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Vhenan'ara	By : Arcanis_Born Category: +A through F > Dragon Age (all) > Dragon Age (all) Views: 6576 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 1
Disclaimer: I don't own Dragon Age, nor the characters from it. I do not make any money from this.

Chapter List
- 11
- 12
- 13
Dragon Age: Origins is owned by Bioware, as with all its characters, the story as it deviates from canon is mine, however, as with the personalities of characters as they deviate from those in the game.
I hope you guys enjoy, and I would appreciate any reviews!
Translations:
Mi bella: Antivan. "My beauty." A term of endearment Zevran uses for Riel.
Mierda: Antivan. "Shit." A common swear word.

Slowly, Riel came awake to the sounds of birds chirping and the sounds of people moving around outside in the camp. Breathing in deeply, Riel smiled at the mixture of foreign spices and sunshine that filled her senses.
"Good morning, mi bella," Zevran purred from above her. Riel smiled as she felt his warmth against her. Opening her eyes, she was surprised at just how calm she was at finding him next to her in her tent.
"Did I sleep in?"
"You needed it. You've been sound asleep all night, and I, your dutiful follower, have made sure to stay close by to watch over you."
"I'm glad you did," Riel murmured, turning over so she could snuggle into his chest.
"You truly do not mind? I must admit, I was almost expecting you to cause some sort of bodily harm upon me once you awoke. Not that I would mind, of course. I think you could stab me at this point, and I would be happy that I was allowed the pleasure of being your pincushion."
Riel giggled softly against him. "I think you're safe for now."
"You are beautiful when you laugh, mi bella. I must endeavor to use my humor on you more often from now on."
Riel felt a soft pressure on her upper arm, and she opened her eyes to see Zevran pull his hand away sheepishly. "No, don't stop. I… I don't mind."
Zevran again said a prayer of thanks for the beauty before him as he went back to lightly caressing her arm. All that night he had watched over as she slept, measuring her every breath and movement. When it looked as if her nightmares would come upon her, Zevran would speak softly to her in Antivan, whispering how much he cared for her and how he was there watching over her. He would place a gentle hand on her shoulder or arm, and instantly Riel would calm in her sleep, returning to a peacefulness that he was sure he had never before seen his lovely Warden in.
As the hours passed until daylight came, Zevran found himself memorizing everything he could about her face and how she looked. A part of him wished he could pull her against him and touch every inch of her skin just so he could also memorize how she felt. Yet he held back, careful not to wake or startle her. Besides, he felt lecherous enough as it was, staring at her while she slept.
So lost in his thoughts of her that Zevran didn't notice her hand come up and lightly touch his cheek. Startled, he didn't mean to pull away slightly and inwardly he cursed at himself when she removed her hand, a look of shame on her eyes. Carefully her took her hand in his and brought it to his mouth where he laid a gentle kiss upon her fingertips.
"I didn't mean for you to pull away, mi bella. Please, do not be afraid to touch me," Zevran purred as he placed another kiss against her fingers.
"I've never really wanted to before. It seemed wrong before…" whispered Riel as let her fingers gently brush against his lips and then his chin.
"And now?"
"I don't know…" she answered truthfully, her brow furrowing as she tried to understand the deep feelings that were invading every part of her being. "It's strange…"
"Mmm? How so?" Zevran was going delirious with how good her light touches felt on his skin. Just barely a whisper of a touch, and yet he felt as better than he had in ages.
"I'm not afraid."
The statement was so simple, yet so profound coming from a woman such as her. Even though she faced down demons and monsters, what scared her most was even just the slightest touch. And now to have her here with him, giving him her most valuable possession - trust. A blazing heat bloomed all over Zevran's body as a deep need erupted under his skin.
With her luscious and beautiful lips just inches from his own, Zevran felt his control buckling. This gorgeous woman floored him with her vulnerability and her bravery, and in that moment there was only the two of them. Hungrily Zevran looked down to her lips, wanting desperately to have a taste of her. Slowly his head moved closer to hers, following its own instincts rather than rather calm control that he usually had whenever it came his Warden. When their lips barely touched, from under him he felt Riel suddenly seize up and then quickly push herself away.
"No!" she exclaimed in a rushed breath, her eyes wide with panic.
"Mierda! Riel I am so sorry!" Zevran cursed loudly. How could he have been so stupid?
"I felt… I felt…." Now Riel was close to hyperventilating, her frantic eyes staring at the bulge behind Zevran's trousers that was currently doing its best to get free.
