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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
- 51
- 52
- 53
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.
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.
Mi amor: Antivan. "My love."
Da'len: Elvhen. "Little child, or little one."
Dirthara'in ne'vhenan: Elvhen. "Truth dwells in your heart."
Dareth'in lath'in: Elvhen. "Safety dwells within your love."
Ma nuvenin, ma'vhenan: Elvhen. "As you wish, my heart."
Mi amiga: Antivan. "My friend."
Banal'ras Din'an'shiral: Elven. Translates to "shadow death journey." What this clan of Dalish call the Grey Wardens.

The destruction and withering of the once beautiful rolling hills of the Hinterlands gave way to the thickly forested trees of the Brecilian Forest. Almost immediately after reaching the dense wooded area, Riel felt a shift inside of herself. For her, these woods represented the time she had spent amongst her clan. While it was true that her clan, like all Dalish clans, were wanders who travelled the land and never stayed long in any area, these woods here were always Riel's favorite. To her, these forests were her home. And for each the three years that she lived with them, Riel always looked forward to when they would return here every spring.
The forests themselves were massive, taking up almost the whole south eastern corner of Ferelden. Reaching from just south of Denerim all the way down to the Korcari Wilds, and from the southern hills in the west to the Amaranthine ocean in the east. Keeper Marethari had once told Riel that these wooded lands were as old as Arlathan itself, the place where the Elvhen peoples once came from from back before humans ever came to Thedas.
"How are we to ever find the Dalish here? These forests are massive!" Leliana asked as they made their way carefully through the trees.
"The Keeper of my clan kept records of where each clan would roughly be throughout the year. It helped keep us in contact with the others, for either trading or visiting. Over the few years that I stayed with her, she taught me how to read the maps and the records that she kept. While they didn't have exact locations, they would still describe which clans kept to which areas and travel routes. And from what I remember, there should be a clan not far from where we are now."
"Do you think they will even speak with us? The Dalish haven't been known to be most friendliest of people," Alistair stated with a scowl from beside Leliana.
Riel rolled her eyes and bit her tongue to keep from commenting.
Over the past few days, the two Wardens had reached an almost comfortable peace. Alistair had stopped trying to tell Riel what to do, and even seemed to making a real effort to be nice to her. It had helped that his focus now seemed directed at the red headed bard instead of her, decreasing the tension that had been such a constant between Alistair and herself. Alistair was even being almost civil with Zevran, as amazing as that was. However, this new line of behavior from the male Grey Warden still didn't keep him from saying the odd inflammatory or rude comment at times.
"From what I remember of the Dalish near my home of Antiva, they are a very cautious people. They will defend what they see as theirs, especially what they view as their territory. Somewhere we no doubt are, according to our incredibly lovely female Warden. If we do not find them, they will come to us. Of this, I have no doubt."
Riel looked over and smiled at Zevran, once more thankful for his presence. Since accidentally electrocuting him with her magic, things between them taken on a whole new level of complexity. Whereas Riel worried about hurting Zevran and as such shied away from intimacy, Zevran still remained his teasing, charming self. While he never pressured her, every night that they went back to their tent, Riel knew that he hoped for more. Yet the image of how badly she had burned him with her powers clung to her memory, haunting her dreams as well as her waking hours.
"It's amazing how so many elves can live out here, though," Alistair stated as he followed behind Riel and Zevran. "We've been travelling for only a few months, and already I miss having a regular bed and a hot bath. The Dalish live out here all of the time, though. Away from people and civilization."
"The Dalish are civilized, Alistair," Riel replied bitterly. "They just choose to not live in human cities."
"It isn't just humans in the cities though. There are elves and dwarves living in the cities too. Look at Denerim. Many non humans live alongside humans. In fact, I remember Eamon once talking about how inspired he was by the Denerim Alienage. I think maybe he was thinking of creating one for Redcliff."
