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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
- 41
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- 43
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.
Chapter rated M (mature) 18+ for adult content.
Please do tell me what you think so far of the story! I would love to know your opinions!
Thank you all so much for your continued readership! It means so much!
Translations:
Mi bella: Antivan. "My beauty." Endearment Zevran uses for Riel.
Emma lath: Elvhen. "My love."
Ma vhenan: Elvhen. "My heart."
Mi diosa: Antivan. "My goddess."
Queridos dioses, te amo: Antivan. "Dear gods, I love you."
Estoy desesperadamente enamorado de ti: Antivan. "I'm desperately in love with you."

Night lilies. As they bloom under the light of the full bloom after a warm summer downpour.
That was the smell that Zevran came awake to. The same scent that had burned itself into his senses from the very first moment. It was what haunted his dreams at night and how he always knew where she had been. And right now, it covered him. Her scent. That which was unique to her and her alone, just as everything else was about her.
Smiling to himself, Zevran let himself bask in the peaceful calm of the moment. With her soft body nestled in next to his, and his arms wrapped around her, it was everything he had ever dreamed. To be hers, that was simple. He was lost to her the moment that he first saw her. However, for her to be his…. That was the dream. That was the miracle. The gift from the very gods themselves.
Please gods, if this is a dream, do not let ever me wake up, he prayed silently, keeping his eyes closed.
"I can feel you smiling…"
"You can now? Perhaps I shall endeavour to smile quieter, so to keep from waking you," Zevran replied with a soft laugh.
"How does a person smile quieter?" she giggled against his chest.
"Alas, I do not know. However, I shall have to find a way. If only so it could please you and extend your much needed rest."
Riel laughed softly as she moved closer to him. She then rubbed the tip of her nose against his chest, followed by several kisses that found the dark swirls there. Zevran moaned despite himself, his arms wrapping around her tighter. "I actually like the way you smile," she whispered against his skin before delivering several more soft kisses.
"That is very good to know, mi bella. However, you do still need your rest," Zevran replied before a deep moan escaped his lips. She had taken his nipple in her mouth and lightly ran her teeth along it. "Ahh… Perhaps rest is not what is on your mind, however," he chuckled.
Riel rubbed her cheek against his chest, a soft smile on her lips. "I just love being with you, Zevran. I missed this so much."
Zevran gently lifted her chin up so he could look into her eyes. "So did I. It tore at me to force myself away from you. To see you hurting yet not being able to comfort you…" Zevran caressed her lips with his thumb as he looked down at her, his eyes misting from his memories. "To know that I was the cause of your tears… That was perhaps the worst of it all."
"You make me smile too, Zevran. More than I ever have before." Riel then leaned up and kissed him, running her tongue along his bottom lip. Running her hands up his back until she could weave them through his golden blonde hair, her nails lightly scraping against the back of his neck. Riel felt him deepening the kiss, his body responding to her soft touches.
Riel pulled him on top of her, cradling his hips between her legs. She knew he wanted her. Could feel his length pressing into her abdomen. And she loved it all. The weight of him on her. The feel of his hands as the glided over her skin to cup and massage her breast. The way he kissed her with desperate passion. She even loved the way his hard shaft pulsed and twitched for her, aching for her as much as she ached for it.
"Make love to me, Zevran…" she whispered against his lips.
"When you are ready…" he purred in response, his hand dipping down to cup her core in his palm.
"I am ready now…" she hissed back. Riel then reached down and took his length in her hand, lightly running her fingers along it before guiding it into her.
"Mi bella!" Zevran cursed out in pleasure as he filled her.
Riel locked her legs around his hips, lifting and gliding herself underneath him as his back arched and eyes squeezed shut. "Look at me, Zevran…" she softly pleaded, her voice begging. His eyes snapped open as he looked down at her, a mixture of desire and shock on his face. "Broken…. not fragile…." she repeated up to him, her hand coming to caress his cheek.
Zevran smiled down at her, his eyes sparkling with lust and love as he mesmerized her face. He then leaned down and kissed her passionately, his mouth and tongue ravaging her expertly. When he surfaced for breath, he stared into her eyes, their noses almost touching.
