the rest on the dance floor or kicking anybody in the hind quarters. It was interesting to say the least, and she was more than a little jealous that she didn't know any of the dances that had been done so far. Turning away from the frivolity she started looking to see if they'd cracked open a cask of ale yet and caught sight of Aedan finally appearing at the bottom of the stairs. Her heart leapt at the sight of him, but quickly quieted with she got a good look on his face. He seemed… sad, somehow, and instantly she became worried for him. Raising her hand, Solona waved him over and he caught sight of her, wading through the crowd.
"Is something wrong?" She asked when he got close enough that she didn't have to yell.
For a moment he looked like he was going to answer, then he smiled ruefully and turned toward the table, grabbing a heel of bread. "It's not nothing, but there's not much I can do about it. I don't want to spoil the celebration, so I'll tell you afterwards."
Solona gave him a long searching look, but he was revealing very little, casually eating his slice of bread with single-minded determination and watching the movement on the dance floor. He nearly choked on his food when he saw Kallian harassing Theron, literally dancing circles around him while he tried to figure out the basics of the moves. "What in the world…? I didn't know she could dance."
Solona giggled, looking at the pair as well. "Seems they all can."
"Why aren't you out there?" Aedan asked, finishing off his bread and absently looking at the table for more food, in a slightly better mood now that he'd been infected with the party atmosphere.
"I don't know how to dance." She replied with a fidget, clasping her hands behind her back and looking longingly out at the dance floor. "They didn't teach us in the Circle."
The song ended to a huge round of applause, the band members looking thoroughly pleased with themselves as they chatted with one another to decide on the next song. Out on the dance floor, Theron, who was red in the face by now was clapped on the back by an enthusiastic Alistair and laughed at by a very smug looking Kallian before he was allowed to leave with what dignity he had left. When the clapping died down the band struck up again, this time an evenly paced tune meant for pair dancing. Solona watched amused when Kallian tried to turn down Alistair, obviously flustered, but the exuberant man pulled her in anyway, and she followed along reluctantly.
Solona felt a hand on her shoulder and looked up to see that it was Aedan, a strange sort of smile on his face. "Time to learn." He said simply and gently guided her to the edge of the dance floor. She almost protested, then simply let herself be carried along. Aedan was probably trying to cope with whatever it was that was bothering him, and she really did want to learn how to dance.
Once out on the floor Aedan gave her a short bow and she clumsily curtsied in return like she'd seen others on the dance floor do. He offered an encouraging smile and held out his hand. "Just follow my lead. This one's easy." A tad nervous, Solona did as he asked and let him put his hand on her waist, gently guiding her through the steps. "It's one-two-three, one-two-three, right, right, left, left. There, that's good."
She couldn't help but to smile, keeping her eyes on the floor in order not to step all over his feet and laughed when she messed up, Aedan automatically correcting for the mistake. "Now you're going to change partners, just take his hand." She was handed off to an elf, joining a wide circle that she hadn't noticed forming before and did her best to copy the other women as they wove in and out between the men, passing with a touch of hands, and then suddenly she was back in Aedan's arms again, the whole process starting over. By the time it was all over she was breathless and giggly and clapped for the band when the final chord was struck.
Someone hauled Kallian up to the stage and everyone went quiet, waiting for her to give a speech. She looked nervous being up in front of so many people, but cleared her throat and put on her I'm in charge face. "Alright everyone, this here shindig tonight is fer Aedan, turning another year!" There was a short cheer and some clapping, and some of the elves turned to look and give congratulations. "Now lets get this celebration started for real! Unleash the kegs!"
At that an enthusiastic cheer filled the whole basement and as one everyone turned to see that the kitchen staff were rolling out said kegs, tapped them, and then the party really got underway. The band struck up again, this one a common tavern song and quickly enough the majority of the party was singing along to the song. The night passed in a rowdy fashion, everyone slowly getting more and more drunk as the night went on and it got darker outside. At one point there was a dance off where a slightly drunk Alistair had taken a not nearly drunk enough Wynne as his partner and was pitted against a tipsy Kallian dragging a very sober Theron around the dance floor. There was practically a riot with all of the clapping and yelling, the crowd far more exuberant than before under the influence of the alcohol.
In the middle of all the chaos Solona and Aedan managed to successfully sneak up the stairs together, escaping the rowdy crowd below and all the noise they caused. Once up the stairs, Solona took Aedan's hands in a parody of their previous dancing, spinning around in the empty foyer and giggling in an obviously tipsy way having taken her share of the ale downstairs. Humoring her, Aedan followed, though he was similarly inebriated and nearly tripped her up a couple of times, which resulted in more laughter.
