"We're in a carriage, Milady." Rhys smiled coyly to the question and looked up at her as she started to move from her seat. He knew he was teasing her at the moment and he could tell from the slight side-ways-look that Anders had given, proved that he needed to answer with a little more detail than that. So, he cleared his throat a little and tried to explain what he thought that he could. "We will be traveling along the West Hills on the Imperial Highway."
He paused for a moment and looked towards Leliana as she focused her attention to Baelfire for the moment. "No trouble at all. I'd guess that the pub air tuckered him out for a good while... But I'd imagine he will be hungry when he wakes up."
"We probably all will be by then." Anders groaned some and reached up, rubbing his eyes. "Where are we headed?"
"For right now, Lake Calehad. We'll stock up on supplies and then continue along the Imperial Highway—" Rhys started to answer than then glanced back towards Leliana brightly. "I'm sorry. You'd probably want to hold him for when he wakes up, wouldn't you? Or would you rather just wait until he starts stirring before taking him?"
Leliana had rolled her eyes some at the joke directed her way. "Oh really I would have never noticed." She bated back with a slight grin as he gaze had never averted away from Baelfire. Though she did happen to look up finally when he mentioned the trail they would be going across. She didn't understand why they were taking a carriage all around the trails since the easier way to get home would be taking it to the sea. But she wasn't one to fight against it since it had already been set into motion. "Alright… I guess the sightseeing route will be a fun thing to do."
Leliana was happy to hear Baelfire hadn't been too much of a hassle to the mage. Though he was really an easy child to take care of. She considered herself very lucky since she had come across few children that were spawns of the devil at times. "I figured he'd be golden. He's like his daddy and likes to charm those around him." She mused as she glanced up from their son and looked to Anders momentarily. "Though I feel for the boy having to spend all that time in the tavern, though I think he liked listening to everyone even when he was sleeping." She added with a nod at to his last statement of him being hungry when he awoke.
When the mentioning of the spot they were at now was said Leliana perked up her head and glanced out her window through the peak out the small curtains. "Hm, it hasn't changed much has it…" She started to say, but with Rhy's words to her it had brought her to glance back to the mage with a returning grin. "If you don't mind you can continue to hold him… I don't want to awake him if I don't have too… But if your arms get restless than I'll take over."
With their travels resuming, it was a long and tiring journey from one stop to the next. But it was also a trip down memory lane with all the different spots they had taken breaks at. Though when they had reached the more homelands of her own, Leliana felt at unease. With everything that had happened in Orlais, she just couldn't be the same as she once was with this place. Though they did still have nice shoes. She tried to continue to tell herself Anders had done in with Marjolaine and no longer she would have to be looking over her shoulder at each turn. And with this she eventually felt her nerves going slightly to ease.
Once they reached one of the nearest landmarks upon coming in the lands of Orlais, Leliana had eventually felt the carriage come to a halt. That had brought her to suddenly perk up and blink a few times as she glanced around the carriage. "Are we stopping?" She asked in almost a whisper towards more herself than the men since it was a rhetorical question.
Rhys smiled some, with the relief that holding Baelfire for the moment, didn't bother Leliana as he had first thought. His eyes soon returned back to the child in his arms and he started to speak again. "Holding a child was the last thing I ever thought I'd ever end up doing. Babies born within the Circle are taken away from their mother the moment it happens."
"…And then they take them to the Chantry, where they're raised for a short time only to be trialed later." Anders nodded, in acknowledgement.
Lifting his head back up, Rhys looked towards Anders with a curious smile. "Is that what happened to you?"
Anders shook his head and leaned back into the cushions again. He didn't really want to talk much about his past. Not that any mage really had wished to, but Anders was aware of the history of most mage children. They were always documented, and always watched. The Divine wanted to give them a chance into their own Templar Order, but that was only if the child turned out to have been considered "normal" and without magic. One probably couldn't blame them though; for the Order needed its protection against the Qunari, Dales, and the Chasind.
Her Precious Divine must always be protected…
"What was your childhood like?" Rhys asked again, even though he could tell that Anders didn't really appear much in the mood for actually talking about it.
The blonde mage shrugged his shoulders some and looked away. "Trapped in a Circle, forced to practice spells under a foreign tongue. Same as yours."
"Hardly." Rhys laughed and his Orlesian accent thickened slightly upon leaning back as well. He glanced down at Baelfire once more and then turned to look towards the window of the carriage. "I had a chance for freedom from the White Spire… eventually, but I blew it… My…accent, got me in a lot of trouble. Got myself dragged right back into the White Spire when I could have just took the beatings."
"Diversity issues?" Anders asked and watched Rhys's eyebrows lift slightly back up at him as if leading to a point.
"Orlais and Tevinter both stew in them, Serah." He answered almost quietly.
Anders stirred some form the carriage coming to a halt. He had been passing out and awaking back up at different opportune times. For some reason, the call of the Fade was trying to draw him inward again, and though he didn't show much of an inner struggle, Anders was determined to try and leave the Fade be. The abrupt shake from the carriage was a nice wide-opener though. He rubbed his eyes and looked towards Leliana as she had quietly asked her question.
Rhys scooted towards the door and pulled back the curtains of the carriage to take a peek outside. "This isn't Halamshiral…"
He waited until he heard footsteps, and finally the door opened. From the other side, Evangeline stood with her arm moved towards her hip. "Alright, everybody out, please—"
"What's wrong?" Rhys quickly asked in the mild interruption and in response was given a mild sigh.
"That last hole we hit broke the wheel off our carriage. I'm going to have to fix it before we can continue." She explained.
"Do you know if the wheel's still in-tact?" Anders started to ask and rubbed his left temple from the bit of news.
"I don't know. It could have just popped off or may need a patch." The Templar answered and then turned her head to look down the road from where they were traveling. "Either way, I'm not going to find out without searching for it, and there's no sense in everyone sitting in the hot sun when we could all be in the shade."
"Oh! Oh! I'll go!" Rhys exclaimed happily and then turned back towards Leliana to hand Baelfire back to her. He paused in between the exchange and smiled just as sheepishly as before in his continued explanation. "To protect you, of course."
"To protect me?" Evangeline asked with a raised eyebrow in her lightly grown state of sarcasm.
"I swore I'd be your shield, Milady, and I shall." Rhys continued just as dedicated as before; which in turn only caused Evangeline to sigh and give a slight shrug in the middle of her display of not wanting to really argue over the fact. After all, the sooner they continued on the road, the sooner they could find a place to stop and rest.