"A slum to toss their unwanted day laborers and servants? Who wouldn't want that?" she mumbled bitterly to herself.
While her time in Denerim had been limited to where she wasn't able to see the closed off section of the city denoted the 'Alienage', she taught what they were by not just her clan, but by those who had escaped the hellish place to join with the Dalish. Pol, a former city elf, was a young man who had recently joined their clan after spending his whole life in Denerim's Alienage. Before Riel had been forced to leave with Duncan, she would sometimes hang back from the group fire at night and listen to the stories he told of his time there and what life was like for other elves in Thedas.
Outside of the Tevinter Imperium, slavery was technically illegal, but that only meant it required more gold to get what you wanted, and to keep those questioning silent. Even in the 'free cities' of Thedas, elves were still barely considered people by humans. The Alienages themselves were proof enough of that.
Elves did not 'live alongside' humans as Alistair liked to imagine. Forced to live in a walled off section of the city, the elves of Denerim were all poor and had to survive on what little pay the humans of the city paid for menial jobs such as servants or cleaners. It was barely a step above true slavery, as the women were often harassed by drunken human males who sought them for 'sport', and Creators help them if they actually needed protection. The guards would either turn a blind eye to their suffering, or actively participate in the horrors inflicted on the people there.
Pol's own cousin was forced upon by a guardsman, and when she found she was with child from it, took her own life rather than face the consequences of baring her rapist's child. When her family tried to get justice for the girl, they were laughed off, the girl's father beaten for daring to accuse the 'fine upstanding city guard' of such a heinous act. The sad truth was that such treatment was common for elves living in Alienages across all of Thedas, not just there in Ferelden. Few elves ever lived outside of the slums and poverty of the Alienages, and those who did lived as servants or cooks in their master's houses. Those were the lucky ones.
In other places like Tevinter, elves were bartered and sold as actual slaves. And while it was a true a powerful elf mage could rise up the ranks and become a person of power and note, most elves were little more than disposable sacks of flesh to those who owned them. Even other elves held slaves, treating their own people worse than one would treat a dog.
No, life in the city was not not more preferable to living out here in the wild. Here, Riel's people may have to hunt to survive and constantly travel, but they were at least free. The humans did not raid their camps at night and steal away young women, forcing them to do foul deeds before finally returning them the next day, disheveled and crying. They did not take young men and force them to perform hard labor for long hours everyday, paying a pittance of coin while telling them that they should be 'grateful'. And Alistair's occasional remarks about how wonderful these city Alienages were were a very painful thorn in Riel's side every time he brought it up. Which thankfully wasn't all that often, or else she might have gutted the idiot herself by now.
"I wish for a place where all people could live together, no matter their race or where they hail from. Not sectioned off areas like Alienages, but true equality. Where my elven neighbor would have just as much protections and chances as I do," Leliana stated in her usual joyful and happy tone.
"Ha! Good luck with that!" Alistair scoffed. "The nobles would lose their minds. Imagine, not only having to share their space with the lower classes of humans, but of other races! Although seeing their faces would probably be worth it alone. I doubt the elves would even agree to it if they were given the chance. though. They like their whole 'community' thing that they have, from what I hear."
Riel turned on her heel and was nearly run over by Alistair, forcing him to stop abruptly or else knock her down. "You think they enjoy living in the Alienages, Alistair? That they like living the way they do, forced into poverty and near slavery?" Riel was fuming as she confronted him. Even the finger she angrily pointed in his face showed her temper, as a deep swirl of magic gathered around her hands, threatening to break free with a storm of power and energy.
"Mi bella, please, this is not-"
"Well, maybe not all of them like living there," Alistair stated, ignoring Zevran's attempt to speak. "And I would hardly call the elves in the Alienages slaves, Riel. The ones who work get paid for what they do."
"What do you mean, the ones who work?" she spat back.