"Even the broken can be fixed, mi bella…." he purred lustfully, moving his hips in delicious ways against her. Zevran then placed kisses all along her jaw, gently biting and nipping at the skin there before lowering his head and doing the same to her neck.
Riel moaned softly, her fingertips pulling and clawing at his back as he made love to her with hard yet sure strokes. The way their bodies glided together seamlessly, as if each were made for the other. And with each movement he made on top of her, Riel felt herself get even closer to the sweet release he had taught to her have. That he alone had ever given her.
"Emma lath…." Riel breathed heavily against his skin.
One of Zevran's hand slid up the side of her body and took hold of her own hand, their fingers lacing together beside Riel's head. "Find your peace in me, mi bella…." he whispered huskily against her neck.
Zevran increased his pace, lifting their clasped hands to rest above Riel's head. He then ducked his head down and took her breast into his mouth, gently suckeling and laving the nipple there. And when he softly ran his teeth against the perk flesh, he felt her come apart under him. His name a hoarse cry on her lips as she shuddered and drove her hips against his, her insides clasping onto him tightly.
"Yes, mi bella… that's it…" Zevran murmured. "Queridos dioses, te amo..." he whispered a moment before his own release shattered through him. "Estoy desesperadamente enamorado de ti."
Riel smiled, holding him to her as she felt him drape small kisses along her neck and shoulder. Her fingers lightly scraped over his back, following a lazy and undefined pattern. "I love you too, ma vhenan."

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Riel and Zevran stayed like that for a long while, slipping in and out of sleep as the hours slowly went by. It had been so long since either of them had gotten any true amount of rest, and neither Zevran nor Riel were in a hurry to leave their tent and once again face the world outside. Instead they held on to each other, caressing and loving each other as they slept or dozed happily.
Only when a slight rumble could be heard coming from Riel's stomach did Zevran pull himself away from her. Looking down at her smiling face, he once more felt his heart swell in his chest. How the gods had gifted him with her. And with any gift, it must be well cared for, especially one as precious as she was.
"It seems mi diosa is need of food," he crooned, gently running his fingers down her cheek.
"A part of me wishes I didn't have to face them," she confessed, her eyes misting.
"How so?" Zevran asked, concern filling his features.
Riel's eyes dipped down, focusing instead on the tattooed swirls over his heart. "I don't want to be treated different, Zevran."
"And you think they will?"
"I've seen the way people look at elves. They way they are abused. Not just elves either, but human women as well. Looking at them as if they are these helpless victims…."
"Mi bella, you are far from helpless," Zevran purred, bringing his fingers up to his lips. "What happened wasn't your fault. Never think otherwise."
Riel remained quiet, her mind thinking on his words. Would they still follower her after what happened? Aren't leaders supposed to be strong? Aren't they the ones who are supposed to save people? Not the other way around?
"How about this…" Zevran stated after seeing her continued distress. "I will go and fetch you some food and drink. Then I will return in here, where I will continue to hold you while you eat. Afterwards, perhaps I ravage you some more, and then, more sleeping!"
Riel laughed at the way his eyebrows wiggled at her. "Ravage me, huh?" she asked playfully.
"But of course! We must put that energy you gain through food to some use after all…" he replied with a suggestive wink.
"And what about the others? And the war? And the Blight?" she playfully snapped back. "We can't cuddle away the whole Blight you know!"
"No, perhaps not…" he replied, feigning hurt. "However, perhaps all the Archdemon needs is a good cuddle. And I happen to very good at cuddling. Or so I assume considering how happy you look right now."
Riel laughed again, rolling her eyes at his silliness. "I am very happy. Although I don't think the Archdemon just needs a cuddle."
"Fighting it is," Zevran replied with a heavy sigh. "So, if we are to do battle, then I must see to it that mi diosa is well fed and cared for, no?"
"Which also means getting up and facing the world…" Riel groaned, sitting up from the bedroll.