Seeing everyone climb out of the carriage brought Leliana to quickly follow in suit. It was a dreadful thought to be stranded out here, but there was little they could do when she heard what had happened. "Isn't that wonderful?" She joked lightly as she looked towards Rhy's and how quickly he rushed towards her in his ecstatic attitude of wanting to follow alongside Evangeline had brought a giggle to come slipping past her lips. It was quiet obvious the man was fond of the woman, that or he just liked her company as a friend. But she preferred the first more than the second.
She took Evangeline's words quickly to heart. As she didn't want Baelfire to overheat while they waited. Her gaze had shifted around her surrounding until she had spotted one small area that would have been a perfect place to rest while they had waited, and waited for Baelfire to awake. But before rushing towards the spot. Leliana had went to Anders and with her free hand from Baelfire she had grasped onto his hand and started giving him a light tug towards the area.
"Come wait with me." She spoke softly as she started to lead Anders to the shade tree. Once there Leliana had turned some and rested her back to the trunk of the tree. Her emerald hues had shifted up to the leaves rusting in the wind and separating enough for a few rays of the sunlight to be shined down upon them. Maybe it was luck instead of bad luck that had stopped them here, since Leliana did enjoy spending even a few moments of alone time with Anders. And all this traveling had caused it to where they had little to no time to themselves. Looking down at last, Leliana gazed towards Anders and had given off a slight smile until parting her lips. Though she wasn't able to begin speaking as quickly as she hoped since the stretch of Baelfire sprawled out arms had caught her attention downwards to their son in her arms. Thankfully the boy was a quiet waker, and had only let out a few sniveling cries to let one know he was awake. Especially if one wasn't holding him. But since he had felt his mother against him, only a yawn had been one of his few expressions before opening his eyes slowly to adjust to the difference of light.
"Well look who's finally waking up." She spoke softly as she finally released Anders hand after giving it a light squeeze. "I guess it was all that vibration of the carriage that had help you sleep."
"With all of that sleep he's been doing, I was beginning to wonder…" Anders had started to say but he didn't finish the sentence; since it was more of a tease and he was smiling at the mild attention he was giving to his son.
He stretched some, after finding a clean spot on the grass to sit down, and rested near the tree. Reaching down for the nearest long blade of grass, Anders plucked it and felt the strangest urge to have sunk it between the front of his teeth. Looking back up towards the shade that the large tree had provided, Anders grinned a little at the luck they had come across.
"Well, if there was any place our carriage could break apart on the Imperial Highway, I suppose right in the Orlesian territory would be the place." He remarked.
But even from his tone it was difficult to have been noticed if there as more sarcasm to it than of his true opinion. There wasn't much that Anders felt that he could continue to openly complain over though, and he didn't want to appear nearly as paranoid as he felt. He was among family, after all; but the two places he'd never picture himself having a smooth journey in would be Orlais and the Free Marches.
Anders closed his eyes for the moment and he started to move, placing both of his hands back over his head to rest onto them like a pillow. "…I didn't realize that Rhys's meeting was going to be somewhere here, but then again, I'm not really surprised about it either… So, the next time I get drunk around a presumed politician, and you're sober, don't let me agree to anything."
He paused some and started to grin at another thought before continuing, "Or if I'm drunk and I start hanging around any politician's personal escorts too, for that matter… I'll give you full permission to slap a bit of sense into me and drag me away; course I'd suspect you'd probably do it anyway."
"Well at least one us is getting enough sleep for all three of us." Leliana replied back as her fingers had danced in front of Baelfire which the boy had taken it upon himself to grasp and stop the playful manner only for Leliana to pull back and continue again.
Leliana had watched Anders for a moment longer and seeing as how he was making himself comfy and how Baelfire would begin his hunger strike quite soon she had slowly slid down the trunk of the tree as her knees curled to her slightly so that she could rest Baelfire against them and she could ready herself for the boy. She still had an open ear to what Anders had said and even smiled some to the light joke he had made. It was one of the few places she would have preferred not to be stranded as well. But it had happened. "Well at least it seems to be in the middle of nowhere, where we won't be bothered."
After Baelfire had finally latched on Leliana had slipped her hand from her breast and wrapped it around the boy to hold him closer as she shifted her gaze towards Anders and his rather relaxed sense of being. Or what it had looked like, since the mage had always hid his emotions sometimes a bit too well. Even when she had wished he'd just open up to her and not be afraid to show her what he was feeling inside.
With his words reaching her ears, Leliana had leaned a bit forward to look at the mage as he spoke and she couldn't help but shake her head for a second as she spoke. "But you agree to stuff even when you aren't drunk. I can get you to do what I want most the time." She teased as a sly grin had pulled to her lips as she leaned back to the tree. "But I'll try to remember that… Just for you love." She reassured with a pause to listen further to what he had said to her. "I would never do such a thing… Drag you away yes, slap you not so much… Maybe in the bedroom but not in front of everyone."
Leliana glanced over to the carriage that moment in her pause and then beyond to where they had come from to see if Rhy's had begun to make their way back. Seeing as how they hadn't she shifted her cranium back to the side of which Anders had been. "So why did you decide to help Rhy's that's what we're doing right?" She began to ask as she looked up to the leaves breezing and whistling in the wind. This had also caught Baelfire's attention to, but mostly to sit up in his mothers lap in as she situated him more to a straddled position.
Seeing as how the boy was finished nursing and rather quickly, Leliana had quickly covered herself again before scooting over towards Anders as she reaching into one of his pouches, pulling out a plum. After taking the first bite, she offered the soft inner flesh towards Baelfire who began taking what little nibbles Leliana would allow of sucks from the fruit.
Anders laughed some from Leliana's mild humor and once he heard her question of their current situation, he sighed a bit and started to close his eyes. "The White Spire has endured an entire mage-rebellion recently. It's the most glorious breakthrough I could ever imagine to happen. What made it even better is that it wasn't just members within the White Spire, but from other Circles as well. But now—of course—they are lost. They have lifted the rock from underneath their proverbial hole-in-the-ground, and are just now adjusting their eyes to the sting of the sun… It's sort of similar to what we had done for Kirkwall's Circle, but at a slightly different scale. Since the fall of the White Spire's phylactery, thousands of Circle Mages and Mage Faction Members have been branded apostates with no one to lead them."
