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peopleofthedas2012-11-18 01:39 am
andraste) wrote in peopleofthedas2012-11-18 01:39 am
Fanfiction: Weapon of Choice
Greetings! I've been a big Dragon Age fan since Origins was released (or before that, really) and arrive bearing fanfic. I can't believe it's taken me so long to write something set in this universe.
Title: Weapon of Choice
Summary: The Grey Wardens and their allies wield many different weapons. These are some of them.
Characters: Femme!Cousland, Eleanor Cousland, Alistair, Wynne, Justice, Finn.
Pairings: Passing mention of Femme!Cousland/Alistair, but I'd call it gen nonetheless.
Rating: T
Contains: Unlike the game, no sex, swearing or bloodspatter whatsoever.
Word Count: Circa 2,000.
Author's Note: The weapon descriptions are taken directly from BioWare's in-game text.
I. Elm Shortbow
A wooden bow with a graceful curve to its limbs and markings that seem inspired by nature.
The first time Eleanor Cousland put a bow into her daughter's hands, Elena was barely old enough to put on her own boots. Her father had already taught her to ride a pony, and she spent more time rolling around with the castle dogs than she did in the nursery, so Eleanor felt it best to give in to the inevitable. Since she'd fought in the war of independence by her husband's side, she couldn't even say that she was reluctant. Ferelden might be relatively peaceful now, but she couldn't know what kind of world her children would grow up into.
The bow was toy-sized, carved specially for Elena's hands, and she held it with a confidence that frightened her mother a little. Perhaps she had been watching the guard a bit too closely.
"Where are the arrows?" the girl asked, holding out her empty hand.
Elanor took the tiny quiver from behind her back, but did not hand it to her daughter immediately. "Before I give this to you, you have to promise you'll be careful. It isn't a toy. No shooting at the servants - or your brother."
"Mother, I know that. Just give them to me."
The arrows shouldn't fly far – Elanor tells herself that this is just to let her daughter get used to holding a weapon. A weapon she should never need to use.
Over the next few weeks, Elena takes to slipping away from her nurse and out to the edges of the woods alone. She comes back proudly with two dead squirrels and a starling she shot off of a branch. Bryce never lets Eleanor hear the end of it.
Despite this, she is never sorry that she gave her daughter her first weapon, until the day Duncan wants to recruit her. Elanor's heart breaks, but she knows that this is ultimately her fault. She prepared her girl far too well.
She takes small comfort knowing that the bow will keep Elena as far from harm as it's possible to be in this world.
II. Maric's Blade
Runes glow along the length of this mighty blade. King Maric, father to King Cailan, bore it in his battles against Orlais.
"I'm not sure I should be carrying this."
Alistair swished the sword through the air half-heartedly. The watery dawn light glinted on the blade. Around them, their companions were strapping on armour and brushing snow off their gear, getting ready to move north again.
"Of course you should," Elena protested. "if not you, then who else has a right to it? It's part of your inheritance."
Alistair winced. "Don't remind me." He frowned at the weapon. "It's not as though he left it to me, though, is it?"
"No, he left it to your brother. Who, need I remind you, is also dead."
Alistair sighed like a strong wind and sat down on the nearest damp log. "Do you really think I should keep it?"
"Of course. But that doesn't mean you have to carry it in battle if you don't want to. We can just hang it on a wall in the palace when you become king." Alistair made a face.
Elena knew which weapon he would prefer. Duncan's sword, which they'd also retrieved from the battlefield at Ostagar.
"You don't think I'm being silly?"
"I think you should use the weapon you feel comfortable with. You have to trust your sword." She picked up Duncan's blade from where she'd laid it down the night before, close to the now-dead fire. "Here. I'm already carrying his dagger, we can split them between us so we both have something to remember him by." If he carried that along with Arl Eamon's shield, Alistair would have mementos of the two fathers he actually cared about.
Alistair smiled and came over to kiss her. "Thank you, commander. You're too good to me."
"Just be grateful I'm not making your wear Cailan's armor. Yet."
"You have to be joking. It stinks of Darkspawn and it's covered in Maker knows what!"
