BioWare owns all but what I made up. : )
So, poor Kai has had to have more girl talk and with her own brother no less, life just isn't fair. And it is probably going to get worse before it gets better. Will Leli and Gnat get along? Will Gnat and the other Scath get along? And what about Lelyth's siblings, Kai has ashes to deliver, how will Lelyth's siblings take it? And some of you asked after Orzammar, well we will be getting to that too!
Author shout out to Ondjage who has some wonderful Leli shorts (and so much more)"Je t'aime," and "Mon Amor." They are lovely and steamy! : ) And to lilpumpkingirl for any of you Dragon Ball Z fans, check out "Choices" or "Dark Visions." And Felinae Silvestrus writes fabulous fanfic for "Harry Potter" and the play "Cats". She has so many titles and I haven't even gotten to read half. But one of my favs for Harry Potter fans is "Pair of Jokers." A short about George after the loss of his twin, it made me cry. They all have more stories that I can't list here. Especially Felinae S, you go kitty cat! Your keyboard must be on fire. And please check out Meilbatsurenmila's shorts "Ask the Sten" and submit questions for our favorite stoic Qunari to answer. And check out her wonderful long tale involving all the characters in an after the Blight tale with a Sten and Warden pairing. Each chapter is a different title and separate story, so I couldn't list them all, you can find it by going under Meil's name, it is a long and lovely read. I am trying to do shout outs for all of you who review first. Some of you have recommended other authors, and I promise to check them out too. I have done so and done the shout out, but I won't get to write if I don't pace myself, ROFL!
Shout out to Night Hunter MGS. I am going to steal shamelessly from your review. It was so damn funny and painted a mental image in my head, it made me laugh out loud at work. I had to use it, along with the email you sent me. Thank you again, my friend, and please, feel free to email me with ideas everyone. I can't always promise I will use them, but I love ideas, and, as you can read, I get a lot of inspiration from your reviews too. : )
And thank you all for reviewing, for adding to favs and to alerts, I can't believe it, but every day at least one new person adds it to alerts or favs, or me to author alerts or favs. So to all of you, lurkers, reviewers, longtime fans, you blessed busy students who still read along with all the other mountains of things you have to read for school. You busy moms and dads, you worker bees, people traveling a lot for medical things or work, you fantastic wonderful people, THANK YOU! I am just wowed, awed, and humbled.
And lilpumpkingirl, I do indeed play WoW, Argent Dawn for my Alliance, and Feathermoon FOR THE HORDE baby, been playing it since it came out, and yes, like you, gamer girl who would rather play than shop, tee hee. I love being a gamer girl geek. : )
Oh, and those celebrating Easter this weekend, happy Easter! And may all those of other faiths with Spring Season celebrations have a blessed holiday as well. : )
Blessings!
Blast it, Kai got up quickly, "Zev, grab Duncan and the blanket." Kai reached down and picked up her sleeping daughter, "Quick!" Kai draped Fi's still oblivious form over her arms, my, they were getting big. "When I was in the Fade, I promised Oriana, Fergus's wife, that I would help him find love again. I did not promise that I would help him find it in our bedroom and in our bed!" Kai said all of this while walking quickly as she could, without waking Fi, in the direction Fergus had gone. Kai heard Zevran laugh behind her, sod it, sod it, sod it! Kai kept walking as fast as she could, making her way to the hallway where the rooms were.
"Kai, I need to tell you something," Zev spoke to her back.
"Can't it wait, I really want to stop Fergus and Morrigan from using any available surface they happen to be near, especially when those surfaces are in our room! I might have to have everything set on fire, or lye! Oh yes, lye – lots and lots of lye, that's it!"
"Kaidana," Zev's voice sounded pained and desperate, "I have important news for you." Kai stopped and turned around to see Zev standing still in the corridor. He was holding Duncan to his chest, the blanket under the infant. He almost looked as if he was holding the babe close as a shield or for comfort, though his face was a mask. It must not be something she wanted to hear, or it was something which would hurt her.
"All right, judging by your stance and the way you have your face set, I know I'm going to like this even less than what my brother is planning on doing in our bed." Kai tried to give him a reassuring smile, "Spill it, Zev."
