BioWare owns all, except what I made up. : )
So, Kai and Zev get their earrings put in, and that sneaky, beautiful bard got Kai more than once, just to give her a girly thrill. But who can stay mad at Leli? Not even Morrigan I wager. And speaking of our favorite swamp witch, what about her and Fergus? Revenge is a dish best served cold, so the saying goes, but what if it is served hot? Also, a little more with Lelyth's siblings and Kai. What would you do if your Scath's young brother wants to join, right after you just watched her die? Not to mention his age. And teenagers, I remember when I thought I knew everything, now I know I do, ROFL! Just kidding, actually, I would like to think that I am now wise enough to know I don't know everything. Also, Satinalia Day fluff coming up; I couldn't resist. I mean, writing the reactions of my interpretation of our beloved group to Kai's "Fool's presents?" I couldn't avoid the temptation, so that will be forthcoming, including what Fergus and Kai give each other. It is a Ferelden holiday after all, and yet again I was inspired by BioWare and their great writers. And of course my wonderful fans!
Shout out goes to Night Hunter MGS, pay no attention to the man behind the curtain! : D Okay, really do pay attention to him. The revenge of Zev and Kai on Fergus? It was his idea that inspired me. And some of the dialogue is his, since he included it in his suggestion and it is that good. I am glad he did, I needed help, I am an only child after all. I never had to get revenge on anyone, and who would I blame, the dog? So, it is Night Hunter MGS that helped me with this. Thank you aka Chainsaw!
And a shout out to Ladyamesindy for her inspiration for "the curse for doing it to your parents" scenario in this chapter. LOL! It fit so perfectly, I had to use it from your email. : )
Mouse Mage, your story isn't drivel, it is very good! So there! : P You stop talking trash about my friend/yourself! : D
And thank you all who review, who put me on favs, the story on favs, and my lurkers. You rock! A special thanks to those like eboncat, and Piceron, who plowed through it. That includes Fluid Consciousness, who has printed it out to read on the bus to work. WOW! I am so in awe of you all. And thanks to my newest, Aquarius42 (love that name, I am an Aquarius) and mbwils for adding my story to alerts and favs respectively. I couldn't do it without you all.
Oh, just to explain in case you all noticed the rating change from T to M. The sex scenes and violence will be the same. I just got to reading the rating system again, and I think I understand it better now than when I first rated this story. I don't want to get in trouble for the violence, and I felt maybe I should put it on M for that. The sexy stuff I prefer to leave to your imaginations with some sauce by me. So, I am not changing how I write, just trying to be careful of the kiddos. I can't help it, I am a worry wort. : )
Sorry this took so long to get posted. It was angst filled in the beginning. But I think, or hope, you will find the bonus ending worth the wait. : D
Blessings!
Kai and Lelyth's siblings had all gone to the dining hall when the bells rang for lunch. When they finished eating, she asked them to meet her in the Great Hall while she went to fetch the ashes from Fergus' bedroom. When she got back to the hall, it was to find her extended family, minus Fergus and Morrigan, fielding questions about Lelyth. Even Sten was answering some while holding little Mairi on his knee.
Kai walked in, and all faces turned toward her with varying degrees of sympathy. She took a deep breath before holding out the leather pouch with the ashes to Graeme. Kai chewed her lower lip and sat down to face Graeme and Kylie. Kylie looked at her with eyes bright with unshed tears, "Thank you, Scathach, my lady."
Kai's voice caught in her throat. "It is just Kai, Kylie." It was Graeme who sat staring at the ashes, seemingly lost in thought.
When he looked up, he had tears on his cheeks and a determined look in his eyes. "I want to join the Scath. I want you to make me one like my sister."
"No." Kai kept her face neutral though her heart was pounding.
"What do you mean 'No?' You owe me!" Graeme's face turned red, and he jumped up from the couch where he had been sitting.
"Graeme!" Kylie admonished her brother.
"NO! She owes me!" He balled his fists and glared at Kai.
"I don't owe you, Graeme. I owe Lelyth. I owe it to your sister's memory to keep you all alive, safe and well cared for. All of which I intend to do." Kai looked Graeme in the eye. "You will recall being a Scath under my leadership is what got her killed? I would think that those two things alone would stop you from wanting to be a Scath. Aside from the fact that you are too young. You are what, sixteen Summers?"
"If you don't recruit me, I will just run away and find someone who will let me fight." Graeme's face had turned a deeper shade of red and his eyes were bright, his chin set. "I will, I swear it!"