"Then you can clean it tonight when we make camp. You have to keep all those royal heirlooms in good condition."
Alistair sheathed Duncan's sword and picked up a handful of snow. "Maybe someone else's armour will need cleaning more ..."
"You wouldn't!"
"Because you're in charge or because you're my lover?"
"Because my aim is better!" Quick as a flash, Elena scooped up her own handful of snow. It hit Alistair squarely in the face.
Breaking camp took longer than usual with two Grey Wardens hurling snowballs at each other, especially once the dog joined in the game and Morrigan got caught in the crossfire, but it certainly made it more fun.
III. Winter's Breath
The core of this staff contains enchanted ice that never melts. It's said that is what fuels this powerful magical tool.
It wasn't what she had expected to find in the possession of of a burning rage demon, but Elena could tell that the staff was magical even as she lowered her hand to touch it. A chill radiated from it, although it sat amid the pile of ashes that were all that was left of its former owner.
"This is very old," Wynne said thoughtfully, taking it from Elena before it could burn her fingers with cold. "What a remarkable thing to find here!"
"Are you sure you want hold that?" Elena asked. "I'm getting the shivers just standing near you." The twisted branch gave off a blue light.
Wynne smiled. "We old folk are not as vulnerable to the cold as you might imagine, and I can always wear thicker gloves. It's a powerful and elegant weapon, one of the finest that I've ever seen."
Elena shrugged. "If you say so. I've never really understood why mages needed staves anyway - you and Morrigan can both shoot lightning out of your hands if you need to, so what is the stick for?"
Wynne laughed. "If nothing else, it improves our aim."
Morrigan, who had been checking the other bodies, came over to look at the staff. "It is more than that," she said. "A staff is an extension of the mage's power, something to channel and enhance it."
"Morrigan," Wynne asked, "do you mind if I keep this?"
The witch shrugged. "It is nothing to me. I have a fine enough weapon already."
That was the closest Morrigan had ever come to thanking Elena directly for spending more than a hundred sovereigns buying her an expensive antique staff just because it seemed to have caught the witch's eye. At least she wouldn't have to buy another one for Wynne if she did want to keep this old stick.
"I wonder who owned it?" Elena mused.
"The abomination must have been a mage once, perhaps even a Grey Warden," Wynne said.
"The restless spirits here suggest as much," Morrigan said, in rare agreement with the other mage.
Elena shuddered. She didn't like to think of that ... thing being a human or an elf, once upon a time. "I'm not sure I'd want to use a staff that had been wielded by a demon. Are you sure it's safe?"
"No weapon is entirely that," Wynne said with one of her knowing half-smiles, "but I think I'm well past the point where I'm at risk of demonic possession, don't you?"
Elena shook her head in resignation. "Well, then, it's up to you. Wardens are meant to use whichever weapons present themselves, after all."
She went to check where Alistair had wandered off to, wondering what other useful secrets they might uncover in this dead fortress.
IV. Daisycutter
An aura surrounds this axe. It's either enchanted or haunted.
Elena was getting used to – almost getting used to – her strange new companion. Justice did all kinds of odd things, from apologising to a statue for bumping into it to staring intently at the wall of Vigil's Keep for hours on end. She was not especially surprised when she found him in a corner of the hall making a speech to the finely crafted axe they had retrieved from the crypt.
"I don't know if anyone has pointed this out to you," Elena said with a smile, "but around here we don't usually talk to inanimate objects."
Justice shook his head so vigorously that for a moment she worried it was going to fall of and go bouncing across the floor. "This is not an inanimate object."
Alyena looked hard at the axe. It was true that it was double-bladed and yet so light that it could be wielded with only one hand, but she had thought that merely a clever enchantment.
"You think there is a spirit trapped in there? As you're trapped in that corpse?" She had seen demons get stuck in everything from trees to cats, so this was far from implausible. Sometimes she was amazed that any of them managed to possess living human hosts, given their terrible aim.
"A spirit or a demon. It speaks to me, but not clearly. I think it has been inside this weapon for a very long time."