"Well not all of them do! Many elves are criminals, hiding out in the Alienages among other elves. And if they live in poverty, maybe more of them should seek out work, instead of stealing the coin of hardworking people!"
"Hard working humans, you mean, don't you? Because of course an elf can't be hard working, right?"
"I never said that! The criminals of the Alienages steal just as much from elves as they do from the humans and dwarves! They just are more tolerated in amongst their own people for some reason, instead of handing them over to the guards!"
"The guards would kill them for stealing a loaf of bread to feed their family! Or rape their sisters or mothers as payment!"
"They would not! The men and women of the guard are good people! And if they were in such trouble as to needing to steal food, perhaps they should have found a proper job instead! At the very least, to seek out the Chantry! They help out all people there, feeding and helping the poor, whether they are human or elf."
"The guard you speak so proudly of are rapists and murderers, while you precious Chantry sits back and let it all happen! And who is going to give good work to an elf, Alistair? Your nobles, who even you admitted to despising having to spend their time around elves? Or the normal workers who pay my people as little they can, just to make sure they get a larger profit for themselves while the elves the exploit break their backs working for them?"
"Riel, I think it's best-"
"Alistair, this is not the time-"
Both Zevran and Leliana spoke at once, trying to settle the two Grey Warden's down, yet were both completely ignored by the growing shouting that drowned out their pleadings.
"The elves are not exploited if they refuse to work! There is always something to be found, as you yourself know damn well! Just how much coin have we gathered helping people out and doing odd jobs for them?"
"Payments because I'm a Warden! Believe me, if I came to them as just an elven woman, I would probably be spit on rather than be paid for whatever hard or disgusting job I did for them," Riel sneered, looking up and down over Alistair's body. "By the Void, I'd be lucky to even make a copper, rather than have him just take what he wanted from me as all human males do!"
"So now all human men are rapists now? Why? Because of what you went through? Well believe it or not, Riel, but not all men are like that. Although I doubt you would know that consider how quickly you spread your-"
Alistair went flying backwards a good twenty yards before landing with a deafening crash against a thick cropping of trees. The air surrounding where he had been standing was thick with unspent magical power, sparking in a swell of energy that swirled around Riel in a deadly wave. With her breath coming in quick and short inhales, her whole body shimmered with so much power that it was hard to even focus your eyes on her. The worst of all was her eyes, however. The silver irises no longer shining with humor or even her quiet stoicism that she usually held around the others, they burned with iron grey fury.
"Alistair!" Leliana called out, running over to where he lay unmoving, joined immediately by Wynne.
The rest of their companions remained silent and still, looking at Riel as if a demon had suddenly taken her place. And perhaps it had. For Riel had never felt so angry before in her life. Intense rage roared through her blood as her eyes remained focused on the collapsed ex-Templar in the distance, her body heaving in great breaths. The only who dared to approach her did so cautiously, his hands out to the side as he moved slowly towards her.
"Mi bella…. Everything is alright now," Zevran stated carefully as she stepped closer to her. "He is away from you, and cannot hurt you. However, if you would permit me, I would very much like you to hold you…."
"I am not some whore!" Riel raged, her whole body seething.
"Of course you are not. I ask only to hold you. Nothing else. I swear this to you."
Riel focused her burning eyes on Zevran, her beautiful features twisted into bitter rage. "I know what you want! I know what you all want! It's the same! It's always the same!" Riel's eyes flickered into a softness for a moment as she looked upon Zevran. "You say pretty words, and have nice smiles, but I know what is beyond them!" Tears now formed at the edges of her eyes as her voice broke, her previous rage spent and spiraling into a deep sorrow. "I try so hard! I've always tried! Tried to be good! Tried to be quiet so they would forget! Forget about me and leave me alone for another day." Her eyes hardened again, a shadow of her fury returning as she continued on through gritted teeth. "They always came back, though. No matter how good I was or how quiet I was. Or how much I begged and pleaded for them to stop! They always came back!"