Oh dammit! I am such a bastard! Zevran cursed at himself silently. Outraged at himself and his treacherous body, Zevran slammed the heel of his hand against his groin causing a sharp pain to ricocheted through his body. Yet it was what he deserved. That and a so much worse. Where were his fellow Crows when he needed a good flogging?
Thankfully the pain seemed to tame the witless creature behind his trousers enough where it was no longer in danger of breaking free on it's own. Still, that didn't make up for how badly he reacted, or how much he screwed up with his Warden. Still mentally cursing himself, Zevran dared another look at Riel.
Sitting at the opposite end of the tent, her legs were curled under her and she had one hand clinging tightly to the cloth flap that led outside. She was breathing rapidly, and held every look of a frightened animal that was ready to bolt at the smallest sign of trouble.
"Perhaps you should have stabbed me earlier," Zevran tried to joke. "I would certainly much rather be your pincushion now. And it is not as if it wouldn't be well deserved."
Slowly Zevran sat up, making sure to keep his hands visible to her. When he was able, he pushed himself farther away from her even though every instinct in him wanted to hold her and beg for forgiveness. Yet it's clear that even his instincts couldn't be trusted when she was so close to him.
"I am not going to hurt you, mi bella. There isn't enough room in all the Fade for me to lay apologies down at your feet for the careless way that I acted. If you wish it, I will leave here your tent and allow you to calm down. By the Maker, if you wished to bleed me for my stupidity, I would hand you both my blades to use."
A heavy silence hung between them while Riel forced her breathing under control and Zevran sat unmoving for fear of scaring her further. Finally she seemed to calm her nerves enough she let go of the tent curtain and her breathing slowed.
"This was a mistake…" Riel suddenly said, her eyes going hard and distant. The same way she always had looked before Zevran had managed to slightly gain her trust. And now he had just broken it.
"No, it was my mistake, mi bella. I pushed you too much, too soon."
"I can't do this, Zevran. I can't be... be… -" her voice was raising, her panic beginning to rise again.
"Mi bella, please…" Zevran wanted so desperately to comfort her. To take her in his arms and tell her how incredibly stupid he was.
"No…! I told you…. I'm broken, Zevran. And you can't fix something that is broken." Riel's voice was hard as she looked at him, her eyes showing a mixture of shame and anger.
"Riel, no. You are not broken. I am just incredibly stupid. Please…." Zevran was begging now, although for what he didn't know. He didn't deserve to beg for her forgiveness. He didn't deserve anything from her, except a painful death.
"I don't know whether I want to hug you or kill you!" Riel finally blurted out, tears coming out of her eyes. "I'm… broken….! Don't you get it?!"
Zevran took the dagger that was beside him and offered it Riel, handle side up. "Personally with what I deserve, I would choose death. But if you do not kill me, then please, please let me hug you."
Riel stared at him for what seemed like an eternity before she launched herself at him. In that moment, Zevran wasn't sure if really did intend to kill him. Yet he would not have stopped her. He would gladly die by her hand if it meant that she could finally stop hurting. Yet Riel didn't grab for the dagger in his hand. Instead she wrapped her arms around his chest and buried her face against his neck. Zevran dropped the dagger and lightly wrapped his arms around her, careful to not hold too tightly. He was also careful that at no time did she come into contact with the lower half of his body. That thing had caused enough trouble, and Zevran wasn't looking for a repeat.
"I hate this, and I hate feeling like this, and I hate being scared, and I hate being angry, and I hate being sad, and I hate you for making me feel safe, and I hate you for making me care for you." The long ramble came out quickly and was muffled slightly by her face against his neck, yet Zevran understood everything. He didn't say anything, just let her rant at him as he gently rubbed her back.
When finally she seemed to calm down, Zevran started whispering to her in Antivan just as he did the night before. His apologies, his regrets, his feelings. Everything that he wanted to say to her in a way that she could understand, yet was afraid to.
"You're going to have to teach me to speak in Antivan," Riel suddenly mumbled against him.
"Oh? Why is that?"
Riel adjusted her head so that it rested against his chest. Listening to his heartbeat calmed her better than her own best attempts on her own. "If you're going to be sticking around for a while, I want to know all the nasty and horrible things that you say about me."
Zevran couldn't help but chuckle. To run such an extreme of emotions in so short of time, only to come back to humor now felt oddly right. As if despite all that had just happened between the two of them, this was where they were supposed to end up. Back in each other's arms, making small jokes.
"Mi bella, if you'll allow me, I will teach you absolutely everything that I know."

