4 - A New Future is Begun
When Mari opened her eyes, she sat up and looked around. She found herself not as disappointed as she thought she might be … still in the cave with the Wardens. Andwn was sitting by the warmed stones and smiled when he saw her awaken. The others were in their bedrolls, lightly snoring.
"I take it there aren't any enemies nearby where the snoring would give us away," she said quietly.
Andwn chuckled. "Nay … at least I don't sense any darkspawn nearby. That's one of the benefits of becoming a Grey Warden. You learn to sense the darkspawn. Fewer ambushes that way. They'll awaken quickly enough if we need them." He took out a wrapped piece of meat and a metal disk. He laid the meat on the "pan". Once it was warmed, he said, "This is the deepstalker Makis cooked last night. He taught us how to dress it out by first removing the poison glands. He seems to have taken to you. Really, if anyone would understand starting over it's the Grey Wardens."
"The Grey Wardens do seem like a good match for me, Andwn. Fate may be trying to tell me something. I just want to think about it and learn more about where I am first." Mari took a small bite of the deepstalker and chewed it very slowly. When she swallowed it, she said, "It tastes a bit like snake. You need to be careful of the poison glands with some snakes, too."
"You've eaten snake?" he asked.
She took a deep breath. "The friend I mentioned last night? Phil? From time to time he would take us all out into the woods. None of us took his survivalist message very seriously, but it was always fun. One time, a rather big and very scary snake slithered into camp and we all freaked. Phil calmly took his machete knife and hacked the head off. That was the first time we'd ever eaten snake … even Phil. It wasn't bad. I've had snake, rabbit, deer, boar … all killed and cooked in the woods. Even alligator once, but it was bought from a store." Mari laughed.
Mari caught that Andwn was a bit confused by some of her words, but all he said was, "I'm glad you can speak of your friends more easily," Andwn then got a stricken look on his face. "I hope I haven't said anything to upset you."
Mari shook her head and took another bite. "As I was going to sleep, I wasn't really listening to your conversations about the surface. It was just pleasant not to be alone. I went to sleep rather easily. I surprised myself. I think it's because I unloaded a bit on you guys. Anyway, I decided that I was just going to talk about everything. At least to all of you here right now. Getting sad all the time isn't very productive to learning about my new home." She smiled at the mage. "I'd hate to alienate my new friends … my immediate means of survival … right after I just meet them."
Duncan stirred and rolled over. "You may unload on us as much as you need, Marisia. I could never begin to understand what you're going through, but I can listen." He yawned and sat up. "To be honest, I'm still waiting for you to say that you're joking. However, the more we talk, the more I'm beginning to really believe you. In any case, we should pack up soon and get underway. It will be a push to get out and I'd like to sleep outside the barrier door tonight."
"Uhhhg, outside," Makis moaned. "Not lookin' forward tae that." He opened one eye and looked at Mari. "How'd ye like that deepstalker?"
"I liked it. A little salt and pepper rub would have brought out the flavor a bit, I think." She looked at Duncan. "Do you have spices like salt and pepper here?"
Makis' laugh woke the rest up. "I said the same sodding thing last night. These Wardens … I mean, us Wardens need to buy a bit o' spices tae tuck in our packs."
"Do you cook regularly, Makis?" Mari asked.
"Yeah, I don't know much variety, but I'm the one who had to feed me drunk mother and me noble hunter sister … at least when she hadn't had a fancy dinner somewhere," he explained as he started to roll up his bed.
"Noble hunter?" Mari asked and then quickly added, "If I ask too many questions, saying it's none of my business is an acceptable answer."
"Don't worry, lass. I don't think any of us has any problem saying that, heh," Makis said. "Anyways, dwarves live in castes … you got those where ya come from?"
"Some areas do. The country I come from says it doesn't, but many who lived there had biases essentially the same." Mari shrugged. "It was called America and we were an experiment in a democratic form of government. People held the power with their vote. I won't bore you guys with details, but America was going through a crisis of conscience, I think. The bomb sorta ended all that, I guess." With a sigh, she added, "I really don't think America's problems had anything to do with the bomb, but I couldn't stick around to find out."