"If you insist, mi bella. However, I am perfectly happy to fetch you something to eat," Zevran crooned, kissing the back of her shoulder. "And if you stay in here, then I get to keep you naked. I much preferable state for you to be in, in my humble opinion that is."
"I suppose I could go check on everyone without getting dressed first," Riel teased back. "Although I might permanently blind several of our companions in doing so."
Zevran pulled Riel back down to the bedroll, his hand coming up to rest on her cheek. "They would be blind only because I would have to gouge out their eyes for looking on you so luridly. For none of them are worthy of such an honor as to witness you in your naked glory," he purred before leaning down and capturing her mouth.
"Mmm, keep this up and that Archdemon might just have to kill himself after all," she giggled softly against his lips.
"Riel, I am sure you could convince even the greatest of foes to willingly fall on their blades just to see you smile the way you are now."
"And I am sure you could charm a Reverend Mother out of her robes…" Riel quipped.
"Now that you mention it…. There was this one time in Antiva…"
"Zevran!" Riel exclaimed, smacking his chest lightly.
"What? I was just about to say-"
"Nope, don't want to hear it."
"And here I thought that you enjoyed listening to my stories," Zevran replied with a pretend pout. "It is just as well. I sure there are other things I could do with my tongue that you would find even more enjoyable…"
"You are incorrigible," Riel grinned, shaking her head.
"Only with you, mi bella," Zevran replied, suddenly serious as he looked down at her. "You are the only one I have ever been free to be myself with. With the Crows, even in our relations, we are taught to always expect a knife to our ribs. To never let our guard down, lest another more ambitious one grow jealous of our position." Zevran caressed her face with his fingers, lightly running the tips over the whole of her smiling beauty. "We were all disposable, like any weapon or blade. So we had to remain always sharp. Always ready to fight." He paused, his fingers over her lips as he looked into her silver eyes. "With you, I am a man, not just a weapon. You have given me value, mi bella. A true purpose. Something that I never thought that I would have. Or even wanted."
Riel took his hand and kissed the inside of his palm. "You always had value, Zevran."
"With you, I do. And as long as you breathe, I will use everything I was ever taught to protect and defend you." Zevran leaned down to kiss her, yet before their lips met, Riel's stomach again growled loudly. Zevran smiled broadly, his mouth just a hairsbreadth away from her own. "It would seem that I need to feed my lovely Warden…"
"I'm sorry," she giggled shyly.
"Never, mi bella. I am, after all, lacking in my duties!" Zevran exclaimed with a smile, pulling her up to a sitting position. "As your devoted follower, it is a travesty that I have let you go so hungry! A crime that I must see to correct at once, if I am to retain my honor and my standing as a gentleman."
"Okay, just let me-" Riel started before her smile instantly faded and her features darkened.
"What is it, mi bella?"
"My armor…. I was wearing it when…" Tears formed in her eyes as the memories came back to her. Instantly Zevran was at her side, his hand cupping her cheek as he looked into her eyes. "It's back where-"
"Shh, shh…." he whispered, cutting her off. "I have an extra tunic here for you to wear. And we are too far from Redcliff. When we arrive there, I will gladly buy you whatever you need to replace what you lost."
"I can't fight in just a tunic, Zevran!" she cried, tears welling in her eyes.
"Then I simply will have to fight for you, won't I, mi bella? That is, after all, what a man does when he loves a woman, is it not?"
"Zevran…" Riel groaned in frustration. She hated being useless. And without her armor, she was more than useless. She actually became a liability if they came across a fight. She would have to stay back and be protected like Bodahn and Sandal… As if she were a child, defenceless and powerless….
"Look at me, Riel," Zevran stated firmly, pulling Riel out her spiral. "I will protect you. As I always have done," he paused, reaching for the a pair of blades close by. He then handed them both to her, making sure to put her hands properly on each grip. "You will not be defenceless. You will have your blades, as well as my own."
"Thank you," she whispered, her voice wavering.
