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In good times and in bad	By : kruemel Category: +A through F > Dragon Age (all) > Dragon Age (all) Views: 14749 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 1
Disclaimer: Dragon Age and the characters of the game do not belong to me. This is a no profit fanfiction

Chapter List
- 14
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"Rori?" She turns when I call her and slows down so that she can walk beside me.
"What's up?" She's back to her usual amiable, often flirtatious behaviour when dealing with me. Still I feel I owe her a proper apology.
"I just wanted to say... I am sorry. You know, for what I said yesterday."
"It's alright, Alistair. I overreacted. You were worried and... maybe you're right. I cannot really explain what made me spare Zevran. It's... just a feeling." She shrugs.
A feeling? I don't like the sound of that.
"What kind of... feeling?" I inquire. She's totally oblivious, while the mere mentioning of Zevran and feelings in one sentence already makes me...oh, I don't know. I don't like it. Not at all.
"Oh, you know, that he deserves a second chance."
"A second chance to murder you?" I cannot help it but this time she's not offended. She just punches me in the arm. CLONK go her knuckles against the metal of my armour.
"Ouch! You are a violent woman."
"As if you felt anything at all." Rori snorts. She rubs her knuckles and pulls a face. That's what you get for punching a man in a full plate armour. "It's true, you know, the Crows do kill those who fail. I remember Elsa telling me about them. I cannot recall all of it, but that I know. So we are his only option right now. And I am planning to turn this into an opportunity for ourselves. We need any help we can get. And it's not as if he doesn't fit in."
We both watch the backs of our companions. A murderer, An apostate, A weird former bard with divine visions. An assassin. And a sweet granny mage.
"Wynne doesn't fit in," I observe.
"I was thinking the same. She's far too nice and normal."
"For a mage." I add.
"We should be suspicious. I bet she hides a horrible secret," Rori jokes but her voice fades when she realizes what she has just hinted at. We both fall silent then. After what happened at the tower, Wynne indeed could hide something. Or something could hide inside of her. My templar training makes me paranoid.
"What about us?" Rori asks after a while. "How do we fit in?"
"Well, I am the fool."
"And I am the naif who thinks she can stop the Blight with a group of assembled outcasts."
"Seems the dog is the only one sane."
"Maybe he should lead then."
We have reached Bann Loren's lands. Zevran is ahead of the group and we all clonk and clatter after him. Well, Sten and I do. It is absolutely impossible to move silently when you wear heavy armour. I am used to it thanks to my templar training, still heavy means heavy and I grow tired more easily than Rori who still has the energy to balance on fallen tree trunks. The assassins had two horses. If we can find two more we can have a group ride ahead while the others follow with our luggage and supply.
Suddenly the elf raises his hand to alert us. He motions us to be silent and Sten and I freeze dead. Rori and Leliana silently sneak closer and observe what happens below. When the riot starts Sten and I can join the others without alarming whoever Rori is watching.
Down the slope soldiers shove a man around that seems slightly familiar. "I have seen him in Ostagar," Rori whispers excitedly. "He was one of Cailan's men."
"The soldiers belong to Bann Loren," I whisper. And they clearly intend to kill the man Rori remembers. I am about to ask her if we are going to sit here and watch him being murdered when Rori jumps up.
"HEY!" she calls. "What are you doing..." She doesn't get to end the sentence. One guard cuts the poor man down, the others charge us.
"They are witnesses!" one soldier cries. And that obviously means he intends to silence us. Rori lunges forward - I really have to have a little chat with her about tactics. The way she throws herself into battles gives me a headache. I am her backup again because she never looks right or left. She chooses her target, mostly the one she wants to go down first. Her choice is well made, she just tends to forget there are others around her target and there's us.
Zevran earns some credit points when he backstabs a soldier that's about to backstab Rori. He has to neglect his own defense to aid her and drops to the ground with the slain soldier to avoid being killed himself.
He couldn't have found a better possibility to get rid of Rori. But he saved her. She spins round to see Zevran on top of the corpse on the ground and another soldier charging. With a little yelp that can hardly be called a battle cry, she leaps across Zevran and crashes against the soldier feet first.
He falls and I ram my sword into his throat. Andraste's flaming sword! This is not a circus! Mental note to myself: tactic lessons for Rori. And Morrigan. The two of them obviously have hardly ever fought in groups.
I help Zevran get back to his feet. "Does she always fight like this?" he slurs with his heavy accent.
"You tell me. That's how she knocked you out in... ten seconds?"
"It was thirty seconds at least," Zevran huffs.
"Twenty."
"Too quick for sure. i underestimated her, I admit. But if you want her to stay alive, she has to learn to fit into the group."
And there I thought Zevran and I would never agree on anything.
Rori hurries to kneel next to the wounded man. "Wynne, can you help him?"
"I'm afraid it's too late," the mage answers sadly when the man with his dying breath gives Rori the information he thinks save with us.
Ostagar. Cailan's documents. It sounds important but we also have to meet Genitivi to find a way to heal Eamon. I can tell Rori ponders about her options while we pile stones on top of the corpse as a makeshift grave. Leliana says a prayer for him and then it's time to leave.
"Ostagar," Rori says firmly. I don't object although there's many memories connected to that place I'd rather forget. "The mages caring for Eamon said his condition is serious but not lethal at the moment. They also explained they can ensure he doesn't get worse for a few more months... not that we want to make him wait this long... but I believe it is important to find these documents."
I like this about her. She doesn't just give orders but explains why she does things. Not to a point where she'd discuss her decisions endlessly, still you never feel like she just regards her companions as subjects.
Morrigan is very silent while Rori explains that she wants to return to Ostagar. When we leave Bann Loren's lands, she beckons Rori to walk with her. Morrigan looks... worried... almost scared. It's the first time she appears human. Almost human. She intensely talks to Rori. I am almost sure I won't like whatever will be the outcome of this conversation. And I almost stumble over my own feet, roots and rocks while I crane my neck to keep an eye on them.
Once Rori leaves Morrigan, the apostate looks utterly relieved. She even smiles at Rori. Now I am totally sure I won't like whatever she is up to.
"What was this about?" I ask Rori when she joins me. She has made a habit out of walking beside me. And I have grown enjoying her company. A lot.
"I will tell you later, promised. First we have to go to Ostagar."
"Ah... yes... and before we go there... have you ever heard about something called tactics?"
- 14
- 15
- 16
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In good times and in bad