"Sounds like you had no choice but to leave," Anton said. He handed her a sheaf of parchments. "This is how our written word looks. We seem to communicate okay verbally with you, so our spoken language isn't going to be a problem. But, if you write stories, you'll need to learn our written language, too. Most everyone in Thedas speaks a common tongue when not at home. The one I'm speaking now. You'll hear a number of accents."
The parchment was nothing more than a sheet full of hieroglyphic-style pictures and some letters. Mari knew this was going to take a lot of work, but it sounded like she'd have a lot of time to do it.
Duncan smiled as he pulled his backpack on. "Good idea, Anton." He looked at Mari. "Anton is our historian. He also does pretty good mapping and draws excellent maps used all over Thedas. We rarely get lost."
After noticing the confused look on Mari's face after looking at the parchments, Anton laughed. "We can work on it tonight once we're out of here," he said.
Mari rolled it up, stashed it in her backpack and got ready to leave with them. She would just have to relearn to write in a new language. After all, her friend Angie went blind only a year earlier and had to relearn so much, including how to read Braille, just from raised dots on a page. This wasn't going to be nearly that difficult. Tears came to her eyes again, wondering if Angie made it. Was Angie's family still there to help her? They were always so close. Mari felt a cloth pressed into her hand and looked around to see Makis give her a sad smile.
"It ain't the cleanest, but keep it," Makis said.
She smiled and nodded. "Thanks. I was just thinking about a friend of mine from before. She went blind and had to learn a language for the blind called Braille. It's has raised dots that a blind person can feel, so they can still read things. I hope she made it."
"Perhaps she did," Duncan said as he closed his backpack and put it on.
"Sounds like a clever system for a blind person to be able to read again," Anton said. He smiled and added, "Maybe you can convince someone here to come up with something similar someday. I don't think that would destroy Thedas."
Duncan also smiled. "Princess Anora of Ferelden is trying to put together a university in Denerim. Perhaps you could speak with someone there, Marisia." He took a deep breath. "But, first, we need to get out of here."
As they traveled on, the lava streams got narrower and finally disappeared. The Deep Roads were still beautiful by torchlight and magic light, though. The dwarves must have interspersed reflective metal bits in the stone tiling of the walls.
They stopped for a bit of ration lunch. Mari pulled out a fiber bar and munched on it. Her Earth bar looked pretty much like the ones the Wardens were eating, but the crinkly wrapper got their attention. She smiled. "It's called plastic. The invention of plastic went a long way in food preservation. It keeps out air so food doesn't spoil as quickly." She pulled out one of her MREs. "For example, this is beef stew. Open it up. Put it in a pot and warm it up." She decided not to explain how microwaves worked. Mainly because she had no idea how they worked. "It's not bad, actually. And, because of plastic and special preservation techniques, it'll last on a pantry shelf. It can last for 5-10 years as long as you don't let it get too hot." She put it away and started nibbling on her fiber bar. "The downside to plastic is the destruction of the oceans of Earth. Dump it in the sea and it piles up forever."
"Lovely," Andwn said.
Mari opened her mouth to agree when Duncan stood and pulled his daggers. "Darkspawn coming this way," he said quietly. "Four … no, five. Maker. There are two emissaries, three genlock alphas."
Dugan registered his opinion. "Sodding bad luck for us." That clued Mari this was going to be a bad fight. She'd come too far to freeze up in fear now, though.
As everyone was getting ready for a battle, Duncan turned to Mari. "Stay back with Andwn. If one of them heads your way, use your bow. Andwn will likely be busy with healing or a spell incantation."
Mari nodded. She picked up her bow and slipped her quiver onto her belt where she could reach and ready an arrow quickly. The passageway was narrow and the dim light made it difficult to aim. The three genlocks had the same strategy and were protecting their emissaries, which Mari soon learned were powerful darkspawn mages.
The genlock alphas were as tall as they were wide with huge shields in front of them. Mari couldn't see much of them, but she had one thought just by what she could see, Ugly misshapen creatures. These emissaries were tall and thin … nearly emaciated thin — skeletons with skin. They wore robes with bits of armor here and there. They had a helmet that looked more like something a church official might wear. Their faces … if that's what you could call them … also had a strip of metal over the eyes and upper nose, like a mask with eye holes.
