AN: First off, I wish to address those who disagreed with something about the last chapter. I put that everyone had mistaken Percy for a half dwarf and some of you responded that it makes no sense as he would look like a normal human child. Well we know humans, elves, and dwarves can interbreed with varied effects and appearances. Elves in Thedas don't have beards and are very slender so a half elf half dwarf could reasonably be slender, short, and beardless. He was found in the armor of a mercenary and was their lead suspect. They pieced together the pieces in the way that made the most sense to them.

AN2: Something I forgot to mention in any authors notes from previous chapters is that one of the two OC's I mentioned, the Avvar archer, is now being made a female character. I'm torn between pairing Percy with the female Qunari mage or the female Avvar archer, but it will be one of those two (I don't have anyone else close enough to his age to pair him with in canon which is why I'm working to create some interesting characters for it). I've admittedly waffled back and forth between which one to be mage and which one to be archer as Qunari Saarebas are stupidly powerful but Avaar shamans know a lot of interesting magic and learn from spirits. In the end I'm going with Qunari mage and Avaar archer though.

Herald of Destruction

Chapter 6

-Percy-

Sighing, Percy sat on a rock, overlooking the small frozen lake outside of Haven. Ever since he had explained to the Inquisition leaders that he was a thirteen-year-old human they had been acting different. Cassandra, from what he saw, was feeling guilty over how she had treated him in the beginning. She had been trying to follow him and keep an eye out on him. The problem for her was that she was terrible at stealth, especially as she never took off her armor from what he saw. When someone clanks with every step it's easy to keep track of them.

Cullen had at least tried to be somewhat subtle about his attempts, tried. It was clear though that the experienced soldier was trying to make him open up and was attempting to act like an older brother figure.

Liliana was torn between a sympathetic understanding and looking at him with sheer horror. He had seen a couple of her agents following him over the past couple days since the reveal and was sure there were at least a dozen more he hadn't noticed.

Josephine had just been horrified. From what Percy gathered, she was already shocked and horrified upon hearing from Cassandra what had happened with Zeus and the trial. Now that she knew he was actually a teenager she was alternating between tearing Cassandra a new one and trying to bond with him.

Solas had looked horrified as well but also somewhat guilty which Percy found odd. He had however decided that since Percy was young then he was moldable and kept trying to teach him about ancient elves or something else which meant nothing to him given he still had no idea where he was.

Varric had made a few scathing comments to Cassandra but other than that had just told Percy that if he ever needed or wanted to talk to come find him before offering early releases of the Dwarf's books. He kept catching glimpses of the dwarf watching him out of the corner of his eye at random places in the village.

All of it was infuriating. He had saved his world and his camp, fought gods, and escaped the underworld. But he couldn't tell them any of that and they still treated him like he was made of glass now that they knew his age.

"Well, you look bored." A new voice spoke up, a loud grunt coming from the source as a giant of a man sat down beside him. The man had grey skin, ram horns, and his left arm in a sling.

"What gave it away?" Percy grumbled, tossing a pebble out onto the frozen lake to watch it bounce off the surface, wishing he had an actual lake to swim in.

"The bored expression." The giant man laughed, "I could use a sparring partner if you aren't fascinated by those pebbles of yours."

"Not terrified of breaking the child Herald?" Percy grumbled out but was paying a bit more attention.

"Kid I saw you fight." The giant laughed and stood up, "I should be more worried that you'll break me given what I saw you do to those demons. Besides, I need to get used to fighting without a shield for a bit." The giant nodded to the arm that sat in a sling.

"You can't get it healed?" Percy asked, following the giant to the training grounds, remembering seeing some mages healing people over by the big Chantry building.

"I got some stones imbedded in it that came from those green meteors that came out of the breech. The bloody thing is resisting magical healing, so I don't know how long I'll be down a shield and left with just my sword arm. Thankfully the healers are making some progress even if it's slow." As they spoke the giant got a sword that was split into two sections, a gap down the middle and teeth coming out the sides. "Ready kid?" the giant asked, giving the sword a test swing even as a few more like him but with different types of horns come over to watch.

"Sure. Mind telling me who you are first? Be kind of hard to tell me if I break you after all?" picking up a couple longswords that Cassandra had requisitioned for him before he had revealed his age, Percy got into a ready stance, a shield on his back as he worked on getting used to the new style.

"Adaar." The giant laughed, "Ataashi Adaar." Instantly the man lashed out, moving faster than Percy expected someone of that size to as he leapt back.

"Tartarus!" he cursed, pushing back with his feet to stop his slide as he swung his swords at the horned swordsman.

"Not bad." The giant grinned, deflecting his slashes with an impressive show of skill. Percy could feel his blows pushing back and figured, even with his weakened abilities, he was at least somewhat stronger than the giant and was a natural with the blade, but the giant was apparently a natural as well and had years of experience. "You've had some good training kid."

"Thanks." He grunted out, rolling and letting the shield on his back take a hit as he slashed at the giant's legs, the giant dancing back but still taking a grazing hit.

"Clever." Ataashi nodded in approval, "Clever, strong, and talented. I'm glad I'm fighting you now and not in a few years."

"You sound like you think you'll still win." Percy shot forward, swinging his left sword in an upward slash to feint. The crowd of horned giants and inquisition agents are cheering for the fight, each person rooting for the one they wanted to win. Seeing Ataashi take another backstep to avoid the slash, Percy thrust forward with the right sword.

"I know I will." Ataashi used the gap in his sword to catch the thrust, twisting his blade to rip the sword out of Percy's hands. "You're good kid." Ataashi cracked his neck, smirking at the annoyed crowd that had to duck to avoid the flying longsword, "You've got a gift. But I've got a few years on you."

"But now I'm using the style I know better." The sea didn't like to be restrained, those words filled Percy's head as he shot forward, switching his remaining sword to his right hand as he dropped into his old one-handed sword style. The sea didn't like to be restrained, and Percy didn't like to lose.

"Holy!" the giant looked surprised at the sudden increase of skill. His old style wasn't as therapeutic as his new one which he was growing to prefer but it was still new to him. His old style was one he had more training in as the fight starts turning in his favor.

"And now I know to avoid that little trick." He ducks under a slash and slams the pommel of his sword into Attashi's hand, the giant cursing loudly at the painful impact. Spinning, something his style was growing to incorporate a great deal, he caught the serrated split sword and held them both to the now disarmed Ataashi.

"I yield." The giant held up his hands and grinned, the other horned giants groaning, several passing coins over to the gloating inquisition agents. "You're good kid, real good." The giant took back the sword, tilting his head before tossing it back to Percy, "Here kid, keep it. Let me know if you want to learn my 'little trick' or spar again." And with that, and a teasing ruffle to his hair, the giants walked off to their tents, leaving Percy alone with three swords. It was…different. Ataashi hadn't tried to pity him, or coddle him, or freak out about his age. He had treated him like an equal. Seeing Cassandra, Liliana, and Josephine heading to Ataashi, having clearly just seen the fight, Percy quickly turns and walks the other direction. It seemed a good idea to take a walk to think…far away from the angry women.