BioWare owns all but what I made up. : )
So I left you all hanging with our favorite swamp witch down and out, and Fergus chomping at the bit while trying to find Lanaya's clan in the Brecilian Forest. Thanks for sticking with me on this crazy journey.
Shout out to some stories I have been reading: westiex9 on the Bioware forum "Chevalier's Trials" about the Orlesian occupation from a Chevalier's point of view, and both sides are good and bad. It's an excellent read. It ties in nicely with Night Hunter MGS's fantastic short on Loghain for Memorial Day, "Duty Was The Lord of All." It delves into what it means to be a hero, or a traitor and what happens when are those lines blurred. He is a fantastic writer, and I am trying to encourage him to keep going. His story is here on . And another author on the BioWare forum named Firky, who has two tales there, "Ichor," and "Run;" both have Sten showing up as a secondary to the main protagonists.
Shout outs to Levi Madden, ZabiGG, Shogei, gunner8202, Leo Lachance, skorge, and jenney1979 (I am so sorry I missed a shout out on Whispers for you) for putting me on author favs, and this story on alerts and favs. Thank you all so much for the thrill I got seeing the email alerts with your names on them!
Special shout out to my friends and betas. Night Hunter MGS for keeping my content straight. And to my friend and beta who keeps my penchant for putting the word 'had' into everything in check, Ladyamesindy. She is a goddess for so many reasons but should be sainted for putting up with my constantly bugging her and the 'had' thing. And the gift that fell into my lap, so to speak, Janni. She keeps my penchant for putting commas in willy nilly to a minimum. Thank you all so much!
You know I can't go without saying to you all – my lurkers, readers, reviewers, and fans – how much I appreciate you. Maybe it sounds cheesy, but I am truly humbled by the support, the reviews and the traffic that this story generates. And it is all due to you. So, thank you from the bottom of my heart!
Blessings! : )
Kai managed to buckle on enough armor to be halfway decent for company even of the unexpected variety. Though it had been over a year since the Blight when Kai had traveled in a tent and put on her armor while kneeling or had to put it on quickly, those skills had not gotten as rusty as she feared. When she had looked up from the last buckle that would keep her breastplate from falling down around her ankles, it was to see her brother with one hand grasping the breastplate of a frightened, round-faced Dalish elf who looked incredibly familiar. Though it was difficult to recognize features that were distorted by the red color rapidly turning to a purple, as Fergus' other hand rested right under the elf's chin and he had pushed his face very close to his victim's as he pinned the young man against the tree.
'What do you mean she's hurt!" Fergus repeated, a fierce look on his face. It was the little garbled mumble that made Kai recognize Fergus' prisoner. It was the young hunter whom Kai had helped woo his lady love, Gheyna. It was Kai, and some persuasion on her part, that had convinced Gheyna to accept the boy's proposal though he had not been able to complete his test of manhood due to the werewolf attacks.
"Fergus! Let Cammen go! Fergus!" Kai had to grab her brother and physically drag him back. It took some doing as Fergus was no soft noble who had others guard him. Her brother, like her parents, like herself even, trained almost everyday unless his duties running Highever kept him from it.
Kai finally managed to get her brother to stand down. She went to the poor young elf as he bent over with one hand on his knee and the other on this throat rubbing it where Fergus had grasped him in one big hand. "Cammen! Are you all right?" Kai flashed her brother a look and mouthed the words, 'What were you thinking?' before turning back to the elf. "How did you know to where to look for us?"
Cammen stood up, giving Fergus a scared sidelong look. "I was...I was trying to tell your friend here that the witch you travel with has been hurt and we have her back at camp." Cammen then blushed. "She told us about the ring she had, like the Mad Hermit's magicked ring. She said the ring told her you were close and to go and find you. She is quite insistent, and very..." Cammen rubbed his leather armor which looked cracked as if from extreme cold.
"Unrestrained? Formidable?" Kai smiled at him and patted him sympathetically on the shoulder.
"He says she has been hurt!" Fergus started to move forward, and Kai motioned for Argus to block him.
"Brother dear, she is obviously well enough to freeze poor Cammen and speak. But if you keep choking the poor boy, it will take us longer to find the Dalish camp and see to her." Kai raised her eyebrows in the code that they had used as children (calm down it said).
