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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
- 85
- 86
- 87
"Ahhh, an alienage. They're the same everywhere, aren't they?" Zevran exclaims cheerfully, inhaling deeply as he spreads his arms wide as if to embrace our surroundings.
I can't share his enthusiasm.
"This is a real alienage!" The bard squeals and claps her hands. "I've never been in one! How exciting!"
Or Leliana's.
This is the filthiest place of misery and neglect I have ever seen. Eamon's kennels are a palace compared to this. And they smell better. The same is true for its inhabitants.
"It is moments like this when I am grateful for the inability to smell," Shale mutters as she sidesteps a puddle of questionable content as not to stain her red dragon skin sandals.
"And here I thought elves all smelled of wildflowers and sunshine," Oghren grunts, sniffing the air.
"Feeling quite at home, aren't you, my sturdy little friend?" Zevran grins down at him as he takes the lead, having us all follow behind.
"Were your people being thrifty by building this place from refuse?" Sten remarks, taking in the ramshackle huts, the muddy streets - although I suspect it's not all mud we're wading through considering the smell - and the people that reek of misery.
"Err... we're not going to be mobbed, right? That's not something elves do here? Mob people?" I whisper nervously to Rori as we pass by some elves that don't look happy at all to see us.
Rori takes one look over her shoulder at our assembled companions, then at the elves lurking in the shadows. "Let's not give them a reason," she says. If this is meant to soothe my worries, it doesn't work. "Look at them! They have enough problems already. They don't need more." She's been rather silent this morning - and not at all looking forward to our trip to the alienage. As it's Anora sending us here, this could be another trap and us walking right into it - again.
As we get deeper into the alienage, I begin to feel pretty much ashamed.
I thought, I've seen poverty. Boy, was I mistaken! There seems to be quite a difference between human and elvish poverty... Not that I ever wasted much thought on elves and the way they live... To me they always just were there and it seemed so... natural that they would be servants and, well, lower than any human...
I mean, I've never ever called an elf a knife-ear, not even a rabbit. That's just rude. But I've always accepted their fate. The Revered Mother used to say everybody has their place in the world as ordained by the Maker. And this filthy slum, it's the elves' place...
The Maker moves in mysterious ways...
I wonder, if HE ever cared to move here at all.
"Don't!" Rori stops me when I begin to rummage in my pockets when passing by an invalid who on spotting us, calls out to us, claiming he has fought in Ostagar.
"But..." How can she just walk by this misery and do nothing at all?
"We can leave some coins with their Elder later. They will know what is needed most to help their community." That's the teyrn's daughter talking. I can hear it in her voice, see it in the way she holds herself. And the elves see it, too, making room for us to pass through. Rori doesn't even look at them and when she does, it's as if she was looking right through them, as if this misery didn't exist for her. At the same time she's tense as if walking on eggshells.
"You start tossing around coins, you could get mobbed after all," she explains softly, taking my hand in her small one. The way she chews on her lower lip there's yet more to come. I just have to wait patiently until she makes up her mind about telling me. I gently rub my thumb against her palm to soothe her nerves, earning myself a wry smile. Sighing, she finally goes on: "I did that once in Highever. Sometimes Father took Fergus and me with him when he had teyrn business to do with the Elder. It was the second time we went there and I had stuffed my pockets full of coins, I was jingling with every step I took. I thought, I would help them." She inhales deeply, her voice becoming very small. "First there were only a few but there kept coming more and more, pressing in on me. I stumbled and fell and they were all around me, the crowd being pushed forward by those in the back. I panicked, fearing they would trample me. Father and his guards tried to get to me and the crowd panicked when one of them drew his weapon. In the end I was responsible for the deaths of twelve elves and more than two dozen injured."
"But... you were only a child. And... you meant well." I cannot stand how guilty and sad she sounds. Rori didn't want anybody to get hurt. It all just went wrong.
"I was 15," Rori corrects compunctiously. "Hardly a child anymore. Everything that happened was my fault. Afterwards there were riots that got beaten down, more victims on both sides and the teyrn's work of a decade destroyed. My father had warned me before. But I thought, I knew better and just ignored him. He said, I learnt my lesson. A fool meaning well can cause irreparable harm. I doubt my intentions made it any less tragic for the families. Or any less difficult for my father to regain the elves' trust." She sighs, rubbing her eyes tiredly. "Let's just try and not blow up the whole alienage accidentally, yes?"
Most elves have gathered in the place near the huge tree at the center of the alienage. It's a crowd of frightened, desperate and angry people. We are met with suspicion - when we are lucky - and hostility - when we aren't that lucky. They are pretty reluctant to talk to us shems, so Rori decides, Zevran should take a look around on his own to collect some information.
Meanwhile we stand away from the crowd, trying not to draw any attention or - even worse - trouble... It takes exactly thirty seconds and trouble stumbles upon us - literally - by running straight into me.