Andwn put a magic shield over Mari. "You can shoot through, but it doesn't last forever." Magic. Wow. Handy.
The fight was intense and bloody. The Grey Wardens were incredible! Mari's perception of the battlefield just kept narrowing. She kept hitting her hand with the bow to snap out of her inattention, but it was all so awful. She'd written about a bunch of battles. She'd never been in one.
After continuous healing spells on the Wardens on the front line, Andwn put a damaging force field of some kind around two of the genlocks and the Wardens downed them pretty fast. Only one alpha left. When an opening came up, some of the Wardens slipped around and took on one of the emissaries while the others downed the alpha.
That's when Andwn turned the other emissary into a popsicle. The exhausted Warden mage bent forward, breathing heavily, with his hands on his knees. "That's all I got, Mari. Try to shoot the frozen emissary and take some heat off the others." When Mari didn't move — yeah, she froze — Andwn grabbed her wrist. "Kill the frozen emissary, Mari. I have no way to do it and the others are busy."
"Right," she whispered. "Sorry." She moved closer to the edge of the tunnel and found a clear shot. She aimed for one of the emissary's mask eyeholes, took a deep steadying breath, held it and fired. The arrow went right into the emissary's eye and the creature fell to the ground just as the Wardens finished off the other emissary.
Andwn grinned up at Mari. He laughed as he said, "Now, Duncan's gonna want to conscript you for certain."
Mari laughed nervously. "It was frozen, Andwn, thanks to you. Just target practice. Not too much of a challenge. By the way, thanks for snapping me out of my daze."
"Your first fight?" Andwn asked quietly. Mari only nodded.
Everyone laughed as they gathered back to pick up their gear. "No, Andwn, I won't conscript her … not just yet. However, it is good to know you can defend yourself from a distance," Duncan said.
Mari stuffed the trash in her backpack and replied, "We can burn all this trash later. It does burn, but we'll have to stay upwind from the smoke. Not good to breathe smoke from burning plastic." She turned to Duncan. "Yeah, well, I know absolutely nothing about fighting with a sword." She noticed both Dugan and Makis drawing a metal test tube of darkspawn blood and Andwn casting some kind of spell on the tubes. She decided to file that away for some other time.
Dugan chuckled. "I can fix that. While Anton's teaching you how to read, I can get you working on a bit of sword defense. It'll be good to be thinking about something other than death by darkspawn."
"Me and Duncan can train ya with daggers. Ya might like those better," Makis offered. He added behind his hand, "Ye don't hafta look 'em in the eye that way."
Mari gingerly stepped up to the dead emissary and pulled out her arrow. A dark red, almost black blood oozed off the tip. She just carried it until Duncan took it and wiped it off. "Arrows don't last long with darkspawn blood on them. We'll work with you with blades, but for now I don't want you to fight up close if at all possible." He looked at the arrow. "This is an unusual arrow," he said as he handed it back.
"Right. More stuff to hide, I guess," she smiled at Duncan. "It's a carbon-fiber arrow. I'll need to replace those with wooden arrows, I guess." She thanked him and slipped the arrow through a strap outside the quiver. "I'll let it dry a bit. Is that blood poisonous?"
"Yes, very," Duncan explained. "If you're lucky, you die. The poison will eventually turn you into a ghoul."
"There's an even worse option, Mari," Dugan said. "Sometimes the darkspawn drag you off somewhere. No one knows why." He looked around. "Promise me you'll kill me before that happens." All the Wardens agreed and asked the same.
"Me, too," Mari said quietly. She tightened her grip on her bow and fear increased with every distant screech and boom. Suddenly, her interest in the ruined tunnels was replaced with an urgency to get the hell out of the place.
Duncan just kept a worried look on Mari. "We will do the best we can to protect you until you find a new home, Mari." Then, he chuckled, "Especially if you can keep killing emissaries for us. But, eventually, you will need to find another home if you decide against joining us."
Mari just kept walking, sparing a smile. "Thanks."
