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peopleofthedas2011-07-16 11:41 am
le_monde) wrote in peopleofthedas2011-07-16 11:41 am
Fic: Disquiet 11/? M overall
Title: Disquiet 11/?: Visions
Author: Briala
Rating: M overall
Summary: Five Guardians: The Sten, The Assassin, The Kinslayer, The Old Warden, and The Dog. Each playing their part in the Dalish Warden’s life, which in turn adds to the greater wheel of Thedas.
Disclaimer: All Dragon Age characters and places belong to BioWare. I aim to make no profit off of this, so please keep those lawyers (including my own) in check.
WARNING! This story contains: Too many spoilers to count, Sex, Rape, and Abuse.
AN: As always, beta’ed by the ever talented1smut_princess, who has my never ending gratitude.
*~*~*~*~*
Chapter Eleven: Visions
*~*~*~*~*
“Shok ebasit hissra. Meraad astaarit, meraad itwasit, aban aqun. Maraas shokra. Anaan esaam Qun.” (Struggle is an illusion. The tide rises, the tide falls, but the sea is changeless. There is nothing to struggle against. Victory is in the Qun.) – The Qun
Errands run, dragons slain, ashes pocketed, allies gathered, Landsmeet met; the Warden saves Kinslayer and puts the Weakling on the throne with Kinslayer's daughter. Sten leans against the wall near the door when the Weakling storms in. He is furious, but she allows the Weakling to scream and yell at her in front of them all.
The Dog snarls, the Bard's looks at her shoes and slips a dagger from her sleeve, the Assassin also fondles a dagger, and the Old Mage grips her staff. The Dwarf misses the entire scene as he is passed out and the Witch is again deep in her book.
Sten looks at the Warden pointedly then to the back of the head of the temper tantrum throwing Weakling. She shakes her head, crosses her arms, and allows the Weakling to finish. Her eyes could have gutted the Weakling without Sten's help.
Rant exhausted, he storms from the room. Waiting a moment, she stalks out the door heading in the opposite direction. Sten jerked his head at the Assassin who quickly follows. The Warden grabs her bag and stops at the library where Kinslayer is admiring detailed maps on the walls. Knocking on the open door, she catches his eye and jerks her head toward the front entrance. Gathering his equipment he follows her out.
The Assassin returns to report their movements toward the city gates. He and the Bard leave to follow the Warden and Kinslayer, while the rest of them hastily gather their bags. Leaving a blue ribbon on the signpost, the Bard indicated which branch of the road they have taken, heading toward Redcliff as directed by the Arl.
Along the road, they pass through what appears to be yet another bandit attack. A bandit stands with his sword drawn, paralyzed; for the first time they sees the full effects of the Warden’s ability. The bandit is being squeezed, they hear his bones snapping and breaking, his ribs cracking. The Assassin quickly questions him before slipping a dagger in his chest, granting the bandit mercy and freeing him of his agony. He nods to Sten. Yes, this is the Warden's handiwork. The Bard and the Assassin quickly loot the bodies and chests before moving down the road.
The party finally catches up with the Warden and Kinslayer where they have stopped to camp for the night. Kinslayer lights a fire, a hitch in his gait is the only thing which indicates his age and degree of tiredness. Unusually, the Warden does not see or even acknowledge the exhaustion around her. The Old Mage is tired and even the Bard and the Assassin plunk themselves down at the fire, too fatigued to even lay out their bedrolls.
Sten stares disapprovingly across the fire watching her pace a circle, kicking stones from her path. Deliberately stepping into the Warden's path, he confronts her. Looking up she bares her teeth; he crosses his arms, bares his teeth, and growls back. He will not give her more weapons of self-destruction.
Angry and frustrated, she grabs her bag and leaves the camp down the road towards Redcliff. The Assassin tiredly regains his feet, dogged determination in his features. Sten shakes his head and glances back at the fire where the Old Mage and the Bard are preparing dinner. The Dog follows Sten down the road after the Warden. She does not attempt to hide or travel in the forest as he knows she can; the Warden sticks to the road. Eventually his longer strides catch up to hers and they walk side by side.
