Vir Lath Sa'vunin, Chapters Fifty-Five and Fifty-Six

[twist_shimmy]

A Dalish-centric AU gen fic featuring two Mahariel Wardens, one bastard prince, and lingering ghosts.

Hello, my lovelies! Lenna and I gave you Tuesday off to enjoy DA2, but we are back with more Vir Lath Sa'vunin! We're also letting you know that we're cutting back updates to once a week so we have time to write, game, work, and still have lives. (By 'lives' I mean a clean apartment and a cat with trimmed claws, but ymmv.) If you're behind, this is a great chance to catch up. If you're not behind, go forth and pick a new, delicious fic to read with that half-hour of time you now save on Tuesdays! Maker knows we have enough awesome creativity here in the comm to keep us all reading busily unto death. Just dive into the tags. XD



Title: Vir Lath Sa'vunin (We Love One More Day)
Rating: T
Authors: twist_shimmy and lenna_nightrunner
Post Word Count: 2035
Summary: When their parents died, Tesni Mahariel was left to raise her brother Caerwyn with the help of the rest of their clan. True to their penchant for getting into trouble, Caerwyn and Tamlen went hunting one day and ran afoul of a mirror, of all things. The next thing Tesni knew, Caerwyn had been recruited by the Grey Wardens. As if she’d let some shemlen just take her brother away! Determined to keep Caerwyn safe, Tesni goes after them, and antics ensue. She’ll stop the Blight to protect her family, Caerwyn will help--grumbling all the while--and Alistair will do his best to bond with his tattooed and bristly new brethren. When all is said and done, the blurred lines between friendship and blood bonds will draw them down a path that will change all three of them forever.


In this installment, Caerwyn and Tesni obtain aid from royalty, and crowns are mocked at great length.

Chapter Fifty-Five: And She Turns to Me With Her Hand Extended. Her Palm is Split, With a Flower, With a Flame. (Suzanne Vega)

TESNI

Once I was dressed, the woman dismissed the guard completely and turned to face me. "There. Are you warmer now?"

I pulled my knees to my chin and stared at her. She had pale blonde hair and a nice dress. A noble, maybe. A decent length behind her I could make out two finely-armored shems standing on either side of the corridor.

"The guards say you won't talk to them," she said after a pause, "but it would be in your best interests to talk to me." She managed to catch my raised eyebrow in the gloom. "Since you are Dalish, I don't expect you to know me by sight. I am Anora, wife of the late King Cailan, and daughter of Regent Loghain."

Daughter of Loghain? Then she was the last person I should be speaking to.

"I do not make a habit of visiting murderers in prison. My father wanted to question you himself, but I convinced him that it would be pointless since he only met your brother at Ostagar, especially considering how... taxing his duties as regent have proven." Something about the perfect pleasantness of her voice as she said those words caught my interest. "I am to decide if you are truly a Warden, and then either have you executed or held for him to see after all."

There was a stretch of silence that clearly grated on her nerves as I continued to stare at her. "Let me make sure you understand that: if you do not speak to me, you will die."

"Isala emma assanⁱ."

The shemqueen sighed. "Warden, you are wasting our time. Very well, if you will not speak, at least listen."

...Fine. I crossed my legs and leaned forward, signaling that I was paying attention.

"I have... had very little to do recently. Father has taken over the governing during the war, and when I asked him to allow me to help it took him days to give me a project." She rubbed at the thumb of her main hand several times. "He put me in charge of sorting through the Grey Warden compound at the palace. I believe he expected that I would find mostly armor and recruitment lists. I thought that he was simply trying to keep me from getting underfoot. But I found documents... that implicated your order."

When I narrowed my eyes at her, she continued with a sigh, "Written in the same hand as a note to my father from Howe sent several weeks later. I found it on his desk."

It was almost amusing how absolutely no one seemed to mourn Howe's loss. If I made it out of this fort any time soon, it might actually become hysterical.

Anora clenched her fists and looked down at me with eyes that seemed suddenly haunted. "Did my father leave Cailan to die?"

I was going to ignore the question like I had all her others, but then it hit me that she was asking a supposed enemy if her father had killed her husband. That's not something a person should ever have to wonder, or ask, and it would be unfair of me to deprive her of the truth like the rest of her clan had done. So I rose from my spot on the floor and walked toward the bars.