Fortunately, no other ambushes happened and they reached a large, intricately etched round door. It looked to be made of brass or something like brass … and it was beautiful. Etchings of what was probably dwarf battles of old filled any blank space. Mari saw no visible means of opening it. Duncan pulled out a piece of metal cut into a star shape and inserted it into what appeared to be random holes and creases, until Mari recognized a pattern. Everyone heard a series of whirrs and clicks on the other side. Then, Duncan repeated the procedure, only backwards. More whirrs and clicks. This time, when he removed the "key" from the last location, there was a loud clunk, like a bar had been moved out and a pop of air as the door swung open.
Everyone quickly moved through the opening and Duncan closed the door. This time, he got out a large round metal … hockey puck, is what it looked like. He ran it around the right edge of the door, then the left edge and then put it in the middle and turned it to the right like a knob. Must have been magnetic? A long series of whirrs and clicks was followed by a clunk … like a bar had been moved back into a locked position.
"Well, that looked complicated," Mari said.
"Yeah, those are made by cooperative effort of the Smith and Artisan Castes in Orzammar," Dugan explained. "We tried to put the barrier doors up to close off the darkspawn. I believe the previous Warden-Commander Polara asked us to put this one in to keep 'em out of Ferelden."
"We? Us?" Makis asked with an eyebrow raised. "Sounds to me like they wouldn't like ya sayin' 'we' or 'us'."
Dugan frowned and kept quiet. Duncan turned to Mari. "The locking mechanism is complicated. Most don't understand that darkspawn aren't stupid. Some of them, like the magic-wielding emissaries, are quite intelligent. Hence, the necessity of complexity."
"I'll sleep better tonight, knowing that," Mari said with a smile. Then, she noticed sunlight a short distance down the rough-hewn tunnel and started running toward it. "Outside!"
She heard the others chuckle. As she got to the cave entrance, she took a deep breath and looked around. As he was walking up, she heard Duncan say to the others, "We can set up our camp for the night just inside the entrance. The dwarves can slowly become accustomed to the light and air …." When a distant thunderclap was heard, he added, "… and weather of the surface."
Mari felt her eyes widen as she looked out. The cave entrance was on the side of a mountain. No bombed out wasteland. There was a series of switchback trails going down that didn't look very well maintained. Tomorrow would bring a very difficult journey just to get to a lower elevation. But, she couldn't see too much more in the dusklight. The sun had already set … from the looks of it … behind them. Meaning there was a light source here. Tall evergreen trees lined the trails and snow covered most of the ground not protected by the thick branches of the trees, meaning the trails were covered with snow.
It could have been any mountain cave on Earth.
Duncan walked up next to Mari. "The descent looks more difficult than it is. We can skirt next to the treeline most of the way down and use ropes for safety in the places where we cannot."
She leaned against the side of cave entrance. She laughed. "I thought the sky would be green or orange or something. No forest trees. Desert maybe? Purple sand? It looks like Earth … the name of the world I come from."
"Disappointed?" Duncan replied with a smile.
"Maybe someone did leave that portal on Earth, knowing our two worlds would be similar," she said quietly. "I wonder if the people from here put up that portal on Earth as a place to escape to in an emergency. Just from the little I've heard you guys talk about it, an unchecked Blight is a nasty emergency. Instead, I used it to escape to Thedas." She turned to Duncan. "I had a flash of a memory as I was going to sleep. I don't know if I was asleep or not. A bald elf leaned over me and said, 'Not what I expected'. I thought someone might have followed me through the Eluvian, but it couldn't have been the elf. We don't have elves on Earth except in stories. Is there magic that can enter a sleeping mind and speak to you?"
Andwn overheard her. "There are stories of ancient Tevinter mages who could dreamwalk, but no one has ever told me it's true. If it is true, it sounds like the elf wasn't going to bother you anyway. But, please tell us if he returns."
"Yes, if it happens again, let us know and we can point you to someone who might be able to tell you how to block the elf," Duncan said. Andwn looked dubious, but didn't say anything.
Mari nodded. "I will." Then, she looked back outside. The two moons rising in the dusky sky caught her attention. "Now, that's different. Earth only had one moon."
"We call them Satina … and, the other is simply the Moon. Don't know why one of them doesn't have a name. They don't always rise at the same time. Perhaps it bodes well on your arrival, Mari," Duncan said.