Zevran smiled broadly before leaning in and placing a quick kiss against her lips. "Always, mi bella," he replied with a wink. "Now, I am off to fulfill my other duties as your devoted follower. Namely that of procuring you a meal worthy of those beautiful lips of yours." Riel smiled as she watched Zevran quickly dress in his trousers and tunic. Once his boots were secured on his feet, he took hold of her cheek once more and kissed her softly. "If you do wish to come out, that is always up to your own desire. And I will simply hold you while you eat by the fire, waiting until later this evening to ravage you properly."
Riel laughed softly as he winked at her before disappearing out of the tent. Shaking her head, Riel set aside her blades and pulled Zevran's bag to her.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"Why, Maker…? Why?" Alistair hissed to himself once more. Maker knows how many times he uttered that question, praying to the heavens above in some futile hope of being answered. Not that he actually expected one. No, it seemed that when it came to his own personal requests of the deity, the Maker decided that was the time to show his absence. Whereas what sneaky assassins wanted and desired…. Well, the Maker sure was bestowing that bastard with ample good graces, wasn't he?
Alistair paused in his pacing and sighed deeply. It wasn't the Maker he was angry at. In truth, Alistair was even growing tired of being angry at the assassin. True, he still hated him. And he certainly didn't trust him. But there was also no mistaking how happy that he was making Riel. Even if it was all fake. Even if it was all a trap. Right now, she was happy. And that just pissed Alistair off more.
He should have been the one to save Riel from those slavers. It should have been his blade that sliced open their bellies and left their innards out to bake in the morning sun. Not that was all that happened to the sods who assaulted their dear leader. Alistair inwardly shuddered, his mind once again bringing up the nightmarish scene he and Leliana had come across in the early morning hours.
Three men - or, what Alistair presumed to be men - strung up and displayed in full grotesque horror. The two men merely having their facial features carved away and missing. The third… Dear Maker… And Leliana was so positive that for at least part of what he endured, the man was still alive too. If there was ever a reason to fear what Antivan Crows did, that image alone would have been enough to even give the Darkspawn pause.
And yet, after what he had learned of what had happened to Riel, Alistair couldn't fault the assassin for it. For everything they disagreed on and how much they hated each other, Alistair found himself actually happy that the men who did such horrible things to Riel had suffered like that. Alistair only wished that he had been the one to put them to the blade. Not that he would have done such a - thorough - job as the assassin, most likely. Still, the rage he felt at learning of what she endured…. It still burned like hot fire inside of his chest.
"Good morning, Zevran," Leliana smiled brightly, bringing Alistair's gaze up.
The ex-Templar and now fully Grey Warden male had been pacing near Bodahn's wagon, waiting for when Riel would be alone. Eventually, surely, at some blasted point that bastard of an elf would leave Riel's tent, right? Leave to take a piss or grab some food or do something that would take him away from her tent, and give him the opportunity to talk to her on his own. Yet the hours kept passing, and still the two of them stayed hidden within.
Worse yet, Alistair had even heard…. sounds…. coming from inside the tent. More than once too. Sounds that made his blood run cold even as his temper blazed hot fire. Yet both times when he tried to approach the tent, that damnable hound would raise his head, growling at Alistair as if the human was a tasty chunk of meat rather than a travelling companion! Even from dead asleep, and no matter how hard Alistair attempted to quiet his movements, that sodding dog would somehow know. Waking up and baring those far too sharp teeth of his, a growl of warning being made clear if even the sound wasn't overly loud.
Stupid mabari! Alistair cursed once more.
Now though…. This was what Alistair had been waiting all morning for. That elf had left the tent, the hound was lazing by the fire, and by all rights he should be free to approach and speak to Riel. Right…. If only he had figured out precisely what he was going to say to her in all that time he had been waiting.
Alistair spotted the elf disappear towards the creek they camped by, and knew that his time was wasting. If he wanted any chance to speak with Riel without that bastard around, he needed to do so now. Or Maker only known when he'll get another chance. Steeling himself, Alistair ran his hand through his hair and approached the tent.