"Forgive me," the bald templar exclaims, his bleary eyes are looking right through me. "I didn't see you." I wave my hand in front of his face until Wynne swats it away and scowls at me with that evil teacher look that she always wears when either Rori, Barkley or I misbehave. I grin sheepishly and shrug.
"You are blind," the granny mage observes with sympathy.
"Partially," the templar confirms, introducing himself as Ser Otto. Out of some reason that is totally beyond me, his fellow templars have left this poor man alone to investigate something strange - like he calls it - in the alienage. I feel so sorry for Otto. He has his heart in the right place. And despite being an invalid, he's still here to fight for a good cause.
"Now, that's what I call devotion," Rori mutters. "Cullen would love him!"
"Can you help me?" Otto asks humbly after finishing his story about the disturbing feelings he had that there is something really really evil anywhere close by.
Rori and I look at each other at the same time, nodding our agreement. Some potentially dangerous or even deadly mission that will earn us nothing but some more nightmares? Sure, we're in! That's what we are there for, yes? And what else could we do while waiting for Zevran, stand around and pick our noses? Oghren's already been doing that and then he ate what he dug up...
Ewww!
So Ser Otto it is!
"You sure we're not going to accidentally blow up the alienage that way?" I whisper to my fellow Grey Warden.
"I'm afraid one never really knows beforehand," Rori sighs.
"See, that's what I do not like about decisions and responsibility," I mutter.
"Oh, bloody blast it! Let's give it a try! We can't cause more destruction than the archdemon, can we? And that's what Grey Wardens are there for, aren't they? Okay, actually we're there for the darkspawn but since we're already in the neighbourhood and something strange is happening... who else could they call?" She shrugs and grins sheepishly.
I laugh and whirl her around, singing: "There is something strange in the neighbourhood, who you gonna call?"
"GREY WARDENS!" Rori chimes in with me.
"There is something weird, and it don't look good. Who you gonna call?"
"GREY WARDENS!" we both shout as we come to a halt, bowing to our audience. Sten has another facepalm moment while Wynne just chuckles and mutters: "Ahh, children!"
"Grey Wardens? Didn't you..." Otto begins.
"Lad, you either face the sodding evil with these crazy nut-lickers backing you up," Oghren snorts. "Or it's you all alone."
Ah, the choice between the devil and the deep blue sea!
When we walked past the marvellous tree in the center of the alienage earlier, Morrigan said with a voice so mellow, that for a tiny little moment I could see the Morrigan that Rori claims is hiding behind the bitch-witch-front: "A tree planted in the middle of misery? It rather beckons a single, sad little tear, does it not?" I already saw my world crumbling down, everything I used to believe gone, but when Rori decides to help Otto, Morrigan makes it all right again by being, well, just Morrigan. "What are we going to do next?" she groans. "Rescue kittens from trees?"
"At least a kitten wouldn't try to kill us on first sight," Rori laughs, making me wonder if she has ever dealt with a frightened or unwilling cat. She grins broadly at me when I kick the door to the abandoned orphanage open for her.
"Ladies first." I bow to her.
"Thank you, your Highness." She giggles and blows me a kiss.
From that point on everything is a sodding mess - Oghren's words, not mine. Ghosts, demons, more ghosts, more demons. It's so freaking creepy, with the voices of children whispering twisted nursery rhymes - children that aren't there because they are long dead. And when we think we're finally through and nothing, really nothing can happen to us anymore, that thrice cursed whorespawn of a demon kills poor Otto right in front our eyes.
Oh happy day!
"You all look as if you have seen a ghost," Zevran greets us on returning to our meeting point the same time as we do.
"Several," Rori admits with a wry smile. "And demons." She is about to slump down, but one closer look at the ground makes her reconsider and she leans against Shale instead.
"One cannot leave you alone. Not even for five minutes," Zevran observes. He has a redheaded elven woman in tow who turns out to be Darrian Tabris' cousin. She is not as delighted as one would expect to hear from him...
"That two-faced bastard took Kendells' money and left us there at his mercy," Shianni hisses when Rori delivers the message Darrian has asked her to bring his family. "He hopes we're alright? Bullshit! How alright does he think I could be when he knows that son of a bitch Vaughan Kendells raped me! And he did absolutely nothing about it once Kendells offered him coin, that greedy pig! You're delivering messages? Punch that asshole in the face next time you see him!"
"Seems Darrian didn't tell us the whole truth about why he can't return to Denerim," Rori mutters sourly.
"So this one here," Shianni points at Zevran who is lost in a dreamy observation of her bosom, "claims you are here to help the elves of this alienage." She doesn't sound convinced. And the way she scrutinizes us with her arms crossed in front of her chest, she isn't impressed either. "Beggars can't be choosers," Shianni sighs. "You certainly didn't come here for us but whatever reason, if it puts an end to people disappearing, then I'll give you any information you need."