"Let's hope so. Curious, on Earth, we also called our moon, the Moon," she replied. Just then an icy wind blew into the cave entrance. Mari rubbed her arms and said, "Don't know if I have a warm enough coat, though."
"I have an extra cloak you can borrow until we can get you something better," Andwn said. He added with a chuckle. "It'll also serve to cover up some of that unusual clothing you have. Fewer questions that way."
The evening was pleasant. Mari and Makis warmed up and shared a couple of Mari's MREs with the group. Everyone declared it a feast. Duncan suggested they use up the other MREs during time on the road to avoid any uncomfortable questions for Mari.
Dugan and Makis slowly walked up to the entrance and looked out. "Stone's Balls, look at all that …," Makis said as he waved upward.
"It's called the sky, Makis," Dugan explained.
"And, how do ye know so much?" Makis asked.
"The second in line for the throne of Orzammar needed to know things." He sighed.
Mari turned to Duncan and mouthed the word, "Throne?!"
He mouthed the word, "Later."
Mari yawned and went to unroll her bedroll. "I think I'll sleep well tonight. Do you need me for a watch or anything?"
Duncan thought a moment and said, "We should all get a good night's sleep with shorter watch times, so I will awaken you for the last watch, Mari."
She nodded and lay down … and was quickly sleeping. No dreams. Solid sleep. She slowly opened her eyes when she felt a hand on her shoulder. It was Duncan and it was still dark outside. "Just keep watch at the cave entrance," he whispered. "Wake us if you see anyone coming up the path."
Mari nodded, dug out her fleece jacket and wrapped herself in Andwn's spare cloak. Then, she went to stand by the entrance. It had snowed more while she slept — nice and warm next to the warmed stones in the cave. No dreams of a bald elf. Not what I expected, he had said. It brought a smile to Mari's face to recall one of her favorite movies, The Last Starfighter. A young man named Alex Rogan, from a trailer park, broke the record on an arcade game and got an invitation from an alien named Centauri to join the Starfighters League. He was a recruiter of sorts and the arcade game was a test. At first, none of the people on the Starfighter base thought Alex was what they expected, either. Alex got spirited off Earth, too. All Mari did was get away from her world destroying itself … but she wasn't what the elf expected. What did he expect? She didn't know if she should be happy about that or insulted.
After about an hour or so, the sun started to rise, which pretty much confirmed this was a planet and not another weird place without a light source that she first encountered. She wondered if the sunrise was east here. She heard people moving around in the cave and Dugan walked up next to her.
"Probably wondering about that throne thing, huh," he said quietly. She noticed that his speech was more refined than Makis' … more like a Prince might speak.
"Your story to tell if you want to, Dugan." Mari nodded her thanks at one of their ration bars as he handed it up to her. It was delicious! Crunchy from seeds and toasted grains … chewy from dried fruit … and no plastic.
Dugan looked outside. "Sunrise. Peaceful. At least, there's none of that lightning and thunder this morning." Then, he sighed. "My father is the King of Orzammar, one of the two thaigs … eh, cities of the dwarven people still left. He had three sons: Trian was the eldest, me in the middle and Bhelen, the youngest. Now, he only has one treacherous, back-stabbing bastard of a son. I thought it was always me and Bhelen against Trian. If I believe what one of Father's friends told me, Bhelen was no cohort or friend. Long story short, Trian was killed and someone arranged it to look like I killed him. Lord Harrowmont told me it was Bhelen. Before I could check that out, they exiled me to the Deep Roads to die and even exiled Gorim, my Second, to the surface. Anyway, they gave me this nicked-up sword and bent shield … along with no armor to make sure I didn't survive. What I've got, I picked up before I ran into Duncan and the others."
"Harsh," Mari said quietly. "And, stupid. Experience is the only commodity around that's worth a damn. They just lost all the experiences of two well-educated dwarves."
Makis walked up laughing. "Well, the way I see it, they just sent the only worthwhile dwarf to the Deep Roads. Trian weren't no prize. Like I said, dwarves live by castes. Dugan, here, is … was … top o' the heap and I was under the pile. Not even recognized as existin'."
