BioWare owns all but what I made up. : )
Well, we are wrapping up the refugee arc, and more adventures await our intrepid Kai and gang.
Let me apologize again to you all, my lurkers and fans. I am so, so sorry this took so long to get posted. I got heat exhaustion again, twice, which makes me a limp biscuit and not write. But the lawn needs mowing even in Texas heat. And other real life stuff kept delaying me, and I was just having trouble with my brain and this transitional chapter. So I hope you will all forgive me. I will be on vacation for a week, but I am taking my lap top with me, so hopefully I will get some chapters posted, if not on "Soulmates" then "First Cut" and "Whispering Sighs of The Blade".
Oh and my spotlight on DreGregoire on and the BioWare Forum, please read his stories. And the spotlight also on SchaerMann30 on and the BioWare forum. They both have wonderful stories to read.
Shout outs to those who have put me on author alerts, fav author and to those who put this story on alerts and favs. So to grimmxrabbit, roxfox62, Lady Elle00, eireanestower, xforlackofabetterpennamex, bbqsalmon, Turnstone, DragonWench, dazzleday, RedvilleBlade, EZ-Kzombies, gaybounce, and FionnRose, thank you all so much!
And my shout out to my betas: Night Hunter MGS, aka Chainsaw (I will let you all guess at why he is named that), Ladyamesindy who lets me bug her all the time and is a fountain of ideas for her own writing; Violet Theirin my sweet Goldilocks, who tells me if this is just right; Janni my grammar beta, God love her; and Piceron, who has also been reading to help keep me straight. I love you all!
And to you my readers, my reviewers, and wonderful lurkers I hold you all in my heart. I am so blessed. Thanks guys, really, just thanks. : )
Blessings!
After some convincing, Kai managed to send both Fergus and Morrigan back to Highever. Fergus, as Teyrn, needed to see to the running of the castle and the town. With her "sister" pregnant, Kai felt protective of the witch. Not that she would admit that, to do so would invite a kick to the teeth. Kai persuaded Morrigan that with her being missing for so long and with what had happened to Oriana and Oren, that her sister needed to be close to Fergus and reassure her brother. Luckily for Kai, Morrigan seemed to accept this explanation and left with Fergus for Highever with no argument whatsoever. Kai breathed a sigh of relief.
Anders was proving to be a charming, flirty, and amusing addition to their party. His winning ways were decidedly helpful in reassuring the refugees if they began balking at moving their homes yet again or worse moving their homes again for a mobile one that would not stay in one place for long. It also helped that Jarren and Shale along with Sten met them in Watersedge with a group of the soldiers and their families. The three were in charge of collecting the families from the northern Bannorn, including Rainesfere and the farmsteads from Highever and West Hill.
Since they were traveling with such large and noticeable companions, they decided to move at night. This made it hard on the children, but Kai felt it necessary to ensure they didn't draw any unnecessary attention. It also meant that they would be required to gather the groups in stages. Jarren, Sten, and Shale picked up the small single families who were staying on the smaller farmholds. So far, they had collected three families. Kai opted to take only a quarter of the families from Watersedge at this time.
During their last trip to collect the remaining families, Kai received news from Violet, one of her elven Scath in the royal palace in Denerim, via the procul globe. Vi had discovered something interesting that had Anora abuzz with anger. Something was going on in the town of Gwaren, and Anora was no longer able to control it.It started when regular reports from the men Anora had sent in after Kai and her Scath had emptied the town ceased to come to the palace. Anora assigned soldiers to travel to the town, and they were not heard from again. Another group was dispatched, and again, no word returned to the palace regarding the status of the town or the men who had gone before. Anora had been fit to be tied, so Vi reported. The queen had been in such a state that she had thrown a tantrum the likes of which had only been seen after the Tevinters had been stopped at Gwaren the first time. Anora, according to Vi, was blaming the Silver Griffon for this mysterious happenstance.
