Anders decided to have been the gentleman and let Leliana have her bath before him. She hadn't really been in there too long before her calling reached the mage's ears. He turned from the window of the room, and ran towards the bathroom; bursting the door open.
"Leliana?" He started to ask and looked down at the tub in a growing fear. He didn't know what had happened, but she looked to have been knocked out; from how her head was rather near the water level. He hadn't really even noticed or hesitated over the fact that she was nude. He had seen nakedness before; and even her nakedness recently before. So, he was quick to snatch her shoulders up from the water and started to check her head for any injuries.
"Leliana, what happened? Are you alright?" He questioned, though uncertain to what dangers may lurk within in the tavern. For all he knew, it was a spirit of sorts.
Leliana had looked to Anders and smiled a childishly wide grin before speaking out in a small whisper. "Got cha." She knew he would probably be furious as most men would be, but she couldn't help herself. She then took his hands in her own and slid them off her shoulders as she began to stand up in all her nakedness. Now clean she had no reason being in there anymore. With her body dripping she began to climb out of the tub and steeped forward. She hadn't reached for a towel or something to cover herself with at that moment since Anders was in the way of her path. So to hold some of the heat from the bath she crossed her arms over her bare breasts.
"You know you're a big jerk right..." She began to state, her tone was serious as she could possibly make it. "Do you even remember what happened a few weeks ago back in that tavern or am I the only one with a memory." She asked, her index finger poking to his temple. "I mean what's a girl to do? You can't expect me not to ignore it, or not even get the slightest of feelings for you from all this traveling and then us having that night together. I'm not no one night stand or someone you can just come to whenever you need to release you know." Letting out a sigh she averted her eyes from him knowing she was on a rant but she wasn't going to keep this in forever, who could? "So you need some explaining to do mister... Its overdue."
When Leliana had grinned and whispered her words, it took Anders a moment to realize of what she meant. Of course by then the panic was late. Anders spazzed, but not too much since Leliana was using his arms to help herself out of the tub.
"Nyah! You can't do that around me, ya know…? I'll start breathing excises into you, and I've got cheese breath." He urged and started to look all over the room except on her. His blush started to creep along his cheeks as he spoke again. "Besides, there's no telling who or what could be lurking in these walls…"
It wasn't something to really give comfort, and wasn't meant to, since he was the paranoid type. Anders glanced back towards her briefly for a couple of times before getting redder. He didn't realize she was waiting for a towel until she started o speak again. So, while she was talking Anders turned and grabbed the towel from the counter and unraveled it to blindly wrap around Leliana's form. It was only a few seconds later upon doing this, had her words really even sunk in.
"Wait. You started calling for help so you could talk about the dre—" Anders started to question but soon caught himself and shook his head vigorously. "Okay, wait. That's not going to come out right… But we were drinking… and I think you came onto me first..."
"I wouldn't mind any breathing excises." She teased which hadn't lasted long as he had gone of with his words of her coming onto him. Sure... She did, but he was his own person. Drunk or not he still could of stopped her... Maybe...?
Tightening the towel around her, she reached up pressing her palm against his shoulder to give him a small and gentle push so she could walk past. But before she could make it to the room where her clothes laid she wistfully turned around. "It doesn't matter who came onto who we still remember, and you've said nothing ever since."
After she had dried herself, she tossed the towel aside, not caring to show her body to him since for one she wasn't ashamed of her body and two she was getting more furious with the mage by the second. "So that's how it is then...?" She muttered. Reaching down she began picking up an extra under garment to pull over head now covering her body once more. Once dressed she made her way over to the empty bed and sat on the edge. "Don't get me wrong Anders. I didn't mean to get these feelings for you... But I did." She admitted, her tone was almost as low as a mouse. She didn't want to be the one confessing. But she did. Her eyes averted away from him, not wanting to see what his next expression may have been. Surprised, anger, scared or a combination? Whatever it was she wasn't sure how he would take her expressing her feelings towards him.
Anders looked away, a bit confused when Leliana pinned a blame on him that he couldn't argue from. This ended up causing for him to turn back around and follow her; though he stopped at the doorway and kept his eyes averted more towards the bed.