"Until you soundly beat the Warrior Caste in that Proving." Dugan slapped his knee and laughed. When he calmed down, he added, "Eh, this may sound coarse, but dwarves are going to die out if they keep sending the breeders away. Experience is one thing … and you're right, Mari … but keeping up the race is another."
"One thing on Bhelen then, he's gonna have a young'un. Me sister Rica's pregnant, Dugan, and she thinks that he really loves her. He'll do better by the Casteless than your father … that is, if he survives long enough to take over from your father." He looked at Mari. "Like I said, Rica's one of them noble hunters I was talkin' about. The way the caste system works, the babe becomes the caste of the same sex parent. So, if she has a boy, he'll be a noble in line for the sodding throne! Hah!"
Mari rubbed her temples. "You guys are giving me a headache. That's so complicated." She sighed. "But, racial or caste issues can be touchy on any world, I guess." She smiled and headed back inside. "Better get ready to snowboard down the mountain."
Anton looked up from his backpack where he was untying a coil of rope. "Snowboard?"
"It's an official sport, pastime … heck, career on Earth. You slide down a slope covered with snow while balancing on a special board." She rolled up her bedroll. "They even build courses you can slide down. You go up curves, turn around and slide over to the next side, go up, and so on."
"We gonna see ya do that?" Makis asked as he put his ration pack away.
"Nope … well, I hope not. Sliding is not something I can do with any organized ability." She laughed.
Duncan walked up with his pack. "Yes, no sliding today, please," he said with a smile.
Mari looked at Andwn. "There was a famous story where I come from where elves could walk on top of the snow. Can you do that?"
Andwn looked at her in horror. "Maker's Breath, no! I hate snow. I spent most of my life in a Circle of Magi tower."
"You never had snow around your tower?" Mari asked.
"No, Mari, we never got out." He slipped on his backpack.
"Damn," was all she said as she hefted her backpack. "That's whacked." Then, she looked back at Andwn. "Is 'Maker's Breath' some kind of expletive like 'damn'?"
"The Maker is the maker of the world to the humans," Dugan explained. "The dwarves don't really worship a deity. We venerate The Stone as where dwarves go home to when they die, where we come from in the beginning. The Chantry is the strict church that's established themselves to take control of human's morality. People use all kinds of phrases. Maker's Breath. Maker's Balls. Stuff like that. There was a prophetess called Andraste. The Chantry made her the Bride of the Maker." He chuckled. "Some of her phrases are pretty nasty."
As they walked out of the cave, Mari was shaking her head. "Our gods went by a number of names. There were a bunch of religions with their own prophets. Religion was also one of those touchy topics. Maker's Breath seems harmless enough in a pinch. I should remember that one."
"Just don't say it in front of a Chantry Mother," Duncan said.
"The Chantry is led by women?" Mari asked.
"In every place but Tevinter, The Divine and leaders of the Chantry are women," Duncan explained. "I take it that men are spiritual leaders on Earth?"
"For the most part … so, tell me, do women do a better job?" Mari asked. From the guffaws of everyone, Mari smiled and answered her own question. "I guess not. Damn it. I really thought women would be better. Do elves worship the Maker?" she asked Andwn.
"Well, some do … that's a long involved story that perhaps is best left for the man in Highever that Duncan mentioned. To briefly answer your question, though, there are Dalish elves who are nomadic. They have a pantheon of gods called the Creators." He shrugged. "I don't really worship the Maker either, but a lot of elves in the cities do."
Mari picked up from the others moving out that it was time to end her twenty questions game for a bit and just get down the trail. It really turned out to be kind of fun. Rather than the long back and forth of the switchbacks, Anton wrapped a long rope around a tree, held onto each of the two ends of the rope that were tied into loops — one in each hand — and made it a rather easy rappel descent down a slope — not too vertical — to the next part of the trail below. Next person, pulled up the rope and repeated. It took arguably the same amount of time, but with a lot fewer opportunities to slip and fall over an edge without a rope.
Lunch was a quick ration bar with promise of a good hearty meal at the end. They were heading to the small village of Climber's Span, just below Gherlen's Pass. Duncan had stabled the horses there, knowing they would be exiting the Deep Roads at that barrier door.