His eyes opened as he lifted the blade of grass from his mouth and soon flicked it towards the wind. He watched as it started to fly away freely as he continued. "Because being free is only a small step. If those freed mages run wild now, nothing will change but if they come together and choose to fight our oppressors, then we will finally be making a difference. We can't stop half-way in any of this, and we have to make certain that everyone is in an agreement of who we are to fight."
He shifted more to his side and looked back towards Baelfire in between resting his head more against Leliana's shoulder. Anders smiled some, feeling the most peaceful he had ever been while being outside. Turning slightly, he kissed along Leliana's shoulder and then started to move more upon sitting up. His eyes lifted to Leliana's and he ran his tongue lightly along his bottom lip in a moment's pause; as if trying to think of what he was going to say at that given moment.
"You know I love you… And there are many ways that I want to show that but I can't right now." He started to explain and reached up to lightly touch her cheek with the back of his fingers. "That doesn't mean that I don't wish to. It's just for the legal purposes that I worry. I want you protected, no matter what I do… But I keep thinking, if not now, then when? How? …I want you to be mine, Leliana, and I want to be yours in any way I could claim it possible. For right now, I can only give you my promise, but only if… if you would have me."
Leliana had listened intently to what Anders had to say. Just as Anders wanted freedom for all mages so did she. But on a more mellow level than he had played it out of course. She never believed she would have been apart of something so big and great for so many to be able to actually be free. To live their lives, hopefully how they wanted and with their families which they were torn from. "It seems as if all the mages are following in the lead of their icon, mister rebel." She teased with a light tap to his shoulder in a playful manner. "But someone needs to hurry and step in to lead them before they go astray… Otherwise it would be all useless work and we'd all be back to step one."
She started to sigh and shift the plum within her fingers to allow Baelfire to continue his eating. "Who are we supposed to fight then?" She asked a bit curiously. Leliana had never enjoyed the idea of it, fighting. Since the last time they had tried that it had almost got Anders head cut off. Just as he knew by how much she told him, she didn't want to lose him. To the Templars or any other person that had tried to put a wedge in between them. Though she knew being with him, a mage apostate that had many enemy's would bring their end to a disaster. One thing she had constantly tried to keep blocked from her mind.
Though as she sat there she felt herself jump some as she was pulled out of her thoughts and back to reality by the soft touch of Anders lips brushing across her shoulders. Soon though that startled expression shifted to a warm smile after she shifted her gaze over towards Anders. Somehow he always managed to put a smile on her face, even when she was at her limit with him. She had no idea how but if she had to guess it must have been how much she loved him and felt that love returned when she looked at him. Not to mention the way he had worded things too. She could already feel herself beaming brightly from his words, just by the simple notion of him saying he loved her and his touch which she seemed to become entranced by. No longer was she worrying where they were or how long they had waited, as long as they had their time with one another like they were now that is all that had mattered to her.
Though when he continued she wasn't expecting what he had said. It was coming clearer with each word that he said that he was speaking about marriage with her. Somehow he always managed to sneak these things up on her and just as the last time she began to feel the fluttering of her heart and with that had caused the rush of blood to fill her cheekbone and mostly collarbone and chest regions in a radiant blush. "Anders?" She whispered almost uncertain if what she was hearing was true. Since the last time they had spoken about this she was asked not to answer and then she had respected his wishes. "I love you too, so much…" She started off, as she grasped Baelfire up and rested him against the tree beside her so that she could then move in closer to Anders.
Her fingers had rubbed gently across his jawline as her hues had gazed into his own. "You don't need to worry Anders, I want to spend the rest of my days with you and only you. You make me the happiest woman alive and even if it isn't "legal" by the people than we still can find a way around it. I'm sure of it. The question is though can you put up with me?" She teased leaning in a bit as her lips had brushed against his own in a taunting "almost" kiss.
Anders had closed his eyes upon the moment that Leliana had came closer towards him. Feeling her warm breath lightly dance across his lips had still been a tender inviting to him. He was smiling in the relief and joy of hearing Leliana's answer to him. While somewhere deep down he had always known that she would have agreed to be with him, there was always that mild twinge of doubt. However, all of that had been quickly swept away from her words.
"I have been for a while, haven't I?" He asked and then took that opportunity to have moved inward in his moment to steal a kiss from her. Anders pressed his lips to hers and coaxed the reaction of parted lips and endearing dance of soft lips own across hers. It was a kiss of pure love. Parting away; though, he smiled and had wet his lips before speaking again.
"…But you weren't supposed to have given me an answer just yet. Looks like I'll have to give this early then." He teased and finally opened his eyes.
He moved back towards his pocket and pulled out a ring that had a thin golden band a large white diamond resting on its centered bracket. Reaching for Leliana's left hand, Anders had gingerly cupped hers from underneath his own and looked down as he started to slip the ring onto her ring-finger.
"I didn't want you to get a look at this before you gave me an answer 'cause I didn't want you to think this apostate had any money." He joked, and found himself still joking in between bringing her hand back towards his lips for a tender kiss of its own. "Now with this on your finger; though, it means no more dancing with strange elves."
Leliana had laughed a little to herself once he had replied to the fact that he had been standing beside her for some time now. She wasn't able to say much in a response though due to his move inwards, that had caused her to warmly greet his lips in return in the same loving kiss he had offered her. Though when he had pulled away she had found herself chasing after him if just slightly.
"Am I supposed to just leave you hanging each time you ask me?" She teased with a push of her brow against his. Though this hadn't been long due to his next sentence and him reaching down for whatever it was. "Give me what?" She asked a bit curiously as she leaned back waiting as patiently as one woman could
Truthfully she was expecting a ring, for many reasons. One of them being she would have wondered when he had the time to actually go out and find one. Since he was always so busy with his work or with her and Baelfire. The man had never taken a break it had seemed. So when she saw a glimmering sign of the small object pinched between his fingers she immediately felt as if the air within her lungs were ripped out of her from pure shock and joy. With these rush of emotions coming to her she felt a warm sensation fill her eyes… Tears? Yes tears of joy. She tried to say something, anything when she at last felt him grasp onto her hand and slip the ring on. Though she was at a loss of words. Until he had spoken and her smiled that had been brighter than the sun dimmed slightly to his sarcastic words only to brighten again as she gave him a little shove at the shoulder.