"Well what was I supposed to say? Recalling it is even fuzzy to me… Tell me when I had the time—between Velanna trying to freeze my naked form and cutting off spider heads?" He paused and then looked up briefly towards her. "…Did Oghren barge in at some point…?"
Of course none of his questions were answered because the root of the discussion was unearthed. Being able to look at her once she was dressed, Anders listened to Leliana's confession, and he felt it like a knot twisting inside of him. There were many emotions he had to conceal, all at once, because he had to be careful. After a moment of silence, he let out a sigh and leaned more against the doorframe.
"Maker's breath… It is my fault." Anders spoke out loud, but it was more to himself, before glancing away and then looking back to her again.
"Leliana, this… is not the life you want. No woman wants to love an apostate. There is no security; no peace-in-mind… And in my case, it would be even more dangerous because, I am an apostate who is possessed. You know this. You've heard it; seen it…"
He folded his arms some and started to frown. "And Justice is more than aware of you. Do you understand that type of danger? Sometimes, I have blanks in memory when he is in control. Other times when he comes out, it's like I'm watching what happens through someone else's eyes… I have to struggle constantly when angered, just to keep him docile. I begin to question who I am; if I'm in control of myself or if he is…"
Okay so Anders had a point. There wasn't much room for speaking that much was true. But they were here now, and Anders hadn't had to look over his shoulder every second so now was a better time than any. Leliana sat there a moment long as she tucked her knees into her chest, and had to begun to wrap her arms around her knees. Letting out a sigh she nodded to his odd questioning about Oghren walking in on them that one night. "You pushed him back with a spell I believe." She replied, her hues fixated upon the wooden floor as she began to recall that hazy memory.
Finally she looked over to Anders as he began to blame himself for this. She began shaking her head just slightly as it rested on her knees. "It's not." She started to speak out, her legs dropping off the edge of the bed once more, and she began to stand up walking over to Anders to now stand in front of him.
"We can't choose who we fall for Anders. Even if I could I'm not sure I would choose anyone else but you. Apostate or not." Her hand reached up placing it against his chest where his heart had laid. "You have a gentle heart Anders, and I know you try and hide it. But I can see the truth as clear as day." Taking a moment Leliana had stared into Anders chest then began to finally shift her emerald hues upwards to meet his brown ones. "Sometimes when I look at you I can't believe your real. That... Maybe even this isn't truly real? But it is." She shifted her head to the side, the palm of her hand pressed against his cheek, her fingertips gently gliding across his facial features.
Dropping her hand Leliana had begun listening to his words. Again he was speaking of Justice. She knew he hadn't always had control, and that he was probably even afraid to get too close to someone. Afraid of hurting that person. "Anders…" She whispered. "I do understand the danger… I also understand that Justice doesn't like this. But I trust you. I know you probably think I'm crazy in saying that, but I would be lying if I said anything different."
"You place a lot of risk in trusting me… It's not like I haven't been down this road before." Anders spoke softer when she came closer towards him. "Naomi was the first to test in loving this form… But I can only be who I am, a possessed monstrosity, and nothing can change that. This softness you see in me; there's not much of it left and in time it will fade. She saw this… That there was no turning back from what was done, so I only ended up hurting her, just as I will end up doing to you."
He paused for a moment and looked back up towards her. "Know this now. My mission is far too important for any distractions. Although, for what it's worth… I am sorry I seemed to have lead on any indication…"
Anders paused again and looked towards the tub. He felt that if he continued to bath; motioning towards it, he started to inch behind the door. "I'd… better take my bath now… Give you time to think things over if you need to. If you've left, then I'll understand. If not, then I'll just assume of your wish to continue traveling with me."
Leliana had crossed her arms over her chest at Anders words. She wasn't too sure what to say at that moment when he mentioned he needed no distractions. This of course tore at her heart strings causing her to shift her back towards him and look to the ceiling, and eventually closing her eyes.