"Riel? Are you-" Alistair stopped as the tent flap opened once more and Riel stood free from it. Maker's breath…. She looked horrid. A busted lip, and a badly bruised cheek leading into what was most certainly going to be a black eye in a few more hours. There were scratches on her face and neck, as well as her arms and chest too. Yet for of that, she still smiled. Smiled! Well, that is until she saw Alistair standing less than a foot away from her. Then that mesmerizing smile of hers disappeared quickly as her inner defences came up and she regarded Alistair with cold eyes.
"Oh. Alistair," she started, her eyes immediately searching out the area, looking for something. Or more accurately, someone. Yet when her amazingly beautiful eyes didn't find what they searched for, they came back to rest on him. A fake smile turning the corners of her lips up as she attempted pleasantness.
"Good. You're… You're awake. That's good. So are you. I mean, looking good. I mean, you look good, given what happened-"
"Alistair, is there something you needed?" Riel interrupted, her voice not even bothering to hide her annoyance.
"Yes! Right! I actually wanted to talk to you about what happened. If that's okay."
Riel folded her arms over her chest and narrowed her eyes on him. "What is there to talk about?"
"Well, for starters, I have to ask you what were you even thinking going running off like that?" Alistair cursed at himself as soon as the words were free from his mouth.
Right…. so not the way I wanted to say that….
"What was I thinking?" Riel huffed out indignantly. "I guess I wasn't really thinking. Is that what you want to hear? I had something that I wanted to discuss with Zevran, and I left to go look for him."
"And it couldn't wait until he got back to camp?" Alistair replied back, his annoyance feeding off her own.
"It was important, Alistair," Riel said with a roll of her eyes.
"I would hope so! Seeing as you left without even taking any weapons with you or telling anyone where you were running off to!"
"Leliana knew where I was going!"
"In search of Zevran! In the middle of the night! Without weapons, I might add!" Alistair knew his temper was rising, yet as always when it came to Riel, he just couldn't seem to reign it in with her.
"Yes! It was stupid! I know that! And I payed for it!" Riel spat at him, her face coming within a few inches of Alistair's as she yelled.
"Yes, you've paid for it all right! By getting yourself captured by sodding slavers, who didn't waste any time raping-"
**CRACK**
Alistair would look back at this moment and curse at himself, knowing just how justified Riel was in laying him flat out on his black. Right now, his ears were ringing as if it were Chantry morning service and his head was the bell. Not to mention the splitting pain that screamed in his right side of his face, letting him know that Riel's left hook was still as deadly as it was back in Lothering.
"You bastard…." Riel angrily spat out, her eyes glaring vicious daggers down at the ex-Templar lying on his back on the ground. She then lifted her head, seeing the eyes of the entire camp trained directly on her. Immediately Riel's face flushed, shame and embarrassment filling her. Lifting her chin up, Riel refused to let anyone else her cry. She was a Grey Warden, damn it! The person supposedly to lead them all in a battle against the Blight!
"Riel, are you-" Leliana tried to ask, but quickly cut off by Riel's raised hand.
"If I remember correctly, there is a stream nearby, correct?" she asked the bard stiffly.
"Y-yes… Just through those trees there," Leliana replied unsteadily, motioning with her hand to Riel's right.
Riel shifted her glance down to Alistair, her eyes going hard. "Just so everyone knows," she began, her voice icy. "I am going to clean up. I assume I don't need your permission, my prince? Oh and don't worry, I'll be sure to bring my daggers this time. In case any more sodding pricks decide they have an inkling for knife ear flesh!"
Riel then stomped past Alistair, who still laid cradling his jaw on the ground. Struggling for a minute almost as if he we a flipped turtle, Alistair grunted and heaved in his bulking heavy armor to stand. When he finally managed to get to his feet, both his shame and pride clogged his throat so thickly he couldn't even get a word passed his lips. Desperately he wanted to call Riel back; to apologize to her and tell her how much as sodding asshole he was being. Yet the words refused to come, even as he watched her small form disappear behind the trees.
"A word. Now."