Rori was afraid we could blow up the whole alienage. The only thing we do blow up is Loghain's slavetrade deal with Tevinter. Rori goes for a zero tolerance policy with the slaver boss and evil blood mage Caladrius and at least some of the elves return home safe and sound.
It still doesn't feel like we won here. Maker, how long has Loghain been doing this? And what for? Money? I am so hopping mad, if anybody asked me right now if I made a better ruler than Loghain or his daughter, I'd say: Bloody yes I do! But that's only the heat of the moment. Wait until I sober in about, duh, five minutes and I'll be back to being just Alistair putting his foot in his mouth as soon as he opens it.
"He should have tried with slaying a dragon and stealing its treasure," Zevran remarks, heaving a sigh.
"He was too busy killing his own people in a stupid civil war," I growl. All this effort and energy wasted on destruction and death when he could have worked on actually saving this nation and its people! I grew up with stories of the Hero of the River Dane, and now - with all the glorification having gone down the drain - I find he's just an obstinate megalomaniac tyrant who seems to have lost all sense of honour and integrity.
It's sad. Really, it is.
What's even more sad - and it makes me feel awfully ashamed - is the elves' reaction on us ending the evil schemes of the Tevinter mages. Wynne and Leliana volunteer to take care of the infected elves, helping wherever help is needed, while Rori stays true to her promise and leaves all the money we took from the slavers and some more with Elder Valendrian. We receive a whole lot of gifts and good wishes in return and I find myself sitting there on a rickety bench beneath the huge tree, accepting the gratitude I don't feel I deserve with a stupid grin frozen to my face.
"Oh, does all the dirt and poverty make you uneasy?" the redheaded elf mocks me mercilessly as she notices how uncomfortable I am. Shianni makes me feel as if the suppression of the elves was all my fault. "That's why there's the high wall built all around this alienage, so that shems like you don't get bothered with our misery."
Ow! Ouch! Her words are like a slap in the face. Maker, I do feel like a complete jerk... probably because I am a complete jerk...
Taking a look around, Morrigan wrinkles her nose. "And these elves allow themselves to be herded together in this filth why, exactly?"
"So many believe it better to live than to die in a rebellion," Shianni comments. Her tone has me presume she is none of the peaceful endurers. She was surprised to find humans would care enough for elves to help them. Then she found out, I am a claimant of the throne and her respect went right out of the window. I can't blame her. Not after what I have seen here...
"Isn't there anything we can do?" I wonder out loud, not sounding like a soon-to-be-king at all. If I end up becoming king... I told you, I would sober, didn't I? I'm back to being reasonable now. Yep, me being reasonable, we all know, that's not going to lead anywhere. Well, not Rori. She is adorably naive when it comes to overestimating me and my abilities.
"Aren't you going to become king?" Shianni snaps, challenging me by staring me straight in the eyes, causing me to become all flustered. Zevran next to me moans loudly. He sits with his elbows propped on the table and his chin resting on his hands and hasn't taken his eyes off Shanni ever since we returned with Valendrian and the other rescued elves.
"Ahh, such a wildcat. Do you think she's as feisty between the sheets?" he murmurs, wetting his lips. "What an intriguing woman!"
Shianni is completely oblivious to Zevran's dreamy looks. She's ranting and I am her target. "Take a close look, your Highness. And remember when you have the power to make a change." Slamming her small fist down on the table, she makes me jump. I grin sheepishly, not sure what to say or do. Merciful Andraste, I'm not yet king and already someone is urging me to make a major decision!
"You know, it's not that easy," Rori points out to her.
"Is it not?" Shianni challenges her but Rori is not in the mood for a dispute. The elven woman wouldn't let her off the hook that easily if not for the little elven girl who shyly approaches us. She's a skinny brat of six or seven years of age, with a snoty nose and dirty blonde hair and huge blue eyes. She's so frightened she's trembling and it's surprising she actually finds the courage to talk to Rori.
"Excuse me," she mumbles, curtseing several times in a row and dropping the ragged lump that turns out to be a plush rabbit when I pick it up for her. I smile at her, but she only stares at me, frozen in fear.
"Aww, that's a real cute rabbit. Does it have a name? I once had a miniature golem doll. I named it Rocky."
"What an incredibly stupid name for a golem," Shale mutters.
"Here, don't be afraid." The girl jumps at my attempt to give the rabbit back to her, then snatches it from me and presses it to her chest. For a moment she seems to have changed her mind, backing away from us.
"People say you are a lady from Highever," she then blurts out. "My mamae went to Highever with Lady Landra. She... she hasn't returned yet..." Her eyes fill with tears and although she wipes them away angrily, she cannot hold them back. "Granny went into the sickhouse and never came back. I'm all alone."