"Anders…" She muttered under her breath, allowing a short sigh to escape her lips seconds later. "Wait." Turning around she began to make her way towards the mage, and stopping mere inches from him she began to lean in towards him. As she leaned in she acted as if she were going to place her lips against his, stopping probably centimeters away from his lips. She slowly closed her eyes until they were just slightly opened to where all she saw as she looked up to him was the tub behind. A smirk had begun to play upon her lips at that moment as she stepped back and pressed her hands to his shoulders giving him a forcible push towards the bath behind. But as she did so she hadn't noticed the spilled water on the floorboard, and as she shoved the mage she found herself slipping and as well falling face forward into the tub, and straight towards Anders.
An unexpected scream escaped her lips as she fell, and upon reopening her eyes she would look to Anders then to herself completely drenched once more. She dropped her head in disbelief, and would begin to stand to her feet. "Looks like that back fired…" She began to whisper under her breath before looking back to Anders as she tried to reign out her only garment she was wearing at that moment, her single over-sized undershirt. "But don't think your getting rid of me that easily you evil little apostate you." She joked, waving her finger at him. "Where would I go anyways if I left? Not much left for me anywhere anyways. At least anything exciting. So right now my best bet is to stay by your side."
As Leliana had started to inch close towards him, Anders felt his heartbeat racing again. He didn't expect a possible kiss, no more than he expected the shove—which was really what came instead. Even when Leliana had started to fall as well, Anders had panicked, grasping her shoulders for some sort of vain protection. The water had splashed out from the edges of the tub and crashed against the floor. After hitting his right shoulder against the porcelain, he was quickly reminded from his backside of certain injuries he failed to ever heal.
"A-ah!" He winced and looked up at the ceiling; feeling his humor repercussion from the damage. "I would have settled for the first option… or a slap… Guess, this means, I'll be borrowing your clothes."
Anders had felt her body pressed close against him just before Leliana's recoil to the surface. It was a good thing too, since her close contact in combination from the warmth of the bath water did stir a few unneeded feelings of lust back into him. He watched her, listening partially to her reassurance of staying by his side; but mostly, he was just drawn in to how she was ringing out her shirt. After a the moment, though, Anders was reminded of his current situation, and that such ogling was wrong by all standards—especially in that moment. The mage recoiled his knees up momentarily in order to help himself sit up in the tub.
"…If you think so… I'm sorry for what I said, earlier. I didn't mean for it to sound… that way. But, I'll see you when I'm out in a bit then." He confirmed with a stiff nod and stared back at the water.
Once Anders had piece to himself, he was able to relax in the bath more. It took him a moment to remember that he was still wearing his clothes. Then again, he needed to wash them too. It was a move that was just as well needed, so he turned his attention to that. His thoughts were still plagued of Leliana even after she had given him a bit of peace. Then came the reprimanding of Justice's thoughts arguing with his own. There was such a mess in his head.
After getting clean and having his clothes cleaned and dry with the aid of magic, Anders had still felt his guilt eat at him. He decided to offer his time to Leliana at one of the restaurants nearby. From the time they sat down at the table in the building, Anders had noticed from a table over that there was a woman there who looked familiar to him.
She was another blonde and her eyes were blue; which made him think a little of Naomi in some cases, but obviously different. Her frame was smaller, even more frail, it seemed to a first appearance. The woman was dressed in a white wedding dress and sitting across from a man wearing what looked to have been some form of a traditional black robe.
"…That's ..odd." Anders started to speak towards Leliana and pointed in there direction. This was because, he had never seen a mage in a wedding dress before—nor what a marriage would be like for mages. "Do they allow that here…?"
The woman looked towards them at a glance, and quickly beamed upon seeing the fellow mage. "Anders?"
Quickly, Anders had panicked and picked up his menu to hide his face. "Crap."
Looking to the menu, Leliana's orbs scanned the menu before her. She hadn't bothered to look up until Anders had spoken to her. She saw the questionable look upon his face, thus making the rouge herself to shift her cranium to the side in a questionable manner. She then followed in the direction of which Anders was pointing and saw two people, a happy couple. Leliana beamed with a wide smile as she had always loved weddings, not only for their joining of couples but of the amazing attire everyone wore during the event.