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"I honestly don't know why you bother," Morrigan groused as she looked over to Leliana.
"Because I like Zevran. And I know a thing or two about overcoming the bad things in our past."
"So you do have an idea as to who would win."
Leliana rolled her eyes at the witch as she finished restocking their party pack with the new potions that Morrigan had brewed for them that morning. "Why are you so certain that Alistair would lose?"
"Simple. He's an oaf. And while brute strength aids mindless tools like him, the assassin has cleverness on his side."
"Which is exactly why I sent Alistair and Sten off this morning to retrieve those dragon scales."
"And here I thought that you wanted them to sell."
"I do," Leliana assured her friend as she set the pack aside. "But it also keeps Alistair from killing Zevran if he finds out that he spent the night in Riel's tent."
Morrigan laughed, going back to stirring the blue liquid she had simmering over the campfire. Her potions were not as good as some as the ones you could buy in the store, but they would do until they reached the next town. And even weak lyrium and health potions were better than none.
"No!"
Both women looked up from their duties as the familiar voice called out from Riel's tent. Immediately Morrigan's hand crackled with magic as she readied to roast the pig assassin for whatever harm he had done to her friend. Leliana raised her hand to steady the witch, however, and snuck over to the tent that Riel used. Carefully she listened in, waiting to hear any signs of struggle or muffled cries. And if she heard any, whether she had liked the elf or not, he was going to be so dead.
Leliana may have liked the Antivan, but Riel was her best friend. And she would gladly skin the elf if he harmed her friend. Crouching just outside the tent, she listened for an extended time before she sadly shook her head and silently made her way back to Morrigan.
"Well? Which is it? Do we have have roast Antivan for our supper tonight or not?"
"They are fine, Morrigan. Just a misunderstanding."
"Oh? What misunderstanding?" Leliana looked up from her bow to see Alistair and Sten entering the camp, both carrying large sack cloth bags behind them.
"Nothing! Umm…. I see you have the dragon scales," Leliana smiled, cursing at how quickly the men had worked.
"Not yet. These are just some of drake scales and some of the useable armor that we stripped from the cultists."
"I still do not see why we need this. We waste time here. We should be fighting the Blight, not gathering bits of animal flesh or spare pieces of armor!" Sten angrily barked as he tossed his bag down at Leliana's feet.
"We need them because they will sell good. Which brings us gold. Gold which we will need to raise and outfit an army. I know a man in Denerim who will pay very good money for any dragon or drake scales we bring him. And I didn't hear you complaining Sten, when Riel bought you that nice dwarven chest plate when we in Denerim from the money we acquired from doing random jobs for the people."
"Meh…." Sten grumbled. It was probably as close to an agreement that Leliana was going to get. "I will be at the river. I wish to clean this filth off me."
"Yeah, that's probably a good idea for me too. I was too tired to notice it last night, but Riel was right. Dragon blood stinks something awful! I don't think I will be able to get the stench out of my armor for weeks! Speaking of our fearless leader, had miss sleepyhead awoken yet? It's past noon!"
"I think she is still-"
"Riel! Are you still sleeping?" Alistair shouted into the fabric of her tent, interrupting Leliana's protests. "Come on sleepy! We're losing daylight and we still don't know where we are headed next. Come on, wake up-" Alistair leaned down and opened the flap of her tent and peered inside. Immediately he went silent, then stood and walked away. "I'll be at the river, washing off." He then looked over at an apologetic Leliana and glared. "You tell our fearless leader that whenever she is done screwing that assassin, we do have a Blight to get to. The Archdemon isn't going to kill itself!"
"Crap…" Leliana groaned as she watched the male Warden angrily stomp off.
"What was that about?" cursed Riel as she came out of her tent. Her eyes were red and puffy, and it looked as if she had been crying, but other than that she actually looked pretty good. The dark circles around her eyes were faded and she looked as if she had gotten a decent rest for once. Except for the whole being pissed off thing, the woman actually looked better than Leliana had ever seen her.
"Riel, are you alright?" Zevran asked as he stood up beside her.
"Yeah, I guess so…" sighed Riel as she looked in the direction that Alistair had stormed off. Alistair had opened the tent flap just as Zevran and Riel were starting to relax again after their little… whatever it was... that happened between them not long ago. Riel looked up at the sun and cursed. "Oh shit! Is it really that late?"
