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Random Chance	By : TropicalFool Category: +A through F > Dragon Age (all) > Dragon Age (all) Views: 1943 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: Dragon Age & all characters are owned by BioWare & EA, not me. I make no money from this story.

Chapter List
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It was snug in the Crown and Lion, the log crammed fire keeping out the early chill. The Spring honey had come in, the bees finding the first opening blossoms, and the mead was sweet, thick and powerful, traveling smoothly down the throats of the boisterous cliental.
Oghran had caught the attention of a tavern wench—whether by his dwarven good looks or the richness of his armor and generosity of his coin wasn't clear. It wouldn't matter to Oghren either way. The maid was now draped comfortably across his wide lap and ample tips to the barkeep assured that she could stay there the entire evening, and into the night if he wished. The rest of the servers would just have to pick up the slack.
Anders and Random were desultorily playing at chess, moving the pieces about, but neither with any interest in winning or finishing the game. They had been sitting at the chessboard for some hours now, the attentive barmaids keeping their tankards full. They talked of this and that, the day, the battle, the Grey Wardens, but despite the seriousness of the subjects, the conversation was light and witty.
Oghren watched with amusement and some little alarm. He knew his Commander only too well and the looks he was giving Anders as the mead continued to flow were becoming less and less impersonal.
Nathaniel, sitting to Oghren's right and angling for his own wench (how did the dwarf do it?), had also been observing his two comrades across the room.
Nathaniel looked at Oghren and asked, "What is it with the Commander? I thought that you said he had a true love back in Denerim. If you were paying as much attention to that barmaid on your lap as he's paying to Anders, she'd have you up in your room between the sheets by now."
"Ur, I know how to pace myself, pup, that's all... I'll have this maid right where I want her in good time," Oghren replied as he tickled the girl, causing her to squirm deliciously and giggle.
Tossing a disgusted (and frustrated) glance Oghren's way, Nathaniel said, "It's not you and your wench that I'm talking about and you know it. That was just an analogy. Why are you all so literal? I'm talking about the Commander and Anders. I thought our Commander was spoken for and anyway, Anders spent all day running around after Velanna with his tongue dragging on the ground. Mages! I don't really believe that their power is increased by his standing so close behind her as they cast spells or that those, um, robes that she wears really need to be so, well, brief.
"And Anders, I really thought he was, you know, one of us, not one of them."
"Are you complaining about the lassie's duds now? I'd think that you'd like 'em. I've seen you boy, eying her up and down when you thought no one was looking. You're not fooling old Oghren.
"And if you mean by one of us, someone who likes the ladies, I believe that he is, but the Commander can have a powerful draw." Oghren buried his face in his wench's neck to hide his laughter from Nathaniel. The young man thought himself quite sophisticated, but the look of shock and distress on his face was too comical.
"What's your name anyway girl?" Oghren asked his seat mate. "If you're going to be part of this talk, and I have an itching that any moment you are, we gotta know what to call you."
She smiled down at him sweetly, an accomplishment for a Crown and Lion barmaid of some years experience, and said, "Ana. You can call me Ana."
"Arr, good enough ya adorable hunk of human delight," Oghren grunted, tickling her again for good measure and to annoy Nathaniel who still hadn't caught a maid's eye.
"So, if the Commander's spoken for and Anders isn't, uh, that way, what is going on over there? They look like moonstruck calves. It's getting positively sickening." Nathaniel grabbed his tankard and took a mighty swig, slamming it with force back down on the bench.
"Jealous, boy?" Oghren winked at him. Instantly Nathaniel blushed crimson.
"No!" Nathaniel all but screamed, quieting the bar until everyone realized that they had not just been visited by a darkspawn Shriek, and went back to drinking.
"Just funnin' ya, son," Oghren chuckled. "Don't pay me any attention. It's just you earnest types. Sometimes I can't help but pull your tail. And no, I didn't mean it that way. Settle down… you'll spook the ladies."
