Adult-FanFiction.org : Games

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
- 87
- 88
- 89
"Alistair..."
"Hmph... mhm..."
"Alistair!"
"I'll... I'll be right there..."
"ALISTAIR!"
I bolt upright in bed, fumbling for my sword. I'm so sleepy, my eyes are puffed and everything around me is just a blurry mess. "Hm? Err... are we... are we under attack?" I stammer confusedly while the room I'm in slowly comes into focus.
"No. I've been thinking..."
No attack? I immediately let myself drop back onto the mattress and pull the pillow over my head. Actually absolutely nobody could mistake my actions for anything but me wanting to go back to sleep. Now.
"Alistair? Are you listening?"
"Huh?" I sigh when the pillow is lifted off my head. "Duh... Ro-rori...? How... how late is it?"
"Why not give her what she wants?"
"Give who what?" I yawn, blinking tiredly while I wait for my brain to start functioning. Morrigan would say, I could wait until the cows come home. And my cows for sure are night crawlers. I don't have no clue what Rori is talking about and honestly, I don't care. "It's... it's still dark outside!" I observe, unsuccessfully trying to stiffle another yawn.
"I couldn't sleep. There's just too much going on, too much to think about." Rori sounds awfully awake. And a little tipsy.
"And you wake me because?" I groan, rolling over to bury my face in Rori's pillow. Hmmm, it smells faintly of verbena. That's the scent my favourite dreams are made off.
It's sometime in the middle of the night and I've been sleeping. Really sleeping... surprisingly well... without any nightmares... and no dog pushing me out of bed... on a comfortable mattress... without anybody trying to kill me... and it's all cozy... no rain, no snow, no freezing cold, no frying heat or blood sucking midgets...
"Anora wants to rule this kingdom, and I was thinking, why not?" Rori goes on, completely unperturbed by my lack of excitement. She for sure is giddy enough for both of us.
"Because you told her you'd rather crown the archdemon?" I mutter, watching her from half closed eyes. She's wearing one of my shirts and it has slipped off her shoulder. Her red curls bounce around her head as if they have developed a life of their own when she scrambles to kneel beside me in bed. She spills some of the wine from the glass she's holding over my head and flops my whole pillow onto my face to wipe me clean. "Hey! That's how you decide to support Anora? By suffocating me with a pillow?"
"So-sorry," Rori hiccups. She's so adorably cute, it's impossible to be mad at her. Or maybe I'm just too tired.
"You're drunk," I observe, more awake by now than I actually want to be.
"It works for Oghren. Why shouldn't it work for me?" Rori slurs cheerfully. "We're both small redheads after all."
"You have to be completely sloshed if you compare yourself to Oghren." I snatch the bottle from her before she can refill her glass and take a sip. I don't know much about wine, but I've drunken enough cheap booze to know this is none. "Did you break into Eamon's wine cellar?"
"Only emptied the bottles left over from dinner. Did I mention that I couldn't sleep?"
"You did. And that you've been thinking about Anora and her queenly qualities." Sleep gets overrated anyway, right? Who needs sleep when one can discuss politics and the future of a nation with one's drunken girlfriend in the middle of the night?
"Oh, yes, well, you know, that thought came suddenly while Shale and I were bricking up the door of her room..."
Pardon!? I almost choke on the wine.
"I think, I should be shocked and I probably should scold you..."
"Or spank me," Rori suggests dreamily.
"I really should!" I pout. According to the smile I earn, my woman thinks I am cute. I am not cute! Especially not when I am trying to be mad at her. "How could you just brick up Anora without me? Why didn't you wake me up?"
"I tried to wake you! But you mumbled in your sleep and pawed your nose and you looked so cute and peaceful..." Rori shrugs, offering a sheepish grin and a peck to my cheek. "And so..."
"And so you decided to have all the fun without me." I huff, crossing my arms in front of my chest. Smiling Rori climbs onto my lap and leans in to nuzzle my nose before she claims my lips for a soft kiss. She tastes of strawberries, cherries and a sunny summer's day... Mhmmm... maybe being woken in the middle of the night is not that bad at all...
"Wow," I breathe when we finally break the kiss. Rori's blue eyes glitter in the dim light of the candle as she grins impishly at me, obviously very proud of herself and the effect she has on me. Yes, she can so wrap me around her little finger - and that's just the way I like it. I know exactly what I'd like to do with her next... unfortunately Rori has something else on her mind.