As Kai and her allies were all the "Griffon", she knew they were not involved in Anora's discomfort. But that led to a curious and more unsettling question. What exactly was happening at Gwaren? The news from Vi including an interesting tidbit. Apparently Anora was concerned with papers linking her to the Tevinters and the logging operation. Kai figured if the queen was so concerned with evidence of her selling off of a part of Ferelden, then her support amongst the nobles must be shaky indeed. Kai made a mental note to check with Eamon and Teagan about possible new allies amongst the nobles.
After a brief stop with the Dalish to drop off the last group of refugees, Kai was rewarded with a visit from Fiona and the twins. The mage brought the babies, knowing that they would be safe with the Dalish, to give Kai and Zev some time with them. Fiona had helped organize and gather some of the families to travel to the forest, as well as integrate the families into their new temporary clans.
Kai thought her heart would burst from happiness at seeing Fi and Duncan again. Fiona set them up in a tent and despite being away for over a week they burbled, giggled and chirped, happy little grins brightening their faces. Kai snatched one up and then the other planting kisses on their round little cheeks, not minding the excessive drooling that Fiona explained was a result of the twins beginning to teethe. Zevran laughed as Fi busily gnawed on the leather vambrace covering his arm, "So I see. Mi regalo here is intent on using me as a Mabari would a bone." Kai laughed as he raised the infant up and kissed the curls covering her little head causing Fi to squeal with delight and break off her chewing.
Kai was busy kissing Duncan's cheek while stroking her daughter's soft curls when she noticed the direction of Zev's gaze. Fiona must have noticed too, as she grabbed what Zev had been looking at and brought it forward, placing it on the bed between Zev and Kai. It was a small painting of Kai, Zev and Ali. Kai and Zev sat side by side slightly apart holding hands. Alistair stood behind them his hand on Kai's shoulder while her other hand covered his. The images had her gasping in amazement. They were so realistic, as if the people in the painting might start breathing and talking. "Who, how...?" Kai was at a loss for words.
"Sten." Fiona smiled and placed a hand on Zev's shoulder. "Sten told me that since you two were off saving the world and away from the twins, they are starting to make word sounds, one of which sounds somewhat like 'da'. This one in particular has been doing it," Fiona tickled Fi's little feet. "He felt that they needed something that reminded them of you and Zev and something to let them know who Alistair was. At least as he explained it to me. But I really think Sten was worried that they were calling him 'daddy'. He painted that in two days, from memory. He has been sitting with the twins showing them the painting and naming Alistair and Zev both as 'da'." Fiona laughed.
Kai was struck dumb in amazement. Her giant, stoic, Qunari friend never stopped surprising her. Of course if she asked him about such a sentimental gift, he would no doubt tell her it was only logical that the twins learn who their father figures were to help them learn their place according to the Qun.
"Aw, that was so nice of Sten. He memorized how we all look? Cree-eepy." Alistair's voice sounded in her ear. She gave him a mental smirk.
Kai snuck a look at Zev, wondering how he felt about the D-word being used in reference to himself. She watched him stroke the surface of the painting before picking it up and holding it for Fi to look at. Fi looked at the painting and with a fat little hand reached out to pat it with her palm saying, "Da." He grinned and kissed the babe's curly head.
They spent as much time playing with the twins as they could. Fiona arranged for them to take supper in their tent. They fed the twins and themselves, bathed and went to bed.
The morning came too soon for Kai's liking. Morning meant leaving her babies behind; the mystery of Gwaren would not wait. She cuddled them, breathing in their sweet baby scent before gathering a few of her Scath who had arrived with their refugees. She left Sten and Shale behind in camp to wait for their return.
They traveled along the logging road that the Tevinters had made to transport logs to Gwaren. It was already becoming overgrown with tall grasses and some small tree seedlings. On foot the grasses would have made walking a tricky proposition, tangling around leather boots. The Ceffyls had no trouble navigating the lengthy blades.