"Anders…" She whispered out before looking back at her ring. It was truly beautiful and something which she'd honor, just as she had tried to do by him with all the time they had been with one another. "Its perfect." She finally spoke as her gaze shifted from the ring and had been brought up to Anders once more. "I love you." She admitted softly as her hands cupped at each side of his cheeks where she had begun to lean in pressing her moist parting lips against his in a passionate kiss.
Pulling away was probably the hardest part to do as she wanted to shower him in her love in the few proper ways she could. But she had done so for the sake of glancing over and checking on Baelfire before looking back towards Anders once she saw he was alright. "And I promise, no elven men or just men in general will get within ten feet of me. You're my only dancing partner now."
"Slow down; I was only kidding about the dancing elf…" He started to laugh and lean more into Leliana's embrace for the comfort. Anders held her close and rested his head more along her chest, and looked down towards Baelfire next to them. "Besides, you'll have to teach him how to dance with girls, you know. I'm not having my boy wait on the sidelines while the rest of the Court start their usual 'pecking order' for their future betroths."
The spring hair had felt good against their skin. It was finally the season of new warmth and life. It was the time of change; something that Anders could possibly remain on the brink of for an eternity. The thought in itself was even soothing, and he lulled himself almost completely into the ideal notion of it. It was only moments later, after the wind had died down, that Anders had started to speak again.
"When we get to this hiding place, we'll go somewhere special to exchange vows." He started to explain; almost as if he was plotting it in his head at that current time. "It won't be a legal marriage, but the consummation afterwards has to account for something! …Until then, we will just have our promises to one another. I'll always be yours, just as you will always be mine."
Anders closed his eyes to the thought, but they hadn't stayed closed for long. For down along the Imperial Highway, in the direction that Rhys's group was heading towards, was a new army. They were chevaliers on horseback: men and women who were the crests of Orlais across their breastplates. Each one wore a helmet and each helmet had a purple large tassel from the back as if it were a proper headdress of some sort. However, this was nothing new really—Anders had seen chevaliers before and acknowledged that some (if not all) of the suits that were made in their image actually had similar fashions from Ferelden. It left Anders to idly wonder who was copying from whom in terms of fashion.
They were ridding on horseback and dragging along with him was a man dressed in a suit of Grey Warden armor. At least; he looked mostly like a man. His brown curly hair had left somewhat of a slight receding line and his ears had showed signs of clearly being a half-breed between a human and an elf. He was taller than an elf though, and more muscular—as if he had taken the best genetics from both races for himself.
However, Anders couldn't have studied him for long since the group was carefully trotting around the defeated carriage. It seemed that the dazed Grey Warden was still fighting to have broken free from them as well. He had suffered a blow to his left temple and a few bruises by his shoulder and sides. Struggling to have gotten away, the half-breed was still fighting to have gotten free.
Leliana had started to laugh some along with Anders at the mentioning of the elf dancing joke. Though she truly didn't see herself dancing with anyone else as that was a brief one time thing. Espically how Anders had reacted she didn't want to push it. After the movement of his head rested to her chest Leliana had looked down lovingly as her fingertips had run through the nape of his neck hairs in a small circular motion until shifting a bit further up his hair line. "Alright, alright. I'll teach our son but by then I think my dance moves will be out dated and he'll just probably look at me like I'm crazy." She joked imagining the thought within the back of her mind as her head had rested to the base of the tree.
She began to close her eyes with the wind breezing past them. She could hear a light laugh coming from Baelfire, mostly due from either the wind in general or the grass tickling him. Intrigued she began to peak out of one of her eyes and look to their son, seeing him plucking and yanking out the grass around him. Leliana hadn't said anything but smiled as she closed her eyes again with the content moment with her family. But for her, when she heard Anders voice again she started to peak out of one of her eyes, then the other as she listened further before speaking.
"I like the idea of that… I can't wait for both the vow part and the consummation. And it doesn't matter if its legal as long as we know in our hearts it is. That's all that matters." She replied in a soft tone as she reached towards his hand to intertwine her fingers with his. She had like the mentioning of the promises to each other that it had brought Leliana to tilt down far enough to rest a kiss, if a short one to the side of his features which she could reach.
Seeing his eyes close, Leliana had followed in his lead. But she hadn't gotten as far as him. As she soon saw the group of soldiers heading their way. She already started to begin to try and grasp Anders attention with a poke to his shoulder and back. Until they had broken from their embrace and Leliana had turned to their son who she quickly gathered up in her arms. Though she hadn't noticed the boy was having more fun with the grass than she realized. It was all over his tiny body, along with handfuls of handfuls gathered in his hands.
As she was cleaning up Baelfire the best she could with the brush of her hand she had finally looked to the man who Anders was trying to study himself. At first she had muttered something out along the lines of. "Is that a Warden." Shaking her head she looked towards Anders for confirmation. "We should help him shouldn't we, Anders?"
Anders's eyes were still watching as the Halfling was being hauled down past their carriage. The Chevaliers' horses had even stopped momentarily to check out it out. They were searching it to find that no one was inside; but still maintaining their stances at respective distances. It was apparent that they were thankfully more interested in keeping their current Halfling more in check.
It was enough to keep Anders paranoid still, and yet Leliana's words of concerned still helped in peeking at his curiosity. After all, for as much as Anders had known about the Grey Wardens, other kingdoms—no matter the current status—were not suppose to oppose them. Though that was proven that even that truth had its faults; since Anders did remember a certain stubborn templar who had chased him despite even her own king's declarations that Anders was to have been granted immunity from the Circle.
He had groaned at the first thought of helping him. If it wasn't for having to worry about Leliana's and Baelfire's well-being, he probably would have attempted it, but in this continued situation, Anders was left to be rather reluctant. On the other hand, he knew if he refused then he would have risked Leliana possibly arguing against him.
And things were going so smoothly too…
"Alright. We'll at least see what's going on." He finally sighed with an excuse to the Chevaliers. Anders pushed himself up from the tree and glanced back to Leliana and Baelfire for the moment. He had kept his fingers pointed towards the tree trunk "Stay here."
He walked over towards the group that had just about past their carriage up and waved his hand into the air to catch their attention. "Ho there. Might I hear news of the Dales forests?"
"Why would a traveler wish to know about the Forest of the Dales?" One of the soldiers questioned curiously and then tilted his head more towards the road within his answer. "If you stick to the Imperial Highly, you should still remain safe. Most of the dalish have left the trails."