"They are gone now, mi bella. You killed one, and I made sure that the other suffered greatly before he died. They cannot hurt you anymore. And I swear to you, no one will ever hurt you like that again."
Slowly his words managed to break through Riel's fury and memories, his softly accented voice calling out to her. Riel's expression of hatred and pain wavered, a small glimmer of recognition shining in her eyes as she looked upon him.
"Z-Zevran?" she asked, her voice quaking with raw emotion.
"It is I, mi bella. Your ever devoted follower, Zevran…" Zevran took another step towards her, yet Riel immediately pulled one of her daggers free from its sheath and pointed it at him. "Easy, mi bella…. I will never hurt you…." he crooned gently to her.
"No…." she shook her head. "But I could hurt you…" she sobbed, before bringing the blade up to her own throat.
"Riel! Wait!" Zevran called out, taking a few steps towards her. Yet Riel backed away, keeping the blade at her throat.
"Don't come any closer!" she screamed. "I can feel them calling out to me. Their voices are so loud right now! The rage. The anger. The pride. They want me. I know they do. But I can't let them, don't you see? I can't let them. Because then I'll be gone, and they'll be here, and they'll hurt you."
"Riel, listen to me. They cannot take you. The demons can whisper and demand all they want. However, they can never take you."
Riel wanted to believe him. She wanted to be safe again, hidden away from the demons where they couldn't find her and whisper to her. However, their voices were just too strong in her head. Their promises too powerful. The power they said they would give her. The abilities to hunt down every human who had ever hurt an elf like her. The strength to not just topple the Archdemon, but to destroy all the Darkspawn so never again would the Blight return to wreck havoc on the world. All these things and more the voices whispered to her. Promising her their power, for just the chance to come through. To be let in by her, so they could see the world through her eyes.
And as much as Riel knew their promises to be lies…. As much as she knew their world to be hollow and the only thing they would grant her was death before destroying everything she ever cared for…. As much as she knew all of that, their enticing words still rang in her ears and pulled at her weaknesses.
"Riel, look at me…" the Antivan voice echoed in her mind, bringing Riel's eyes back to a pair of honeyed gaze that she knew so well. His smiling features beaconing her, his sweet voice silencing the whispering that ate at her mind. He was just a few feet from her, yet his voice seemed to come from right next to her. From inside of her very mind. "They cannot take you. For you not belong to them, and you never will."
For a brief moment a light shined from behind his smiling face, the light taking the shape of a featureless woman. She too was smiling at her, although Riel wasn't sure how she knew such a thing. Yet like the warm eyes and and sweet voice of the man who spoke to her, this woman was familiar to Riel as well. The calm energy that the light gave off mixing with the loving look the man gave to her, pulling her out of the chaos that swirled in her mind.
No matter their promises, they will never be able to claim you, da'len.
For you are one of mine. And I protect my own.
The familiar words echoes in Riel's mind, mixing and twining with the sweetly accented words of the man who called out to her.
"I will never let them have you, mi bella. I will always protect you."
"Zevran?" Riel whimpered, the blade at her throat falling down to the ground.
Zevran took the last few steps needed to reach her, yet he dared not touch her. Not yet. "I am here, mi bella. And I'm not going anywhere. Please… Will you come to me? Will you allow me to hold you? I swear to you on everything I am, that is all I wish. Just to hold you and protect you. Please…"
Dirthara'in ne'vhenan….. Dareth'in lath'in…. the familiar feminine voice spoke to her from inside her mind.
"I need you, Zevran…" Riel cried softly, slightly opening her arms out for Zevran.
Immediately Zevran pulled her against him, almost crushing her body to his own. A passing thought told him that perhaps he should be gentler with her, and he would be. Soon. Right now though, he needed to hold her tightly. To hear her breath in his ears, and to feel her heart against his chest. Quiet words whispered in Antivan reached Riel's ears as Zevran held her, prayers and statements of love that she recognized from how often he uttered them to her.
