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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

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Rori is staring down at her first darkspawn. The Genlock lies on its back, several arrows sticking out of its torso and neck. Rori tries to pluck some out of it, pulling a grimace at the sucking sound when the arrowhead is drawn from the soft flesh. Ichor flows from the wounds, it's black and smells rather rotten. She looks like she's going to vomit any time soon.
"Are you alright?" I shouldn't be too worried. She knows how to handle herself. There is fear in her eyes but she doesn't let it pour into her actions. How old can she probably be? She looks like 15, maybe 16 but I doubt Duncan would recruit someone that young. Still, young she is but yet trying to act professional, although she has not been trained as a soldier. Unlike Ser Jory who rather wouldn't be here but back in Highever with his wife. Duncan is a good judge of character but I begin to doubt Jory was a good choice. The problem with him is that he has someone to return to.
"Yes, thank you." She doesn't sound as if she is alright. Rori is naturally pale. Now her porcelain complexion has become ashen. But she pulls herself together and straightens her shoulders. I am almost proud of her. Brave girl.
"They are horrendous. You have never seen darkspawn before. I was terrified during my first fight." I offer gentiy.
"Well," she remarks slowly and a cold creeps into her voice that makes me shudder. "At least they show their ugly faces and don't hide them behind the mask of friendship. You never can mistake a darkspawn for something it is not." She avoids looking at me when she talks, turning away so that her face is cast in shadows. Did I mention she seems to call for someone giving her a hug like a drowning man - or woman in her case - would call for help?
"Why don't you ask me if I am alright?" Daveth inquires before I can decide whether to leave Rori alone or ask her if she wants to talk.
"You look like you can take care of yourself."
"Ha! And you think she can't? Don't be fooled by the little girl appearance. She's doing better than the whining Ser. Let me give you a piece of advice, chap, this girl does not need anybody to take care of her. She's out of your league."
I don't know why I get angry. I shouldn't. There's no reason for me to care if Rori likes me or not. Still I feel like I am going to punch Daveth in the face if he keeps smirking at me. Rori saves him - or me. "Are you guys coming or do you want to stand here all day and chat about the weather?"
"You heard the lady," Daveth grins. "And thanks for asking. I am fine."
While we move on, Rori keeps looking around for something or someone - and it's not the darkspawn. She's more interested in any traces of humans passing through the area, ordering her dog to sniff at any trace she thinks is worth checking. It's distracting her and I am not the only one to notice. "Do you have an appointment or something? A rendezvous with a lover out here?" Daveth asks when she again stops to examine a burnt down campfire.
His question makes her jump. "My brother is somewhere in the Wilds," she mutters, blushing as she realizes she's been behaving strangely.
"There's hardly any chance you will find him. If you do, then by mere luck, Even your dog couldn't find him," I point out to her, more gently than I would probably do with any other recruit. The dog growls and barks annoyedly in reply. "Yes, I know you are a mabari and extraordinarily smart for a dog. Still, the area is too big." Whining the dog cocks his big head to one side, looking sadly first at Rori then at me. He doesn't like to disappoint his mistress, although she pets him to let him know it's not his fault. "Now, we should stop dawdling. We really don't want to be here when night falls."
"Sorry," Rori apologizes compunctiously.
"No harm done. But lets concentrate on what we are supposed to do from now on, okay?" I offer her a smile. She returns it shyly. Somehow I do hope we will stumble across her brother - alive and still kicking. It perhaps would chase that deep dark sadness from her eyes.
Ser Jory is a damn good fighter. I just wish he'd shut up. He's been going on about his wife and his child for ages now. He's even shown Rori her picture in a locket he wears around his neck. Maybe I shouldn't judge him, maybe I should show more sympathy. If you got nothing to lose this is far easier. But leaving a wife and a child back home - I can't even imagine how he feels. So I guess I should stop being unfair.
The knight and Rori are chatting about Highever now and I slow down for some eavesdropping. Rori answers in monosyllables. All she has yet admitted is that she's from Highever as well. Ser Jory almost jumps her, having found a fellow sufferer, he talks about Highever as if he's advertising all-inclusive tours. He's so focused on himself, he doesn't notice how the sorrow creeps back into Rori's eyes.
"What about you? Do you have any family left in Highever? You're rather young, excuse me saying so. What about your parents? A husband maybe? A pretty young lady like you..." There's no escaping Ser Jory. I guess all this babbling helps him to ease his nerves.
