I just made a few minor changes to this chapter. Thank you, Galesong

Chapter 2

March of the Misfits

"Give me a moment," requested the stout, drunk dwarf at my side. Oghren had decided to join our merry band of misfits and at this moment I was in no condition to stop him. We stepped out into the cool air leaving Orzammar behind.

"Sure, take your time." I slurred. I was in no hurry and I was feeling no pain.

"By the stone, I feel I'm about to fall off the world with all that sky up there." I looked up into the open sky that Oghren had just described and shielded my eyes from the hazy light. I felt slightly off balance by its vastness. So much so that I lost my footing on the last step that lead to Orzammar. My arms flailed about in search of a champion. Too late! I found myself face down, ear deep, in mud.

"And this is why mages should not drink," said my, too late, would be champion.

I slapped Alistair's hand away in annoyance, "I can handle myself no thanks to you."

"I can see that," Alistair surmised. I swore to my self, if Alistair smiled in that infuriating way of his, I would turn him into a toad. Obviously, Alistair knew the power I wielded in my little finger and he simply stepped away to leave me to my own devices.

I sat back on my haunches and swiped the mud away from my eyes. I looked up at my companions. Oghren was doubled over pounding his chest as if trying to breathe. Leliana held her hand in front her mouth to stifle her own laughter. Alistair? I forfeited my dignity and decided to bestow him with a glance. He extended his hand out to me again. This time I took it. Maybe that lopsided smile wasn't so infuriating. Just maybe it was quite endearing.

Alistair helped me to my feet. Why was he looking at me like that? I would have felt less vulnerable, had he just laughed at me as the others did. Why did he have to be so...so difficult?

I dusted off my backside, thus restoring my dignity. Alistair had released my hand, but I could still feel his eyes on me as I turned to Oghren and asked, "Is it that strange to you?"

"Strange? Ha! Strange is your wife turning out to prefer the ladies? Not living in a world without a bleeding ceiling." I did not have a reply for Oghren and I expected the dwarf did not want one.

"Well, let's get moving. We're loosing....whachamacallit? Daylight." I watched as Oghren marched ahead as if he alone knew where our camp was.

Without any further ado, I turned on my heel and followed after Oghren. Leliana hummed a happy little tune and Alistair followed into step behind.

Soft feathery kisses caressed my neck making my toes curl in pure delight. His insistent nibbles wreaked havoc with my ear causing me to groan, "Oh, Alistair!" I reached over and....

Screamed! It had been Leliana's pet nug. Then I screamed again, because I knew what I looked like. Yesterday had not been some horrid dream. I screamed one last time and clasped my hands over my aching head. The pain was more excruciating than the Joining and Harrowing combined.

Alistair was the first to plow through my tent followed by a breathless Leliana and a rather large Sten who could only poke his head in. I pulled my blanket over my head to cloak my face and pointed towards the opening. Words would not come. My tongue was swollen in place, parched and dehydrated, as if I had sucked on a bucket of lemons to squelch my thirst.

"Did that mean lady scare you, Schmoogles?" I more or less heard Leliana reach in and take her pet nug away. That left Alistair and Sten blocking the entrance of my tent.

"Are you sure you are a Grey Warden? This is pointless...we should be killing darkspawn," grumbled Sten as he turned and walked away. I almost laughed, in spite of the pain, when I saw the telltale signs of cookie crumbs on Sten's swarthy face as he turned away.

With only Alistair left, I peaked up at him through the safety of my blanket. He was standing there watching me. A slice of sunshine caught at the flecks of his amber eyes. They twinkled with warmth and humor. His sensual mouth twitched. Maker, no! That exasperating man stooped over and laughed till he held his ugly guts.

"Get out!" I screamed and pointed. I reached for and threw a bundle of clothes at him only to have Alistair catch them in mid-air. I let my disguise fall and reached for something sharper. Alistair laughed all the more harder when he saw my matted hair and mud crusted face. He did not laugh as hard when I threw my sheathed dagger towards his head which he easily deflected.

"Ok! Ok, I get the point. Get it? Point?" chuckled Alistair as he ducked out of my tent still holding the bundle.

I flung the blanket back over my head, sank back down onto my bedroll and groaned inwardly. There was no way for me to escape the humility of it all. Even more defeating, the day had just begun.

I waited for what seemed a sufficient amount of time to pass in hopes of making a hasty escape to a nearby stream. I grabbed a drying cloth, crawled out of my tent and peered over the top. Morrigan's dark head was bent over reading Flemeth's Grimoire; Sten was patrolling the grounds as usual; Leliana was comforting her pet nug; Oghren was still passed out where he had fallen the night before; and Alistair was nowhere to be found.

I couldn't afford to wait. As Oghren had duly pointed out, we were wasting daylight. I threw the cloth over my head and slinked behind the tents until I reached the small clearing; thereupon, I made a mad dash for a densely populated growth of trees.

I reached the stream and knelt down on a bed of moss and ferns. The stream was fed by the melting snow from the mountains above Orzammar. I knew the water would be ice cold. For the first time in many months I looked down at the reflection that stared up at me. It was worse than I thought.