"Forgive me for not stopping him. And forgive me for when I kill him," Zevran murmured against her neck.
Despite herself Riel laughed. "Just take me away from here, Zevran. I don't care where. Just somewhere where it's quiet and away from others. I can't deal with others right now…."
"Ma nuvenin, ma'vhenan…." he whispered to her. Zevran then scooped her up into his arms, carrying her weight easily against him.
However when he turned to take her away, he was greeted by a dozen arrows pointed at both of them, all being held by Dalish archers. Quickly Zevran scanned the area, finding most of their companions also similarly surrounded by archers and sword bearing elves. Of in the distance, Alistair was being carried away on a makeshift gurney, with Leliana walking by his side. For a moment her green eyes lifted to meet his, her expression full of regret and sadness. She then returned her attention to the ailing knight being carried by several of the elven warriors.
Zevran put Riel back down on her feet, then positioned her behind him. Keeping one hand on her, Zevran used his other to reach for one of his daggers, his eyes scanning the crowd that now confronted them. To fight so many would be suicide, yet perhaps he could distract them long enough for Riel to get away. He would die, but gods willing, she would live. It was the best he could ever hope for, especially given the numbers that stood before them.
"Hold! I wish to speak!" one of the Dalish hunters called out as she stepped forward from the crowd of archers. This one was blonde, holding a wooden staff as long as she was. "There is no need for bloodshed this day. If you are open, I come bearing no ill will."
"Forgive me, mi amiga," Zevran bit back with a fake smile. "I must be confused by all the sharp and pointy things now aimed at us, then."
The Dalish woman nodded to the archers beside her and they lowered their bows, yet did not remove the arrows that were still notched. Ready to be fired, if no longer aimed directly at his heart. Perhaps that will have to do. At least until he knew the intent of these distant elven kin.
"Your woman. She is banal'ras din'an'shiral." It was a statement, not a question. Yet Zevran wasn't completely sure he understood what the blond mage meant by her use of the old language. Even in all of his travels, he hadn't heard the term before. Still, he wasn't about to offer his Riel up to anyone, elf or not.
"The woman behind me is of no concern of yours, my friend. A servant who I hired. Let her go, and we will have no quarrel," Zevran offered instead.
"Ir abelas," the woman replied, shaking her head. "The Keeper wishes to speak with her. We were sent here for her and her kin, the shemlen male."
"I wasn't aware that elves could have a kinship with humans," Zevran replied, still keeping Riel behind him.
"You would call them Grey Wardens. And it is the evil inside of them that binds them as kin, not their blood."
At this Riel stepped around Zevran, confronting the woman herself. "How did you know we would be here?"
"Our Keeper dreamed of you. Said a power unlike he had ever felt was coming from west during the last days of our journey here. And that it would be carried by the blood of a banal'ras din'an'shiral. It is what he calls your order."
Riel eyed the archers and warriors that surrounded both her and the others. "Quite the welcoming party for one you were expecting."
"We were…." the mage paused, looking to her clan. "We were not expecting you to be one of mage blood. Our Keeper felt the gathering of magic through the Beyond, and assumed perhaps a group of shemlen Templars had entered our forest."
She was lying. Riel wasn't sure how she knew, but the woman in front of her was definitely keeping something from her.
"I saw the other Grey Warden being taken away. Is he…." Riel paused, a small spark of her previous anger coming back as she remembered what he had said to her. "Is he alright?"
"The male lives, but is gravely wounded. Your shemlen healer was tending to him when we arrived. The healer, your kin, and his woman are being taken to our camp where the male will be further tended to." The woman turned her head slightly and looked upon the rest of Riel's companions. "The others are free to come as well, however I ask that if you make camp, you do so here. You carry two mage's in your group. Added to our own, and it would surely be too many for passing Templars to refuse, should they be so inclined."