Her face is fury itself as she drives herself to exhaustion. He can tell she wants to vent and to
shout. The Warden does not know what she has already shared with him during the nights of the almost two years they have traveled together. Perhaps she seeks to collapse so she can sleep without dreams of the darkspawn. Sten judges that his reserves are greater than hers, but he forgets that he is the one who fought at the Landsmeet against Kinslayer, not an easy fight.
Hours later, the Dog whines in pain and the Warden stops for the first time since allowing Kinslayer to make camp. Petting him, she kneels to examine the Dog's paw. Working a large sliver out from between the the pads, she stops the blood with a touch. She lifts each foot and touches each pad, healing the cuts from the sharp stones that he is unable to avoid in the moonlit night.
Standing, she turns to face Sten and seems disorientated as if she is seeing him for the first time. The Warden looks through him to his very soul. She touches his cheek, healing a blister on his foot, the ache in his shoulder where she slept the night before, and the bruise on his ribs from his fight with Kinslayer. She eases the clenching of his jaw, the spot where she whacked him behind her favorite knee, and thaws the cold invading his limbs.
As she heals his pains, he feels her taste his concern. She is surprised and turns her attention inward, accidentally dragging his senses with hers. He feels her wonder at unexpected aches and pains on her own body. He feels the soreness of her legs, the fury in her heart, and a sore behind her knee where a buckle has twisted and bites into her flesh. He feels all of these with her, for her. He feels her refuse to heal herself and jerks her hand away from his face severing the healing link abruptly. As the link breaks, he knows that she realized that he could see these injuries and taste her emotions and anger at her weakness as well. He staggers backwards adjusting to his own sight, stunned.
The Warden continues down the road. Sten has been refreshed; the Dog also moves with renewed vigor. By restoring them, she will now be the first to stop. Although she begins with the furious pace she has driven herself at all day, as the hours go by, they adjust their pace to match her slowing one.
She pauses staring at the crossroads of Lothering and Redcliff. Wearily she turns south as dawn comes. He looks back observing the Dog, who uses the excuse to mark the post, to discretely press his paw on the edge of a mud puddle in the direction of Lothering.
Reaching Lothering, they see that the town had been gutted and burned by the darkspawn. She stops on the far side of town at the raised highway which forms an inadequate wall for the town, sliding down the wall easing herself to a sitting position. The Warden closes her eyes to the sun after unlacing her corset to expose her vine covered belly to the sunlight. The Dog stretches out in the grass at her side.
He scouts the area, keeping her in his sight until the Dog lifts his head and winks at him. Sten enters the town gathering forgotten food, water, and wood for a fire, knowing that the Dog is on guard duty.
When he returns, he finds that the Dog caught and killed two chickens who wandered too close. He wags his tail at Sten who tosses one of the chickens back to him. He devours the bird smacking his lips while Sten builds a fire, cleans the other bird, and puts it on to roast. He tosses potatoes and turnips wrapped in wet elf root into the coals. He glances to the Warden, noting that her breathing indicates she is not asleep and has not yet slept; she is merely resting. Grunting under his breath, he knows that it is better than nothing.
He draws Asala, notices that her eye opens a crack and closes again as he begins to meditate. As his heart and breathing slows, he feels her move and sit with her back to his, leaning against him. He pretends that he doesn't notice and concentrates on his task. Her breathing and heartbeat begin to match his.
The Warden slips into his thoughts. Through him, she concentrates on the minutia of the swirls of Asala's hilt and the taste of the air in their lungs. Through her, his awareness of his surroundings widens. He senses a Grey Warden about a day's march to the north who tastes of dirt with a sharp tang of metal, and realizes that it is Kinslayer. He senses random bands of darkspawn in the wilderness around them and tastes the differences in their scents depending on their type. Casting the net wider she senses the Old Warden, who tastes of pine trees and tea, scouting the forests for the darkspawn army.
He feels her surprise realizing that she has never seen this far. She casts her gaze south to Ostagar. There is something like an emissary but not an emissary there – it doesn't taste the same. She carefully tracks the darkspawn activity there.
