Shadow and Rose
by Lady Norbert
A/N: Hi to all the new followers! I apologize for the slow progress this story is making, but rest assured, I've not given up on it. Alistair's too dear to me. And if I'm given enough free time in which to do it (which is rare), it should go a bit faster now - I've pre-written a lot of what's ahead.
This chapter contains more headcanon. Totally making up how they get to Denerim, but I thought it made sense and, frankly, sounded really cool. Plus it will give Alistair some 'quality time' with everyone who isn't Elissa in the next chapter, and that's necessary for me to include certain bits of party banter of which I doubt she would approve. ;) Also, yes, in my Cousland playthrough she really did twirl. I thought it was adorable and I thought Alistair would too.
Reviews are delicious and I will sprinkle them on my breakfast cereal so please leave some.
Chapter Twenty-Nine: Garbolg's Backcountry Reserve
Likely dropped to avoid seizure by authorities, or because of seizure due to drinking it. Garbolg only brewed from 8:74 to 8:92 Blessed, killed when the vapors in his beard spontaneously combusted.
Elissa made good on her promise to Oghren, letting him teach her some of his berserking skills. I found the whole thing rather funny to watch, to tell you the truth. She's just... I'm not sure how to say it. I hesitate to call her small, especially compared to Oghren, and even for a normal Fereldan woman she's of average height. But she always strikes me as so delicate and regal, and her fighting style normally reflects this. There is something about the way she wields a sword that's very elegant. That's not me being partial, either, or at least not entirely; Leliana once described Elissa's style of swordplay as "battle dance." She actually twirls sometimes, even with the armor.
Anyway, to come back to my point, it was incredibly funny to see Elissa trying to berserk. She was really trying, though, which is the part that made it sort of impressive too. Oghren told her that berserking requires a warrior to find a raw, deep rage inside themselves, and release it through their weapon. That much I could see her mastering. All things considered about what's happened to her in the past year, I imagine my sweet girl has plenty of inspiration for rage.
It's been maybe two days since we left Orzammar at this point, and I don't think she'll ever fully grasp berserking, but I get the impression it means a lot to Oghren that she's trying. If nothing else, maybe it's helping to take his mind off the possibility of floating away into the sky.
We're making our way around Lake Calenhad, and as we're passing through the area, we've decided to make a brief visit to the Circle Tower. Wynne's anxious to see how Irving is recovering from his ordeal with Uldred. We should be there this afternoon, and since we're right there anyway, we'll spend the night at the Spoiled Princess. I think it'll do us all some good.
Funny thing, though, Elissa's not coming to see the mages. She pulled me aside after we finished breakfast and said that Oghren's asked a favor of her. "It seems he's got some sort of former lady friend who is now on the surface just like him, and she works at the Spoiled Princess," she explained. "And he... wants to reconnect. But the part I don't understand is why he wants me to go with him."
"Maybe it's so you can back up whatever story he's offering her," I mused. "I don't know, love. He must trust you, though, if he's asked you something like this."
"I suppose he must at that." She smiled. "So if you'll direct the others over to the tower to visit Irving, I'll help Oghren with his love life. Toby can stay with me."
"Your desire is still my command."
Morrigan, unsurprisingly, had no interest in going back to the tower, so we left her on the opposite shore to wait with Shale, who probably wouldn't have fit through the tower door. Irving seemed glad to see us, and healthier than when we last saw him. The tower's a lot cleaner too. "You may encounter some of the students on the road," Irving noted. "I have been sending out small groups of the younger mages in the company of senior enchanters, to practice their spells on the roving darkspawn in preparation for the real battle. When the time comes, we'll be there."
After a nice, long-but-not-too-long visit, we made our way back across the water and joined the rest of the group at the Spoiled Princess. Oghren's flush with his triumph at having successfully gotten Felsi, the barmaid, to call him a son of a nug-humper or something equally horrid. This is apparently how they relate to each other. She's quite pretty for a dwarf.
I don't think I'm getting back to sleep any time soon after what just happened, so I'm going to try writing it all down. I don't know how legible it's going to be in the morning, though, because my hands are still shaking.
We left the Spoiled Princess after breakfast, and had a fairly uneventful day on the whole. We made camp for the night, and it wasn't my turn at watch for some time, so I went to my bedroll. I don't know how long I was asleep before it started... it was probably the worst nightmare I've had in a good long while. The Archdemon was screaming - as they do. That part isn't unusual. But then at the end, it turned its head and it stared straight at me and screamed again. Like it could see me watching it.
I woke up to find everyone in the party, except for Elissa, staring at me. "You were thrashing in your sleep," said Wynne. "Another moment of that and we were going to wake you. Are you all right?"
"I think so." Elissa was still asleep, sprawled on a blanket by the fire, and as I watched she started to convulse too. Abruptly she woke and sat up, looking about wildly. She was panting, and her eyes were wild with terror, like she was still seeing the dream.
