Disclaimer: I don't own Dragon Age or any of its related characters. This is just for my own enjoyment and the potential enjoyment of other fans like me, and no monetary gain was expected or received.
Rating: T
Spoilers: May contain spoilers for Origins, Awakening, and Dragon Age II as well as the novels The Stolen Throne and The Calling.
Chapter Fifty-Two: Showdown
"Lords and Ladies of Ferelden, sworn keepers of law and justice, we gather here on the eve of the new year to settle the disputes of the year gone by, to raise issue that which must be settled in the year to come, and to renew our oaths of fealty to our Lord King and Lady Queen. I call this Landsmeet to order," Arl Eamon recited the traditional address to the assemblage with his usual grave solemnity.
The Landsmeet itself was three days long, on a good year. Uncomfortable even though the Archdemon armor was surprisingly light for its immensity, Loghain stood in almost petulant silence and wished to the Maker and his Blessed Andraste that Fereldens could manage just once to hash out everything they needed to say in a couple of hours. The oaths of fealty alone would take up much of this day, and most likely tomorrow at the very least would be dedicated to old business - some of it doubtless centuries-old. No one held a grudge like a Ferelden nobleman. Loghain had always hated the Landsmeet. How much more this country could do for its people if the bloody fools in charge would learn to dispense with the blasted traditions and actually settle something for once!
This fourth year as Teyrn of Gwaren, the Landsmeet had run for nearly the whole of two months, mostly thanks to a border dispute between a couple of rat-spit Banns. Long before the end of it, Loghain would have happily slaughtered them both and given their meager holdings to their mabari, who looked almost embarrassed by their masters' behavior. The number of dirty looks he was getting from the lords and ladies suggested that once the floor was opened to disputes, this Landsmeet was going to be rough, too.
Teyrn Fergus Cousland gave his oath first, followed by King's Protector Cauthrien. Loghain was interested to note that her version was really more a modified version of the Knight's Oath, rather than the oath given by actual nobility. That would change, if things went as planned. The Arls came next, starting with Chancellor Eamon Guerrin himself, followed by his brother Arl Teagan, and then old Arl Wulffe. The Arl of Denerim's turn was next, but Vaughan broke procedure immediately.
"Your Majesties, I have a dispute," he said, and there were gasps from the assembled. Bringing up a dispute before even giving voice to his oath was just shy of outright sedition. Vaughan was playing a dangerous game: if the King didn't allow him to speak, or if the nobility didn't agree with what he had to say, he could easily find his head on a pike before nightfall.
Alistair frowned. "Arl Vaughan, there is a time for disputes, and this is not that time."
Anora sighed. "Oh, do let's have out with it, Alistair. Let him speak his mind, what there is of it."
Alistair gave his wife an uncertain look, then gestured Arl Vaughan to continue.
"It is no great secret that Your Majesties intend to put Elilia Cousland forward as Teyrna of Gwaren," he began. "But I have heard from my seneschal that she was seen in a shoddy dockside tavern not three days ago, with this man. Who proposed marriage to her. Which proposal she accepted."
The utter lack of reaction from the nobles indicated the revelation came as no surprise. Loghain resisted the impulse to grab, and consequently crush, the Arl's fingers, pointing at him. He stood impassively and attempted to choke down the rage this sniveling pipsqueak inevitably engendered in him.
Anora arched one perfectly-shaped brow. "You've yet to raise your dispute, Arl Vaughan. Please do stop wasting the court's time."
"So then you admit that it has been your intention all along to make this man Teyrn of Gwaren?"
"We are making Lady Elilia Teyrna of Gwaren, a position to which she is both eminently suited and of which she is unqualifiedly worthy. Whom she wishes to wed is her concern, not ours, but if you really must know the truth; yes, His Majesty and I were aware she intended to wed my father. A man I believe all will agree performed the offices of Teyrn to great effect for more than twenty years."
"Yes, Your Highness," Vaughan sneered, "right up until the moment when he murdered our king and tried to take over."
