Rina opened her eyes, afraid of what she would see. She was in her apartment, but that only scared her more. It couldn't have been a dream, right? Maybe she was dreaming now. Things were confusing without adding all the emotion into it.
The horrible blond mage had been running towards her, making a fireball, and Zev had been right behind her. Was it stupid of her to wish he had been trying to save her? Yes, but it was true.
Music blared from in front of her, and she picked up her phone as if it was an alien object. Everything had been happening so fast, she hadn't even missed it. Her best friend Shanell was calling, so she hit talk.
"Hey girl, what's up?" she asked.
"Rina?" she heard back. "Where the hell are you?"
"Um, at home?" she responded, worried about having actually been gone all this time. Was she actually home now?
"Rina." Shanell's voice was full of disappointment. "You said you were coming out tonight with us, remember? You'll never get over him if you don't get out there!"
"Oh, right. Sorry, I… forgot," she finished lamely. She remembered this conversation. A few days after, Shanell had come over with the idea to help her make a plan, setting goals for herself, and Rina refused.
"Forgot?" Rina could hear the incredulity through the phone. She leaned back on the couch and closed her eyes. And her friend's voice became muffled… and lower… until she couldn't make anything out any longer.
"...you hear me? I swear, I thought she was waking."
"Wait, Dog. Don't just…ugh."
Rina opened her eyes, as her face was covered in slobber. There was an absolutely huge dog standing over her, and bathing her face with its tongue. She pushed the dog as she turned her head, trying to halt the impromptu bath. Using the sleeve of her shirt, she wiped at her face as she listened to the voices around her.
"Sorry about that… he's not exactly trained you see."
"Could be worse, could've bitten her nose off instead."
"Oh, you poor thing! Let me help you with that."
"Thank you," she finally replied, grateful to have the help. It felt like she was just rubbing the saliva around instead of removing it. She put her arm down and turned her face in the direction of the voice, keeping her eyes closed. In a moment, someone was holding her head steady and wiping her face with a cloth.
Rina wasn't sure what was going to happen at this point, but she knew who was around her. In fact, she knew most of them better than perhaps even they did. She opened her eyes once the person helping her was finished, and looked straight at Leliana.
"Thanks," she said, trying to remain calm. She glanced around at the six of them. Leliana and Alistair in front of her, a dwarf holding onto the dog's collar to her left (she assumed he must be the other warden), Morrigan several feet behind looking cross, and Oghren and Sten to her right, standing over someone.
She looked forward again to see Alistair's hand in front of her, and she shied back from it. No, she knew he wouldn't hurt her or anything, but she wasn't ready to move yet. He stayed there for a moment before looking at his hand to see if there was something on it, and finding nothing, wiping it on his armor anyway. He backed away from her, unsure of what to say or do.
There was an awkward pause as no one spoke, and Rina bit her lip, not trusting herself to speak- worried she may say something that would be hard to explain. The dwarf she didn't recognize came towards her, taking Alistair's place and crouched in front of her.
"What's your name, doll face?" he asked.
She felt her face make a questioning look before she could think what she was doing, so she rolled with it. "Catarina," she replied.
"Well, Catarina" he said, "what I'm curious to know is, were you with these mercenaries?"
She was horrible at coming up with things on the spur of the moment, so she opted for the truth. "Sort of," she answered hesitantly.
She heard Leliana giggle as Alistair demanded, "How can you 'sort of' be with a band of mercenaries trying to kill people?!"
"He's got a good point Cat," the dwarf warden told her with a smirk.
"What's your name?" she asked him.
"Why?" he asked back, obviously amused.
"Because I don't like referring to you as 'the dwarf' in my head," she answered. She was surprised when several of them laughed, though she had been serious.
"As long as you refer to me as the sexy dwarf, it's all right" Oghren added.
"Duran," he answered her. "Though several of my companions here think it is Warden."
"A pleasure Duran," she said. "My friends call me Rina," she added.
"Hmm… nope," he said. "I like Cat better."
"Okay…" she trailed it off so it sounded like she was teasing him. She had no real preference, it was her friends back home that stuck with Rina. She took a moment as several things ran through her mind. Based on the way Duran carried himself, and the lack of facial tattoos, she guessed he was Duran Aeducan. And since Oghren was here, that meant they had already been to Orzammar. She wondered briefly whom he had chosen to support as king. Then she wondered where they were heading next, and then wondered where Zevran would fit into… Zevran!
"Duran? Have you seen my friend Zev? The blond elf?" She asked quickly, as she started to try to stand up. She still felt pretty dizzy and it wasn't easy.
"This elf?" she turned to Oghren as he spoke and saw that he and Sten were in fact standing over Zev, who was tied up and looked unconscious, or dead. She hurried over as best she could, only tripping once, and knelt at his side.
"Oh, thank goodness" she said to herself quietly when she discovered he was still alive.
"And this is where I need an explanation Cat," Duran said. She turned back and saw that all of them were flanking her, standing beside Duran, following his lead. A few had hands on their weapons, as if expecting her to try to harm them, but they were all deadly serious now, not one of them smiling any longer.
She turned back to Zev and shook her head. "I can't," she said quietly, and by the lack of response, none of them heard her. She looked down at Zev again. What would he do, if she told them of his plan? Did he even want to join them, or had she ruined that? He was different than she remembered from the games, having a harder edge. Was the same true for all the companions? Would they kill him once she explained?
"I can't," she said again, more clearly. "It's not my story to tell, it's Zevran's." She hoped that she had at least bought some time for him to wake up.