He remembers that she intended to return to Ostagar with the Weakling after they learned of the king's correspondence. Her anger at the Weakling’s actions flares briefly in response to his recollection. When her anger causes the darkspawn activities to flicker, he is pleased to feel her relax and let go of the anger and the vision is restored. They watch the darkspawn head towards Redcliff.
The Dog barks interrupting the activity announcing that the food is done cooking. They blink in unison, breath and heartbeats returning to normal as she withdraws from the warmth of his back. Sten removes the chicken from the fire, setting it and the root vegetables on a large platter he found in the tavern.
Later, her belly full, her mood restored, she finally gives in to her exhaustion. Knowing where the darkspawn are and that they are safe for the time being, he unbuckles her boots, slipping them from her feet. Removing her long socks, he massages her feet, noting that the leafy vines are even on her soles. Her calf muscles gradually loosen their knots under his sure hands. He covers her with a blanket and adjusts the offending buckle that pinched her sensitive skin behind the back of his favorite leafy knee.
"His favorite knee…" Stunned at his thought, he gets up and paces, kicking stones. He is a Kossith; and, as indicated by the emblem in her hair, they are both Qunari, tools given a task. Although her goal is the same as his, she is not his assignment. He knows from the thoughts she attempted to keep hidden in the shared vision that he brings her great joy.
Unlike the Kossith, these people mate with each other to show affection. He remembers the Assassin's admiration of the Warden and Tamlen's mating cries.
He also remembers that these people mate to cause harm to others. She has been hurt in this way. Perhaps she will not seek to mate with him and they can remain true to their tasks, to the Qun. He knows from the conversations he has overheard between the Wardens that she is unlikely to bear a child. So she would not seek to have a child with him and therefore would not seek to mate with him. He will ask her of this. Decided and certain he has chosen the correct path, one she will understand, he leans against the sun-warmed wall to rest.
She sleeps, safe and secure. The darkspawn buzz around her, heading to Redcliff parting around Lothering as if it were a large rock in a small stream. There is time to rest and to come back to herself. She slips deeper into sleep renewing her strength waiting for Loghain.
Author: Briala
Rating: M overall
Summary: Five Guardians: The Sten, The Assassin, The Kinslayer, The Old Warden, and The Dog. Each playing their part in the Dalish Warden’s life, which in turn adds to the greater wheel of Thedas.
Disclaimer: All Dragon Age characters and places belong to BioWare. I aim to make no profit off of this, so please keep those lawyers (including my own) in check.
WARNING! This story contains: Too many spoilers to count, Sex, Rape, and Abuse.
AN: As always, beta’ed by the ever talented
1smut_princess, who has my never ending gratitude.*~*~*~*~*
Chapter Eleven: Visions
*~*~*~*~*
“Shok ebasit hissra. Meraad astaarit, meraad itwasit, aban aqun. Maraas shokra. Anaan esaam Qun.” (Struggle is an illusion. The tide rises, the tide falls, but the sea is changeless. There is nothing to struggle against. Victory is in the Qun.) – The Qun
Errands run, dragons slain, ashes pocketed, allies gathered, Landsmeet met; the Warden saves Kinslayer and puts the Weakling on the throne with Kinslayer's daughter. Sten leans against the wall near the door when the Weakling storms in. He is furious, but she allows the Weakling to scream and yell at her in front of them all.
The Dog snarls, the Bard's looks at her shoes and slips a dagger from her sleeve, the Assassin also fondles a dagger, and the Old Mage grips her staff. The Dwarf misses the entire scene as he is passed out and the Witch is again deep in her book.
Sten looks at the Warden pointedly then to the back of the head of the temper tantrum throwing Weakling. She shakes her head, crosses her arms, and allows the Weakling to finish. Her eyes could have gutted the Weakling without Sten's help.
Rant exhausted, he storms from the room. Waiting a moment, she stalks out the door heading in the opposite direction. Sten jerked his head at the Assassin who quickly follows. The Warden grabs her bag and stops at the library where Kinslayer is admiring detailed maps on the walls. Knocking on the open door, she catches his eye and jerks her head toward the front entrance. Gathering his equipment he follows her out.