"And you will get yourself killed, imekari." Sten spoke in his deep even voice to Graeme. "I suspect that you have had no training in how to fight. Ferelden is not Seheron with the Qun. Everyone knows his place there, and so your training would have begun at an early age. You, like all of your kind, have been left to search for a place. Now, you think that place may be the path your sister took."
"I know you are hurting Graeme, but being a Scath will not lessen that pain, nor will fighting as a mercenary or whatever other ideas are running through that thick skull of yours." Kai felt her own desperation creeping in. She would not lose Graeme as she had his sister.
"You have no idea what you are talking about!" Graeme started towards Kai his fists balled. It always amazed Kai how fast someone as big as Sten could move. Before she even had a chance to blink, Sten had set little Mairi down gently and stood between herself and Graeme. "Parshaara!" Sten's big hand grasped Graeme's shoulder, encasing it in calloused fingers. "Vashedan, imekari. If anyone knows what she is talking about, it is Kadan. Everyone in her family, except her brother, was killed in front of her. You should ask her about pain sometime." Sten's immobile face turned towards her. "Kadan, if this imekari were to train now, how long do you think it would take him to be efficient in battle?"
"If he works hard and depending on where his talents lie, maybe two years, maybe three." Kai looked at the giant Qunari. He was planning something.
"Then he should train. In two years he will be eighteen and an imekari no longer. He could apply to join the Scath then could he not?"
"That would be...better. That is still young though." Kai looked at Sten.
Before Graeme could protest, Sten shook the boy's shoulder. "That is close to the age you lost your parents and became a Grey Warden, is it not, kadan?" Sten's lavender eyes studied her blue ones.
"That is why I said it is still young. But I have no objections. Sten, Oghren, Leliana, Zevran or Fergus can put you in the training area with wooden practice equipment, and we can see what you will be as a fighter. Depending on what fighting style you are good at and feel comfortable using, we can get you started. Then, you can train here at Highever castle with one of us until we have to move on. After we leave, Fergus can find you a trainer for your style."
"That should be sufficient for you." Sten's immobile face turned back to Graeme. The Qunari's statement sounded more like an order to Kai. Apparently, Graeme felt the same way as he nodded and allowed himself a small smile.
"If Graeme gets to learn to fight, so do I!" Kylie's voice broke into the silence that had fallen over the room. Kai groaned.
"Your brother is close to being a man. You are an imekari and will be for quite a while." Sten turned his stern gaze on the girl.
"You said that in your lands ime...kari," Kylie stumbled over the Qunari word, "are trained from an early age. Well, I want to be trained. I want to be a rogue like Lelyth! I can fight. Ask Graeme. I broke his nose when I was six and he was ten. I know I can fight, and I am not afraid to do it."
"Be that as it may, my one objection still remains. You are too young." Kai pinched the bridge of her nose with her fingers. She had a moment to wonder if this was her curse for doing the same thing to her parents.
"Actually, little sister, you were Kylie's age, if I am not mistaken, when you got your arm broken trying to use a shield and sword in a training session proving you could fight like your big brother." Kai heard a familiar, beloved and exasperating voice behind her. She rolled her eyes as she turned to meet her sibling and a familiar golden eyed witch walking into the Great Hall. It was her curse for doing the same thing after all. Andraste's knickers! Just what was she going to do with her own children if someone else's were this much trouble?
"Oh, finally came up for air did you?" Kai stuck her tongue out at Fergus, causing little Mairi to giggle, and even Graeme and Kylie joined in. "Yes, and I seem to recall a certain older brother who argued with me that I was too young to be playing with sharp pointed things and I was just going to cut my own limbs off by accident."
Fergus grinned at her. "And look at you now, little sister. A better warrior than I will ever be. And you still have all of your limbs! Amazing!" Kai grinned and punched him in the arm.
Kai turned to Kylie. "Fine, but if we test you and you need to wait, will you?" Kylie grinned and nodded. "What about you Mairi, do you want to fight too? Because you really are too young just yet." Kai got down and looked at the little girl.
Mairi giggled and shook her head while grabbing Sten's big hand bashfully. She pointed instead to Leliana's feet encased in pretty, delicate shoes. "You like my shoes? Oh how wonderful! Do you like the dress too? They match see?" And Leli gently pulled up the hem of the dress to show off the shoes more. Sten growled low, and Kai had to try and keep from laughing.
