Sunny relaxed her frame against Alistair's, confusion clear on her face and eyes, "He told me to go away, I need armour." She said it and Alistair didn't quite know what to do, his head told him to let her go and back on her feet and his arms wouldn't listen, they were content holding something soft and warm. "You- you can let me go now your majesty." Alistair dropped her immediately, he was embarrassed beyond belief, he wiped his hand over his face resting it on his mouth, a muffled 'sorry' coming from under it. Sunny saw Elissa was hurt, but couldn't fathom why, she looked like Lady Rowan whenever Maric looked at Katriel, Sunny's eyes widened with understanding, Elissa liked Alistair, like Maric liked Katriel, even though Maric was betrothed to Rowan. Alistair held out his hand in an apology and Sunny stepped back away from him. It was the first time when he looked at her she was the one lost for words, her eyes wide but she was determined to drop his gaze. She wanted the moment to pass but Alistair kept trying to get her to look at him, so to diffuse the situation she bust down the door to the Blacksmiths by kicking beside the lock and ran in, there was drunken shouting and she shouted back, though the group couldn't discern what as it was in Elven, though Zevran's eyebrows raised.
"That was quite the insult," he laughed.
Sunny burst from the door light leather armour under her arm and a bow over her shoulder, shouting that the wardens would pay the drunken oaf for what she had taken, she danced out of Alistair's reach and carried on walking back toward an empty house just across the street pushing the door open and slamming it shut the group all heard the table she threw against the door to keep them out, Trigg whined at Elissa's side pushing his head under her hand. Elissa was just as confused as the rest of the group, this was the most emotion and movement outside of battle anyone had been able to pull out of the elf. After dealing with the drunken Blacksmith promising to find his daughter and paying him for the damage Sunny had caused she crossed the street after asking the rest of the group to familiarise themselves with the area, Alistair argued he already knew the area enough but Elissa told him he caused the problem and just to let her deal with it, he took Elissa's hand holding it tightly.
"I'm sorry, I don't know what I did." He sounded sincere and Elissa's heart melted, if she could fall for this man anymore she would just abandon the blight to live with him on a beach somewhere far from all of this, he wouldn't have to be king and she would have him, they would both be happy. But they had a duty to stop this blight.
"It's alright I'll sort it." She squeezed Alistair's hand before nodding her head to the group to give him the hint to go on with them, he did so with a small smile on his face. Elissa knocked on the door. "Sunny, can I come in?" she got no answer but there was a toe curling noise of wood on wood as the table was moved from the door, Elissa entered and the house was dark, she couldn't see anything other than what was illuminated from the little light that was coming in the door behind her, she was squinting in the darkness when all the lanterns lit at once, she assumed Sunny had lit them with magic, she saw sunny sat on an old kitchen chair next to a dilapidated kitchen table. Once she realised the elf was topless she turned her back, she was half dressed in the armour she had just acquired and was currently tying up her leather boots.
"My apologies." Elissa stammered. But she got no answer. "Is everything alright?"
"Splendid." Sunny replied, her voice devoid of all emotion other than the grunt that slipped through as she pulled the leather bindings tighter on her boots.
"Alistair is sorry if he offended you. He apologises profusely, it would upset him if you left, and I don't want to see him hurt. You're the one thing he has that is his... not that he sees you as a thing. He knows you're a person, it just frightened him when he saw you were so ready to throw your life away for him, he feels responsible for you and that frightens him." She had turned to face Sunny in her haste to tell her Alistair did see her as a person, the elf was putting on her breastplate with a practised ease. Her fingers did the delicate dance of tying the pieces in place as she looked up at Elissa uncertainty on her face.
"Why would he worry about my safety? He doesn't know me from Zevran." Elissa could see that Sunny really believed that everyone looked at her as nothing and it pained her to see and also think that Cailan had treated her as such.
Sunny was always treated as an item, after a few generations of the kings they did just expect her to throw herself on every blade that came their way, but that had changed with Maric, she felt strongly toward King Maric, more than she knew she should, not in a romantic way, but with Maric after all the times she had kept him alive, he would try his hardest to protect her too and this led to many arguments between the two, to the point she would revert to elven in her anger and he would shout back 'I have no idea what you just said' and every time he would laugh and the group would laugh and she would be stuck not knowing what to do, so she would put back on her expressionless mask and walk off calling out she would scout the area and maybe do some hunting. And Loghain would follow her and try to make her feel better, he would say the king was just worried and didn't want to lose anyone else and she would ignore him. They would hunt together and Sunny always thought for a shemlen he was an excellent hunter, he really understood what it was to hunt.