Fergus stood still, clenching and unclenching his fists rapidly. Wynne stood beside him giving him a motherly pat on the arm. Kai nodded and gave him a reassuring smile before turning back to Cammen. "So if you will help us pack up, we can have you ride with one of us on a Ceffyl and direct us."
"Si...sit on one of those beasts?" Cammen's face paled as he pointed to Luna and the other Ceffyls behind her.
"Cammen, we will make better time if we ride." Kai put a reassuring hand on his shoulder.
"Just think of it as riding on a Halla." A very tall Halla, Kai thought to herself.
"Think of them that way, my Dalish friend, and you will be fine." Zev had come to stand beside Kai.
Cammen just gulped audibly and set about helping them disband camp, which meant leaving the forest as they had found it as much as possible; no trash and the fire doused with water from the nearby stream. Kai was not about to burn part of the forest down due to negligence or haste, no matter how much her brother, or she herself, felt the overwhelming urge to get to Morrigan and see that she was not hurt with their own eyes.
It took Kai's constantly tugging on Cammen's arm to get his attention as he rode sitting behind her. She swore he was riding with his eyes closed. Her suspicions were confirmed when they finally made it to the Dalish camp and Kai jumped off of Luna first. She turned to find Cammen sliding slowly down the side of the Ceffyl with his eyelids plastered shut.
Kai rolled her eyes and sighed. It had taken far longer to get the camp than she had thought it would, probably because the one who was supposed to lead them there pretended he was blind. "Let me go, Zevran!" Kai spun around to see her brother being held back by the shorter Antivan, barely.
Kai went and grabbed her brother's arm, "Fergus! By Andraste's ass will you calm down? We are guests here. I am trying to keep the good will of these elves so as to possibly save many lives. You are always so level headed...when you are thinking with the head on your shoulders that is!" Kai slapped her palm on his well-armored chest, "Let me do the talking."
Kai turned to Cammen who was now standing next to Luna with such a look of relief on his face it made Kai want to laugh, despite all that was going on. Luckily for her and her group, Lanaya's clan recognized her and the rest, save Fergus.
Kai was also grateful that despite Erys's treachery, she had not left Lanaya and the Sun Hawk Clan on bad terms. One of the elven children ran up bowed and pointed to the Ceffyls. Kai nodded and turned to Rhia, giving the commands that would let the elven child lead them away to the halla pen, "Slan, garda." Kai gave them the words for "safe" and "guard." The Ceffyls would stand watch in case of danger.
Cammen finally composed himself and led them down the hill to the open field in search of Keeper Lanaya. It took a few inquiries of the clan's members, many of whom recognized Kai and either bowed or shook her hand. Finally they found the Keeper re-dressing the wounded arm of a hunter sitting in front of an aravel.
Wynne went immediately to the man and began casting, then smiled when the man sat fascinated, watching as the wound knit together before his eyes. Kai grinned, she never ceased to be amazed at watching wounds heal with magic herself, and she had had many more wounds healed by Wynne than the astonished elven man.
Kai turned to the Keeper who embraced her. "Welcome back, lethallan." Lanaya nodded her head at the rest of Kai's group, "and your friends as well. You will no doubt wish to see your wounded friend." The Keeper's eyes flashed to Fergus who was standing on the balls of his feet with his hands fisted at his sides. "She has been quite the handful." Lanaya made a sweeping gesture and bid them to follow her.
"She has taken a wound that will not let her transform, and that with her other..." Before Lanaya could finish, Fergus had grabbed the keeper's arm and spun her around.
"What is wrong with her?" Lanaya studied Fergus' face a moment. Rather than becoming angry at his rudeness, she smiled and put her hand over the one Fergus had latched on to her with and patted it. "Your...friend is as well as can be after being shot." Lanaya continued before Fergus could say anything, "Cammen mistook her for an aggressive hawk swooping towards me, meaning me harm."
"Cammen? Isn't that the name of the boy who brought us here?" Fergus turned swiftly on his heel looking for the young elf, his face red and his eyes bright. Cammen had taken that moment to disappear. The Keeper smiled and put Fergus's hand in the crook of her arm, forcing him to walk with her as they continued on their way to Lanaya's tent.
