Dragon Age: King in Exile

Part Fifteen

…

King Cailan has written Alistair into the succession and is ready to recognize him publicly. Loghain will do almost anything to keep that from happening. The darkspawn give him the perfect opportunity. Alistair/Cousland, featuring F!Tabris.

…

Disclaimer: Nothing you recognize from Dragon Age belongs to me.

…

Morrigan was awake and alert when they returned to the temple's entrance. She'd exhausted her own limited healing capabilities, but it was enough for her to walk back with some help. She seemed more irritated at herself than angry at Kallian for landing her in this situation.

Though Leliana wanted to hear about their experience, Kallian said she only wanted to tell it once. So they saved the story for their return to the others.

Genitivi was in awe when Elissa opened the pouch for him to see the ashes. Wynne touched the pouch with trembling hands and said a prayer. Sten said nothing, seeming eager to leave.

They wouldn't leave quite yet, however. They planned to camp out in the great hall for the night, giving Wynne some time to heal Morrigan and for all of them to get some rest. Knowing that they'd killed everything dangerous in the building, a few of them took the time to explore the side passages and rooms for anything interesting.

"Look what I found," Leliana said, grinning as she returned to their little camp. "Wine!"

Wynne's eyes lit up. Morrigan scoffed. "That wine is probably ancient. It would be vinegar by now."

"Alcoholic vinegar," Kallian said, sidling up to Leliana.

"Wrong," Leliana said. "I found it in the bunk room. It belonged to the cultists!"

"Is there more where that came from?" Elissa asked. "One bottle is hardly enough for all of us."

Leliana smiled.

…

A few hours later, they were all a little tipsy, full of wine and dinner, and the others were listening intently as Kallian, Alistair, and Elissa finished telling the tale of their experience in the Gauntlet.

"You had to get naked?" Leliana giggled.

"And it was bloody cold in that temple too!" Kallian said indignantly. This set off another round of laughter.

"After we put our clothes back on," Elissa redirected, blushing slightly, "We were able to approach the ashes. There was a set of stairs up to an altar where the urn sat, before a statue of Andraste. A shaft of light came down from a skylight, making everything glow. It was beautiful."

"I wish I could have seen it," Wynne said sadly.

Leliana took the older woman's hand. "We can come back." She, too, had longing in her eyes.

"I plan to," said Genitivi. "The chantry should know about this. I will see about leading an official expedition once the darkspawn are dealt with."

Wynne smiled. "A noble plan. This place should not be forgotten."

At this, Kallian cleared her throat. "Before we get too morose, I propose a game." She laid down one of the empty bottles in front of her. "Truth or dare."

Most of the others were familiar with the game, but Sten frowned and Morrigan let out a huff. "I have not heard of this game," she said. "Explain."

Leliana jumped in. "Everyone takes turns, and when it's your turn, you choose whether you want truth or dare. If you choose truth, you have to answer any one question truthfully. If dare, you have to complete a dare. Something like… kissing Alistair, or dancing like a chicken, or maybe taking your top off." She wiggled her eyebrows suggestively.

"And if I choose not to do so?" Morrigan asked.

"Then you're stuck with truth," she said with a shrug.

"As fascinating as this promises to be," Wynne said with a little smile, "I think the brother and I will sit it out." She motioned to Genitivi next to her. "We have many things to discuss."

"Is everyone else in?" Kallian asked. "It's more fun with more people."

She raised a brow when Sten came and sat by her. "I always answer truthfully," he said. "This is not much of a game."

"What are qunari games like?" Leliana asked curiously.

He stared at her for a moment. "Not like this."

Elissa squeezed Alistair's hand, grinning at him. He hadn't felt so lighthearted in months. He was a little nervous, but he hoped it would be fun. Just as long as Morrigan wasn't the one daring him.

"Okay, here's how we're going to do this," Kallian said, once the participants were in a small circle. She motioned to the wine bottle on the ground in front of her. "We spin the bottle. If the bottle lands on you, you're it. The last person who was it gets to ask the question. Simple. I'll start, since the game was my idea." She grinned, and spun.

Alistair groaned as the bottle landed on him. Kallian's grin turned into a smirk.

"Dare," he said, thinking he'd rather do something embarrassing than spill all his secrets.

"I dare you to do an interpretive dance to the lyrics of the Buxom Maid of Rainesfere." This set off a burst of laughter—this particular tavern song was known for its rather bawdy lyrics. "And, of course," she added, "You have to sing."