She wondered what happened to that Loghain. Why he had changed, why he had let Maric leave and returned without him after two years of looking for him, and why had he stood by as Cailan fell, surely he didn't want to rule Ferelden. He was every Ferelden boy's dream, commoner turned Teryn he allowed people to believe it could be done. Elissa was still talking to Sunny about Alistair, she thought it would be better to clear the air, there was no use in letting it carry on to become a problem in the future.
"You like Alistair, don't you?" Sunny asked as she pulled a shoulder pad on, her eyes not leaving Elissa's as Elissa mumbled.
"Of course I do."
"No. I mean... I'm not sure how to say it... you like him, you look at each other when you think the other isn't looking and he likes you too, but with the blight you think it's not the right time. But we could all die tomorrow so... don't wait." Elissa was at a loss for words, she did like Alistair but she was sure Alistair liked the gorgeous elf they had just met who now stood in front of her moving and bending to see if her armour allowed enough movement, she was really flexible Elissa thought. Elissa thought Sunny was exotic and beautiful in a way a human simply couldn't be, it was obvious the elf could make just about anyone fall into bed with her.
"You don't like Alistair yourself?" Elissa blurted it out in desperation to know if she was wasting her time and was met with a small giggle.
"I like him. Yes, he sees me differently from what Cailan did. It is nice to be treated as a person again, but also strange, but I do not like him in the sense you do. I am... I can't-" Elissa watched as her face turned slightly sad, the elf had not looked sad before and as her beautiful features turned down, Elissa found she didn't like the look on the elf's face, she didn't like to see anyone sad, but the elf was about to open up a little when Alistair burst through the door.
"Sorry to interrupt the tea party ladies but we are needed at the windmill ASAP." He looked between the two ladies before settling his eyes on Sunny. Panic and fear written on his face as he half hid behind the door frame. Elissa saw him sigh in relief when Sunny saluted him, her arm across her chest and walked out past him patting him on the head as if he were a small puppy, he shot Elissa the widest smile and mouthed 'thank you' before turning to follow Sunny, he wasn't expecting her to be standing behind him and he walked into her. Her hands grabbed his shoulder steadying him as he shouted sorry in her face, she almost laughed as she wiped his spittle from her face with one hand before returning it to his shoulder and turning him around to face Elissa, who had now left the building to stand behind him. He wiggled his fingers in a 'hello' causing her to smile and laugh, he found he liked the sound of Elissa's laugh, she was always smiling, always positive, her voice was soft and yet firm and he liked the way his name sounded when it left her lips. She had told him that 'he' was her family, that 'he' was all she had left. The courage it took for her to say that whilst he had been moping and plodding around he admired her greatly for it. He was brought back into the moment with Sunny whispering in his ear, her hand shielding her mouth so that Elissa couldn't see.
"You need to tell her."
"What?" Alistair stuttered, was he that obvious. He could feel his ears heat up and was sure his cheeks were reddening too.
"At least thank her properly, don't just mouth it to her." She whispered lightly in his ear, and Elissa was starting to look a little worried when Alistair shouted his thanks. Sunny ruffled his hair before turning on her toes to run to the windmill, a stuttering Alistair and blushing Elissa following in hot pursuit.
The trio had reached the windmill just as the undead had started their attack. This, Sunny liked. This, Sunny could deal with, she had no experience in love and what it was to be in love, the looks the two wardens gave each other baffled her completely, two people in love depended on the other far too much and pretty much gave up on living when they lost the other or simply became bitter people. Being in love meant putting that person before anything and everything and the protection of the King would always be number one for Sunny, that was now her purpose, she didn't know if she could give that up for someone. She nocked arrow after arrow taking down all her targets with headshots aiming at the ones away from the main bulk that Elissa and Alistair were currently fighting. Wynne was concentrating on keeping everyone in tiptop condition and Leliana and Zevran were concentrating on picking off the stragglers. Another large horde came running up from the lake.
"How many more are there?" Alistair shouted and Sunny swore, she stepped in front of the group as she shouldered her bow. "What are you doing?" Sunnys hands started to glow, her ponytail started to whip around her face as the air started to move around her, Wynne shouted for the group to fall back to the windmill, and did so leaving Sunny in the middle of the clearing, Elissa shouted at sunny as the undead started to surround her she tried to run and help when Wynne shouted for Alistair to grab her, he did so pulling her to his chest. The Undead had surrounded Sunny but they couldn't seem to get to her, the wind that circled her acting as a makeshift shield.
Alistair realised the air had started to thicken, it felt humid and he started to sweat, whatever magic Sunny was doing, it was more powerful than he had seen any mage pull off, ever, in his time as a templar recruit, even more powerful than any magic that any of the Wardens had ever done in a battle, Wynne was right to call them back, they would have been burnt to ashes in a matter of seconds.
It started as a ring of fire at her feet.