"Maybe. Or possibly they are just dressing up." She joked more so towards the end of her reply to Anders. She hadn't expected someone from this far to know of Anders so when the woman had walked up and spoke his name a widened eyed expression covered her face if for moments time. She tried to ignore the woman before them, taking a visual memory of her beforehand of course. "See Anders you shouldn't point at people… It's not polite… You get people from all over the place talking to you then." Leliana then took a second look to the woman besides their table and smiled. Without looking to Anders, Leliana reached out grasping the edge of the menu from him to snatch it away from his hands so he would no longer be able to hide behind such a small thing. "So don't be rude Anders… Tell me how you know this lady and why you're hiding from her?"
Anders had jumped a little after finding that his menu was taken from him. He looked up at the other woman with wide eyes and then towards Leliana for any possible escape. She gave none. That left Anders, smiling back towards the woman in front of him again. Leliana was right though. He shouldn't have pointed. Such things did tend to cause more harm than good.
"Uh… Of course… I know… her.. she's uh..." Anders's words started to trail off a bit when the name couldn't come to mind. All the same, he was certain that he knew her; and she seemed to know him.
"Anna." She spoke for him with a huge smile and propped her hands against her hips. "From the Circle of Magi in Ferelden…?"
"Anna! Anna. I knew it was 'Anna,' I was just going to say 'Anna.'" Anders quickly beamed, feeling more relaxed suddenly. For all he knew, she could have been another person to hunt him, but since this time his suspicions were most likely wrong, he was able to relax. He looked towards Leliana and gestured slightly while upon introducing her to the proud bride. "Leliana, this is Anna, the last person to see me in Ferelden Circle robes, actually. We graduated our first and second year exams together—er well… in the-"
"In the same class." Anna piped up and reached out to hug his neck. "It's been years, I know but still… I can't believe you don't recognize me!"
"Well you grew out-!" Anders laughed and then paused some, seeing as how the bride leaned back against her heels and folded her arms back at him. The posture itself caused him to fumble slightly. "I mean in. You grew in…. up? You're tall!"
"You're just a foot-in-mouth-fumbles as ever." Anna shook her head some, but her smile was still bright.
"My dear, if you're going to start flaunting yourself around on our wedding day, I'll have to catch up." The man in the black traditional Tevinter robes, walked towards the bride and gently brushed his fingers across her shoulders as his light 'hello,' and proceeded to make his way towards Leliana who sat across from them.
Anna lowered her arms back to her sides some, suddenly seeming to have taken three steps backwards into her personality's shell for a bit when the tall dark-haired groom came near her presence. His rich violet hues seemed to ignite a proverbial fire in nearly anyone he focused on—or so she seemed to believe.
"What's this? A beauty too charming not to have an arm already around her?" The man questioned in surprise and extended his hand caress Leliana's. "Such lovely red hair; you remind me of the roses I grow in my backyard. Although, none of them are quite as beautiful when compared to your silken tresses."
"Yes… well…. This is my HUSBAND—" Anna raised her voice and turned slightly towards the dark-haired male, who seemed to take his time in kissing the back palm of Leliana's hand. "…Alexander Hamilton."
"Heir to multiple known businesses in farming and fishery near here, Sevenith member to the Black Divine, and owner of the Hamilton estate in Minrathous at your service." He announced proudly and straightened his back promptly after his bow to them.
Leliana shifted her posture back upon hearing Anders in the circle. She had an idea he was in circle once, but never found herself to actually ask him. And imagining him in the circle in those robes they had the mages wear, caused a small smile began to appear upon her lips as she glanced to Anders. "I bet you were so adorable in those robes too." She teased all while holding back her laughter. "Well it is nice to meet you Anna." She began to speak out cheerfully as ever. "Here I thought Anders wouldn't know anyone here and I would be bored due to it. It's always nice to meet friends of Anders and get some dirt on him." She began to tease his way.
Sitting there Leliana listened as the duo had chatted back and forth. Looking ahead, Leliana saw the male from before that stood by Anna's side making his way up to her she sat there in silence not completely sure what to say in return.