"We should do this all the time." Solona said, letting go of his hands and continued walking, leading the way out into the gardens behind the estate and breathed deeply from the cool night air, so different than the stuffy crowded atmosphere from downstairs. Here the only sound was the gentle breeze and occasional barking of dogs from over the high wall that surrounded the estate along with the trickling of water from the fountain deeper in the garden. "We don't have nearly enough fun."
Snorting, Aedan took the lead, following the wall of rose bushes in a memorized path that lead to the gazebo at the garden's heart. "We'd run out of ale in a fortnight."
"They do drink a lot, don't they?" Solona asked with a chuckle, weaving along at Aedan's side unsteadily, reaching out and grabbing his arm suddenly when she nearly tripped over thin air. "And I do too!"
Laughing, he held the mage steady and helped her right herself again, making sure she was properly sat on one of the gazebo benches before letting go and sprawling out on a second bench opposite of Solona's. "This is nothing like the normal parties that are thrown."
"Is that such a bad thing?" Solona asked with a wide smile, tracing the wood grain of the bench with her fingers. "I haven't had this much fun in… ever!" Leaning forward, she dropped her voice to a conspirator's whisper. "I've only been drunk once. Me 'an some friends made moonshine once out of potatoes. It was terrible!" She sat back suddenly and laughed loudly until she was out of breath, and Aedan couldn't help but to grin in response.
He tilted his head back and looked up at the starry sky, the night clear for the first time in a week. His mind wandered back to other nights that he had spent out here in the garden, playing with Fergus when they were young boys avoiding Rebecca and her blasted enforced bed times, and he immediately thought back to the letter that Cobert had given him earlier that afternoon. "My brother's alive." He said suddenly, still looking up at the silent stars.
Catching her breath, Solona cocked her head. "Say what?"
"I got a letter from Fergus." He said, and righted himself a little, looking across the way at Solona. "He's alive. He survived Ostagar and sent a letter."
Solona brightened up at that and stood from her bench, weaving her way unsteadily to where Aedan sat and plopped down, staring at him eagerly. "That's great news! We're gonna go get him, right? And then he can come with us, and we'll go storm the castle and kill the bad guy!"
He smiled at her simplification of the situation and reached out, putting his hand on the top of her head. "Yeah, if I knew where he was, I'd go get him."
She cocked her head, staring cross-eyed at his wrist for a second before focusing again on Aedan's face. "You don't know where he's gone? He's missing?" Aedan nodded, which caused Solona to puff out her cheeks with a determined look on her face and took Aedan's hand off her head, holding it with both hands. "Then we gotta find him! He's all you got left, right? Him an' Keran, an' that's it! If my brother was wandering around somewhere, I'd go find him, so you have to too, alright?" She was full of righteous fury now, and stood quickly, very nearly dragging Aedan along with her, still holding his hand tightly. "I'll go get Kallian, an' we'll go now. No time to waste!"
Standing as well, Aedan had a good long laugh at her fervor, tugging his hand back until she paid attention, looking slightly angry at him for laughing at her. "Thanks for caring." He said earnestly, glad that the mage took such personal interest in solving his problems immediately, even if she was drunk.
"I always care!" Solona replied, pouting, and put his hand on her chest so his palm was just over her collarbone, his fingers on her neck. "You saved my life. So I'm always gonna care about you, no matter what. I'll be there."
The heartfelt admission warmed him and without thinking about possible consequences or ramifications, Aedan pulled Solona close and kissed her for the second time that day. If she was surprised or cared, she didn't respond negatively, squeezing his hand gently before letting go and wrapping her arms around his neck, pulling herself up on her toes and giving in completely, beyond the point where a sober mind would have told her to quit and pull away. The two were utterly wrapped up in each other, totally unaware of the world beyond the feeling of just being with another person, all inhibitions set aside to make way for half a years worth of secrets and hidden feelings all suddenly flushed to the surface.
Overhead the stars kept a silent vigil.
AN: And then Aedan woke up the next morning and realized to his great dismay that it had all been a wet dream 8D
Maaaaaaaassive chapter! Because I love you! Also, because the fight scene with Kallian and Theron was just too fun. It was so prim and proper until Kallian started loosing, then it was just all down hill from there. But all in all I wanted to fit in as many suggestions as I could, and the idea just got away from me and escalated from there. Again, I want to thank everyone for their support, and if you didn't see your suggestion in here, I'm probably saving it for later~ Cheers!