"Ugh, stop trying to corrupt the child with your bubble headed love of useless frills!" Morrigan's voice jabbed the pretty bard.
"Oh Morri, you might be happier if you wore something other than those heavy boots." Leli just laughed and batted her lashes at the witch. "And I thought that your having se..." Kai coughed really loudly and looked pointedly at Mairi, then back at Leliana. "I thought your spending time with Fergus would make you a happier person." The redhead smiled while poking fun.
"My having se..." Fergus jabbed Morrigan gently in the ribs earning him a scowl. "What? They must learn sometime about what goes on between men and women!"
"Yes, love, but Mairi is a little girl, and Kylie is a little young yet. I know Flemeth had other ideas, but she was not a sterling example of motherhood, now was she?" Kai expected Morrigan to scowl, make some scathing remark and dismiss Fergus. Instead, she smiled and stroked his cheek rather than slapping it.
"'Tis true, Fergus." Morrigan turned back to Leli. "Very well then. Look, I am happier for having 'spent time' with Fergus, as you put it. That does not mean I was struck stupid and lost all my wits. Shoes are for walking in and should only be used as torture devices if one is say, torturing someone?"
Lelyth's siblings were really laughing now, as were the rest, save Sten and Shale. It was into this happy exchange that the older couple with whom the children were staying showed up to walk them back to Highever. Kai thanked them once again, asked if they needed anything, money or clothes for the children. They shook their heads, but agreed to send word to Highever Castle if they did. Kai also explained about the training sessions for Graeme and Kylie. Kai offered to have a carriage brought for them, but they declined. It was a pleasant night, and they would walk. Kai insisted on an escort and sent two guards along with them.
Since it was getting close to the dinner hour and Kai had yet to wash up from their training sessions with the Scath, she figured she ought to take herself off to get cleaned up. She started walking towards the hall where the bedrooms were. She had a momentary pause as to which room she should be using now. Kai figured that until she had their room (which Morrigan and Fergus had used) scrubbed down, she would just go back to the room she had commandeered from Fergus. Kai got to the room and shut the door; she was just pulling her shirt off when she felt fingers tickling down her spine.
Kai whirled around to see Zev's golden eyes sparkling with laughter as he grinned at her and slipped out of his own shirt. "It is only fair that I try and catch up since you got a head start, no?" He grinned more widely. He dropped his shirt and wrapped one hand around her waist as the other took the shirt she had been grasping to her chest and dropped it on the floor next to his. She had time to envision a lamppost in snow before his lips were on hers, his tongue exploring her mouth, his teeth nibbling her lower and her upper lip. His hands had her out of the bandeau wrapped around her breasts in even less time. The hand not holding her to him set about caressing the hard points, starting a familiar throbbing ache that seemed to pulse with the beats of her heart.
"I thought I locked the door." Kai managed to gasp out at one point, her breath catching in her throat.
"I picked it, of course." Zev lips moved against her throat as he nibbled his way down to her collarbone. She could feel his lips curve in a smile.
Before she realized it, he had moved her to the foot of the bed and sat with her in his lap facing him, her back to the door. His lips feasted on one breast then the other until her breath was reduced to gasping little cries, when he would change the intensity of his ministrations. His hand reached up and fisted in her hair, bringing her lips to his once again. She thought her system might just overload as it was. But he gave her a gentle nibble here, a bite with a tongue to slick the same spot soothing it away, the next. Then, he changed the angle of the kiss until she was so wrapped up she couldn't even moan. She dimly registered that she could feel Zev's arousal against her inner thigh and that they were both still wearing entirely too much clothing for her liking.
It was at that point that Kai heard a deep, almost strangled, cough behind her. Kai pulled her lips from Zev's, her arms automatically crossing over her breasts to cover them. She felt her face getting very red while Zev looked around her to the door. Kai turned just enough so she could see her brother and Morrigan standing in the door way. Fergus was pale with two red spots high on his cheeks.
"Oh dear, did I forget to latch the door? How very forgetful I am." Zevran gave a sly grin as his eyes shone with amusement.
"And now I think I need to go find the dwarf and see if I can't get him into a drinking contest. I know he always has a keg tapped. I am going to need to start drinking heavily now to get this out of my head. That was a hit, little sister, a most palpable hit." And with that Fergus turned around and strode quickly down the hall.