"My father was the teyrn of Highever," Rori replies flatly.
"Lady Cousland! Forgive me, I didn't know." Jory bows before she can stop him. She looks awkwardly embarrassed.
"Just Rori, please."
"Oh, someone high and mighty. How exactly did you end up with us?" Daveth curiously inquires.
Am I the only one to notice she said her father was the teyrn? What in the name of the Maker has happened in Highever?
Rori tries with pretending to have not heard Daveth's question. He's about to keep pestering her but I shake my head and he has the decency to let her off the hook. Rori seems almost glad when a group of darkspawn breaks from the ground and shuts Jory and Daveth up. Not for good but at least she has some peace for now.
We have the darkspawn blood, some black liquid referred to by the Grey Wardens as ichor, but the contracts are still missing. It takes a while until we find the tower. It's easier to find a missing sock in your drawer than to find your way through the Korcari Wilds. When we finally reach the tower - well, the remains of the tower - the chest is broken and empty. And in addition we gained the attention of a witch. Daveth next to me gasps when the woman stalks down the slope, moving as if she was the predator and we her prey. "Hellooooo," he mutters under his breath. She is... wearing... or not wearing... I don't know what is more scandalous. It for sure doesn't cover most of what needs covering. Daveth corrects his opinion about her when he figures what she is. Smart boy.
"Are you a vulture, I wonder, a scavenger poking amidst a corpse whose bones were long since cleaned? Or merely an intruder coming to these darkspawn filled wilds of mine in search of easy prey? What say you? Scavenger or intruder?" the woman purrs as she walks towards us with swaying hips. Her mere sight chills me. All the stories the old templars told the yooung ones to scare and warn them come back to the surface of my memory.
The only one unimpressed is Rori. She either is rather hard-boiled for her young age or pretty naive. She certainly hasn't seen many mages in her life. "Neither a scavenger nor an intruder. These wilds belong to nobody and that tower certainly is not yours." she replies.
"This is a tower no longer. The wilds have obviously claimed this desiccated corpse. I have watched your progress for some time..."
"You have? Creepy." Rori mutters. At least we can agree on that.
"... Where do they go, I wondered?" the witch goes on, unperturbed by Rori's comment. "Why are they here? And now you disturb ashes none have touched for so long. Why is that?"
"Don't answer her!" I hurry to say before Rori can invite the woman for tea and cookies to have a little chat. "She looks Chasind. And that means others may be nearby." I look around for hidden archers or warriors but can't detect any amongst the trees or behind broken pillars and crumbled walls. Doesn't mean they aren't there.
"Oh, you fear, barbarians wiil swoop down upon you." the darkhaired witch mocks me. Oh, she can make fun of me all she wants. Caution has never killed a man before.
"Yeah, swooping is bad." I mutter.
''She's a witch of the wilds she is, she'll turn us into toads!'' Daveth squeaks. Darkspawn couldn't shock him, this witch is a completely different story. My sentiments exactly. With darkspawn you at least know what to expect.
''Witch of the wilds? Such idle fancies, those legends. Have you no minds of your own?'', the witch sneers, sounding both bored and unnerved. ''You there!" She motions at Rori, looking a bit confused and lost. "Women do not frighten like little boys, tell me your name and Ishall tell you mine.''
''My name is Rori Elissa Cousland of Highever...," she promptly replies, first time giving away her noble background. It's just the way she holds herself, refusing to look away when Jory and Daveth shift their weight uncomfortably and I am as tense as a strung bow. Templar paranoia. "Err... just Rori will do...," she murmurs, running her fingers through her hair uneasily, her expression changing from cocky to grief-stricken. "A pleasure to meet you!''
''Now that is a proper civil greeting, even here in the wilds! You may call me Morrigan.'' The witch seems both impressed and amused by Rori's behaviour. I'm neither.
There's no need for Rori or me to tell the witch what we are here for, she knows perfectly well about what has been in the chest - and is here no longer... wait! How would she... ? Oh! That mean, nasty, thieving...!.
"Here no longer. You stole them, didn't you? You're some kind of sneaky witch thief." I am too upset to think straight. Okay, some will claim I hardly ever think straight at all... sometimes I myself wonder about my ability of thinking straight... anyway... let's get those treaties back.
"How very eloquent." The witch mocks me again. She and I certainly won't become friends easily. Actually... never. "How does one steal from dead men?
"Quite easily it seems. These documents are Grey Warden property and I suggest you return them." I try with being stern. Considering how Rori rather unsuccessfully tries to bite back a grin, I am a complete failure.