"What of him?" Anders asked and shifted his eyes more towards the Halfling.
All eyes shifted towards the topic at hand. The Halfling jerked his arms to one side, shrugging the leash chain more towards himself to carry even the smallest slack that he could to his side. It was a considerable opening for conversation; one that should have been expected but the Chevaliers were obviously reluctant to really answer him.
"This man isn't dalish. He's a spy." The soldier had started to answer him.
"A spy in Grey Warden armor? Last I knew, Grey Wardens were granted immunity to civil laws." Anders shrugged, though pressed his smile tightly.
"Stay out of Orlais affairs, citizen." The Chevalier started to warn.
Though by now, the soldiers hadn't really been paying much attention. To the Halfling as he reached for one of the soldiers's swords resting close to his hip at the horse's side. Unsheathing it quickly alerted everyone. The first Chevalier had tugged at the Halfling's chains, but he swung the blade to cut off the man's wrists. He hollered, holding up his bloody stubs. Anders's eyes widened some and he quickly started to step back; refusing to really take in any part—one side or the other. The Halfling had seemed capable on his own if only he had a blade to continue his fighting.
"Hold him down! Hold him down!" The Captain started to shout, but the Halfling was already leaping away and onto the horse behind a second soldier that he had wounded. He wrapped his chains around the man's neck while aiming the blade at the others. He moved swiftly in fighting one handed against the other men who remained on the horses.
Leliana's attention hadn't drifted from the Halfling much within that moment, due to this so much of Anders despair wasn't brought to her attention. If it had then maybe she would have been easier on the matter and Anders. Seeing as how he clearly didn't want to involve himself, and had good reason to not want to. At times Leliana had forgotten all about that, as when problems occurred she had rather fixed it than left it as is if possible.
She looked towards the trunk of the tree finally which Anders had pointed at and blinked a few times before nodding her head. "Alright…" She replied with a pause. "Just be careful." Leliana suggested with a small smile creeping to her lips. It wasn't until his back was turned that a slight unease came over her and in reaction to this she shifted towards Baelfire and picked him up. If momentarily her attention was taken off the rising conflict and brought to Baelfire whom began tugging on her crimson tresses to get her attention, which it had. When she had heard Anders voice though her eyes shifted to the corner of her sockets, looking to his back as he spoke to the Chevalier's.
She wished she could have been up there with him. Somehow helping. Not that she had taken motherhood for granted but still with Anders position with what had happened, she felt as she could help somehow. When she noticed she couldn't hear much of what they were saying Leliana took a step forward, only one and began to lean forward in hopes to hear anything which they spoke of. But due to the gapping distance, she heard all but muffled words.
"Looks like we're not going to hear anything from here." She said towards Baelfire who sighed and rested his temple to his mother's collar bone. Leliana raised her hand, the palm of her hand pressing to the back of his dome as her fingers had brushed through the boys shorter golden hair. She started to turn some and begin to take her few steps back towards the tree. Though as she had done this the sheathing of the sword passed her ears and brought the rouge to turn back around.
Her eyes had widened at first seeing the blood sprewing from where his hands were once connected to his wrists. She blockaded Baelfire's sight from this with her hand and the more time which passed the more which she wanted to run towards Anders and help.
Little did she noticed though that the few Chevalier's that were surrounded around the Halfling begun to shift her way. Leliana's sights were to Anders and his slow steady steps back from the group. But from the corner of her eyes she began to see a glimmering shine of armor. When she had turned her head she noticed it was a Chevalier not intentionally stumbling towards her but from the fight gaining she had guessed the man was pushed back so hard that it had brought him to stumble back. She wouldn't have cared if it wasn't for the boarding sword held towards his side that her fears begun to sprung up.
She had to move, and quick. If she hadn't she and more importantly Baelfire would have gotten impaled by the blade.
In a swift motion she had ducked just in time, closing her eyes as her arms tightened around Baelfire for protection. All she heard above head, possibly just by mere inches was a clang and a snap of wood break as the Chevalier had begun prying the sword out of its wooden vise.
Leliana began to open her eyes once more, in the warm air a few of her radiant red stands freely blew in the wind. Thankfully Baelfire was handling this better than her. As her first reaction was to kick out with one of her legs towards the Chevalier. Thus bringing the burly man down to a loud thudding fall. "Watch where your swinging that thing, will ya!"
Leliana winched at the sound more than the sight of what was all going on around her as she quickly stood back to her feet in a quick hop. She looked for Anders but wasn't given much time as the Chevalier had begun already standing to his feet and with what Leliana had done on top of having no weapons on her, the first thought within her mind was to step away as quietly out of sight before the man had caught who'd done what to him.
From the corner of his eyes, Anders had seen the Chevalier stumbling back from the fight. He looked to the fear of seeing the man losing his balance from the momentary folly. He had to restrain himself from tempting to use any magic in front of the Chevaliers. It was mostly to his good fortune that everything had happened in his favor, though as fast and frightening as it was. He ran up towards the hill once his feet seemed to have thawed from the cold of fear. He quickly back-handed the soldier; thankful that the helmet he wore was partially held open.
"Dumbass!" Anders cursed the soldier in between of his adrenaline kicking in, and trying to calm the endorphin high that he had.
Of course the soldiers had been caught up in the confusion of the new attack and the Halfling's continued struggling. Though still chained up, the Halfling was managing to knock out swords from the other soldiers' hands. The Chevalier nearest towards Anders held up his sword against him; who in returned raised his hands more into a show of surrender but there were actually fists.
"Look, we don't want any trouble—" Anders started to say, but the man had continued to aim his blade in his direction in a continued threat.
It seemed quite opposite for the Halfling who was busy killing off the man's comrades. One by one, he continued to ride the horse in a farther off distance while keeping at least one Chevalier hostage. This had left the one soldier who was seemingly threatening to have taken Anders captive for obstructing prisoner's transport. After hearing the Chevalier's orders barked to him about tucking his hands behind his back, Anders looked to where the battle had seemed to flee—if not cover a larger portion of ground.
"Your friends are leaving without you." Anders pushed and tried to point in their direction.
"Like I'm going to fall for that trick—" The Chevalier glared back at Anders and pressed the sharpened end of his blade towards the mage's robes. "Hands behind your back, now!"