She wasn't expecting him to come to her and then say the things he had said. And as quickly as he grasped her hand, she began to slowly slide it out of his grasp. "Heh... Yeah obviously no man..." She paused looking to the ceiling, then back down to the table tracing her finger along the outline of her hand that rested on the table. "Which is okay of course. I don't mind it too much actually."
Looking to Anna, Leliana began to nod her head at the introduction she gave. "Charming. Lucky one you are Anna. Seems like a keeper."
Alexander had been the only one to have seemingly heard Leliana's previous fading remark, and took it as something directed towards himself. His smiling expression had risen a quistive eyebrow, as he pressed his right hand back over his heart.
"I'm sorry." He pouted a little in sincerity. "I meant no harm in my greeting…? But you're right, I should have been the one to introduce myself by name first."
"What is it? What's wrong?" Anna asked and turned slightly towards him.
"It's nothing, my dear. My high spirits only went to my head momentarily." Alexander smiled to her waved his hand a little so that she wouldn't have been concerned for too long.
"Heh… A-as long as don't start reminiscing about the good ol' Circle days, I think we'll all be alright." Anders announced openly and then motioned his hand openly towards the side of the table. "Please, join us. There's so much we need to catch up on, I take it…"
"I… I suppose." Anna hesitated and looked between Leliana and then Anders again. "We wouldn't want to impose on your date—"
"Date! Date? Wh-Who said any—" Anders started to laugh a little nervously and looked away before tapping the table once more. "Pull up a chair. Both of you. I'm curious about this marriage thing."
Before Anna could truly object to the idea, Alexander had already pulled out a chair for her to sit down, and guided her into the seat. "For you, my dear."
Anna quietly conceded and sat down towards Leliana's side, while Alexander later had taken a chair towards Anders's side on the same row to sit down as well.
"So… This is Anders of the Anderfels, I take it…?" Alexander questioned in a marvel, looking from Anders and then a brief glance back to Anna and Leliana once more. His smile carried proudly to the fellow mage. "You, Ser, I hear are quite the hero in the small Circles of Ferelden."
"Well, I don't know about all that." Anders said bashfully and rubbed his neck some.
"Nonsense. The Circle in Ferelden has never held so many meetings before in one trimester." Alexander boasted onward. "Meetings like that help the people there get where they need to be."
"Yes. Without you or the Hero of Ferelden, the Circle's problems may never would have been addressed." Anna said and wrapped her arms around herself. "I remember meeting him at a glance. He was so strong-willed, and adventurous... I don't think he looked my way though. I was injured under the rubble when The Circle was under attack. He spared a few tranquil who in turn healed me."
"I remember of him always being in a rush to fight off any demon or bandit." Anders pondered out loud. "Which was why I tried to hide when he wanted to travel."
Leliana began to wave her hands upon seeing Alexander's reaction to her words. "N-No..." She started only to pause and release a quick breath of air escape her lips. "It's not you... I'm sorry if I seem a bit standoff-ish. I haven't been myself lately." She replied a smile smearing across her lips, as she reached up scratching the back of her nape. Her orbs then traveled to Anders and Anna as she continued to listen to the duo yack it up like good old buddies.
When Anna had mentioned the word date, and Leliana saw Anders reaction and of course this made a brighter smile than before appear across the rouges lips. She shook her head momentarily as she parted her lips.
Leliana began to examine the two as they sat before her and Anders. Resting a head upon her hand she attempted not to be too surprised at the fact they had known the Warden... Lifting her cranium she began to recall the circle, and the horrific events that had happened there. Losing so many innocents. Leliana had nodded her head in Anna's words as she began to sit back in her chair. "I'm sure if he saw you he would have helped you. He was always one to run and help anyone. That's what people admired most about him... I remember that day. It was a narly one. Abominations, and demons, and then Uldred..." She averted her hues away from the group for a moment until she heard Anders words of him being one to run into danger. She chuckled at this and nodded her cranium in a response of a yes. "Yup, he almost got us killed a few times. But I would do it all over again if I could. It was a journey I'll never forget."