I brushed away some of the dirt to reveal more brown spots. Freckles now marred my once porcelain skin. What were those wrinkles? I tried to rub out the lines that furrowed my brow. Next, I ran my fingers through my drab hair. They got stuck midway. I yanked hard and pulled out a clump. It looked like a giant spider. I watched it float away. Freckles, wrinkles and snarls this is what my life had come to since I left the Tower. It was hopeless. I felt hopeless. I plunged my head deep into the stream and cried.

Any thoughts of an early death were postponed as I felt strong lean fingers reach behind and hoisted me up out of the water by the back of my armor.

"Maker's breath, what are you trying to do?" Alistair deposited me back on the bank and waited for me to answer.

"Wash my face. What did you think I was doing?" I grabbed up the cloth and started patting my hair dry.

"Yes, I can see you were doing a thorough job of it." He leaned against a tree. I watched as his foot casually crossed over the other.

"Well, I thought to myself....Maybe, she might need these?" Alistair dangled my small clothes in front of me.

My dark eyes widened at the sight of my unmentionables. "Give them back," I demanded indignantly as I tried to reach for them.

Alistair evaded my futile grasp. "You mean these," Alistair smirked as he twirled my small clothes around.

I sprung into the air and lunged at a very surprised Alistair. The momentum sent us both toppling over into an embankment. I realized, too short, the precarious position I had placed my self in straddled across Alistair as I was. I felt Alistair's warm breath against the juncture of my cleavage that threatened to spill over my studded leather armor.

When he didn't answer I looked down at him. His breathing was labored and he looked up at me strangely. I seized the moment to grab my unmentionables from him and sat up. I waved my prize in front of him and gave a triumphant guffaw.

Any sense of propriety had been replaced by Alistair's need for discretion. In one aqueous ambulation, Alistair drew me to his broad chest and deftly rotated himself above me. Shock was replaced with dismay as I struggled against my assailant.

"Sheesh, woman...You're killing me with your infernal fidgeting." A bemused smile played across Alistair's honey tanned face as he hovered over me.

"Get off! You're crushing me, you lack-brain." I twisted and bucked against Alistair's immovable form. My thigh butted against something hard and it was not his armor. My eyes grew wide with a knowing astonishment.

I watched Alistair's face turn several shades of red before he answered, "You are one of the most exasperating women I know."

"Oh? And I suppose you've known allot," I quipped. I turned my head away refusing to look at him any longer. I was afraid to hear his answer.

"No! I have only had the pleasure of your company," Alistair admitted honesty. I turned my head to look at him again. His face was inches from mine. I couldn't decide if he was jesting with me or was...

Alistair changed his position so that he inclined vertically to the side of me. He leaned on his elbow and looked down at me where I still laid. "So all this time we've spent together..." He plucked some earth from my hair and studied it for a moment before he continued, "You know...the tragedy, the brushes with death, the constant battles with the whole Blight looming over us....Will you miss it once it's over?"

"There will always be battles to fight somewhere," I answered matter of factually.

"But that doesn't mean we would be fighting them together." I listened as Alistair's playful questioning turned to something more serious.

I propped myself up on my own elbow to listen to the handsome Grey Warden at my side. Alistair did not notice me as he looked at something in the distance and continued without stopping, "I know it...might sound strange, considering we haven't known each other for very long..." Alistair gave me a sideways glance, "...but I've come to care for you a great deal. I think maybe it's because we've gone through so much together. I don't know. Or maybe I'm imagining it. Maybe I'm fooling myself."

So intent was I on listening to Alistair's confession that I failed to notice that he had stopped to look at me. His eyes held mine with that impenetrable gaze of his. "Am I? Fooling myself? Or do you think you might ever...feel the same way about me?"

I looked at him in stunned silence as my mind rattled off the events of the past months. All the decisions I made in hopes that I would not disappoint him. The guilt I carried for not saving Connor. The anguish I felt from his anger towards me for it. The hope that I held that he would see me as a Grey Warden and not a mage. The fact, that just a day ago, I threw myself at him only to be rejected. I thought of all these things and more.

I answered Alistair the only way I could, "I don't know. It's too soon to say."

"Is it too soon for this...?" Alistair reached over and drew me close to him. His lips brushed across mine in the lightest of touches as if awaiting my response. They teased and nibbled until I sighed. He tasted like he looked. He tasted like honey.

My eyes remained open as his lips slashed across mine. I watched as his eyes remained shut and his lips tested mine. I studied him long enough for my eyes to cross and he turned into a one-eyed Cyclops. It was then that I closed my eyes and responded in kind.

Alistair pulled away from our sweet embrace and I forgot his question. Oh yes, something about his lips? His kiss…

I kissed the side of his mouth then paved a trail across his lightly stubbled cheek. I skimmed across his defined jaw and even tasted the saltiness of his corded throat. Finally, I nudged him with my nose and whispered in his ear, "I don't know. I need more testing to be sure."

"Well, I'll have to arrange that, then. Won't I?" Alistair chuckled. It was deep and throaty. It took no time for his lips to find mine. He pushed me down onto the damp earth. His fingers laced through my tangled hair the same time our tongues entwined. They battled and played until we were both breathless and Alistair again pulled away.

I looked up at Alistair. I'm sure my face was as flushed as his. He looked down at me and I trembled at what he said next, "Maker's breathe, but you're beautiful. I am a lucky man."

His voice wavered, so filled with deep emotion, then he cleared his throat and said, "Now lets get back to....what we were up to before. Lest I forget why we're here."

And the dream was gone...