Though at that moment, a blade had crept from behind and sliced the man's neck. The blood splattered in a rush forward against Anders's face. He quickly turned away and attempted to hide his face. The soldier had fallen, clutching his neck as he fell. The Chevalier's body was thrown into spasms as he started to bleed out. Anders continued to wipe his face clean in between trying to hold the soldier down against the ground.
"Did you have to go that far?" Anders had attempted to joke; though it still sounded as a complaint, upon kneeling down. His hands started to glow with healing magic; since he was preparing himself to heal the man. "These robes are not made out of cheap cotton, you know—"
The Halfling abruptly knelt down and slightly nudged Anders away in between holding the Chevalier down. His steady green eyes sparked a slight warning as dry and rugged words passed his lips. "No! Don't."
Anders stumbled back before falling down on his bottom. He looked at the Halfling across from him and reached up again to wipe his eyes and face clean from the blood. Even though—as a healer, Anders was slightly conflicted with the thought of just allowing the man to die—he still didn't want the other Grey Warden to have been captured either. It reminded him too much of the mages escaping from the grasp of the templars.
When the last Chevalier had stopped convulsing and bled out, Anders had rubbed his face against his sleeve. Looking back down at the Halfling as he started to search the man for the key to the chains to free himself; only so that he could free himself.
"You killed all of them?" Anders started to ask him, still mildly surprised.
He hadn't answered. His eyes glanced towards Anders, but only briefly in between standing back up to his feet.
Anders squinted his eyes momentarily and attempted another mild joke, despite the situations and how they had seemed to escalate and then die down again. "Quite the friendly one, aren't ya?"
Rubbing his wrists free from the bonds, the Halfling had started to step away. He grabbed the reigns of the horse he had acquired from earlier and turned his attention more towards removing the leather bonds that held the horse in place; as well as the saddle that normally would have kept the horse in more fit shape for riding.
"You didn't see anything." The Halfling instructed bluntly, as if trying to offer solace in some form.
"By the Great Flame, we didn't..." Anders mumbled under his breath; already feeling the slight regret of allowing the soldier to have died under his watch. It was a small guilt; but like all forms of guilt, it was still there.
Everything around her was going at such a pace that she hadn't seen Anders had begun approaching the scene when he had. After all her priorities were to keep an eye on this Chevalier and to make sure he hadn't made the wrong move, for Baelfire's sake she needed to keep her mind on the person in front of her and not worry about where Anders could have been. She might have not had a weapon to protect herself but she did have her strength still, even if it had been far too long in between the last time she had fought or sparred even.
When Anders had made his entrance, she couldn't deny that she felt relieved from seeing him. Her eyes drifted over to the Halfling to see what was conspiring between this time, but she didn't look long as Anders smacking of his hand reached her ears and brought her to look back to the mage and Chevalier. Her only expression was that of a flinch of her face as she turned her features to one side to look away.
It was no surprise when the Chevalier pointed the end of his blade towards Anders. After all he was was attacked by not one but two unexpected people. This hadn't stopped Leliana's worry, the least they needed was trouble in Orlais. The sad thing is it wasn't as if they asked for this, all they were trying to do was help the one who they thought needed help. But by the looks of how he was easily taking down each Chevalier, it seemed as if he was fine on his own. Leliana was partly regretting the suggestion she had made to help him earlier.
In her attempt to 'help' she tried to step towards the Chevalier, to try and talk sense into this man. But from seeing the creeping blade, she stalled and not only found a defense behind Anders again but also used herself as a blocking wall for Baelfire if any blood had splurged past Anders shoulders.
Leliana hadn't moved far from behind Anders after she heard the collapse of the Chevalier's body. By the sound of the convulsing she didn't want to have Baelfire to experience such a sight. Even if he wouldn't remember or know what was happening, and might even get a kick out of it. Thinking it was some kind of game, she still wanted to protect him as long as she could from it.
She had heard a bit of bickering between Anders and the Halfling though she didn't involve herself in any, there was no need. Once she heard the twitching of the Chevalier cease, Leliana peaked over her shoulder for confirmation before turning around, but still shielding her hand over Baelfire's face from the more gruesome sights. It was here Leliana had finally gotten a better look at the Halfling, well past all the blood and everything else.
Tempted, she stepped forward a few steps until she stood beside Anders. She looked towards him momentarily and his bloodied features, only a slight raise eye brow was her single expression as she looked away to see the Halfling begin, what seemed his departure. One of her arms reached out if to grasp his attention before he'd left the area as she spoke out. "That's it?" Lowering her arm, Leliana gave this a moment to pause in the mix of her words. "What about a name…? Can we at least know that?"
The Halfling glanced back over to his shoulder upon hearing the woman's thick Orlesian accent. His eyes shifted from her to look to the healer-mage who seemed apparently quick in holding his arm out in front of the redheaded woman. The blonde male had seemed set on trying to keep some sort of boundary between the woman and himself—and for as far as the mage had known, it was for good reason. The Halfling did just recently go on a rampage, despite the fact that it was a battle for his own freedom, but at the same time it couldn't have been accomplished without some form of distraction. The mage had offered that much. So in return, a name shouldn't have been as over-compensation or almost equal.
"Stay back, Leliana, it's not safe." Anders had instructed but there wasn't really much of a firmness in his voice.
The Halfling reached up to rub the horse's nose in his greeting, and allowed the large tongue of the animal to lick his arm and then his shoulder before moving towards the horse's side. He tugged lightly on the mane, upon climbing onto the bare back of the animal.
"My name is Sven." He answered as the horse had neighed and trotted once in place.
"Aren't you a Grey Warden?" Anders was quick to ask in return for more information. "What would Chevaliers want with you?"
"That is only a title to me." Sven started to say and patted one side of the horse's neck, as to have given some sort of signal—that for some reason the horse was quick to pick upon.
"It should mean more than that—Don't you have any sense of pride-?" Anders caught himself beginning to argue.
Though he stopped himself rather quickly; he couldn't seem to keep the abrupt thoughts to himself. It was a shock to him to see another Grey Warden obviously straying away from his given path, and yet he was in no position to speak of anything about loyalties to the Grey Wardens either. How could he, when his heart's-given-purpose remained with freeing mages.
Sven just gave him a rather blank look in return. He knew of the man being a fellow Grey Warden; even from the stare in his eyes it was plain to have seen that he understood it well.
Anders sighed and looked back down towards the soil near his feet. He started to lower his arm from in between Leliana and the horse that other Grey Warden remained mounted upon. While he didn't believe that Sven would have done anything to her—at least at this point—he still didn't really trust the two to have been close.
