Paivel was reciting the story of the Dales to all the children of the clan. Raina was in the back with her dark hair braided down her back, listening half-heartedly, until she noticed Tamlen. Usually he was all energy and prickly to those he didn't know, but his lips moved along with Master Paivel's – word for word…with his eyes closed. When the storytelling was done, the others dispersed and Paivel retired to his aravel.
Tamlen was still sitting on his log, eyes closed, like a beautiful blond statue. "Did you need something," he bit out. Raina blushed, the words turning to ash in her mouth. He opened his eyes then and saw her standing uncertainly beside him and he felt guilty. Her large dark eyes looked so hurt and the stain on her cheeks exposed her embarrassment.
"I-I'm sorry. I don't mean to sound so – "
"Grumpy," Raina supplied. He laughed, a bright sound from the taciturn youth, and she smiled in return. "It's okay. I'm not good at making friends either." His eyes widened and she wrung her delicate hands nervously. "That is…I would like to be friends…with you…um. Oh, nevermind." She attempted to fly away like a startled bird, but he caught her gently by the wrist.
"No, wait…I-I would like to be friends with you, Raina."
The bushes rustled and she could hear his voice in her head. "Hold the string taut, don't squint, and your arrow will fly true." She double-checked her stance, waiting for her quarry to move out in the open. A flash of gray, the whistle of the arrow, the death shriek of her prey – it happened so quickly.
"Fantastic, lethallan! You didn't even hesitate!" A slightly older Tamlen materialized out of the trees behind her and turned her around for a congratulatory hug, but he stopped when he saw the wetness on her face.
"A rabbit, Tamlen." Her lip trembled and then she sat on the ground, crooning a prayer to Andruil for the sacrifice of her woodland child. Tamlen patted her on the head awkwardly.
"It's okay, Raina. I know this is hard for you. We'll make a hunter out of you yet…but we'll stay away from rabbits." She smiled thankfully at him and he couldn't help smiling back.
"Tamlen? Tamlen, come out. This isn't funny…TAMLEN!"
Rawr! She screamed and nearly climbed out of her skin to see her friend behind her, laughing uproariously at frightening her. Without even thinking she tackled him and began smacking him with her small, open palms. "Don't do that! How could you? I thought something happened to you!"
He just laughed. "Oh, don't be mad, Raina. I was just playing." Tamlen relented when she pouted. "I'm sorry to scare you. Come on, let's get the firewood we were sent for." She took his outstretched hand and tried to mask her wounded pride; he couldn't know her feelings for him. They'd been friends too long – he surely thought of her as a sister.
Tamlen paced anxiously at the edge of the halla pen. Raina leaned against a tree and waited for him to speak. There was no sense rushing him; he would speak when he was ready. "My hunts haven't gone too well, Raina. I-I'm worried. If I don't take down a decent kill soon the Keeper won't allow me to go through with the Vallaslin and become a full hunter for the clan."
"You worry too much, lethallin. Such things are rare. The elders expect you to be anxious and that's why they give so much time to complete your task."
He ran his long fingers roughly through his short hair. "Yes, lethallan, but without a successful hunt and the rite, I can't bond with a woman." Raina stiffenend. Of course, she knew this, but she didn't realize that Tamlen worried about such things.
"Oh, I-I see. Is there someone you have in mind for bonding?" He turned to look at her sharply to find her staring at the ground, defeat visibly weighing her down. In an instant he was standing in front of her.
"Yes, lethallan, I do." She nodded sadly, unable to look at him, but he tilted her face to meet his eyes. "You." Her doe eyes widened and she searched his face for any hint of teasing…but there was none. "It's always been you, Raina. Ever since we were kids and you came to me after our storytelling. Your face is the last one I see when I close my eyes at night and the first one I search for when I wake up."
Releasing the breath she didn't know she'd been holding, she threw herself into his arms, "Oh, Tamlen. How many times do I have to tell you not to scare me?" He laughed richly and wrapped his arms tightly around her.
"TAMLEN!" Fenharel came running into the aravel at the sound of her scream. Raina was sitting up with eyes open, but unseeing. "Tamlen! Don't touch it, lethallin!" He was too shocked to speak until she began to cry and begged her dream-Tamlen in elvish to come home. It was too intimate for Fenharel and it broke his heart utterly.
Reaching out gently, he shook her out of her nightmare. "Raina, it's Fenharel. Wake up. The Keeper wants to speak to you." She came around at the sound of his voice.
"Fen…where am I? Where is Tamlen?" His gray eyes told her the news wasn't good. "Oh Creators…take me to the Keeper." Fenharel blushed and moved away.
"I think you should put clothes on first." Raina gasped to find herself in only a breast bind and a small fur blanket covering her naked nether regions. She looked up to see that her friend had already left to fetch the Keeper and she quickly donned her armor. Keeper Marethari was waiting when she stepped outside, briefly blinded by the sun.
"Keeper, how long was I unconscious? Where is Tamlen?"
"Two days, da'len. A Grey Warden brought you to camp sick with fever – he said there were darkspawn. I've been using the old magic to heal you, but it nearly bled the life from you. As for Tamlen, I was hoping you might know where he was. Duncan said he found you alone, outside a cave…" Quickly, Raina filled the Keeper in on what they'd found in the cave.
By the end of her tale she was near tears, "I told him we should come fetch you, Keeper, but you know how impulsive Tamlen is! I couldn't leave him there alone to do something stupid." Marethari sighed heavily – the girl spoke the truth, but it only caused more questions instead of giving answers.
"Hush, da'len. Do you think you are strong enough to lead Merrill to the cave? You are the only hope we have of finding Tamlen. I've already ordered the clan to pack up in preparation to move north."
"I'll go right now." The Keeper blessed her before she grabbed Merrill and led her to the cave. On their way they encountered horrible creatures that resembled men, but they reeked of death with their skin stretched tight over their skulls and they bled black, thick ooze.
"Are those darkspawn," screeched Merrill. Raina shrugged, feeling very weak from the fighting.
"I-I don't know…they…they weren't here b-before." Merrill furrowed her brows, taking note of her clanswoman's occasional stumble and her lack of color. "Let's go. We need…need to find him." Merrill bit her lip knowing that without treatment Tamlen was probably dead, but she wasn't going to say that to Raina. Everyone knew the way the two felt about each other. Sometimes the Creators could be cruel.
They battled more small pockets of darkspawn in the ruins. Merrill wished she had more time to study the ruins; what discoveries they could make! But Raina was militant in her quest to find Tamlen. Instead, they found the Grey Warden in the room with the mirror. "You're the elf I found outside the cave. I'm glad to see that you have recovered."
Raina let Merrill carry most of the conversation with the Warden – she was too tired to speak coherently for long. Her ears pricked up when Duncan said he needed to destroy the mirror. "Wait! My…friend touched the mirror and we haven't been able to find him."
Duncan turned his sad eyes to her. "I'm sorry, but I haven't seen anyone except for you. If your friend came in contact with the same illness and it's gone unchecked, I can tell you that you won't find him." He watched as the light in the elf's brown eyes dimmed.
Merrill protested destroying the mirror, a piece of elven heritage, but she was overruled by the Warden who insisted that it had been tainted and needed to be destroyed to prevent the spread of my sickness. Reluctantly, Merrill conceded to his wisdom and once the cursed mirror lay in shards on the ground the elves wearily followed Duncan back to their camp.
After Duncan spoke at length to Marethari about the illness she'd contracted, it was decided that she must leave the clan and join the Grey Wardens, in the hope that she would live to exact revenge on the darkspawn. In one day, she lost her love and her family. What else could she possibly live for?