Alistair regretted his decision already. Or maybe not, he thought, seeing Elissa's eyes alight with laughter. Seeing her this happy, maybe the embarrassment was worth it.

Maybe.

As they kept drinking, they got more and more into it. Kallian seemed like almost a whole new person drunk, as if the angry armor she always wore had fallen away. Morrigan seemed to enjoy the challenge of the game, though she refused to answer a single truth. Sten, on the other hand, seemed uninterested in doing dares as he didn't "see the point of it". No matter how embarrassing the questions the others came up with, he would answer them in his own nonchalant way.

"Truth or dare, Kallian?" Elissa asked, leaning heavily against Alistair's side. A half-empty wine bottle dangled from his fingers, and she grabbed it to take a sip.

"Truth," Kallian said, laying spread-eagle on the ground, peering through an empty bottle at her.

Elissa grinned. "Did you peek at Alistair when we took our clothes off in the Gauntlet?"

Kallian stared at her a moment before grinning back. "Yes I did! And you know what?" she asked, sitting up. "He has a great ass!"

Elissa burst into giggles while Alistair turned beet red. "He does, doesn't he?" she said. She leaned over and stage whispered, "I peeked too!"

Alistair was turning a shade of red that couldn't possibly be healthy, but neither woman seemed to notice as they were consumed by their laughter.

"Wait," Leliana said slowly. "But you share a tent with Alistair every night. You've never seen him naked before today?" She sounded baffled.

It was Elissa's turn to blush. "It's comp—complicated," she said, stumbling through the word. "I'm a lady," she added with a nod, leaning back against him again.

"We can't," Alistair managed to say. "Not until we're married. Mmmmmmarried," he repeated. "Isn't that a funny word? Married…" He trailed off, looking away, and mouthed the word to himself again.

"So you're a virgin?" Morrigan asked, her eyes dancing with some private amusement.

"I don't know what that word means," Elissa replied, frowning.

Leliana let out a sigh. "You're so sweet and innocent, I could just pinch your cheeks!"

Elissa slapped her hands over her cheeks as if to protect them. "Noooo."

Alistair came out of his reverie and leaned forward on his hands. "Have you ever been married, Leliana?"

Elissa tipped over onto the ground as Alistair no longer held her up.

"No," said Leliana, "But you don't have to be married to have sex! I'll have plenty advice for the two of you when the time comes!" She, Morrigan, and Kallian all cackled at that.

"I was supposed to be married," Kallian volunteered. Everyone looked at her, surprised. "But then Vaughn Kendells killed my future husband and then I killed him," she said matter-of-factly.

"I'm sorry," Leliana said, eyes wide.

Kallian shrugged. "Arranged marriage. And then Duncan recruited me because he saw how badass I was."

Elissa sat up. "You killed Vaughn Kendells?"

"Yeah, did you know him?" Kallian asked.

"He was horrible!" Elissa said in wonderment. "You killed Vaughn Kendells!"

"Yeah," Kallian said again, looking at Elissa like she was crazy.

Elissa smiled wide. "I could just hug you for that!"

"No," said Kallian, backing away on her hands. "No no no no no."

"I'm going to hug you!" Elissa started trying to stand up, tipping over more than once in the process.

Kallian scrambled to get up before Elissa did, managing it just moments before the woman reached her. Before long Elissa was chasing her around the room while Kallian tried to escape her. There was screeching and giggling, and a lot of falling over.

Morrigan rolled her eyes at their antics, but Leliana smiled. Alistair gazed after Elissa with stars in his eyes.

"I love her," Alistair said. "Love love love."

"Aww!" Leliana said. "That's so sweet."

"I think I need to vomit," said Morrigan.

"I got you!" said Elissa as she finally caught the protesting elf, hugging her tight amidst Kallian's protests.

"You know," Elissa confided, her arms still around Kallian. "You're not so bad when you're drunk."

"Yeah," Kallian said, as she stopped fighting to escape. "You're not so bad when I'm drunk either."

When dawn came the next morning, it found the party strewn around the room, half-clothed, some still cradling bottles. Though several were hungover, most of them had to admit it had been worth it to unwind a little.

After a slow start, they began the trek back to Redcliffe, in hopes that their time collecting the ashes had not been wasted.

…