"Dead. Ferelden soldiers killed them years ago." He answered and almost had seemed to leave an accusing glare towards Anders—as if he had almost been the one to have caused the very deaths of his past comrades.
Leliana was quick to notice it probably wasn't in her best interest to speak. After all this Halfling had been chased down by Orleasin's, and she clearly couldn't hide her accent. She wouldn't blame him if he had tried to attack her. Though it wouldn't have been in his best interest to have done so of course. Of all the times she could have spoken, it had to be now. One which she was regretting now. But there was little she could do now that she spoke. But look at Anders as his outspread arm in front of her had brought her to at least take a step back. Not out of fear of this Sven but more so because to give herself a little more distance and properly stand more but not fully behind Anders. She had to think of Baelfire after all.
When she was instructed by Anders she had raised her brows, and started to look more towards back to the Halfling, she wasn't expecting much information out of him by the way of how he had readied himself to leave. After hearing a name come from his lips though, a smile if a small one had pulled to her lips. "It's nice to meet you Sven, though I could have preferred other ways of coming across you than this. But my name is Leliana. You don't have to worry about me causing you any harm."
Leliana looked towards Anders and his question. Which had her wondering as well if Sven was truly a Warden or just wore the armor for the fun of it. She could see people stating they were a Warden when they were not, but she could also see that person getting in a heap of trouble if the Grey Wardens had found out. So clearly he had to be. Leliana didn't interfere with the conversation the two had bounced off each other. But she was intrigued to hear why the Chevaliers had wanted him. Since they just didn't capture Grey Warden's for fun, or at least she hoped not.
Leliana's attention was turned towards Anders when the mentioning of pride was spoken, in a reflex of emotions she felt herself taking her free hand and swatting at his side. She didn't want to upset Sven nor did she want an argument to arise. Thankfully there was none. But the odd silence that came right after was almost just as bad. She felt her eyes shifting from one person to the next, until the motion of Anders arm was dropped and Leliana stepped back to Anders side at least for the time being.
"Dead?" Leliana repeated back a bit confused on what he had meant on the statement. "Who's them?" She dared to ask, if Anders had allowed her she would have stepped closer in her friendly nature. But she didn't want to make things uneasy than they had to be that she had looked towards Anders then back the Sven for a moment. He was bound to leave she might as well had asked all which she wished to know before he decided to leave and she couldn't. With that in mind she gave a slight nod of her head and parted her lips one last time. "And you never got to why the Chevaliers are chasing you… "
"Years ago; about three to four months after Ostagar's failure, General Loghain had sent troops along the Imperial Highway to capture and kill other Grey Wardens. It was his method of control, out of fear. My squad fell to the army that ambushed them." Sven answered and turned his horse around.
He would have rode off from merely that, but Leliana's following question had cassed him to stall for a moment longer. It was this stalling that had left Anders to still keep a careful glance between Leliana and the Halfling. How he wished that she didn't attempt to befriend nearly every single person that they came across. It just left Anders more paranoid.
"Because the Chevaliers are mindless drones who can't even think for themselves." Sven's sharp answer to Leliana's question came so abruptly that it derailed Anders's train of thought.
The mage shook his head a little and glanced back up towards Sven in response. "Is that why you killed them?"
"Above anything else a Grey Warden has to be allowed his life and his freedom within it." Sven answered and kicked his heels lightly into the horse's side. It wasn't a painful attempt, but more of a gentle gesture to attempt at giving the commands for the horse to go.
Anders had waited and watched as Sven's full gallop had nearly completely disappeared more into the afternoon's sun. He seemed to have leaned a little closer, and over Leliana's shoulder at the time before speaking gently to her still. "Please be more careful… I don't trust people like him."
Not but maybe a few minutes had passed before Evangeline and Rhys had returned from their long walk in finding the missing part. Rhys was rolling the wheel along the road while Evangelian remained walking on the other side of the wheel. They both had seemed pretty proud in their findings and from what time they had spent together.
Though their moments of happiness had obviously soon passed at the sign of the dead bodies along the Imperial Highway. Evangeline was on a full high alert as she turned her attention quickly towards the direction of Leliana and Anders.
"What happened here?" Rhys started to ask Anders once he had Evengaline had gotten close enough towards them.
"Oh, the usual:" Anders answered while soon turning his explanations towards them. "Man demands freedom; Man's denied freedoms, and man slaughters a handful of those opposing him."
"These were Chevaliers." Evangeline started to speak from under her breath. Her eyes then looked towards the mask that each of the men wore from underneath their helmets. She soon had started to remove every helmet that each corpse had. It was her method of making sure that each person after them carried the same symbol.
Leliana had looked more towards Anders when he had leaned in towards her and spoke. A smile had begun to form at the corner of her lips that curved into a brighter one with each passing second. She leaned in as if to lay a kiss to his cheek, but then stopped mere inches noticing the blood still slightly caked on his face. She drew back quickly and reached up to a small area free of blood and gave him a little poke to his features. "You're so charming when you worry." She admitted, as her hand dropped down to his and grasped hold. "Let's clean you up. If I'm supposed to be sitting next to you all the way to wherever were going, I don't want a messy man." She teased with a tug to his hand to begin to lead him away from the fallen bodies and to a clearer area.
It wasn't as bad as Leliana had made it out to seem with the blood on Anders, but his clothes would have to wait and even possibly get stained in the process of waiting. But at least his face was clear of any others bodily fluids, which Leliana was sure Anders would have preferred just as she would have preferred for herself if it was the other way around.
"All better." She informed where she briefly leaned in for a quick peck on his lips seeing as how Rhy's and Evangeline had finally made their return. There she stepped to the side where Baelfire was entertaining himself and picked him back up in her arms before turning to greet the two who would obviously have many questions for the dead bodies. Why didn't Anders just torch them? At least then there would be no evidence but scorch marks where the bodies once were. But maybe that would have been more suspicious…
"Sure took you guys long enough to get back." It was a small attempt to change the subject but one worth trying since all Leliana had wanted to do was fix the carriage and get back on the road before more people had found them among these dead Chevaliers. But soon Leliana's attention was drawn back to Evangeline when she had mentioned of the men being Chevaliers. She nodded some and stepped more closely to Anders side.
