They travelled the rest of the way together, Alistair was stuck to Sunny's side and wouldn't even acknowledge Zevran, which made the latter laugh and the former frown. Redcliffe was just over the brow of the hill and Sunny was almost thankful she had travelled half the way on her own. The constant bickering was almost unbearable, mostly between Alistair and another member of the group. She couldn't believe they had made it this far, did she argue this much with Loghain or Maric on their travels through Ferelden? Sunny was sure she hadn't, not even with Katriel. An uneasy feeling settled in her stomach the closer they drew to Redcliffe, this could not be a good omen. Night was drawing in and the distinct stench of rotting flesh hit her, Sunny turned to Elissa
"Do you smell that?" Elissa nodded. Upon reaching the brow of the hill and looking down into the village of Redcliffe, there was nothing, the streets were not full of people, well not live ones anyway, Sunny pointed out that there was a lot of moving outside the chantry.
With that a young man met them on the bridge, he was asking the wardens for help, as they stopped to talk to them Sunny carried on into the village on her own, Alistair shouting after her. The young man Tomas told them he would take them to the chantry to see Bann Teagan. Sunny looked at every house, every store, even the taverns were empty. The streets were lined with the dead and decaying, but these were long dead. So someone was raising the dead and that could be a blood mage or a demon. She was more inclined to think it was a blood mages doing but she couldn't feel one near. Closing her eyes she summoned up her magic, pulsing it out and waiting for the movements in the pulses. She could feel Alistair coming closer, his templar training made a hole in the field she was pulsing. She could also feel Wynne, her mages body happily accepting the pulse of magic taking from it and absorbing it. And she could feel the bodies of many others that were not magically inclined or templar trained, their bodies let it settle around them, but she felt no blood mage, their body's became greedy pulling in a lot of the magic air Sunny pulsed leaving essentially a very dark spot where they stood.
"Can- is anyone else's skin tingling?" Alistair questioned the group as they caught up to Sunny who had just opened her eyes to smile at him, and his breath caught in his throat. Her eyes were shining unbelievably, like she was happy and excited all at once. But taking in their surroundings he couldn't fathom why, unless she was excited for the eventual fight for their lives, which seemed to happen wherever they went if he thought about it.
"Just you Alistair." Sunny smiled as she started walking toward the chantry with the group in tow.
"Just- just me." He looked worried, catching Sunny's arm to get her to look at him. "Why just me? How do you know?"
"You're a templar, yes?" Sunny sighed. "That's why." He still looked at her confused and Elissa laughed as Sunny's cheeks puffed up with an exasperated breath, only because of the short time they spent with the elf she seemed to frown more than anything so she was either coming out of her shell, or she had spent too much time with Alistair. "I'm sorry Alistair, I forget that you didn't grow up with me around, Maric and Cailan - sigh - I was sensing, probing um surveying the area." She changed the verb until understanding dawned on Alistair's face, "I put out, I don't really know how to explain in words that don't have more than 3 syllables" Sunny smiled as a raucous laughter left Morrigan's lips, which only made Alistair frown and tell Sunny to forget it as he moved to stomp off. Sunny's hand on his and the warm smile on her so often frowning lips stopped him. "I don't mean to offend, it's just I haven't had to explain for a long time. We will need to sit down so I can tell you all you need to know. Alone." She stressed the word. "Either way it's like a wave I push out, using magic, and as a templar, because you are trained to stop and repel magic I feel you as an empty space, your body pushes away the magic like a rock in a stream, the water goes around, yes? And you are feeling said magic through a slight tingle on your skin. Wynne and other mages may feel a little rejuvenated and normal shemlens and other such non magical people don't feel it at all." She got a nod from Alistair, his hand holding his chin giving understanding noises, but she just giggled at him.
The entire group was caught off guard, her girlish giggle was magic itself, each and everyone felt just a little more at ease. She was the one who was the most intimidating by far, and the one who seemed to have the most fighting experience despite her age, she seemed to be younger than Alistair, she was also the one who smiled the least. So to hear her laugh at such a light hearted thing was simply magical.
She patted Alistair's chin "later" she smiled, as the group entered the chantry. The group spotted Bann Teagan, Alistair quickly noticed Sunny's face had returned to her normal one of an emotionless mask, but when she noticed he had been watching her for a while he could have sworn she smirked and winked at him.
After the reuniting of Alistair and Bann Teagan, the talking got serious, the Arl had been poisoned by a blood mage, the town was under attack from the undead at night and no news had been received from the castle in a long time. Bann Teagan kept glancing toward Sunny who was looking around the chantry and just watching the villagers in general.
"Is there a problem with our companion?" Elissa asked. Sunny glanced over before returning to watching the people, Bann Teagan seemed to be choosing his words carefully.
"No. My apologies my lady, it's just I thought I recognised her. But that would be impossible as I was just a small boy at the time." He couldn't believe the resemblance, he could have sworn that she was the lady that came to get himself and his elder brother Eamon from the Free Marches all those years ago when he was just a boy when Maric deposed the usurper. But that was not possible, she should have been a lot older than what she was, she looked younger than him, but then again he was only young at the time and hoped he could talk to his brother Eamon on the matter, for he was older than him and may remember better. The elven woman walked up to the group now and he was caught in her eyes as she looked at him and spoke.