Morrigan stood there laughing so hard she bowed over with her hands on her knees. When she finally stood up, she wiped tears from her golden eyes as she tried to speak over her mirth. "Oh, 'tis a most glorious revenge, sister. Well played, well played indeed." Morrigan's laughter could still be heard as she shut the wooden door behind her. Kai could only stare at the brash man sitting beneath her smirking while his hands grasped her hips.
"And thus, your dear brother has paid, plus interest. No need to thank me for my services, my dear Kai." His grin got wider as Kai could only register incredulity at his timing and the skill required to set the whole situation up.
"I...I honestly don't know whether to be angry or to make love to you until we both pass out. You are unbelievable!" Kai found herself grinning back at him.
"I would say both, my beautiful friend. Angry sex is good sex! And if you mean unbelievably awesome, then si, I am." He just laughed at her.
"You think any sex is good sex. You are a scamp, a scoundrel and a rascal. And there is only one thing I can think to do with a reprobate like yourself." Kai got off his lap and started towards the door to lock it for certain this time.
"Oh, and what would that be, hm?" Kai put her back to the door to see him grinning.
"Since you are the miscreant, I get to make the rules, yes?" Kai smiled at him
"Sounds both enticing and intriguing. Shall I get unclothed now?" He tried for an innocent look.
"Yes, and you should stay where you are. One rule, no touching until I tell you to." Kai gave him a sly smile of her own. "Time to see how much control and discipline you really have. Let's put it to the test, shall we?" Kai had only set out to seduce one other man in her life, the only other man with whom she ever felt secure enough or safe enough with to do so. The only other man she trusted so implicitly.
She kept her blue eyes on his pale amber ones which seemed riveted to her. She ran her hands over her breasts the way his had only moments earlier, while slowly making her way to the bed. She watched him watching her. She smiled when she saw him lick his lips as if he were thirsty. She trailed her hands down her flat belly, stopping when she got to the top of the leggings she had on. She started to put her fingers at the hips to take them off, but changed course when she saw his eyes following her hands like a hawk follows a mouse.
Instead, she ran a finger along the edge of the leggings, tugging the top edge down and exposing her belly button and a portion of her lower belly while licking her upper lip. When she got a little moan, she peeled them off and stepped closer. She watched his hands flex and grasp the bed edge as she stripped off her small clothes, stepping out of them as she moved up to him, straddling his legs. She bent down running her hands up the back of his neck to rub the base of his skull, which elicited another rumble in his throat. She smiled, rubbing her lips softly against his. She nibbled his top lip then the bottom before she pulled back, her breath mingling with his before her hand fisted in his hair and she just glued her lips to his. His mouth may have met hers, his tongue warred with hers, but his hands stayed put.
She figured it was time to up the ante then. She broke off the kiss and pushed his torso down to the bed. She ran her fingers along his upper body, allowing them to play along his honey colored skin. They roamed along his chest, the muscles of his abdomen, and lower. She watched his pulse race in his throat, admired the way the sweat had popped up and beaded his skin. Heard his gasps and moans and the sounds of the bed clothes being grasped in a vise-like grip. He had his eyes closed as if it were taking every bit of concentration not to reach out and grab her. It gave her a feeling of power that humbled her at the same time, that he would let himself surrender this much to her when keeping in control and always alert could mean life or death for him. It only deepened what she felt for him and the true gift he was giving her.
"Kai." His voice sounded hoarse and the sound of it only made her own body ache. She slithered over him like a snake and melted onto him, trapping him in her wet, hot heat. His hands grasped the blankets beneath them so hard the knuckles were white as he gasped her name again.
Kai leaned in and thought she would simply lose herself right there. "Zev, you can touch me now." He growled, and his hands grabbed her hips, fingers digging into her flesh as he moved her against him. Again, it was like sliding across ice at breakneck speed. She called out his name as it hit her, the peak of what she had brought to both of them. In seducing him, she had seduced herself too. She felt her body bow back and shudder while his did the same.
They were all slick with sweat, and she slid off to the side, her breath coming in little spurts. She put her head on his sleek chest and listened to his own ragged breathing and a heart that galloped inside his ribcage. His hands stroked her shoulders and her back. "Zev." Kai raised up to look into his face. It took a little time, but his eyes finally opened to look into hers.
"Hmm?" He smiled at her.
"Thanks for making Fergus pay. And consider this your payment for all the times you laughed at my discomfort while it was going on. You may consider that debt paid in full as well. No need to thank me for my services, dear Zev." She grinned at him while he laughed.