Chapter 2

Duncan looked down at the scantily clad woman he'd almost tripped over. Her skin was pale against the dark brown hair fanned out around her. Bending down, he scooped her into his arms, wondering about her strange clothing. The material felt soft to the touch; certainly unlike anything they had in Ferelden. He ignored the strange looks thrown his way as he carried the woman into his tent and laid her on the bedroll. He gave her a perfunctory check, but, unable to find any wounds, all he could do was confirm that her pulse felt fairly strong.

He walked outside the tent and spotted an elven servant nearby. "Can you see if there is a healer available?" The servant nodded and made her way to the Mage enclave, returning a few minutes later with a grey-haired woman. She stepped forward, a friendly smile gracing her face. "I'm Wynne, I understand you have need of a healer?"
Duncan tilted his head towards the unconscious woman. "I found her while wandering the battlements near the entrance."
Wynne knelt and examined the stranger. "She has rather...unusual clothing."
Duncan cleared his throat. "I noticed that myself."
Wynne chuckled. "I'm sure you did. Perhaps while I examine her, you could find her something more suitable to wear."

Duncan realised the statement wasn't framed as a question; he was being kicked out of his tent. "Fine, I'll see what the Quartermaster has available." He walked out into the organised chaos that currently reigned at Ostagar. After purchasing some leather leggings and a tunic, he turned back to his tent but stopped when he saw Alistair and the new recruit.

"Aedan, I'm glad to see you found Alistair."
The dark-haired Cousland smiled. "Yeah, I'm ready when you are, Duncan."
"Good, that's what I like to hear."
He turned to Alistair. "Gather the rest of the recruits, and I'll meet you by the fire shortly. I just need to take care of something."
Alistair's gaze dropped to the bundle of clothing in Duncan's hands and grinned. "They look a little small for you."
Duncan sighed; Alistair was ever the joker. "They're obviously for someone else."
Aedan raised an eyebrow. "Found yourself another recruit?"
Duncan considered the question; another Grey Warden couldn't hurt, but his decision would be dependent on the woman's circumstances, and also whether she could fight. He realised Aedan was waiting for an answer. "I'm not sure yet."

xx-xx

Emma awoke to a tingling sensation flowing over her body. It felt strange, like a mild version of pins and needles. Or like the after-effects of an electric shock! That memory jolted her fully from her sleep. As her eyes flickered open, she found, to her annoyance, that her vision was blurred; even so, she could make out the shape of someone next to her. Ah, shit, had someone called the paramedics? She really regretted not tidying up a bit more now.

"How are you feeling?"
Emma blinked, trying to clear the fogginess in her brain, as she tried to pinpoint where she'd heard that voice before; it sounded so familiar.
"How's she doing?" A deep male voice spoke this time, and again, Emma knew it, but couldn't quite grasp who it belonged to.
"She's waking up but I think she's having some difficulty focusing."

Emma lifted her arm, grimacing at a slight pain, then rubbed her eyes. A few more blinks and finally her vision cleared up. She stared at the woman by her side, blinked, and then stared some more. What the hell had the paramedics given her? This had to be a hallucination; there was no way Wynne was here! A man with black hair and a neat beard stepped into her line of sight. Well, it was official, she'd lost her mind because unless she was much mistaken that was... "Duncan?"

The man's dark brows pulled together. "Yes, do I know you?"
Bollocks! "Ah, well, I'd heard about the army amassing in the Korcari Wilds and that the Grey Wardens would be present."
"And?" Duncan encouraged her to continue her explanation.
Where the hell was the dialogue wheel when you needed it? "And... I've come to join the Grey Wardens!" As soon as the words left her mouth she wanted to kick her own ass. Improvisation was definitely not her strong point.
"We don't just take on anyone. Can you fight?" Duncan cut an imposing figure as he crossed his arms, waiting for an answer.

Emma swallowed nervously, what could she say? I fight my way on and off a bus five days a week! Yeah, that wasn't going to cut it. Still, this was good, maybe now she wouldn't have to join the Grey Wardens. Perhaps she could just cook for them or something.
"There is no need to hide it, child." Emma turned towards Wynne and noticed that the elderly mage was smiling kindly at her.
"I'm 29 years old, hardly a chi-." Then Wynne's words sunk in. "Wait! Hide what?" Emma looked down to see if she could get a clue as to what she was hiding, then cringed when she saw the Team Alistair t-shirt and boy shorts. Oh crap! If this dream continued Alistair would see the t-shirt! This was officially the most embarrassing day of her life.

Then Wynne answered her question, and she forgot all about the t-shirt. "Duncan won't care that you're an apostate."

Emma started to laugh. It was either that or pass out. Laughing seemed to be the better option. "You're joking, right?" she managed to gasp out in between paroxysms of giggling. "Magic?! I can't even do a bloody card trick!"
Through the mist of tears, brought on by the now, slightly hysterical giggling, she saw Wynne and Duncan exchange worried glances. Okay, she needed to calm down as she had no idea what they did to slightly unstable people in Thedas.

Duncan spoke kindly, "You have nothing to be concerned about. I'm not about to hand you over to the Templars, especially now, when we're so short of mages."
Emma's breath hitched as she tried to rein in the hysteria. This had to be the freakiest dream she'd ever had, and it was so lucid too. However, this was a dream so she might as well play along. If nothing else, she'd get to meet Alistair; something she'd always wanted to dream about, though to be fair she'd always hoped he would be naked and doing naughty things to her.

"Sorry, I'm still feeling a bit groggy." She scrubbed a hand through her hair as she tried to gather her thoughts.
Duncan nodded. "Which brings me to my next question: what happened to you?"
Maker's breath! What was with all the questions? Emma remembered Duncan doing a lot of telling, but not so much questioning. Well, at least this one was easy to answer. "I got mugged, everything was stolen." See! How easy was that?

"This happened here in camp?!" Duncan's expression darkened. "Did you manage to see their faces?"
Right... easy. "Ah, no it didn't happen in camp. I managed to make it here before I blacked out."
His shoulders relaxed, and then he looked down at his hands. "Oh, I nearly forgot, these are for you."
Emma took the leather garments, thankful that she wouldn't meet Alistair in her t-shirt. She looked pointedly at Duncan and Wynne. "Can I get some privacy?"
"Of course. By the way, what do I call you?"
"Emma Summers."
"Very well, Emma, after you've dressed, meet me at the bonfire."

She nodded, glad to hear him sounding more like the Duncan from the game. Following on from that thought was the fact that after the discussion at the fire, there would be a trip into the Korcari Wilds. Holy shit! She would actually get to see darkspawn. Emma didn't know whether to feel scared or excited, so she settled for a mix of the two.