"Yes."

Her jaw clenched, but no other emotion showed; she guarded her reactions as well as a Dalish hunter. "Then tell me what happened, Warden."

I watched her face carefully as I recited what I could remember about the battle. Her expression betrayed no emotion, but the next question she asked me did: "How did he die?"

"I don't know," I admitted. "When he and Duncan died, I was fighting my way to the beacon."

She bit once at her lower lip. "Which you say you lit?" I nodded, and she shook her head in disappointment. "That is... not the story we were told in Denerim. He said that the Wardens refused to light the beacon and the king was overwhelmed by darkspawn."

"We weren't winning when I left the battlefield," I admitted. "That's why I was sent to the tower. But I watched my blood brother throw the torch onto the bonfire with my own eyes."

"Would they have won if my father had charged when you lit the signal?"

I dropped my head and thought of how few Wardens had been left. "I'm not sure." Battles of that scale were too... new to me for me to even hazard a guess. I knew what Alistair believed, but I also knew how the pit of my stomach knotted when I thought back to the sea of darkspawn crashing against the cliffs at Ostagar.

Anora looked down at her hands. "I honestly don't know if that makes me feel better or worse," she said. She wasn't speaking to me, so I didn't respond. But then her jaw set again, and she looked me in the eyes. "My country is being torn apart by darkspawn and my father has done nothing to stop it. If I free you, do I have your word that you will stop the Blight?"

I nearly snorted; as though a Grey Warden could do anything else. We were as bound to the archdemon as the darkspawn were. But I forced myself to nod and say, "Yes."

"And Alistair will not make a bid for the throne?"

I stared at her as though she had gone mad, but her blue eyes were completely serious. "We told Eamon we had no intention of doing that months ago."

"Yes, well, he seems to be under the impression that your brother-in-arms will be persuaded to change his mind."

"A Warden can't be king. As far as the Wardens are concerned, you should keep your throne." I crossed my arms. "It's not Eamon's decision."

Anora nodded once, then moved on to another question: "How are a handful of Wardens going to stop the Blight?"

Sten had asked me much the same thing, but I gave her a different answer; he had wanted a concrete detail, but she was trying to understand the depth of my resolve. "We'll do what it takes." And now that we'd found a brother who had been a Warden for a long time, I was far less worried that we wouldn't figure out what we were doing in time.

Anora paced back and forth a few times, deep in thought, before speaking again. "There's an assortment of papers and vials my father told me to destroy that we found in your compound. I don't know if they would be of use to you, but the documents are encrypted and the vials sealed, so perhaps...." She gave me a wry smile. "I will not ask you where to send them."

I laughed humorlessly. Anora was clearly no idiot, and Bann Teagan's last known location was no secret. Someone must have figured out where the keep was over the winter. It was only the mountains, the civil war, and the tunnels saving us now. "You know very well where to send them. And if not you, any merchant from the Bannorn will, with enough coin to go with the question."

"As you like."

There was a click and a small gleam as Anora put a key back into the girdle of her gown. "I will distract the guards with an inspection. Sneak out. Your things are in a chest by the door."

When she dropped a lock-pick on the floor to make it look like I'd broken out myself, I decided I liked the shemqueen.

---

Chapter Fifty-Six: Put Your Suitcase Down and Leave Your Shoes Gently by the Door in a Puddle with Your Blues. (Superchunk)

CAERWYN

Getting back up was easy because we'd basically killed everything that'd crossed our paths on the way down. It still took an annoyingly long time, but the further up we traveled, the less my blood burned. Every day was easier. Soon Leliana could touch me again without hurting me, and when we celebrated that I endured all of Oghren's teasing with a grin.

"Again?" Leliana laughed. "Will you ever have enough?"

No. I shook my head. "I missed you."

"I 'missed you' too, ma moitié, but if we want to make good time then I must be able to walk properly tomorrow."

I sighed in disappointment. She was so frustratingly sensible.

It was lucky there weren't any real 'days' or 'nights' down in the Deep Roads, because that meant I could push us through until we were too tired to walk anymore and had to sleep. So it didn't seem nearly as long as I'd worried it might've felt when we finally came out of the tunnels to find that half the durgen'len'd forgotten about us and half of them were shocked we were still alive. It was comforting to know they'd had so much faith in us.