"I will not for it was not I who removed them." the witch snaps. "Invoke a name that means nothing here any longer if you wish, I am not threatened.'' Hey! The Grey Wardens means everything everywhere! Especially during a Blight! I sulk, crossing my arms in front of my chest. Nasty witch-bitch! "Then who removed them? The way you talk about them, you do know. Would you be so kind as to tell us?" Being a noble woman, Rori has far too good manners even around a witch of the wilds. ''twas my mother, in fact.'' Her mother!? Another witch for sure. There must be a nest around here somewhere. "Could you take us to her?" At least Rori leaves Morrigan impressed by both her politeness and her quick conclusion that we have to seek out Morrigan's mother. I don't like that. Not a bit.
"I'll be carefull. First it's 'I like you' and then ZAPP - frog time. We should get those treaties... but... I dislike this. Morrigan's sudden appearance is too convenient."
I add insane to Rori's characteristics when she suggest we should follow Morrigan to meet her mother without any further discussion. Daveth and Jory look at me for a sign of approval. I am torn. My templar training makes me distrust mages in general. This one here is even worse. She is out of control, an apostate, maybe even a maleficar. If anybody had asked me to draw a picture of an evil maleficar it would have turned out as one of Morrigan. Well, the stickfigure version of Morrigan. I can't draw at all.
Rori doesn't wait for me to make a decision. She just prepares to leave. I haven't taken the lead of our little party when we entered the wilderness. I am not a leader type. I prefer to follow. Rori picked up as if she has never done anything else when none of her male companions seemed willing to take over. She points the direction and we follow. Then there's the way she holds herself, talks, walks. She said she's just one of the boys and she's far from holier-than-thou. Still, I'm not surprised that this girl turned out to be more than a commoner.
"Follow me...," The witch notices my hesitation and frowns. Rori beckons her to wait. She takes my arm and pulls me aside.
"What is it, Alistair?" she whispers. I can tell she's concerned and that's kinda sweet.
"You don't really consider this an option, do you?" I hiss.
Rori shrugs as she casts a look over her shoulder at the outrageously undressed witch. "She knows where the treaties are. Without her we will never find them. So yes, I think she is our best option. And unless you want to try your luck with taking her captive and squeeze the information out of her, follow her is what we will have to do,"
"She is a witch. I don't trust her." When I told Rori to be careful, running straight after the witch to lead us deeper into the wilds was not what I meant.
"You've been raised to become a templar. I would be surprised if you did trust her. I don't know much about mages. We had a nice old grandpa mage at home when I was small. I once drew a grinning face onto his bald head with coal when he had dozed off. He used magic to make the cutlery dance for my entertainment. That summarizes my experience." She furiously blinks back her tears when they begin to well up in her eyes at the memory of her home. "See, I don't trust her either," she goes on, her voice sounding a bit choked. "Still, I don't have any better idea how to retrieve the contracts. Do you?"
I am astonished that she finally has told me something about herself, even more that she recalls that I've almost become a templar. Sure, she asked and I told her. But I am not used to people actually listening much to what I say. It's just Alistair babbling.
"I don't want to end my life as a frog. Green has never been my favourite colour. It makes me look fat."
Rori sighs in exasperation. She even rolls her eyes at me. That's the kind of effect I have on people. Then she does something so unexpected that I would have never seen it coming. She takes my face in her small hands and looks me deep into the eyes. There is a determination in her gaze that makes me recall what Duncan said about her. I feel like someone has just pulled the rug out from under my feet. Strangely I am not falling. I float. "If you get turned into a frog I'll just kiss you and you'll be yourself again. I will not allow any witch to hurt you in any way." Thus said, she lets go of me but her gaze still holds mine.
That is the moment when I gawk at her like a retard and my jaw drops open. It is also the moment for me to blush deep crimson. Rori just looks at me, innocently unaware of what she just did to me. My eyes involuntarily are drawn to her rosebud lips. Ser Jory is complaining about the cold. I don't get it. It's incredibly hot here.
If she hadn't sounded so serious, I'd think she was making fun of me. She took the jesting route, talking about kissing a frog - and still...
I still stand there and stare when my companions have already fallen into line behind Morrigan. Rori has to come back for me and nudge me.
"Can we go now? Alistair? Hey, are you listening?"
"Hm? Oh, yeah, yes, lets go before I have time to change my mind."
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In good times and in bad