"Snowdrift Tavern and Inn is very large," Duncan explained. "They usually have extra rooms available." He looked at us. "I think three rooms should do."
"I'm okay with sharing, Duncan," Mari said.
"Good to know, Mari," he replied. "Especially with the weather and the season, they may be full." Then, he looked at Dugan and Makis. "You gentlemen seem to be adapting to the surface quickly enough."
"Thanks to Anton's game of rope slide, it made the trip bearable," Dugan looked around.
"Yeah, those hide-bound tradition dwarves dona know what they're missing," Makis added.
"Maybe Ronus Dace's idea of creating a Surface Caste wasn't such a bad one, after all," Dugan said quietly.
"Hah! Ya wouldn't be able tae keep dwarves underground that way, Dugan, and you know it. Stone's almighty tradition would fly away to see all this. Breathe this air. See these sights."
"Freeze off their noses," Andwn said as he pulled his scarf higher on his face. It made Mari feel a bit guilty at borrowing his extra cloak.
Duncan laughed. "We'd best hurry before Andwn turns into an icicle."
"Hey, Mari, how about we share a room and I can start to work with you on the written language?" Anton asked.
"That would be great!" Mari said.
"Let's see what our options are first," Duncan said as they made their way down the cleared road to Climber's Span. The village was full of revelers. Duncan explained that the holiday of Satinalia was a month away, which sounded like Christmas on Earth. Decorations were going up. People were singing songs … none of them sounded remotely like Christmas carols. They were more like bawdy tavern songs just short of blasphemy, or as much as she understood what was blasphemous here.
Gifts were being planned and purchased or made. And, it was freakin' cold! Too bad Duncan decided to eat up the MREs during the trip. They would last forever here! She had made the mistake once of going with a group to Maine for Christmas. She never made that mistake again. Her mid-temperature range blood just couldn't handle extended periods of freezing temperatures and wet, icy winds. DC got cold, but not that cold for that long! For that matter, she couldn't handle hot, either. Argh, same for my one visit to Las Vegas in summer, she thought to herself.
On the way to the inn, Andwn bought Mari a new thick, hooded leather cloak that fell almost all the way to the ground and a nice warm knitted scarf. "Bounty payment for killing the emissary," he said. Once he got his second cloak back, he didn't put it away. He put it on over his other one.
Mari had to blink away tears of gratitude for fear they would freeze to her eyelashes. It was a beautiful reddish-brown leather cloak with fur around the edge of the hood and some extra fur lining the inside chest and back. That fur really made a difference against the cold winds! Fur here was a necessity not a fashion statement or a hunting trophy. She whispered the brief prayer that her father taught her to thank the animal who gave its life to keep her warm. Rope went through a casing around the neck. One end was tied into a large intricate knot which snugly slipped into a loop on the other side. There was a second loop of rope on one side and a knot on the other side to keep the chest part of the cloak closed. They knew how to keep out the cold here! Mari would just have to suck it up and adjust … to find a way to exist here and thrive.
They headed into the inn while Duncan checked on the horses. When Mari explained that she'd never ridden a horse in her life, Duncan just smiled and said, "Then, I'll arrange for a wagon and mule for you and our dwarf recruits. Anton can take the reins of the wagon and you can continue your lessons. I think those lessons might benefit Dugan and Makis, as well. Learning to ride in this weather isn't a good idea." That took a load off Mari's mind … and her backside, no doubt!
Sure enough Snowdrift's was packed. "Eh, we might have to sleep on our bedrolls in the common room with this crowd," Anton said.
But, Mari just couldn't wipe the smile off her face. Even the thought of another night in a bedroll couldn't cause the smile to falter. It was so pleasant in the tavern part of the inn! People were smiling and laughing and singing … and drinking, of course. It was HAPPY on full volume! This would be a memory she would hold on to for those times when her thoughts went down a dark path.
Duncan soon followed them inside and the bartender called out, "Duncan!" Many others in the tavern room turned toward the door and yelled out, "Duncan!" But, they were all pretty "happy drunk" by then, so Mari didn't grant too much celebrity to the Ferelden Warden-Commander for the show. The bartender held up a couple of keys. "Come see me, Wardens!"