"Lelyth's siblings are here from Waking Sea, they are in Highever, staying with a family your brother asked to house them for the time being. They just got here a day or so ago, while we were at the mage's tower." Zev walked close to her to offer comfort as best he could with both hands full. Kai hadn't forgotten Lelyth's only surviving family, she just put the painful reality of telling them their sister was dead and it was her fault aside for a while. But, she'd gotten up and danced with Erys, the traitor, and the piper always had to be paid. Kai felt her stomach clench and chill as if shards of glass were pouring into it. She licked her lips and looked down nodding, then she had a thought that made her heart race.
"Bloody hell, the ashes are in the bedroom, one more reason to stop my daft brother from forging the moaning statue in our room." Kai turned quickly on her heel and started walking fast as she could down the castle's open corridor toward the hall with the bedrooms. She got to the hallway to find Wynne and Leliana standing outside the room. Kai closed her eyes for a moment. Oh please, not already, Maker's blood! "Tell me you are out here because you were headed to get food for the dog and that Morrigan and Fergus went for a walk." Kai watched as both women actually blushed.
It was this moment that a smiling Fiona walked up to Zev as she reached out to take her grandson from him, she came and kissed Kai on the cheek. "I am so glad you're back and that you're safe, we were really worried for you, and we all missed you..." Fiona noticed everyone's faces, "Ah, I see, yet again, I go to make potions and miss out on something, not another suitor for Kai's affections I take it?" She grinned at them. Kai filled her in on the 'girl talk' that had taken place, including the talk she had with Fergus. "Yes, I had noticed your brother has been wooing said damsel, so, she has admitted that she is in love with him. I take it no one is surprised?"
"Well, no one but Morrigan herself," Kai grumbled, "So are they..." Kai couldn't even bring herself to say it.
Leliana smiled at her, her eyes bright with her "isn't it romantic" look, "Oh, he stalked in there, grabbed Morrigan by the arms, raising her up to look at him. He was so masculine, so forceful, so commanding, and so sexy!"
Kai winced, "Agh, I told you not to talk about my brother like that in front of me! Maker, is there enough alcohol in all of Thedas to wipe any of this from my memory?"
Leli continued grinning, "He told her he loved her and that she loved him and she was just going to have to learn to live with it, that he wasn't going to take no for an answer. He demanded she tell him what she felt for him. When she tried to sidestep saying it herself, telling him he already knew and she didn't need to say it, he shook her a little and told her to say it. It took a couple of demands on your brother's part, finally she did say it, while looking him in the eye even, then they kissed in such a way that it made my toes curl. It was a kiss worthy of any song sung in Orlais. And after that well..."
It was Wynne who blushed this time, "By the time we managed to get to the door, apparel such as it is in Morrigan's case, was coming off at a fast pace. Luckily, we intercepted the servants bringing Argus up from the stables and his bath, I had them put him in my room for the time being, I thought it would be best, child." Wynne reached out and took a still sleeping Fi.
"By Andraste's flaming knickers," Kai fumed, and applied her fist to the thick wood of the door, "Fergus, NOT in my sodding room, blast it, Maker turn you both into toads! Do you hear me, not in my thunder humping room, aw, bloody hell!" She gave the door one good, swift kick for good measure. She gave up and put her back to the door, putting her face in the palm of one hand and smacking the door with a fist and groaning. This day just kept getting better and better. First, they had fought a large group of organized darkspawn when there shouldn't be such a thing, Argus almost died, Lelyth's siblings were finally here, and now this.
Having been napping for a while and with the noise Mommy was making, the twins woke up and started to fuss, Kai sighed. "Come, child, let's go to my room. You can feed the twins before we all go to our own suppers." Wynne walked down the hall. Kai, Leli and Fiona with Duncan followed her, they all filed into Wynne's room.
Kai bent down and petted Argus, he looked at her and gave a friendly whine, "Hey, boy." Kai rubbed his belly and behind his ears, she told him what a good dog he was, how proud she was of him and how much she loved him. He lolled out his tongue at her before laying his head down in exhaustion to sleep again.
They got Kai and the twins situated, it made her so happy when they smiled at her and being with them was such a joy. That and the breastfeeding calmed her, it helped with all that was going on, that was until she found they were missing one Antivan troublemaker. "Um, where is Zev?" Kai asked the rest of the group, who were all having quiet conversations amongst themselves while Kai and twins were occupied. Three other faces turned towards hers and then looked at each other, shrugging their shoulders. Kai huffed to herself, who knew where her sneaky friend had gotten to. Kai, with Fiona's help, burped and changed the twins when Zev let himself into Wynne's room with a smug look on his face.