"She explained to us her missive from you, lethallan. And I have sent messengers out to the other clans. They should be here soon. I hoped to persuade the Mad Hermit to lend us his ring to find you, lethallan, but he would not part with it again. When we returned it with the letter you wrote and the supplies you asked be given to him, he claimed we had scratched the ring." Lanaya shook her head and chuckled. "We knew we would have to wait for you to find us. So we set up our camp in the same place we used during the Blight. The hermit told us that you would come. And then your friend told us of her ring linked to that one?" Lanaya nodded at Fergus's hand in the crook of her elbow, which bore a silver ring.
Fergus nodded as the fingers of his other hand reached out to touch it. They stopped in front of the Keeper's tent, and what ever magic the ring possessed must have been working, as the irritated voice of her sister floated out of the tent's doorway. "Oh, do stop standing about as if you all lost what little wits you had to begin with! 'Twould be most considerate if the old bat would heal my wound so I might get out of this tent and find the imbecile who shot me. I want to thank him again for providing me with the opportunity to sleep in the woods among such delightful company!"
The witch's voice dripped honey sweetness; Kai winced. She hoped Cammen could keep himself away from Morrigan for a while. She did not envy the poor lad her sister's ire. Fergus practically ripped off the flap of the tent upon entering. Wynne followed him at a more sedate pace.
Kai smiled at Lanaya and shrugged sheepishly, "I am sorry, Keeper, Fergus has been beside himself, and I have to admit to being worried myself."
Lanaya only smiled, "They are in love with each other. It is quite plain to see, even though your witch friend hides it in scorn." Lanaya gave a low laugh, "She only spoke his name every sentence."
"Aw, it is so much fun to hear witchy-poo is in love!" Alistair's voice sing-songed in her head before sobering immediately, "I am glad she is not too badly hurt."
"As am I, mi' gra." Kai gave him a mental smile. Kai ducked into Lanaya's tent to see Wynne working on Morrigan's shoulder while Fergus sat holding her hand and stroking hair away from her forehead.
Kai went to the side of the bed and patted her brother's shoulder before bending down and hugging her sister, kissing her on the cheek. It was the tears Kai saw running down Morrigan's cheeks that caught her by surprise. "I thought you buffoons would never get here! And the fool Templar kept running away from me when I tried to talk to him in the Fade!"
This statement was followed by more tears, which alarmed Kai. Morrigan had never been one for weeping, not even in anger or pain. "What do you mean he kept running away from you?"
In her head Kai directed her ire at Alistair, "Ali? You have some explaining to do!"
"Uh oh, I thought she was trying to trick me into coming into the dream Fade so she could use that dream net on me again. I wouldn't cross the border between them when I saw her." Kai could almost see him blush. "Hey, she loves to torment me, what did she expect?" Kai groaned at him.
"He says he thought you were trying to trick him so you could use the dream net on him again." Kai looked at Morrigan, "You and Alistair really need to bury the hatchet."
"Oh, I shall bury the hatchet, in his thick skull!" Morrigan's face turned red, and she balled one of her fists.
"Riiight, that sentiment will make me run right to her in the dream Fade, and right on through it." Alistair's voice dripped sarcasm.
"Sister..." Morrigan interrupted Kai by bursting into tears. Fergus rose, moving to sit behind the witch and pulling her back until she was gently settled against his chest.
"There, there my love." Fergus wrapped Morrigan in his arms and kissed her hair, "It is alright now."
"Alright? Alright?" Morrigan practically screeched, "It took me forever and aye to find these blasted elves! Then when I finally find them, that moronic whelp shoots me!" Kai watched as her sister snuffled noisily.
"Yes, Cammen has expressed his remorse. He is very lucky he did not kill her or cause her to fall too far to the ground." Lanaya looked at Fergus pointedly. "It was lucky for your...mate, that she was coming in for a landing."
Fergus nodded, and it struck Kai what Lanaya was on about. If the expressions on Wynne's and Zevran's faces were any indication, they too understood the Keeper's meaning. Only Morrigan's face remained confused. She looked from one to the other.
"'Tis most amusing to be sure, to play games with me. But I, for one, have no patience for your jests." And with this, the hand Fergus wasn't holding began to glow with power.
Fergus grabbed her hand and kissed it grinning. "I believe, my darling love, that the Keeper means you are pregnant."
Kai had to keep her lips held tightly together to keep her giggles from escaping as she watched her sister's already milky skin become white as snow.