If it had been in the axe before it was sealed in the crypt, then it must have been waiting down there thousands of years. The Avar must have had mages or shamans, perhaps one of them had made this strange thing centuries before.
"Is it dangerous?" Elena asked, regarding the weapon with new respect.
Justice showed his blackened gums in something that approximated a smile. "Only in the sense that it is has two sharp edges for removing the heads from Darkspawn. Whatever is inside it cannot get out."
Elena was not too certain of that – Shades, in her experience, were tricky things. But she would trust Justice's judgement for the moment. "Would you like to keep it?"
Justice hefted the weapon in one hand. "I think it is best that I keep and eye on it, yes."
Later, when Elena saw him speaking to the axe again, then pausing as if awaiting a reply, she thought it best not to ask what they were talking about.
V. Vera
This staff is Finn's staff. He's named it "Vera" for some reason.
"So, your staff," Elena said, holding her hands out toward the fire. "Any particular reason you gave it a girl's name?"
In the firelight Finn flushed red. For a moment she was reminded of teasing an entirely different companion next to an entirely different fire. She missed Alistair fiercely. It was strange being back on the road but without her old friends – where Wynne used to stand, ever ready to provide her with advice, Ariane now made her camp. Instead of Alistair, she had Finn. It was no substitute, even if it was just as easy to make him blush. At least her dog was keeping guard on the camp, barking at another squirrel as it scurried past in the half-light.
"Uh, no reason. I mean, weapons need names, right?"
"I wouldn't have thought you did much fighting before you met me." Elena poked the fire with a stick.
"Oh, I didn't. Even when the Tower got taken over by abominations I just hid down in the vaults. There were a few giant spiders down there, but they mostly left me alone."
"So why name it at all, then?"
"It probably doesn't make a lot of sense to you, but I spent more time with that staff in my hands than I've ever spent talking to another human being. I guess that she got to feel like a friend after a while."
Elena ran one hand down the shaft of her Heartwood bow, the one that Master Wade had crafted for her before she left Vigil's Keep, and put the other on Duncan's dagger.
"No, I think I know exactly what you mean." Some of her companions were with her still. "So why 'Vera' in particular, then?"
"Ah," said Finn, turning a new shade of red, "that's another story altogether."
The End
Title: Weapon of Choice
Summary: The Grey Wardens and their allies wield many different weapons. These are some of them.
Characters: Femme!Cousland, Eleanor Cousland, Alistair, Wynne, Justice, Finn.
Pairings: Passing mention of Femme!Cousland/Alistair, but I'd call it gen nonetheless.
Rating: T
Contains: Unlike the game, no sex, swearing or bloodspatter whatsoever.
Word Count: Circa 2,000.
Author's Note: The weapon descriptions are taken directly from BioWare's in-game text.
I. Elm Shortbow
A wooden bow with a graceful curve to its limbs and markings that seem inspired by nature.
The first time Eleanor Cousland put a bow into her daughter's hands, Elena was barely old enough to put on her own boots. Her father had already taught her to ride a pony, and she spent more time rolling around with the castle dogs than she did in the nursery, so Eleanor felt it best to give in to the inevitable. Since she'd fought in the war of independence by her husband's side, she couldn't even say that she was reluctant. Ferelden might be relatively peaceful now, but she couldn't know what kind of world her children would grow up into.
The bow was toy-sized, carved specially for Elena's hands, and she held it with a confidence that frightened her mother a little. Perhaps she had been watching the guard a bit too closely.
"Where are the arrows?" the girl asked, holding out her empty hand.
Elanor took the tiny quiver from behind her back, but did not hand it to her daughter immediately. "Before I give this to you, you have to promise you'll be careful. It isn't a toy. No shooting at the servants - or your brother."
"Mother, I know that. Just give them to me."
The arrows shouldn't fly far – Elanor tells herself that this is just to let her daughter get used to holding a weapon. A weapon she should never need to use.
Over the next few weeks, Elena takes to slipping away from her nurse and out to the edges of the woods alone. She comes back proudly with two dead squirrels and a starling she shot off of a branch. Bryce never lets Eleanor hear the end of it.
