Cat smiled as she sat near the fire. This was probably even better than the best case scenario she had played in her head, with Zev being accepted by the Warden. Duran, she corrected herself. He really didn't like being referred to as Warden, though that didn't stop the others.
While eating dinner, Duran had introduced the rest of the party to them, and similarly introduced the two newcomers to everyone else. She did her best to keep a straight face, but it was so odd and yet thrilling to meet these people whom she knew so well. The fact that they were real people- the other option being that she was totally insane- was amazing to her.
She knew however, that while she felt a closeness and friendship with them, they had no such feelings for her. As far as everyone else was concerned, they had all just met and therefore knew next to nothing about each other. She would have to build the relationships like anyone else, building trust. If only they were all as easy as Dog- yes, Duran had cleverly named the dog, the apt name of Dog.
"That should work, sorry it's not very big," Alistair said as he came back to the fire. "It was lucky we had some extra canvas so that we could give you a tent."
"It is appreciated," Zevran replied as Cat walked over to view the new structure.
"You're right though, it is small," she said, thinking logistically. "We'd practically be on top of each other."
She turned back as she heard the muffled laughter, and saw that Alistair had gone bright red.
"Is that all it takes?" Zev mused aloud. "If so, I would have conveniently forgotten your tent at the start of our journey." He laughed louder as he took in her confused expression.
"You don't have to share with him toots," Oghren offered. "There's plenty of room in ours, right between the Warden and me."
The light finally dawned as Cat realized that she wasn't meant to share with Zev, and she blushed. "Sorry, I just assumed…" she trailed off as they laughed even louder.
Leliana came to her rescue, and taking her arm lead her to the women's tent. "Don't mind them," she soothed. "They are just having a little fun, no?" She lowered her voice conspiratorially. "Unless you were wanting to share?" Which made Cat blush again, and shake her head and Leliana giggled as she showed Cat to their tent.
The next day began much as the last had ended, with the party around the campfire, enjoying a meal. Cat ate quickly, and started breaking down the camp as Zev had shown her previously. She desperately wanted to be helpful, knowing that she was currently the weakest link, but she was confident in her ability to adapt.
"You don't need to do that my lady," she heard behind her and turned around, looking left and right and finally looking behind her. "Um, I was actually speaking to you, Lady Catarina," Alistair commented looking embarrassed.
"Warden Alistair, I'm not even close to being a lady, and please call me Cat." she replied.
"Alright, but then you must call me Alistair," he returned with a small smile. "We're actually not big on titles and such, but I didn't want to offend in any way."
"No offense taken," she said continuing to fold up the canvas.
"Here, I'll take care of that," he said, coming forward and taking the canvas from her.
Cat frowned. She was obviously doing something wrong, but she wasn't quite sure what the right way to fold canvas was. She turned, looking for something else to assist with, and saw that the fire pit had not yet been put out. She headed over, and using a small spade that sat nearby, started shoveling dirt onto the embers.
"Oh, don't worry about that, I've got it handled," Alistair said coming up to her again. He held out his hand, and she gave up the spade.
'Zero for two," she thought. There had to be something she could do to help. She looked around again, but was stopped as Zevran walked up to her.
"Little dove, there you are," he said. "The Warden has given us time to go back to our old campsite and collect our packs before we all head out."
"Oh," she replied. "I completely forgot about them!"
"Well, we did have a few packs of supplies between us and the mercenaries, which I said would help us to not be a burden on our new companions," he explained to her. "So come, let us hurry before we are left behind, yes?"
She followed as he stepped out into the woods, immensely glad that the trip was not dependant on her knowing the way. She had followed the merc's trail yesterday, not paying attention, and then had simply run off so she had no idea where their last camp was located.
After a few minutes, Zevran took her arm in his and spoke, "So, little dove, I noticed that you seemed very at ease with our new situation."
"Um, yes? That wasn't exactly a question you know." she replied, matching his pace.
"No, more an observation," he replied. "It just seems odd to be so at ease with people you have never met before."
"True, I suppose it would seem odd." she commented, thinking how best to explain. It seemed he simply wouldn't believe her when she flat out told him the truth, but what else could she say?
He looked over at her, expecting to receive some sort of explanation, but saw that she was lost in thought. Before he could question her further, they stepped into the campsite. They worked together to quickly repack any helpful belongings in the merc's packs and shouldered them with their own packs and started heading back.
"So" she asked, "what do we do if they have left us?"
"They have not," he replied.
"You sound sure of yourself," she observed.
"Yes" he answered. Glancing at her, he decided to try a different tactic. "So, the Warden said something last night about using treaties to gain allies," she hmm'd in response so he continued. "I wonder where we still have to travel?"
"I'm not sure," she replied, still somewhat in her own thoughts. "But I'm glad they have already been to Orzammar. I don't fancy going to the deep roads."
She glanced over at him, as he was uncharacteristically silent, only to see him giving her a look that translated into "duh". "What is that look for?" she asked him.
"I'm sure you noticed," he drawled, "that there are two dwarves in the group? Of course they've been to Orzammar."
"Oh, right." she said, grateful that there was such an easy explanation for her comment. She really needed to start paying better attention to what she was saying!
Once they returned to the group, they looked ready to leave, however Duran was missing. After a few moments he came into the clearing, and they headed out. Duran led them onward, and Cat found herself somewhere in the middle of the pack. Throughout the day, they switched places and Cat was able to speak to everyone at some point, though a few of them chose not to speak back.
She also found herself supremely grateful for traveling with Zev before joining with the wardens. She was able to keep up with the group, and not be a burden, except to Alistair. He continuously stopped her from trying to be helpful, and she made it her new goal to learn their ways of setting and breaking down camp so that they would let her help.