'You… You traveled with the Hero of Ferelden?" Anna gasped, looking between them and then focused her attention more towards Leliana. "Then that makes you The Leliana! Oh, my goodness! I have been so out of line all this time and didn't even know it. Anders, why didn't you tell me?"
Anders shrugged some; not really understanding the sudden rush in her adrenaline. "I always save the best news for last…?"
"My dear, they may not realize how famous they truly are." Alexander reached out and patted her hand comfortably. He then looked towards Leliana, a bit puzzled. "But it's strange… I mean to find you accompanying an apostate like Anders, here… Weren't there rumors of you being in service to the Chantry?"
"Don't you see?" Anna asked, while her head started to fabricate her own fantasies. "It's a forbidden love!"
Anders quickly paled and waved his hands up nervously. "Uhh-heh… What? Um… That's a bit uh—"
"Apostate and Chantry Initiate bound together by fate!" Anna continued off in her own world.
The slight dramatic pose she gave caused Anders to sweat-drop more. Alexander wrapped his arm around Anna's shoulder and rubbed her forearm closer to him in an attempt to calm her down.
"Darling, let's save the rest of the wine for later." He excused her out loud as to give an explanation for herself. He then looked back towards Leliana and then to Anders once more. "All the same, you both have our highest respects."
Sitting there Leliana found herself kind of in a shocked state. Finding out that someone this far from Ferelden had known of her. Well actually anyone had known of her for that matter. She figured the two Warden's would of gotten most of the spot-light... Then again she did have a short relationship with the Warden so maybe that helped in getting her name around...?
Leliana began blinking a few times to clear her thoughts as she was asked about her Chantry title... She sealed her lips for a moment as she began to ponder how to answer this question correctly. "Ummm I was... When my travels with the Warden were no more I decided to go back to the Chantry, not because I wanted to but because they needed me..." She paused looking to Anders for a moment which had only lasted no more than a second if that. "And then I ran into unforeseen circumstances which changed my life. So here I am-"
Suddenly she was cut silent once more by Anna's words of a forbidden love. In a defensive motion she raised her hand waving it her direction. "N-no..." She started to say, her orbs shifted down to the table as if she were trying to hide the on-coming hint of blush that flustered her face. "Its not like that really..."
Letting out a sigh of relief as she had finally collected herself. Her orbs looked to Alexander who had thanked them, she shyly waved her hand at him while shaking her head. "Nah its what we do you know... There would be no Ferelden if we all sat around waiting for someone else to save Thedas." She leaned in as she paused between sentences to whisper to the group unsure if her words would rile up any passbyers. "... So you too never told us about this marriage ordeal... I thought mages weren't allowed to marry?"
Alexander laughed a little and rubbed Anna's arm a bit more for comfort. "Outside of Tevinter, maybe… Here, mages are free. In fact, we are looked highly upon and respected through our ranks of titles and marriages."
"There was an arranged marriage… I didn't really know much about it but Irving did." Anna tried to explain and looked downward. "Alexander came to Ferelden with Tevinter Templars guarding him. He said he was destined to marry me and took me away."
"I knew ever since I was little, I'd have to marry a Ferelden mage." Alexander smiled and looked towards Anna. "And I knew all along she'd be more beautiful than the night sky."
"Oh… you…!" Anna blushed and hung her head, smiling.
"You were lucky." Anders smiled some; glad to know that a Ferelden Circle mage was able to legally get out of their 'prison,' "…To be able to leave Ferelden, I mean."
"We were married on the tallest hill overlooking the ocean." Alexander continued and finally released his hold around his bride. "We're on our way back home, where my bride's training to be a Tevinter Mage can start. If we're lucky enough, she may even get a position with the Black Divine."
Anders wasn't certain of what required from the training, though it was farthest from his curiosity at the moment. "You did say you were a part of their Court, correct?"
Alexander nodded proudly once more. "Yes, Serah. The Court is held in Minrathous. Were you on your way up there? You could ride with us if you'd like."
"Would I ever!" Anders smiled in amazement.