Despite this, she is never sorry that she gave her daughter her first weapon, until the day Duncan wants to recruit her. Elanor's heart breaks, but she knows that this is ultimately her fault. She prepared her girl far too well.
She takes small comfort knowing that the bow will keep Elena as far from harm as it's possible to be in this world.
II. Maric's Blade
Runes glow along the length of this mighty blade. King Maric, father to King Cailan, bore it in his battles against Orlais.
"I'm not sure I should be carrying this."
Alistair swished the sword through the air half-heartedly. The watery dawn light glinted on the blade. Around them, their companions were strapping on armour and brushing snow off their gear, getting ready to move north again.
"Of course you should," Elena protested. "if not you, then who else has a right to it? It's part of your inheritance."
Alistair winced. "Don't remind me." He frowned at the weapon. "It's not as though he left it to me, though, is it?"
"No, he left it to your brother. Who, need I remind you, is also dead."
Alistair sighed like a strong wind and sat down on the nearest damp log. "Do you really think I should keep it?"
"Of course. But that doesn't mean you have to carry it in battle if you don't want to. We can just hang it on a wall in the palace when you become king." Alistair made a face.
Elena knew which weapon he would prefer. Duncan's sword, which they'd also retrieved from the battlefield at Ostagar.
"You don't think I'm being silly?"
"I think you should use the weapon you feel comfortable with. You have to trust your sword." She picked up Duncan's blade from where she'd laid it down the night before, close to the now-dead fire. "Here. I'm already carrying his dagger, we can split them between us so we both have something to remember him by." If he carried that along with Arl Eamon's shield, Alistair would have mementos of the two fathers he actually cared about.
Alistair smiled and came over to kiss her. "Thank you, commander. You're too good to me."
"Just be grateful I'm not making your wear Cailan's armor. Yet."
"You have to be joking. It stinks of Darkspawn and it's covered in Maker knows what!"
"Then you can clean it tonight when we make camp. You have to keep all those royal heirlooms in good condition."
Alistair sheathed Duncan's sword and picked up a handful of snow. "Maybe someone else's armour will need cleaning more ..."
"You wouldn't!"
"Because you're in charge or because you're my lover?"
"Because my aim is better!" Quick as a flash, Elena scooped up her own handful of snow. It hit Alistair squarely in the face.
Breaking camp took longer than usual with two Grey Wardens hurling snowballs at each other, especially once the dog joined in the game and Morrigan got caught in the crossfire, but it certainly made it more fun.
III. Winter's Breath
The core of this staff contains enchanted ice that never melts. It's said that is what fuels this powerful magical tool.
It wasn't what she had expected to find in the possession of of a burning rage demon, but Elena could tell that the staff was magical even as she lowered her hand to touch it. A chill radiated from it, although it sat amid the pile of ashes that were all that was left of its former owner.
"This is very old," Wynne said thoughtfully, taking it from Elena before it could burn her fingers with cold. "What a remarkable thing to find here!"
"Are you sure you want hold that?" Elena asked. "I'm getting the shivers just standing near you." The twisted branch gave off a blue light.
Wynne smiled. "We old folk are not as vulnerable to the cold as you might imagine, and I can always wear thicker gloves. It's a powerful and elegant weapon, one of the finest that I've ever seen."
Elena shrugged. "If you say so. I've never really understood why mages needed staves anyway - you and Morrigan can both shoot lightning out of your hands if you need to, so what is the stick for?"
Wynne laughed. "If nothing else, it improves our aim."
Morrigan, who had been checking the other bodies, came over to look at the staff. "It is more than that," she said. "A staff is an extension of the mage's power, something to channel and enhance it."
"Morrigan," Wynne asked, "do you mind if I keep this?"
The witch shrugged. "It is nothing to me. I have a fine enough weapon already."
That was the closest Morrigan had ever come to thanking Elena directly for spending more than a hundred sovereigns buying her an expensive antique staff just because it seemed to have caught the witch's eye. At least she wouldn't have to buy another one for Wynne if she did want to keep this old stick.
"I wonder who owned it?" Elena mused.
