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How to Adopt a Warden and Other Tales	By : Royality Category: +A through F > Dragon Age (all) > Dragon Age (all) Views: 2658 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Dragon Age, nor the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
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In truth, Izarre never liked the elves. It wasn’t that he had anything against them personally, but being elf-like among other humans always made him an outcast. ‘Beautiful’ was what they called his long moonlight-colored hair. ‘Mysterious’ was another word used entirely too much to describe his smooth pale skin. Let’s not forget the word, ‘delicate’. Above all, he hated being called delicate. His high ponytail and loose bangs allowed for the rounded ear tips to be seen, which at least stopped the more racist comments about his heritage.
The forest had plenty of low hanging branches for Alistair to move out of the way, but something had been stopping him from doing so. There hadn’t been any sort of hands offered when crossing rickety bridges or any running ahead to check for signs of trouble. In fact, Alistair continued to hang in the background, fiddling with some flower he had picked and kept his mouth shut. This was a reprieve for Morrigan, who relished in the newfound silence, but Izarre felt uneasy about it. This wasn’t like Alistair at all.
“So, I guess we’re going in there?” Morrigan said as she pointed out a ruin in the distance. “I can smell dog shit from a mile away. This seems as good of a place as any to hunt for the rest of those cursed wolves that keep trying to slaughter us.” Izarre gave a nod as he led the group inside. Being his first ruin, he assumed that what they found in its depths was normal. There were demons from the Fade, reanimated undead bodies, and lots of random scribbles regarding some ancient civilization that supposedly housed both elves and humans.
“Why are there so many ghosts here?!” Leliana said in frustration as they had passed what had to be their third or fourth encounter.
“Looks like the Veil is torn quite a bit,” answered Morrigan. “Do you know what that is Warden or does your mage denial make you just another ignorant apostate?” Izarre shot Morrigan a nasty glare for such a comment, as did Alistair.
“I know what the Veil is,” Izarre stated plainly as he walked causally though the ghostly images with a bit of annoyance in his step now. It didn’t take long for the group to finally make their way down to the bottom of the ruin where Izarre’s suspicions were confirmed, but eventually put to rest as the curse was ended. Alistair found himself impressed with the mercy Izarre had given to the humans.
“’We all struggle with our nature’…,”Alistair mumbled as he paced back and forth in front of the fire pit at camp. Izarre was busy setting up the inside of his own tent a few paces away, but Leliana heard Alistair’s voice loud and clear.
“It’s a very true statement. He’s young, but there is great wisdom there,” she said with a smile as she walked over. “You’ve been dwelling on that for a while now. Something on your mind?” Alistair looked up and smiled nervously.
“No, well…Yes, actually.” He paused as he looked towards the tent where he could see Izarre’s shadow still shuffling around on the inside. “So…you’re female, Leliana, right?”
“I am? That’s news. When did that happen?” she teased while acting surprised.
“I just wanted some advice.” Alistair moved his gaze towards her. “What should I do if…if I think a woman…or…something…was special and…”
“You want to woo her?” she smiled knowingly. “Or him maybe?” She asked as she looked towards the tent herself. “Here’s a good tip: You shouldn’t question them about their female-ness,” she laughed softly. “Or lack thereof.” Alistair sighed, feeling as if he already had messed that one up back at Ostagar.
“All right, yes. Good point.” With a tilted head, Leliana became more serious.
“Why do you ask? Are you afraid things will not proceed naturally?”
“Why would they?” Alistair frowned. “Especially when I do things like ask women if they’re female.” Putting an armored hand to his face, Alistair just rubbed between his eyes, but the hand was taken down in comfort by Leliana.
“It adds to your charm, Alistair,” she assured him. “You’re a little…awkward. It is endearing.”
“So,” Alistair asked as he raised his eyebrows in confusion. “I should be awkward? Didn’t you just say not to do things like that?”
“Just…Be yourself. You do know how to do that, don’t you?” Finished laying down his bedding, Izarre soon emerged from the tent and Alistair quickly pulled his hand away. It was then used to shoo Leliana away.