"I'm starving," she mutters, scrambling out of bed rather ungracefully, putting some distance between us quickly. She's been like this ever since Fort Drakon and things that came natural before suddenly are awfully awkward. Rori tries but even she cannot smile everything away. I can't blame her but I also can't help the aching in my heart that comes with her wincing whenever I touch her body and that way remind her of that terrible night. "I'm going to be better," she declares when I hug her and she snuggles to me. "Soon. Real soon."
"Don't put pressure on yourself, Rori. I'm not planning to go anywhere."
"No, you don't," she whispers as she caresses my face. Her grim defiance softens, allowing the loving glow that surrounds her whenever she smiles at me to shine through.
All this time I still try to figure out if I should leave her oblivious about Eamon's plans. Can I just go on as if nothing ever happened? Just act as if everything was okay and avoid the trouble that's looming over me as long as possible... Yeah, that's just how I like to get things done, right? I'm just a coward afraid of decisions that I only make when I am cornered. Until that happens, I hope that the decision will be taken from me.
Rori and I together, it's not the way Eamon has it all planned out for us. The reasonable part of myself - and it's a rather tiny, neglected part - understands the necessity of securing the succession to the throne. The soldier part - and that's the one that thinks taking orders is easy... and somewhat sexy when it's this beautiful woman ordering me around - is giving me a lecture about duty and honour. And then there's the selfish part of Alistair, that part I've been pampering for a while on Rori's advice...
Maker, I really don't want to lose that girl!
I need a miracle.
I need Rori.
Desperatedly.
I follow Rori out of the room, taking another sip from the bottle she has brought with her while I hook one arm around her waist. She's swaying badly and keeps bumping into obstacles. A short way down the corridor we pass by Anora's room - and the recently erected wall. And it really is a rather solid wall, although the completition lacks the accuracy of a bricklayer's work. Rori and I spend a few minutes in companionable silence, admiring her and the golem's masterpiece.
"I really wish I could see Anora's expression when she opens her door in the morning and finds herself facing a wall," Rori giggles gleefully.
"Don't you think this is somewhat childish?" I wonder after we stood there, emptying the bottle of wine, and snickered for a while, imagining the look on Anora's face. Eamon so won't like this... I can already hear him lecture me about how to behave kingly...
"Of course it is," Rori admits without as much as a hint of remorse. Quite the contrary. She sounds and looks like the cat that swallowed the pigeon. Vengeful little beast.
Her spiteful mirth doesn't last, though. "This is not like the battles we fought before. Until now we could defend us with our blades. We were deciding about our fates... or at least I can tell myself that. Now, we are pawns in a game we do not control anymore..." She falls silent, frowning. "Maker, listen to me! I begin to sound like Eamon! Next I'm going to use words like duty, honour and responsibility in every sentence." She retrieves the bottle from me and throws it against the wall forcefully when she finds it's empty. "This is such a huge heap of... sodding nug-shit and pigeon crap, I can only try and make the best of it... It still all feels as if I'm caught in quick sand and the more I struggle the more I sink in," Rori hiccups in utter frustration.
Quick sand, yeah... She quite put it in a nutshell, didn't she?
"And what are you going to do about it?" I ask as I hug her tight again, hoping beyond hope that she'll come up with a brilliant masterplan. Would save me from using my own brains...
"I'm going to get drunk and have as much fun as I can possibly have," Rori declares defiantly before pulling me into a fierce kiss.
"Ahhh, I knew you'd have a plan," I grin.
When we enter the kitchen, it's empty but for Amethyne sleeping on the floor in front of the hearth with Barkley at her side. The girl wakes at our arrival since it's far from silent. Actually we stumble through the door, clinging to each other, kissing and giggling...
"Your Highness! Lady Rori!" the poor kid exclaims, scrambling to her feet. Rori and I jump apart and probably are as shocked as the girl. Duh, awkward... Amethyne is pressing her plush rabbit to her chest and looks downright scared. Someone has given her a new dress and it still looks like a rag. "Shall I call the servants?"
"No, no, we're just raiding the larder. We don't need any witnesses," I smile and wink at her. "Just a midnight snack, you know."
"I am going to get into trouble," Amethyne observes matter-of-factly when Rori returns from the larder with bacon, eggs and a loaf of bread. Barkley is right at her heels with a sausage ring locked between his teeth.
"Oh, no, just blame it all on us," I tell her assuringly but the elven kid just cocks her head to one side and regards me as if I was a complete retard.