"Relax Riel. You needed the rest. Morrigan and Alistair told me what happened yesterday. So when you weren't already awake when everyone else had gotten up, I thought you could use the extra sleep. And before you complain, I already set up drying racks for the deer I killed yesterday and had the boys go collect some useful things that we could sell at the next town. Morrigan has spent most of the day making potions, and I already cured and rolled up the deer hide. We could use it in camp, or Bodahn says that he could get us a good price for the hide once we reach Orzammar. I figured we could use a day of rest to restock and plan, so you honestly didn't miss anything by staying in your tent."
"Leliana… I… thank you."
"Nope, don't thank me. I was only doing what you would have done," Leliana said with a broad smile. The she took a deep breath and her features turned serious. Taking a step closer to Riel, she leaned and whispered softly to her. "Are you sure that you're alright?"
Zevran took immediate offence to the question, but any anger that he might have felt was not directed at the young bard, but himself. She had every right to ask if her friend was alright, considering how badly he had screwed up earlier. Riel may not have stopped trusting him completely - not that he didn't deserve that, of course - yet Zevran knew that he had lost ground with her.
"I'm alright, Leliana. Truly." Riel smiled and tried her best to put on her 'I'm okay' face. Even though she was still a bit shaken, she still felt better than she had in incredibly long time.
"So I should toss out this poison then? We are not killing him? Well, that is no fun," Morrigan groused as she made a show of lifting up the spoon that she was stirring with and tasting the contents. "It just finished too brewing, too. Such a pity."
"Morrigan, you are evil," Riel laughed.
"Only when it comes to foolish elven would be assassins, or irritating ex Templars, my dear."
"Pardon me, Ser Riel, but I think that this may interest you."
Riel looked over their dwarven merchant and took the package that he held in his outstretched hand. "What is this, Bodahn?"
"Me and my boy were waiting down by the road, in case we saw any travelling merchants come this way. And wouldn't you know it, but an old acquaintance of mine from years back came by on his wagon. I managed to sell him some of our extra dodads and whatnots, and he tells me that he found this here."
Riel unwrapped the cloth to reveal what appeared to be a metal rod of some sort. "Well, what is it?"
"He tells me that he had this here control rod that he picked up some time ago from a woman near Orzammar. He says that it supposed to control an actual golem that is being held near here in the village of Honnleath. Isn't that amazing?"
"An actual golem? And he just sold this rod to you?"
"Well it was a practically a steal, it was! All he wanted for it was for my boy to enchant a blade that he bought for his brother back in Orlais. He even gave us directions to Honnleath, where we can find the golem!"
Riel looked down at the chunk of metal in her hands and had a hard time imagining that such a strange device could control of the massive things that she heard talked about by Bodahn during their travels. Apparently golems were huge stone or metal creatures that the dwarves used to build ages ago, but have since lost the ability the create more. And he told her that all you needed to control such a monster was a special kind of metal rod. Sort of like the one that she now held in her hands.
"Well, I guess if I am out to gain allies in a Blight, I suppose I could do worse than an actual golem. How does it work?"
"Well Felix said that you are just supposed to point it at the golem and say the activation phrase. Then as long as you have the rod, you have your own golem."
"Hard to believe your merchant friend would sell such a prize so cheaply. Why didn't he use the rod himself?" Zevran asked from beside Riel.
"Well…. there is a slight problem."
"And that would be?" Although having a golem would be a great ally in the war, Riel wasn't about to lead her party off on some wild goose chase if there was nothing for them to gain.
"The rod… eh he says it might be broken. At least, that's what the woman who sold the rod to Felix had said."
"Broken? Well then, how is it useful to us?"
"Now, he said it might be broken. Felix wasn't sure himself. Said that he never had the time to go to Honnleath himself and check it for himself."
"But you think we should go there and see if it works, even though the rod might be broken, or if there is even a golem there to begin with. Bodahn…" Riel groaned, a familiar headache building behind her eyes.
"If I may so, I think it may be worth the travel. We need to visit a town to restock anyway, and if there is a golem there and this rod works on it, you would have a powerful ally to add to our group," Zevran stated with a zeal of enthusiasm.
"Alright Bodahn," Riel agreed with a sigh. "We'll leave tomorrow. I want everything ready to go before midmorning."
"Yes Ser!" Bodahn happily nodded before heading off back towards his wagon.
"An actual golem huh? I guess stranger things have happened," Riel sighed as she looked down at the rod in her hands.
"Personally, I believe that nothing is too broken to be fixed," Zevran stated with intent towards Riel.
"Or to be given a second chance," Riel added with a small smile, her eyes meeting the intense yet warm look Zevran gave her.
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- 13
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Vhenan'ara