"I didn't murder Cailan," Loghain said, calmly enough considering the roil in his chest.
"You abandoned him, traitor, on the field of honorable battle," Vaughan said.
"I did. But I didn't murder him. If anyone has any questions as to the difference, I would be most happy to demonstrate for the Landsmeet exactly what it looks like when I murder someone. Perhaps Your Lordship would care to volunteer?"
"You see the sort of man he is?" Vaughan cried out to the gathering at large. "Lords and Ladies of the Landsmeet, I ask you: is this the sort of man to whom we can safely entrust any least portion of Ferelden's security?"
"More so than the fool in front of me, at any rate," Alistair mumbled.
Arl Vaughan continued as if he had not heard, and as he was a man who seemed to hear little past the ringing tones of his own voice, perhaps he had not. "You say that the intention to marry was entirely between Lady Elilia and your father, Your Highness, but if that is true, then why was it necessary for Loghain to propose again? Is it not so, in truth, that you brokered this marriage, to which they agreed only after the fact?"
Anora's brow rose even higher, in defiance of gravity and muscle structure. "I merely proposed they make sanction for a preexisting relationship, Arl Vaughan. For the sake of honor and integrity."
"Honor and integrity. Interesting concepts to apply to a traitor. A traitor who would not be alive today were it not for the intervention of the selfsame woman to whom he now proposes marriage. I submit to you, Lords and Ladies, my opinion that the Warden Cousland and the Traitor Mac Tir were in collusion from the first!"
Tension had built palpably in the air of the Landsmeet chamber as Vaughan built his case, not masterfully perhaps but compellingly considering he had the agreement of many present. But, as Anora had perhaps known he would do when she allowed him leave to speak, Vaughan pushed too far. The tension broke, and many in the audience laughed - even some of those who would have loved to have seen Loghain's head on the Landsmeet floor. Elilia was simply too well-liked.
As the trickle of amusement subsided, but before Vaughan had a chance to start in again, Teyrn Fergus stepped forward. "Your Majesties, if I may have the floor?" he said, with a bow.
"Please, Teyrn Fergus, pray speak," Alistair said.
"Lords and Ladies, I believe we all can understand Lord Vaughan's concerns. What happened at the Battle of Ostagar, and preceding Arl Eamon's Landsmeet, was a dreadful trial for all of Ferelden. Long-held beliefs were shaken, loyalties were tested, and the foundation of our governance trembled 'til we thought it may well break apart beneath our feet. But in the wake of that turmoil, Loghain Mac Tir proved himself once again the hero we could depend upon to protect our country and our way of life. In the years since he has continued to protect us, as a Grey Warden. Now that he can no longer fulfill that duty, he has resumed his former trust and safeguards us against the clear and present danger of Orlesian attack."
"And I would very much like to know why he is 'no longer able' to fulfill his duty as a Warden!" Vaughan interrupted. "The taint is supposed to be incurable!"
"If you find out, Vaughan, do tell me," Loghain said. "I'd like to know myself."
Fergus continued, igoring the interruption. "Many were ready to cast Teyrn Loghain aside back then. How easily we forgot how much we owed this man, who stood at Good King Maric's side and aided him and Queen Rowan in freeing our nation from the bonds of our enslavers. We saw only that he had turned from us, or so we perceived what he had done. It was not unjustified, and I will not stand here and say that it was. But my sister, who surmounted impossible odds and faced incredible dangers - including the assassins sent against her by the very man she now proposes to wed - saw that there was more to the situation, and to the Teyrn, than it seemed on the surface. She saw that he was worth saving, and time - I think - has proven her wisdom. How it happens that she has come to love him I cannot say, nor can anyone, for truthfully, what powers in the universe are more mysterious to us than the workings of our own hearts? But let no man nor woman among you say that she is wrong in her love until you can present good proof of it."
With a decisive nod, Fergus subsided back into the gallery.
"I notice, Teyrn Fergus, you didn't address Arl Vaughan's accusations regarding your sister's supposed complicity in Loghain's actions during the Blight," Arl Wulffe said, with a bit of a chuckle in his voice since he had a good idea exactly what answer Fergus would give, and wanted to hear it aloud.