After a few days of travel, she determined that Zev and Duran were destined to be friends. It seemed that took to each other in no time, and soon were able to communicate through simple signals and gestures which often left everyone else in the dark.
Cat found herself observing more than anything else, because she truly enjoyed all the talk around her. Duran and Zev's competing, Oghren and Morrigan tormenting Alistair, Even Leliana and Sten's cyclical conversations that never seemed to go anywhere, she enjoyed them all. Every now and then, Zev would pull her into something, but more often than not, she was able to simply revel in being around others without any expectations.
Zev put his hand out, stopping her forward progress. She looked at him in question, and he put his finger to his lips in a sign for quiet. She held still, looking around and listening as hard as she could. Zev took off silently, melting into the shadows of the nearby trees, while Alistair, Sten and Oghren help their weapons out at the ready, their backs to the ranged fighters and Cat.
She heard roars and yells as several men came running at them from the trees, and their warriors responded in kind. Her protection fell away, as they pushed forward to meet those that attacked them. She unsheathed her daggers, though she knew she was not able to use them with much success, but knew that it was better than nothing.
Cat continued to look around, watching for those that may get past Zevran. She caught movement to her left, and without thinking, tackled a man to the ground who was about to back stab Duran. She was straddled on top of him, grappling for the dagger he held trying to avoid being sliced apart when Duran brought a dagger down across his throat. Cat fell over panting heavily, watching as Duran took off.
"Stay down!" he ordered to her before he was out of her sight. She couldn't simply lay there however, so she started crawling over to where Leliana and Morrigan were standing. As she moved, she came across a crossbow and recognized it as Duran's. He must have dropped it in order to use his daggers. She looked up as she heard a scream, and saw Leliana using her bow to fend off and attacker, Morrigan bent over, looking like she was going to be sick. Without consideration, Cat loaded the crossbow, and lifting it up, took aim and fired.
Leliana was startled as suddenly a bolt appeared from the man's eye, and he crumpled to the ground. She turned around in surprise and alarm, to find Cat holding the Warden's crossbow, looking deathly white. She continued to hold it up, though it was empty and Leliana wondered if she had been frozen by the mercenaries' mage until she saw it start to shake.
Cat wasn't sure what was happening, but Leliana was helping her to sit, so she hoped that meant the fighting was over. She looked over as Leliana put the crossbow down, and felt odd as she remembered she had just killed someone. She was upset, though it was because she wasn't upset about killing that man. Shouldn't she be freaking out? But she wasn't, and that was the most upsetting part of all.
She watched as the others looted the bodies, and piled them to be burned. Zev walked over, doing a quick examination, and determined her capable of continuing on. They started walking away, while Morrigan turned and threw a fireball at the pile of corpses.
After a few minutes Cat asked, "Is this something that happens often?" It seemed to break the silence, as the others smiled, or smirked.
"It happens more than I would like," Leliana responded with a wink. "But that is to be expected when there is such a large bounty on the Warden's heads."
"Sure, blame the wardens," Alistair quipped. "All we did was survive after all."
"Cat." Duran's voice was oddly serious amid the playful toned of the others.
"Yes Duran?" she asked.
"You know how to shoot, yet you are carrying around daggers-"
"Ah" Zevran interrupted. "That is my fault Warden. I gave Little Dove the daggers until we could acquire a crossbow." He pulled a face at Cat , "For she cannot use a short or long bow either." Duran looked at her incredulously, and she felt the need to defend herself.
"Well, yes, but back home I didn't need weapons, so I haven't built up the strength to hold the bow back while aiming," she said. This comment had everyone eyeing her.
"So you are some kind of noble lady then," Leliana remarked.
"What? No, I'm not." she replied.
"But, then how are you not needing weapons?" Morrigan asked. "Even farmers or city folk need a weapon, if not for protection, then for hunting."
"Women have no need for weapons or fighting under the Qun," Sten commented, which had everyone turn to look at him, and then back to Cat speculatively.
"No," she said. "I'm not part of the Qunari." She could have sworn Sten looked a little disappointed, but she was probably just seeing things. "Though, my land has something a little similar. We have soldiers who protect our land, who do the fighting for us," she said. "And as for hunting, that's how I learned to shoot a crossbow."
Her answers seemed to appease some, but she saw both Morrigan and Leliana ready to ask more questions when Duran spoke up again.
"Then, we'll have to find you a crossbow then," he said. "I'm not too keen on sharing."
"Yes," she teased. "I've noticed you and your crossbow have a special bond."
"That's putting it mildly," Oghren muttered.
"I can always stop my cover fire if there is a problem," Duran quipped back, and had Oghren commenting about "not being hasty".
"So," Zevran began as he matched pace with Duran. "How much further until we reach our destination?"
Duran paused in thought, "I'd guess another half a day at most before we reach Lake Calanhad."
"Lake Calanhad?" Cat squeaked, having Zevran eye her carefully.
"Yes," Alistair broke in. "We're going to petition the mages in the circle for help."
"Oh?" Zev asked, still unsure of what had been said to upset her so.
"The Arl of Redcliff's son is possessed by a demon," Duran stated frowning. "We need his assistance, and we are not willing to sacrifice a child to meet our own needs."
"I still say this is necessary." Morrigan stated, while Sten nodded along. "The child invited the demon in, and besides that, the mother was willing to sacrifice herself. We could have been finished with this and moving on to the next ally by this time."
It seemed like this was an old argument, and both warden's faces became hard and unyielding. "This is not up for debate Morrigan," Duran stated, his comment signaling the end of conversation.
"Well then," Zevran stated with a smirk. "On to the mages." He watched Cat throughout the conversation, knowing that something was wrong, and determined to discover the source.