"So we are to help the village survive tonight's attack from the undead and then we storm the castle in an attempt to reach the Arl and his family, assuming they're alive." Sunny spoke abruptly, slightly annoyed with the Bann's behaviour toward her, though she couldn't blame him, he was probably wondering why he recognised her after all Maric and Lady Rowan had asked her to retrieve the boys from the Free Marches and she did so leaving them here in Redcliffe. But she was thankful he hadn't voiced as much, this was why she stayed in the shadows, if anyone found out that elves from the time of Arlathan still existed they may try to wipe them out all together, not only that but all the pockets of elves left were very hostile. Killing any shems that walked on their lands, and even killing Dalish that got too close, the elves of Arlathan still retained their pride, which caused their downfall, and did not see the Dalish nor the city elves as equals in any form of the word. It had taken her a long, long time to not show her anger toward the elves of today.
All this she had still to tell Alistair, also to tell him if he ever told anyone she would have to kill him and all who knew, as per her agreement with Calenhad. She wasn't looking forward to that part of the conversation, she hadn't had to tell it before, Calenhad had passed it down and so did every other king after him, she was treated more like a heirloom than a person, and Maric was the first to treat her as the latter, Cailan barely noticed her and the times he did send her out to do something it was at the queens request, Sunny had spent a few weeks in Orlais recently and this had been Cailans' idea, he saw a blight was coming or something like it and wanted Ferelden and Orlais to stand together, which wasn't a bad idea until it got him killed by Loghain who hated Orlais just as much as Sunny did. Orlesians had this thing called The Game, and they all played it, you had to say the right words at the right time, know who to talk to at what party, the Balls were ridiculous the stupid puffy gowns and masks, they all ate and drank stupid amounts, and the empress and her brother were the worst, they called elves 'rabbit' and though it is not the harshest name she had been called it was most certainly the most annoying, the way the room would giggle when they outright called her that, she wanted to kill them there and then.
She brought herself back to the room with a start. Elissa was talking to the Bann now, sorting out who they needed to talk to in order to help the town as much as possible. That was the mayor and the blacksmith and that was also the job of the wardens.
Sunny walked out of the chantry pulling her fingers through her hair in an attempt to comb it, she also realised Zevran had followed her. He started a conversation as she started an orlesian plait at one side of her head, she wanted it to go over and down by her ear allowing the rest to be pulled back in a high ponytail to keep it out of the way during the fight, she also needed new armour and maybe a bow if the blacksmith had one. Zevran absolutely exuded confidence towards ladies, so as they walked through town she thought she better not hurt him too much by ignoring him completely.
"So, doing your hair like a fine lady before we fight the hordes of undead?" he tried to jest. Sunny didn't smile.
"It's to keep it out of the way."
"Ah of course, silly me." He chuckled. "May I ask if I may be so bold? Our fight, or more likely you were the cat and I the mouse who thought he had a chance."
"Try I'm the wolf and you're the halla" she smirked.
"Ah so the lady does have a sense of humour and an expression other than a scowl" this earned him the scowl he was referring to which made him laugh all the more. "As I was saying, it left me gasping for breath and looking dreadful, and you my lady, despite being wounded, looked as though you had just been for a stroll."
"Well you tell me, was it more intimidating to you for me to look as though I wasn't exhausted, or if I was gaping like a fish out of water like yourself Ser."
"Definitely the former. So you have trained yourself then, may I ask if you were a former spy or bard maybe."
"I am not, I was a hunter, that is all. Despite all our attempts to separate ourselves from the animals we share our lands with, we still have the same base instinct they do. And that is why I'm good at killing people and not talking to them." This made Zevran laugh very hard, and she could practically feel Alistair's glare even though he was still a ways away from them. "You're just laughing so you can anger Alistair." She said without a hint of amusement in her tone. And he agreed that he was with enough amusement for the both of them. "Fine" she huffed. "But if you try to kill him even a little bit," she lifted her fingers to his face, her index finger and thumb illustrating 'a little bit' "Your heart will stop beating before your body hits the floor."
"I love a woman who can threaten, gets me weak in the knees." His expression of false lust was something Sunny had never encountered before and the bark of her laughter surprised even her. She reached the blacksmiths and it seemed closed after knocking and being told to go away, she decided she would just break in, she needed the armour. Just as she raised her foot Alistair came running over grabbing her around her waist keeping her arms to her sides as he lifted her away from the door, she was incredibly light he thought.
"What do you think you are doing you can't just break in?" His voice was high-pitched and Sunny was starting to think the young man was adorable and needed to grow up, friends may find him endearing but a nation can't really be led by a man that couldn't keep in the lower octaves. She turned her face to look at him seemingly unbothered by the closeness of their faces, she looked directly into his eyes and it was startling, his face adopted a deep shade of red.