The Assassin returns to report their movements toward the city gates. He and the Bard leave to follow the Warden and Kinslayer, while the rest of them hastily gather their bags. Leaving a blue ribbon on the signpost, the Bard indicated which branch of the road they have taken, heading toward Redcliff as directed by the Arl.
Along the road, they pass through what appears to be yet another bandit attack. A bandit stands with his sword drawn, paralyzed; for the first time they sees the full effects of the Warden’s ability. The bandit is being squeezed, they hear his bones snapping and breaking, his ribs cracking. The Assassin quickly questions him before slipping a dagger in his chest, granting the bandit mercy and freeing him of his agony. He nods to Sten. Yes, this is the Warden's handiwork. The Bard and the Assassin quickly loot the bodies and chests before moving down the road.
The party finally catches up with the Warden and Kinslayer where they have stopped to camp for the night. Kinslayer lights a fire, a hitch in his gait is the only thing which indicates his age and degree of tiredness. Unusually, the Warden does not see or even acknowledge the exhaustion around her. The Old Mage is tired and even the Bard and the Assassin plunk themselves down at the fire, too fatigued to even lay out their bedrolls.
Sten stares disapprovingly across the fire watching her pace a circle, kicking stones from her path. Deliberately stepping into the Warden's path, he confronts her. Looking up she bares her teeth; he crosses his arms, bares his teeth, and growls back. He will not give her more weapons of self-destruction.
Angry and frustrated, she grabs her bag and leaves the camp down the road towards Redcliff. The Assassin tiredly regains his feet, dogged determination in his features. Sten shakes his head and glances back at the fire where the Old Mage and the Bard are preparing dinner. The Dog follows Sten down the road after the Warden. She does not attempt to hide or travel in the forest as he knows she can; the Warden sticks to the road. Eventually his longer strides catch up to hers and they walk side by side.
Her face is fury itself as she drives herself to exhaustion. He can tell she wants to vent and to
shout. The Warden does not know what she has already shared with him during the nights of the almost two years they have traveled together. Perhaps she seeks to collapse so she can sleep without dreams of the darkspawn. Sten judges that his reserves are greater than hers, but he forgets that he is the one who fought at the Landsmeet against Kinslayer, not an easy fight.
Hours later, the Dog whines in pain and the Warden stops for the first time since allowing Kinslayer to make camp. Petting him, she kneels to examine the Dog's paw. Working a large sliver out from between the the pads, she stops the blood with a touch. She lifts each foot and touches each pad, healing the cuts from the sharp stones that he is unable to avoid in the moonlit night.
Standing, she turns to face Sten and seems disorientated as if she is seeing him for the first time. The Warden looks through him to his very soul. She touches his cheek, healing a blister on his foot, the ache in his shoulder where she slept the night before, and the bruise on his ribs from his fight with Kinslayer. She eases the clenching of his jaw, the spot where she whacked him behind her favorite knee, and thaws the cold invading his limbs.
As she heals his pains, he feels her taste his concern. She is surprised and turns her attention inward, accidentally dragging his senses with hers. He feels her wonder at unexpected aches and pains on her own body. He feels the soreness of her legs, the fury in her heart, and a sore behind her knee where a buckle has twisted and bites into her flesh. He feels all of these with her, for her. He feels her refuse to heal herself and jerks her hand away from his face severing the healing link abruptly. As the link breaks, he knows that she realized that he could see these injuries and taste her emotions and anger at her weakness as well. He staggers backwards adjusting to his own sight, stunned.
The Warden continues down the road. Sten has been refreshed; the Dog also moves with renewed vigor. By restoring them, she will now be the first to stop. Although she begins with the furious pace she has driven herself at all day, as the hours go by, they adjust their pace to match her slowing one.
She pauses staring at the crossroads of Lothering and Redcliff. Wearily she turns south as dawn comes. He looks back observing the Dog, who uses the excuse to mark the post, to discretely press his paw on the edge of a mud puddle in the direction of Lothering.