"My dear kinsman, you know as well as I that those accusations are so ridiculous that they deserve no address," Fergus replied.
"Hear, hear!" someone, possibly Bann Sigurd, cried out.
"My Lords and Ladies, I realize that it is in defiance of tradition, but I move that we settle this matter forthwith," Anora said. "I submit it to you for a vote at once; knowingwhat you now know, that Lady Elilia Cousland will wed my father Loghain Mac Tir in a weeks' time, will you pass the Crown's proposal that she be placed in command of the south of Ferelden as Teyrna of Gwaren, with my daughter Anora Mac Tir II as her Heir Apparent, and my father, Loghain Mac Tir, as Teyrn-Consort - with only those rights and duties, beyond the base conferment of nobility, that his Lady wife chooses to entrust to him?"
"I have a query, Your Highness," Bann Franderel called out. "Will he, as 'Teyrn-Consort,' whatever that bloody is, have the right of High Justice?"
Anora looked questioningly at Elilia, who stood utterly expressionless through all of it as if she did not even hear the uproar all around her. Her impassive face animated at once and she said, "Of course he will. I may have to step out of court to tend to 'feminine matters,' after all."
There was a goodly smattering of laughter. In her astonishing blue armor, with the greatsword Vigilance on her back, no one could but doubt that the 'feminine matters' she referred to had anything to do with course blood or babies.
"And what if she should predecease him, Your Majesty?" Franderel continued, ignoring the jibes. "Before your daughter is old enough for her ascension? Does he hold Gwaren as Teyrn, or does the holding go into trust with someone else to watch over it, as is the case now?"
"The holding would go into trust, Bann Franderel," Anora said, "but as is often the case when such a thing occurs, my father would be the one to watch over the holding until my daughter could inherit.
Franderel grumbled, and he wasn't the only one, but neither he nor anyone else seemed to have voice for any further questions.
And just like that, for the first time Loghain had ever seen, the Landsmeet got something done quickly. The vote was raised, and while there were abstentions - Franderel was one, and of course Arl Vaughan merely stood dumbfounded in the middle of it all, possibly too thunderstruck at the way his actions had backfired to remember to vote at all - but no one had the courage to vote against the proposal. Elilia's support was too strong, and there were still many Banns who never totally lost their faith in Maric's Great Protector. Before he could ever have imagined Elilia stood beside him, newly-minted Teyrna of Gwaren.
Three or four inches shorter than usual, Arl Vaughan faded back into the gallery, and the Landsmeet prepared to continue the traditional business of swearing oaths to crown and country. Loghain forestalled this with a raised hand.
"Forgive me, Your Majesties, but something has been overlooked, I fear," he said.
"Really? What's that?" Alistair asked, though he seemed to know exactly what Loghain meant.
Loghain strode forward, the swing of his broad shoulders a thousand times more intimidating in the immense spiked pauldrons than it had ever been before, and grabbed Vaughan by the scruff of the neck. "One of your vassals, my Liege, has failed to swear his Oath of Fealty. I dare say it simply slipped his mind, for of course he could not mean that he is no longer loyal to the crown of his sovereign."
He pushed Vaughan forward and, whey-faced and trembling, the cowardly fool stammered his way through the oath. Loghain stood right behind him the entire address, looming large with his arms crossed on his chest and thinking how wonderful it would be to dispense a little High Justice on this least prepossessing specimen of Ferelden nobility. He fell back to stand beside Elilia, who once more seemed far removed from it all, once Vaughan made his escape.
"How do you do that?" he whispered to her. "It's like you don't even hear the idiots all around you."
"An old trick," she whispered back. "Whenever I'm in a situation like this, that promises to be boring as hell, I imagine that I am a little bird, perched in the rafters. And whenever I hear something I don't like, I imagine myself crapping on that person's head."
Loghain was hard-pressed not to burst into loud laughter as the nobles continued making their vows.