We didn't have any time to waste, so as soon as we'd all had a proper meal and a bath (with warm water, which I grudgingly admitted was nice) I took everyone to the Assembly. They were all still in there arguing like we'd never left.

"Well, Warden? What news do you bring?"

We're so glad you're alive! You didn't get hit by any rocks, did you? They've got a lot of those down there. Flying knives, you say? You poor fellow! Here, have these smaller rocks. They're shiny and you can buy lots of things with them!

Ungrateful dirtlovers.

"Here." I gestured to the Gilded Headcage, which Sten was holding up.

"It's a crown forged by Caridin on the Anvil of the Void," said Oghren, and explained what'd happened to Caridin, why he'd made the Horrific Helm, and how I'd destroyed the anvil so no more golems could be made.

"Very well," the alas'len who was apparently in charge said. "We've argued in these chambers for too long. The will of Caridin is that the Grey Warden decide."

"I grant the"--Royal Roof--"crown to Bhelen."

As soon as the Metal Mindcrusher was on Bhelen's head, he called for Harrowmont's execution, and as sad as it made Leliana, I couldn't intervene. Even if we somehow had any power in the Assembly, we needed Bhelen on our side.

And we'd gotten that. He promised to gather his troops right away and meet us on the battlefield when we needed them. I'd done what we’d come there to do.

"Pack your things," I said to Oghren. "We're leaving."

An hour later we'd gotten our supplies restocked as much as we could and were walking through Alasan's front doors.

Wind. I took a deep breath and the cold, damp air was so much of a shock to my lungs I coughed several times, and Leliana and Oghren did the same. But when I got used to it I felt like I hadn't been breathing at all when I was underground.

"Cold," Oghren snorted in distaste.

"Look, ma moitié," Leliana said, and took my hand in hers, "trees."

I smiled and then turned my face up, blinking as the light hurt my eyes while they were adjusting.

Clear, bright blue. "Sky."

Oghren practically cringed. "By the Stone, I feel like I'm about to fall off the world."

Our horses'd been well cared for, thank the Creators, and I paid the man more than he deserved for the service. We also bought one of the only horses they had for Oghren, and he wasn't very happy about it. Not only had he never ridden before, but his horse wasn't much more than a sturdy pony.

Miharel ⁱⁱrecognized me right away, and nudged his muzzle against my shoulder. I'd forgotten how big he was. Chat'len gave him a suspicious look as I patted the horse's neck fondly.

"Don't worry," I said to Chat'len, and scratched him under his chin, "you're still my favorite."

We filled the saddlebags with our supplies and I gave Oghren ten minutes to get on his pony and get used to riding. Leliana mounted Bijou joyfully while Sten sighed in resignation at Peaches.

"All right." I nudged Miharel's side with my boot. "Let's go home."

A month without riding. Even Leliana and I were a little saddle-sore during the first few days. But the thought of home made all of it easier to bear. I'd have my sister and brother back soon. I'd take a lot more pain for that reward.

I set a pace that made the horses foam until Leliana convinced me to stop and let them and all of us rest each night. If my muscles hurt that much I could only imagine how Oghren was feeling.

And I had to be grateful to Oghren, first of all because he'd helped us get the alas'len to honor our treaty, but also because having him there let me sleep. Since there were four of us now, we could still do three watches while one of us slept through the night, and even Sten agreed I shouldn't stay up for watches until I got my strength back.

I hadn't even noticed that I'd 'lost my strength' in the first place, but Leliana said I was too thin and pale and had dark circles under my eyes. Even with how much faster Wardens healed than other people, it still took longer than I'd expected for me to recover from the damage the Deep Roads'd done to my body.

So I enjoyed the ability to sleep through the night most of the time and woke to find Leliana smiling over me and the smell of breakfast cooking over the fire. Ma ar'lath, emma er'asha.ⁱⁱⁱ I couldn't've done it without you.



I almost looked like my 'old self' again by the time we got to the foot of the mountains except for the scar on my arm and my hair, which I'd asked asked Leliana to keep short because it itched when it grew near my ears and made it easier to wear my helmet properly. Plus I liked the way it looked when I saw my reflection in water.