Alistair looked down at the elderly mage, fully ready to tell the woman to sod off and leave him alone. There was nothing she could say to him that he wasn't already saying to himself at that moment. How much of an idiot he was. How much of an ass he was being too Riel. How badly he screwed up. He knew it all. Damn him, he'd known for quite a while how badly he had been screwing up in the whole conversation part when it came to Riel. Yet there seemed to be nothing he could do about it. Everytime he got close to the woman, his words just never seem to come out right.
"Wynne, I am-"
"Now, Alistair," Wynne stated, her usually soft voice now clipped and hard. She then turned on her heel and started walking away - in the opposite direction of where Riel had just went.
"Go with her Alistair. And listen quickly to what she had to say," Leliana stated from beside the fire, her eyes not even raising to meet his.
"Why quickly? You really think that Riel is going to come back and decide to pull up camp so late in the day?"
"No," Leliana sighed. "I say 'quickly' because you have as much time it takes for Riel to break down and explain why she is upset to when Zevran comes hunting for your heart for you to listen to what Wynne is going to try and explain to you." She then muttered more quietly to herself, "Maker knows that I have tried enough times…"
Alistair grumbled as he walked off, his jaw hurting and his mood dancing on far too many dark thoughts for him to be comfortable with. He knew that Wynne was going to tell him what an idiot he was for what he said. He already knew that. He didn't need her to tell him that. Alistair knew that when it came to Riel, he constantly had his food lodged firmly in his mouth. What he actually needed to know was how to keep himself from doing it again.
Wynne stood waiting for him several feet into the brush that surrounded the camp. With her long mage robes on, white hair coiled in a bun, and her stern wizened old face glaring at him, Wynne looked every bit the scolding teacher who would look upon a pair of rambunctious boys with a disapproving glare. Only Alistair was no boy, and there was only one of him. Still, it brought back far too many memories from his early childhood days for Alistair to be comfortable with.
"That's far enough, young man," Wynne stated coldly, her arms crossing.
"Look Wynne, I don't know what-"
"Hush! Now I think that perhaps you have done enough talking for right now. I think perhaps instead you spend some time listening. And listening well."
Alistair eyed the older woman, unused to the hard tone that she was giving to him at that moment. Normally the woman was all motherly and warm hugs, reminding Alistair of how a kind old grandmother would be. Now however, the thin set of her lips and the disapproving look in her eyes made Alistair think more of the Chantry mothers who used to scold him for misbehaving when he was a child.
"What you said back there was completely uncalled for, Alistair."
"I know that Wynne! It's not as if I actually meant to say that!" he groaned in response, hands pulling at the ends of his hair.
"Then what did you mean to say?"
"You know! That I was glad that she was alright and that I was worried about her and all that other stuff. Yet whenever I open my mouth around Riel, nothing ever comes out right!"
"Alistair, you have to learn that the words that we say to one another have power. What we say to another person has the ability to hurt and destroy that goes far beyond any spell or sword. However, our words also have the ability to help heal any wound or ease any fear. The words that we say one another have lasting effects beyond anything that we could imagine, both for good or ill."
"I know that, Wynne! What do you want me to do, though? It seems as if everytime I open my mouth around Riel, all I do is end up making her even more upset at me! Even when I am trying to be nice to her!"
"You already know what you want, Alistair. And that is the precisely the problem. You are so focused on what you want and your own actions that you are missing everything else."
"I don't understand."
"You are so busy asking 'what can I do to make Riel happy', instead of simply asking 'what makes Riel happy'." Wynne sighed and rubbed the bridge of her nose, trying to think of a way to explain her meaning to him. "Think of this way, Alistair; when you are given a flower to care for, what is the first question that comes to your mind?"
"Why is someone giving me a flower to take care of?"
Wynne rolled her eyes and pegged him with a glare. "After that, young man."
Alistair scratched the back of his neck as he thought. "Well, I guess I would ask what I'm supposed to do with it."
"If you are given it to care for, then the first question you should be asking is what exactly does it need to live."
"Water, I guess. And sunlight. And dirt."
"Stop telling me what the flower needs, and ask the question, Alistair!" she huffed, clearly annoyed.
"What question?" Alistair spat back, equally annoyed at Wynne's vague statements.