"The abomination must have been a mage once, perhaps even a Grey Warden," Wynne said.
"The restless spirits here suggest as much," Morrigan said, in rare agreement with the other mage.
Elena shuddered. She didn't like to think of that ... thing being a human or an elf, once upon a time. "I'm not sure I'd want to use a staff that had been wielded by a demon. Are you sure it's safe?"
"No weapon is entirely that," Wynne said with one of her knowing half-smiles, "but I think I'm well past the point where I'm at risk of demonic possession, don't you?"
Elena shook her head in resignation. "Well, then, it's up to you. Wardens are meant to use whichever weapons present themselves, after all."
She went to check where Alistair had wandered off to, wondering what other useful secrets they might uncover in this dead fortress.
IV. Daisycutter
An aura surrounds this axe. It's either enchanted or haunted.
Elena was getting used to – almost getting used to – her strange new companion. Justice did all kinds of odd things, from apologising to a statue for bumping into it to staring intently at the wall of Vigil's Keep for hours on end. She was not especially surprised when she found him in a corner of the hall making a speech to the finely crafted axe they had retrieved from the crypt.
"I don't know if anyone has pointed this out to you," Elena said with a smile, "but around here we don't usually talk to inanimate objects."
Justice shook his head so vigorously that for a moment she worried it was going to fall of and go bouncing across the floor. "This is not an inanimate object."
Alyena looked hard at the axe. It was true that it was double-bladed and yet so light that it could be wielded with only one hand, but she had thought that merely a clever enchantment.
"You think there is a spirit trapped in there? As you're trapped in that corpse?" She had seen demons get stuck in everything from trees to cats, so this was far from implausible. Sometimes she was amazed that any of them managed to possess living human hosts, given their terrible aim.
"A spirit or a demon. It speaks to me, but not clearly. I think it has been inside this weapon for a very long time."
If it had been in the axe before it was sealed in the crypt, then it must have been waiting down there thousands of years. The Avar must have had mages or shamans, perhaps one of them had made this strange thing centuries before.
"Is it dangerous?" Elena asked, regarding the weapon with new respect.
Justice showed his blackened gums in something that approximated a smile. "Only in the sense that it is has two sharp edges for removing the heads from Darkspawn. Whatever is inside it cannot get out."
Elena was not too certain of that – Shades, in her experience, were tricky things. But she would trust Justice's judgement for the moment. "Would you like to keep it?"
Justice hefted the weapon in one hand. "I think it is best that I keep and eye on it, yes."
Later, when Elena saw him speaking to the axe again, then pausing as if awaiting a reply, she thought it best not to ask what they were talking about.
V. Vera
This staff is Finn's staff. He's named it "Vera" for some reason.
"So, your staff," Elena said, holding her hands out toward the fire. "Any particular reason you gave it a girl's name?"
In the firelight Finn flushed red. For a moment she was reminded of teasing an entirely different companion next to an entirely different fire. She missed Alistair fiercely. It was strange being back on the road but without her old friends – where Wynne used to stand, ever ready to provide her with advice, Ariane now made her camp. Instead of Alistair, she had Finn. It was no substitute, even if it was just as easy to make him blush. At least her dog was keeping guard on the camp, barking at another squirrel as it scurried past in the half-light.
"Uh, no reason. I mean, weapons need names, right?"
"I wouldn't have thought you did much fighting before you met me." Elena poked the fire with a stick.
"Oh, I didn't. Even when the Tower got taken over by abominations I just hid down in the vaults. There were a few giant spiders down there, but they mostly left me alone."
"So why name it at all, then?"
"It probably doesn't make a lot of sense to you, but I spent more time with that staff in my hands than I've ever spent talking to another human being. I guess that she got to feel like a friend after a while."
Elena ran one hand down the shaft of her Heartwood bow, the one that Master Wade had crafted for her before she left Vigil's Keep, and put the other on Duncan's dagger.
"No, I think I know exactly what you mean." Some of her companions were with her still. "So why 'Vera' in particular, then?"
"Ah," said Finn, turning a new shade of red, "that's another story altogether."
The End