Judy: Look at you, reading across the board. You have my eternal thanks for your support.
Chapter 9
Merrill yawned as she opened her eyes to frantic banging. Sitting up she winces and rubs her eyes; it didn't seem that it was that urgent but it was definitely loud. 'I'm comin',' she says loudly as she pulls herself out of bed. Groggily she walks over to her front door and opens it revealing Anders and Mena. 'Oh... it nae go so well?'
'Not so much, I'm sorry Merrill, I really tried, I know it was my idea but she's just too much and I have to sleep at some point tonight-' Anders says as he holds Mena by the upper arm to stop her from running off.
'Anders,' Merrill interrupts him, 'tis okay. I dinnae think that this would go well ta be honest,' she admits as she looks at him with a weak smile and opens her door wider to let Mena in. Anders lets the woman go and she runs into the house. 'Why she covered in-?'
Anders sighs and rubs his eyes, 'basically when you left, she got a little edgy but I managed to calm her down and ran her a bath. She liked the bubbles and it amused her for quite a while and there's a street cat that quite likes water and so she was happy. When I put her to bed, she was nervous but I managed to make a cot on top of my cupboards which settled her. Then some shit happened, a few noises, a bit of gang activity and it disturbed her quite badly. I woke up to find her painting my walls and her face with those weird eyes that she does. My reserves are all pulled out the cupboards and my materials are an utter mess. I couldn't get her to calm down. I'm sorry,' he says apologetically. 'I was trying to give you a night to yourself and now... well this.'
Merrill shrugs and looks over her shoulder to where she sees Mena getting into the cupboard that held her favourite food, upside down as she leaned over from the top of the cabinet. Merrill rolls her eyes before looking back at Anders. 'Ma serannas fer tryin' regardless, Anders,' she says as she smiles weakly at the Warden. 'Be safe goin' home. I'll see ya about,' she says through a stifled yawn. 'I can come over an' help ya clean the clinic-?'
'No, don't worry about it, nothing a little water won't fix. I'll see you around, Merrill. Night,' he says as he waves a hand in goodbye before turning away. Merrill nods and shuts the door her attention returning to Mena who was happily eating out a tin while sitting cross-legged on top on the counter.
Mena reached her hand into the tin and pulled out a dried, lightly spiced mushroom with a happy squeak and wiggle of her hips as she looks at it. 'Asa'ma'lin, nuvena sa? Esh'an on'ala,' Mena chatters as she holds the one she had pulled out towards Merrill.
'Mena!' Merrill scolds as she walks over and takes the 'shroom out of her hand and puts it back into the tin, taking it gently from her. At Merrill's tone, Mena's face falls and tears begin to swim in her eyes. 'I told ya to behave with Anders. An' here he be bringin' ya back in the middle of the night!'
Mena's lip began to tremble and she looks down, her good mood vanishing. 'Ir-'
'Ah! Nae Dalish, common,' Merrill shakes her head. She didn't like telling Mena off but she didn't appreciate this behaviour either. Mena's Dalish had come along in leaps and bounds but she struggled with the human tongue.
Mena sniffed and wiped her eyes with the back of her hand. 'I scared!' She whimpers as her shoulders began to shake with her crying. 'Strange noises an' I no like! Eyes make safe, make home safe. Keep Anders, safe,' she whispers as she continues to look at the floor. Merrill breathes in deeply and nods, placing the tin on the side and moving closer to her to give her a hug.
'Shhh, tis okay, lethallan. I understand. Tomorrow ya be writin' a letter to Anders though, you're gonna say that you're sorry an' that ya nae goin' ta do it again,' she says as she strokes Mena's hair. 'Ya get to practise your words an' make Anders feel better, okay?'
Mena nods and holds Merrill tightly; she did not do well when being told off. In a bid to make Mena feel better Merrill picks up the tin and playfully waggles it under her nose making the mushrooms make a dry, shaking noise and releasing a little of the spice into the air. 'Mena have?' She asks as her eyes light up at the smell.