“All right, forget I asked.” Leliana smiled with a nod and stepped away as Izarre walked up. He was curious to what that was all about, but thought it best not to ask. “Iz, here. Look at this. Do you know what this is?”
“Iz?” questioned Izarre at the new nickname, but looked to see that Alistair had that flower still. “Your…new weapon of choice? You’ve been thumbing that for a while now.”
“I picked it in Lothering,” Alistair smiled looking down at it while carefully petting the delicate red petals. “I remember thinking, ‘How could something so beautiful exist in a place with so much…despair and ugliness?’ I should have left it alone, but then the darkspawn would come and their taint would just destroy it. So…,” he paused as he looked towards the other Warden.
“So?” Izarre asked, trying to figure out what was going on. He crossed his arms and took a step back defensively. “What do you intend to do with it?” Alistair hesitated with his answer.
“I thought that I might…give it to you, actually.” Izarre gave an even more puzzled look. “In a lot of ways, I think the same thing when I look at you.” The puzzled stare turned to shock before turning to anger.
“So you think of me as…what? Some gentle flower?” It was obvious that he was offended but Alistair was quick to make it right.
“A gentle flower?” Alistair laughed. “No, I…don’t know that I’d put it that way.” Izarre’s face softened a bit, but he still looked peeved. “I guess it’s a bit silly, isn’t it?” Alistair sighed trying to make amends. “I just thought…here I am doing all this complaining and you haven’t exactly been having a good time yourself.” Izarre’s arms at least uncrossed at this. “You’ve had none of the good experiences of being a Grey Warden since your Joining.”
“There are good experiences?” teased Izarre in a half-joking manner, but Alistair gave a nod.
“I thought…I don’t know,” Alistair paused for a second as he rubbed his chin while looking away. “Maybe I could say something.” His eyes finally came back to stare into the confused jade orbs. “Tell you what a rare and wonderful thing you are to find amidst all this…darkness.” With that, Izarre finally smiled with the rose in hand at his side. He took a flirtatious step forward, holding it up to Alistair’s chest.
“So,” he smirked a bit while looking up into Alistair’s eyes. “Are we married now?” Alistair felt his face flush as he took a confident step backwards.
“Ha! You won’t land me that easily!” Izarre took a step back as well, almost as if he was ready to meet the challenge. “I guess it was, uh, just a stupid impulse, but…I don’t know. Was it…the wrong one?” The flower was examined by the shorter young man for a moment before he playfully placed it to rest behind an ear. The brilliant crimson stood out amongst the white hair like a fresh blossom of blood. His face was also a bit pink as his light skin easily displayed the growing blush.
“No, it wasn’t. Thank you.” Alistair sighed in relief, feeling a burden lift from his shoulders and a boulder of nerves vanish from his gut.
“I’m glad you like it. Now…if we could move right on past this awkward…embarrassing stage and get right to the steamy bits, I’d appreciate it.”
“Sounds good,” Izarre said as he turned to look at his freshly prepared tent.
“Bluff called! Damn…Saw right through me.”
“Why…must it be a bluff?” Taking another step forward, they were nearly pressed together now.
“Well, it doesn’t have to be…” Looking at the tent, Alistair suddenly cleared his throat as he had been obviously considering as much. “I’ll be…I’ll be standing over here. Until the blushing stops…Just…Just to be safe.” His posture straightened. “You know how it is.” A forced laugh came from Izarre as he took a few steps back.
“Right. You get first watch then,” he winked with a smirked and turned to head towards his tent.
Alone.
And gave a wave before crawling inside.
Still alone.
Once out of sight, Alistair released his held in breath so hard that he had to squat down to the ground before being able to lift his body up to stand again.
(AN: A few lines of dialogue have been taken directly from the game or have been paraphrased from game dialogue. Anything recognizable as game dialogue is not mine, and I bow to the Bioware writing team.)
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How to Adopt a Warden and Other Tales