"It doesn't matter," she then lectures me, sounding far older than she is and for sure much more disillusioned than a child her age should be. "They will still beat me for whatever you do."
"Oh," I say.
"Yes, oh," Amethyne repeats.
"I... I will protect you," I offer and this little girl tilts her head back, eyes me suspiciously and then she snorts. Ow! "Hey! I'm a prince, you know. I can give orders..." Now Rori is giggling and Amethyne gives me that look, one eyebrow raised, that I usually get from Morrigan when I make a stupid suggestion. "... I can give orders," I insist, trying my most menacing glare with Rori. She just grins. "People obeying is another story."
"They can't punish my personal handmaiden without my consent," Rori points out, waving the frying pan around. I hurry to disarm her. My cooking skills are... terrible. Rori's had Zevran wonder if she was trying to kill him. We actually don't let her cook anything. We don't even let her stir the soup anymore ever since she decided that Sten's cabbage soup needed some more salt and dropped a whole package of sugar into it. When you got the choice between starving slowly and Rori's cooking, I'd recommend the first.
"When did I become your handsmaiden, mylady?" Amethyne wants to know. She's not yet convinced.
"You just got promoted." Rori cheerfully smashes two eggs into the pan - shell included. "Oh, blast!" She dips her fingers into the already hot pan and tries to fish the shell out. "Ouch!"
"For real?" Amethyne - bless that girl - takes the eggs away from Rori and gently but firmly pushes her away from the pan. Then she glares at me until I leave her alone and stop giving cooking advices. Her frown follows us when we begin to lay the table for three.
"Okay, let me get this straight," I say, sounding rather huffed. "You believe Rori can protect you better than I could? This hurts my manly feelings, you know. White knights are there to protect the weak, like women and children..."
"I work for her. She has a reason to protect me," Amethyne points out as she drops the eggs and bacon onto our plates, leaving the third one empty. I practically have to wrestle the pan from her and load some food onto her plate - that she only takes when Rori orders her to do so. Instead of sitting with us, Amethyne slumps down in front of the hearth again.
This... is so sad.
And wrong.
I've seen it happen a thousand times and more and never cared to wonder about how elves are treated in this society. Now I've opened my eyes, the injustice seems to jump into my face like everywhere.
"She really has learnt well, what it means to be an elf," Rori mutters, raising an eyebrow questioningly when I go to sit next to Amethyne. While the girl still stares at me slack-jawed, Rori comes to join us, too.
"You can't do that! You are nobles!" the girl protests.
"We are Grey Wardens," I correct her. "And Grey Wardens do not care about race. The darkspawn doesn't, so why should we?"
"Would you please stop acting silly!" Amethyne snaps, arms akimbo.
"Impossible!" I laugh. "We are silly!"
"Actually I am silly and he is sillier... or was it the other way round?" Rori wonders.
"And together we are silliest." I explain. I want to point out here that I am rather tipsy at that very moment... That moment when I get the brilliant idea to stuff a sausage into each of my nostrils. I squint and drone: "I am the walrus goo goo g'joob g'goo goo g'joob."
Rori rolls around on the floor, laughing so hard she can hardly breathe.
"You are adults," Amethyne reminds us sternly.
"We are? When did that happen?" I wonder, pulling the sausages out of my nose and feeding them to a happily barking dog.
Sighing, Amethyne rolls her eyes at us, before returning to the table, where we finally all can sit down and have our midnight snack. "Could you at least try to behave now?" the seven year old scolds us.
We do try.
"Soooo.... about that brilliant inspiration you had when you bricked up Anora in her room...?" I ask to break the silence when it becomes kinda awkward and it proves impossible to drown it in wine.
"Oh yes, well, you know, when all this is over...," Rori says, waving her fork around as she talks. "Just in case we really do defeat the archdemon, then there's Ferelden all destroyed by the darkspawn, corruption everywhere and refugees who have lost their homes, a famine for sure and death and despair... and everybody will look at the monarch and go: Fix it! Now! And they will grow impatient and blame their misfortune on whoever occupies the throne... Really, one has to be completely insane to actually want to become king or queen now!"
"Now you mention it..."
"And then there's the nobles...," Rori goes on, pulling a face. "If you think, they're all going to be like Yes, we can! and unite for the sake of the kingdom and the people, then you really don't know the Fereldan nobility..."
"At least it won't get boring."