'Aye, a couple more, then teeth, then bed,' Merrill smiles as Mena nods frantically and dives into the tin grabbing the largest one she could find. She pauses before biting into it and holds it out to Merrill. The mage smiles and shakes her head, it was sweet that Mena thought of her but she wasn't in the mood to eat. Teaching Mena was harder than she thought, biting her lip she begins to think of the clan that Mena must have originally come from, surely, they would still have knowledge of her disappearance? It might be a good idea for her to try and locate them, Merrill needed more support, Mena needed more people she could trust and have a permanent connection to. After directing Mena to go clean her teeth she made the decision to send out a few contacts in the morning and see where it takes her, it could take her months but the sooner she started the sooner she would get some answers.
-x-
Another couple of months had passed and Mena had acclimatized more. Her maturity had become that of a young, almost teenage girl, playful, curious and infuriating. She had incredible bouts of stubbornness and there were very few people that she listened to. Merrill was still attempting to find her original clan but it was hard going as most Dalish clans were deep in forests and hiding as the weather was turning cold and bitter. They were currently all at the Hanged Man, Mena's first time at the tavern and there were plenty of eyes watching her.
Mena was sitting on the sofa with Peaches, the Mabari's large head drooling onto her knees. She strokes the hound's ears as she watches Merrill talk to Hawke, both of them smiling brightly, blissfully unaware of the atmosphere around them. Isabela drops onto the sofa next to Mena making Peaches huff as she raises her head to look at the pirate. 'Ugh, disgusting isn't it? If we're really unlucky it'll be infectious.'
Mena tilted her head, 'what you mean?' She asks as she looks at Isabela.
'Those two- They're …. ugh, so gross. They don't even realise it, that's the worst bit,' Isabela shoves a mug into Mena's hand who sniffs it and tilts her head, it wasn't like anything she had ever smelled before. Isabela seemed to be drinking whatever it was though so it couldn't be that bad? Mena takes a cautionary sip; it wasn't great but she had certainly drunk worse in her life. Shrugging a shoulder, she takes a gulp.
'Gross? They not covered in dirt. Or leaves,' Mena points out, the only times she had heard the word that Isabela used to describe Merrill and Garrett was when she had come home after playing with the local children and getting covered in something unfavourable.
Isabela grins and gives Mena a look, 'oh, sweetness, you have no idea, do you? I mean that they're wanting to …. hop off the good foot and do the bad thing,' she winks. Mena smiles weakly and nods, still no idea what the pirate was on about but she was sure if she asked her to expand then she would just be more confused. An hour passed and once Mena had finished that mug, she was given another by Isabela who seemed to be looking after her for the moment in time while Merrill was distracted. Mena didn't mind, she liked Isabela and deep down she knew that Merrill needed a little time to herself and her mood always seemed to improve while Hawke was around.
She did feel a little strange though, elated and giggly, more so than usual. Isabela was teaching her to play cards and she couldn't stop laughing at the expressions that Isabela was pulling whenever she got a bad hand. It got to the point of Mena mimicking her and both of them were in fits of laughter. Varric was overseeing the two women while he replied to correspondence and wore a faint smile at their antics. 'Can you do other people, mouse?' Varric asks curiously.
Mena snorts and takes a gulp from her mug before looking around and grabbing what she recognised to be a book of prayers that Sebastian kept around. With a blank expression she brushes her hair back and slicks it down before holding the book in her hand and her narrowing her eyes a little, she clears her throat and there's a little deep rumble in her chest as she finds the right pitch and note. 'From what I hear, you give yourself quite freely,' she mimics Sebastian and the conversation that Isabela had had with him a couple weeks ago.
'Ohhhh! Damn!' Isabela laughs as she was taken back to that moment.
'Mouse, that was just like him! Do another!' Varric laughs.