When they drew close enough to see the town, Kai stopped and had the group dismount. She planned on sneaking into Gwaren herself to scout the town. That was dismissed by Jarren, her Scath, and Zevran. Their blatant disregard for her orders in this matter led her to wonder who was really the leader in their little ragtag band. It was Zev and Jarren who crouched in the tall grass and crept towards the town. While Kai waited, she tried to assess the town from where they stood. She saw no smoke from the chimneys, nor did she hear any of the sounds that would normally be associated with human habitation.
Zev and Jarren were gone long enough that Kai began pacing, imagining the worst. About the time she decided to forget Zevran's admonishment for her to stay away, she saw him and Jarren returning, walking through the open grass without stealth. The sight of them was very welcome indeed, but their faces were grim. Kai felt her stomach do a slow roll while shivers snaked along her skin. This was not going to be good.
"Kaidana, you will need to see for yourself," was all that Zev would say. Oh sweet Maker! was the only thought that would come to mind.
Kai mounted Luna and they made their way to the town. It was worse than even she could have imagined. She smelled and heard it before she saw it. Clouds of black flies, so many the air was humming with them. The caws of crows, the rasping calls of ravens and the growling of dogs pressed on her ears as the overwhelming odor assaulted her nose. There were bodies everywhere, mostly human. There were other bodies. Bodies the scavengers were not touching. Darkspawn bodies.
However, humans and the few elven servants they had seen made up most of the body count. Kai tried to cover her mouth and nose with her hand, but the smell seemed to permeate everything. There was also the occasional "whoomph" noise that came from around them in different directions. It became apparent what that noise was, when a bloated pale corpse down the road from them burst.
Once the emotional part of her brain had finally become numb to the horrors of so much death surrounding her, the logical part began to gather information and process it. The conclusion it came to was all the more frighting – this was no mindless raid by darkspawn. This had all the markings of a deliberate, coordinated attack, strategically planned and executed with care and forethought. What sent her mind reeling even more given the placement of the bodies and the fact that they were all armored and armed was the realization that the darkspawn had attacked during the day when the most soldiers would have been present, when one group was relieving the other from duty.
It was Zev's voice that broke through her churning thoughts, "What is it that you see, Kai?"
"I see the darkspawn testing their abilities and strategies against a large group of trained Ferelden soldiers." She grimaced at him. "I see intelligence behind this. Deliberation, intent, coordination. This is not good, Zev. The Blight is supposedly over, yet I have talking darkspawn and now this. And something else that worries me. The doorways to the Deep Roads leading to Gwaren were sealed by the dwarves back when Maric asked King Endrin Aeducan to do so. If the darkspawn were here, they have opened that doorway."
They finished their inspection of the carnage, and Kai opted for them to go around the outskirts of Gwaren rather than back through. They skirted the treeline of the forest surrounding the town and heard moaning off in the underbrush. They dismounted and searched the undergrowth. It was Jarren who raised the hue and a cry alerting them he had discovered the source of the noise. When Kai had fought her way through the tangling barriers of foliage, she found Jarren holding up a bloodied and wounded dwarf. Gore covered him, and it was hard to tell if the blood came from his wounds or the others they had encountered. He was liberally smeared with darkspawn blood as well. Jarren lifted a water skin to the man's bruised and cracked lips.
When the dwarf's eyes opened, Kai shuddered. The poor sod was tainted and was well on his way to becoming a ghoul. Questioning him was long and arduous with their conversation twisting on itself like a labyrinth. In the end, she did as she had done for others and stuck a dagger in the man's chest. What little information they were able to gather had less to do with the invasion of darkspawn (the man had followed them to the surface on their raid) and everything to do with the dwarven kingdom in Ferelden. Something was rotten in the state of Orzammar. Jarren looked at Kai, "You know what this means, Scathach?"
Kai sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose, "It means we go to Orzammar."