"Sweetheart." I pushed myself up and moved over to her side. "You're awake. You saw it too, didn't you? The Archdemon," I added. "It was like it saw us. Saw us! What do you think it means?"
She started to answer me, but I lifted a hand. "Shh. Did you hear that?" I could sense, and I know she could too, that darkspawn were not far.
For a few seconds, all was silent. And then, without any further warning, a pack of shrieks descended upon the camp. There weren't too many of them, so we destroyed them fairly quickly, but that almost makes it more terrifying. Like it was a warning from the Archdemon - I know you're there.
I think Elissa was still exhausted. Maybe she still is even now. She's been through too much in the past year, and I don't feel she sleeps enough. Worries too much about the rest of us, I think. Once the fight was over she turned, and sort of stumbled toward me, and I caught her before she could collapse. She just held onto me for a few minutes, shaking in my arms.
"I guess it's like Duncan told us," I said. "We can sense the darkspawn... and they can sense us." She didn't say anything, but I felt her nod.
"It's not going to be easy to sleep here, now," said Wynne.
"The camp is no longer safe. We should have defensive structures around it," Sten suggested.
"I wish we could have just stayed at Soldier's Peak," Elissa murmured. "We were safer there."
"We'll be in Redcliffe again tomorrow," I told her. "We'll all sleep better with castle walls around us once more."
Eamon welcomed us back to his castle late this afternoon. We would have been there earlier in the day, but with the poor night we passed, none of us were exactly moving very quickly. We were in time to share the evening meal with the family, in any case, and he gave us the same rooms we had the last time we were here. It's always nice when we don't have to keep watch.
It was a pretty gloomy day, both in terms of the weather and how we were all feeling. I mean, I can't speak for everyone, but the group as a whole seemed fairly subdued. Maybe that's why Zevran did what he did when we stopped along the shore of the lake to eat our lunch.
It was Shale, of all people, who started the whole thing. She didn't seem to enjoy the direction the conversation took, but I think most of us found it fairly entertaining. "I am curious," she said as she watched us eat. "Will the painted elf answer a question?"
"Why not? I appear to have all day."
"The painted elf attacked the Grey Warden," she noted solemnly. At least she didn't call Elissa 'it,' for a change. "And yet it still lives. Had the decision been mine, its skull would be so much pulp right now."
"Oh, I don't know. Could you destroy something as pretty as I am, hmm?" He smirked at her.
"Easily. I fail to see how any measure of attractiveness would make one difficult to crush."
"Perhaps you do not know how to look." He put down his bread, and started to point at the rest of us in turn. "Look at the witch. Dark hair, heaving chest, quivering lips. How could one kill such a creature without bedding it first?"
Easily, I thought. Morrigan rolled her eyes. "How relieved I am."
"Here, take that Templar fellow," Zevran continued. My turn! "Rugged good looks, quick wit, manly shoulders. Just getting him to hop borders is a challenge worthy of the great heroes."
"A challenge? I'd happily hop borders, given the chance. I've never even been close to leaving Ferelden!"
Oghren laughed so hard at this that he fell off the fallen tree where he was sitting. Leliana had to explain to me later what Zevran had actually meant. I had no idea. Anyway, he went around the whole group of us, except for Toby, noting different things which made us each attractive. It was variously comical, offensive, or just strange. But he saved Elissa for last.
"Take a long look at our Grey Warden, my good friend," he said, gesturing to where she was sitting on a stump. "Right there we have an object worthy of worship, no?"
"Oh, Zev." She smiled and shook her head.
Shale was unimpressed. "Perhaps there are definitions of 'blind' I have yet to understand," she declared finally, and suddenly, most of us just cracked up laughing. I don't know why, it wasn't even that funny. But after last night, I think we all just needed the laugh, and it made the day a little brighter. Zevran's really okay, maybe.
This should be interesting. Over breakfast this morning, Eamon outlined his plan for our trip to Denerim for the Landsmeet.
"Normally I would arrange a caravan and follow the Imperial Highway," he said. "But as you yourselves know from your months of travel, that's hardly the safest road these days. So I've prepared another means of transport. Tomorrow morning we will board my private vessel, the Queen Rowan, and make our way to the capital by sailing on the Drakon River."
I'd forgotten about the boat. It had been a wedding gift to Eamon and Isolde from Maric. I only ever saw it once before I was shipped off to the Chantry, so I hadn't really thought much about it. It's a nice-sized little ship, shaped a little differently from the typical Redcliffe fishing boats. If memory serves, it was specifically designed to travel well on the river. There's room enough on board for all of us, and according to Eamon, it functions almost like a floating house. It's also a faster way to get out of Redcliffe than taking the roads, since the river is more of a direct route, and we should sail into Denerim's harbor within three days of our departure. Plus, we don't need to worry about encountering any of Loghain's soldiers on the river.
He's invited us to just enjoy our day in Redcliffe, so I think I'll see about doing just that. I'm sure Elissa will want to walk down to the village and see how they're getting on since the unpleasantness of a few months ago, and I'm going to go join her.