At that Ana broke out in gales of laughter, not helping Nathaniel's mood at all. As she chortled into Oghren's beard, the dwarf grew serious.
"Look. Sorry Nathaniel, I know what you're asking and as one of us it's your right to ask it. Sorry for the teasing. I'd blame the mead, but this piss water hasn't even given me a buzz yet."
Nathaniel snuck a glance at the huge covered tankard the dwarf has been swilling from all evening. He'd seen it refilled at regular and frequent intervals. Maybe it was something in the dwarven blood, or maybe Oghren was just lying.
Oghren set the mug down and shifted Ana to a more comfortable position, looking straight at Nathaniel. No, the dwarf wasn't drunk. His eyes were clear and sober.
"The Commander does have, as you so delicately put it, a 'true love' back in Denerim, but they have an, uh, understanding. There's something about Random, something about the way he approaches battle, that causes a, well, I'm not sure how to describe it, but it's like a fever or a taint, that must be soothed… His partner understands this. They know each other better than you know your momma's titty." Nathaniel blushed again.
"It's not, like, personal, it's more like, well, you know sometimes how you get a really powerful itch under your faulds and there's just no getting around it, you have to stop and unstrap and scratch before you can go on?" Nathaniel nodded. He was learning how uncomfortable armor could be, especially in the heat and dust.
Oghren continued, "Well, best as I can understand it from a totally distant, you understand, observing like, perspective, is that it's something like that only much much stronger. And it gets debilitating for him if he doesn't get relief. For all our sakes boy, I hope, and you should be hoping too, that whatever is going on over there works out."
All of Nathaniel's schooling, including the long nights spent in university dives and whorehouses, had not prepared his for anything like this.
He began, hesitantly, to reply, "You mean he needs sex? Well, we all do… but really needs it just to keep going? And with, uh, a man. That, well, he could run down and not be able to fight any more and we'd all be, what, doomed? I mean no offense Oghren, but we need him to lead us. I really don't know how we've done what we've done so far, but I think a whole lot of it has to do with the Commander."
"No offense taken and right you are, son." Oghren beamed at him like he was a prize pupil who'd just correctly answered a difficult problem.
Still confused, Nathaniel asked, "Right about what? The needing him to lead us part, sure, but right about the, uh, other part too? It just seems, I don't know, bizarre, pagan. Like it's more than just, you know, a need of the body, or, well..."
Oghren nodded, "Yeah, I know, I didn't understand for the longest time. Probably still don't understand, truth be known, but seems to be how it is."
Nathaniel was quiet for a moment, his expression thoughtful. "But if he's over there with Anders. What happens to Anders? I mean if Random gets his way? And if he doesn't, who's next?" An involuntary shudder ran through Nathaniel, chilling him.
"No need to worry on that account, boy. You're not his type, and even if you were he'll never be forcing nuthin' on nobody. All you have to do is say 'not interested' and that's the last you'll ever hear of it. Apparently Anders hasn't said that."
The mead was finally having some effect and Oghren belched contentedly while idly playing with the laces on Ana's bodice. It was amazing to him how these young 'uns thought they were soooo appealing that nobody was gonna be able to resist 'em, even when they didn't want the attention. Well Ana was on Oghren's lap, not Nathaniel's, and that was just as it should be.
"But… Anders…" Nathaniel began, looking sincerely worried.
Oghren grunted, shifting Ana so he could lift a cheek, "In my experience, Random is painfully and totally honest. If Anders agrees he'll know pretty much exactly what he's agreeing to, with all the complications, for better or worse. He's a grown man; stop nursemaiding him boy and find yourself a wench. You need to relieve your own stones and get your mind off other people's business."
With that, easily lifting Ana though she towered over him by a head and a half, Oghren headed upstairs, leaving Nathaniel alone disconsolately staring into his mead. The barmaid who had been watching him all evening, but was frightened of the gruff dwarf, sauntered over. Suddenly the evening was looking up, and, after all, as Oghren said, Anders' problems were his own.
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Random Chance