"They are… But it doesn't matter what they were… They're dead now. Best to pretend we saw nothing… Right?" She asked a bit hesitantly, as the feeling of her teeth had dug into the flesh of her tongue. She had just hoped they didn't ask who had done this, and why. Rhy's being curious like a child didn't help any, she would just have to hope coming back to a shock like this would distract his thoughts momentarily.
"We can't just ignore it." Rhys frowned a bit to Leliana's suggestion and knelt down towards the wheel she was rolling. He took his attention towards checking the vital signs of the few he presumed to have still been alive. Though this was a false hope after all; and it wasn't as if he could have healed them with any powers either.
Evangeline rolled her wheel towards Anders and gave him the harshest, yet serious look that any templar could have given someone. It was enough to make the mage even cringe a bit in his shoes, but the feelings of old prejudice still ran deep in him—enough to keep him from wanting to suddenly cower away as well.
"I'm only going to ask you this once." Evangeline stated and rested her left hand up to her hip. "Did you kill these men?"
Rhys abruptly tilted his head towards her direction of questioning. "Evangeline, now's not the time-!"
He was quickly cut off though as the templar reached back with her left hand in a signal to have kept him silent; although her harsh eyes didn't seem to falter from studying Anders at the moment. The blonde mage felt like wanting to roll his eyes at the information requested of him. Of course the templar would suspect him of killing anyone; he was a mage!
"Wait a second." He started to explain while keeping his stance close to Leliana for the moment. "You don't think that I had something to do with all this…?"
"Your explanations haven't really left you in the clear of anything." Evangeline pushed; as was her nature for attempting to gain an honest answer from him.
"No. I didn't kill any of them." Anders stated and folded his arms. "I might have wanted to, but ironically I was more worried about my robes getting soiled."
Evangeline paused, still staring down at him for a moment longer—almost as though attempting to pass a form of judgment on her own. She had then stepped back and turned her attention towards rolling the wheel down the path towards the broken down carriage.
"Okay." She started speak in a slightly lighter tone, and turned her focus towards putting the wheel back on. "Is there anything else you haven't told me that you need to?"
Anders smirked coyly and reached behind Leliana to pull her slightly close towards his hip. "Only that I'm pregnant…. Oh, and Leliana, here, is the father. It's going to be a giant cheese wheel!"
Leliana looked to Rhy's after the short snap he tossed her way. It brought a little scoff to emit from her lips and roll her eyes before dropping them back to look at the mage checking the pulse. "You think we haven't checked that already…?" She asked curiously with a point of her chin in the direction of the fallen soldiers. "It's not like we wanted them dead." She tried to defend their stance. Though she doubted Rhy's would have listened upon how intent he was on checking every man.
Though it would seem as if Leliana attention was deterred, at least for a moment when Evangeline had approached the two. Seeing how deeply she had looked to Anders with her suspiouion brought Leliana to shift her head towards Anders and catch a glimpse of his reaction. Sadly there was no way to convince her but give their word on what had happened in their absence and hopefully from hearing their shortened version of the story that they would eventually believe on what had happened.
"I can't believe your even asking." She muttered to herself as she rose an arm, her first few digits working at the bridge of her nose in thought. Leliana did open her eyes when Rhy's had tried to stop the accusations and had looked his way for a moment only to glance back to Evangeline when she had signaled him. There wasn't much more to say on their part, so for Leliana, she had kept silent. For the sake of Sven that was here earlier, after all it did seem the man didn't want to be found and Leliana wasn't going to help in any of that unless Anders decided to spill the whole truth behind the story.
Leliana turned her attention and sights more towards Baelfire, waiting for this awkward conversation to come to an end. But feeling the grasp to her side had brought her eyes to widen as a surprised sound had emitted from her pursed lips. Her arm tightened around Baelfire, at first she hadn't caught onto what Anders had spoken of until a few seconds later that brought the rouge to blink a few times after realization.
"Huh?" She whispered up towards Anders as her hues had examined the mage. She had to admit though it would have been a luxury for it to be the other way around, no matter how much she had loved the moments of carrying a human being inside her there were times when she had just wanted to take a day off from the weight of carrying pains that had come with it. "It would be nice to have it the other way around." She teased with a little nudge to his side in a playful notion with her elbow.
"Do you need help with that Evangeline?" Leliana asked curiously with a nod of her head towards the wheel. But didn't make any movements towards the part she took responsibility over.
"Thank you, but I can handle it." Evangeline answered when the question was given to her.
"You know, you should really let one of us take care of it." Anders added ; following more of Leliana's concern. Though he clearly would have rather just allowed her to continue caring for Baelfire for the moment.
"A woman can do anything just as well as a man." Evangeline smirked a little to the thought, but welcomed no attempts of help from anyone. This was something she could have done on her own.
"Pity us men can't say the same in reverse." Anders joked a bit more in his attempts to have eased her tension from him.
After finally giving up in his search for any survivors—which really had been pointless on all counts—Rhys stood up and walked towards Anders. "Well, maybe there's something we can do after all… Like moving the bodies away from the road….? I'm a little worried if these Chevaliers were around then more are bound to be patrolling—"
"And if not them, then Magisters." Anders finished with a knowing nod. His smirk had eventually faded to the thought. He really didn't want to involve himself in such things, but he felt the political pull even at that moment. Giving a slight sigh, his arm had left from Leliana's grip and he started to move towards helping him. "Alright then…"
And so the group had finally gotten back on their journey. Rhys had needed to hold a meeting for every mage that had escaped from the Circle. It had been an announcement to determine what they were going to actually do next. They would have rather wished to declare the Chantry as an outside party; or otherwise an enemy—a group they would have rather not dealt with anymore if possible. This had meant no more lyrium trading treaties from them and no more attending to their services for lighting their sacred Andraste flames; all in exchange for not being trapped within the Circle anymore.
However the meeting was ambushed by a small army of Starkhaven Templars who had been tracking a group of Starkhaven mages to this specific location. Anders ended up fighting to defend the holding place, but he was eventually captured and turned Tranquil once the battle had been over. Anders had been fighting and scratching all the way until the last struggling moment from when it happened. They pushed him into a carriage and began to take him away.
Because of the destruction that the fighting between the mages and templars were fighting, that an army of animals had swooped in to separate the fighting. This was done in order to save the forest from anymore destruction. It was Sven in charge of the animal attack; and he ended the fighting with his own onslaught. He saved Anders, but he wasn't in time to have saved him before he had turned tranquil. So, it was a slow march back towards the mages' hideouts.