Mena giggles and thinks for a moment, 'Sometimes your shots veer a little left, I thought maybe your cocking ring was off, I could take a look if you like,' she speaks as Sebastian again.
Varric snorts and slaps his hand against the table, 'do you want to touch Bianca's cocking ring?' He laughs making Isabela practically die next to him as she slips off her chair holding her ribs as she howls. Mena messes up her hair again and takes a drink out of her mug, her ability to mimic was one that had kept her alive and so it was easy to recall things, even if she didn't know what they meant or understand them.
'Okay, okay, can you do Anders?' Isabela asks as she pulls herself up from the floor. Merrill and Garrett had become quite interested in what was going on and came over.
Mena thinks for a moment, before nodding. She asks for a hairband and pulls her hair half up, she then grabs one of the cloaks that had a large furred collar, it would do for feathers. 'You used to really like that girl with the griffon tattoos, right? What was her name?'
'The Lay Warden!' Both Varric and Isabela reply in a fit of amusement.
'Wow, that's amazing!' Hawke laughs with his arm casually over Merrill's shoulders. 'Ooh! Can you do Fenris?'
'I bet she could,' Isabela snorts into her mug making Varric elbow her in the ribs. Mena didn't really understand what was going on but she took her hair out the band and brushed it over her eyes in an attempt to mimic his hairstyle.
'Say something funny,' Merrill grins.
Mena thought hard, there wasn't much to draw on when it came to funny. Fenris had a dry sense of humour but she didn't really understand a lot of what he said. A conversation that she had heard between Aveline and Fenris popped into her head and she grins. It takes her a moment to try and land on the right octave and vocals for him but she pulls it off, just, 'I shall endeavour to exist with less offence.'
The room is filled with peals of laughter and Mena bounces in her chair, happy to be receiving the attention and making people smile. There's the sound of the door opening and Aveline and Fenris walk into the unknown joke. Hawke starts to cough as he had paused to take a sip of his drink and Merrill giggles into his chest at the sight of them. 'What's going on?' Aveline asks amused, glad to see that they're all in a good mood.
Mena goes to open her mouth but seeing as Isabela had no idea whose voice would come out, she clapped her hand over her lips and stops her from answering. 'We were just having Mena do some impressions. She does them really well,' she explains. Mena shoves her hand away and gets up to give Aveline a tight hug. Fenris had been removing his sword and not really paying attention so when he felt Mena hug him tightly from the side, effectively trapping his arm by his chest, the air is knocked out of him. He raised a brow; she wasn't normally this forward.
'Fennis!' She squealed happily giving him a wiggle. He looks down at her and she pouts, 'where your braid? You not like it?' She asks with a sad expression. Fenris feels his chest tighten in almost panic.
'It is not that, it simply came undone as I washed,' he says quickly. Mena's habit of putting at least one braid in his hair when she saw him was growing thin but it was really no effort to simply let her do it. He didn't like it but it made her happy. Mena grins at him and bounces across to the table and grabs her mug finishing the contents. He follows and gently takes the mug from her and sniffs it. 'Whom has been giving her beer?' Fenris asks.
'Beer? She's been given beer?' Aveline repeats looking at Mena who was going through her bag for something in particular. 'She can't have beer; it'll go straight to her head!' There was silence and Merrill gives Isabela an annoyed look, the pirate ignores it and plays innocent. Mena squeaks as she finds one of the flowers that she had collected and drags Fenris to the sofa, making him sit as she perches on the side on her knees as she begins to braid his hair once more. The expression on his face said it all and they knew that to tease him right now would be a bad thing to do.
'She'll crash soon and then we can put her to bed. She's fine,' Isabela grins as she shares a look with Varric.
'Isabela!' Merrill says in a scolding voice. 'I dinnae think you'd been givin' her beer!'
'Oh hush, it won't do her any harm, if she throws up, I'll deal with it,' Isabela says simply, rolling her eyes.