"Cat…" Duran's voice told her to look at him, so she did. He held her gaze for some time, then nodded. "Okay, we'll camp here, and wait to hear his explanation." he said.
"What?!" "Warden…" Several companions spoke at once, but he stopped them all with a look, that belied his royal heritage. They all began unpacking tents, and leaving the path to clear a place to have a fire. She watched in awe, as no one needed to speak, they all just did what needed to be done.
Rina wondered if they had daily assignments, or if they simply just did whatever chore they wanted. She guessed the former, as if everyone did what they wanted, they might all pick the same chore one day. The mental picture of all six of them coming back to camp with firewood and no other tasks done made her giggle. She stopped abruptly as she saw several of them giving her questioning looks, some bordering on suspicion. She hoped Zev would wake up soon.
The wait was longer than she hoped, but since Leliana was talking to her, she didn't really notice. She knew better than to say much, since Leliana was a bard and all, but she found her defenses coming down the longer they spoke. She knew she was being manipulated, but it was so nice talking to another female about inconsequential things. Since she and Zev hadn't come up with any sort of story, she simply stayed silent whenever questions about him, or her, or their travels, or homelands came up.
Finally, she heard Zevran groaning, and instead of coming closer, she actually stepped aside so that Duran and his companions could speak with him. She got a few looks for it, but she wasn't ready for his anger at having her disrupt his plan. She smiled as she thought of his line, "I thought I'd wake up dead" but was shocked when she heard something quite different.
"Catarina? What have you done to her? I'll kill you!" he yelled as he struggled against his bonds. She peeked her head around Sten, surprised to hear her name.
"We've not harmed her friend," Duran began. "She asked us to wait for any questions until you woke, and we've honored that request." he finished, his words soft but strong.
Zevran had been listening, but he searched around and continued to struggle until he saw her face peering at him from around a huge warrior. He closed his eyes and took several deep breaths to calm himself. He still didn't understand why, since everything today had gone belly up, but she was safe, so he felt everything was good. It made no sense, but he didn't want to dwell on it now. He reopened his eyes and looked at the group before him, zeroing in on the noble dwarf in front of him.
"You are the warden, no?" he asked.
"I am one of the wardens, yes," Duran answered. "And you are?" he asked in return.
"Zevran Arainai, a Crow. You, my friend, are mighty hard to kill. Though, to be fair, my ambush didn't go off quite like I had planned," he smirked at the group, wondering why he felt to give away so much information, but felt the better for it anyway.
"A Crow? Cat?" Duran asked her, looking confused.
"I can answer that," Leliana interrupted before she could answer. "Crows are a guild of assassins from the land of Antiva. They have quite the reputation for both success, and privacy for those employing them, even withstanding torture without divulging information." They all turned back to look at Zevran.
"Well then, I suppose questioning may be pointless," Alistair commented.
"The woman looks like she will not withstand torture," Sten said stoically.
"Sten!" Leliana gasped in shock, as Rina backed away from him.
"Cat." Duran called her over as he sat in front of Zevran, patting the ground next to him as an invitation for her to sit.
"Cat?" Zevran asked as she did so.
"He liked it better than Rina, apparently," she answered and he nodded as if that explanation made total sense.
"I prefer to call her Little Dove, myself" Zevran said, and Duran looked thoughtful, before nodding in agreement.
"Also better, but I'll stick with Cat," he replied. "But, back to business. Cat told us that she was sort of" he used finger quotes, "with the mercenaries that attacked us. And based on what you've said, you were leading them." He looked at Zevran pointedly. "I'd like an explanation now."
Cat listened, smiling to herself as she thought of her new nickname. Even she liked it better. It seemed like Zevran's explanation was very similar to his in game dialogue, though she was surprised that it was Duran's idea that he come with them in order to protect him from the retribution of the Crows. In fact, the more she saw Zev and Duran banter back and forth, the more amused she became, until she was giggling. The two of them stopped their talk to look at her. In fact, everyone was looking at her.
"What's funny, Little Dove?" Zev asked.
"I'm sorry," she started, trying to contain her laughter. "It's just that I always heard that dwarves and elves hated each other, but with you two…" she burst into giggles again. They all continued to stare at her, until Leliana started giggling too. Then Alistair began chuckling, and Oghren laughed out loud. Duran and Zevran joined in as well, while Morrigan and Sten looked at them like they were fools.
"Come on," Duran said as he cut Zev's bonds with his dagger. "Let's have some dinner and we'll talk some more."
Zevran stood, rubbing his wrists. "Warden," he said suddenly serious. Duran nodded at him to continue. "I would give you my allegiance, however before you accept it, I would let you know that I have sworn to see the Little Dove to safety from the blight. Perhaps that is by traveling with your group, or we can see her to somewhere safe on our travels, but" he said stubbornly, "we are a pair. Where I go, so does she until that promise is fulfilled."
"Cat?" Duran asked, and she could only nod, as she tried to keep the tears from falling. This came out of nowhere, but Zev was ensuring that she was kept safe. She had never had anyone do something like this for her before, putting her needs before their own.
Duran nodded as well. "Then welcome aboard, let's eat!"
Cat could hear a few of them argue with him as they walked over to the campfire, and caught the end of Morrigan's comment, and Zevran's cheeky response. She glanced down at the huge dog who had remained with her, giving his head a scratch.
"Happy to be here," she said softly, surprised when she realized it was the absolute truth. She laughed as the dog barked at her, and started following the group. "I'm hungry too boy, let's go!"