"You're Amethyne, Iona's little daughter," Rori gasps and for a moment the girl's face lights up at the mentioning of her mother's name. Her smile dies, though, when she sees the sadness and sorrow in Rori's face. "I am so sorry," Rori whispers, her voice husky with her effort to keep herself from crying in front of the child. "She won't come back."
The girl stubbornly shakes her head. "Mamae wouldn't leave me alone!"
"She can't come back," Rori whispers. "She's dead. I am so very sorry, Amethyne."
It's devastating to see how the hope in the girl's eyes just die like the flame of a candle blown out by the cold wind. Then she just turns on her heels and bolts away, not listening to Rori calling after her.
Amethyne's plush rabbit lies face down in the mud. This time it's Rori to pick it up, holding it out to her dog. "You have to find her, Barkley."
On our way back to Arl Eamon's our little party has gained one more member.
"I cannot leave her alone. I feel responsible for her," Rori defends her decision to drag Amethyne along. The girl is still so shocked, she hardly comprehends what's happening around her. The only one she interacts with is Barkley. He found her after she ran away. He coaxed her into coming with us and now he even allows her to ride him.
"Sodding mongrel," the dwarf grunts. "He could have carried good old Oghren into battle but he rather plays little pony for a kid." Barkley tilts his head to one side and barks happily, wagging his tail. "Argh," Oghren snorts. "Next she's going to tie sodding pink ribbons to your tail! What are you? A warhound or a lapdog?"
"He is a warhound that believes to be a lapdog," I laugh. I have first hand experience with that oversized puppy squeezing himself in between Rori and me. Or he drops his huge head into my lap and somehow always manages to hit my crotch so hard, he makes me whimper in pain. I swear he does that on purpose. But it's still better than having the whole dog try to sit on Rori's lap whenever Schmooples curls up in Leliana's.
On our arrival at Arl Eamon's estate, Anora already awaits us impatiently. As soon as we stumble through the door, she comes to greet us... Well, actually she comes to greet Rori and acts as if the rest of us is non-existent. Okay, she does acknowledge me with a depreciatory frown.
"It's about time you return," the queen says. "I have to talk to you about you supporting me at the Landsmeet."
"What!?" Rori gasps. She's tired, she's sweaty, covered in gore and dirt and now she's slack-jawed in addition. She's not alone. I dare say we all look like a shoal of gaping carps. "Wait! As far as I recall it's you supporting Alistair! You promised before we went to rescue you from Arl Howe!"
"You cannot expect me to keep a promise made in a state of emergency," Anora snorts as if even considering, she could have at least some sense of honour, was nothing but absurd. "Now it's time for you to stop being childish and do what is good and right for Ferelden."
"Pardon!?" Rori squeaks. "I have absolutely no intention to talk to you after what you did..."
"I came here to talk to you personally," Anora points out, cutting Rori short.
"You shouldn't have bothered!"
"I knew your mother and I do want to believe that there's at least a little bit of Eleanor inside of you," Anora goes on while Rori's face takes on the colour of a very ripe tomato. "I expect you in my room in half an hour. I recommend you make use of that time and refresh yourself. You are... filthy." Thus said, the queen turns on her heels and marches off.
Rori with her fists clenched at her sides looks as if she was about to explode. "Argh!!! I so FUCKING HATE her!"
"Language," Wynne sighs, clapping her hands over Amethyne's ears to protect the girl from hearing any more of Rori's rather explicit outburst that is accompanied by kicking around some more of Eamon's fancy decoration. Isolde will throw a fit when she returns to the Denerim estate.
"I'd consider supporting her," Leliana coos softly once Rori is done freaking out.
"Never!" Rori snaps. "I'd rather place a retarded monkey on the throne than her!"
"That's the most apt description of Alistair you have ever given," Morrigan mumbles.
HEY!
"Rori, darling, she'll never support you. She'll do anything to keep her power. If you want to win against her, you have to make it a case of the biter bit."
"You mean, I should just lie to her?" Rori doesn't sound convinced although she seems to consider the idea.
"You already played that game once in Orzammar," Leliana reminds her, smiling so sweetly it creeps me out. That bard is evil. All the sister act, that's only a disguise. "Make Anora believe you are going to side with her."
"Right now I'd rather strangle her," Rori growls. Zevran, Shale and I lift our hands at the same time to announce we would gladly assist her. "We're like cats and dogs. How in the name of the Maker should I ever convince her I like her enough to back her up?"
"You do not have to like her, darling." Leliana pats her arm comfortingly. "You didn't like Behlen, did you? It's all about politics and tactics. You only have to make her believe that you regard her as the one leader Ferelden needs in these times of trouble."
Rori just snorts.
No surprise there.
I snort the same time as she does.
Now, that... that really is surprising...
- 85
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In good times and in bad