Reaching Lothering, they see that the town had been gutted and burned by the darkspawn. She stops on the far side of town at the raised highway which forms an inadequate wall for the town, sliding down the wall easing herself to a sitting position. The Warden closes her eyes to the sun after unlacing her corset to expose her vine covered belly to the sunlight. The Dog stretches out in the grass at her side.
He scouts the area, keeping her in his sight until the Dog lifts his head and winks at him. Sten enters the town gathering forgotten food, water, and wood for a fire, knowing that the Dog is on guard duty.
When he returns, he finds that the Dog caught and killed two chickens who wandered too close. He wags his tail at Sten who tosses one of the chickens back to him. He devours the bird smacking his lips while Sten builds a fire, cleans the other bird, and puts it on to roast. He tosses potatoes and turnips wrapped in wet elf root into the coals. He glances to the Warden, noting that her breathing indicates she is not asleep and has not yet slept; she is merely resting. Grunting under his breath, he knows that it is better than nothing.
He draws Asala, notices that her eye opens a crack and closes again as he begins to meditate. As his heart and breathing slows, he feels her move and sit with her back to his, leaning against him. He pretends that he doesn't notice and concentrates on his task. Her breathing and heartbeat begin to match his.
The Warden slips into his thoughts. Through him, she concentrates on the minutia of the swirls of Asala's hilt and the taste of the air in their lungs. Through her, his awareness of his surroundings widens. He senses a Grey Warden about a day's march to the north who tastes of dirt with a sharp tang of metal, and realizes that it is Kinslayer. He senses random bands of darkspawn in the wilderness around them and tastes the differences in their scents depending on their type. Casting the net wider she senses the Old Warden, who tastes of pine trees and tea, scouting the forests for the darkspawn army.
He feels her surprise realizing that she has never seen this far. She casts her gaze south to Ostagar. There is something like an emissary but not an emissary there – it doesn't taste the same. She carefully tracks the darkspawn activity there.
He remembers that she intended to return to Ostagar with the Weakling after they learned of the king's correspondence. Her anger at the Weakling’s actions flares briefly in response to his recollection. When her anger causes the darkspawn activities to flicker, he is pleased to feel her relax and let go of the anger and the vision is restored. They watch the darkspawn head towards Redcliff.
The Dog barks interrupting the activity announcing that the food is done cooking. They blink in unison, breath and heartbeats returning to normal as she withdraws from the warmth of his back. Sten removes the chicken from the fire, setting it and the root vegetables on a large platter he found in the tavern.
Later, her belly full, her mood restored, she finally gives in to her exhaustion. Knowing where the darkspawn are and that they are safe for the time being, he unbuckles her boots, slipping them from her feet. Removing her long socks, he massages her feet, noting that the leafy vines are even on her soles. Her calf muscles gradually loosen their knots under his sure hands. He covers her with a blanket and adjusts the offending buckle that pinched her sensitive skin behind the back of his favorite leafy knee.
"His favorite knee…" Stunned at his thought, he gets up and paces, kicking stones. He is a Kossith; and, as indicated by the emblem in her hair, they are both Qunari, tools given a task. Although her goal is the same as his, she is not his assignment. He knows from the thoughts she attempted to keep hidden in the shared vision that he brings her great joy.
Unlike the Kossith, these people mate with each other to show affection. He remembers the Assassin's admiration of the Warden and Tamlen's mating cries.
He also remembers that these people mate to cause harm to others. She has been hurt in this way. Perhaps she will not seek to mate with him and they can remain true to their tasks, to the Qun. He knows from the conversations he has overheard between the Wardens that she is unlikely to bear a child. So she would not seek to have a child with him and therefore would not seek to mate with him. He will ask her of this. Decided and certain he has chosen the correct path, one she will understand, he leans against the sun-warmed wall to rest.
She sleeps, safe and secure. The darkspawn buzz around her, heading to Redcliff parting around Lothering as if it were a large rock in a small stream. There is time to rest and to come back to herself. She slips deeper into sleep renewing her strength waiting for Loghain.