"It will be a constant and everlasting struggle for the leader of this nation to make them work together. They will be greedy and selfish and they will begrudge each other the very air they are breathing..." Rori explains in between stuffing herself with eggs and bacon. "Papa used to say it's easier to herd cats than to make Fereldan nobles agree on anything."
"Really, I so can't wait to become king!"
Actually I was a little miffed when Rori mentioned earlier that Anora should become queen. For months now she pushed me through a campaign and tried to turn me into someone I am not. And let's face the truth, no matter what Rori, Leliana or Zevran think or say, I am no king material. What actually got me to accept I should become king is the fact that neither Anora nor Loghain have a conscience... I may be an idiot but at least I am a kindhearted idiot.
"So, you want to support Anora now?" I sigh, tired of all the to and fro. My head is spinning. Could be the confusing and stressful mess I'm in. Could be the booze. I am really rather tipsy by now but some more wine won't hurt. I don't know about Amethyne's qualities as a handmaiden but she for sure is a damn good cupbearer. Like every other elf I've ever met the girl is incredibly good at making herself invisible. She moves silently and melts with the shadows. With her glowing eyes, like a cat's, she watches and she listens and is there when you need her. It's almost creepy, now I think about it. I mean, all those elves out there, they probably know more secrets than anybody else in Thedas because they are always there without being noticed.
"What? Never!" Rori snorts the wine out of her nose at my question.
"But you said... I'm confused... and don't you pinch my cheek!" I swat at her hand when she tries to touch me. "You've spent far too much time with Leliana. Is this some bardly plan?"
"I don't want to pinch you! You got egg smeared all over your cheek," Rori hiccups. Then she licks her thumb and scrubs my face like mothers do with their toddlers. I grimace and stick my tongue out at her.
"So about Anora?" I make another attempt of finding out what's going on in my woman's drunken mind.
"I think... I think I am going to improvise," Rori slurs with inebriate confidence. She's forming a cat's face on her plate with toast triangles as ears, fried eggs as eyes, a bacon mouth and sausage whiskers sticking out from a fried tomato nose. Beaming from ear to ear she presents it to me.
"Improvise?" I echo. "Bloody blast it, Rori! The future of the whole kingdom, my future, yours... is at stake... and your idea of dealing with all that is improvisation?"
Munching on the sausage whiskers, cheeks puffed like a chipmunk's, Rori nods.
I blink. I blink again. Then I burst into laughter. "Good on you!" Shit happens - at least that's what Oghren says. And it always lands on top of your head - according to Shale's law. We've been dealing with a whole lot of different shit ever since Ostagar - and we never had a strategy because whatever plan we made - it never turned out the way we thought. Rori is a bloody blasted expert in improvisation.
I feel much better now.
Really, I do.
"But first I have to go shopping. I need some new bras," Rori sighs. "My boobs are killing me. I feel like toppling over with that weight."
"Yeah, let's not forget the real important things," I laugh. "One has to prioritise."
"Yup," Rori agrees. "Can't possibly get this whole mess fixed when I'm distracted by my boobs all the time."
I so know what she means. Her bosom indeed is highly distracting.
"What about Ignacio and this last job he wants us to do? Or the nobles we still have to convince?"
"Alistair, they are nobles. Most of them won't get up before midday. And I'm not going to spend the whole day in that lingerie shop! Unless Leliana comes along. Then we won't get out of there before closing time."
"We? You don't want me to come with you, do you?" I laugh nervously and blush. "Into a lingerie store... where there's women's... undergarment and things... and... That's not a man's place, you know..."
"You rather have me take Zevran along and help me choose something pretty?"
"No!" Extortionary little beast!
"Thought so." Rori smiles ever so sweetly at me. "I also think we made a deal a while ago... and it was about a corset..."
"If you are talking about the earthworm disaster, forget it!" I snap.
That's when Amethyne decides to give up her invisibility: "Earthworm?" she blurts out curiously and only now Rori and I realize the girl has witnessed our conversation.
"Errr..." I stammer while Rori, having turned a brighter shade of pink, mutters: "Very funny animals... poking their heads out of... uhm... never mind..." Then we both reach for our goblets at the same time and down whatever is in there.
Amethyne looks from Rori to me, sighs heavily, rolls her eyes and shakes her head.
Yeah, we got that effect on people.
- 87
- 88
- 89
You need to be logged in to leave a review for this story.You need to be logged in to leave a review for this story.
Report Story

In good times and in bad