Andwn was staring at Mari's grin. "You're loving this, aren't you?" At her happy nod and silly grin, he just shook his head and said, "The first time I was here and they all shouted Duncan's name, I didn't know what it meant and got ready for a fight."
Dugan chuckled. "I'd've loved to see that, Andwn."
"Me, too. Hah!" Makis added.
Anton only sighed. "It makes me miss Andina and the girls." When Mari cocked her head with an implied question, he explained, "I'm married. The only married Warden in Ferelden, I think. I got blightsick on an expedition into the Deep Roads with a dwarf in Kirkwall. I was a guard for them. Those Merchant Guild dwarves go on those things all the time. Anyway, me and my family bounced around for a while because other Wardens got annoyed that they let me stay married. We're supposed to give up family and titles."
"But, Anton is invaluable, so he was inevitably moved to another posting rather than forcing the issue," Duncan added as he walked back up to them with keys in his hand.
"Then, Ferelden let Wardens back in, so Commander Polara accepted me and my family." Anton grinned. "Andi cooks in the Denerim Compound and my daughters are now running a market stall for baked goods, for the benefit the Grey Wardens. Ferelden was the only group of Wardens to accept my family this much."
"Denerim?" Mari asked.
"The capital city of Ferelden," Duncan explained. "Anton's situation has worked out well here in Ferelden, but First Warden Franc has warned me that he sees it as a problem and it has to change. Franc is nearing his Calling, so I am choosing to ignore his thoughts at this time."
Anton shrugged. "I'm not far from my own Calling … so I'm not too worried."
"Calling?" Mari asked.
"It is the end of a Grey Warden's life," Duncan explained. "More than that I may share at some later date."
"I see." Mari frowned. "Anyway, I can see the need for dedication with what you've all told me so far, but it also seems unnecessary for families to be split for it … as long as the spouses don't mind the time away for the Warden, I suppose."
Duncan handed a key to Andwn. "I would venture to say more Wardens become estranged due to that issue, specifically, Mari. However, Andi is a very special woman. She is as much a part of our Warden family as the Wardens themselves." He put his hand on Anton's shoulder. "And, they will always have a welcome home here. Always. My Second, Leciah, feels the same way."
"Thanks, Duncan," Anton said quietly.
"Now, Andwn, that key is for the room to the right of the stairs at the top. Dugan and Makis, please settle in that room with Andwn. Anton, Mari and I will share the other room, to the left of the stairs at the top." He held up a hand to stop a complaint coming from both Andwn and Anton. "Yes, I know. They're the noisiest rooms in the place, but they are ours, saved by Lucius for us tonight. So, please be grateful." He grinned. "He's promised an extra pillow for each of us to put over our heads if we need it." He turned to Mari. "The Grey Wardens are well-treated here. It is not the same everywhere, as you'll likely witness from time to time if you continue to travel with us."
Mari just nodded, wanting to think a bit about what Duncan had said. "I don't think I'll need that extra pillow, Duncan. I'm beat," Mari said. "But, I was hoping for a bath, to be honest." Mari chastised herself that she really needed to stop thinking that this was Earth … with all those wonderful bathing facilities. She recalled that she'd probably mentioned a bath every night so far and wanted to sound more grateful and less needy.
Duncan just smiled. "Let's eat some of that stew I smell," he said as he noticed a group of folks moving to another table so the Wardens could sit down. He smiled at Lucius. "A round on me for these fine and courteous patrons, Lucius!" That caused applause all around as the Wardens sat to stuff themselves with stew and ale … both, of which, Mari thought were the best she'd ever had. Decidedly better than the MREs. After the food was devoured, Duncan handed Mari their key and told her that a surprise awaited her in the room. So, the men stayed downstairs for a bit longer while Mari went up to their room. She smiled at a young man leaving the room with two empty buckets.
"Duncan ordered a bath for you, Warden. I just set it up for you. Have one of the guys let me know when to refresh it for them if they want one, too." He noticed Andwn trudging up the stairs as well. "Your bath is ready for you, too, Warden."
Mari smiled. Just like a tavern and inn might be in one of her stories.
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AN: Next time, Mari gets introduced to nobility … and royalty.