Oghren complained about the cold every minute of our journey up the mountain, but Leliana fastened the wolf pelt I'd given her around her shoulders while we rode and I didn't mind the temperature at all. The colder it got, the closer we were getting to home. And when we finally arrived at the outer walls of the keep, I urged Miharel into a hard run.

"Lethallin!" I shouted as soon as we were within hearing distance. He must've heard the horses coming because he was already in the yard.

"Brother!" It was lucky he wasn't wearing his armor, because him running like that in it might've made that scrapey metal sound that hurt my teeth. When I got close enough I practically threw myself off Miharel as Alistair skidded to a stop in front of me.

I felt his expression of utter relief mirrored on my own face, and I closed my eyes and took a few deep breaths, focusing on the feeling of our blood being near again. Brother, I could be blind and I'd know you.

"Um," he said, "hi." He held out his hand to me, and I rolled my eyes. I cursed how ridiculously tall he was as I got my arms around his back the best I could. When he stiffened awkwardly, I tried not to laugh. I was hugging him, and he had no idea what to do.

It took him a second, but he relaxed, and put his arms over my shoulders and squeezed before we both let go.

"Lethallin, I..." I've missed you.

"Me too," he said, and grinned. Then he looked at my hair and blinked in surprise. "Your hair got short!"

I looked at his and blinked, too. His'd grown down to his chin. "Yours got long."

"Alistair!" Leliana cried, and threw herself into his arms. He laughed and hugged her. Oh sure, hugging your brother is awkward but not your brother's--well, whatever I was supposed to call her.

"Have you been taking care of my little brother, Lel?" he asked her with a grin.

"Little?" I crossed my arms. "I'm older than you."

"You're still little."

I glared at him.

"Seriously, how old are you and Tesni, anyway?"

I snorted. It was fun keeping him guessing. Besides, it didn't matter now. We'd all be dead in thirty years, if we survived the Blight. That was a big ‘if.’ I hadn't told Leliana. I wasn't going to.

"How were the dwarves?" Alistair asked in a low voice as Sten and Oghren approached. Chat'len nudged at Leliana's legs and she began scratching his shoulders.

I made a sound of disgust at Alistair's question and rolled my eyes. Alistair looked at Oghren worriedly, but the dwarf just chuckled. Thank the Creators he wasn't easily offended. Tesni would've killed me if I'd screwed this up.

"Where's Tesni?" I asked.

Alistair frowned. "Not back yet."

My heart sunk. "Oh."

"She writes from Denerim regularly, though. She's all right."

Writes. That's right: Zevran'd taught her. I was instantly and unfairly jealous of Alistair. He'd been able to contact her. He'd known what was going on. I'd been in the dark--most of the time literally--and they'd both known each other was okay.

"Oh." I focused on a blood stain on my left glove. "Good."

"She misses you," Alistair said. "A lot."

"I'm sure she misses you, too."

"Not as much. You know that."

I met his eyes. "You're our bro--"

"Brother." He smiled. "I know. But what you two have." He looked like he was trying to find words, but couldn't. "Well, I've never seen anything like it."

I shook my head. "Ellin^iv, remember? You're our blood, lethallin. "

My brother smiled again, wider. "Don't go soft now. Tesni's worked so hard to toughen us up."

"Do you think it worked?"

"You tell me." Alistair rubbed at my short hair--it was too short to mess up now--and I batted his hand away. When he laughed, I couldn't help but grin.

A lot'd changed. Being there felt strange, as did seeing Bann Teagan and Wynne again, and watching the soldiers and mages train. But from the second I felt his blood again it was like I'd never left my brother. Once Tesni came home, we'd be whole again.

---

iIsala emma assan: I want my bow

iiMiharel: Caerwyn's horse. "Dread Blade"

iii Ma ar'lath, emma er'asha: I love you, my bard. "er'asha" is a term of endearment Caerwyn came up with for Leliana earlier in his sleep-deprived delirium. It derives from "era" (song/story) and "asha" (woman).

ivEllin: "Our blood." just a refresher, because it's been a while. :)

"I grant the"--Royal Roof--"crown to Bhelen."