"Alistair, there is a difference between asking 'what do I need to do' and asking 'what does this need'. One focuses on our own actions, the other on what the source is. I could ask all day what I could do to help a flower survive and grow healthy. However, if I do not stop and simply ask what that flower needs - whether I can even do such a thing or not - then the flower will not thrive and grow strong. Whenever I am given a task, the first thing I always ask myself is 'what is that needs doing for this task to be completed.' Only then do I ask myself if I am capable of doing such things. And that is what you are missing here.
You keep asking yourself 'What can I do or say to make Riel happy.' Yet you are missing out on the more important question of 'what makes Riel happy.' Do not focus on what you can do for her, because then it makes the question about you and not her. And when you finally figure out what makes Riel happy, only then will you be able to see whether you are capable of doing something to achieve that."
Alistair stared at Wynne for several minutes, his mind working through her words. If he were honest, he still wasn't exactly sure what the old woman was talking about. Yet he was willing to try almost anything at this point to try and mend the damage that he had caused between Riel and him. He just wasn't sure how anymore.
"Ask yourself this, Alistair. What makes Riel happy?" Wynne ventured after the silence built between them.
"Uh, I don't actually know. Everytime I try to ask her that, she yells at me."
"Well, I know of one thing that makes her happy. At least, when he isn't being a fool himself," Wynne chided with a smile.
Alistair groaned. "The assassin?!"
"You don't have to agree with her courtship with him, but even you have see how much better she has become since the have been together. Even I see how he affected her, and I haven't known her for nearly as long as you have." Wynne took a few steps closer to Alistair, her features no longer scolding but warm and motherly once more. "Let me ask you Alistair, if a flower needs water and sunlight to grow, does it matter who waters and shines down upon it? Or are you willing to smother the flower, trying to give it something that it doesn't need?"
"I should be the one watering the flower…." he grumbled sorely.
"And yet one important lesson in gardening is always be careful to not overwater your plants. They will grow on their own, with their own needs and desires. And if we are lucky, perhaps they will turn their petals to us and smile. However, we must let them determine what their limits are. Not trying to force on them what we think they should be. Doing so will only cause a plant to wither."
Alistair sighed, shifting his feet underneath him uneasily. "So what should I do then?"
"What does Riel need?"
Alistair went quiet as he thought about it. It seemed like such a simple question, yet it might as well have been the whole of the Frostback mountains for how difficult it seemed to solve. What does anyone need? he asked himself.
"A friend. I guess."
Wynne laughed softly. "No, that's good. That is precisely where I would begin as well. So then, what would a friend do?
"Apologize for being such an immense arse for starters," he replied, chuckling. "Yet I think that if I go see her now and try to apologize, I'll probably just get hit again."
"And you would probably deserve it, too."
"You don't hold back, do you?" teased Alistair.
"When it's needed," Wynne smiled. "LIfe is never easy, Alistair. And it is far from fair. But sometimes if we try, it can be rather enjoyable. We must always be mindful, however, that our own desires to do cause harm to others. Sometimes those that we care for most, end up being the ones that we hurt the deepest."
"So what do you suggest? If I go to her now and try to apologize, I doubt she will even listen to a word that I say."
"Perhaps the female Warden is not the first one that you should be making amends with."
Alistair balked at the thought. "You can't honestly mean-"
"Ask yourself this, Alistair; What is more important, your pride or Riel's heart? When you figure that out you will know what to do. Now, I have said all that I can. If you don't mind, I am going to go back to my sewing. Maker's breath, you all go through socks faster than I can keep up sometimes!"
Alistair watched the older woman march away, muttering a curse under her breath. He knew that she was right, although Maker help him actually do what she suggested. To apologize to Riel was one thing. Even if she hit him again, that would still be preferable than trying to put on a smile and play nice with the assassin.
What's more important? Your pride or Riel's heart?
Wynne's words echoed in Alistair's mind as he walked back to camp. He knew what he had to do. And with a silent prayer to the Maker, Alistair hoped he had enough strength to actually do it.
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Vhenan'ara