"So, my darling Wynne, this is where you rest that magnificent bosom of yours every night? I am conjuring up such delightful images." Zev grinned wickedly at the mage.
"If you continue, young man, I assure you I shall 'conjure' something far more unpleasant for you than images of my bosom." Wynne wrinkled her nose at him, everyone laughed at their banter. It had taken a while, but the elf and the mage had become friends, their sniping comments were now in fun.
This relationship was not like their time traveling during the Blight, Wynne, like Alistair, had not trusted the assassin. And his rather laid back attitude towards killing and life annoyed the mage whenever she had tried to speak to him seriously of his past. Wynne thought him a shallow killer with no conscience. It wasn't until after he refused to abandon Kai and their group once Taliesin was dead that Wynne had warmed to him, Kai smiled at the thought.
How much had their own first impressions about each other changed? People were so rarely simple, not Sten, not Morrigan, not Leli, not Wynne, not Oghren. Not even Sandal, Bodahn's son, who rarely spoke anything except to say "ENCHANTMENT!" They found him alone on the second floor of Fort Drakon surrounded by a small army of dead darkspawn, including an ogre, while making their way to the top to kill the Archdemon. That alone made Kai realize there was a lot more to Sandal then his genius with runes. What exactly that might be, she had no idea, but he wasn't as simple as first impressions might make him seem.
She was reminded how much she loved them all, despite her earlier frustrations. And that brought her to her brother and Morrigan using her...well, she wasn't going to think about it, the mental images she could conjure were something she wanted to avoid. She just had to remember that it was all about love that is what it came down to. She had a moment to wonder how long her brother's and Morrigan's 'love' was going to take. Maker, not enough alcohol in Thedas, la la la la, she gave herself a mental head slap. Add to that, she and Zev had probably better plan on getting other sleeping quarters for the night, ugh!
They all heard the bells signaling the dinner hour, Kai went to grab both twins and found her little babies were too big to hold together. Wynne came to her rescue and took Duncan, and they all made their way down the hall. When they were passing what had been Kai and Zev's room, they all studiously ignored the noises from behind the door. Kai couldn't help but blush beet red and roll her eyes, causing Zevran to laugh yet again. He was enjoying this whole debacle way too much. Kai took the moment to slow their pace and fall back from the others, Zev stroked Fi's cheek when she chirped at him and smiled trying to get his attention. "So, I have a feeling I may regret asking, but where did you disappear to earlier?"
"Hm, oh, well I figured your brother and our delicious witch of the wilds might not surface for who knows how long. Your brother has not had anyone to bed since his wife died, as he does not seem the type to use the services of places like The Pearl, I calculate that to be at least two years going on three. As to our magical friend, well, with her sharp tongue and dangerous ways, it is enough to deter most men, men not like myself, who find danger and beauty very seductive, no?" Zev gave her a wicked grin and a sideways look while running a finger down the side of her neck, "So, it would be hard to know when or if she has had the pleasure of someone's company, certainly not during the Blight, so at least a year if at all."
"You think she might be a vir..." Kai's eyes got wide as she contemplated that possibility.
"A virgin, just because she can talk as if she knows the pleasures of the flesh doesn't mean she has first-hand experience herself, my dear Kai. Remind me to tell you of my first." Zev grinned, and Kai blushed harder. "As I was saying before we went on this delicious side path. Since I thought they might not surface for a time, I felt it was necessary to get the ashes. I know you, my dearest Kai, you will want to see Lelyth's siblings tomorrow at the latest."
"You snuck into the room, while they are in there doing...?" Kai blushed harder, she felt her mouth hanging open like a fish tossed onto a river bank, oh blessed Andraste, this really was not her day!
"Your late sister-in-law must have been a marvelous teacher of Antiva's lovemaking arts to your brother, my dear Kai. Why, the last time I saw techniques like that was years ago in one of the finest brothels back home."
"Maker's breath, Zev," Kai stopped and just closed her eyes and grimaced.
"You Fereldans, I will never understand your various taboos and inhibitions," And with that he walked on, his laughter trailing over his shoulder in ribbons of mirth.