Riel again scanned her group of companions, noticing for the first time that Morrigan was not part of them. Which would explain why this woman only said there was two mages among them.
"Let me speak with my companions, decide who will stay behind, and then those of us who are coming will follow you back to you clan. Agreed?"
The woman bowed her head. "Agreed." She then nodded once more to the archers and warriors of her clan, and slowly the majority of them peeled away.
"I do not like this, mi bella," Zevran whispered to her quietly.
"We came here searching for the Dalish to aid against the Blight. Whatever problems I may be having…-"
"Are more important," Zevran stated firmly.
Riel sighed heavily, covering her face with her hands. She felt exhausted, both mentally and physically. She had meant what she had said to Zevran earlier - she wasn't capable of dealing with people right now. However, it seemed as though fate had other plans, as it so often did.
She couldn't back away from this, however. Refusing an invitation from the Keeper would be considered incredibly rude, and would probably even endanger what little hope Riel had of recruiting the Dalish to join her army against the Blight. It wasn't as if she could search out another clan either. No others that she knew of were even remotely close by, and even if she and the others could travel and find them in time, this Keeper's clan would have already sent runners ahead telling them of how disrespectful Riel had been, guaranteeing no further help.
No, if Riel was to gain the aid of the Dalish against the Blight, then she had to go with them now and lay down whatever good will she could among them. Whatever her own problems were, they had to wait. She couldn't afford otherwise.
"Perhaps I can arrange only a short meeting with the Keeper. Say that my people need tending to." The image of Leliana's sad face came to her mind. "Creators, I need to see to Leliana…. And Alistair," she groaned.
"And what of yourself? You need to see to your needs, mi bella."
Riel looked up at Zevran and sighed deeply. "I'm…." she paused, trying to force not just the words past her lips, but to maybe even convince herself of it. "I'm fine, Zevran," she finally managed to say, offering him her best fake smile that she could manage.
"Riel, you are not fine…" Zevran replied in frustration.
She looked up at him, her lips turned up in a sad smile. "Maybe. But I have to be. And that is what matters. So please, just help me do one thing?"
"Anything, mi bella…."
"Help me to pretend that I am. Just until I can deal with their Keeper and escape back here to rest. I still need you, Zevran."
Zevran pulled her into a tight embrace, his mind in equal parts torn between the two. One wanting to simply just whisk her far away from all this right now. Take her somewhere so far away that they never even heard of Darkspawn and the Blight and Grey Wardens. Where she can finally be happy and free from all this. And the other part of him…. The part that he knew he would listen to instead, despite how badly he wanted to do otherwise….
"Oh course I will help you, mi bella," he replied, a charming and sweet smile on his lips. Then an exaggerated flourish be bowed low to her, before straightening and offering her his arm. "It would be my pleasure to guide you to the Dalish camp to meet with their Keeper. Then, we are alone again," Zevran whispered, coming up close to her. Gently he cupped her cheek and looked down at her, a broad smile on his face even though his handsome honeyed eyes bleed with sad emotion. "I will tend to you as you so rightly deserve. Perhaps even ravish-..." he paused and winced, remembering her earlier words. "Sorry… I-"
"No…" she smiled falsely in return, her eyes misting. "No, that's good. Good…. And normal." Riel swallowed down her crying, and instead just forced herself to continue smiling. "Come, let's go tell the others of what is happening. It's not good to make the Keeper wait too long. Creators know my own Keeper love to scold anyone who kept her waiting too long. Even for her morning tea," Riel softly laughed.
Zevran gave her his best charming smile as he led her over towards the others. Although it killed him to see his Riel like this, he would do anything for her. Even pretend that he didn't wish to render a certain Templar's bones from his flesh, no matter how very deeply he craved too at that moment.
Once they are free of these Dalish though, and his Warden holds their promise of aid against the Blight, however….
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Vhenan'ara